Vampifans Views 100 - Monthly Musings 72

It's my end of the month musings and also my 100th Vampifan's Views post and 100th post of 2017. Yay! 😊 This month's Vampirella picture offering is by Tim Sale, who has done a lot of work for DC Comics and Marvel Comics. I don't have a lot to say about it other than I like it. Tim has certainly given Vampi a most impressive cleavage!

This year, Christmas was a strange affair for me as it was the first time I have spent it on my own. My mother, whom I live with and care for, has been very ill this past year and has spent more time in hospital than at home. Sadly, she was kept in hospital over the festive period. I did spend a couple of hours with her on the afternoon of Christmas Day, which cheered us both up a lot. But it was not the same being all alone the rest of the time. I do think that if she survives 2018, it will be a miracle, but who knows what the future might bring?

My mum gave me a big cheque for me to buy whatever I wanted for my Christmas presents and I spent it on gaming stuff, paying for two Kickstarter projects I backed in December. With the recent release of Necromunda by Games Workshop, I am devoting a lot of my time to that game by building up a large collection of scenery. The official scenery by GW is very nice but far too expensive, so I've been looking for cheaper alternatives and the best deal, in my opinion, are the Industrial Hive Complex sets produced by TT Combat. Check these three sets out.

TT Combat Industrial Complex Set 1

TT Combat Industrial Complex Set 2

TT Combat Industrial Complex Set 3

They just scream Necromunda, don't they? These three sets cost £43.95, £40.95 and £38.95 respectively. You can pay as much as £70.00 for just one platform item (the Promethium Refinery set) from GW, so this is a considerable saving. I was going to wait until mid-December to order these in time for Christmas but ended up buying all three sets on the Black Friday/Cyber Monday weekend. The reason being, if you ordered them on that weekend you'd also receive an exclusive Escher ganger and Goliath ganger figure as well. These two figures are beautifully cast in resin and will be unbelievably rare. I'm busy painting them up right now so I'll showcase them very soon. My TT Combat sets were put away and I didn't open them until Christmas Day. I also ordered a few other official Necromunda scenery items from Wayland Games, because they offer them at 20% discount on most GW items. So I guess you could say I've had a Necromunda Christmas. Of course these scenery items will also see use in my Judge Dredd Miniatures Game and in my N.E.W. games.

Currently on my painting desk are the new Goliath gangers for Necromunda and some more Weird West figures. I have recently finished painting some figures for Judge Dredd, the Skinwalkers faction for Dracula's America and a lot of miniature starships as I build up my fleets for my The Ace of Spades Campaign using the N.E.W. role-playing rules. I think the reason that my painting output has increased so dramatically this past year is because I've spent so long at home on my own. Not having to care for my mother has given me a lot more free time to devote to my hobby.

Looking back on 2017, I'd say it has been a great year for me hobby-wise, possibly the best ever. There were a few highlights for me and the one I'm most proud of is that I posted more batreps in this year since I began blogging way back in 2009. I started off in January with my Judge Dredd Miniatures Game campaign, which used the Comic Life format to great effect. Expect to see more of this campaign in 2018. In June I spent a most enjoyable weekend in the company of Dave Stone of Wargames Terrain Workshop and he introduced me to his Death Match sci-fi gladiatorial game. Also in that month I took part in the Forgotten Heroes challenge. I originally planned on sculpting the two human characters from the Bug Hunters comic strip but surpassed my expectations by converting the four robots as well.

Kimberley Wells, the sexy and charismatic captain of The Ace of Spades.

In July I began a new blog devoted to the What's Old Is New role-playing games. This quickly became a labour of love for me as I created a unique sci-fi setting in which to set a long running campaign featuring the all female crew of The Ace of Spades independent scout ship. The first scenario of the campaign ran to 16 parts, which was a mammoth undertaking on my part but by far and away my favourite gaming experience of 2017. Indeed, I have to say that playing that scenario was my favourite gaming experience ever! Everything about it worked so well - the figures, the scenery and most of all, the story. It also introduced me to starship combat, something I had never done before. I enjoyed it so much that I am now building up a large collection of starships to use in future scenarios. Suffice to say, there will be a lot more stories to tell in this campaign throughout 2018, starting with the next chapter in January.

