Games Workshop’s classic Judge Dredd board game is back with a new edition after 40 years
And it’s out next month!
Games Workshop’s classic Judge Dredd board game is getting a remake - and it’s out very soon.
First released in 1982, Judge Dredd: The Game of Crime Fighting in Mega-City One was designed by Sir Ian Livingstone - co-founder of the Warhammer maker - and put players in the jackboots of Dredd’s fellow judges as they patrolled the streets of Mega-City One in search of perps to arrest.
The selection of criminals was randomised by a deck of cards, with players moving between Mega-City One locations on the main board before attempting to crack a half-dozen available crimes - ranging from murder to smashing robots and selling old comics - by taking down perps ranging from the Angel Gang to Judge Death.
In order to bring the wrongdoers to justice, players could use action cards and the aid of judges - including Dredd, Sweeney and Hershey - in tandem with dice rolls to determine whether they succeeded in their arrest or not, with defeated judges having to heal up in the ICU.
Rather than working together, the judges were in competition, allowing players to sabotage their opponents’ chances by playing cards, with the aim of capturing the highest-scoring combination of crime and perp cards by the end of the game.
Four decades after the Judge Dredd board game made its debut, a new edition has been revealed by Rebellion Unplugged, the tabletop studio founded by Rebellion - owner of Judge Dredd comic maker 2000 AD - which takes the publishing reins from Games Workshop. The studio previously re-released another Dredd board game originally published by Games Workshop in the 1980s, Block Mania, as well as marking 2000 AD’s 45th anniversary earlier this year with an unexpected crossover between Dredd and Jenga-powered horror RPG Dread.
The new Judge Dredd board game will update the original rules for faster gameplay, add new cards - as well as revisions to existing cards - and recolour the game’s illustrations by veteran Dredd artists Brian Bolland and Ian Gibson.
As well as the revamped base game, Rebellion will release a new expansion, allowing players to control one of six Specialist Judges. Each character will have their own unique ability, from the psychic powers of the Judge Anderson-like Psi Judge to the pure strength of a Mechanismo robot judge. The other playable characters in the expansion will be the Chief Judge, Cadet, Special Judicial Squad and Wally Squad.
The new Judge Dredd board game will be released next month, with a price yet to be announced.