Thursday 16 February 2017

JDMG MC1 Mercenaries 02

Here are three more mercenary figures from the Judge Dredd Miniatures Game. All of them were produced by Warlord Games and all of them have featured in the Judge Dredd comic series.
Fergee was first introduced in prog 100 of the 2000AD comic in the epic The Day the Law Died story. A resident of the Undercity, he proclaimed himself to be "King of the Big Smelly" (the Ohio River). He became a hero of Mega City One when he joined forces with Judge Dredd to defeat the mad tyrant, Chief Judge Cal. He proved fearless, even when capturing a patrol-wagon or going up against Kleggs in hand-to-hand combat. Dredd appointed him honorary Judge status. Fergee enjoyed his new position and took his responsibilities more seriously than even Dredd could have dared hope during the final battle to depose Cal. Despite two bullet wounds in his chest, when the mad Chief Judge tried to press the fatal button which would gas the entire city, Fergee charged into him and carried him off the top of the Statue of Judgement. He fell to his death along with Cal, but Judge Dredd ensured that Fergee's sacrifice would always be remembered in Mega-City One by erecting commemorative statues of him all over the city. His catchphrase and battle cry was, "Easy the Ferg!" In JDMG, Fergee is a Level:4 Infantry Hero armed with a Large Club. He has the following five Talents - Below the Belt, Brave, Careless Charge, Dirty Fighting and Thundering Charge. He costs 155 Credits.
Kenny Who? was a comic artist from CalHab (Scotland), who was arrested by Dredd for assaulting comics editors who programmed a robot to imitate his style, without paying him. He first appeared in a 1986 story written as a satire on the then policy of British comics of not paying royalties to artists and writers. After this policy was ended, he appeared in two comedy sequels. In his final appearance, he created a trashzine hero called The Hoolie who fought the corrupt Judges led by Judge Dread; unable to find a publisher, he turned to self-publishing and the trashzine became a massive hit. This led to him being arrested for defamation of the Judges and defended in an appeal by Public Defender 314; his conviction was overturned on technicalities, and he returned home to CalHab in triumph.
The question mark was part of his surname, which was a running joke each time someone asked him what his name was, when people would become confused and rephrase the question. In JDMG, Kenny is a Level:1 Infantry Hero armed with an Axe. His two starting Talents are Careless Charge and Dirty Fighting. He costs 80 Credits.
Far and away the deadliest of this trio is Stan Lee, also known as Deathfist. Lee is an expert in martial arts, hailing from the Radlands of Ji in China and trained by the outlaw Fighting Heart Kwoon, and a deadly assassin. One of the very few people to ever defeat Dredd in single combat, (on his first encounter he easily left him lying unconscious on the street) Dredd has since defeated him twice. He was given a life sentence for murder. Some time later, a female assassin from the same Order named Wu Wang attacked Dredd for the honour of their Order.
In the Shimura story The Harder They Come, it was revealed that Shimura had faced Lee back when he was a Judge-Cadet; all the senior Judges present were killed as were the civilians they were guarding, and Shimura was badly wounded and given his distinctive facial scaring by the assassin. In 2127, Lee escaped - deliberately injuring Judge Giant in the process - thanks to the Fighting Heart Kwoon. The Radlands were under threat by the Taoka Corporation's terraforming of the area back into habitable land; Lee was made leader of a group composed of the best warriors of the Radland factions and sent to Hondo to assassinate Amber Taoka. His group were wiped out and he was defeated in a rematch against Shimura, who cut off his left hand: "Deathfist? Better find yourself a new name."
Lee also has a daughter called Yin Mie, introduced in Tempest: Time Zero. She arrived in Mega-City One with the intention of freeing her father and, using their mutual abilities, destroying the universe via a time rip in the Undercity. Lee, meanwhile, had used his imprisonment to meditate and learn to use the force known as "black chi", which gave him supernatural powers and a reformed arm at the cost of making him far more depraved. However, the supervillain Tempest managed to push him into the time rip, sending him back to the dawn of time - in anger, Lee struck out and caused the Big Bang utterly annihilating him, but causing the creation of the universe.
Lee shares his last name with martial artist/actor Bruce Lee, and his full name with Marvel comic author and editor Stan Lee.
In JDMG Stan Lee is a formidable Level:12 Infantry Hero with the following array of Talents - Agile, Black Belt Martial Artist, Brave, Call Me Master, Combat Awareness, Dance of Death, Duck and Weave, Infiltrator, Light Foot, Martial Artist, Silent Action, Silent Killer and Stealthy. He costs 370 Credits.
All three figures are decent sculpts but I'm not sure if any of them will appear in my campaign. Maybe I could give them different names and find a use for them. I dunno.

24 comments:

  1. 3 good figures. I remember the "King of the Big smelly" storyline, but only vaguely. But my Dredd -fu does not allow me to recall the other two at all. Non the less very nice painting and basing (as usual!)

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thanks, Clint. Fergee was certainly the most memorable of the three. Stan Lee less so and Kenny was just a minor character. I'm surprised that Warlord Games decided he was worthy of having a sculpt made of him.

      Delete
  2. Nice additions Bryan with great painting as always. Always felt the model of the Ferg was a bit on the small size based on the comics but then that's just nit picking

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thanks, Dave. I have to agree with you about Fergee being a bit too small. Nevertheless, it's still a good sculpt of him and would make for a good generic thug with a club.

      Delete
    2. Indeed mate, there's always a use for a model and he is a good sculpt

      Delete
  3. Nice stuff Bryan I think I remember the first two (though only vaguely, to be honest) I do remember Stan Lee very well. Great painting on all three figures, I'm surprised they made such obscure character figures for the game though.

    Cheers Roger.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Cheers, Roger. I can certainly think of quite a few perps who were much more famous and worthy of sculpts.

      Delete
  4. Replies
    1. Many thanks, Tom. Have you checked out my latest batrep yet?

      Delete
    2. I must have missed it. I will look now. 😉

      Delete
    3. Much appreciated and thanks for the kind words.

      Delete
  5. That's a great paint-job on a truly dire sculpt of Fergie, Bryan. I remember "Mongoose Publishing" first previewing it and me thinking it looked fab until I realized it was on a normal-sized base and not a larger one. Personally I think your Stan Lee is outstanding, and is by far one of my fave JD perps - the rematch made for sensationally reading imho, and I simply didn't want it to end :-)

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thank you, Simon. I agree that Fergee should be taller. But as I said to Dave, the figure is perfectly acceptable as a generic thug. Seeing that Fergee is dead and I have no interest in doing time travel or alternative dimensions stories in my campaign, he seems destined to be used as a generic thug.

      The stories featuring Stan Lee certainly made a big impression on me. When Stan first beat Dredd I was hoping for a rematch and oh boy, it did not disappoint. Terrific stories and artwork.

      Delete
    2. He could also be used as a vigilante. Surely in the Big Meg there is at least one cit who would want to emulate a hero :) No need to do anything with his stats either.

      Delete
    3. Actually, that's a very good point, Jason. Thanks for that suggestion.

      Delete
  6. Love the figure with the baseball bat. Really well painted. Thanks for sharing.

    DEW

    ReplyDelete
  7. THey look dynamic and colorful, great job!

    ReplyDelete
  8. For variety these were probably enjoyable to paint as a group. A colourful crew loaded with character and places to include some flourishes with your blush. Because they are "set" pieces I can understand why you wouldn't want to include them in your campaign. The bios you included provided me with some additional history in the Dredd continuity so I appreciated that as well. Mortality levels lived up to expectations. I read your latest battle report (previous post) as well and continue to enjoy the story you are telling. Thanks.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. That's a very nice comment, HP. Thank you kindly.

      Delete
  9. Lovely minis and brushwork. I am enjoying reading through there backgrounds on each post. Judge Dredd I am only sort of vaguely familiar with so its nice to appreciate the characters and when they starred alongside or against the LAW!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thanks, Simon. The background notes I include are precisely for people like you who are not overly familiar with the world of Judge Dredd. Seeing as he has been going for over 40 years, that's a lot to take in.

      Delete