That was the past. So what of the future? What are my plans for 2018? Pretty much more of the same, which means more figure reviews and more batreps. As I said above, the Judge Dredd Miniatures Game campaign and The Ace of Spades Campaign will continue. I hope to do some batreps for Rumbleslam and Necromunda, although the latter will have to wait until I get the Escher and Goliath gangs painted as well as the scenery items. I also hope to be able to finally get some Weird West games played. I am slowly building up a collection of Wild West buildings, most of which are produced by 4Ground. By Easter, I should have enough made to run a small skirmish, either with the Dracula's America or High Moon rules.

All that remains is to wish you all a very happy New Year. I hope it's a good one for you.

Vampifan's Views 95 - Monthly Musings 68

Hello and welcome to another of my Monthly Musings. This month's Vampirella picture is the second of a series of three paintings by Bo Hampton featuring Vampirella and Batman. I'm not sure why Vampi is hitching a ride on Batman's back when she can fly! Perhaps she wants to keep that ability a secret from the Caped Crusader.

Once again, I have had a very prolific month hobby-wise. I managed to finish painting my figures for the Death Match sci-fi gladiatorial game, although I'm still missing a few monsters. That will hopefully be rectified next month.

There are two games that I'm currently very passionate about - Dracula's America and N.E.W. I have a load of Weird West 28mm scale figures on my painting table right now, including some of the official Dracula's America figures and some Shadows of Brimstone figures, which are almost done.  I have bought quite a few Weird West figures this past month, including 5 vampires from New Line Miniatures, 13 assorted Wild West figures from the Reaper Chronoscope range (10 humans and 3 zombie miners), and I also backed a short run Kickstarter (it only lasted four days) by Bad Squiddo Games called My Last Sunrise, which contained 7 vampires, 6 vampire hunters and 2 monsters. I'm expecting delivery of them within the next few days as Annie wanted to get the figures out very quickly and she very kindly e-mailed me last night to tell me the figures were on their way. I've also been buying and making more Old West buildings from 4Ground. They are currently offering the Rogan's Bar and Bunkhouse complete set for £22.00 instead of £47.50, which was too good a bargain for me to pass by.

Rogan's Bar and Bunkhouse photo taken from the 4Ground website

Every Wild West town needs at least one saloon and this is my first. For that price, I was very pleased to buy it, as it is quite a big kit. By the way, my building looks a lot better than the one shown in the photo above because I paint all of the dark brown edges to match their surrounding colours. It makes my buildings look more realistic and less like a model kit. It is time consuming and fiddly (especially painting the window frames) but well worth the effort in the end. I'm slowly building up a nice collection of Wild West buildings (all from 4Ground so far) but I'd like a few more before I start posting any batreps.

The other game that I'm really enjoying playing is N.E.W. by EN Publishing. Yes, I have set up another blog, which is dedicated to the What's Old Is New role-playing games (see here - https://vampifanwoin.blogspot.co.uk/ ). So why am I mentioning it here? I recently played a big game using the N.E.W. rules that I want to bring to your attention. It was based on the introductory scenario, A Meeting of Metal from the Warlord Games Doctor Who skirmish game - Exterminate! I converted the stats for the Cybermen and the Daleks to N.E.W. and played a most enjoyable game that must have been unique, because I don't know of anyone else who has played Exterminate! with the N.E.W. rules. Now I know that most of you are not fans of N.E.W. and I'm fine with that. But I also know that quite a few of you are Doctor Who fans, and so it is to you that I'm giving this heads up. I'll be posting part 1 of this batrep in a few days time, so if you want to give it a view please drop by at my WOIN blog. Here is a photo of the initial set up.

