Jessie's Prints - Episode 37 - Epic Space Knights or Holocaust Squad Judges?

This week, I are mostly been printing... Teeny Tiny Space Knights!!

After last episode's commissioned print I wondered just how small can my 3D Printer print?  In particular I'm after some power armoured troopers to fill in as Holocaust Squad Judges.

Ball Bearing Galactic Crusaders with Chain Axes - Cults 3D

You have got to laugh at the names of some of these files.  These are epic scaled minis which come in a variety of poses and helpfully in groups of 3 & 5 so printing a whole squad is easy.  straight onto the build plate they are about 10mm so I scaled them up 125% to 15mm but they were still too small for my Judge Dredd miniatures which are about 17mm tall so I upped it to 20mm.

These should work well in my games and I have some cool ideas for some encounters which require this type of armoured set up.  

Painting up a Holocaust Squad

Once I had superglued them to 1p pieces and primed them, I gave my squad a quick once over with Gravelord Grey Speed Paint from army painter.  Jet Packs were trimmed in yellow and I gave each one a different coloured helmet and shoulder pad to aid in discrimination on the field of battle.

Holocaust Judges are rarely seen in Mega City One, their deployment being reserved for those extreme moments when the ultimate sacrifice is required.  Their ranks are typically made up of those Judges close to retirement or have in some way disgraced themselves in the line of duty.  This final act of service is seen as a suitable punishment or alternative to the redemption of The Long Walk into the Cursed Earth. 

Epic Scale Imperial Heavy Tank - Cults 3D

I had a copy of the original Epic Space Marine game Adeptus Titanicus back in the days of Games Workshop Large Boxes.  So I wondered, just for funzies, how well these newfangled 3D prints would stack up against my vintage epic armour.

Pretty good me thinks.

Now I've got to find me a decent Epic sized Mek Quake model for those BIG JOBS! in Mega City One.   

Vintage Miniature - The Chainsaw Warrior

I've blogged before about my passion for collecting boardgames and in particular my mission to collect all of the bookcase format Games Workshop boardgames released in the 1980s.

Chainsaw Warrior is one of those games.

Chainsaw Warrior (1986)

Chainsaw Warrior (1987) is a solo game where the titular character climbs a New York skyscraper fighting off zombies and other evil minions in a race against time to find and destroy the ultimate evil Chaos.

It's peculiar in that the game is dominated by amazing artwork from 2000AD artbot Brett Ewins yet is not a miniatures game and in fact does not have a single pawn in the game.  

However, that didn't mean that Citadel wasted this opportunity and launched a series of Chainsaw Warrior minis for fans of the game which could be bought as a single blister pack - C100.  Exactly how you used them in game was not proscribed, I guess you could use them as a turn marker. 

They also released a Chainsaw Warrior as part of the Talisman Timescape miniature range to accompany the Talisman expansion of the same name.  A masterstroke in marketing to use a massively popular boardgame to shift a metric ton of lead.

Citadel also made 3 bad guy minis directly culled from the card art used in the game.  These were only available as a very limited release and command insane prices on the secondhand market.

Three Bad Guy / Zombie Cards

I've had this one mini kicking around since 1987, I must have the other two but only God knows where they are.  At the time I must have been going through a Blanchitsu phase as he was painted white with black checkerboarding all over him.  

You do stupid things when you are young, innocent and influenced by the 'Eavy Metal pages of White Dwarf.

The Myth The Mini

As I recently rescued my copy of Chainsaw Warrior it seemed only fitting to rescue this one mini.  Sadly time had not been kind and he had lost the blade of his Chainsaw.  

The mini has a weird "braced for action" pose which makes him look all hunched over.  

Cling Film to the Rescue!

I scratch built a new chainsaw out of a plastic cling film (saranwrap) cutter blade and some scraps of styrene plastic I recycled from ancient W3C Web Accessibility Initiative business cards.  I knew I would find a use for them one day.

The Chainsaw Warrior - a vintage Citadel miniature from 1987

I consulted the box art and some original painted examples for a muted military olive drab kind of colour scheme.  The chainsaw of course got the defacto hazard stripes and some oil washes to make it stand out as the most important thing in the room.

The only thing left to do now is actually play the game...

Carlos Ezquerra Colouring Book

I recently discovered this freebie gem via Slaine and Ro-busters creator Pat Mills website.

Carlos Ezquerra's 2000AD & Judge Dredd Colouring Book includes 5 free sample images of classic 2000AD characters for you to print out and colour in.

