“The Crime Isss Life. The Sssentenssse Isss Death!”

This 28mm metal model of Judge Death was sculpted as part of the October 2012 "Judge Dredd Miniatures Game: Block War" kickstarter by “Mongoose Games” and can be purchased as code JD20125 from "Warlord Games". As there seems to be numerous versions of the Deadworld Judge and as I was using the model as my last (late) submission for Zomtober 2014, I decided to paint him up as the rather putrid decaying version as illustrated in “Judge Dredd: Mega City One Archives Volume Three: Lawbreakers” by “Mongoose Publishing”; albeit I’ve gone with green knee-pads as opposed to bone coloured ones, simply to try and avoid an ‘ivory overload’ with the figure’s uniform.

As the majority of the model was to be black, I gave the figure a double undercoat of “Citadel” Abaddon Black and then used “Vallejo” Heavy Grey for the Dark Judge’s knee-pads and belt. I then washed these with “Citadel” Thrakka Green. For his bone shoulder-pad, pterodactyl shoulder-pad, elbow-pads and belt buckle I used a combination of “Vallejo” Iraqi Sand and “Citadel” Agrax Earthshade. I’m not sure I’ll be using the Shade again except on bases, as once again it gave the model a really goopy thick covering, and I was close to repainting the areas and starting again. Fortunately I think the gloss varnish has lightened the areas just enough to hold my ‘Eavy Metal’ syndrome at bay.

“Dying isss good. Dying isss easssy…” Batman and Judge Dredd battle the Dark Judge

I painted Death’s portcullis visor and badge with Boltgun Metal and then simply washed it with Nuln Oil. It was at this stage that I spotted a slight flaw in the sculpting of the model. I’ve seen various pictures of Judge Death with a red trim to his helmet, no trim or a silver trim. This model has the trim etched into the bottom of the helmet at the back but didn’t seem to have any such ‘guiding details’ on the front. As a result I painted a thin line of “Boltgun Metal down the sides of his helmet and then followed the ‘trim groove’ at the back. I then washed the entire colour with more Nuln Oil in order blend it all together.

As I wanted the flesh to be a different colour green from that of the uniform, I undercoated the appropriate areas with “Vallejo” Heavy Bluegrey and then shaded them with “Citadel” Nuln Oil. I then applied a wash of Thrakka Green in order to give the impression of rancid rotting flesh.

I’m also close to finishing this nicely posed “Heroclix” plastic miniature of The Rhino; one of Spider-Man’s more popular supervillains from “Marvel Comics”. Rather than simply slap a dark wash over the miniature’s grey undercoat, and then dry-brush it, I’ve slowly layered wash after wash over the different areas of the model, petering them out as I’ve reached the outer extremities of his limbs.