Life of Die: The Blog: Judge Dredd

Showing posts with label Judge Dredd. Show all posts

Judge Dredd Miniatures Game: Expanding The Gang

Introduction: One of the things I really enjoyed about the Judge Dredd Miniatures Game was how the Deeds system enables characters to grow and become more powerful. With the Judges already having comprehensive options for promotion, I thought it might be fun to expand the options for the faction most likely to oppose the Judges: the Block Gang. The Chip Cap limit was also on my mind as it encourages the use of more Star Chip characters in a perp force, so more options on that front to fill the Block Gang's ranks would be helpful - and would present the Judges with a real challenge!

Obviously there are some named characters pictured here. Feel free to use whichever models from your collection best represent the new characters.

New Characters and their Ranks:

Henchman: Rank 4
Triggerman: Rank 4
Racket Leader: Rank 5
Bodyguard: Rank 5
Blitz Agent: Rank 5
Overlord: Rank 6

As usual, the ranking system and promotion works as set out in the rulebook. They may also be bought for the required Notoriety without having to rely on promotions. As usual, the Notoriety cost only allows you to field the character and that you still have to pay additional Notoriety to arm them from the weapons available to the Block Gang as per the list on page 95 of the rulebook. Let's take a closer look at the new characters:

Rank 4:

Henchman

Move: 6" Shoot: 3 Fight: 4(+1) Evade: 0 Resist: 4 Cool: 4 Notoriety: 11

Skills: Brawler, Drokk The Stinkin' Jays! Cyborg Punch/Kick/Head-Butt (+1 Fight)

Notes: Basically, these are the brutes of the gang, not too clever in the smarts department which means they are slow to react (with a 0 Evade) - but they're also hard to put down. They often boost their fighting prowess by having cyborg implants grafted to them, such as a steel plate in their skull or an entire limb replaced. You can reduce their Notoriety by 1 if you forego the Cyborg enhancements.

Triggerman

Move: 6" Shoot: 4 Fight: 3 Evade: 2 Resist: 3 Cool: 4 Notoriety: 11

Skills: Gunfighter, Drokk The Stinkin' Jays

Notes: These gunfighters favour bullets over braun and have become proficient enough in their art that they are capable of duelling with Judges in bullet-time!

Rank 5:

Racket Leader

Move: 6" Shoot 4 Fight: 4 Evade: 2 Resist: 4 Cool: 4 Notoriety: 14

Skills: Brawler or Gunfighter, C'mon you lily-livered scumsuckers, Drokk the Stinkin' Jays, What the Spug?

What the Spug?: If another friendly model is within 3" of the Racket Leader when they are attacked, they can switch places with the friendly model and let it take the attack in their place.

Notes: A racket leader is basically the next level for a promoted Gang Lieutenant. Because they are already formidable fighters, their stats are unchanged, but they have learned to become a little more slippery, hence the new ability (thieved from Max Bubba's What The Sneck ability from the Strontium Dog rulebook).

Bodyguard

Move: 6" Shoot: 3 Fight: 4(+1) Evade: 0 Resist: 5 Cool: 4 Notoriety: 12

Skills: Brawler, Drokk The Stinkin' Jays!, Berserker, Cyborg Punch/Head-Butt (+1 Fight)

Berserker: These monstrous characters suffer no stat loss for the first injury marker they take but may no longer take double-actions other than Charge or Hunker Down when they activate. Single actions may be taken normally (ability also thieved from Strontium Dog).

Notes: Henchmen may be the brutes of the gang but, occasionally, a gang is lucky enough to have an absolute beast in their ranks. These muscle-bound freaks are usually employed as personal Bodyguards to protect the gang's leader.

