We just wanted to fill everyone in on some recent changes we have made here at Mongoose to our mail order system, in our ongoing quest to provide you with a quicker and more comprehensive service.

First off, we are moving our entire mail order operation to the UK. From now on, all US and Canadian mail orders will be dispatched from here rather than our Ohio facility, which will now be dedicated almost completely to metal miniatures manufacture. Our UK office will now be able to provide you with a 24 hour turnaround on most orders, and we have negotiated a fast track air mail service with Royal Mail to both the US and Canada (to different airports, depending on where in the country you are). The overall effect will be to ensure you get your books and models within just a few days of ordering. Furthermore, we are not making any changes to the postal/shipping charges, and so you will be paying no extra for this service.

We enacted this change last Thursday (April 18th), so many of you should already have seen a difference in our turnaround times.

In light of this, we are also moving our resin production to the UK, along with our book printing. This will give us a great deal of flexibility and control in our products, and a much tighter grip on stock levels – several books which have been out of print for the first part of this year are being reprinted right now (and, in fact, Spinward Marches and Traders & Gunboats arrived earlier today – if you have been waiting for either of these books, they are already in the post to you!).

This also removes a bottleneck that had cropped up in our production, so if you have been waiting for certain Judge Dredd or Victory at Sea models, expect a veritable avalanche of new things over the next couple of months!

 

To commemorate the forthcoming miniature of the SS Ohio in our growing Victory of Sea range, we present an account of Operation Pedestal…

The island of Malta suffered greatly during the early part of the war. Though only a small island, barely 17 miles long, its position in the centre of the Mediterranean made it strategically vital as a British base. Constant attacks from the air devastated the island, with many of the islanders forced to live in caves after thousands of houses had been shattered by bombs, and the constriction of supplies getting to Malta meant that many starved as disease swept through the population.

Backed up by the Luftwaffe, the Regia Marina made convoy runs to Malta near impossible, the wrecks of many ships lying at the bottom of the Mediterranean a testament to their efficiency. British seapower, by comparison, was thinly stretched. By May 1942, the situation became acute with the island reported as having no more than six weeks worth of food and fuel – after that, Malta would be defenceless and its people subject to famine.

In secrecy, a relief convoy was planned, Operation Pedestal. It was intended to be the biggest and most heavily armed convoy put to sea. All available resources were committed, making it a real ‘all or nothing’ operation. Central to this was the SS Ohio, an American tanker with a British merchant mariner for a master, Captain Dudley Mason. This ship was the biggest tanker of the day, displacing 9,000 tons, and yet was also the fastest; more importantly, it could carry enough fuel to keep Malta fighting for months. Refitted at Glasgow, the Ohio was armed with anti-aircraft guns and its sides fitted with armoured plates to withstand torpedoes, all designed to get the ship through the most dangerous thousand miles of sea. Joined by thirteen other merchant ships and nearly 60 warships, the Ohio started the voyage from Gibraltar to Malta on August 10^th.

The first casualty was from a lone German submarine (U-73) that had stalked the convoy. The carrier, HMS Eagle, was hit by four torpedoes on August 11^th and sank. Operation Pedestal had barely begun and the convoy had already lost its strongest protector.

The battle was on. The rest of the convoy forged ahead, while warships of the Royal Navy fanned out on all sides to protect the convoy from further attack. Early on August 12^th, the air attacks began.

A thick barrage was put up over the fleet from the anti-aircraft guns from every ship, and the first attack was beaten off with no damage to any ship of the convoy. However, within hours, an Italian submarine penetrated the convoy’s defences and stealthy crept up to two of the cruisers among the escort. HMS Cairo and HMS Nigeria had been fitted out with long-range radar to spot incoming air attacks. One salvo of torpedoes struck both cruisers with a torpedo each, disabling both, while another sped past them to hit the Ohio, punching a ten metre hole in its side and setting light to a fire whose flames leapt higher than the ship’s mast. Resisting the temptation to abandon the ship, Captain Mason allowed the inrushing seawater to douse the flames before ordering fire fighting teams to finish off.

The attack had also wrecked the Ohio’s navigation and it veered dangerously off course and into the path of other ships. The convoy began to lose cohesion as its formation broke down. Right at this point, when the convoy was mired in confusion, German and Italian bombers swept in to attack. Two merchant ships were destroyed with ease while another, the Brisbane Star, was disabled.

On August 13^th, the convoy began to pass through a narrow bottleneck called the Sicilian Straits, the most dangerous part of the route. These waters were heavily defended and the Axis powers had concentrated their submarines, E-boats and bombers, all tasked with destroying the convoy.

E-boats conducted hit and run attacks with torpedoes throughout the night. By morning, there were just four merchant ships left, escorted by a handful of destroyers, a tiny remnant of what Operation Pedestal had started. Despite all this damage, the Ohio was still afloat.

As day broke, the Luftwaffe intensified its attacks. Near misses buckled the armoured plates of the Ohio, while another filled her prow with water. An aircraft crippled by the remaining fleet’s guns skittered across the waves to slam into the side of the tanker – and then a bomber crash-landed onto the foredeck of the Ohio. The debris was cleared but then two bombs exploded very close to the Ohio, lifting it up out of the water. While the bombs had not sunk the ship, the force of their blasts had blown the fires out in the Ohio’s boilers, leaving it adrift and a sitting target. The mission to re-supply Malta was all but over.

