Welcome back to the blocks, citizen! For those who came in late, my friend Andy and I are playing the oldish Mongoose Judge Dredd Miniatures Game to live out our 2000AD dreams on the table-top and play a gang skirmish game that's a little lighter than Necromunda. With a few tweaks, the game is working nicely, so we're trying out different Missions and teams to see if we could sustain a full campaign.
This week's games were around the Heist! mission, where one team tries to get the majority of their members off the table with stolen loot. As we had Judges, Renegade Robots and a Street Gang, the Judges were trying to prevent the escape; in the name of the law! For the mission, each model is carrying a piece of loot, more than half of which must make it off the table to get the win; if a model is removed from play, they drop the counter and a friend can pick it up by moving over it.
In the first game, Sam played the Judges and I played my Robots. In order to cover the exits from the central area of the table, the Judges had to be split up, which meant they couldn't back each other up very much, so Haro-2-Goodbye and my Robodog were able to mop up two of the Judges in a few turns. Close Combat, as it turns out, is difficult to break from safely, so as soon as Haro-2-Goodbye made contact with the Psi Judge, even though she made her saves, she was essentially out of the game. Given the inherent risks of Melee combat over Ranged, we're not finding this to be an issue, but I'll be trying out a melee-only gang at some point (Zombie Master) to push that idea further.
In the second game, I took the Judges against the Bryan Ansell Blockers (Street Gang) played by Andy, and I found I had the same problem of not being able to cover enough escape routes and the game wrapping up in just a few turns. Also, I failed every sing Arrest roll I had to make, but that's just part of wargaming. Now, I don't actually think that the Judges being unable to realistically win this mission is necessarily a bad thing, at least in the context of a campaign, which the game is designed to play.
The Justice Department is a pretty powerful team, in terms of raw stats and gear, right out of the gate. Especially on our smaller tables, the Judges' range difference is less pronounced and the variety of ammo in the Lawgiver helps minimise the advantages of Cover and Armour. However, Judges can't just recruit new members like the other gangs can, they have to rely on falling behind, getting reinforcements for a mission and then recruit the requisitioned Judges. So, functionally, the Judges have to lose and fall behind a little in order to catch up. A mission like Heist! advantages the perps, but also limits the need to actually fight the Judges, so is actually kind of ideal for an ongoing campaign. Hopefully we can find a couple more players and give a full Campaign a go in 2024.
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