Blitzer

Move: 6" Shoot: 4 Fight: 4 Evade: 3 Resist: 4 Cool: 4 Notoriety: 13

Skills: Gunfighter, Drokk The Stinkin' Jays, Access To The Stash

Access To The Stash: If a Blitzer is the leader of your gang, this works the same as the Citi-Def Leader's Access To The Armoury ability, albeit the source of the equipment comes from the gang's various secret (and highly illegal!) weapons stashes. It is commonplace for Blitzers to get first dibs on whatever additional hardware the gang has at its disposal, hence the inclusion of this special rule. An additional benefit is that Blitzers can be equipped with any weaponry from the Armoury section in the rules book, including weapons (such as Sniper Rifles) which Block Gangs do not usually have access to. For reasons of game balance, please note that Sniper Rifles, Heavy Spit Guns and Rocket Launchers should remain restricted to one per gang (but there's nothing stopping you having one of each in your gang).

Notes: Blitzers are the underworld's feared assassins and are often employed to silence informants or eliminate enemy leaders. Their elusive nature and ability to leave no trace makes them among the city's most wanted.

Some Blitzers specialise as Snipers. For no additional cost, you make take a sniper-specialist Blitzer. Sniper Blitzers are identical to standard Blitzers in all regards except that the Access to the Stash skill is replaced it by the Sniper ability. These models have access to Sniper Rifles - but not Heavy Spit Guns or Rocket Launchers.

In campaign play, once a model becomes a Blitz Agent, you may not flip between the standard and sniper-specialists to suit the scenario you face, it is permanently one or the other.

Rank 6:

Overlord

Move: 6" Shoot 4 Fight: 4 Evade: 3 Resist: 4 Cool: 5 Notoriety: 16

Skills: Brawler or Gunfighter, C'mon you lily-livered scumsuckers, Drokk the Stinkin' Jays, What the Spug?, Intimidate

Notes: These criminal masterminds are legendary figures in the criminal fraternity, feared and hated in equal measure. Just being in their presence can cause more lowly enemies to quake, hence their Intimidate skill. However, their status makes them targets for every hoodlum wanting to make a name for themselves, so they would be wise to employ a bodyguard or two...

Summary of All Gang Members (highest to lowest Notoriety):

Overlord: 16

Racket Leader: 14

Gang Lieutenant: 13

Blitzer: 13

Bodyguard: 12

Triggerman: 11

Henchman: 11

Gang Heavy: 5

Gang Punk: 3

Gang Juve: 2

And that's it! I hope you have fun with these new characters! The Judges should have their hands full with this lot! Happy gaming!

If you enjoy the Judge Dredd Miniatures Game, please consider subscribing to the Life of Die Youtube Channel where you'll find JD video battle reports and interviews with the game's creators! And on top of that, Allan Stenhouse's epic Strontium Dog Miniatures Game campaign is fast approaching its climax!

Judge Dredd Miniatures Game: Small v Large Forces Chip Cap Rules

Introduction: Following on my previous blog post, I was looking for ways to beef up the Judges and, after trawling through the posts on the 2000AD Tabletop Miniature, RPG and Board Game Group on Facebook, I noticed Andy Chambers had put up a post some time ago suggesting a modification to the Judge Dredd rules where the Judges received extra chips in the bag. This made a lot of sense to me as one of the central reasons I was finding my Judges weren't performing that well was due to the perps having a disproportionate number of chips going into the bag, and my Judges were rarely activating before them. I reached out to Andy to see if this idea had been developed at all and he replied that rather than increasing the number of chips that the Judges get to put into the bag, perhaps a cap on the number of chips that the perps could make use of might be a better way to approach the problem. Since then, we've been corresponding on this issue, and here is a new rule which we hope will bring a nice balance to your future games of Judge Dredd. Special thanks to fellow Judge Dredd super-fan Matthew Evans for his suggestions and assistance in the writing of this article.

Summary of the Chip Cap Rules:

1. Total Chips: Both players count up how many Action and Star Chips they have.

2. Calculate Chip Cap: Multiply the number of chips the smaller force has by 1.5, rounding up. This determines the Chip Cap limit for the larger force.