Again with perfect timing, a new threat was then launched at the remaining ships of the convoy, as battleships, cruisers and destroyers of the Regia Marina, under the direct orders of Mussolini, moved to finish them off.

A flight of Wellington bombers was dispatched from Malta to attack the Italian warships, a last bid to avert disaster. These bombers flew over the Italian fleet and, as well as bombs, dropped illuminating flares. They then broadcast fake radio messages, ostensibly calling in another strike from American Liberators.

The ruse worked. To those intercepting these messages, it appeared as though a massive Allied air attack was being mounted to completely wreck the Regia Marina. Mussolini needed no further convincing, and ordered his fleet back to port. Without this threat, Operation Pedestal was still in with a chance.

Within hours, the Luftwaffe swept in to finish off the convoy itself. This time, a 1,000 lb. bomb exploded next to the Ohio, and the shockwave cracked the tanker’s keel. Though the Ohio did not sink, her structural integrity was shattered. It was now only a matter of time before she broke up and sank. Captain Mason gave the order to abandon ship, as he worked furiously with his officers and the rest of the fleet to find a way to get the ship to Malta before it was too late – after all, the island was by now only 90 miles away.

The destroyer, HMS Penn, tried to tow the tanker, but Ohio’s rudder had been jammed by the latest attack, making this impossible. The attempted towing made the convoy extremely vulnerable, and the Luftwaffe came back for another attack. This time, however, they were to find that the convoy had just moved into range of the Spitfires based on Malta and a vicious air battle erupted above the ships. The RAF managed to keep the attacks at bay.

With crews from other ships, the crew of the Ohio was brought back on board the tanker and they joined the air battle with the anti-aircraft artillery on the deck. However, despite all appearances of action, the Ohio was still on the verge of coming apart, regardless of enemy attack. There was every possibility she would break up in sight of Malta.

The situation desperate, an idea from the captain of HMS Bramham was gambled upon. Two destroyers, Ledbury and Penn (Bramham would later take the place of Ledbury) took position either side of the Ohio and were lashed to the tanker, forming a type of trimaran. The destroyers would thus be able to support the stricken tanker as they limped their way to Malta, in what was now a race against time before the Ohio disintegrated.

One by one, the surviving ships of the convoy reached the Grand Harbour of Malta – the Port Chalmers, Brisbane Star (which had much of its bow blown off), Melbourne Star and Rochester Castle. Finally, on the shoulders of Bramham and Penn, the Ohio finally made it into the harbour, under the eyes of the people of Malta who cheered the ships in.

Operation Pedestal was not the success that had been planned, but it brought enough supplies in to keep Malta fighting and ensure the island would not be forced to surrender due to starvation.

 

The next edition of Victory at Sea has been in development for quite some time now (won’t be coming out until we have got it all right!). However, I thought it might be fun if we posted the design note updates, from most recent to oldest, so you can see the changes the game has been through…

 

20/3/13

• Kriegsmarine and Regia Marina are now both completely points-costed – again, not saying these are the final values for all ships, but they will be very close now. US, Japan and France hopefully all in next update!
• Aircraft attacking ships ‘to hit’ rolls have been tweaked – bombers now have it a bit harder, torpedo bombers a bit easier.
• Rules for using star shells and searchlights in night battles are now in.

 

5/3/13

• Royal Navy is now completely points-costed – not saying these are the final values for all ships, but they will be very close now. This includes aircraft but not (yet) MTBs. Everything in every other fleet should be balanced off equivalents in the Royal Navy list.
• Aircraft in all fleets have now been updated to the new rules.
• AAA now never modified for anything. You need a 6 to hit most aircraft, a 5 or 6 to hit torpedo bombers on an attack run – that is it.
• Radar now only provides bonuses to hit (or, rather ignores range penalties) if the ship can actually see its target.

 

15/2/13

• Aircraft tweaked. Survivability has gone, and Aircraft Traits have been added (they were kinda already there, just made them official now).

 

14/2/13

• Aircraft almost completely re-written – got rid of the rules bloat, made them a bit more potent overall. Note, only Royal Navy aircraft have been updated thus far.

 

7/2/13

• Lumbering removed from Ark Royal, Audacious, G3, Lion, Malta, Illustrious, Implacable, Indomitable, Renown, Vanguard, Graf Zeppelin, Project Jade, Littorio, Lexington, Dunkerque, Richelieu.
• Lumbering now permits evading torpedoes, albeit at a penalty.
• Added rule for Local trait that means its Attack Dice can now be rolled against every Flight that flies over a ship.
• Added a Scenario Template, so you can create your own historical scenarios!
• Japanese Long Lance ‘salvos’ tweaked.
• Only Level Bombers can move out of a dogfight now (though they can still ‘drag’ the dogfight with them). Fighter Flights can now run out of ammunition.
• A few more points tweaks on the Royal Navy.
• Only a quarter of your points can be spent on Flights that are not based on one of your own carriers.
• Beaufighter no longer a carrier aircraft (though I maintain it was, in theory, possible).
• You can no longer evade torpedoes if you are performing a Special Action.
• Clarified that AAA Attack Dice do not ‘stack.’ You must try to destroy Flights with one weapon at a time!
• By default, each carrier can now start the game with two Flights in the air.

