Judge Dredd - Ape Gang Vs Iron Stan!

Having survived a miraculous escape from death, playboy zillionaire Stanley Park had risen from the ashes reborn a new as the lone vigilante Iron Stan. And with gangs roaming the streets and the Judges under pressure to control the ensuing chaos, it was only a matter of time before Stan donned his armour and prepared to deliver his own brand of iron justice to the mean streets of Mega City One...

The notorious Ape Gang 'The Jackson Five-O' had been on a violent wave of territory expansion and now they were heading straight into Stan's world. Having previously met with little resistance, the apes we're about to experience the wrath of a man on a serious clean up operation. Things were gonna get messy...

Not wanting to risk being completely outnumbered, Iron Stan enlisted the help of his new four legged crime fightng partner; 'Nutz' the robo-dog. The Park Industries Tech Division had done a good job in ensuring Nutz's bite was as frightening as his bark...

Nutz picks up the scent and leads our hero to the waiting ape gang...

Who have already taken up position, ready to hit Iron Stan with a hail of fire...

With Nutz leading the way, Iron Stan ignited his jet pack and leapt from building to building, hugging the available cover along the way. It wasn't long before his targeting systems isolated the profile of the lead ape, hunkered down behind a re-cyc bin. The ape swung his club wildly in defiance, his blood shot eyes widened as a manic grin spread across his face.

As Iron Stan prepared to engage the ape, a sudden hail of spit gun fire poured into his flank from two chimps positioned high on a roof top to his left. The apes had set an ambush and their trap had been well and truly sprung. These fellas clearly had brains to match their brawn... But their bullets were no match for Iron Stan's armour and the shots simply chimed and pinged off his armour like rain on a corrugated roof.

Re-focusing his attention and with the lead ape firmly in his sights, Iron Stan dropped like a meteor from the nearby roof top. Before the crazed ape could react, Iron Stan smashed his fist into and then out the back of the first ape's head! The twitching ape slowly slid down Iron Stan's forearm and crumpled onto the pavement in a heap of blood and fur. The onlooking ape's howled with a mixture of terror and primal rage...

And so, the carnage continued; Iron Stan and Nutz scything through one hapless, onrushing ape to the next - Destroying all in their path with their righteous fury... It wasn't until the last few apes ganged up and made one last desperate counter charge that Iron Stan felt truly threatened. But by this time, there was only ever going to be one victor and the remaining apes from the 'Jackson Five-O' gang scattered into the safety of Mega City One's underbelly to lick their wounds...

Buoyed by his first victory, Stan stood proudly amongst the timid citizens who had begun to venture forward to witness this iron knight who stood before them. The people recognised a hero when they saw one and the boyz from the Pox News Network recognised a ratings winner when they saw one...

Until next time ;) Judge Dredd - Ape Gang Vs Iron Stan!

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Judge Dredd - Lone Vigilante! - IRON STAN

Mega City One is an unforgiving and dangerous place. Gangs and organised crime syndicates exert an iron grip on the towering block precincts and the common citizenry know all too well to maintain a low profile.

The Judges aren't much better. Step out of line and you can expect a swift daystick to the spugs. Push your luck and you're in for a long stay in the Iso-Cubes...

Every once in a while some brave (delusional, or drugged up) soul, bucks the trend and says enough is enough. Making a stand against the tyranny of crime and judgement eroding their freedoms, they take up arms, mask their identity and take their own brand of justice to the streets.

For many of these lone vigilantes fame is brief and judgement is final. But every once a while, a legend is a born, a true hero of the people. A hero the gangs learn to fear and a hero the Judges learn to respect...

Stanley Park. Zillionaire playboy and head of Park Industries. Good ol' Stan the Man lived a life only an elite few of Mega City One's 700 million citizens could ever hope to dream of. As supplier of over 80% of Mega City One's power, re-cyc and transit systems, Park Industries established itself as a powerhouse and Stanley reveled in the riches it brought him.

But one fateful night, Stan's life was to change forever.

The motive itself was unclear. Maybe Stan had enemies in high places. Maybe he'd slept with one too many gangster's molls... But as he stepped out of his luxury hover cruiser and onto the red carpet of Mayor Blore's 'Industry Awards Gala', what was clear was that Stan's entourage had been hit by a relentless rocket attack. The thundering explosions blew Stan high up into the air and blew his legs into the hotel foyer...

Not for the first time, Stanley's incredible wealth came to his rescue. From the shell of a broken body, the best surgeons in Mega City One spent months rebuilding the man. And re-build him they did. Stan would become twice the man he ever was before...

For once in a long, long time, his mind was clear. Rather than use his wealth for capitalism and personal gain, he would use it to fight for justice as a champion of the people. He had purpose.

His purpose was justice. His aim was vengeance. His will was iron.

He was IRON STAN!

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In reality, the choice of Lone Vigilante for a Judge Dredd 'gang' was born out of necessity rather than choice. I'd spent a fair few weeks pouring over the JDMG rules and the various gangs that were on offer and the Cursed Earth Desperadoes were the gang that interested me the most...

However, the clock was ticking - The games club were looking to run a few JD starter games and I had less than a week to get a gang together. To have any chance of hitting the tables, I'd have to choose a small, elite force with minimal figure count... One figure to be precise!

I had a rummage round my old figures for anything that could work as a suitable super hero type, but nothing really jumped out. Then my eye was taken by the cape on the space marine sniper scout model. This looked like an excellent starting point. The bionic legs were next, along with a 'power arm' from an old mech-warrior figure...

These bionic bits helped to give the guy character and it wasn't long before a suitable 'origin story' behind Iron Stan began to form in my mind... Clearly an unashamed parody of Tony Stark ;)

To help make the model look a little less marine like, I filed down some of the original surface details and added some additional plating in the form of up-turned Imperial Guard shovel heads...

The list for my Lone Vigilante would see Iron Stan equipped with a laser gun (cunningly incorporated into his gauntlet) and a jet pack. To represent this, I plundered the Imperial Guard bits again and used an up-turned heavy flamer fuel tank. I really like how it gives the model a retro rocket man look...

Iron Stan's helmet was created from a Khorne Berzerker head with the 'horns' cut off and filed down. All Stan needed now was a suitably heroic shield and with a nod to the Mongoose/Warlord 'Lone Vigilante' model, I decided to place his initials on it...

The main body of the shield was made from 0.65mm plasti-card sheeting. Once the basic shape had been cut out, it was scored down the centre line to give it a slight ridge with which to divide each half of the shield. The 'I S' initials were formed up using lengths of rectangle-end plastic rod. With a bit of filing to smooth off the edges and joints, the final piece came out looking pretty cool :)

Paint wise, the model was given a straight up metal look for the body parts and a good ol' red, white and blue combination for the cape and shield...

I'm very pleased with how Iron Stan has turned out and whilst the 'Lone Vigilante' wasn't originally my first choice of JD gang, I'm really glad circumstance intervened!

Until next time ;)

Judge Dredd - Lone Vigilante! - IRON STAN

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