You can also purchase a printed book or a PDF copy of the full version of the book which contains 50 of the late great 2000AD art droid's most iconic renditions of characters like Judge Dredd, Judge Anderson, Strontium Dog, Wulf Sternhammer and Durham Red.

Carlos also has a facebook group (Colour like Carlos) where you can upload your completed images for all the world to see.

Zarjaz!!

Colour with Carlos - Judge Dredd, Judge Death & Johnny Alpha

Jessie's Prints Episode 9 - Car Wars

This week, I are mostly been printing...

Classic Car Wars Vehicles 15mm / 1:64 - https://www.thingiverse.com/thing:4403771

Steve Jackson's classic automobile apocalypse game Car Wars was a big part of my childhood.  The tiny scale (and cardstock counters) meant that the whole epic game could fit  into a case slightly smaller than a video cassette.  

Many expansions were released over the years including The AADA Vehicle Guide.  By now SJG had developed a sort of short hand for describing these vehicles but the AADA Vehicle Guide was unusual in that it included a full set of elevation drawings for each vehicle.  A further expansion pack of AADA Counters was also available for play in the game. 

These are perfect for my 15mm Judge Dredd game so I thought I would have a go at modelling and printing some of these futuristic looking things.  They are also perfect for Gaslands with a bit of postapolcalyptifying and each model prints out in about 30 minutes, so faster than you can say "Can we go to the shops and buy some Hotwheels, mum?".

If you download them please remember to collect, share your makes and tip the designer if you fancy it.

Reminds me of the Volvo Ad catchphrase in the 1990 movie Crazy People "They're boxy, but good"

Superflash

Tonto

Spring Surprise

Painted

Jessie's Prints Episode 8 - Sci-Fi Street Furniture

This week, I are mostly been printing...

Sci-Fi Dumpsters - https://www.thingiverse.com/thing:3760350 

Sci-Fi Dumpsters

Every city needs street furniture and dumpsters are an obligatory consideration.  When you are having a block war the first thing you need to consider is where are your bins full of flammable trash?  They also come in very handy as a makeshift blockade and you never really know who or what is inside them until you look.

Vending Machines - https://www.thingiverse.com/thing:3662400

Vending Machines from the future

Printing Tips

Both these models are intended for use at 28 to 35mm so I scaled them down to 50% to fit in with my 15mm Judge Dredd minis.  At this size they have lost a bit of detail on my FDM printer, but they are supposed to be representative and I think they look good enough.

No vending machine would be complete without an enticing marque, so I have made some up which you can download.

Download the file

2000AD Fan Films - Judge Minty, Strontium Dog and Rogue Trooper

Looks like we are going to have to wait a while for the new Mega City TV Show and the Duncan Jones Rogue Trooper movie.

In the meantime we can sit back, relax and watch the following fan made films:

Judge Minty



Search & Destroy - A Strontium Dog Story



Rogue Trooper: The Quartz Massacre

Mega City One - Citizens on Parade

Thanks to Lockdown, I am currently going through a phase of creativity.  Mostly this involves catching up on a lot of long overdue painting projects.  

One such project has been my Mega City One citizens.

These minis were painted in two batches the best part of 2 years apart and come from the always affordable Ground Zero Games (GZG) Star Grunt range.  Specifically these were:

• SG15-V07 - Armed Civilians/Colonists pack A (8 figs)
• SG15-V08 - Armed Civilians/Colonists pack B (8 figs)
• SG15-V09 - Armed Civilians/Colonists pack C (8 figs)

Unit 1: Colourful Crazies

These were painted almost two years ago, just in time for my Judge Dredd game using the Starblazer Adventures Rules, Tales from Mega City One.  They are just everyday citizens that have had enough of the dog eat mutie existence of Mega City One and have taken up their stub gun for one last hurrah.

Colourful Crazies

Unit 2: Purple Punks

This was the first of the most recent batch where I began colour coordinating the figures.  This makes batch painting a lot easier and allows easy in-game gang association.  If its purple then they are members of the purple punks or the Paisley Park Citi-Def (see the Prince reference there?)

Purple Punks

Unit 3: The Orange Crew

This unit are mostly wearing coveralls and caps and the high-viz orange makes them easily double for a work team from Resyk or some other municipal facility.  I have two easily distinguishable units to make running a small scale Block War that much easier.

Resyk workers or Block Warriors?  You decide.