 

14/12/12

• Aircraft can now have veteran and green pilots! Escorting rules tweaked. Fairey Swordfish a bit tougher.
• Orders of Battle updated (but far from complete!).
• Lots of points updates for the Royal Navy.
• Agile ships now make turns every 1” rather than turns of ninety degrees.

 

12/11/12

• Coastal invasion rules are finally in!
• ‘Fast’ target modifier for shooting now covers ships that move 7”. Fast battleships and carriers that used to move 7” have been reduced to 6” to balance this.
• Ships must now move 2” in a straight line before turning.
• Level bombers may now ‘drag’ a dogfight. Slight change in how support works in dogfights.
• Emphasised that ground attacks can be made against sea targets.
• Radar tweaked. Now locks onto largest targets, and cannot be used on targets near land.
• Lumbering ships can now longer use Evasive! or evade torpedoes.
• Aircraft dropping torpedoes now have a ‘temporary’ Crew Quality when a target tries to evade them.
• Another perspective added to the Battle of the River Plate.
• Added two ‘which is best’ articles.

 

30/10/12

• Started points tweaks on the Royal Navy.
• DP guns now work against MTBs as well as aircraft.
• Clarified that aircraft launched in one turn cannot be moved in the same turn (need to climb and build formation). Carriers can now perform Special Actions while launching and recovering aircraft, except Evasive.
• Hawker Typhoon points and Dogfight reduced.
• The Wakeless trait is now in. Tweaked Lumbering.
• Evasive! Special Action tweaked – if two ships did it and fired upon one another, we got into a situation where you re-rolled a re-roll, and that is a no-no in Victory at Sea (in fact, all Mongoose games).
• Now have three separate bomb loads for aircraft – normal, dive and ‘heavy,’ the latter representing heavy bomb loads (Lancasters, B-29, etc) rather than Tallboys and the like. Dive bombs now more powerful.
• Fighters can now escort other Flights.
• MTB Sections now have to move into base contact with the ships they attack – I know they should be able to launch torpedo spreads at range (and maybe we can look at a rule where several Sections get together and do this) but there was a fair bit of rule abuse going on. Depth charge attacks now made more difficult to pull off to compensate. Smoke screens also adjusted – way too much abuse there!
• Coastal craft rules now finished, blend of MTB rules for movement and ship rules for shooting.
• Mr Bax sent in some hella-detailed fleet lists – peruse at your leisure. So far the following have been updated: Regia Marina, Kriegsmarine, Royal Navy, US Navy, IJN, and Marine Nationale. Soviet Navy requires more research!
• Kriegsmarine Radar rule tweaked. Points costs of Radar upgrades changed – this is way more effective on a battleship than on a destroyer.
• Added Unwilling Soldiers rule to Regia Marina. Added Fire Fighting rule to IJN.

 

17/9/12

• MTBs do not get Large Silhouette when attacked. Slight tweak on Crew critical table. Light Guns and AAA ignore penalty for Fast Moving Targets. Fires on ships must be tackled before any other repairs. Long Lance fan salvoes tweaked. 1” separation rule for ships removed.
• Only Fighters can start dogfights.
• If on Critical Score 6 and another critical hit is taken, the Critical Score 6 extra damage and penalties are applied again. Devastating trait now lethal, with critical hits far more common. Damage Dice only score critical hits on ‘natural’ 6s now.
• Kamikazes now more likely to start fires.
• More shore batteries added. Trying to resist complication here – do we really need Radar on these things?

 

29/7/12

• Updated a few of the background articles with your comments. Added a tad more to the Free French article, still need more.
• Changed measurements to be made from a ship’s bridge, rather than the centre of the miniature.
• Torpedo arcs altered to be 180 degrees from stated arc, not just sides.
• Air-dropped depth charges no longer Devastating.
• Coastal Craft have been added to the MTB section.

 

20/7/12

• Okay, the Big Update after a near three month break. All the new ship stats integrated into the rules – any ship in a fleet list that has an asterisk next to it has not been updated and needs attention! All Crippled thresholds set to 1/3 of Damage.
• New traits added; DP, Local X, and Restricted.
• Stats for MTBs added across all fleets – note that some from Order of Battle have not been included because either a) I could not find any background information on them (just need a paragraph!) or b) they were not MTBs but other coastal craft, and I am not certain they should be using the same rules. That can be discussed.
• Rules for Submersibles are in. This is really just the core mechanics, as I am not too happy with the sub scenarios right now – they need a bit more ‘cat and mouse’ about them, but at least we can start fiddling with the rules.
• Observation aircraft in, along with some ASW types.
• Civilian ships now have points costs for Convoy scenario.
• Kamikazes are now in – aircraft, subs and MTBs.
• The Soviets are in! However, they have not been updated with the new ship stats, and so they are all a bit iffy right now.

 

01/5/12

• Revised AAA weapons (again). Single roll now needed to resolve their fire, still takes into account agility and toughness of aircraft. Aircraft stats revised. Dedicated bombers now have bigger bombs (AP increased, but remember Armoured Decks still apply).
• Removed AP from Torpedoes (not needed with Devastating rule). –2 to hit with Torps is back.
• Made Bolzano a ‘variant’ of Trento class. Civilians get a Seaplane Tender.
• Allowed Swordfish the option of carrying bombs.  That will open a can of worms…
• Added rules for barrage balloons and torpedo nets.
• Attack on Taranto is now in, along with Matapan.

