Roleplaying... Yes I still do that every week

Regular readers will probably be tired of the sojourn into Model Railroads by now.

Whilst I have been playing Fat Controller, quite a bit has been going on in my roleplaying world.

Dragonmeet 2024

A couple of Saturdays ago I made my annual pilgrimage to Dragonmeet but this year was different for me as I had very little interest in what was new on the dealer floor.  I literally went for the bring'n' buy and I returned with quite the haul.

The Low Life -

This is quite a weird pick for me and I don't know what possessed me... oh yeah it was the £10 price tag.  The Low Life is a wholly unique post apocalyptic setting for Savage Worlds.  Gazillions of years after hoomanity destroys itself in "The Wipe",  what is left of life has evolved, devolved, mutated and discombobulated to wander the "Oith" in search of something.  Archive it under very strange.

The first source book is a world guide to the Oith.  This is an incredibly dense book and after a brief read it feels like I'm transported to a Spongebob Squarepants sort of world with a writing style like William Gibson.

 

 

The strangeness continues in Holy Crap which is another world building guide to the religions and the denizens of Oith.  Think of it as a combination of Unearthed Arcana and a Monster Manual.

 

Paranoia - The Yellow Clearance Black Box Blues 

An impulse purchase (£15) of this reissued and reimagined version of the classic Paranoia scenario.  I've been getting a lot of requests to run Paranoia at the club and it is one of those games that when it works it's amazing.  The original version of this scenario was reviewed back in 1985 by Marcus L Rowland and he gave it a 7 out of 10 so I have high hopes.  

Having read most of the first book this is definitely something I want to run in 2025.

Castles & Crusades - The Secret of Ronan Skerry 

£4 for a scenario is the sort of money I want to be paying.  Quite slim at 20 pages but it is an interesting sidetrek which could be used in any fantasy game.  Castles & Crusades is one of the best value OSR games out there and the very Celtic world of Airdhe also fits quite easily in most Dark Age RPGs like Savage Worlds Hellfrost which is another great setting.

Among The Stars 

This scifi engine building boardgame looked really interesting and as it came with 2 expansions I snapped it up for £19.  I will report back if this ever gets played and what I think of it.

Colossal Arena 

This has the three magic ingredients - Reiner Knizia design, Fantasy Flight publisher, Silverline game range.  It's a 2-5 player betting game about fighting monsters in a Fantasy Arena.  Sounds great and Knizia is a dab hand at the betting game mechanic (play RA, it's awesome) so I have high hopes that this will be a quick to play and fun game.

Wreck & Ruin 

It's no secret that I am a fan of post apocalyptic car combat games like CarWars, Gaslands and Dark Future so could not pass up this kickstarter version of the boardgame for £25.  I
regretted the decision every time I picked up my bag as this is chock full of stuff and weighs a ton.

I particularly like the Desertkin faction who have inexplicably tamed dinosaurs as their ride of choice in the irradiated wasteland.  Looking forward to getting this on the table. 

Dragons Keep Christmas Games Day & Party

Our last Games Day of the year and our Christmas Party is scheduled for today, I hopefully will get to play some more Dorf Romantik and we have a session of our current Cthulhu game - Masques of Nyarlathotep.

Other RPG Purchases

Golden Heroes - Queen Victoria & The Holy Grail 

This scenario completes my collection and it is rumoured to be the best scenario for the Game.  I have a lot of of love for this IP free supers game (check out my Time Travelling WWII superheroess plot line Project Daedalus) and whilst it rarely gets to make it to the table hopefully I can mine this supplement for inspiration.

Judge Dredd Block War 

Another purchase which feeds my Judge Dredd addiction.  I have been gettting a few requests to run a game of Dredd and I would love to integrate this into a game.  Replicating the anarchy of a Block War is something I have struggled to implement in my games so I am hoping that this is a nice quick game which can be easily brought to the table for a group of 4/5 Judges to play collaboratively as perps for a change.

As I am writing this I am thinking that having a Block War as a decision node in a game is a really cool idea.  Imagine having a plot where the outcome of a Block War determines the rest of the plot.  Now that could be quite cool.  I will have to put more energy into exploring that... 

Mothership Deluxe Box 

I don't actually have this in my hands yet, but I put down the funds on a pre-order from Zatu.  I saw shiny new copies at Dragonmeet so hopefully this will not be too long of a wait.  I played it at the club once and was really impressed with how well it played and it fits my criteria of rules lite no prep roleplay.

Mega City Block Upgrade - Arduino Nano MAX7219 Display

A while ago I built a Mega City One Miniature Cary Case for my Judge Dredd miniatures and it was always my intention to have some sort of digital display which I could display random "in game" messages and to send instructions to the players such as ROLL FOR INITIATIVE.

