Savage Dredd - Gangs of Mega City One

Mega City One has its fair share petty criminals and none come more petty than the juve gangs who vie for supremacy in their respective blocks.  Here are just a few of the gangs I have created for my Judge Dredd campaigns set in Sector 55.

The Squid Squad

Residents of Little Korea, the squid squad are easily identifiable by their neon pink all over jumpsuits and black facemasks.  They are one of the most organised and disciplined gangs in Sector 55 and should be approached with caution.  Their suits offer protection against all chemical attacks and their masks include breathers and headsets rendering Stumm Gas and Sonic cannon ineffective.

I found a free guard model on Thingiverse 5021982 and scaled them down to 15mm to match my other Judge Dredd minis.  This was pretty much the limit of how small I can print a standard 28mm mini as they were a little vulnerable in the ankle area.  I love how they came out and with a quick lick of paint they are absolutely ready for a rumble in Mega City One.

The Fatties

It is almost impossible to find models of fat people on the internet.  Of course the officially licenced range has some fantastic minis but these are 35mm.  Milliput to the rescue.  I blobbed on some putty and roughly sculpted some corpulent citizens to flesh out any gathering.  I only made 5 but if I get a really great scenario idea that needs more then who knows. 

There is a distinct lack of protest banners as whenever they are depicted in the comics they always seem to be shouting about something or other.  I did have a go at modelling belly wheels but it was an abject failure.  They of course come in a wide variety of jumpsuits and track suits as they are always in training for their next big weigh in.

TV Media Crews

In Mega City One there are almost as many TriD TV channels as there are citizens.  From documentary channels to citizen broadcasters the airwaves are chock full of options for the discerning viewer and 24 Hour News is just one small slice of that media cake.

Looking like a cross between the anchor men of old and corporate shift workers, these guys are a common sight at any incident.  They band together like fleas on a rat, but when they smell a story it's dog eat dog.  Oh and don't think that they aren't above creating the odd incident on a slow news day.

The Barbarellas

These costumed crusaders can usually be found defending their home turf of Jane Fonda Block.  The Barbs, as they are colloquially known, work double duty as an organized crime gang and the block's Citi-Def. 

Armed with stub guns and reflective body armour styled after an old holovid from 1960s.  Membership of this gang is exclusive and you only get in if you are a prime specimen of health and vitality.  One of the gang's most lucrative rackets is running the many Fonda Fitness Centres which also give it access to a steady stream of new recruits in peak physical condition.

Meanwhile in Mega City 1 - Prog 5: A Cloning Conundrum

 

Meanwhile in Mega City One is a roleplaying game which takes place every Friday Night at Dragons Keep Roleplay Club in Chislehurst, South East London. 

Cast

• Judge Cully - A no-nonsense female street judge with a penchant for heavy weapons - Kat
• Judge Krush - A hard as nails street judge who goes by the book - Steve
• Judge Swiss - A rookie street Judge - Alex
  
• Psi Judge Pike - A Psi Division rookie Judge - Conor
  

Seven Young Problems

Confronted by seven vulnerable young girls Judge Cully does not call it in.  She tells the kids to be quiet and stay hidden.  She then returns to the patrol and tells them that the stairs led to a lab whihc was destroyed.

Pike calls in a meatwagon to bag the perp and they head off to follow up on their other cloning lead Dr Steve Ein.

The Ein Residence - Stallone Block

At 1800 hrs they find themselves outside the door of apartment 118-1.  Swiss knocks on the door and Dr Ein lets them in.  Krush immediately starts scanning the apartment for drugs and guns.  Pike checks out the nearest door which opens into a walkin closet.  Swiss and Cully interrogate Ein.

Dr Ein is a very cooperative citizen and tells them that since being released from the isocubes he has not been contacted by anyone to undertake any cloning work.  He has done some freelancing for Prof. Ose over at the Felix labs where his knowledge of the Quantum Recombinator 3000 was useful in synthesising some Pineapple DNA but other than that he has been largely unemployed.  He offers up a couple of names Dr Hideki Pho and Danish Tokopi who would have been able to clone a cat.  Pho died a few months back when he cloned a wooly mammoth which then stepped on him.  His assistant Tokopi was arrested and is currently in the isocubes doing a long stretch.  Funny thing is that the mammoth was only supposed to be 8 inches tall not 8 metres tall.  It survives in the Alien Zoo and is apparently quite the attraction.

He asks who gave you his name and proceeds to go on quite the rant about Dr Rank's abilities in the field and how he would clone his own grandmother if there was a cred in it.  

Satisfied that there is nothing of interest in the closet Pike proceeds to mind read Dr Ein and confirms that he knows nothing about Miss Wildenstein or Mr Blofeldt.  His story checks out.

On the Balcony Judge Krush spots a perp liberally dousing an aprtment in Chan Block opposite with CHOO2 from a jerry-can.  The punk is wearing Cobra colours (a Stallone Block gang) and clearly this is a prescursor to a full scale Block War, so he calls it in. 

Pike proceeds to check out the upstairs rooms.  As he enters the bedroom he sees a figure dressed similarly to Dr Ein wearing a leather flying helmet clamber over the balcony balustrade and fall with a scream.

On the lower floor Krush, Cully and Swiss see a black shape fall from balcony above and dissapear out of sight.  Moments later with a woosh the figure opens his arms revealing bat wings and he floats away gracefully.  A batter.

Dr Ein comments "that that was my brother Dave, he doesn't like people and so he often goes batting when I have guests round."

Swiss checks with MAC and confirms that the residence houses two Ein Brothers. 

An H-Wagon turns up outside Chan Block.

"Put the can down punk and put your hands in the air, you are under arrest for attempted arson"

"Loose the shooter scum and we'll take you in alive"  

BANG 

"Wrong move punk"

The H-Wagon strafes the CHOO2 soaked appartment with it's cannon and it promptly explodes.  In moments it is reduced to a smouldering ruin.  Floating over to the balcony where Judge Krush stands surveying the scene, a head pops out of the commanders cupola, Judge Luminum exchanges words with Krush.  