3. No Chip Cap?: If the larger force's chips are equal to or less than the Chip Cap, then the Chip Cap is not required; run your game as normal.

4. Chip Cap In Effect: If the larger force's chips exceed the Chip Cap, then excess chips must be discarded. Action Chips are discarded before Star Chips. The remaining chips go into the bag, along with all of the smaller forces'. The player affected by the chip cap can still activate any models they wish, within the normal rules. In all other respects, the game functions as described in the standard rules.

Small Forces v Large Forces Chip Cap

Small groups of elite forces, especially Judges, will act like a well-oiled machine, and with deadly efficiency. By contrast, larger groups of untrained fighters are more difficult to coordinate. The leaders of such groups - assuming there is one! - bark barely comprehensible orders while their fighters hesitate, fumble with their weapons, stand around gawking - or, worse still, overwhelmed by confusion or panic, find themselves rooted to the spot by the mere sight of Judges breaking up their illegal activities.

To reflect this on the tabletop, a chip cap is placed on the side with the larger force limited in how many chips they will be able to place in the bag each turn.

Total Chips

Before the game begins, you need to compare how many chips both sides have (Action Chips and Star Chips are weighted equally in this calculation, e.g. 2 normal chips and 3 Star Chips counts as 5 chips total).

Calculate Chip Cap

Once you know which force is smaller, multiply their total chips by 1.5, rounding up. To save you working this out, here is the chip cap calculation for all but the largest of games:

Small Force Total Chips Large Force Chip Cap

1 2

2 3

3 5

4 6

5 8

6 9

7 11

8 12

9 14

10 15

So using the starter set scenarios as examples, the Chip Cap would be as follows:-

Sugar Rush: For the lone Judge, the perps are capped to 2 Action Chips.

Half-Eagle Day: For the 2 Judges, the perps are capped to 3 Action Chips.

Sweet Justice: For the 2 Judges, the perps are capped to 3 Action Chips.

Important Note: To be clear, this is a cap limit and does not mean a larger force gains extra chips they are not entitled to. For example, 4 Judges encountering 5 powerful perps would see the perps still putting their usual 5 chips into the bag, even though the cap limit allows for a larger force being able to use up to 6 chips.

No Chip Cap?

Quite simply, if the larger force's total chips are equal to or less than the Chip Cap, then the Chip Cap rule is not required and you play the game as normal.

Chip Cap In Effect

If the larger force's total chips exceed the Chip Cap, then excess chips must be discarded. The Chip Cap is the maximum number of chips that the larger force can put into the bag each turn. If you have a mix of Action Chips and Star Chips, when applying the chip cap, prioritise (where possible) Star Chips over Action Chips, i.e. discard Action Chips first. Example: 3 Judges face off against 9 perps, 2 of which are Star Chip characters and 7 are minor characters. The chip cap for 3 Judges is 5 chips for the perps - so the perp player, giving preference to the Star Chips, puts his 2 Star Chips and 3 of the remaining standard chips into the bag.

Important Note: This Chip Cap remains the same for the duration of the game - and is not affected by casualties. If your Chip Cap is 8, then the most chips the larger force can put in the bag is 8 throughout the scenario.

The chip cap does not mean the smaller force faces any fewer opponents in the larger force than were bought for the scenario, only that the perps are restricted to making the most of the limited number of chips they have. They are free to allocate the chips to whichever models they wish within the usual rules. On a turn by turn basis, this means the perp player is free to activate the same characters or different ones as the turn before. It really is up to the perp player who they will activate, a decision that will be swayed by their need and preference.

Casualties and the Chip Cap: The chip cap remains in force until such time as the larger force, due to casualties, cannot sustain it. At that point, only the chips generated by the larger force's remaining models on the tabletop will be put into the bag.