The Components

Arduino Uno / Arduino Nano

I'd been itching to mess around with an Arduino microcontroller for years but never had the courage to just dive in.  However, there are so many people on ebay and Aliexpress selling ridiculously cheap arduino kits that there really is no barrier to entry. 

I plumped for an Arduino Uno Rev 3 Starter Kit which included a breadboard, jumpers and a whole pack of additional resistors and what nots.

The goal here is to make a small form factor self contained device so migrating from the large Uno dev board is essential.  I ordered a random Nano board from Aliexpress before realising that they come in 3 varieties with different board to PC connectors.  the cheap one I had picked came with an old style mini USB B connector and no lead.  Fortunately I had an lead from an old digital camera to use in the meantime, but I quickly ordered a bunch of nanos with USB C connectors for this and other projects I have in mind.  

MAX7219 8x32 Dot Matrix Display

The perfect lo-fi display for this project is a MAX7219 LED 8x32 dot matrix display.  It's small enough to work as a standalone unit and can take its power from the Arduino itself.  I bought one from AliExpress for only a couple of pounds. 

Wiring the MAX7219

I grabbed a bunch of dupont wires (these are the handy dandy push pin connectors which you get in your arduino kit.  I chopped one end off each wire and soldered them to the MAX7219 pins:

• VCC - Purple - 5v
• GND - White - GND
• DIN - Black - Digital Pin 11
• CS - Blue - Digital Pin 10
• CLK - Grey - Digital Pin 13
  

Wiring the Button

The button is wired into:

• VCC - Red - 5v
• OUT - Orange - Digital Pin 7
• GND - Yellow - GND
  

Entering the The Matrix Code

A bit of googling discovered the perfect code in the form of MAX7219 Message Selector on the Arduino Forums by user groundFungus.  Some tweaking later and I had a bunch of messages which I could toggle through with the addition of a button push on PIN7

// Program to demonstrate the MD_Parola library
// button select canned messages
// MD_MAX72XX library can be found at https://github.com/MajicDesigns/MD_MAX72XX
// by groundFungus AKA c. goulding

#include 
#include 
#include 

const byte  buttonPin = 7;    // the pin that the pushbutton is attached to

// Define the number of devices we have in the chain and the hardware interface
// NOTE: These pin numbers will probably not work with your hardware and may
// need to be adapted
#define HARDWARE_TYPE MD_MAX72XX::FC16_HW
#define MAX_DEVICES 4

// Scrolling parameters
#define SPACE_IN      A5
#define DIRECTION_SET 8 // change the effect
#define INVERT_SET    9 // change the invert

#define CLK_PIN   13
#define DATA_PIN  11
#define CS_PIN    10

MD_Parola P = MD_Parola(HARDWARE_TYPE, CS_PIN, MAX_DEVICES);

// individual messages in strings
const char msg_1[] = "<< WEATHER ALERT>> RAIN IN 10 MIN <> SECTOR 237 RIOT IN PROGRESS <> HOTTIE DAWGS ARE GOOD TO EAT <> BE GOOD CITIZENS LITTERING IS A CRIME>>  ";
const char msg_2[] = "<> ROLL FOR INITIATIVE>>";
const char msg_3[] = "<> GET UGLY GET OTTO SUMPS OIL OF UGLY TODAY!! >>";
const char msg_4[] = "<> HEAVY TRAFFIC ON THE BIG MEG CHOOSE ALTERNATE ROUTES >>";
const char msg_5[] = "<> THIS AREA IS IN LOCKDOWN >>";
const char msg_6[] = "<> CLEAN UP CREWS IN TRANSIT >>";

// an array of pointers to the strings
char *messages[] = {msg_1, msg_2, msg_3, msg_4, msg_5, msg_6};
byte messageNum = sizeof(messages) / sizeof(messages[0]);

int buttonPushCounter = 0;   // counter for the number of button presses
int buttonState = 0;         // current state of the button
int lastButtonState = 0;     // previous state of the button

void setup(void)
{
   Serial.begin(115200);
   Serial.println("\nParola pick a message program\n");
   P.begin();
   pinMode(buttonPin, INPUT_PULLUP);
}

void loop(void)
{
   if (P.displayAnimate())  // time to show next frame?
   {
      P.displayText(messages[buttonPushCounter], PA_CENTER, 50, 3000, PA_SCROLL_LEFT, PA_SCROLL_UP);
   }
   checkButton();
}

void checkButton()
{

   static unsigned long timer = 0;
   unsigned long interval = 25;
   if (millis() - timer >= interval)
   {
      timer = millis();
      buttonState = digitalRead(buttonPin);
      // compare the buttonState to its previous state
      if (buttonState != lastButtonState)
      {
         if (buttonState == LOW)
         {
            // if the current state is LOW then the button
            // went from off to on:
            buttonPushCounter++;  // add one to counter
            // if counter over number of messages, reset the counter to message 0
            if (buttonPushCounter >= messageNum)
            {
               buttonPushCounter = 0;
            }
            //Serial.println(buttonPushCounter);
         }
      }
      lastButtonState = buttonState;
   }
}