"Good call Krush, we are seeing more activity from these gangers and expect things to get real drokkin dicey in the next couple of days."

As they wrap up their investigation and head back to the sector house a passing advertising train blares out an advertisement.

SUNDAY, SUNDAY, SUNDAY, LIVE AT THE BERLUSCONI COLLISEUM, KAT KITTEN & THE POWER CONVERTERS FREE CONCERT, LAUNCHING THEIR DEBUT SINGLE --- DONT STOP BY ME NOW --- DOORS OPEN AT 3PM --- BROUGHT TO YOU BY SIMON POWERS ENTERTAINMENT

Back to the Sector House

As they roll into the motorpool Judge Belloch greets them and asks Cully and Krush how the new recruits are doing.  He also asks if they found any evidence of other people living at the Rank residence as the Forensics team suspects there were 6 or 7 people living there.  Cully says no just the one perp who they put on ice.  Belloch tells Pike that Judge Quincy is expecting them in the morgue.

Down in the morgue Judge Quincy leads a team of dedicated pathology lab full of Med Teks who are skilled in Foresensic Science.  He claims that the Wildenstein woman was attacked.  She had signs of mild strangulation possibly by a pearl necklace and that under her fingernails were skin fragments which suggest she may have scratched the face of her attacker.  It's definitely murder.

Swiss opines that maybe Wildenstein had an agent and proceeds to scour through her email records.  He comes up with a name Jerry MacGuire and the address 483-26 Trump Tower.

Cully suggests that tomorrow they go back and see what Slute and Flute have uncovered.  She retires to her dorm room and looks for possible orphanages to turn over the seven girls to.  Miss Hannigan's Home for Waifs and Stray's looks promising and is nearby in Ozzy Apts.  

BACK ISSUES

• Prog 1 - Rolling With The Rookies 
• Prog 2 - Splat Goes The Ugly
• Prog 3 - Great Balls of Fire!!
• Prog 4 - Pet Food Shenanigans? 

Meanwhile in Mega City 1 - Prog 4: Pet Food Shenanigans?

Meanwhile in Mega City One is a roleplaying game which takes place every Friday Night at Dragons Keep Roleplay Club in Chislehurst, South East London. 

Cast

• Judge Cully - A no-nonsense female street judge with a penchant for heavy weapons - Kat
• Judge Krush - A hard as nails street judge who goes by the book - Steve
• Judge Swiss - A rookie street Judge - Alex
  
• Psi Judge Pike - A Psi Division rookie Judge - Conor
  

Decisions, Decisions, Decisions

The patrol spends the next two hours investigating the aftermath of the boinging attack.

Considering their possible leads in the Wildenstein murder case they:

1. Investigate Felix Pet Foods to see if there was a possible motive.
2. Go back to Sector House and
3. Go to The Jungle and interrogate the apes

Swiss contact Control and orders that Wildenstein's email accounts are sanctioned for evidence.  Felix Pet Foods is located in Elon Tusk Industrial Park A-235.  An unexpected hailstorm occurs at 15:30 lasting approximately 5 minutes. 

They arrive at the factory at 16:00 and are met by the Operations Director Victor Froome who proceeds to give them a tour.  When he hears that Miss Wildenstein is dead he is visibly moved.  Pike only reads his surface thoughts which seem to back up his body language.  When quizzed about the exact details of the prize contract, Froome confirms that the prize winner could purchase any felix cat food product for free with the presentation of an ID card for the lifetime of the cat.  The cat was subjected to a regular barrage of tests including a DNA test. 

Prof. Dexter Ose

He takes thenm up to the lab and introduces them to Prof. Dexter Ose who leads the companies R&D facilities.  Prof. Ose tells them that he personally conducted the tests on Mr.Blomfeldt.  Asked if the cat could have been cloned he says that's ridiculous, who would go to the trouble of having their pet cloned.  

Froome is excited to tell his team of crack lawyers of Miss Wildenstein's death and tells them to come up to the lab.  A few moments later a community of chimpannzees wearing suits and carrying typewriters bursts into the room.  The Judges leave but Pike and Scully suspect that Professor Ose has an ulterior motive.  

Pike contacts Control for a list of know cloners in the sector.  Moments later a list appears on his HUD.

1. Dr. Eff Rank - 571-49-Benny-Hill-Block
2. Dr. Steve Ein - 118-1-Stallone-Block
3. Prof. Xero X - Isocube
4. Dr. Hideki Pho - deceased
5. Danish Tokopi - Isocube

They decide to pay Dr. Rank a visit.

Benny Hill Block

An hour later the judges are knocking on Dr Rank's door.  They can hear multiple quiet voices inside.  Dr Rank unlocks the door but keeps it on the chain preferring to have a conversation through a two inch gap.

Dr Eff Rank

He tells them that he doesn't do cloning anymore and that he wouldn't waste his time on pets in any case.  That is the preserve of crazy people like his closest rival Dr Ein.  The fate of the human race hangs in the balance and if we don't solve the problems of human cloning then we will be unable to survive The Great Barrier and colonize the Galaxy.

His obsession with space colonisation is apparently the reason his wife and children left him when he returned from his time in the isocubes a few years ago.

After a short and frustrating conversation Krush kicks in the door smashing Rank in the face and making him stumble back into a glass topped table whihc shatters.

Rank is helped onto the sofa to recuperate whilst the Judges continue to blitz his apartment.  They find 8 toothbrushes in the bathroom, a pair of childrens shoes in a bedroom and food in the fridge labelled with the days of the week.

Professor Eff Rank's Apartment - 571-49 Benny Hill Block

Krush checks out Bedroom 3 and in passing switches off the TV which was advertising a live concert on Sunday by the latest Simon Powers girl group Kat Kitten and The Power Converters. 

