Judge Dredd Miniatures Game - Starter Set Review

I'm somewhat of a Judge Dredd fan so it was a bit embarrassing to find out that there was a miniatures game based around it and even more embarrassing to discover that they'd expanded it via a Kickstarter that I'd also missed.

I decided to minimise my oversight somewhat by acquiring the starter set...

This apparently simple task was complicated by the fact that I'd already acquired the rulebook and both the sets of models from the set in previous transactions but really wanted the limited edition models from the aforementioned starter box. Fortunately a kind gentleman from the Mongoose Games stand at the Warlord Games Open Day offered to swap the two sets of models in the starter set for two different ones and after perusing the models (and being told that ABC Warriors were imminent) my fellow hobbyist Martin of Titan Games decided to buy a couple of sets of models and obviously then needed a rulebook...problem solved...

The box contains a 'Quick Start' Guide, the full Rulebook, 8 Mega City Judges, 8 Street Gangers and a limited edition Ganger and a limited edition Judge.

Lets have a look at each of these in turn...

Quick Start Guide.

This is done as a 'Training Guide' detailing a Judge's first arrest and covers the very basics of the game.

The Rulebook.

Well we aren't going to get very far without access to the rules now are we?

The rulebook contains a number of sections detailing the main rules, some more advanced ones, equipment and force lists, some standard scenarios and a few ones relating to specific historical events from the history of Mega City One as well as a brief background section. It also contains lots of model pictures...here's a few sample pages...

There are force lists for the common factions such as the Judges and the Street Gangs. as well as what Mercenaries they can take to bolster their numbers

As well as some of the other favourites...keep in mind though that these are a tiny sample of the options available...

The equipment section is well laid out and the special abilities are done in a handy flowchart form so you can see what order that abilities need to be gained in when playing a campaign game. The Psi abilities are shown in the same manner.

We also have vehicle rules as well...the unscrupulous man at the Mongoose Games stand showed me a Manta Prowl tank in an underhand attempt to make me want one...he succeeded admirably, lol.

You'll obviously need some scenarios to play through and these come in two types. The main section details a number of generic scenarios while a second lists some famous events from Judge Dredds history that you can replay including Judge Dredd alone Vs. a gang of 30 punks, Judge Dekkers last stand and the fight against the insane Judge Cal amongst others.

The rear of the rulebook also contains a brief but detailed history of Mega City One and it's history as well as that of the world it lives in...

There's also model pictures throughout as well as some nice pieces of artwork by a variety of artists.

Of course we'll also need some models to play with...

When I first spoke of trying out this system some people commented negatively on the quality of the miniatures and though there are significant differences in the level of detail between the newer and older models I think in some cases the painted pictures fail to do the models themselves any justice (whether this is to do with the picture quality or the actual paint-job I couldn't really tell). All I can say is that Me and Martin were pleasantly surprised by the overall quality of the miniatures and he told me today that they were very enjoyable to paint. Here are some front and rear view pictures of the models 'out of the box' and I'll show some of them based and as a group afterwards...

Mega-City Street Gang.

Mega-City Street Gang - Unassembled.

You get a leader model (that's the limited edition one though any model could be the leader really), a Psi, one with a heavy weapon, four with handguns, one with a club and one with both a club and a handgun.

Mega-City Street Gang - Assembled.

Mega-City Judges.

Mega-City Judges - Unassembled.

You get a limited edition Judge with a Lawrod (basically a rifle version of the standard Lawgiver Pistol), a Psi Judge, two Cadets and a variety of other Judges armed in a number of different ways. The 'specialist' weapon Judge gets a choice of two weapons on a separate sprue so needs assembly...if you call gluing one arm onto a model 'assembly' that is, lol.

Mega-City Judges - Assembled.

As far as 'balanced' forces go if you were to field all the models from both forces with their default weaponry then play a game then the Street Gang would certainly lose so you'll most likely use a small selection of Judges against pretty much the whole gang of Street Punks. To be fair though you wouldn't be able to use all nine judges in a standard 500 point game anyway.

It was at this point that I realised there was a slight oversight in the Starter Set in that it didn't contain any dice or measuring aids and as this game uses D10's rather than the more common D6's this might cause some issues for some gamers. It's not a massive issue but I thought it worth mentioning. Overall this kit is still very good value for money as both the 'gangs' and the rulebook would come to £90 overall and the Starter Set is only £75. This means you're effectively getting one of the gangs at half price and the limited edition models for free...and that's a pretty good deal.

The aforementioned Martin at Titan Games bought the Justice Department - Heroes of Mega City One set and I acquired the Justice Department - Lawmaster Patrol and The Dark Judges boxes so I'll more than likely do some articles on those kits as well.

Thoughts and comments are (as usual) most welcome.