Debugging the Code

Unfortunately this particular code only reads the button state at the end of each scroll.  This is where an interrupt is going to be necessary.  The arduino Uno and Nano boards that I have access to are only enabled for interrupts on digital pin 2s and 3 and will necessitate a bit of a rethink in the code 

MAX7219 Case - Thingiverse: Thing 6809712

No one wants to live in a run down cyberpunk world with exposed wires everywhere, so I needed a case for the display with enough depth to house the nano and the button which would switch modes.

I found a simple MAX7219 8x32 case on Thingiverse which I could easily embed magnets into to affix to the top or side of my Mega City Block Storage Case.  Sadly this did not fit my particular MAX7219 board as the pins came out sideways.  

This was easily fixed with a bit of modelling in Sketchup and if you need a case and have side exit pins feel free to download this from Thingiverse using the link above.

Jessie's Prints - Episode 48 - Judge Dredd Shuggy Table

This week, I are mostly been printing... A Shuggy Table!!

Shuggy Table - Thingiverse Thing:6804108

Those of you who aren't Judge Dredd fans (there can't be many of you), Shuggy is the futuristic equivalent of billiards (aka pool) which is a popular pastime among the permanently unemployed citizens of Mega City One.

15mm Shuggy Tables (5p coin for size comparison)

Tracing its origins back to the original 21st century ball and stick games, Shuggy is played on a table with 22 holes which are distributed around the surface atop small mounds.  The object of the game is to "pot" balls into the holes to score points.

A complete run down of the rules is provided by Judge Macus L Rowland in the Wally Squad briefing 041204-2103 also found on pages 50-51 of the Judge Dredd Companion.

This particular 22 hole variant of the game was scaled for use in the print-and-play boardgame Shuggy Hall Brawl published in Issue 11 of Warlock Magazine, but it can be easily scaled to suit the larger Judge Dredd Miniatures Game or the many variants of the Judge Dredd RPG

Mega City Block Upgrade - The Okey Dokey Chef

Once you start pimping out your Mega City One Block Storage Case it's hard to know when to stop...

The Okey Dokey Chef Animated Sign

I wanted my sign to be an advertising hoarding and one of the most famous signs in Mega City One is the Okey Dokey Chef as featured in the Supersurf 7 race story Midnight Surfer (progs 424-429).  I was also inspired by the famous Vegas Vic neon sign whose arm waving welcomed gamblers from all around the globe since 1951.

He wold make an excellent starting point to learn about how to control low voltage RC servos with Arduino.

The Chef

I found a nice piece of clipart online which had the vibe I was going for and imported this into GIMP for editing.  

I cut out the "Chef's Kiss" hand using the lasso tool and moved this over into  a seperate file.  This is going to be the sweeping hand which we will animate later using a servo.

I added a speech bubble with some appropriate text coming out of the side of the chef's head. 

Preparing for Tinkercad

I have learned that Tinkercad is a pretty simplistic modelling tool and it does not particular like creating complex curved or polygonal shapes.  The easiest way to solve this conundrum is to simply create a solid black mask version of your line drawn artwork.  This can be used as a background and because both shapes are exactly the same image size, they will register perfectly together when you import them into Tinkercad.

When I was happy with both files, I and exported them (and their solid black mask counterparts) as a PNG then converted into an SVG using convertio.com.  Each line drawn SVG is imported into Tinkercad for extrusion into a 3D object using the same technique I used to create my badges and Index Card RPG Card Back Stamps. I use an extrusion height of 30mm.

The black mask variant is then imported and the combined shapes exported as a single STL.  This gives me an STL file for the chef and a file for the arm which can be printed on the Anycubic Photon M5.

The Electronics

The core of this project is an Arduino nano.  These little boards are stupidly cheap and really easy to start your coding adventure.  Seriously, if an idiot like me can do it then anyone can.

The bit doing all of the moving is a 9g 5v 180 degree hobby servo which I bought in a twinpack from Ali Express for £1.79.

This was superglued across the gap between the Speech bubble and the chef's arm.

The Wiring and Code

I used the excellent How to Control Servo Motors tutorial on the makerguides website.  The servo has 3 wires Red (5v Power) goes to the 5v pin,  Brown (Ground) goes to the GND pin and the Yellow (Signal) goes to Pin 9.