Swiss discovers a secret hatch under the bed in the master bedroom and calls everyone to come and look.  Krush makes his way out of a bedroom and narrowly avoids being blown away by Rank who is wielding a sawed off stub gun.  Krush shoots a 3 shot burst and catches Rank in the guts.  Pike runs in and tries to psychic blast the scientist which stops him from reloading and Krush shoots him in the chest, dead.  

    "You all saw him, he had a gun"

The bed concealed a set of synthicrete steps leading down to a landing which doubles back and further down ending in a locked metal security door. She shoots off the lock with a High Explosive round and the door swings open revealing seven young girls aged about 8.  She asks them their names and they reply

"Monday... Tuesday... Wednesday... Thursday... Friday... Saturday... and Sunday."

You can read more about the game characters, NPCs and locations on it's Obsidian Portal page, please consider becoming a Fan.

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BACK ISSUES

• Prog 1 - Rolling With The Rookies 
• Prog 2 - Splat Goes The Ugly
• Prog 3 - Great Balls of Fire!!
  

Meanwhile in Mega CIty One - Prog 3: Great Balls Of Fire!!

Meanwhile in Mega City One is a roleplaying game which takes place every Friday Night at Dragons Keep Roleplay Club in Chislehurst, South East London.  Games Master is Tony

Cast

• Judge Cully - A no-nonsense female street judge with a penchant for heavy weapons - Kat
• Judge Krush - A hard as nails street judge who goes by the book - Steve
• Judge Swiss - A rookie street Judge - Alex
  
• Psi Judge Pike - A Psi Division rookie Judge - Conor
  

A Hot Chipped Cat

eaving Mr Draper's apartment it occurs to Cully and Krush that Mr. Blofeldt  is likely to have had a tracking chip installed and so Cully and Pike put in a call to the municipal computer, Barney, which contains a databaseof every license issued for a pet in MC1.  Unfortunately Barney seems to be overwhelmed with calls at the moment and both judges are put into a queue.

Perhaps there is evidence that thye missed in the apartment and so they return and begin a more thorough search.  Krush begins looking for a safe behibnd the many paintings, Cully searches the walk in closet and Pike the bedroom dresser.  Pike finds a desktop armoire filled with cat collars of every colour.  In the drawers below are stuffed receipts from a store called Cat Couture.  In the living room behind a large painting, Krush finds a safe with a combination keypad.  Pike suggests tying in Mr. Blofeldts birthday.  

They switch on the Tri-D TV and search the calendar.  Mr Blofeldts birthday is circled as an event on 04-11.  Krush punches in the numbers and is rewarded with a satisfying click, the key to cracking the case is almost in his hands.  Unfortunately, the safe contains only a large stock of human dehydrated food.  "Well that's one mystery solved" remarks Swiss.

Searching through Miss Wildensteins favourites they discover that she watched almost exclusively celebrity vids, cat vids and celebrity cat vids.  One channel is "Where's my Pussy?" which is a lost cat channel through which owners can report their lost stolen or otherwise errant feline friends .  It contains thousands of pictures of missing moggies and Cully decides to use it to list Mr. Blofeldt.  She fills out the online form.

Pike calls up the directory and dials the number for Cat Couture.  Two well dressed men answer the phone and immediately begin effervescing about how glad they are that Miss Wildenstein has called.  They are shocked and surprised to learn that Miss Wildenstein is deceased.  The pair are know to Judge Cully and she remembers that they were the owners of Zlooty Slute's Suits You, a gentlemens outfitters on Melania Boulevard.

Cat Couture

Following their recent close call with disaster Mr Slute and Mr Floot have gone into the cat accessory business.  Miss Wildenstein was one of their biggest customers and she had only recently purchased a stunning blue diamante collar for Mr. Blofeldt worth C10,000.  Mr Floot delicately enquires about the whereabouts of the collar and is dismayed to hear about the missing cat.  They suggest a personal visit to their store to see if they can be of assistance.  

Zlooty Slute	Whistler Floot	Jocelyn Wildenstein

30 minutes later the Judges walk through the door of Cat Couture and begin to interrogate Slute and Flute.  Cully demands a list of customers but they refuse citing client confidentiality.  Despite being threatened with 2 years in the cubes for withholding evidence they remain tight lipped.  Swiss suggests that perhaps if the pair were enrolled in the Informants Scheme they could carry out some investigations on their behalf.  Cully prints out an F17-C and signs the pair up.  Mr Floot comments that "He never liked Mr. Blofeldt #5, it was so sad to hear about the death of #4"

As they mount up outside they consider their possible lines of investigation:

1. Head to The Jungle and see if the Ape Mafia have anything to do with the stolen cat.

2. Pay a visit to Felix Pet Foods the source of the threatening emails to Miss Wildenstein.

3. Go back to sector house and see if the morgue has found anything out on the body.

Their musings are cut short by a scream and a cry "look out it's a boinger!"

What the Boing!

With a sickening crunch splat a boinger lands on a innocent passer-by killing them instantly.  

Judge Pike tries a psychic blast, but Boing is impervious to psychic energy as proven by Judge Anderson when she and Judge Death were entombed in boing many years ago.   Cully manages to shoot off an incendiary round turning the globe of plastic into a spicy hot flaming rubber ball before it bounces up into the air.  

As a second boinger lands, Swiss attempts to fire an HE round but is momentarily blinded by a falling piece of burning plastic landing on his visor.  He orders his bike to engage with it's cannon.  BUDDA, BUDDA, BUDDA go the cannon and three large calibre shells ricochet off the rubber ball.  2 come straight back at the lawmaster busting it up and a third kills a bystander who was making for the safety of the alleyway opposite.  

Boingers land outside Cat Couture on Melania Boulevarde

Ralf Loren, a member of Trump Towers Citi-Def, is buying lunch at the Munce Bar with his squad mates Dave and Suraya.  He instinctively opens up with his stub gun but misses the second boinger and peppers the front of the Sector 55 Bank with lead.  