 

09/4/12

• Made the Attack on the Northern Patrol a little easier on the Allies.
• British destroyers tweaked a little. Leander and Perth both had increase to AAA range.
• Ship ‘upgrades’ given to Tirpitz, Scharnhorst, King George V, Nelson, Resolution.
• Revised aircraft and AAA again – updated all AAA Attack Dice to reflect this. Level Bombers now a new type of aircraft. Also allowed any Fighter to carry small (max. 250 lb-ish) bombs and/or rockets. Now divided carrier-borne aircraft from the rest.
• Coasts and shorelines are now in the game – along with suitable defences and buildings to shell.
• Finished the US Navy. Between them and the British, we have our work cut out filling a complete range of models… Also added a ‘bloody awful’ rule for US torpedoes in the early stages of the war.
• With Damage relating to 1 point per 500 tons, gone through all the ships and made things a bit more accurate.
• The IJN fleet list is now in. Have fun in the Pacific.
• The French are in!
• MTBs are in the process of going in. Checking stats and doing write ups of each class, so this may take a couple of updates to work through. The rules are in place though.
• Wasn’t happy with the –2 modifier on torpedoes, and the Long Lance really should up the problem. Changed to –1. Haven’t changed air-launched torpedoes at all (they had plenty of problems actually getting to launch the torpedo, let alone getting it on target). Overall, it now means it is (just) possible to hit a big ship at long range.
• Split the Leipzig from the K-class – look right to you?

 

20/2/12

• The Americans are here! Yay!
• Improved Torpedo Belt on the Erebus.
• Started adding Order of Battle appendices.
• Guns on British, German and Italian cruisers revised. New destroyers for Britain, France and Italy. Tweaks on both sets of ship throughout all existing lists, as suggested on forum (Prinz Eugen, Kent, London, Surrey, Emerald, JKN, Tiger, Trento, Zara, Hunt, JKN, Tribal)
• Tweaked critical hit charts.
• Civilian Shipping added.
• New scenarios and charts (not maps, sorry David!) added. Includes a few lop-sided battles for you historical purists – do they match what really happened?

 

10/2/12

• Reworded Heavy trait slightly to make clearer.
• Minimum movement now needed to be able to evade torpedoes.
• In night battles (only), initiative winner can force his opponent to fire first. Spotting range reduced in Bad Weather.
• More changes on aircraft – can now be bought on their own, points costs now split away from carriers (you have to buy aircraft for the carriers now), bombs less accurate. AAA simplified again, should be a little fairer.
• Movement rules slightly tweaked to completely avoid stacking. Also put in a 1” minimum distance rule between ships.
• More points values adjusted for ships across the Royal Navy, Kreigsmarine, and Regia Marina.
• Italian AAA Attack Dice adjusted to fit in with other two fleets.
• The British and German fleets have been expanded to include many more ships (all of those from Order of Battle). If you think there are any others that should be included, let me know!
• Devastating and Torpedo Belt traits altered.
• Final ships added to Battle of Calabria – map coming, though if you know the battle well, you can probably muddle through right now.

 

23/1/12

• Still not happy with torpedoes. Reduced the Damage Dice of all by one, and gave them AP +2.  Will still wreck a cruiser, but can now actually hurt battleships. Also changed the Torpedo Belt trait to make it way simpler.
• Adjusted bomb damage from aircraft, assuming these are 250-500 lb. Still nasty!
• Cruisers now only earn 1 dice for scouting but can now use their aircraft.
• Removed Dodging from aircraft.  Now, if you hit one, it goes down. Have halved AAA Attack Dice to compensate. Slightly altered rules for being/not being able to move away from an enemy Flight in a dogfight. Restructured Dogfight scores.
• Carriers can now recover aircraft at night and in bad weather but must make difficult Crew Quality checks in order to do so. They may also rearm planes that have used One-Shot weapons, but Crew Quality checks are needed to do so here as well (they have to work very quickly).
• Slight change to Crew Critical 3 to stop ‘Bouncing Crit Syndrome.’
• Ships now only have to move 1” before they can turn (saw a video the other day of one turning – yup, they can do that quickly).
• Added the Eagle and Resolution classes to the Royal Navy – needed for Battle of Calabria.
• And the Battle of Calabria scenario has been added. No maps yet but if you Google the battle, you should find a map that can pretty much point you towards what I am intending… Also need to add Italian destroyers.
• Plummeting shells now only apply to main guns, and only at their extreme range.
• Added background on the Atlantic Convoys.
• If you are on fire at night, you will be spotted!
• Started to adjust points costs of ships, based on playtesting.
• There is now a maximum range at which guns can fire. Adjusted ranges for bad weather, night and radar. Also twiddled with to hit modifiers. Added beyond horizon attacks, so observation aircraft now have a second reason to exist!