Twelve Cybermen versus seven Daleks as they battle to control the most Vortex Nodes. Who will win?
I did think that working on two blogs would have had a bigger impact on the number of posts I put out per month but actually, the numbers are very good. Seven posts for my Undead blog and eight posts for my WOIN blog this month is way above average for a month. I guess it helped that I already had 10 posts all fully prepared before I even posted the first one for my WOIN blog. It is unlikely that I'll be posting any Monthly Musings on my WOIN blog, so expect some crossover content in future Monthly Musings on this blog. The WOIN Blog has been well received so far. I was extremely delighted to have Russ Morrissey, the author of O.L.D. and N.E.W. as one of my first followers. He asked me if I had thought of publishing my The Ace of Spades Campaign as a book, which I hadn't, but now that he has put the idea into my head it won't let go. It won't happen soon but once I'm well into the campaign I will give it serious consideration. I'd also like to give a big shout out and thank you to Andy, Dave and Greg as the only three followers who have commented on every post so far. Thanks, guys, your enthusiastic support is greatly appreciated.
Just as I have been buying quite a few new figures for my Weird West games, the same is true for my N.E.W. games. I have recently bought a fair few 28mm scale figures from the Alternative Armies range of Ganesha Games sci-fi range and from the Space Vixens From Mars range of sci-fi figures. Most of these have already been painted. In addition, my range of miniature starships has grown considerably. My package of 30 starships from the Stars Reach Kickstarter by Twilight Game Designs arrived and I have also bought 10 merchant ships from Brigade Models (they have a huge range of starships). Starship combat is something I'm very keen to try out when I start my The Ace of Spades Campaign. I'm not planning on any large scale fleet battles (that doesn't mean it might not happen!) but I'll mainly be concentrating on small scale skirmishes involving The Ace of Spades.
The one thing I am most looking forward to in September is taking delivery of my Battle Systems Sci-fi Terrain sets. I made a huge pledge for this Kickstarter last year and I can't wait to get my hands on these new sets. The Urban Apocalypse sets that I already have are superb and are much loved by me. With these new sci-fi sets my Judge Dredd games will be vastly improved and of course, the new sets will feature heavily in my The Ace of Spades Campaign. I'm expecting delivery of them in the next week or two. Oh, happy days!

Battle Systems Sci-Fi Terrain Set - this is all you get in just one set. I ordered lots of sets! Mega City One, here I come!

Thanks for reading and take care.

Vampifan's Views 94 - Monthly Musings 67

Once again, it has been another busy month for me, with much accomplished and much to chat about. First up, I present the first of a series of illustrations featuring Vampirella and Batman together. The artist is Bo Hampton and he has depicted Vampirella as she appeared in the 1970's during the Warren Publishing era. Seeing as they both tend to hunt their prey during the night, it might seem an obvious team up but in fact, they have not met before. However, Vampirella did once appear in a crossover comic with Catwoman, so she does have some connection with DC Comics' Gotham City. Somehow, I just can't see Vampi and Batman getting along together very well.

As you will have noted from my recent posts, I have been painting a lot of figures from Warlord Games' Doctor Who: Into the Time Vortex range; in particular, Cybermen and Daleks. There is more Doctor Who goodness still to come real soon. "Cough," Missy, "Cough!" Speaking of Doctor Who, I know that the TV series has a lot of fans from amongst my followers, but no one has said anything about the casting of the new Doctor - Jodie Whittaker. So I'm going to be the first to stick my head above the parapet, so to speak, and offer my opinion.

Personally, I think it is an excellent choice and I am very excited about the new series. I have absolutely no problems with the Doctor regenerating into a woman. After all, a precedent was set when the Master regenerated into Missy, and she was superb. I am also delighted that Jodie was chosen as I have a lot of respect for her and I've enjoyed all of her previous performances that I've seen. I am also glad that the fan speculation that the Thirteenth Doctor might be Kris Marshall or Tilda Swinton was so wide of the mark. Neither of them would have been good choices in my opinion. I am also glad to have seen the last of Bill Potts and Nardole (or Nardull as I often called him), neither of whom I liked. I rated them amongst the worst of the Doctor's companions. I will, however, miss Peter Capaldi, who was, I thought, one of the better Doctors to have appeared in the series. Still, exciting times ahead and I am so very much looking forward to this year's Christmas Day special.