Judge Krush spins his bike around and fires his Cyclops Laser Cannon at the Boinger.  It's beam cuts through the plastic like a hot knife through butter and punches through into Dave "Shagger" Williams disintegrating his lower torso.  The third citi-def member, Suraya, screams in agony "Who watches the Judges?"  

Ralph comforts his squad mate "It's not looking good Dave" whilst Suraya wave's Dave's legs in the air and tries to grab someone's attention shouting "Medic!"

Pike shoots an AP round at a third boinger who is about to land.  With a crunch it lands on a yellow saloon heading north crushing the plassteel canopy and causing it to crash into an orange car coming the other way.  The boinger ricochets off into the windows of Cat Couture.  Swiss shoots an incendiary at the ascending second boinger as the 1st boinger, now a mishapen blob of burning goo, reaches apogee.  Cully fires an HE at Boinger #2 sending it splatting into the wall of Joe Biden Block opposite.An orange compact hover car is showered with burning debris, swerves and smashes through  the windows of Kneepads R'You.

Krush fires an AP round at Boinger #3 as it ricochets off Cat Couture's armoured windows and flies across the road into the Kneepad Store.

Pike dives under the yellow saloon for cover as what is left of boinger heads for impact.  Cully fires off a HE round at #1 but misses blowing up an unsuspecting citizens apartment.  Boinger #1 lands with a splat on what is left of the yellow saloon.  Pike breathes a sigh of relief and hopes that Judge Belloch will be lenient under the circumstances.

In the Kneepad Store the burning orange compact explodes killing everyone in the store including those who ran inside to shelter from the chaos outside. 

NEXT PROG ->

BACK ISSUES

• Prog 1 - Rolling With The Rookies 
• Prog 2 - Splat Goes The Ugly
  

Meanwhile in Mega City One - Prog 2: Splat Goes The Ugly

 

 Meanwhile in Mega City One is a roleplaying game which takes place every Friday Night at Dragons Keep Roleplay Club in Chislehurst, South East London.  Games Master is Tony

Cast

• Judge Cully - A no-nonsense female street judge with a penchant for heavy weapons - Kat
• Judge Krush - A hard as nails street judge who goes by the book - Steve
• Psi Judge Pike - A Psi Division rookie Judge - Conor
• Judge Swiss - A rookie street Judge - Alex

One Ugly Pavement Pizza

It's Thursday and in the morning briefing, Judge Belloch congratulates Judges Pike and Swiss on making it through their first day on the mean streets of Sector 55.   

"Thursday is where the rubber meets the road and folk start warming up for the weekend.  All manner of cooks and crazies will start to come out of the woodwork so don't get sloppy and you won't get dead.

 

Tensions are rising between Chan and Stallone Blocks again and the Belgian Boys over in JCVD feel like they are being left out of the action.  We can expect a full scale block war any day now.  The riot squads are on stand-by and anyone who hasn't completed their mandatory 90 day rotation will be called up shout the brown stuff hit the spinny thing.  

 

You know the drill people, Go! Go! Go!"

 

The Judges are soon out on patrol and on their way to their first incident.  A leaper out of Thatcher Towers has struck the pedway and left a mess.  

 

Arriving on scene, a crowd of bystanders has already surrounded the corpse and Max Manus from Channel 55's News Crew is making a piece to camera.  Cully dismounts and starts to make her way through the crowd.  Manus shoves his mic into her face, "Judge Cully, what makes a person jump to their death on a fine day like to day?  Sick of life or did some perp possibly push them?"  

 

Judges attend the scene of a leaper outside Thatcher Towers

"No Comment" replies Cully and orders the media man to turn over his tape.  Max obliges and calls his hover-cam over with a whistle.  He swiftly ejects the micro data disc and hands it over popping a fresh one in from a stash in his jacket.  She pops the disk into her bike computer and reviews the footage.  Manus only started his segment after the body had hit the pedway but she scans the bystanders for any suspicious body language.  Swiss scans the block for signs of any CCTV which would might have caught the incident.  Mitterand Maisons opposite has some better views of the block and he decides to take a stroll over to the french quarter.  Pike calls for a meatwagon to pick up the body whilst Krush patiently scans the crowd for law breakers.

 

Taking the cross-ped bridge which connects the two block plazas, Swiss spots a curious looking fellow approaching from the Mitterand side.  He walks right up to the judge and suddenly stops putting his hands out in front of him as though an invisible barrier where preventing him from moving any further.  Looking at his feet Swiss notices a yellow painted line which denotes the legal mime zone which surrounds Mitterand Maisons.

Original Background art by Neil Miller  (http://www.neilmillervfx.com)

Swiss asks him for his mime licence and if he saw what happened earlier at Thatcher Towers.  The mime nods and silently conveys a sad face, a jump, a landing, a line across the neck and fluttering wings.  Checking the back of the card Swiss spots that this mime is on duty for the next 7 hours and knows he won't get a word out of him until he comes off shift.  The mime union are a tough bunch he muses as he strides past the street performer and heads for the block security point. 

 

The citizen hit the ground face first but something about the corpse seems familiar to Cully.  It could be the platinim blonde hair or the secquined dress.  She searches the bloody pulp that's left and fishes out a blood stained ID card.  Her suspicions are confirmed, the leaper was Jocelyn Wildenstein a minor celebrity and ugly pageant contestant.  (See Sector 55 Blues - Prog 3)

 

"What's taking so long?" commands Krush "If there's a pushy perp they will be long gone by now!"

 

Spotting a nearby servo-bot Judge Pike orders it to guard the body.  "Call-Me-Malcolm is honoured to serve" say the robot and the patrol heads into the block and up to Miss Wildensteins apartment on floor 525.

 

Over in Mitterand Maisons Judge Swiss is reviewing the CCTV and whilst the footage is grainy and low resolution he can see Miss Wildenstein fall from the balcony and moments earlier there was a white object on the balcony parapet.  Could this have been the cat Mr Blofeldt?  He notes the timecode when Miss Wildenstein fell as 11:16 and returns to Thatcher Towers to rejoin the patrol.

