Judge Dredd Helter Skelter Review

Will You Survive Mega City One?

Judge Dredd: Helter Skelter is a 2-4 player light skirmish game which is pretty much a reskin of the game Wildlands by Martin Wallace. It’s pretty much a full reskin with a few tweaks but this theme appeals much more to my taste than the more generic fantasy that the predecessor uses. Each player chooses one of four available factions based on the 2000AD Judge Dredd universe which all play differently but you are each working towards the same objective of being the first player to reach five points. Scoring points is either through knocking out one of your opponents miniatures or collecting one of your shards of reality. This is a reasonably fast paced game, packing a reasonable punch in terms of its strategy and decision making but playing in less than one hour which is definitely an appeal.

How Does It Play

First in Helter Skelter you choose a faction and there are four to choose from; the Judges, The Strongtium Dogs, Nikolai Dante and Slaine Mac Roth and these all play differently but all feel well balanced, offering different tactics and decks to play with. If you like your miniatures, let’s take a moment to appreciate these. I've played a lot of miniature games and these are some of the best I’ve come across! They are beautifully and carefully sculpted and feature a really nice ink wash effect that highlights the level of detail in them and means they look fantastic unpainted.

Once you’ve chosen your faction and collected the associated miniatures and cards you draw 10 numbered location cards, secretly choose five as locations they can deploy their miniatures into and the other five are handed to the opponent next to them as the location for their shards of reality. This is a really neat mechanic which I haven’t seen before, and gives you a chance to think about how you might be able to ambush your opponents when they make a dash for their objectives before the game kicks off properly. The fact your characters don’t start on the map is brilliant and adds to the tension of the early turns when you reveal them. The board is double sided and offers several map choices which is a great choice and offers further replayability.

Following set up, all remaining play is done through your cards in hand to move, fight, defend, interrupt and collect the shards you need to win the game. There is no random dice rolling in this game, and how limited the cards are makes them a valuable resource. Each player’s action deck is unique and based on the balance of that faction, and there are some handy reference cards to help you know what each player has. A slight negative here is that some of the iconography could be a little clearer, with one attack for example being worth one damage and another similar looking one being worth two points of damage. Once you are used to the icons, it’s fine but the lack of any additional numbers or references on the cards could cause some slight confusion in your first play throughs and the same applies to identifying the miniatures on the board.

On your turn you can choose to play as many cards as you have in your hand, but you only draw three new ones at the end of each turn up to a maximum of seven. This leads to some interesting strategic decisions in Helter Skelter, do you play a few cards each turn or hold out for a bigger combo turn of playing card after card to take down your opponents and claim the points you need to win. You really need to think carefully about when to use the cards you have and when to hold back.

A card can be used for a number of actions, and only those the corresponding character’s icon appears on. Play a card to move, two if it’s higher ground, three of your character’s icon to collect a shard, attack or on your opponent’s turn defend.

Is This The Law

I’ve really enjoyed my time with this game so far. It has a quick set up and tear down time, play time feels fast paced with little downtime between turns but a good layer of strategic depth. The rulebook is concise and clear but also provides a handy quick reference page at the back which will help for the first few plays, as well as the useful player aids showing deck composition.

As previously mentioned these are some of the best miniatures I’ve seen in a game and if you’re a 2000AD or Judge Dredd fan, you could quite happily have these on your shelf even if they stayed unpainted. It’s an accessible game, which means if you know any 2000AD fans that aren’t into board games, you can teach them this easily and I’m sure they will have a blast playing it.

If you like the theme and want a quick skirmish game then Judge Dredd Helter Skelter is one for you, if you prefer a fantasy theme but like the sound of this game try Wildlands but because of how similar they are, unless you are a completionist you don’t need both in your collection. Personally this hits a great spot for me, and it’s worth noting that the Dark Judges expansion allows you to play this game solo as well as adding another playable faction to the game.