Judge Dredd Terrain

Recently I got into Judge dredd in a big way. Never really looked at 2000AD, even though I’m a big comic fan and usually a supporter of anything home grown, but 2000AD just seemed to pass my by. Probably because my only exposure to it was the Stallone Dredd film. Which was dire.

Anyway, after (the legend that is) Karl Urban Took over, and I watched Dredd, I was hooked, got myself on amazon and ordered a couple of trade paperbacks & fell in love with Mega City one and the Dredd universe. Since then I’ve bought a load more TP’s and found a couple of 2000AD podcasts, as well as getting to meet John Wagner & Carlos Ezquerra at Kendal Comic Festival this year.

So, being a wargamer by heart, you’ll imagine my delight when I found out that Mongoose Publishing had a Wargame dedicated to Judge Dredd! As soon as I found this game, I felt my wallet start to weep! Noooo! it cried! we haven’t recovered from Bolt action yet!!
I ignored it’s futile pathetic cries and set about looking what this game had to offer. I was delighted to see that the rulebook was free (note WAS), and so I downloaded that and had a quick read through, I was instantly reminded of one of my fondest games from Games Workshop, Necromunda. Both Games are played with “gangs” rather than armies. These are skirmish level games, with only a handful of figures on each side. They are generalyl more characterful games too, with each figure probably being completely different, and usually all have names too, unlike the rank and file games like Bolt action, Warhammer 40k and the like.

After I picked a couple of gangs and had them delivered I quickly realised that I was severely lacking in terrain that could pass for 28mm Sci fi. I used to have quite a bit of 40k terrain, but this was all the “branded” stuff, lots of imperial eagles everywhere, so I got rid of it all when I stopped playing 40k (it was beautiful stuff, I just didn’t have the need for it any more), and with most of my terrain now being for historical wargames, I didn’t think that I could pass bocage hedges and corn fields as suitable Judge Dredd terrain.

I found a few places that were selling some beautiful models, mainly Warmill (checkout my review of the Portable utility Pod to see some of their offerings) & Sarissa Precision. But to get a full table worth of terrain I would have to spend a fair wedge of cash. The table would look awesome.. but still. A fair wedge.
I wanted something I could use for more than just Judge Dredd Terrain, something I could use for all 28mm Sci fi, maybe even 28mm moderns, then I came across this set:

http://stores.ebay.co.uk/War-Games-Tournaments?_trksid=p2047675.l2563

I got this set from eBay, from a seller called Wargames Tournaments (and That’s their product image that I’ve taken).

I’ll have to be honest here. I thought that the customer service was a bit lacking. I realise that they probably make these to order (as they sell a lot of stuff judging from their 3300+ feedback, and their eBay store), but it took weeks to get this kit, and even when I emailed them I got absolutely no response. Call me old fashioned, but I beleive in good honest customer service. If the product is gonna take 3-4 weeks to arrive, then say so. Or, if you expected it to arrive in a few days, but my order was misplaced or whatever, then say so. Don’t leave me hanging. For one thing, it’s just downright rude. And, who knows, your customer might even have a blog and end up writing about their experience with your company online…

Anyway, that’s as far as the negativity goes here. If you can look past the shoddy customer service and get to the product, it’s actually fantastic but in my opinion, customer service is the most important thing here and I honestly think they could get some advantages by paying more attention to the benefits of crm. It’s clearly inspired by the old card Necromunda terrain, which I used to love, but this stuff knocks it’s socks off and then some. It’s 3mm laser cut MDF, so it’s going to last a long time. The quality is fantastic, with lots of detail on all of the pieces from holes cut in floors to etching in platforms it has lots of detail in the kit. And for the price of £50 + £5 shipping (at time of purchase) I couldn’t really say no. The pack states there is enough terrain here to cover a 4′ x 4′ board. Which I can agree with. So for £55, I pretty much have a full set of terrain here!

Putting together my Judge Dredd Terrain

Judge Dredd Terrain – parts

When the box arrived It took absolutely ages to sort through it all, purely because there was so much stuff!! The set came with a basic instruction guide, which which quite handy, even just in the “sorting” stage. Not much stuff needed cleaning up, although a lot of the pieces that had small cutouts needed all of them to be pushed out, which took quite a while for all of the struts and ladders.

Judge Dredd Terrain – assembling

Assembling the terrain was rather straightforward, once you get everything in piles so you know what goes with what it’s all very simple. There are lots of ways you can put this stuff together, but I chose to just stick with how it suggested to do it from the product image. This looked like a great set, so who am I to argue.

I used neat PVA glue along each edge to glue the terrain, just a brushstroke along each joining edge was enough. These parts are precision cut, so they go together very well, and you don’t end up with anything even remotely wobbly. it all just fits nicely together.

Judge Dredd Terrain – ladders

Lots of ladders really finish off the set. The towers look great on their own, but the ladders add that extra finishing touch.

Judge Dredd Terrain – 3 storey tower

Love the 3 storey tower!

Judge Dredd Terrain – walkways

The different sized walkways are packed with detail and allow for pretty limitless arrangements .

Judge Dredd Terrain – complete

The completed set.

This set is going to look really nice on a table, either for Judge Dredd Terrain, or Necromunda, Infinity or tomorrow’s war. Or any other 28mm Sci Fi I come across! I’ll be adding a lot more terrain to my collection to add some variation, but this is a great starting point. And for the price, I could happily not buy anything else and have a whole table’s worth of terrain for only £55.

I’ll update the post when I get this little lot painted up. Expect to see some Judge Dredd after action reports featuring this lot soon too!

Thanks for reading my post.