The code example given is perfect for my purposes, but I did need to customise the start and end positions for the hand as it does not need to run the full 180 that the servo is capable of.  I also added a 500 millisecond delay at the end of each travel.

#include 

Servo myServo;  // Create a Servo object

void setup() {
  myServo.attach(9);  // Attach the servo to pin D9
}

void loop() {
  // Move from 30 to 135 degrees
  for (int pos = 30; pos <= 135; pos += 1) {
    myServo.write(pos);  // Tell servo to go to position in variable 'pos'
    delay(45);           // Wait 15 milliseconds for the servo to reach the position
  }
  delay (500);
  // Move from 135 to 30 degrees
  for (int pos = 135; pos >= 30; pos -= 1) {
    myServo.write(pos);  // Tell servo to go to position in variable 'pos'
    delay(45);           // Wait 15 milliseconds for the servo to reach the position
  }
   delay (500);
}

Troubleshooting

In my naievete I thought that the Arduino nano would be able to power this whole project.  However, the little servo apparently draws too much power to run continuously causing the nano to reset itself and creates some erattic animation.

I tried to mitigate this by adding increasing the dealy to 45 thereby slowing down the move, but sadly this was not enough.  It would have been nice to know all this from the start as an alternative board such as an ESP32.  

Anyway that is another story.  In the meantime check out the final result

Download the Files

I have also uploaded the Okey Dokey Sign STL files to Thingiverse if you should want to make your own version of this iconic comic book sign.

Let me know if you found this useful or if you have made your own animated signs for your own games

Judge Anderson 1/24th Scale Resin Kit

A recent haul from Aliexpress included this fantastic resin kit of Psi Judge Anderson for the princely sum of £8.46 including shipping

Psi Judge Anderson 1:24 scale Resin Kit

Meet the Parts

Another multipart kit depicting Judge Cassandra Anderson doing some psi stuff next to the grave of Sidney De'ath the most powerful of the Dark Judges.  No assembly instructions which is not  big deal as the kit goes together really easily.  However, I have no idea where Death's skeletal hand is supposed to be mounted.

This appears to be based on this Psi Judge Anderson STL on Maco 3D.  I should probably buy that as well and print it out on my new larger 3D Printer.  Although this is a great alternative if you don't have access to a 3D Printer. 

Assembly

The parts were really clean and went together easily with no need to fill except for the join between the two halves of the base. 

Painting

I wanted to go for a comic book colour scheme although the black uniform was going to need a little bit of thought.  After priming and zenithal I airbrushed on the green accents and added a dark wash.  

I think painting this assembled was a big mistake as it would have been so much easier painting individual parts with no risk of overspray.  

I promise that the next model I build will be hot-glued together for the priming and zenithal stage and then disassembled before painting.  I also made the mistake of glueing in Judge Death's claw before glueing Anderson to the base.  This led to him losing one of his fingers... oh well.

The uniform was brush painted in some very thin coats of black and then dry brushed with a very dark blueblack mix to give it a volumetric effect.

Blocking in the Colours

The shoulder pads and badge were painted in a fiery orange with highlights in a yellow orange mix.  Orange and yellow are such lousy colours to paint and Iin hindsight I should have painted a white base coat to allow them to pop.  I chose to wash them in zealot yellow speedpaint which gave them a glossy look.  Don't panic... this will be fixed in the final step.

Face and eyes were painted in my usual skin tone set, at this size it is pointless trying pinkle.

On the hair I tried a mousy blonde base and washed with zealot yellow and then progressively lighter highlights whihc kind of worked/

Black accents were added to the gun, belt pouches and gloves and she was done.

The magic final step is to airbrush a coat of artist matt varnish which removes all signs of glossiness.

 

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.   

Mat Irvine, What a Modelmaking Legend

Whilst bimbling around on the YouTubes I came across a little documentary about the history of model kits.

I had the pleasure of meeting Mat Irvine at the Model Engineers Exhibition some time in the mid 90s. He was a gent and whilst I knew him from his sci-fi TV work, I was stunned by his impressive collection of car models.

Also in attendance at the show were a TV company looking for engineering contestants to enter into something called "Robot Wars"... Whatever happened to that?

The star for me was the Fantastic display for the upcoming movie Judge Dredd. Alongside the Hammersteinesque ABC warrior anamatronic puppet they had a Land Rover City Cab.

I think this is still one of the greatest futuristic vehicle designs ever to have made it onto the silver screen and, given my love of Judge Dredd, one model I would love to create in miniature for my 15mm Judge Dredd RPG Vehicle Fleet.  If anyone knows of a good STL pop it in the comments below.