For example, as set out above, in Sweet Justice, the Judges put 2 chips into the bag, while the perps can only put 3 in, but the perps have 8 models on the table in total. On turn 2, the Judges takes down 2 perps, reducing their numbers to 6. This is still well above the chip cap of 3, so 3 chips continue to go into the bag. On turn 4, the Judges have taken down 5 perps. At this point, the perps can still put 3 chips into the bag, but this is as many as their three surviving models would generate. On turn 5, another perp is incapacitated, so with only 2 perp models left, only 2 chips will be going into the bag. (Note this example is for illustrative purposes only, I'm aware that Sweet Justice ends when the Judges have subdued or incapacitated 4 perps!)

This means that as the larger force's numbers are thinned, a larger proportion of their fighters get into the fight each turn. From a narrative point of view, the fighters in the larger force realise the danger as they see their friends and accomplices being picked off - and snap into action to address the threat.

Important Note: When Star Chip characters in a larger force are subdued or incapacitated, it means they no longer generate a Star Chip and that it cannot be considered as part of the remaining chips, capped or otherwise.

Using an earlier example: 3 Judges face off against 9 perps, 2 of which are Star Chip characters and 7 are minor characters. At the start of the game, the perps place their 2 Star Chips into the bag along with 1 standard chip. During turn 1, the Judge take down 1 perp - but it is a Star Chip character. At the end of turn 1, the perps are down to 8 but, due to the cap, they are still limited to 3 chips. With the loss of that powerful character though, they will be returning only 1 Star Chip and 2 standard ones to the bag.

Tips For Play

Larger Force:

Reduce your chances of being affected by the Chip Cap by including some Star Chip characters and Pack characters.

Include Leaders such as the Citi-Def Leader and Block Gang Lieutenants who can return chips to the bag. These characters may allow you to activate everyone in a given turn!

If affected by the chip cap, consider playing defensively, setting up Overwatch for some characters - if the opposition is slow to act, this will give you the opportunity to put more models on to Overwatch.

Remember that you can use Star Chips on any characters! The chances of returning the chip to the bag are lesser, but sometimes desperate times call for desperate measures!

Smaller Force:

You'll have more powerful characters who can capitalise on the Chip Cap, but do not play them as though they are Gods.

Consider not Going For Broke and let your Gunfighter skill take the strain.

Keep your elite troops working closely together, much like Dredd and Anderson in the 2012 film, Dredd.

Target leaders, particularly those who can return their troop's chips to the bag.

Life just got harder for Mega-City One's low-life criminals - but that's the way it should be! Good luck!

Note for Strontium Dog fans: The same rule can be applied to the Strontium Dog Miniatures Game - it would be appropriate in games where the likes of Johnny Alpha and his close allies are taking on a large group of low-Cool Law Enforcement models or Kreelers.

Community Invite

If you'd like to try out these rules, we'd love to hear about your experiences - good or bad - with them! You can add a comment to this blog post or comment on any of the Facebook groups or on the Life of Die Youtube Channel. Please let us know what you think!

If you'd like to see an example of the cap rule in action, please check out the video I made below. Important Caveat: this was an experiment filmed some weeks back - in the video the cap is set at 1:2 rather than the 1:1.5 advocated here. At the 1:2 ratio there was still a lot of reliance on Going For Broke for the Judges so it still felt a little too tough on them and the ratio was tweaked to what felt more balanced - and should scale up nicely when playing large games.

Judge Dredd Miniatures Game: The Law For Less

Introduction:

As fans of my Life of Die Youtube channel may have noticed, since my good friend Simon Fearn completed painting up my Judge Dredd collection - you can find videos of the commission here and here - I've been playing a lot of Warlord Games' Judge Dredd Miniatures Game. While I've been having a lot of fun, I have been finding my Judges have been struggling a little so I started thinking about one or two different things to help make the Judges a more attractive proposition. In this post, I deal with the first of two ideas which I think will help, that being to slightly reduce the cost of fielding the Judges - and in a completely legal way (using the costings provided in the Strontium Dog Miniatures Game to calculate these).