At the start of this month I ran a review of the three Scavengers figures produced by Wargames Terrain Workshop (see here ). I mentioned that I was going to repaint the skin of the very tall female and that I would take another photo, which showed the the three figures alongside a standard 28mm scale figure, so that you could judge just how tall Dave Stone's sculpts are. Here is that photo.

I much prefer the tall female (alien or mutant?) with her blue skin now. My figure of Vampifan (at the far right) by Copplestone Castings is exactly 28mm tall and provides a handy reference point for you to compare sizes with. I did add this photo to the original post but I very much doubt if anyone noticed it.

My big news for this month is that I have started a new blog, called Vampifan's WOIN Blog. Here is the link to it - https://vampifanwoin.blogspot.co.uk/ I won't go into much detail about it here as I'd only be repeating what I've already said in my introductory post. Suffice to say, the blog is dedicated to the What's Old Is New RPG systems by EN Publishing. I have put a lot of work into this new blog and I already have ten posts ready to publish. I'll be alternating my posts between my two blogs, which means that Vampifan's World of the Undead will most likely only be appearing once per week instead of twice. However, I have so much material for both blogs that I may increase my blogging frequency to three times per week. We'll see if I can spare the extra time. I doff my hat to Clint Burnett and Phil Curran, who were eagle-eyed enough to note that I've been advertising my new blog in the sidebar of this blog for over a week now and both are my first two followers.

Here's a teaser photo showing my figures of the crew of The Ace of Spades, who'll be featuring in a truly epic space opera-type campaign I'll be running on the new blog, using the N.E.W. sci-fi RPG rules. Check it out if you're at all interested or feel free to ignore it if it's not your cup of tea.

Vampifan's Views 92 - Monthly Musings 65

Reflection of Vampirella by Mike Mayhew

I have had a great month, which I can't wait to tell you about. But first, I begin as always, with a portrait of my beloved Vampirella. This stunning piece was painted by Mike Mayhew, a highly talented comic artist, whose work has featured on a few of my previous blog postings.

So, what have I been working on these past four weeks? On the painting and modelling front, I have mainly been concentrating on my N.E.W. sci-fi campaign. I have repainted and rebased a lot of my old sci-fi figures so that I can use them in this new venture. I have also been buying some new figures of alien races to use in the campaign. The heroes of the campaign will be the all female crew of "The Ace of Spades" scout ship. They are all completed and I have photographed them so that I can show them to you soon. The miniature starship I'm using for "The Ace of Spades" has been painted and based.

To help aid in any starship combats I may do in the campaign, I bought a 3' by 3' stars mousepad gaming mat made of synthetic cloth from Deep Cut Studios. I'm a huge fan of these types of gaming mats. I paid a bit extra to have a hex grid printed on the mat, which they did in a very subtle, understated manner. You have to look very closely to see the hex grid. Note that the photo to the left of here is of the 6' by 4' mat without the hex grid, but it gives you a good idea of what the mat looks like.
In addition to this, I have also been churning out NPC record sheets and printed gaming aids. There is a lot of work to do when setting up a sci-fi role-playing campaign but I am extremely enthusiastic about this project that it is all time well spent.

Just over a week ago I received this bundle of Doctor Who goodies from Warlord Games, containing the Exterminate! miniatures skirmish game, which pits the Cybermen against the Daleks, and the two expansion packs featuring Davros and 12 more Daleks and Missy and 12 more Cybermen. Davros and Missy are metal figures, whilst the Cybermen and Daleks are multi-piece plastic kits, that can snap together very easily. As most gamers will probably do, I glued mine together. Despite some criticism of how awkward the Daleks were to assemble, I had no problems with mine. They all fitted together perfectly. The Cybermen come with three different bodies and three different right arms, allowing for lots of variety. Although the Daleks are all in the same pose, I found it very easy to bend their eye-stalks,  manipulator arms and weapon arms to give them some variety as well. Plus, you can paint leader or named Daleks in different colours. I haven't played the game yet but having read the rules, it looks like a simple game to play. The rules remind me a lot of the Project Z rules (also by Warlord Games), which I was highly critical of. Until I actually play a game or two I'll keep an open mind on the rules. I certainly can't fault the figures. They are all beautiful sculpts. Incidentally, the rules do allow for the inclusion of the Doctor and his companions and a few alien races (Judoon, Silence and Zygons).

