JDMG Scenario 01 - The Barko Brothers

I promised that I'd post my first Judge Dredd Miniatures Game early in January 2017 and I do like to keep my promises, so here it is. For my JDMG batreps I wanted to do something very different to my usual batreps. Judge Dredd is primarily a comic strip and this is how I wanted to present my batreps. The program I'm using is called Comic Life 3 as it fits my needs perfectly. First, I needed a name for my comic strips. Judge Dredd was out because he will hardly ever appear in my campaign. My campaign is centred around a team of Judges operating out of Sector 13, led by my alter ego, Street Judge Scott. The team will be made up of other Judges named after fellow bloggers and friends. So, I decided to call the strip, Judges of Mega City One.
The first game I played was based on the introductory scenario found in the JDMG rulebook entitled, The Barko Brothers. The premise is that Judge Scott has received a tip from one of his informants that the Barko Brothers are looking to ambush him next time he enters the shanty town territory of the Howlin' Wolves, a street gang from Chester Burnett Bock. He rushes to the area in order to catch the perps unaware, before they can set their trap, and to bring them to justice.
THE FORCES - MEGA CITY ONE JUSTICE DEPARTMENT
Street Judge Scott - Level:1 Infantry Hero with 0 Experience Points and worth 150 Credits.
Stats - Move 5", Agility +2, Shoot +2, Melee +1, Melee Dice 2D, Will +2, Armour +5, Hits 2.
Equipment - Boot Knife, Daystick, Lawgiver Mk II Pistol, Stumm Gas Grenades and Standard Issue Armour.
Talents - Academy Star and Voice of Command.
THE FORCES - THE BARKO BROTHERS
Rex Barko - Level:1 Punk Infantry Hero with 1 Experience Point and worth 90 Credits. 
Stats - Move 5", Agility +1, Shoot +1, Melee +0, Melee Dice 2D, Will +0, Armour +0, Hits 2.
Equipment - 2x Sawed Off Stump Gun Rifles.
Talents - Brave and Drokk the Law!

Butch Barko - Level:0 Punk Infantry Minion with 0 Experience Points and worth 35 Credits.
Stats - Move 5", Agility +0, Shoot +0, Melee +0, Melee Dice 2D, Will +0, Armour +0, Hits 1.
Equipment - Stump Gun Rifle and Knife.

Bailey Barko - Level:0 Punk Infantry Minion with 0 Experience Points and worth 30 Credits.
Stats - Move 5", Agility +0, Shoot +0, Melee +0, Melee Dice 2D, Will +0, Armour +0, Hits 1.
Equipment - Hand Gun Pistol.

Bob Barko - Level:0 Punk Infantry Minion with 0 Experience Points and worth 30 Credits.
Stats - Move 5", Agility +0, Shoot +0, Melee +0, Melee Dice 2D, Will +0, Armour +0, Hits 1.
Equipment - Hand Gun Pistol.

Benji Barko - Level:0 Punk Infantry Minion with 0 Experience Points and worth 30 Credits.
Stats - Move 5", Agility +0, Shoot +0, Melee +0, Melee Dice 2D, Will +0, Armour +0, Hits 1.
Equipment - Antique Revolver and Knife.

This gave the Barko Brothers a Credits score of 215 compared to the Justice Department's Credits score of 150. Ideally, both forces should be of roughly equal value but that is not a rule I will be rigidly adhering to. Despite the big difference in the scores, I still felt that the advantage lay with Judge Scott. His stats are far superior to any of the Barko Brothers.
SET UP
I played my fight on a four feet by two feet battlefield using gaming mats, buildings and scenery items from my Battle Systems Urban Apocalypse Shanty Town sets. The board was split into six sections, each measuring 16" by 12". The Barko Brothers have been caught by surprise and are spread out. In addition, they are placed in separate sections of the battlefield at least 5" from the edge of their sections. Judge Scott enters the central unoccupied section within 5" of the edge of the battlefield. He has the initiative and will act first in each Turn.

 SPECIAL RULES
In the confusion of the fight, none of the brothers, except for Rex (who may move freely), may leave their section. If Rex ends a phase in the same section as one of his brothers, they can move without restriction across the whole battlefield for the rest of the game.
VICTORY CONDITIONS
The fight continues until all of the models in one of the forces have been removed from the battlefield. The remaining force is the victor.

AFTERMATH
All that remained to do was work out what happened to the Barko Brothers and to calculate the Experience Points that Judge Scott earned. Both Rex and Benji were killed in the explosion from Judge Scott's Hi-Ex round. Bailey was injured in the body and suffered a -1 penalty to his Agility and Melee stats. He served a full term in the iso-cubes. Bob also served a full term in the iso-cubes. Butch was sent to the cubes but during an escape attempt he was shot and suffered a crippling injury to his left leg, resulting in a -1 penalty to his Move and Agility stats. His sentence was increased.
Judge Scott earned the following Experience Points:
+1 for surviving the battle.
+2 for arresting two Minions.
+2 for slaying two Minions.
+1 for slaying a Level:1 Hero.
This earned Judge Scott 6 Experience Points, enough to raise him to Level:3. However, a model cannot go up more than one level per battle. If a model should gain enough Experience Points to do so, it will stop 1 point short of that required to go up the second level, with any excess lost. 4 points was required for him to reach Level:3 but he was capped at 3 Experience Points on Level:2. He added +1 to his Will stat, giving him a score of +3 and added +1 to his Hits, bringing them up to 3. He also acquired a new Talent, Voice of Justice, which allows him to re-roll any failed Arrest check. Finally, his Credits score increased by +25 to 175.
CONCLUSION
That was just so much fun. The rules were very simple to learn and easy to play. I'd printed out some Quick Reference Sheets for the rules as well as Character Record Sheets for all of the primary characters in the game, but hardly referred to them at all during the game. For me, what really made that game come alive was the stunning scenery from Battle Systems. It worked perfectly for a slum part of Mega City One but would work just as well in any post apocalypse setting. I added a couple of resin cast wrecked cars to add to the run down feel of the area as well as a smattering of civilian bystanders, some of whom ended up with speaking parts.
I have to say that I am very impressed with Comic Life 3. I got to grips with it very quickly as I had a few practice attempts at creating a comic before I played this scenario. I could have included a detailed rundown of what exactly happened in the game, including dice rolls and modifiers but really, is that necessary? What counts the most is the story and I found this the perfect format for recounting this batrep. I hope you enjoyed reading it as much as I enjoyed playing it. There'll be another Judges of Mega City One story very soon, featuring some of the rest of Judge Scott's team.
NOTE
If you find the pictures and captions are too small to see or read don't worry. There is a simple solution. First, left click on any of the pics. This will take you to a new screen showing all of the pics without the text. Next, right click on any of the pics, say for example page 1 of the comic. This will give you a menu of options. Left click on the top one, View Image. If you hover your mouse over the picture, you'll see a plus sign in a white circle. Left click it and the picture will double in size, making it very easy to read. If you press the arrow key at the top left corner of your screen that will take you back to the blog. Sadly, you'll have to go through this procedure for every picture you want to magnify but it's only a few clicks so it shouldn't be too much of a hassle.