 

14/1/12

• Number of torpedoes on some ships tweaked. Arcs increased. Submersibles can no longer split their torpedo fire but can still withhold some AD.
• Come About special action now makes sense. Flank Speed special action deleted.
• Effects of Crippled tweaked. Ships now crippled when they hit half damage.
• Night battles and radar are back in the game, both slightly tweaked from the previous edition.
• Change to Initiative – if you lose, you automatically move first.
• Aircraft are back in, suitably tweaked and with new rules added (note, while similar, there are some big differences between these and the draft rules on the forum). New Special Action added for carriers. Aircraft Speeds back to original scores.
• Germans no longer have bonus to hit at long ranges.
• Evading ships may no longer use torpedoes. More than one smoke counter can now be laid behind a ship going at speed.
• The Victory at Sea core/default scenario added.
• Victory Points added to Advanced Rules.
• AP removed from torpedoes – they really did not need it. May take an AD off them all as well…
• Point blank, long and extreme ranges now dependant on actual weapon ranges. ‘Plummeting Shells’ rule adjusted.
• Some traits can no longer be lost.
• Vital System Bridge Hit critical can now be repaired (allowing secondary command point to be established).
• Carriers can now use light guns in bad weather. Destroyers and civilians have their Speed halved.
• If you didn’t move, you cannot evade torpedoes!
• Detection with Radar now limited, Advanced Radar trait added.
• More ‘background’ articles added, along with the Battle of the River Plate scenario.
• Updated Damage on subs and destroyers for better accuracy.
• The Italians have arrived!

 

2/1/12

• Turning rules now changed.  Much simpler and with the added bonus that they actually make sense! Turn characteristic removed.
• Torpedoes now have ranges and are different dependant on type.
• Splitting Fire now incorporates torpedoes on submersibles.
• Added Lumbering trait, though no ships have it yet.
• Advanced Rules chapter now added for playtesting. Ignore all rules that are in italics! Brand new Evading Torpedoes rule added.
• Added rules for Opposed Crew Quality checks.
• End Phase chapter beefed up with Escalate and compulsory movement rules.

 

21/12/11

• Added the AP stat to weapons, re-jigged the dice according to discussions on our forums, increased Damage scores, and lost the AP/Super AP traits.
• End Phase properly re-jigged for the new rules (simply missed it before, sorry!).
• Extra damage from critical hits modified to adjust for new Damage scores.
• Weak weapons only have a restriction on causing critical hits now.
• Added the Heavy trait.
• Added the Kreigsmarine fleet list!

In the autumn of last year, we ran the very successful Judge Dredd Kickstarter project and, since then, we have been busy, beavering away with all the new models that arose from that run. We had 649 backers in all and, it is fair to say, many things coming for Judge Dredd simply would not have existed at all without their kind support – thank you one and all for backing this project!

Up to now, we have been running a variety of previews for the backers, showing them what their efforts have resulted in and what models they could expect to receive in due course. We are coming to the end of working on these new models now (only a few vehicles and a handful of ‘sets’ to go now!), so we thought this would be a good time to reveal to the world what the Kickstarter has done for the Judge Dredd miniatures game and its new expansion, Block War…

A nice little haul of miniatures here! On the top left, there are four judges destined for the ‘Specialist’ Judges box set, which will expand any Justice Department force nicely. You can see a brand new Heavy Weapons Judge, sporting a massive Rotary Cannon, and an Exorcist Judge. We also did new versions of the Med-Judge and Tek-Judge – firstly, because you can never have too many of these valuable support judges, but also because we introduced ‘lightweight’ armour in Block War, to reflect some of the uniforms that appear on these specialists in the comics.

On the top right, we have judge Giant (this was a work in progress photo, the final version has a Lawgiver at the ready) and the Space Corps Judge, equipped with heavier armour and a Widowmaker – perfect for dealing with those alien hordes! Towards the bottom, we have Fergee, King of the Big Smelly, winding up to give Dredd a good smacking with his baseball bat.

The rest of the models featured here are from the Demonic Cabal (the final models already in the hands of Kickstarter backers, as are Giant, Fergee and the Space Corps Judge!). From the start, we decided this would be a not-entirely-serious force in the game, with the idea that the Grand Warlock (the chap with his hands in the air) is really the only one who knows what he is doing. The rest a your typical bored citizen who probably don’t even believe in demons. Needless to say, the rules for this force leave plenty of room for their summoning attempts to go wrong, as you can see with the ‘possessed’ model here…

These four models represent some serious reinforcements and additional firepower for the Justice Department. The three big models are the Mechanismo robots, both Mk I and Mk II, automated judges that can take the Law onto the streets, thus saving manpower. Very well armoured and with a very large gun, we think it very unlikely that their programming will develop any glitches…

The other chap is another model destined for the Specialist Judges set, another Heavy Weapons Judge, this timed armed with a Lazooka.

You are going to be seeing a lot more of this model over the next few weeks – this is the 3D prototyped Manta Prowl Tank, assembled and being readied to be sent to our casting house in the US. This is a BIG model, measuring a foot in length, and will have some serious presence on the table! The last moulds for this model are being created right now, and we have already started casting the other sections, so expect to see this model over the next month or so.

Incidentally, the picture on the bottom right has nothing to do with the Manta – this is the Sentenoid assault robot from the Sov Invasion set. It was just prototyped at the same time as the Manta. Looks very nice though!

The Manta is not the only vehicle on the way though. We have already previewed the Pat Wagons here on Planet Mongoose, and we will be previewing the civilian Ground Car and (also very large) Mo-Pad in the next couple of weeks or so. However, Judge players will be interested in this, the Banshee Interceptor, possibly the fastest land vehicle in Mega-City One!

As well as creating new forces and fleshing out existing ones, we also used the Kickstarter to bring to life many of the famous (and not so famous!) characters that have appeared in the comic strips over the years. Here, we have War Marshal Kazan of East Meg 1 (a perfect leader for your Sov Invasion force), Oola Blint (perhaps a more minor character, but this is one of my very favourite models out of the whole lot) and, of course, Stan Lee. Depending on which force you choose to take in the game, these models can be attached on a temporary basis, giving you a huge range of options when you play, even in a campaign game.

