Here are three more mercenary figures from the Judge Dredd Miniatures Game. All of them were produced by Warlord Games and all of them have featured in the Judge Dredd comic series.
Fergee was first introduced in prog 100 of the 2000AD comic in the epic The Day the Law Died story. A resident of the Undercity, he proclaimed himself to be "King of the Big Smelly" (the Ohio River). He became a hero of Mega City One when he joined forces with Judge Dredd to defeat the mad tyrant, Chief Judge Cal. He proved fearless, even when capturing a patrol-wagon or going up against Kleggs in hand-to-hand combat. Dredd appointed him honorary Judge status. Fergee enjoyed his new position and took his responsibilities more seriously
than even Dredd could have dared hope during the final battle to depose
Cal. Despite two bullet wounds in his chest, when the mad Chief Judge tried to press the fatal button which would gas the entire city, Fergee charged into him and carried him off the top of the Statue of Judgement.
He fell to his death along with Cal, but Judge Dredd ensured that
Fergee's sacrifice would always be remembered in Mega-City One by
erecting commemorative statues of him all over the city. His catchphrase and battle cry was, "Easy the Ferg!" In JDMG, Fergee is a Level:4 Infantry Hero armed with a Large Club. He has the following five Talents - Below the Belt, Brave, Careless Charge, Dirty Fighting and Thundering Charge. He costs 155 Credits.
Kenny Who? was a comic artist from CalHab
(Scotland), who was arrested by Dredd for assaulting comics editors who
programmed a robot to imitate his style, without paying him. He first
appeared in a 1986 story written as a satire on the then policy of British comics of not paying royalties to artists and writers. After this policy was ended, he appeared in two comedy sequels. In his final appearance, he created a trashzine hero called The
Hoolie who fought the corrupt Judges led by Judge Dread; unable to
find a publisher, he turned to self-publishing and the trashzine became a
massive hit. This led to him being arrested for defamation of the
Judges and defended in an appeal by Public Defender 314; his conviction was overturned on technicalities, and he returned home to CalHab in triumph.
The question mark was part of his surname, which was a running joke each time someone asked him what his name was, when people would become confused and rephrase the question. In JDMG, Kenny is a Level:1 Infantry Hero armed with an Axe. His two starting Talents are Careless Charge and Dirty Fighting. He costs 80 Credits.
Far and away the deadliest of this trio is Stan Lee, also known as Deathfist. Lee is an expert in martial arts, hailing from the Radlands of Ji in China
and trained by the outlaw Fighting Heart Kwoon, and a deadly assassin.
One of the very few people to ever defeat Dredd in single combat, (on
his first encounter he easily left him lying unconscious on the street)
Dredd has since defeated him twice. He was given a life sentence for
murder. Some time later, a female assassin from the same Order named Wu Wang attacked Dredd for the honour of their Order.
In the Shimura story The Harder They Come,
it was revealed that Shimura had faced Lee back when he was a
Judge-Cadet; all the senior Judges present were killed as were the
civilians they were guarding, and Shimura was badly wounded and given
his distinctive facial scaring by the assassin. In 2127, Lee escaped -
deliberately injuring Judge Giant
in the process - thanks to the Fighting Heart Kwoon. The Radlands were
under threat by the Taoka Corporation's terraforming of the area back
into habitable land; Lee was made leader of a group composed of the best
warriors of the Radland factions and sent to Hondo to assassinate Amber
Taoka. His group were wiped out and he was defeated in a rematch
against Shimura, who cut off his left hand: "Deathfist? Better find
yourself a new name."
Lee also has a daughter called Yin Mie, introduced in Tempest: Time Zero.
She arrived in Mega-City One with the intention of freeing her father
and, using their mutual abilities, destroying the universe via a time
rip in the Undercity.
Lee, meanwhile, had used his imprisonment to meditate and learn to use
the force known as "black chi", which gave him supernatural powers and a
reformed arm at the cost of making him far more depraved. However, the
supervillain Tempest managed to push him into the time rip, sending him back to the dawn of time - in anger, Lee struck out and caused the Big Bang utterly annihilating him, but causing the creation of the universe.
