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.

Jessie's Prints - Episode 15 - 15mm Bladerunner Cars & A Gloomy Box

 

This week, I are mostly been printing...

Bladerunner 2049 Spinners - (Thingiverse 3760309)

Dennis Villenueve's design team (Dennis Gassner and  did a pretty good job, in my opinion, of updating.  Vanity Fair ran a great article on the design for K's spinner which unbelieveably was inspired by a snow sweeper.  These Spinners are courtesy of Thingiverse user Carandhel and they include 2 different designs, including a re-imagined police spinner.

 

The original design of the police spinner was of course penned by the legend that was Syd Mead and is such an iconic design that it is hard to beat. 

 

Talking about beats did you know that one of the Bladerunner spinners was featured in the promo shots for Iron Maiden's "Somewhere in Time" album.

 

Extra points to the reader who can identify the white vehicle in the background of this shot which looks like it could have driven off the set of Buck Rogers or Battlestar Galactica.  Please post a link to a good image in the comments below.

Cthulhu Gloom Deck Box (Thingiverse 4787273)

I finally got tired of my Cthulhu Gloom falling out of its custom Tuck Box and so I found a new better box thanks to Thingiverse creator Duncan Mac.  

 

This is a sweet looking box and is no doubt going to double as the housing for some eldritch artifact in a game at my regular Friday night game group Dragons Keep Roleplay Club.

15mm Judge Dredd: The Justice Department

My current penchant is for Judge Dredd, so I dug out some old Laserburn Lawmen which had been gathering dust and decided to splash some paint on them

Street Judges

You can never have enough rank and file street judges on hand when your PCs have just ordered a Crime Blitz or as crowd control reinforcements at that Ugly Pageant.

Standard Justice Department loadouts are the order of the day, but may be augmented with the ever popular Widowmaker 2000 magazine-fed automatic shotgun.  Sometimes a stern warning falls on deaf ears.

Riot Squad

Probably the hardest working Division (also the highest injury rate) of the Justice Department.  Everyone does their stint on the Riot Squad at least once a week.  Some Judges volunteer for Riot Squad duty but the Psyche Squad are always on hand with their evaluation surveys to root out those bad apples that like the detail just that little too much.  You never can be too careful.

The standard loadout for a Riot Squad is augmented with the MkIV extra long daystick, a stumm gas mortar and a riot foam thrower for when things get a little too heated.

Wally Squad

The undercover Judges of the Justice Department (colloquially known as Wally Squad) are indistinguishable from your everyday citizen.

Reaper Bones #39 - Human Barbarian, Goldar

By Crom this guy has an interesting pose.  It's screaming "Come and have a go if you think you're hard enuff!!"

Human Barbarian, Goldar - Matt Gubser (SKU 77047)

My first Matt Gubser miniature and looking back at his back catalogue in the Reaper Figure Finder, I can see some great sculpts.  Matt has since turned his attention to flexing his comedic muscles in stand up comedy, but there is nothing funny about Goldar.

Human Barbarian, Goldar (SKU 77047)

Bones Progress

Buckaroo Banzai - Probably the Greatest Cult Movie in the World

I get a lot of flack from my friends at Dragonskeep Roleplay Club about my tastes in movies.  I'm accused of liking a lot of garbage, but in my defence I watch a lot of films.  The good, the bad, the ugly, the popular, the art house, the esoteric, I will give any movie a go and, as my step daughter will attest, I even cried during the end of Hannah Montanna!

The reason I watch so many films is simply to expose myself to story ideas.  As a Games Master, I rework, hack, borrow, pay homage and down right steal these ideas and use them in my own games.  In fact borrowing these story elements is an essential skills when creating your own stories for Tabletop RPG Games.  

What's New Buckaroo?

Buckaroo Banzai or to use its full title The Adventures of Buckaroo Banzai Across the 8th Dimension (1984) is a low budget sci-fi written by Earl Mac Rauch and directed by W.D. Richter (Invasion of the Body Snatchers, Big Trouble in Little China, Brubaker).

The movie follows one adventure of polymath Buckaroo Banzai (Peter Weller) who is a skilled neurosurgeon, rock musician, crime fighter and test pilot as he uncovers an insidious alien invasion by the Red Lectroids from Planet 10.

Buckaroo is ably assisted by his team of crimefighters / band mates, the Hong Kong Cavaliers and by a secret network of civillian volunteers known as the Blue Blaze Irregulars.  Buckaroos connections within the Government run deep and is often called on by the president to resolve issues in times of National Emergency.

Wow that's a Lot of Ideas

Absolutely and it only gets worse.  Buckaroo Banzai is like an onion being peeled, each layer reveals another underneath.  It's a classic story of boy meets girl, boy loses girl, boy saves world from an alien invasion and finally gets the girl wrapped in a shell of barely explained world building which creates tantalising visions of a fully developed and lived in universe.  A classic example is the famous waternelon scene, but I'll tell you later about that one.  

My own particular favourite is the idea that the famous radio broadcast of War of the worlds on October 30th 1938 was in fact an eyewitness account of the Lectroid invasion.  I also love the idea that there is an entire secret network of Buckaroo fans out there who are willing to lend a hand at the drop of a hat is a really useful concept for any GM out there thinking about doing some world building.

Rick and Morty takes the idea of the polymath to the extreme, but I love the Secretary of Defense (Matt Taylor) who is a slimy politician that knows he is completely out of his depth by comparison.  Buckaroo is a loyal subject and gives the government his expertise because he loves his country and wants to help.  Rick on the other hand is contemptuous of everyone.      

Before they Were Famous

I've mentioned our titular hero, but the film has a stellar cast of actors many of whom have gone on to become huge hollywood stars and household names.  Just look at this cavalcade of talent:

• Peter Weller as Buckaroo Banzai
• John Lithgow as Emilio Lizardo / Lord John Whorfin
  
• Jeff Goldblum as New Jersey
  
• Christopher Lloyd as John Bigbooté
• Ellen Barkin as Penny Priddy (Pretty Penny get it)
• Clancy Brown as Rawhide
• Vincent Schiavelli as John O'Connor
  

They Don't Make Them Like This Anymore

Well this isn't strictly true, the Hollywood studio system has emasculated the auteur director and subjected movies to an endless hell of screenings and audience ratings.  There are a handful of directors who have enough weight to just do their own thing but they are thin on the ground.

My search for those stories which don't get told and don't get the big studio budget is how I get tarred with the bad movie taste brush.  If you want to be wowed by big special effects then go see a Michael Bay movie, but if you want to see a story that you've not seen before then you need to look past the explosions and the flimsy walls and open your mind.