These are very recent creations, having only arrived this week at Mongoose HQ. Kenny Who?, a down-on-his-luck artist about to get his own back on painting droids, the Judge Child, and Rico Dredd, fresh from Titan! Squeezing in at the bottom, we have the first two models of what I think will be a very popular set, the ABC Warriors! These models are, of course, Blackblood and Joe Pineapples.

And here we have the Sov Judges all together as one set. We have a mix of weapons available (including flamethrowers!), an Officer, and a Senior Judge (the chap with a cape). On the top left is a Satellat, made famous by the agent Orlok, which will buzz around defending your high-ranking models, and on the opposite side, you can see the Sentenoid as it will look when assembled.

And here we have the Sov Judges painted!

Some more ‘singles’ here. Chief Judge Hershey may not do much judging on the streets any more, but she makes for a fearsome model! Then we have the crime-fighting duo, Galen DeMarco (in her PI guise, we have already done her as a judge) and her simian sidekick, Travis Perkins, complete with katana and PI licence. The ‘flying’ guy, is actually Spikes Harvey Rotten (from Dredd’s expedition across the Cursed Earth), and the next time you see him, he will be on a Lawmaster!

There has always been a lot of interest in the judges of other Mega-Cities around the world, and though we had already done the Brit-Cit and East Meg judges, the Kickstarter was the perfect opportunity to do more! Here we have judges from Luxor, Cal-Hab (what used to be Scotland), and a judge from Vatican City!

Not enough judges from the rest of the world? Then by all means have more! These five models will be added to the three above and make the Judges of the World box set a little later this year. Here, you can see judges from Banana City, Hondo-Cit, the Emerald Isle, Texas City, and Oz!

The next three models need little introduction – Rogue Trooper, a Nort, and a Souther Soldier…

Finally, just to leave you in the right mood, a Zombie Judge, to give you the ‘armoured’ option in the Zombie Horde force. Most backers already have the Zombie Horde in their hands (the rest will be getting theirs over the next 2-3 weeks, as we have just had a new shipment of dead people in!), which comprises this chap, the Zombie Mistress, and six plastic zombies courtesy of our friends at Mantic, to which we have added an accessory pack to ‘Mega-City One’ them up!

If you leapt in with the Kickstarter, you may well have some of these models in your hands – thank you very much for your support! As I have said several times, we literally could not have done this without you.

If you missed it last year, do not panic. As soon as the Kickstarter backers have their models and we have given our display miniatures a lick of paint, they will be available to the rest of you, either through our mail order system or, in the case of the box sets, your local stores!

In a few weeks time, we will be starting a brand new Kickstarter project, also based on a 2000AD comic strip – the Rogue Trooper miniatures game! We have all sorts of goodies planned for this one and, as with Judge Dredd, the rulebook will be completely free to download so you can inspect the army lists and figure out the most fiendish force possible! More news on that as soon as it is ready!

World War II saw the two largest battleships ever built take to the sea – and, of course, our new Victory at Sea range of 1/1800 scale miniatures will reproduce them faithfully!

By a large margin, the Yamato and Musashi were the largest battleships ever built and were the product of advancing Japanese technology. They were twice the displacement of most Allied battleships and their 18 inch guns could out range anything in the Allied arsenal. It was the hope of the Imperial Japanese Navy that such characteristics would allow them to circumvent the Allies’ numerical superiority.

However, when war came, it soon became clear the submarine and, in particular, aircraft, had eroded the battleship’s role in the world.

The Musashi was lost during the Battle of Leyte Gulf (during which these two ships formed the core of the Imperial Japanese Navy’s fleet) while the Yamato was later sunk by 10 torpedoes and 23 bombs during a suicide run to Okinawa. A third ship, the Shinano, was completed as an aircraft carrier (the largest in the world at the time) rather than a battleship but was sunk by a US submarine during its maiden voyage.

Both of these ships, along with their sister, the converted Shinano support carrier, will be available early next year, along with a sizeable portion of the rest of the Imperial Japanese Navy!

The Justice Department will soon be getting two new vehicles with which to police the streets of Mega-City One.

First up is the Mk IV Pat Wagon. The Mk IV does not have quite the durability of the wheeled Mk III or its versatility, but its propulsion systems allow it to traverse much rougher terrain and move at far greater speeds, making it the Pat Wagon of choice when a rapid response is needed or heavier support is needed in desolated sectors.

So, there you have the firepower. Now, what about the speed? Allow us to introduce you to the Banshee Interceptor…

Purportedly the fastest thing on the roads of Mega-City One, once a Banshee gets onto a perp’s tail, he is well-advised to surrender. Though built for speed, the Banshee is easily capable of bringing a speeding villain to a halt with one of two weapon systems. The first, the Dead-Key Cannon, fires an electronic impulse designed to short the drive systems of any commercially available vehicle, bringing it to a gradual and safe stop.

If more drastic action is required, the Banshee also carries a short-ranged hook and chain that can be fired into the bodywork of a speeding car, ensuring it can never get away.

Both of these models are being prepped for prototype right now and will be in widespread distribution towards the end of February – Kickstarter backers will have their hands on them a little sooner.

