Judge Dredd the Miniatures Game - Warlord Games 2019

Well firstly, Happy New Year to one and all. May 2020 prove to be another productive year for all wargamers!

Secondly, an apology (I've done this a lot just lately!) for the lack of posts.....

Rookie Judge

I have an excuse though. I had  a total knee replacement two weeks before Xmas and have been rather laid up since then😞 However, I can once again make it outside to my Loser Shed and have taken up my brush once more.

Judge

To cheer me up, Santa was rather kind to me (well my wife was anyway) and brought me the starter set for the new Judge Dredd miniatures game from Warlord.

Gang Leader

I haven't played it yet, but the book is beautifully laid out and the rules seem simple enough. There are several good videos on YouTube that take you through the mechanisms to speed up the learning process.

The rest of the box is overloaded with goodies; including sprues of counters, dice, cards, card 2D terrain and a play mat as well as 10 figures.

The figures are quite large (32mm) and cast in Warlord's new resin. Now I know this has some positives (crisp castings, light weight, flexibility) but there are also downsides.

I found them to be a little too flexible....paint will flake off if you are too rough handling them. Also, they cannot be easily filed or sanded as stated. The only way to clean up the castings is to use a very sharp scalpel blade.

They do look good though. All are one piece castings and I think this limits the poses somewhat. They come with Warlord 25mm circular bases to mount them on.

The boxed set also came with a wonderful bonus figure of Dredd grappling with Judge Death. Cast in three pieces in white metal (goody!) its a beautiful vignette that will grace my cabinet...rather than a playing piece.

I have been preparing some 3D terrain pieces ready to use. Some old Amera vac-formed items I inherited and a couple of new mdf pieces from TT Combat's Sci-Fi Utopia range.

I've also treated myself to their actual Dredd figure and his Lawmaster (still to be painted though)

These and the figures have all been finished using Contrast Paints and are shown in the photos above and below for you perusal.

Until next time.....

Citadel 2000AD figures - Revamped

To be ready to try out the new Judge Dredd Miniatures Game from Warlord, as soon as I get my grubby hands on the box (Christmas Day I suspect, as my wife has it hidden away 😒) I'd decided to revamp my old Citadel 2000AD figures.

Judge Dredd on Lawmaster. Two part figure and three part bike - third pattern I believe.

You'll have seen the trials and tribulations of stripping enamel paints from my last post. Now the figures are primed and ready, just crying out to be finished (rapidly) with Citadel Contrast paints!

The vivid colours that are part an parcel of this paint range lend themselves perfectly to the "cartoonish" finish I think these minis deserve.

See what you think...

Older Style Lawmaster...sadly no judge figure

Judge Bambra

Judge Gallagher

Judge Hershey

Paranoia - Blue Trooper

Paranoia - Blue Trooper

Paranoia - Blue Trooper

Slaughter Margin - Businessman

Rogue Trooper - Morgen (Sniper)

Rogue Trooper - "Rogue"

Rogue Trooper - "Rogue" with Lazooka

Rogue Trooper - Major Magnum

Perp

Ugly

Slaughter Margin - Tek

Perp - Zodiac

Paranoia - Tomk-r-bee

Mutant - Fettuchini

Perp - Jackson Prince 

Perp - Ratex

Perp - Chimichunga

Citizen

Perp - Sprayer

Stripping Paint From Minis.

With the forthcoming launch of the new Judge Dredd miniatures game from Warlord, I became all misty eyed and felt compelled to dig out all my old Citadel 2000AD miniatures.

I’d bought these in the mid-1980’s to go with the JD Role-playing came from GW and at the time I’d given them my best possible attention with their paint-job.

Oh dear! When I look at them today, my painting techniques have changed so very much, I don’t think I could live with how they looked anymore.

My three stage process; - Paint Stripper, rinse, ultra-sonic bath with Methylated Spirit

All those years ago, acrylics were a new thing. Most of my available palette was made up of muted, combat coloured enamel paints. To top it all, the figures had been satin varnished to protect them.
Something needed to be done.

Citadel Judge

For a while now, I’d been looking into how I might strip paint from minis to enable them to be re-finished. I have a heap of 6mm moderns that need this treatment as well as other bits and bobs.
On line there’s lots of advice about using anything from Dettol to neat alcohol and anything in between. One thing that particularly interested me was the proposed use of ultra-sonic baths to speed up this process.

Citadel Rogue Trooper

My wife restores old sewing machines and she had a requirement for something to clean up old parts, perhaps one of these baths could work for both of us?

We bit the bullet and bought a generic, un-branded item from eBay for £40. It came from somewhere in the EU within a couple of days and looks to be of good build quality. Of good build quality.
So far, however, my efforts have met with mixed results.

Remember to remove the slotta bases first! I think the process would have dissolved them!

I must firstly stress that I don’t believe this in anyway to be the fault of the bath. What I hadn’t taken into account was that everything I’d read on line was about stripping modern acrylics from minis, not enamels!

• I first tried the figures in Dettol (Clear)…..nothing happened.
• Next I tried the figures in White Spirit (Clear) …..nothing happened.
• Then I tried Methylated Spirt (Purple)….again, nothing happened.

Bases back on the stripped figures and textured with Vallejo Grey Pumice to hide the gaps.

So, I bought some paint stripper from Wilkos (a strong caustic solution) and left the figures to soak in this jelly like substance overnight. The next day I rinsed this off and then placed the figures back in a bath of Methylated Spirit for 1 hour with the ultra-sonic on max.

Spray primed ready for Contrast painting.

This finally did the job. A quick brush up with a toothbrush sized wire brush and the figures were ready for priming.

Not as quick as I’d hoped, and far more labour intensive. I guess there must be a better way, but I’ve yet to find it. I will be interested to try this on acrylics to see how much easier the process is….but that’s for another day.

Loke Double-Sided Neoprene Battle Mat

I've treated myself to a Double Sided Neoprene Gaming Battle Mat 3'x3' foot Grass & Desert for skirmish gaming in the Loser Shed.

Its made by Loke BattleMats and whilst I got mine through Amazon, you can also find them on eBay for the same £39.99 delivered price. 

It is described as; - "the latest in an innovative range of double-sided Neoprene mats! One mat for all you gaming needs! Save space with these great mats, ideal for travelling to games or for use at home! 

3mm Neoprene with a stitched edge, these high quality mats open up a range of gaming opportunities. 

The photo doesn't do this justice. In fact its a hard wearing black man-made finish with carrying strap

Now featuring dedicated space and terrain images, these high quality mats add the perfect backdrop to your game! Ideal 3'x3' size for a huge range of tabletop miniatures games, these mats also look amazing underneath Board, card, tile and dice games!!"

Nice printed resolution too.

I really can't fault their enthusiasm, I'm very impressed with it's quality and finish. It came in a smart travel pouch and lies flat on the table top once unrolled.

Thoroughly recommended.