Jessie's Prints - Episode 30 - Mr.Blobby

This week, I are mostly been printing...  Blobby Blobby Blobby

Mr Blobby - Digital Taxidermy

As soon as I saw this model I had to have it.  For those of a certain age growing up in the UK our childhoods were indellibly etched with the presence of Mr Blobby.  Spawned by a creative monster he graced (or rather bumbled) onto Noel Edmond's House Party on Saturday evenings circa 1996.  This was a time before streaming and there wasn't even channel 5!!  Options were limited and most people flocked to the most popular variety program of the day.  

Sadly Blobby could not be contained in just a 1 hour TV slot and soon there were comic books cartoons a pop song and Blobby took over the UK.  Of course this stratospheric rise to fame took its toll and overexposure led to a meteoric collapse in Blobby's popularity.  

Needless to say this makes him ripe for a Judge Dredd appearance.  I imagine that the residents of the Noel Edmond's Annex of Thatcher Block (Sector 55) are itching for a House Party with those Smurfs from the Jean Claude Van Damme block.

These are multipart minis with lots of options for arms and weapons.  I printed some test pieces at 15mm and realised that I was going to have a hella fiddly time gluing individual arms on the blobby bodies.  I resorted to loading the files up into meshmixer and created 10 different poses which I could then print en masse at 15mm scale.  Meshmixer For The Win!! 

Zorg Industries Wall Art - Thingiverse:4815231 

To further embellish my Mega City One Miniature Storage Block I thought I would add a couple of signs which can be magnetically attached to the side or top of the case.  This wall art was perfect when scaled down for miniature use.

Mulder & Scully - Maco3D

A commissioned print for my Dragon's Keep Roleplay Club chum Kat.  We are currently playing in a Delta Green (Cthulhu meets the X-Files) game as special agents and being the world's biggest Gillian Anderson fan there was only going to be one FBI agent she wanted to play.  

I was a little dissapointed that these models came as rar files and when opened I could see that they were designed in a statuette scale for multipart printing.  They are both very nicely sculpted and I managed to support the files easily enough.  Mulder also came as a one piece print and Scully came as a two part print with options for skirt or trousers which was also very nice.  I would have preferred a complete model in both skirted and trousered versions making it easier for 28mm printing but this is a minor gripe.

However, the biggest problem with scaling statuesque prints down for tabletop games is that they are anthropomorphically correct.  This means that they have spindly ankles, wrists and gun barrels which snap off at the slightest glance.  To try to combat this I made them 5% bigger in the X and Y dimension in the hope of fattening and strengthening them up.   

As you can see they don't look at all overweight.

Jessie's Prints - Episode 29 - Killdozer - Goes Anywhere Kills Everything

 

This week, I are mostly been printing...  THE KILLDOZER

Killdozer / Landraider - Thingiverse: 734066

The quintissential Cursed Earth chariot and a must print for my 15mm Judge Dredd RPG games.  This multi-part model is an excellent sculpt but originally intended for FDM printing.  I scaled it down by 50% to fit perfectly my 15mm Lawmen.

Those of you familiar with the history of this iconic comic car will know that it was part of the Matchbox Adventure 2000 range and came in Avocado Green (1977-79) or Metallic Blue (1980-81),  Neither of these colours befit the Justice Department of my youth and so I went for a Dark Blue with Yellow and Red accents.

I don't know what it is about airbrushing blue but I just don't seem to be able to find the right blue.  I did get to try out some of my colour shifting space paints from vallejo on the turbine and exhaust which was nice.  I think I need to airbrush an entire vehicle to get a really good idea of how they might work.

Justice Department insignia greeblies were sculpted in milliput and the windows got the classic Car Wars wasteland reflection treatment.  You can find my poster art in my Judge Dredd mini posters collection 

Judge Dredd: The Case of the Miniatures Block

Regular readers will know that my scale of choice for Judge Dredd miniatures is 15mm.

I chose this scale because it is cheap, easy to paint and the legendary Laserburn Lawmen are a perfect proxy for my favourite era of Judge Dredd, the 80s.  The problem is of course as with any tabletop game storage and transportation.  Taking a leaf out of the old Kenner Star Wars playbook I resolved to create a miniature storage case in the shape of a city block which could add some play element to my games whilst hiding away all the neat surprises I have in store for my players.

The Framework 

Fans of Aldi (a German discount retailer) will be familiar with the wonders of the middle aisle, and one such grocery shopping trip resulted in me bringing home this cheap plastic crafting drawer unit.  This was swiftly clad in sheets of foam core on three sides and a carry handle printed on my FDM printer was bolted to the top.