Lee shares his last name with martial artist/actor Bruce Lee, and his full name with Marvel comic author and editor Stan Lee.
In JDMG Stan Lee is a formidable Level:12 Infantry Hero with the following array of Talents - Agile, Black Belt Martial Artist, Brave, Call Me Master, Combat Awareness, Dance of Death, Duck and Weave, Infiltrator, Light Foot, Martial Artist, Silent Action, Silent Killer and Stealthy. He costs 370 Credits.
All three figures are decent sculpts but I'm not sure if any of them will appear in my campaign. Maybe I could give them different names and find a use for them. I dunno.
3 good figures. I remember the "King of the Big smelly" storyline, but only vaguely. But my Dredd -fu does not allow me to recall the other two at all. Non the less very nice painting and basing (as usual!)
ReplyDeleteThanks, Clint. Fergee was certainly the most memorable of the three. Stan Lee less so and Kenny was just a minor character. I'm surprised that Warlord Games decided he was worthy of having a sculpt made of him.
DeleteNice additions Bryan with great painting as always. Always felt the model of the Ferg was a bit on the small size based on the comics but then that's just nit picking
ReplyDeleteThanks, Dave. I have to agree with you about Fergee being a bit too small. Nevertheless, it's still a good sculpt of him and would make for a good generic thug with a club.
DeleteIndeed mate, there's always a use for a model and he is a good sculpt
DeleteMy thoughts exactly, Dave.
DeleteNice stuff Bryan I think I remember the first two (though only vaguely, to be honest) I do remember Stan Lee very well. Great painting on all three figures, I'm surprised they made such obscure character figures for the game though.
ReplyDeleteCheers Roger.
Cheers, Roger. I can certainly think of quite a few perps who were much more famous and worthy of sculpts.
DeleteThese are great Bryan!
ReplyDeleteMany thanks, Tom. Have you checked out my latest batrep yet?
DeleteI must have missed it. I will look now. 😉
DeleteMuch appreciated and thanks for the kind words.
DeleteThat's a great paint-job on a truly dire sculpt of Fergie, Bryan. I remember "Mongoose Publishing" first previewing it and me thinking it looked fab until I realized it was on a normal-sized base and not a larger one. Personally I think your Stan Lee is outstanding, and is by far one of my fave JD perps - the rematch made for sensationally reading imho, and I simply didn't want it to end :-)
ReplyDeleteThank you, Simon. I agree that Fergee should be taller. But as I said to Dave, the figure is perfectly acceptable as a generic thug. Seeing that Fergee is dead and I have no interest in doing time travel or alternative dimensions stories in my campaign, he seems destined to be used as a generic thug.
DeleteThe stories featuring Stan Lee certainly made a big impression on me. When Stan first beat Dredd I was hoping for a rematch and oh boy, it did not disappoint. Terrific stories and artwork.
He could also be used as a vigilante. Surely in the Big Meg there is at least one cit who would want to emulate a hero :) No need to do anything with his stats either.
DeleteActually, that's a very good point, Jason. Thanks for that suggestion.
DeleteLove the figure with the baseball bat. Really well painted. Thanks for sharing.
ReplyDeleteDEW
Thanks, DEW, I'm glad you liked him.
DeleteTHey look dynamic and colorful, great job!
ReplyDeleteCheers, Phil. Nice to hear from you.
DeleteFor variety these were probably enjoyable to paint as a group. A colourful crew loaded with character and places to include some flourishes with your blush. Because they are "set" pieces I can understand why you wouldn't want to include them in your campaign. The bios you included provided me with some additional history in the Dredd continuity so I appreciated that as well. Mortality levels lived up to expectations. I read your latest battle report (previous post) as well and continue to enjoy the story you are telling. Thanks.
ReplyDeleteThat's a very nice comment, HP. Thank you kindly.
DeleteLovely minis and brushwork. I am enjoying reading through there backgrounds on each post. Judge Dredd I am only sort of vaguely familiar with so its nice to appreciate the characters and when they starred alongside or against the LAW!
ReplyDeleteThanks, Simon. The background notes I include are precisely for people like you who are not overly familiar with the world of Judge Dredd. Seeing as he has been going for over 40 years, that's a lot to take in.
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