Reducing the Notoriety of the Judges:

Born To Ride Skill: It's clear from the strip that the Judges know how to ride so it's absolutely appropriate that all Judges, even Cadets, have this skill...however, if you're anything like me, most of your games will not make use of Lawmasters as all of the combatants are on foot. That means that, in those games, for every Judge you take, there's 1 point of Notoriety built in to their cost that's useless to you.

So, provided you do not intend to make use of vehicles in a game other than as static scenery, you can reduce the cost of each of your Judges by 1 Notoriety. If, for any reason, you decide to drop the skill and vehicles do come into play, then your Judges, unthematic as this may be, are subject to the Forced Dismount rule on page 28 of the rulebook. You can't have it both ways!

How This Was Costed: Born To Ride costs one point of Notoriety as per the rules set out in the Strontium Dog Miniatures Game rulebook.

Close Combat Weapons: In just about every martial arts film, even though the villains outnumber the hero, they conveniently attack one by one rather than en masse. That's not the Judge Dredd Miniatures Game! The perps have the numbers and no qualms about fighting dirty! If you decide to engage them in close combat, the chances are that the perp player will try - and likely will - overwhelm you just by sending in several of his perps to attack you at once! While there's no guarantee they will succeed (the Judges stats will beat most of the opposition), the fact is that the more Fight actions that rain down upon your beleaguered Judge, the more likely those numbers will tell and your Judge will be swiftly and brutally put down. That means that it's more effective to keep perps at arm's length and rely on your Lawgiver (aided by Gunfighter skill). Add into this that you have two close combat weapons - Daystick and Boot Knife - both of which you cannot use at once, and here is another opportunity to lessen the cost of your Judges.

You can lose 1 Close Combat weapon to reduce your Notoriety by 1 or lose both to reduce it by 2. Again, if you decide not to equip one or both weapons, you are bound by that decision and cannot miraculously pluck one out of the air in a time of need.

How Was This Costed?: In the Strontium Dog Miniatures Game, a basic Close Combat Weapon is free, but a variant on a Close Combat Weapon costs 1 Notoriety. Both weapons have variant rules in the form of Stun for the Daystick and Throw for the Boot Knife.

Note: Reducing a Judge's Notoriety by 3 points may not seem like much, but it quickly stacks up! For example, if you take 2 Judges, that means you can add a Cadet Judge for the cost you usually normally would have paid for the two Judges alone (assuming, of course, that you also reduce the Notoriety of your Cadet Judge from 9 to 6) and, in the process, added an all-important extra chip to the bag! And if you're feeling particularly bold...

Close Combat Specialist: Occasionally, when making an example of lowly street-gangs, Dredd likes to rely on his Daystick (or fists!) to make an example of perps, showing that he doesn't need the Lawgiver to bring them in. If you do not equip your Judge with the Lawgiver, you can reduce the Notoriety of your Judge by a whopping 4 points! On the downside, expect your Judge to take a beating! Again, if you take this reduction, you absolutely cannot call upon the Lawgiver for the duration of the battle!

How was this costed?: The Lawgiver is identical in its stats and number of variants as Johnny Alpha's Westinghouse variable cartridge blaster which is set out in the rulebook as costing 4 Notoriety.

So that's it. Hopefully, this will give you some extra options to tailor your Judges to the challenge at hand! Keep your eyes open for another blog post in the coming days where something a little more radical that Andy Chambers himself suggested will be set out... A video will also be going live on the Life of Die channel tomorrow (Friday 10th June) which shows the points reductions in action - and also an earlier prototype (and less effective version) of the incoming new rule in action!

Stay tuned, creeps!

Judge Dredd Commission Part II

I recently commissioned my good friend Simon Fearn to paint my Judge Dredd miniatures (from Warlord Games' Judge Dredd Miniatures Game) and the second half of the commission was delivered this week! To celebrate, I've put together this video: