More Dredd: Cadet Judge plus Chief Judge Cal and Retinue

The one (only?) advantage of being forced to stay home is that it has increased production of painted figures here at Conscript Towers. Fortunately I'd just received a mail order from Warlord Games and along with some Bolt Action Americans (which have also been painted and will be the subject of a future blog post), Stallard & Co sent me a Cadet Judge from the Judge Dredd range.

The box includes a Cadet mounted on a Lawmaster Mk 1, which is significantly smaller than the MK 2 that comes with the Dredd and Anderson box sets. I love the aesthetic of the bike and rider, looking like the Cadet just pulled up to a crime scene, or is conversing with a civilian or another Judge.

The bike is a super little model, cast with separate handlebars and shotgun holster. It painted up fast and the casting was particularly conducive to edge highlighting, which I seldom do nowadays...

Since in the game rules, Lawmaster bikes have AI and can operate independently of their riders, I didn't glue the Cadet in place.

Looks good eh??

The box also includes a Cadet Judge on foot. While both models are composed of Warlord's new resin-plastic material, it works much better on vehicles than on foot figures. The Cadet Judge's daystick was warped and wavy, so it was cut off and replaced with a length of wire from the hobby box.

Another pretty nice model from the modern Dredd range.

And now for a throwback to "The Day the Law Died"! This group of models depicts Chief Judge Cal and his retinue of SJS Judges and bloodthirsty alien Klegg mercenaries from 2000AD progs 89-108.

Judge Cal was the power-hungry (and apparently insane) boss of the SJS (Special Judicial Squad - basically Internal Affairs for the Justice Department) and took the Chief Judge's chair in a coup d'etat, supported by his Praetorians in the form of the SJS.

Mongoose made two SJS judge models - one male and one female. Although they're cast in metal, I was able to convert the pose of the leftmost model slightly.

I should also note some potential controversy regarding the SJS uniforms... as 2000AD strips were in black and white only, it's not super-clear whether the SJS uniforms were navy (as we presume regular Judges wore) or black... likewise the eagles and buckle badging could be depicted as silver or gold. I've copied the colour scheme depicted on the excellent Sho3box blog, which is a great source for 2000AD/Dredd painting inspiration.

"Slicey-slicey, oncey-twicey, claw and fang'll kill Dredd nicely!"

Another key to Cal's successful usurpation of power in Mega-City One was his employment of the Kleggs, alien mercenaries who worked for Cal and were paid in... meat (you can see where this is going)

These are also Mongoose castings from the Kickstarter and, truth be told, aren't very good, with lots of awkward flash and miscast areas. To be honest I was pretty lazy cleaning them up too so don't be too hard on them.

"Meaty-beaty, chop 'em neatly, death or glory no retreatee!"

The leader wields a pretty fearsome cleaver as well as the standard Klegg rifle.

The weird rocket-thingies on their backs are straight from the comic, but I have no idea what they are supposed to represent.

Front-and-back of the Klegg trooper. Mongoose apparently made another version of this model that had a better looking rifle, but I haven't been able to track one down yet.

Kleggs have reappeared in subsequent Dredd storylines as well. Notwithstanding my tepid enthusiasm for the rhyming football-chant mania that informed Dredd stories in the late '70s, I actually quite like the look of the Kleggs. In fact, I have even bought some other not-Kleggs (Khurasan's Garn)! So I am a Klegg fan... I just wish these ones were better cast and offered some variety in poses.

Now for Warlord Games to give us game stats for Cal and the Kleggs... I think that gaming the insurrection against Chief Judge Cal would be fun indeed!