Balconies

I wanted to extend play in 3 dimensions so the inclusion of some elevated features was essential.  These consisted of 25mm wide strips of foam core hot glued at regular intervals up the block.  Most of my minis are based on 1p coins so this is perfect for stationing high level snipers or as a launchpad for boingers or skysurfers.

Exterior Features

I always picture these smaller blocks as being the work of brutalist architects.  They are concrete monstrosities more akin to prisons than homes but they attempt to offer at least windows and air conditioning.  

I modelled a couple of "skins" featuring a door and windows which could be 3D printed and then attached to the foamcore facade conveniently hiding some of the wiring from the lights.  This could easily be made from mountboard, cereal packet or even thick paper if you do not have a 3D printer, but I have made the files available on thingiverse for free just download Tower Block Apartment Front Skins.

Greeblies

No sci-fi model is complete until it is festooned with greeblies.  Some are necessary to hide wiring but all of them break up that monotonous concrete facade.  I downloaded some air con units from Thingiverse which were then printed out and positioned in the space between the apartment skins.

If you are interested I have written a blog about printing some of the Judge Dredd Greeblies.

Lighting and Signage

One of the core features of any block is its plethora of crappy.  Battery powered christmas lights are perfect for this and can also perform double duty as balcony illumination.  These were strung in a zig zag pattern and then embedded in the underside of the balconies.

I then modelled some light covers to hide the tiny LEDs which added a certain amount of light diffusion aswell.

Block Name Signage

I then modelled a light box and frame to house paper block name signs for each of the blocks in my sector.  This is a versatile system which incorporates 5mm magnets and magnetic strip so you can attach the sign to either side or top of the case.  The hand drawn lettering I feel really sums up the art style of Judge Dredd during my formative years and they are super easy to knock out.  Here are just two

I also modelled the infamous Peach Trees Block sign which I printed in transparent resin on my Photon Mono 4K.  

The lightbox design incorporates hollow areas in the corners for the magnets to attach the frame (also magnetised).  The inside of the box is covered with aluminium foil to aid light reflection.  Signs are easily attached and detached in seconds as your scenes change. 

The Roof

The top floor of the block would inevitably invite play so I made sure to create a 1" grid in the roof which was then further emphasized with short clippings of PLA filament to create a grid.  

This was then painted and covered in some flock to make a rooftop garden.  The carrying handle sticks out a bit but it's form over function 

It's Magnetic Man!

Storing miniatures is the key goal, so it was crucial to make sure that they didn't move around during transport.  I stuck some A4 magnetic sheet into each tray which has enough holding power to stop my minis from skating around uncontrollably.  This is quite cheap on eBay and a good solution for smaller minis or ones which don't weigh much.

For those of you using 1 pence or 2 pence pieces to base your minis, make sure that you use only pennies from 1992 onwards,  These are made of copper coated steel and are therefore magnetic.  If, like me, you were using up your penny jar and didn't know this when you based them, then you can use thin steel foil or more of the sheet you used to line your trays.

Posters and Grafitti

No block would be complete without the plethora of posters and block grafitti.  For my block This is still a work in progress which I have detailed in a seperate article - Judge Dredd: Miniature Posters for a Miniature Mega City One.

Is it Finished?

Whilst this is always going to be a work in progress, I think it is sufficiently finished to post this article with some photos.

Video Tour

Apologies for the vertical video but this thing is pretty big.

Judge Dredd: Miniature Posters for a Miniature Mega City One

One of the things that makes Mega City One come alive is the signage.  Consider this my attempt to gather some in-universe posters to adorn my Mega City One Storage Block.

In the metropolis of the future 96% of citizens are unemployed (some even unemployable) and so the only thing left to them is either crime or consumerism.  There is always a new craze sweeping the streets and these things don't just sell themselves, they require the efforts of countless marketing droids to dream up the latest zarjazz ad campaign.

One of the things I loved about the Dredd (2012) movie was the attention to detail that the production designers went to in populating the walls and foyer of Peach Trees to make it look like it was really lived in and dystopian.

I think there should be a juxtaposition between the official Justice department signage which features slogans like "The Law is Watching You" or "Obey the Law" and the rampant consumerism posters of the mega corps.  It should feel like a living nightmare between the movies "1984" and "Idiocracy".

Posters on the Web

I've created posters for my games a number of times and even did one for Fratellis Pizza Truck Sign when I needed signage for the side of a Pizza Truck.

I did some research and found only a handful of ready to go posters such as this Psi Division recruitment poster by Miguel Mercado.  The Judge Dredd pages of Wargaming Girl's Blog is a treasure trove some beutiful 28 mm minis and scenery builds including this Get Ugly Billboard which is definitely what I am leaning towards.