Chez Wildenstein

A short trip in the turbo lift is made slightly less tolerable by "The Girl from Ipanema" and Judges Cully, Pike and Krush are outside the door of apartment 525-32.  The door is closed and Pike uses his Access Card to quietly gain entry.  Cully strides purposefully into the centre of the living room and begins scanning for clues.  Pike follows his Close Quarters Combat Training and checks the bathroom to his left.  Satidfied that there is no-one in the room he shouts "Clear".  Krush strides into the room and begins perusing the walls for pictures.

 

The Wildenstein Apartment 525-32 Thatcher Towers

 

The room is a well appointed single apartment covered in wall to wall white shag carpet and decorated in tasteful shades of pastel blue, silver and white.  The walls are covered in photographs and artistic prints of Miss Wildenstein and her cat Mr. Blofeldt.

 

Judge Swiss arrives and he proceeds to search the Kitchen which is spotlessly clean.  In the cupboards are a full compliment of Felix cat food tins in an assortment of 14 flavours.  Conspicuously there does not appear to be any human food apart from a supply of synthi-caf pods.  Pike retrieves 3 cans of cat food from the kitchen and opens them in a bid to entice the missing cat out from its hiding place.

Whilst searching the area in front of the open balcony doors Judge Cully discovers a broken string of pearls buried deep in the carpet.  She bags them as evidence.  A search of the bedroom reveals a walk in closet replete with an ample selection of evening gowns and ostentacious wigs.  

Despite a thorough search of the apartment there is no sign of Mr. Blofeldt.  Pike goes down to the Security Station and reviews the CCTV outside the apartment.  At approximately 11:22 A dark figure is seen walking down the corridor with something white under their arm.  The vid feed is too grainy and indistinct to make out any features or establish a gender.  The security point staff explain that CCTV in the block is outdated and the municipal funds have been redirected on higher priority projects since the infamous Brexit scandal.  Pike spends some time trying to follow the individual across the patchy feeds but loses them when they enter the parking substructure on level 250.

Cully puts in an information request to MAC to find any known perps with a history of illegal animal dealing on their records.  One record is returned, a Terrence Draper 171-27 Thatcher Towers was released 2 weeks ago after a 10 year stretch in the cubes for trading in unlicensed animals and endangered species.  The patrol reconvenes outside Draper's apartment.

Terrence Draper

Floor 171 is typical of the lower rent floors of most citi blocks.  The lower the floor, the lower the rent and the lower the standard of living, decor and level of maintenance.  Bare concrete walls are slick with mold and mildew and the floors are covered in well worn and shabby synthi-tiles which haven't seen a robo-mop in decades.

Krush knocks on the door of apartment 27 and orders Draper to open up in the name of the Law.  Draper is reluctant and Pike reads his mind through the metal security door.  He is a strong minded character and his mind is full of memories of his recent incarceration.  He does not want to go back. 

Pike gives Krush a psychic boost and he kicks the door in to a cacophanous and sudden chorus of animal sounds.  The apartment is dark and dingy with a faint smell of machine oil and plastic.  Surrounding the walls are cage upon cage containing animals of all varieties who silently stare at the judges with red unblinking eyes.

 

Draper explains that he's gone legit and switched to the synthi-pet trade.  After some intimidation he explains that

 

"If it's live animals that you want then you need to go see the animals in The Jungle..."   

 

NEXT PROG ->

BACK ISSUES

• Prog 1 - Rolling With The Rookies

Meanwhile in Mega City One - Prog 1: Rolling with the Rookies

Meanwhile in Mega City One is a roleplaying game which takes place every Friday Night at Dragons Keep Roleplay Club in Chislehurst, South East London.  Games Master is Tony

Cast

• Judge Cully - A no-nonsense female street judge with a penchant for heavy weapons - Kat
• Judge Krush - A hard as nails street judge who goes by the book - Steve
• Judge Swiss - A rookie street Judge - Alex
  
• Psi Judge Pike - A Psi Division rookie Judge - Connor
  

Rookie Patrol

Wednesday morning, like any other morning, starts with the 9am briefing.  Watch Commander Judge Belloch is a grizzled veteran of the streets which took one of his legs many years back.

He quickly assigns the new rookie judges, Swiss and Psi Judge Pike to the seasoned veterans Cully and Krush and continues his briefing...

"Don Ookie was released from the zoo yesterday and the jungle partied all night, it was bananas untill the early hours of this morning.  We don't expect those boys to be up to any monkey business for a few days whilst they sleep it off, but keep your eyes peeled.

Weather control claims they've fixed the system so expect a regulation rain shower at 11am.  

Fingers crossed this is going to be a quiet day but stay frosty and get out there and lay down the law"

Cully, Krush, Pike and Swiss head to the motor pool and pick up their bikes.  One of the Tek Judges tells the rookies

"We've given you 20 minuters a couple of old girls.  Nice and reliable but ready for retirement if you know what I mean.  Bring yourselves back in one piece and we'll give you some fresh metal tomorrow."

Outside Heavenly Havens

As the Judges cruise North along Duke Street they spot a couple of juves wearing Heavens Angel duds giving an umpty candy machine some percussive maintenance.  A Scrawlo-gon bot is busy cleaning some fresh script from a nearby wall whistling a cheery tune.

The patrol pulls their bikes over next to the juves and Swiss orders the shifty looking pair to stop right there.  Cully and Krush spot the older Juve with his hand around a bulge in his pocket.  Pike dismounts and approaches psychically probing the pair.  The older juve's mind is a mess of emotions, he doesn't want to go back to the cubes and he bolts for it.  Pike gives chase on foot shouting at him to stop.  The younger juve spots an opportunity for escape and runs across the road.