I forgot to mention in last month's musings that I had been invited to take part in Tim's (aka Dark Eyed Warrior) Pathfinder fantasy campaign called "Keep on the Borderland". It is a very long time since I did any fantasy role-playing and whilst I have never played Pathfinder before, it shares much in common with Advanced Dungeons and Dragons, so I wasn't too far out of my depth. I play a mightily strong 1st Level human fighter called Per, who has only recently joined the party of adventurers in their quest to clear a passage through the Menador Mountains for caravans to travel safely between the five towns that border the pass. You can read about how the party is getting on here - http://wargamersparadise.blogspot.co.uk/
Tim weaves a fascinating tale in his play by e-mail campaign and I'm thoroughly enjoying the experience, simply because it is such a huge departure for me.

Without a doubt, the highlight of the month was getting to meet Dave Stone, the head of Wargames  Terrain Workshop. As readers of this blog will know, I'm a huge fan of Dave's work and he kindly agreed to come and visit me so that we could spend a full day gaming and chatting. Dave is every bit as enthusiastic about our hobby as I am, and was a great conversationalist. He told me of many of his plans for future projects, which whilst I was not sworn to secrecy about, I'd rather keep quiet about until Dave is ready to reveal the relevant info. Suffice to say, I was drooling at the prospect of just what is planned!

We got to play two games during a very late evening session. The first game was Dave's sci-fi gladiatorial game called Death Match, which has only just been released on his webstore. This game really appealed to me. Dave kindly sent me a pre-release copy of the rules to play-test, which I did. I even made my own Death Match arena. I ordered the four-player game from Dave, which he brought with him to save posting it to me. What was even better, he also brought along all of his painted figures for the game. WOW! I was gob-smacked at A) how well painted they were (you can tell that Dave is a master painter) and B) just how tall many of them are. Believe me, the photos on his webstore give you no indication of how tall they actually are. For example, the female Arachnid must be about 4-5" in diameter and 2-3" tall. She is a beast in every sense of the word!
So, we played a game with Dave taking a Ceratid male (a rhino-like humanoid) and me taking a Scabendi male (a reptilian humanoid). And, yes, we did use Dave's painted figures. Before we began, Dave told me he always got beat at Death Match, especially when playing against his wife. Well, it was to be Dave's lucky night because things went bad for me from the start, rolling double ones for my activation (the worst possible result!) and proceeded to go downhill from there. I was soundly beaten by Dave, but I can't complain. He was by far, the better player on the night, and I refuse to blame my bad dice rolling.
I plan on giving this excellent little skirmish game a full review on my blog in the near future. I just want to get my figures painted for it first. I also plan on investing heavily in this game. I especially want the full 3D arena Dave is hoping to bring out for it. Dave has also told me about the new expansion races he wants to add, and one of them, the feline race, has me very excited.
The second game we played was the Judge Dredd Miniatures Game. This was a continuation of my campaign and I let Dave play the Justice Department (led, of course, by Judge Stone) and I played the perps. Full details will appear in my next post as another Comic Life batrep. This was the first time Dave had played this game and he took to it very well.
It is unusual for me to get any visitors, seeing as I live so far north, and even rarer to have a gaming friend come visit, so I'm sure you can imagine just what a thrill this was for me. Dave was the perfect guest and I'm sure this visit will cement our friendship even further. It will certainly linger in my memory for a very long time. Dave, mate, you more than made my day - you made my year!

Finally, I haven't forgotten about the prize draw competition I set a couple of weeks ago. I'll post the results of the winners some time in June, just in case anyone else still wants to enter. One change I am prepared to make, seeing as some entrants came from abroad, is that if you'd prefer a straight cash prize instead of a gift voucher I can do that providing you have a PayPal account. This also applies to UK-based entrants. Have fun and thanks for reading!