Judge Dredd (In Universe) Posters

Cal is Watching You! - Who could forget Judge Caligula, the mad tyrant whose reign of terror brought Mega City One to its knees and sentenced an entire city to death.  Part of this story would form the basis for the Judge Dredd (1995) movie plot in which Dredd is framed for murder and sentenced to life imprisonment on Titan The locations may have changed but the sentiment is there and produces the memorable showdown with Mean Machine Angel. 

Cal introduced one of the greatest Alien species to have graced the pages of 2000AD, in the form of Kleggs.  They have to be one of my favourites, the crocodile headed, 8 foot tall monsters whose only thought was killing and eating raw meat.  I of course modelled these as one of my Mega City Gangs.

Get Ugly! - This mock advert graced the cover of Eagle Comics Presents Judge Dredd #25 (Nov 1985) and a bit of manipulation removes the Title leaving the gorgeous Brian Bolland artwork.  Whilst Otto Sump's Ugly Clinics are long past their heyday, the Ugly craze still has its devotees who wouldn't dream of changing.

Otto Sump is one of the most prolific entrepreneurs of early Dredd stories and the creator of the tasty and nutritious food substitute made from industrial waste known as Gunge.  

Gunge was an instant hit, being twice as nutritious as the current food alternative Munce.

I came across this Gunge image which was easily converted into a poster with a little bit of slimy text.

Otto Sump is such a goldmine of great imagery that it would literally be a crime to not include his tasty sewage in a can for my citizens to salivate over.

Sadly the Justice Department quickly put the kybosh on Otto Sump's culinary empire and outlawed the product and repurposed it for their own unflavoured Justice Department Rations.  Sump was unconcerned as there is nothing better for a businessman than having a steady stream of income from a Government contract.  

Uncle Umps Umpty Candy was another classic Dredd storyline and a pastiche on Willy Wonka.  Ump was just a kindly old man whose crime was to make candy which was deemed dangerously delicious by the Justice Department.  Uncle Ump ultimately wound up in a maximum security penal colony in space, far away from Mega City One and the many millions of potential addicts 

Homebrewed Advertisements

Ladies Night at Aggro Dome - The Aggro Dome is a popular venue for the upstanding law abiding citizen to vent their rage on a regular basis.  Why not have a good old fashioned bar brawl without the beer (because that's an illegal stimulant).  

Settle those neighbourly disputes in a safe and legal way by bashing each other over the head with a cricket bat.  All protective equipment available at a small rental fee.  Juveniles ages 5+ welcome.  

Bring your wife, mother, girl-friend or grandmother all are welcome and all ladies get in for free on Friday Night.

Landrover the Mega City Car You Can Rely On - The Land Rover City Car was one of the iconic vehicles created for the Judge Dredd (1985) movie.  

It came in a couple of different versions, 31 were made for the movie including 2 fully road legal ones.  Based on a Land Rover Forward Control 101 chassis.  I remember seeing one of these as a teen at the Model Engineers Exhibition where they had a Judge Dredd movie display featuring the ABC Robot which demonstrated pneumatic animatronics.  It was pretty freaking awesome.

I am still looking for a good model that I can add to my collection of 15mm Judge Dredd Vehicles so if you know where one is please drop a comment in the box below. - https://cults3d.com/en/3d-model/game/cursed-earth-taxi

Boing! - An old favourite and guaranteed to keep even a Dark Judge at bay, The all new Strawberry flavoured Boing! is the latest craze to hit the shelves.  But don't get carried away kids as you can only legally and safely use Boing! in your local Palais de Boing!

Boingers featured as a random encounter in my last Judge Dredd game and I custom crafted a couple of the sproingy fellons out of christmas decorations.  They worked out really well and I definitely should make some more now I have access to a resin 3D printer.  Check out my 15mm Boingers

No Illegal Aliens - Brian Bolland artwork to the rescue.  This cool mashup of Judge Dredd and a Mars Attacks alien was for a crossover comic by IDW.  This is a great cover and lends itself really well to a quick bit of photoshop to remove all the text.  This will look really great stuck to the side of my Block Storage Case.

Mantic Games published a 28mm wargame in the Mars Attacks universe and I would love to print off some 15mm aliens to be one of my Mega City Gangs.  

All I could find for free was a mars attacks alien head and I think there are some 15mm Horde of The Things minis out there which would do a better job. 

Marty McFly's Mopads - If you can't trust a used mopad salesman then who can you trust am I right?.  This was an experiment in AI generated content using the Text to Image art generator Marty McFly's Used Mopads Poster.

Ignoring all the controversy, I thought this was an excellent starting point although it took quite a few prompts to get something I was truly happy with as a starting point for this image. 