The Judges encounter some Juves up to no good outside Heavenly Havens

Cully guns her bike along the pedway ahead of the fleeing juve and slides her bike to a stop blocking the pavement.  The hapless punk careens into the Law Master and flips over the front wheel but rolls to his feet and continues to run.  Krush takes aim and shoots the perp in the back and calmly parks the front wheel of his bike on the perps leg.  

"You are going nowhere punk"

Swiss dismounts and tries to rugby tackle the fleeing juve but his leap is short and the punk slips through his fingers.

Cully chases him down on her bike and flips the trigger of her bike cannon.  

"Budda, Budda, Budda, Budda" booms the twin cannon and a hail of 20mm shells sparks off the tarmacrete roadway.  

A red ToyoFord sedan swerves to avoid the punk and careens onto the pavement narowly missing a fatty pedestrian and Judge Swiss.  It crashes into the wall of Heavenly Havens with a sickening crunch.

The Juve breaks down and drops to his knees.  Swiss picks him up and cuffs him to a nearby holding post.  Cully checks on the driver of the sedan but the seat is empty, the two young juves in school uniforms are bouncing excitedly on the rear seats.  "Again, Again" they shout.  Judge Cully pulls them out of the smoking wreck and gets their names.  Angus and Cliff Dimple were on their way to school and they give the Judge a crumbled emergency contact card.  Cully dials the number and an out of breath woman answers

What have they done now? Can't you see I'm busy! I'm in a yoga class for the next 30 minutes and slams down the phone.  She has no other option but to call child services and cuff them both to the holding post for their own safety.  

Krush rolls his tyre off the perp and Pike flips him over.  The GP round made a mess of his chest cavity.  "Call in a meat wagon Rookie"  

The observant Scrawlo-bot spots the potential biohazard and begins to cordon off the scene in hazard tape.

The fattie stands there absent mindedly munching on a muncebar when Swiss spots the small collection of wrappers at his feet.  

"That's six months in the cube for littering fatso!"  

Their radio crackles into life.  "All units.  Roadjackers on hover boards spotted on Meg 355 in the vicinity of Heavenly Havens and Duke Street."  The patrol answers the call and they head out.

Surfing Meg 355

As the patrol comes down the onramp they spot the perps.  5 sky surfers with an armed passenger each weaving among the traffic.

Sky Surfing Road Raiders try to hi-jack a CHOO2 Tanker

They swiftly intercept and manage to prevent them from getting to their target, a CHOO2 tanker.  Swiss boards the tanker and manages to see off two of the raiders whilst the others take on small arms fire.  The Judges execute their powers of arrest with extreme prejudice in order to prevent an even larger catastrophe occurring.

The raiders are thwarted but there are signifigant civilian casualties and collateral damage to several vehicles and the megway.

The patrol spends the rest of their day cleaning up the mess and informing next of kin before returning to the sector house. 

NEXT PROG ->

Citi-Block Floor Plans for Judge Dredd

In my A to Z of the 80s, D was for Dungeon Floors and I included an honourable mention of the Judge Dredd Slaughter Margin boxed set and the rarer Citi-Block floorplans.

Citi-Block Floorplans

I have never thought too much about them and to be honest I just thought that Citi-Block was just more floorplans in the style of Slaughter Margin (which I own) with some additional counters.  I never had the incentive to buy it. 

That was until I saw this excellent Youtube video which details so much more.

Having now learned that the box includes rules on generating your own city blocks I am utterly gutted that I never picked this up back in the day.  

Copies now command a princely sum on eBay!!

Cat Theft - Not a Victimless Crime

For me 2022 went out with a bit of a Fuck You.  Some scumbags stole my Cat

Catalytic converter theft is a growing problem

According to farsight blog over 16,383 catalytic converter theft incidents were recorded in the first 7 months of the 2021, that's an average of 2,340 cats being pinched every month!  I am not one to play the victim and despite being fully insured, my car was written off as an uneconomic repair.  Which is all well and good, but there is still a financial impact to the unlucky owner in the unplanned purchase of a new vehicle.

Turn Adveristy into an RPG Plot Hook

I have to stay positive and think of a way I can turn this adversity into a positive.  How about a plot hook for a Judge Dredd game.  Enter nefarious music producer Simon Power.

He has been working on putting together a super-group girl band called Kat Kitten and the Power Converters and he just hasn't been able to get their sound right.  None of the band can sing worth a lick but he stumbled on a rare psychometric study which postulated that a cats meow at the right frequency has a psychotropic effect akin to mind control.  His plan is to add this mysterious M note to the band's song "Don't Stop By Me Now"  

His backroom boffins have isolated the particular cat's meow that he needs to fill his lineup and has despatched teams of audio analysts to track down the right cat for the job.  They have been prowling the streets of MC-1 secretly recording pet cats and passing on the owners details to a a gang of catnappers.

Catastrophe

These pet pinching perpetrators have been getting away scott free until one particular owner catches them in the act and tries to prevent her moggy from getting manhandled and she falls to her death from her apartment balcony.

Jocelyn Wildenstein / Mr. Blofeldt
Ugly Competitor / Pet Cat

The victim is one Jocelyn Wildenstein, a famous ugly pageant winner and the owner of a prize winning pedigree pussy named Mr. Blofelt who just so happens to have the magical meow that Simon Power is desperately searching for.  Needless to say the cat is missing.

Ms Wildenstein's death has escalated the case of the missing moggies to a capital crime and the Judges will need to enlist the aid of Tek Division best to trawl through the hundreds of cases and thousands of hours of video footage to find the connection between the victims.  Or MAC can do the same job in about 6 hours.

The cats are all different species but the one thing that they have in common is their meows are all within a particular frequency.  

Having a Psi judge in your patrol squad will be useful when reviewing any vid footage of the missing cats.

As a backdrop to this plot hook the holo ads have been running thick and fast in the last couple of days promoting the release of the debut single from Kat Kitten and the Power Converters.

Some Potential Encounters

Record Store Riots - If the Judges don't get the connection before the release of the single, it will be fairly obvious that something is untoward is going on when the record stores run out of copies of the single due to its immense popularity.  Riots break out between crazed fans of the band as they storm record stores.