Vampifan's Views 90 - Monthly Musings 64

This month's Vampirella illustration was drawn by comics artist, Jae Lee, and shows Vampirella with Dracula and two of his concubines. Vampirella is not actually present in the room - that is just an image of her that Dracula has conjured, which is why her head is slightly translucent.

Well, once again, I have had an incredibly busy month. I have finished painting the heroes from the first two factions for my Rum and Bones game - the undead Bone Devils and the English pirates, the Wellsport Brotherhood. I hope to review them soon. They were a lot of fun to paint and very different from what I normally paint.

I've been buying some more figures for Shadows of Brimstone - heroes and monsters and I have a bunch of them on my painting desk right now. With me concentrating so heavily on my Judge Dredd Miniatures Game campaign, Shadows of Brimstone has taken a back seat for the moment but it is not totally forgotten about.

Speaking of JDMG, I have finally managed to buy all of the figures for this range that Warlord Games had on general sale. eBay has been a huge help, and I certainly haven't paid over the odds for any of the figures I have bought from there. Indeed, many of them were cheaper than Warlord Games' recommended retail prices. The last set that completed my collection was the boxed set of 5 Judda, which I got for under £20, making it much cheaper than the RRP. It feels really amazing to have such a complete collection. Coupled with my already existing huge collection of sci-fi figures, the sky is the limit for what I can do in my JDMG campaign. A new batrep is in the offing, which will see the introduction of a new member to Judge Scott's team - PSI Judge Justine Devereux. I have had a few requests to add a female PSI Judge to the team, so I hope she'll prove a worthy asset. Judge Scott will be assessing her performance.

One game in particular has really captured my imagination this past month and that is N.E.W. the sci-fi role-playing game by EN Publishing that uses the What's Old Is New rules. I bought it mainly to check out the rules prior to the launch of the Judge Dredd & The Worlds of 2000 AD Tabletop Adventure Game. But I became so enamoured with N.E.W. that I have decided to start a new sci-fi campaign using many of the player characters from my old and very long-running Space Opera campaign. I have converted the stats for the all female crew of the scout-ship The Ace of Spades and also created some new ones. I have charted out the star system the game will start off in - it's centred around our planet Earth. What I particularly love about this game is that it shares the complexity of GURPS but the rules are much more simplified. It very much focuses on character development, giving each PC a living story that makes them jump off the page. These heroes are far more than a set of numbers and stats. They live, they breathe and they have backstories. I love it! Indeed, I can foresee WOIN becoming my all time favourite role playing game and my "go to" set of rules for any RPG campaign I run in the future.

The game has also had me doing two things I never thought would happen to me. First up, I have actually sculpted some new 28mm scale figures this month. Unbelievable! I thought my sculpting days were long gone, but sometimes you need a certain figure that no-one else sells. Sure, I still do lots of converting, but that is not the same as sculpting a figure from scratch. The figures are finished but not yet painted. I'll review them later.
Secondly, I have started collecting miniature starships to use in small scale ship to ship combats. I have started with the excellent, and very cheap, set of 12 plastic starships sold by EM4 Miniatures. Twelve ships for just £2.55 seemed like a great place to start, and best of all, they're all different. That's them to the right, and I've circled the ship I'm using for The Ace of Spades in red.
For those of you wondering (Simon, I'm particularly thinking of you!) I do not plan on collecting any Star Trek ships, or any Star Wars ships, or rules sets for either franchise. The ship to ship combat rules in N.E.W. are simple enough for my needs and what I especially like about them is that most PCs on a ship has a role to play in the combat.

However, I did succumb to a new Kickstarter that opened earlier this month - Stars Reach pewter starship miniatures by Twilight Game Designs. Here's the link to it -  https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/twilightgamedesigns/stars-reach-space-ship-miniatures/description The ships in all three factions, but in particular, the Human Commonwealth ships, greatly appeal to me and fit in well with my plans for my N.E.W. campaign. Check out the pictures below if you don't want to click on the link.

