JDMG Illegal Aliens - Kleggs

Kleggs are most famous in Mega City One for their use by Chief Judge Cal in suppressing the rebellious population through sheer terror. However, Kleggs are known throughout the galaxy for being particularly vicious mercenaries. Willing to fight for anyone, they demand nothing more than fresh meat from their employers who will usually supply this from the enemies the Kleggs are crushing. It is an easy arrangement that suits both parties.
These mercenary bands roam the galaxy, looking for anyone disreputable enough to hire them. When business grows thin, they will quite happily invade a town, city or world on their own time, terrorising the local population before eating them. This is when the mercenaries become an invasion force. The Kleggs rarely stay long on any world as they pay keen attention to mounting resistance, usually departing when their prey receives reinforcements and the fighting gets serious. Kleggs enjoy a good fight as much as the next alien, but they much prefer to hunt down helpless prey than trade shots with heavily-armed and well-trained soldiers.
Most Kleggs are not blessed with an over-abundance of intelligence, but among them are the ruling high caste, Kleggs bred for their ability to think their way round problems, and fine-tuned with an education centred around military conquests. The presence of one of these can make a Klegg invasion force much more terrifying.
All of the figures I'm showing here were produced by Warlord Games for the Judge Dredd Miniatures Game and the stats for a Klegg invasion force can be found in the Blood on the Streets supplement (see page 114).

Wherever a Klegg invasion force appears, you can be sure the vicious Klegghounds will not be far behind. Gifted with an incredible sense of taste that allows them to track targets for miles, Klegghounds are adept at bringing down prey. These figures were cast in three parts - body, head and right arm.

In JDMG they are Level:0 Illegal Infantry Minions with three Special Rules. First is Klegg Master. You may only field as many Klegghounds as you have Kleggs in your force. A Klegghound may never move more than 12" away from a Klegg and if one finds itself further away, it may only make Move actions until it is within 12" again. Second is Nasty Bite, a melee attack that does 2 Damage with AP-2. Third is Sense of Taste. Few can hide from a Klegghound. The Klegghound will negate all Sneaky Does It Talents in the opposing force with the exception of The Shadow. A Klegghound costs 100 Credits to hire.

Grampus was the leader of the large Klegg invasion force that Chief Judge Cal employed to keep the streets of Mega City One clean. After the death of Deputy Judge Fish, Grampus was awarded the position in recognition of the work the Kleggs had done in bringing the entire city to heel. This awe-inspiring and imposing figure at the far left is much taller than all of the other Kleggs as befits such a member of the ruling caste. He is a Level:4 Illegal Infantry Hero, equipped with a Heavy Spit Gun and a Shell Jacket. His five Talents are Careless Charge, Dirty Fighting, Skilled and Deadly, This Is My Bite and Thundering Charge. He also has two Special Rules - Nasty Bite (as detailed above) and Ruling Caste, which allows all Kleggs and Klegghounds within 12" of him to re-roll any failed Will to Fight checks. Grampus costs 305 Credits.

Supporting Grampus are two Klegg Mercenaries armed with a Flamethrower in the centre and a Bludgeon Cannon at the far right. Both wear Shell Jackets. Both are Level:0 Illegal Infantry Minions but that will most likely change when I create their Character Record Sheets. They also have the Nasty Bite Special Rule (actually, all Kleggs have this rule). They cost 190 Credits each.

Here we have three rank and file Klegg Mercenaries, all armed with Heavy Spit Guns and all wearing Shell Jackets. Once again, they are Level:0 Illegal Infantry Minions. The Illegal classification means that Judges can attack them on sight without having to make arrest attempts first.

The Klegg in the centre of this group is also armed with a Cleaver, which raises his Credits score to 200. The other two are worth 190 Credits each.

I know how much everyone loves to see a group shot, so here is my small Klegg invasion force in its entirety. I'd love to be able to add to it, but even so, they will prove to be a formidable force to take on my current team of Judges. This is the complete range that Warlord Games produced but seeing as most of them came with separate heads it would be a simple task to swap them around to make different looking figures. I have no immediate plans for featuring them in my JDMG campaign but that does not mean they'll never appear. When the time is right they will arrive to cause trouble and mayhem. 😏

JDMG MC1 Mercenaries 03

I continue my reviews of Mercenaries who can be used in the Judge Dredd Miniatures Game. Of the three that I am showing here, only Rico Dredd has appeared in the Judge Dredd stories in 2000AD comic. The other two are characters I have created to use in my current campaign. All three were produced by Warlord Games.