 

The long-awaited model of the iconic bike of the Justice Department, the Lawmaster has finally arrived! You can grab this lovely model right now, either with a male judge riding it, or a female judge.

As much a signal of the judges’ ultimate authority as their uniform or Lawgiver firearm, the Mk III Lawmaster bike is a high adaptable vehicle.  Heavily armoured to endure a great deal of punishment, heavily armed to destroy almost any other vehicle on the street and yet still fast enough to pursue any perp, the Lawmaster is perhaps the ultimate crime-fighting tool after a judge himself.

The Mk III Lawmaster bears a Cyclops Phylon TX Laser Cannon and twin bike cannon as standard armaments, together with a holster for an auxiliary scattergun.  The on-board bike computer is a multi-functional device that allows a judge to access any Justice Department resource quickly and easily, whilst also possessing the capability, through the use of gyroscopic stabilisation, to actually drive the bike without a judge on board, and even fire its weapons!  Even the patented Firerock tyres are a triumph of design, for they are able to maintain a strong grip at all speeds, in all conditions, and yet are completely bullet-proof.  Two storage pods slung either side of the rear wheel permit a judge to carry a great deal of equipment with him at all times, but the Notron 4000 cc V8 KT23 engine can propel this heavily laden machine to speeds well in excess of three hundred miles per hour.

Based on the heavy duty street cannon of other Justice Department vehicles such as the Pat-Wagon, the Lawmaster’s bike cannon are lethal weapons, fully capable of bringing a stop to the largest vehicle with ease. Each bike cannon stores a single flare round within its firing mechanism, which may be launched on manual or verbal command.

The Synitron GK13 auto-pilot computer forms the heart of the Lawmaster, and is responsible for keeping a judge on his bike and active, even in the most adverse of conditions.  In order to achieve this, the bike computer’s gyro logic units make the entire vehicle both light to control and yet very stable as they constantly make corrections to the bike’s speed and position on the road.  The bike computer is sophisticated enough to control the Lawmaster without a judge’s input altogether.  Linked into the Likron GS 4T telecommunications unit, the bike computer is also capable of connecting its judge with virtually any resource of the Justice Department quickly and easily, with the minimum of interaction from the judge itself.  The Likron GS 4T has a maximum range of well over 160 miles.  Just like the Lawgiver, the bike computer can accept verbal commands from its judge, and relay information either verbally or on its high-resolution screen.

The Lawmaster has a very distinctive front end, dominated by a large plastisteel eagle and its array of five headlamps.  The main headlamp is perched between the handlebars and, at full power, is capable of illuminating targets over a mile away.  The secondary headlamps are automatically switched on by the bike computer when travelling through smoke or fog, or when the judge requires as much light as possible.

Mounted behind the bike computer on every Lawmaster is a quick release emergency button.  Upon activation, this will send out a Priority One (Code 99 Red) Judge in Distress call to every Justice Department unit within 5 miles. In addition, all Lawmasters carry a high-powered siren to alert citizens of a judge in hot pursuit of a perp.  The maximum power setting of a Lawmaster’s siren is deafening, having a clear range of about a mile, though this is of little discomfort to a judge wearing his helmet.  Senior judges are sometimes permitted to alter the tone and frequency of their sirens so as to create a distinctive sound, allowing perps to know just who is tracking them down.

The Lawmaster is available now and comes with a choice of either Male Street Judge or Female Street Judge rider.

 

 

 

The Judge Dredd miniatures game Kickstarter has enabled us to bring a whole host of new models to the game, and new bits and pieces are starting to flow into our office already. We thought it might be fun to take a look at some of the new items that will be coming out within the next month or so.

There is a real mix coming, from characters and additions to existing forces, to brand new forces that play very differently in the game! to begin with, here are some familiar faces from the pages of 2000AD.

Dredd’s own faithful robotic companion, Walter the Wobot has been exquisitely rendered in 3D and then prototyped into the final model you see here.

First appearing in the renowned The Pit storyline, set within a corrupt Sector House, Judge DeMarco is a most capable street judge, but always had problems keeping her emotions in check. This model will look stunning when painted (complete with freckles), and we are also working on a DeMarco figure to represent her as a Private Investigator when she left the Justice Department. Also on their way – Travis Perkins (DeMarco’s simian sidekick), Psi-Judge Anderson, Chief Judge Hershey, Fergee (King of the Big Smelly), Judge Giant, and many more!

The ordinary Street Judge has not been forgotten, with this model being added to the range – for when just one Lawgiver is not enough! If even more firepower is required…

… then the Special Weapons Judge will be just what you need, armed here with a Widowmaker – a combined shotgun and SMG. And the Justice Department will have need for such weaponry, as there are many new enemies coming to Mega-City One.

For a long time now, the Zombie Mistress has been one of our most popular figures in this range. Finally, she will now have her own zombie horde to follow her! These models use the plastics from our very good friends at Mantic Games as a base (supplied in the box set!), with new Mega-City One parts to give them suitable heads, bodies and fashionable (but rotting) kneepads! And if you are looking for a bit more protection for your zombies…

… this Zombie Judge still has most of his standard issue remaining!

Perhaps even more dangerous are the Citi-Def, the citizen soldiers of Mega-City One. True weekend warriors, these guys have seen way too many action vids and are now living out their fantasies with high-powered weaponry! Often more trouble than they are worth, they stand ever ready to defend their block against invading forces. Which brings us neatly to the next new force.