Unit 4: The Yellow Jackets

Continuing with the colour coordination I went with a Yellow and Blue combo for the last unit.  This gives me another distinct and identifiable team of citizens (or IKEA workers) to pit against my player's Judges.

Yellow Jackets are fierce and tenacious defenders of flatpack swedish furniture

I fully intend to broaden my range of Mega City One citizens once I find some appropriate minis.  In the old thinking box I have dreams of Kleggs (and Klegg hounds), Fatties, Protesters, Street Punks, Droids, Apes...

I am not a number I am a free man!

If you are wondering what is going on with the bases, that is a secret weapon in target acquisition and wound attribution.  I could easily have painted numbers on the bases, but that's boring and so 1999.  I feel it's much more in keeping with the Urban Jungle theme to have road markings and slogans differentiating each figure.

You are number 6... No I'm not I'm Slurm!

Jessie's Prints Episode 6 - Spool Walls Tower Block

This week, I are mostly been printing... 

Spool Walls Tower Block - https://www.thingiverse.com/thing:4343675 / https://www.thingiverse.com/thing:4345022 

Recycle those empty filament spools into Sci-Fi Scenery and... save the planet!

Owning an FDM 3D Printer causes you to inevitably collect empty spools of filament.  I designed this to repurpose those spools into sci-fi scenery for my Judge Dredd and Gaslands games.  The two models can be downloaded for free using the Thingilinks above.  I fully intend to add more models and accessories to this series to help recreate your little piece of Mega City 1.

Stay tuned for more updates and if you like the model don't forget to like, share, add a make and tip the designer.

 

Savage Dredd

The current pandemic predicament has given me a lot of free time which of course I am spending wisely (there's Fuck all else to do!!).  

I am currently busy familiarising myself with the Savage Worlds system and the unofficial Savage Worlds conversion by Randy Mosiondz and Teller.

I will also be incubating some fresh Judge Dredd ideas so that when we are released from Lockdown I can potentially run a game in one of my favourite settings.

I am also busy gathering models into a Judge Dredd collection on thingiverse and printing as many as I can.  If you are following my printed miniatures series Jessie's Prints you will probably see a few homebrew Judge Dredd models in there as well.  Hopefully the current worldwide PLA shortage won't scupper my plans.


 

Plastichunter - Adventures in the 3D Printing Zone

Every GM should have one.  They are cheap to buy and run, they are readily available, don't take up a lot of space but can literally add an extra dimension to your games.

What am I talking about?  3D Printers of course.  I've owned one for a couple of years and found a limitless amount of things to print and here are just a few ways they can help to bring that extra something to your games.

From large to small there are plenty of great models which can be downloaded for free from 3D warehouses such as Thingiverse, Pinshape, MyMiniFactory etc.

Scenery Items

For those of us who still like to meet in meatspace every week, dressing your dungeon with scenic accessories is a great way to enhance your game and helps the players immerse themselves in your story.  It's much more satisfying for a player when they hide their mini behind a plastic pillar rather than a circle drawn on some lino.  Some items are functional in combat, other are just there for dramatic effect but they all make a huge difference to your game.

D&D Demon Idol - Download

Destroyed Colums - Download

Monster Minis

We all have a bunch of the common or garden minion miniatures (I'm looking at you orcs, goblins and skeletons) but who wants to spend a ton of cash collecting those speciality foes.  A quick search online and you are printing off your mid level minions in minutes at a fraction of the price you would normally pay.  Only need it once? No problem you've not invested that much and you can always give it to someone as a Christmas or birthday gift if you don't have the storage space.

Umber Hulk - Download

Beholder - Download

Unobtanium

If you are playing a long dead unsupported game and you need minis, you can always make your own.  I touched on this in a previous article, when I ran a Judge Dredd game a few years ago.  I was using the 15mm scale because the Laserburn Lawmen from Alternative Armies are just about the best simulcrum out there.  Modeling and printing vehicles and scenery items for your game is easy using free software such as sketchup and tinkercad.  You are only limited by your imagination.

H-Wagon	Homemade Judge Dredd Spinner

Gadgets and Accessories

Probably one of the most useful objects whilst being entirely frivolous at the same time are the game accessories.  Who doesn't want a cool looking Castle Grayskull Dice Tower, a dice box or even some spell templates to enhance your enjoyment.