At the far left is Rico Dredd, the clone brother of Judge Joseph Dredd, which is to say they were both cloned from the same genetic source, in their case Chief Judge Fargo. Rico was a superb Judge - he came top of his class in 2079, narrowly beating Joe, who came second. However, Rico had a bad streak in him that caused him to fall  from grace. He got involved in criminal activities, including extortion, assault and racketeering. When Joe witnessed Rico murder an innocent cafe owner who had refused to pay him protection money, Joe arrested him. Rico resisted arrest by opening fire, but the shots went wide. Given Rico's skill with a firearm, Joe would later posit the theory that Rico was trying to commit suicide by cop out of a deep disgust at what he had become, rather than trying to kill him. Whatever his motive, Rico was sentenced to twenty years hard labour on the prison colony of Titan, the largest moon of Saturn, where he grew to hate his brother. He was particularly angry that Joe didn't testify in his favour. After serving his time on Titan, Rico returned to Mega City One seeking revenge on Joe. Confronting him at his home, Rico challenged him to a duel to settle their differences, knowing that with his superior skills he could always outdraw his brother. However he had grown used to the weaker gravity of Titan after his twenty years there. This slowed him down by a split second and allowed Joe to shoot him dead. Carrying his brother's lifeless body out into the street, Joe declined a paramedic's offer of assistance, allowing the writer, Pat Mills, to conclude the story with a line from the Hollies song, "he ain't heavy - he's my brother!" Long after Rico's death, Joe would be haunted by his memory and Rico appeared to him in a number of flashbacks.

In JDMG, Rico is a powerful Level:9 Infantry Hero equipped with Bionic Lungs and armed with a Cursed Earth Eagle Pistol. His following 10 Talents are - Academy Star, Accurate, Close Combat Shooter, Crackshot, Crippling Fire, Dirty Fighting, Leg Shot, Pistol Whip, Rapid Fire and Situational Awareness. He costs 345 Credits. It is unlikely that I will use Rico in my campaign but I may well use the figure as another former Titan inmate with the same stats.

In the centre of this group is Willi Braun, aka the Sector 13 Slasher. Warlord Games sold him as a Juve with Club, but I decided to upgrade him to a Punk and make him a named character. Braun is a psychopath who murders his victims with a Las-Knife. He is a loner, but as a Punk Mercenary, he could be hired by a number of forces. I made him a Level:3 Punk Infantry Hero. His only weapon is his Las-Knife and he carries no other equipment or armour. His four Talents are - Skilled and Deadly, Smack-down, Stealthy and This is my Las-Knife. He costs 125 Credits. I thought the figure was far too good to relegate to generic Juve status, even though that is what Warlord Games marketed him as.
At the far right is Oleg "Ollie" Zhirkov, an East Meg Agent and Spy. East Meg Agents are highly motivated individuals, exceptionally well-trained, who will stop at nothing to complete their assigned missions. Be it assassination, sabotage or espionage, there is no one better than a good agent. Ollie is a Level:3 Illegal Infantry Hero, armed with a Knife and Handgun Pistol. I gave him the following four Talents - Accurate, Silent Action, Silent Killer and Stealthy. He also has the following Special Rule - Super Secret Agent Man, which grants him the Infiltrator Talent for free. He costs 145 Credits. One thing that bothers me about this figure is the waistcoat he is wearing has the hammer and sickle logo of Russia on its back. Would an East Meg Spy really wear that if working undercover? Or perhaps it is a double bluff?

JDMG MC1 Mercenaries 02

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.

JDMG MC1 Mercenaries 01

In the Judge Dredd Miniatures Game, mercenaries are most commonly used by a force when facing a stronger enemy. While mercenaries will allow players to always fight on an even scale, they are usually expensive to use and will always leave your force after their work is done. Some mercenaries are no better than common grunts, but can be used in vast numbers, while others are great heroes or celebrities, known across Mega City One and beyond. They are also a good way of gaining models that are not normally accessible in a force list. Whenever a player finds he is facing a force of greater points value in a campaign, he may use any number of mercenaries to bring his force into balance. Once a battle has been fought with mercenaries, they are removed from the force immediately - they never gain Experience Points. Mercenaries come in many different forms. Some are usable by the Justice Department, including such notable Heroes as Judge Dredd, Chief Judge Hershey and Psi Judge Anderson. Others are infamous perps such as the Executioner, Oola Blint, Orlok the Assassin, Sabbat and Stan Lee. And others are unnamed generic figures such as a Bat Burglar, Futsie, Robodoc or Vid Reporter. I'm going to showcase just a few of my own mercenaries in this post. All six figures were produced by Warlord Games.