I'm looking at utilising AI more during game prep in the future and its use in games at my regular friday night sessions at Dragons Keep Roleplay Club is on the rise.  I for one welcome my new robot overlords.

Emphatically Yes trousers are one of the many Mega City corporations who hare handpicken to suppy only the best services and products to the Justice Department itself.  Avid readers of 2000AD will of course recognise the name or more likely recocnise the name of it's owner Phillip Janet Maybe.  

PJ has to be one of the greatest criminal minds of his era and one of Judge Dredd's erstwhile protagonists having murdered his way to being a millionaire and managed to outwit Dredd on many occassions.  However, just like the RCMP Dredd always gets his man and PJ Maybe finally met his end falling from a zoom car and exploding at the same time. 

Killdozer / Landcruiser One of the greatest toy merchandising deals of my childhood was the 2000AD & Matchbox "Adventure 2000" range of diecast vehicles which came out in 1977.  This was the vehicle of choice for Judge Dredd's famous excursion into the Cursed Earth in a bid to deliver the antidote to the 2T(fru)T virus to the inhabitants of Mega City Two.  

This cross country road trip was inspired by the Roger Zelazny Novel "Damnation Alley".  It was a rip snorting adventure which saw Dredd's team face challenge after challenge and steadily get whittled down to just one man.  Along the way we saw the Jolly Green Giant defeated, Mt Rushmore destroyed and were introduced to greats such as the Doomsday Dogs, the Angel Gang and Satanus.  The Killdozer of course was destroyed fairly early on in this mammoth trek, but it went out with a bang and was immortalised forecer in thousands of diecast toys around the country.

Not Dredd but the Sentiment is Right

Better Dead Than Red - Sums up all that post Apocalypse War, Sov Bloc hatred that followed the almost annihilation of Mega City One back in 2103.  There will be few alive today that remember those times but surviving Pre-Atomic blocks still carry the signs and scars of battle.

These will most likely adorn the walls of the Black Museum or perhaps some long forgotten bomb shelter or underground evacuation center. 

With its roots in the Communist Red Scare of 1950s America, this is a classic example of Cold War Propagandism which 2000AD emulated so well during the 80s when the news papers and TV were all consumed by the threat of a Russian disctator with access to a nuclear arsenal.  Nothing changes much then...

Offworld - The off world colonies are out of reach for most of the inhabitants of earth as they don't meet the strict genetic requirements.  For others it is a chance to start afresh and make a mess of a new planet.  At least you will be able to live side by side in peace with those pesky replicants we all hear about.

I love that the corporate creations of Ridley Scott's Bladerunner and Alien universes have taken on a life of their own beyond the movie franchises.  You can see it all across geek culture in the huge number of T-Shirt designs that you can buy featuring the Weiland-Yutani or Tyrell Corp logos.  Other great sci-fi movies have followed suit with a plethora of tourism posters and fake corporate adverts for holidays on Tattooine or cab rides from Corbyn Dallas. 

Be Pure, Be Vigilant, Behave - The catchphrase of Torquemada the Grand Inquisitor and the villain of the 2000AD sister strip Nemesis the Warlock. 

When I was a regular reader there was a huge crossover with the ABC Warriors and Nemesis which was one of the first sightings of artwork by Simon Bisley.  The most famous of these robots being Ro-Jaws and Hammerstein who made their debut in the Pat Mills penned Ro-Busters strip.  I have a particular penchant for this pair who I swear must be inspired by R2-D2 and C3-P0.

Be Pure, Be Vigilant, Behave is one of those great lines which blends the sinister authoritarianism of Orwell's 1984, the quirky establishmentarianism of Empire and the British Ministry of War posters of WW2.  It's also a fitting title for 2000AD creator Pat Mill's book about the comics industry he helped to form.

12 Monkeys - If you haven't seen this fantastically trippy Terry Gilliam movie starring Bruce Willis then you should.  A central theme to the story being the proliferation of the mysterious 12 monkeys posters and grafitti in a pre-apocalypse New York.  Who is posting them up? What are the 12 monkeys? 00 What does it all mean?  The story unravels piece by piece as you are convinced that the main character is losing his mind as his reality and his future crumble.

Terry has always been a visionary when it comes to dreaming up dystopian futures.  My favourite has to be the amazing Brazil.  I should really get around to creating a storyline around guerilla plumber extraordinaire and bane of Central Services Harry Tuttle.

Download These Judge Dredd Mini Posters and More

If you need some quirky Judge Dredd Posters for your game and don't want to spend days scouring the internet like I did...  I've put all these and more together for in one Judge Dredd Miniposters JPG below which you can download below.

If you want me to make more posters or find some great Judge Dredd poster images to share, please feel free to comment in the box below.  Enjoy