Castle Grayskull Dice Tower - Download	D&D Spell Templates - Download

Visualising Judge Dredd: Dream, Design, Print

As a kid reading 2000AD, I was enthralled by the zarjaz ideas that the writers invented.  As an adult, I see that many of the stories took contemporary issues and explored them to their logical extremes.

Take sugar for example, in the 70s & 80s as kids we would think nothing of downing a litre of Vimto followed by handfuls of popping candy to see if our mouths exploded.  In the Dredd universe it is the most addictive substance in the galaxy and more illegal than narcotics.

I have used this classic Sci-Fi narrative approach extensively when creating the backdrop to my Mega City One adventures (it works particularly well for crazes).  Take a common or garden thing and amp it to the max.  However, I can sometimes be guilty of not describing what is in my head in enough detail that players can formulate effective plans.  A physical representation such as miniatures would be ideal and is now a real possibility thanks to budget 3D Printers.

From Friday Night Dream, through Design and Print to Table

Last Friday saw me throw a new challenge at the PCs in the form of Fast Incredibly Destructive Giant Ironclad Tank (FIDGIT) Spinners.  These heavily armoured combat vehicles are being transported through Sector 55 to the Omni Dome where they will take part in a demolition derby with the last vehicle running crowned the winner. 

The description I gave to my players was a classic UFO festooned with rotating rings of blades and spikes.  The vehicle runs on three wheels like a dodgem car giving it an incredibly small turning circle. 

Design in Sketchup

I've been using Sketchup for quite a while and it has to be one of the easiest 3D modelling packages around, the best thing is that it is free.  The design was simple, a relatively easy taks to design in sketchup as it is essentially a series of circles which are lathed to create the cones and a dome.  Wheels and blades are simple shapes etruded with the push/pull tool.
 

A FIDGIT Spinner

Export, Slice and Print  

I use an old copy of Sketchup on my venerable 08 iMac but the latest version of Sketchup Free is a web based tool.  It is a trivial task to port from one to the other and export as an .STL file and import into my slicer Cura 3.1.  This then gets sent to the 3D Printer (in my case a knock-off Prusa Mk3) which converts raw PLA filament into a finished FIDGIT Spinner in 1 hour and 25 minutes.

A couple of 3d Printed Spinners and a 5th Element Taxi
with Laserburn Lawmen and GZG 15 mm Sci-Fi minis for scale

As you can imagine the potentil is tantalizingly infinite and it is now quite literally possible to go from imagination to reality in time for next weeks game.


 

More D&D Comicstrip Adverts from the 80s

As I discussed in my earlier post, I've been re-reading 2000AD in anticipation of seeing the new Judge Dredd movie and I uncovered some adverts from the TSR UK days back in the 80s. 

Here are some more comic strip adverts which I've unearthed from 1986 spanning progs 486 to 494. 

Episode 1 - Village of the Dead (Prog 486)

Episode 2 - The Battle (Prog 487)

Episode 3 - The Swamp Creature (Prog 488)

Episode 4 - Into the Tower (Prog 492)

Episode 5 - Death and Wizardry (Prog 493)

Episode 6 - The Final Enemy (Prog 494)

Star Shadow - D&D Comic Strip Adverts Circa 1984

Whilst re-reading my old 2000ADs I stumbled across a series of D&D Comic Strips entitled Star Shadow.

Commissioned by TSR UK to advertise the Red-Box basic D&D set, each one page strip charts the continuing adventures of Morwyn Starbrow, an Elven fighter mage, and Matt Greyshadow a Halfling rogue.  The artwork is by Tim Sell and story by Graeme Morris.  Unfortunately there are some gaps in my 2000AD collection and therefore gaps in this series so if anyone has copies of Progs 391 and 392, I'd love to hear from you.

Star Shadow Episode 1 (2000AD, Prog 387) - When The North Wind Blows
(click image to embiggen)

Star Shadow Episode 1 (2000AD, Prog 388) - Footsteps in the Snow
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Star Shadow Episode 3 (2000AD, Prog 389) - The Keep of the Frost Giant
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Star Shadow Episode 4 (2000AD, Prog 390) - The Ice Gem
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Star Shadow Episode 7 (2000AD, Prog 393) - Flotsam and Jetsam
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Star Shadow Episode 8 (2000AD, Prog 394) - Upon the Blasted Heath
(click image to embiggen)

Star Shadow Episode 9 (2000AD, Prog 395) - The Betrayer Unmasked
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Star Shadow Episode 10 (2000AD, Prog 396) - Tomb of the King
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