An unexpected bonus for backing this Kickstarter is that Ed, from Two Hours Wargames, is offering a free PDF of the 5150: Star Navy rules to anyone who makes a pledge for all three factions. I did and Ed has already honoured his promise. THW is one of four companies actively supporting this project, although the factions will be renamed for use in 5150. I will actually be renaming the factions for my own upcoming campaign.
I have never played any starship combat games before, so this is something I am very much looking forward to but I suspect in my N.E.W. campaign The Ace of Spades will do more running and hiding than actual fighting. That said, for its size, it is well armed, well armoured and has a cloaking device fitted, which will prove extremely useful in keeping it hidden.
I suspect that May is going to be an even busier month for me. I hope so because I'm feeling incredibly well right now. If I could bottle my mojo I'd make a fortune! Thanks for reading and take care.

New Judge Dredd and 2000 AD Tabletop Adventure Games announced!

Quite possibly, the most exciting news I have read this year was this announcement from the 2000 AD website. 

"EN Publishing, under license with Rebellion, are developing a range of Tabletop Adventure Games and supplements based on the iconic characters and worlds found in the legendary British comic 2000 AD.
“2000 AD has forty years of rich history and storytelling and this worldwide license allows us to explore those characters and stories and bring them to the tabletop” Angus Abranson, Business Manager of EN Publishing said.
The first release will be Judge Dredd & The Worlds of 2000 AD Tabletop Adventure Game, a full colour hard-cover book which contains the core ‘Worlds of 2000 AD’ rules as well as setting information enabling the players to not only play Judges, but also civilians and perps, in Mega City One.
“The rules system we’re using is our own WOIN (What’s Old Is New) engine that also powers our N.E.W. – The Science Fiction Role-playing Game which spent some time as the #1 best seller on RPGNow” said system designer and EN Publishing Owner, Russ Morrissey. “The system is incredibly flexible and can cater seamlessly for the Celtic environs of Slaine to spacefaring hi-jinks of the Ace Trucking Co.”
Judge Dredd & The Worlds of 2000 AD will be followed by a series of adventure sourcebooks giving players and Game Masters the opportunity to play through the story arcs that made Judge Dredd such an enduring character.
“We’ll be publishing a series of books, starting with The Robot Wars, which will not only allow players and GMs to play through the events that took place in the comic arc, but also add to the game setting with additional rules or source material relevant to the period or location. So, for instance, Robot characters will be expanded in The Robot Wars whilst in Luna-1 we’ll be providing detailed information on the moon colony and life there” Nick Robinson, Line Developer for the Worlds of 2000 AD Tabletop Adventure Game said. “The idea is to move chronologically through the classic story arcs in the 2000 AD Progs providing adventures for not only Judges, but for those players who may wish to explore the Dredd universe from a different perspective – that of a Civilian or even a Perp. Each book will contain a core adventure, mini-adventures based upon the other story arcs at the time, as well as expanded setting and rules information.”
In addition to the support material for the Judge Dredd campaign a series of ‘Campaign Guides’ are planned which will cover other 2000 AD settings.
“There is such a vast wealth of exciting characters and worlds to explore in the 2000 AD stable that it’d be criminal not to explore them. By using the core rules in Judge Dredd & The Worlds of 2000 AD rulebook we can then create a range of Campaign Guides that give you setting information, adventures, new careers, etc, across a host of titles. Worlds of 2000 AD : ABC Warriors, Worlds of 2000 AD : Indigo Prime, Worlds of 2000 AD : Nikolai Dante, Worlds of 2000 AD : Rogue Trooper, with the depth of the 2000 AD catalogue we literally have universes to play with.” Angus Abranson said.
Writing and development is well under way with writer Darren Pearce (Doctor Who; Lone Wolf) working on the core rulebook alongside Russ Morrissey and Nick Robinson, with additional content from Robert Schwalb (Dungeons & Dragons; Warhammer Fantasy Role-play), whilst Andrew Peregrine (Doctor Who; Firefly; Buffy The Vampire Slayer) is writing The Robot Wars."