First up is the Bat Burglar, whom I upgraded from a Level:0 Infantry Minion to a Level:1 Infantry Hero and gave him the name of Benny the Bat. Batting is a popular, if somewhat restricted, activity in Mega City One. Around blocks where it is permitted, citizens can be seen soaring the heights with rocket-assisted bat wings. Enterprising thieves have taken this hobby to heart, allowing them access to apartments on the highest lock levels to steal in through the exterior windows, which rarely have the same level of security as the block's interior. Benny is of course, equipped with his Bat Glider and is armed with a Handgun Pistol. His two Talents are Agile and Stealthy. Benny the Bat costs 130 Credits, whereas a Level:0 Infantry Minion Bat Burglar would cost 80 Credits.
Another flyer is the Lone Vigilante known as Megaman. Although he is usually treated as a force on his own, he can be hired by other forces as a mercenary to aid their cause. It takes a certain kind of nut to decide that they will do a better job of policing the streets of Mega City One than the Judges. These vigilantes prowl the streets at night, looking for cheap punks terrorising the decent people of the city. Most turn violent, becoming little better than the scum they pursue, but others genuinely believe they are on the side of Right, and it is not rare for them to adopt a superhero persona. I have made Megaman a Level:3 Infantry Hero Flyer. But whereas the Bat Burglar uses a high-tech gadget to fly, Megaman uses the Psionic ability of Telekinesis to fly. He is equipped with an Energy Shield (it can absorb 10 Hits of damage) and a Medi-Kit. His four Talents come from two lists. From the He Knows Kung Fu lists he has Martial Artist (he loses the Weak rule from Fists and Feet attacks) and Black Belt Martial Artist (he adds +2 damage to his Fists and Feet attacks). From the Telekinetic lists I chose Concussive Blast (every model within 5" of him must pass a Will test or suffer -1 to all dice rolls until the end of their next phase) and Levitate (as long as he makes a Melee or Move action after using this Talent he may move 12" up or down as well as his normal forward movement for the action). Megaman has 7 Psi Points and costs 375 Credits.

Third in line is a Punk called Rood Boy. The majority of street gangs in Mega City One are filled with cheap punks, petty criminals on the lookout for the one big score that will set them up for life. The average punk is selfish, mean and violent, though they often have some loyalty to the gang they have pledged themselves to. Rood Boy is a Level:0 Infantry Minion with no armour, equipment or weapons. His value is purely in making up the numbers of a gang that hires him. The figure shows him handcuffed to a holding post having been arrested for a minor offence. He'll soon be back out on the streets. Punks cost 20 Credits to hire.

Next up are three female mercenaries. At the left is The Executioner. Thrown out of the Academy of Law in her twelfth year for a liaison with a man she eventually married, Blanche Tatum became a vigilante known as The Executioner as she hunted down the gangsters responsible for her husband's death. Her crime spree came to an end when Judge Dredd eventually caught up with her. She is armed with a Handgun Pistol and carries no equipment or wears any armour. She is a level:2 Infantry Hero with three Talents - Academy Star, Accurate and Brave. She is incorrectly listed as being worth 75 Credits. Her actual cost should be 160 Credits. I plan on bringing her back in my JDMG campaign as a different person but wearing the same outfit and using the same name of The Executioner.
In the centre of this trio is Oola Blint. A strikingly beautiful woman, Oola became the Angel of Mercy, visiting the lonely, the desperate and the dejected to grant them the sweet release of a dignified death - whether they wanted it or not!  Her identity was finally discovered by Judge Dredd in Shake-down during a raid on an apartment block when crime levels in said block were at an all-time high. However, she escaped to Brit-Cit (via Oz) with her husband, Homer, and opened a legal euthanasia clinic. Much to Homer's dismay, however, Oola began murdering people again (leading to Dredd being sent to Brit-Cit to investigate): she revealed her motive to be a sham when she admitted that killing was not the same when the victims "want it". She also revealed she intended to kill him as well, as a present for Christmas. Homer informed the Brit-Cit Judges and they and Dredd raided the Blint's apartment block, but Oola had already fled after injecting her husband. Dredd managed to save his life and continued his pursuit. Oola willingly give herself up and both Blints were incarcerated for life for their crimes, in a couples block – but Oola refused to talk to Homer any more. Oola is a Level:1 infantry Hero with two Talents - Accurate and Stealthy. She is armed with a Poison Gun, which works the same way as a Handgun but if it causes any Hits to be deducted from an Infantry target (not a Robot) that model will automatically lose 1 Hit at the start of every subsequent turn until a Medi-Kit is used on it. If a critical hit is caused by the Poison Gun, the affected model will lose 2 Hits at the start of every turn instead. Oola costs 70 Credits.

Finally, is a very powerful mercenary - the Pyrokine. Having spent most of her life hiding from the Justice Department's Psi-Division, the Pyrokine nevertheless has powerful abilities at her command, and has learned how to survive. On the streets of Mega City One these abilities command a high value. The Pyrokine is closely related to the Telekine in mental ability, but instead of concentrating on mind over matter, she focuses on mind over energy. By agitating particles in any solid object, the Pyrokine can cause fire to spring up spontaneously. The Pyrokine is a Level:7 Infantry Hero with a Psi score of 15. Her eight Talents are Concentrated Mind, Flaming Shroud, Incinerating Finger, Pyrokinetic Burst, Resist Flames, Silent Action, Stealthy and The Power Within. I have yet to give my Pyrokine a name. I was thinking something descriptive like Helen Burns, but I might go in the opposite direction and give her a less cliched name. I welcome any suggestions. The Pyrokine costs 225 Credits.