Live Concert Catatonic Conversion - Kat Kitten are appearing at an open air concert playing the B-Side of their single "Stop the World I Wanna Get Off" when the crowd suddenly go catatonic.  Reports start coming in over the air waves of mass reports of muteness among the population.  

Pop Mogul Protection - A baying mob attacks Elton John Luxy Apts the home of Simon Power and he needs to be rescued.  Attending his apartment, eagle eyed members of the patrol will notice the odd white hair laying on the sofa.  A search of the apartment will find a stash of synthi-cat food (Mr Blofelt's favourite flavour Liver and Tripe) in his kitchen.  Power will of course claim that he doesn't have a cat at all and that this is part of his diet regimen and even eat the cat food to prove it.  

Power keeps his secret musical weapon close and caged in a secret closet in his bedroom.  A member of the patrol with an allergy flaw, exceptional hearing or a Psi Judge will be sensitive to the cat's presence.  Of course if Power is subjected to cross examination with a birdie lie detector he will eventually crack.

Rounding up the Catnappers - Powers will give up the name of the gang he hired to steal the cats.  The Eartha Kitt Krew are an all female gang of catburglers who specialise in high rise heists using jet packs, skysurf boards, bat-suits, climbing gear and sucker knee pads.  

Their turf is in the lower levels of Adam West Block. They won't come quietly and are particularly adept at Martial Arts and also protected by a contingent of well armed heavies from neighbouring gang the Robinhoods out of Burt Ward Block.

Helter Skelter - To Paint or Not to Paint

In an earlier article about Judge Dredd Boardgames, I hinted that I had prayed to the eBay Gods to send me a copy of Judge Dredd: Helter Skelter.  

 Well the Gods answered and now it is in my boardgame collection.

20 Plastic Miniatures in Need of Some Colour

So should I do it? Should I paint these up?  Tell me in the comments box below.

Jessie's Prints - Episode 16 - Maxing out the print bed

 

This week, I are mostly been printing...

Ticket to Ride Trays - Thingiverse 213031

Nothing gets a board gamer with OCD riled up than having their rolling stock scattered all over.  How do you calculate your progress? How do you know at a glance if you have enough to snatch that last minute route?

Wonder no more with these wonderful Train Trays.

Judge Dredd Film Badge 2012 - Thingiverse 114711 

I am a big fan of the Savage Worlds RPG system and it's a perfect fit for my Judge Dredd RPG Campaigns (see Sector 55 Blues).  Savage Worlds uses the concept of "bennies" to effect rerolls, soak damage or to introduce a bit of player story enhancement.  What better way to encourage player engagement than with some Judge Dredd badge shaped bennies.

 

I also managed to max out my printer bed in the process... which was nice.  It's heartwarming to know exactly what the maximum available print space you have on your printer.  In my case for this Geeetech Prusa i3 Pro W it is X 185mm and Y 187mm.  Settings have now been adjusted and so there is zero percent chance of a carriage collision... fingers crossed.

Printer Upgrade Time

I've had my printer for almost a year now and I must say that I haven't been using it that much until recently.  Getting back into printing has been great but the experience has been marred by the absolutely ludicrous location and orientation of the SD Card.  On my printer it is on the back of the control board and mounted transversely. 

 

This doesn't seem like a big deal until you've dropped the SD card a bagillion times whilst trying to insert it in the slot and then had to fish around under the printer to retrieve it without disturbing the delicate karma that makes the 3D printing magic happen.

 

Clearly a first world problem but a quick scan of ebay threw up a solution in the form of an SD Male to SD Female card extension which should allow me to move the whole shebang to somewhere more esasily accessible.  I might even print a cover to go over the board now I don't need to access the onboard SD Card slot.   

15mm Judge Dredd - Boingers

In the megalopolis of the future one of the more popular crazes is boinging.  I couldn't help but scratch build a few boingers to harrass my players in my next Judge Dredd RPG at Dragons Keep Roleplay Club.

What the Heck is Boinging?

One of the many crazy inventions which are an everyday occurence in Mega Dity One, Boing is a miracle plastic-in-a-can which saw its debut in the Daily Star serialised adventures of Judge Dredd between 1981 and 1998 and fully fleshed out in the Prog 136 story Palais de Boing

One spray with Boing encapsulates the user in a bouncy ball of plastic, turning them into a living pinball.  Within days of Boing hitting the streets the first casualties occurred it was made illegal but since when does that ever stop the citizens of Mega City One, and soon regulated and safe establishments sprang up in every sector to cater for the boing craze.  These Palais De Boing feature tubes and bumpers to really accentuate the boinging experience.

Needless to say the enterprising, and foolish, perps of MC-1 have occasionally used Boing in their criminal ventures and illegal use comes with a mandatory 20 year sentence or death as Boing is incredibly flammable.  Boing was notably used for good to encase Judge Anderson as she harboured the spirit of Judge Death.  However, the three other Dark Judges, Fire, Fear and Mortis managed to orchestrate his release.    

Make Your Own Boingers

My boingers are made from 40mm plastic fill yur own christmas baubles with hand sculpted figures made from milliput hot glued inside.  

My sculpting skills are pretty pathetic and I will definitely have another go at this.  I will probably try making an armature or using one of the 15mm "Dolly" miniatures from Alternative Armies.

But in anycase the mission statement for these guys is to be a surprise encounter for my players.

Surf's Up - 15mm Judge Dredd Sky Surfers

In preparation for my next Judge Dredd Savage Worlds game at Dragons Keep Roleplay Club, I've been printing and painting like a banshee.  I covered this in my post about 15mm Judge Dredd Civillian Vehicles but now the Sky Surfers are complete.

Supersurf 7 and the Midnight Surfer

Illegal competitive Sky Surfing was first introduced to the Dredd universe in the Midnight Surfer story (Progs 424 thru 429) and one of the iconic thrill packed stories which I devoured when I was a kid. Prog 425 has a great line-up of the contenders which I used as the inspiration for my surf dudes.

