Happy 2019AD! I hope you got plenty of gaming in over the past few months.

Catch Up - Part One, Part Two & Part Three

I’m back to wrap up this series of articles by going right back to the beginning of 2000AD, the UK’s most popular Sci-Fi comic, and touching on several games between then and now and also some upcoming releases.

2000AD Pull-Out & Play Games

My first experience of gaming outside of Monopoly or Cluedo was back in the late ‘70s and early ‘80s. Many early issues of 2000AD featured pull-out board games. Sometimes these were centre spreads and just required borrowing dice and pieces from other board games. Sometimes cards or pieces had to be cut out of the comic - which my younger self was happy to do (cringe!).

The introduction to the original Cursed Earth Game

The Cursed Earth board game

Thanks to the digital age these classic pull-out games have become much easier to get hold of, in the form of PDFs or even on virtual tabletops, and are loved not just by gamers but fans of the comic book artists.

Ro-Jaws Robo-Race Game on Tabletop Simulator

I’m not sure how well these games hold up to today’s standards in terms of gameplay but I intend to find out. Keep your eyes peeled for my upcoming ‘Project’ in which I’ll be describing each of these games in detail, getting them on an actual table, trying them out, and reporting my findings.

Diceman Gamebooks

Choose your own adventure books were all the rage when I was at school and were probably responsible for creating a fair number of gamers. The Diceman series of comics was a spin-off of 2000AD and featured characters such as future lawman Judge Dredd, Irish fantasy hero Slaine, and the awesome robots of ABC Warriors. The comics each contained three separate adventures which were played solo, used dice, and involved minimal record keeping.

Diceman - 2000AD’s take on the gamebook genre

Once again, these are no longer in print but can be picked up on eBay or elsewhere on the internet. I’m looking forward to playing through these and reporting my findings as part of my ‘project’ mentioned above.

Judge Dredd: Block War

2018 saw a flurry of licencing activity for 2000AD and the release of Judge Dredd: Block War by Game and a Curry Games. Block War is based on the epic Dredd story about a battle between the residents of opposing mega-skyscrapers with the Judges heavy-handedly trying to diffuse the situation.

Judge Dredd: Block War card game

The game itself is a card game, with magnificent artwork, in which each player takes the role of a block of residents stationed at doors and windows launching everything they can get their hands on at the opposing player’s block. Meanwhile, Judges line the street below and try to shut both player’s blocks down.

This game is very much alive and thriving. If hand management games are your thing I highly suggest checking this one out.

Judge Dredd & The Worlds Of 2000AD

In the previous articles I’ve mentioned several role-playing games that have come and gone but none that are currently supported. Luckily EN Publishing has come to the rescue with their recent Kickstarter for Judge Dredd & The Worlds of 2000AD. The core rulebook should be out in 2019 along with supplements for Strontium Dog (mutant bounty hunters), Rogue Trooper (genetically enhanced super-soldiers seeking revenge), as well as several of Judge Dredd’s major story arcs.

Judge Dredd RPG Quickstart Rules

This RPG utilizes the What’s Old Is New system which uses dice pools, made by combining the character’s attribute and skill, and is pretty simple at its core.

EN also make card tokens for the RPG...

The quickstart rules are currently free on DrivethruRPG and are worth checking out while waiting for the full core rules to be released.

Judge Dredd: The Cursed Earth

In February 2019 Osprey Publishing plan to release their card game based on Judge Dredd’s first major story arc The Cursed Earth. In the game, players must travel outside of Mega-City One into an irradiated wasteland full of muties and monsters in order to catch an escaped criminal.

Looking forward to The Cursed Earth

The game is based on The Lost Expedition, by Peer Sylvester, can be played solo or cooperatively with up to five players, and includes oversized cards with gorgeous artwork and tokens.

I hope you’ve enjoyed this article series and have discovered some gems you may have missed. If there are any games you’d like me to check out as part of my upcoming project, drop a comment below.

2000AD is alive and well on the tabletop in many forms and will continue to be so in the foreseeable future. Splundig vur Thrigg!

Article Series Written By Moji