About EN Publishing
EN Publishing is the publishing arm of EN World, the leading tabletop RPG news website and community and the company behind the EN World Gen Con RPG Awards ("ENnies"). EN Publishing has published over 300 titles including the critically acclaimed War of the Burning Sky and ZEITGEIST adventure paths, the popular EN5ider online magazine for 5th Edition Dungeons & Dragons, and the WOIN (What's OLD is NEW) role-playing game system. https://www.worldsof2000adrpg.com
About 2000 AD
2000 AD is the legendary weekly British anthology comic and home of Judge Dredd, as well as a galaxy of original sci-fi, fantasy, and horror action stars. As well as producing innovative and provocative comics for 40 years, it has brought the industry some of its biggest talents, from Alan Moore, Grant Morrison, and Mark Millar, to Jock, Brian Bolland, Dave Gibbons, and many more. Published in print and digital every Wednesday, 2000 AD is the galaxy’s Greatest Comic and remains at the industry’s cutting edge. http://www.2000adonline.com/

This is so cool! Not only are we getting a brand new Judge Dredd RPG but also supplements for many other 2000AD stories. After reading the announcement I then began to wonder who are EN publishing and what is WOIN like? I'd never heard of either of them. To save time on explaining just what WOIN is, check out this intro from their website - http://www.woinrpg.com/about-whats-old-is-new/
Okay, so I was intrigued. I was developing a good feeling about these games. But I wanted to know more and so, I downloaded the three free intros to the OLD, NOW and NEW gaming systems. As soon as I read them I knew this was a system I wanted to delve into deeply. The system that intrigued me the most was the sci-fi rules - NEW. EN Publishing had collected the five core rule books for it - Future Characters, Future Equipment, Future Core Rules, Space and Universe Building - into one handy book available as a hardback book and/or PDF file. I ordered the hardback book but also got the PDF as a freebie, as it was on sale. See here - http://www.wargamevault.com/product/191271/NEW-The-Science-Fiction-Roleplaying-Game?src=hottest_filtered
I was expecting a long wait for the book to arrive but it came within four days of ordering it. First impressions were highly favourable. Having read it from cover to cover I can highly recommend it. My yardstick for how good a role-playing game is this, how does it compare to GURPS, my all-time favourite RPG? In so many respects, it is better. It is certainly a lot easier to learn and to play but it still has a level of detail that I love to see.
So, I am delighted that Rebellion and EN Publishing have teamed up. I am extremely confident the 2000 AD franchise is in safe hands and that the new books will all be winners. This will be a much better game to play than the deeply flawed Mongoose D20 rules (superb background material but utter pants gameplay. I played it once with a group of four experienced gamers and we ripped the rules to shreds!).
I don't have a definitive date for when Judge Dredd & The Worlds of 2000 AD Tabletop Adventure Game will be produced but it ought to be later this year. I would expect the price for it to be around the same price as for the NEW hardback rulebook - roughly £40.00. The sooner it is released, the better as far as I'm concerned.😊
I was going to wrap this post up here, but something else crossed my mind. It was announced a couple of months ago that Warlord Games have acquired the licence from Rebellion to produce 28mm scale figures for all 2000 AD titles, and that they will be producing games to go with the figures. So how does this effect these new 2000 AD game-books from EN Publishing? Firstly, I suspect that the rules that Warlord Games are going to produce will be for skirmish wargamers, pretty much as the current Judge Dredd Miniatures Game is. After all, Warlord Games are a company who specialise in wargames. They are not noted for producing role-playing games. So the products from both companies should sit side by side very well with one company concentrating on the wargaming aspect and the other on the role-playing experience. Secondly, one of the WOIN developers said he was happy to promote the new 2000 AD range of figures from Warlord Games. That is very promising and I'm heartened to see one company supporting the other.
Finally, what impact will the new RPG have on my existing JDMG campaign? Quite simply, none whatsoever. The JDMG campaign is here to stay. It won't be replaced when the RPG rules are released. However, I will run a separate campaign based on the WOIN rules, which will concentrate less heavily on combat and more on investigations of crimes and character interactions and development. I really am incredibly excited about these new developments. Bring it on!