For the first time, we are proud to present a new force I know a great many of you have been looking forward to – the East Meg Invasion Force, straight from the pages of the Apocalypse War story. Left-to-right and top-to-bottom, we have a Satellat, a small robot assigned to high-ranking officers and agents as a floating bodyguard, followed by two Sov Judges, one armed with a Heavy Carbine the other with a Flamethrower. Then we have the mighty Sentenoid, a rampaging robot designed to break the back of an enemy in an assault – equipped with two Spit Guns, a Flamethrower and crushing robotic arms, it is capable of exactly that!

On the bottom row, we have two Sov Judges armed with their Krashnikov sidearm, as they might appear on the streets of East Meg-1, and what I think will be many people’s favourite in this force, a Senior East Meg Judge. Finally, an East Meg Officer, someone more interested in politics than war, but nevertheless holds the fear of all men who serve under him!

More new forces are being put together right now, including the Demonic Cabal (full of frightened cultists who have no idea what they are doing!), the Dark Judges, Mechanismo robots, Judges from other Mega-Cities, biker gangs, and much more. Stay tuned, as life in Mega-City One is about to get very interesting!

 

We are very proud to be able to show off the first of the new 1/1800 Victory at Sea ships – HMS Exeter!

A product of the Washington Treaty that restricted the number of vessels a navy could have above 10,000 tons, the York-class fulfilled cruiser duties required by a navy whose responsibilities stretched across the globe.  The York took part in the Norwegian campaign but was later sunk by Italian motor boats in the Mediterranean.  Exeter, famously, took part in the Battle of the River Plate but was seriously damaged in the engagement.  She was later repaired and took part in the Battle of the Java Sea but was soon sunk after by Japanese gunfire and torpedoes.

Length: 575 ft.
Displacement: 10,490 tons
Speed: 32 kts.
Crew: 630

These models are the product of Sandrine Thirache, who has been toiling for more than 18 months now, researching the warships of World War II (with the ever-present help of our Official Naval Boffins), locating accurate deck plans, and then using all of that to build lovely 3D models of each vessel.

These 3D models then go through a rapid prototyper, which produces a resin model we can use to create moulds. This model of HMS Exeter is a one-piece resin cast, with a metal sprue added to carry the guns, mast and one of the funnels – this ensures we have the perfect balance between detail and ease of building. It will take you all of five minutes to put Exeter together, and then she will be ready for a dash of paint, and then action!

The exquisite paint work on this model has been done by David Manley, someone who needs little introduction in naval wargaming circles. The wakes he has picked out, incidentally, are already moulded into the base – saves you one more job!

We are just beginning to ramp up production of the Victory at Sea line, though if you are attending SELWG this month, we will likely have a small number of Exeters, Achilles, and Graf Spees waiting for you. More ships are being prototyped right now, and it will not be long before you can have a full-raging sea battle between these great looking ships. Sandrine, meanwhile, continues her years-long odyssey to model just about everything that ever floated in World War II!

And she has a long task, as it is not just ships she has been working on. We will preview her aircraft at a later date but, for now, have a look at these three Royal Navy Motor Torpedo Boats.

The Fairmile A was designed from the outset to use prefabricated components that could be produced by small businesses such as furniture manufacturers, which would then be assembled at shipyards. Capable of 25 knots, it mounted a 3 pounder gun and a pair of .303 machine guns, as well as depth charges.

Designed with the form of a destroyer’s hull, the Fairmile B (like its predecessor, the Fairmile A) was intended primarily as a submarine-chaser, and so was fitted with ASDIC and depth charges. Manufactured in large numbers, the Fairmile B was also famously used on the raid on St. Nazaire.

Capable of 26 knots, the Fairmile C was a motor gun boat, mounting two two pounders and eight machine guns of various calibres. It was mainly used for close escort duties and some clandestine missions.

These Motor Torpedo Boats are one-piece resin castings, making it quick and easy to put together your very own flotilla!

 

Next up, we will be previewing Achilles, Ajax and the Graf Spee as we prepare the Battle of the River Plate box set for launch.

We have just unveiled the first of a line of new Pat Wagons for the Judge Dredd miniatures game, ready to serve the Justice Department! Here at Planet Mongoose, we will take a closer look at this workhorse of the judges…

After the Lawmaster, the Mk III Pat Wagon is the most commonly sighted  Justice Department vehicle seen on the streets of Mega-City One.  Designed to be flexible enough to bring the Law to citizen riots and armoured perps, as well as fulfil the grunt work of catch and meat wagon teams, the Mk III Pat Wagon is well respected among the judges for being able to take just about any punishment the streets can give.  The turret mounted street cannon is a specialised variant of the bike cannon found on Lawmasters, and is capable of firing a variety of ammunition, such as flare, gas and solid rounds.

We are planning several variants of the Mk III Pat Wagon, including a Fire Wagon and a heavily armoured Riot Wagon.

There is also a Mk IV Pat Wagon in the works, an anti-grav version of the Mk III, also common in many sectors. The anti-grav drive grants freedom to pursue perps over rougher ground than its predecessor, though it is not quite so tough and carries fewer judges into the streets (or fewer perps to the iso-cubes!).

Expect to see the Pat Wagon roaming the streets of Mega-City One before the end of the year!

Additional
Just a quick update – the Fire Wagon is now ready too!