The Competitors

Supersurf 7 had a huge number of entrants, 57 in total, and many got no more than a partial reference in text or their name printed on the bottom of their boards.   

• Dak Goodvibes - The first ever supersurf champion, and recently released from a five year stretch in Mega City Two's cubes, wipes out and gets impaled on a spikey sculpture at the Fountain of Yooth.
  
• Yogi Yakamoto - Current World Champ from the Fuji Territories in Hondo Cit gets knocked off his board by a truck's wing mirror in the Manfred Fox tunnel and saved at the last moment by Chopper.
  
• Natilda Stank - Aka The Flying Ozzer was arrested by Dredd an ultimately gave up the final route of the race, the Manfred Fox tunnel.  
  
• Klaus Reich - Shot and killed by a Judge
• Johnny Cuba - Gets squished in one of the Phoenix Scraps vehicle crushers
  
• Caruso - Crashed into the OkeyDokey Man and then headfirst through a Chemicool truck windscreen causing a multi vehicle pileup on the Kranski Zoomway.
  
• Fargo - Shot and killed by Judge
• Crazy Kwezi - Shot and killed by a Judge
  
• Tijuana Pino - Shot and killed by a Judge
• Marlon "Chopper" Shakespeare - Arrested after winning Super Surf 7 and saving Yakamoto's life. 

Chopper returns in the epic 26 episode story Judge Dredd in Oz (Progs 545 thru 570) where escapes the iso cubes and journeys to Oz to participate in Supersurf 10.  Good vibes indeed.

15mm Judge Dredd: Civilian Vehicles

The Streets of Mega City One are littered with an array of crazy looking vehicles which George Barris or Ed "Big Daddy" Roth would have been proud to have designed.  But finding 15mm scale civilian vehicles which fit the genre aesthetic is harder than I imagined.

My 15mm Vehicle Fleet

An eclectic mix of vehicles from various sources

Bladerunner 2049 Spinners (Thingiverse 3760309) - These two designs are inspired by the 2017 sequel to probably the greatest sci-fi movie of all time.  The designs build upon the original iconic spinner with an angular aesthetic which was apparently inspired by a sidewalk snow sweeper.

Flit Cars (Alternative Armies V101) - These cool looking 2 seat hover roadsters are perfect for the perp about town.  The models are resin cast and quite reasonably priced although a little small for 15mm,

Hover Van (Alternative Armies V103) - A very utilitarian flat bed pickup style van which can also double as a meat wagon in a pinch,  A resin cast piece which is elevated on a resin plinth for that hovering vibe.

H-Wagon (my own 3D design) - Heavily influenced by some early iconic Dredd artwork by Mike McMahon this H-Wagon is the workhorse of the Justice Department.  Whether it is being used as a perp transport, a meatwagon, an APC or just as a mobile patrol vehicle, the H-Wagon is a stalwart and dependable vehicle and a common sight on the streets of Mega City One.

 

Bus (3D Print ) - I can't remember where I downloaded this mini bus from but I have 2 in my fleet.

Korben's Taxi (Thing 2639417) - I couldn't say no to a 5th Element Taxi and the great thing is that it looks cool as a civilian sedan too.

 

Cargo Truck (my own design) - Sadly the file for this has long since been lost to a dead laptop, this was before I imortalised my designs on Thingiverse.  As I need more trucks, and I've gotten much better at 3D modelling I'm inclined to try this again.  I will of course include more 80s movie references in the panel art.   

 

URSA Tracked Truck (Thing 4513543) - One of three vehicles the Industrial Vehicles collection from Shiaic1 on Thingiverse.  It's a solid looking small cargo hauler and we won't mention the fact that tracked vehicles are a bit of an anachronism on the bustling highways of the city of the future.  It looks cool and that's good enough for me.  It comes with two optional cargo beds either a box truck or a tanker.  

Big Tanker (Thing 4513543) - Another from Shiaic1's Industrial Vehicles Collection.  This bad boy barely fit on my printbed and took almost 10 hours to print.  Once again this is scaled up 300% from it's Epic scale (6mm) original size but the quality holds.  Easy clean up despite a huge amount of support material.

What I want to include in my fleet

A Mo-Pad - The motorised home of the future which spends its entire life cruising the 13 billion miles of megways.  It is rumoured that some citizens have spent their entire lives travelling from sector to sector aboard their mobile home having never once set foot on the streets of Mega City One.  There is no definitive design for these mobile monstrosities but one of my favourites comes from the Mega Rackets Crime Files strip in Prog 219.

Trucks - The citizens of Mega City One need to be fed, clothed and entertained and there should be a steady stream of robo-trucks plying the megways fulfilling their every need.  As I mentioned earlier this is a perfect opportunity for me to dust off my modelling skills and put together a kit of parts so that you can mix and match bodies cabs and wheel configurations to suit the cargo.  This could also be a good way to kickstart a mo-pad build. 

The Killdozer - This beast of a vehicle (actually two vehicles) was a major tie-in with Matchbox toys under the "Adventure 2000" brand name back in the day.  The diecast vehicle is sadly not 15mm scale but a nice 3D Printable version is available from Thingiverse.  Whilst the original never survived its journey out into the Cursed Earth, a model exists in the museum of the Halls of Justice and every now and then gets put out on a tour of the sectors.   

Sky Surfers (Thing 5177927) - "Chopper Lives" is a slogan that almost every citizen will have seen scrawled on a wall, on the seat back of a mono-rail or on the side of their neighbours block in letters 50ft tall.  The most famous skysurfer of them all needs to make a comeback and be chased down by a patrol of judges.  Why stop at one, when you can make a whole lineup of surfer dudes waiting to become the next greatest thing.  

I've designed and printed out some surf boards I just need to find suitably posed surfer dudes to go on them.  If you want some of your own head on over to Thingiverse.