Wednesday 4 January 2017

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.

29 comments:

  1. Terrific stuff Bryan, and I'm delighted you've found a comic-creator to your liking. Good to see your Battle Systems scenery out and being used too. Not a set I own, so its nice to see how well it stands out in the photos. Great little skirmish too. Looking forward to the next one - and are you going to tease us all again by putting up a phantom posting of it the day before like you did this one ;-)

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    1. I'm glad you enjoyed it so much, Simon. I really do love the Shanty Town sets, more so than the City sets, but both are great. In the next scenario you'll be pleased to know that Judge Moore will be taking part along with three other Judges. Judge Scott won't be involved. It should be a much longer fight.

      As for the phantom posting, as I was typing this batrep up I inadvertently pressed Publish instead of Save halfway through my typing. Idiot! I'll make sure that doesn't happen again.

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    2. Yes... having set-up some of my City sets earlier this week for a "Dicemasters" BatRep, I must confess that I wasn't that impressed with the components etc, nor with the lack of exterior walls. From the photos I think your Shanty Town set is the better of the two.

      Fortunately I've bought four of Dave's excellent "Wargames Terrain Workshop" Shanty dwellings for my 'Mad Max' project, so I'm not quite as jealous of you owning the Shanty set as I would have been.

      "I'll make sure that doesn't happen again." - Please do, I spent a couple of painful hours desperately trying to read this excellent posting, and knowing it was out there just waiting to be read... Wot a tease!!!

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    3. Those Shanty Town dwellings that Dave makes are excellent and I'm very tempted to buy them myself just add to my Battle Systems sets. Dave, take note!

      If you only bought one City set from Battle Systems then I'd agree that there probably isn't enough walls or floors. I bought four sets plus I got a load of freebies for backing the Kickstarter, so I have more than enough components for my needs.

      I felt like such a fool when I realised I'd pressed Publish by mistake. Still, to make up for it note that I posted it a day earlier than normal. I usually post on Mondays and Thursdays.

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  2. Well, you were right about Judge Scott being able to handle the situation despite being outnumbered and outclassed in points. Keep bringing the law to those low-lives!

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    1. Thanks, Hugh. I guess it was a case of quality over quantity. It isn't wise to mess with the Judges!

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  3. Excellent, I love the fact that it's not just a shooty game! That you can arrest perps d interact with them.

    The new battle systems definitely is enhancing the look of your game, that said your card buildings for ATZ have always been of high quality. But the mats and buildings look ace!

    I must admit although it's disappointing that Judge Scott doesn't leap straight to level 3, I like the limitation which stops overpowered characters early on in campaigns as it means you have to work at keeping them alive rather than chucking in a superman with no fear of him getting hurt!

    Finally I like the comic batreps, just fits nicely with the genre.

    Top job mate

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    1. Many thanks, Andy. Your thoughts very much echo my own. One thing that is stressed in the rules is that Judges MUST attempt to arrest perps before resorting to violence. Only if a perp attacks a Judge without provocation may the Judge forego the arrest attempt and either shoot or enter into melee. Judge Scott only shot at Rex, Bailey and Benji after they had shot at him.

      The buildings I made in the past are perfect for a contemporary city or town and some would not look out of place in MC1, so you may still see them in upcoming batreps. But I had nothing like these shanty town buildings and they fit the bill perfectly for either MC1 slum areas or outside in the Cursed Earth.

      I think the rule that prevents characters rising more than one level at a time is a good one. It prevents characters getting too powerful too quickly, which is a good thing in my opinion.

      I'm glad that the comic strip format has gone down so well. It will continue for the rest of my JDMG batreps.

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  4. Great batrep Bryan, loved the comic format really fits this genre

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    1. Many thanks, Dave. I have a question for you. Would you like to be a part of Judge Scott's team? If so, I'll create a character for you or you can send me the stats for your own character if you want. I think Judge Stone has a nice sound to it!

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    2. I would be honoured Bryan to join Judge Scott's team, I'll leave the stats to you if that's okay. There was a Judge Stone in the comic strip many years ago which made me smile, this would be far superior

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    3. Consider it done, my friend. I have just the figure in mind for you.

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    4. Awesome, when I made the bikers, I snuck a self portrait in, was a shame they didn't release them. At least their out now

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  5. I love the style.

    BUT I need to get a bigger screen as My eyesight is not good enough to read the captions!

    That does not mean I want you to change anything as I really do like the style it is presented in.

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    1. I understand that might be a problem to some viewers but there is a simple solution to the problem, Clint. 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. Perhaps I should have mentioned this in my batrep.

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    2. I have edited the batrep to include that hint so that everyone can see it now. I hope this helps. As my brother would say, "there are no such things as problems, just solutions waiting to be found."

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  6. Ha Ha, brilliant stuff Bryan, love the comic book style to the batrep!

    Cheers Roger.

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    1. Many thanks, Roger. I love the comic style as well.

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  7. Love the new comic layout Bryan. Well done. Game looks great.

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    1. Thanks and welcome to my blog, Dark Eyed Warrior.

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  8. Good job on the Comic Life and great batrep. It definitely fits the needs. You should send the comic to battle systems

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    1. Thanks, Cedric. That's not a bad idea about contacting Battle Systems.

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  9. Add me to the list that like the addition of the comic to your batrep. Now you've got me looking at Comic Life :) Great start to the new year Bryan!

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    1. Very much appreciated, Russ. I'm really very impressed with Comic Life 3. It's so easy to use and just what I was looking for.

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    2. Nicely done! The comic format battle reports are a perfect fit for Dredd. I'll admit that as a kid when I first read these titles (I'd read North American superhero stories almost exclusively at that point)that I found myself sympathizing with many of the perps. Judge Scott has learned well from Mega Cities One's finest and took me right back there. You are the law Bryan and a roaring start to 2017!

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    3. That's very kind of you to say so, HP. The comic format is here to stay and I'll be posting another one very soon. Judge Scott has studied the case files of Judge Dredd. He knows his duty and he will uphold the Law.

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  10. Brilliant, Brian. If you're not getting paid for this labour of love (as I suspect), you should be!

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    1. Many thanks, Albrecht. No pay for me, sadly. It's all done purely out of a love for the Judge Dredd universe.

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