Judge Dredd: The Wally Squad

Now absorbed into Justice Department’s Undercover Operations Division, the Wally Squad were once Justice Department’s undercover Judges. Empowered to dress in what passes for ‘plain clothes’ in Mega-City One, typical Wally Squad Judges are difficult to discern from the ordinary MC-1 citizen; they’re just as crazy and even more badly-dressed!

The average citizen of Mega-City One will likely have met many a Wally Squad Judge and remained completely unaware of their real identity. The following, therefore, may well be three of the most high-profile undercover Judges within Justice Central, but they could never be labelled ‘famous’:

Jack Point

Manias are a dime a dozen in Mega-City One, but Simping is one of the more colourful. Dressing in garish clothes and feigning madness, ‘Simps’ straddle the thin line between the crushing mundanity of civilian existence in MC-1 and life in Justice Department’s kook cubes.

Disguised as one such Simp, undercover Judge Jack Point masquerades as a private detective in the notorious Sector 13. Dressed as a clown and talking like a character in an old film noir movie, he indulges his twin passions of whisky and women. It remains unclear whether Point really is crazy like a Simp, or if it’s just part of his elaborate disguise.

Aimee Nixon

Born—and orphaned—in the most deprived and run-down area of Mega-City One, Aimee Nixon spent her childhood stealing, lying and cheating. She did so with such acumen that her talent for telling lies made her a natural fit for the undercover Wally Squad. The synergy was, in fact, so complete that Aimee volunteered to have her left arm removed and replaced with a crude bionic substitute; all the better, she reasoned, to look the part when infiltrating gangs of bottom-feeding crooks and crazies.

Aimee went on to serve Justice Department and the Wally Squad for eleven years. However, after more than a decade in the underbelly of MC-1, she succumbed to the lure of criminality and established her own underworld cartel.

Her criminal career came to end after being arrested by Wally Squad Judge Dirty Frank. A period supplying Justice Department with information on organised crime followed, but then Aimee was deported to the penal colony on Saturn’s moon, Titan. For most corrupt or criminal Judges, the story usually ends there, but not for Aimee; she led a revolt against her jailers. When this insurrection was squashed by Judges Dredd and Gerhart, Aimee—along with a cadre of other convicted Judges—escaped Titan and fled to another of Saturn’s moons, Enceladus.

Responding with typical subtlety, Justice Department nuked Enceladus. By this time, however, Aimee and her handful of fellow escapees has been transformed into giant ice monsters by an unknown and ancient power in the heart of Enceladus. Travelling to Mega-City, these creatures attempted to freeze MC-1’s citizens to death. Their rampage was cut short when the source of their power was destroyed by Justice Department. With the wellspring of their power gone, what was left of Aimee and her fellow escapees finally perished.

Dirty Frank

Once an educated and cultured street Judge, Judge Frank (known as ‘Dirty Frank’ due to his questionable personal hygiene) was transferred to the Wally Squad after entering a period of mental illness. This breakdown was caused by committing murder on the orders of the chief of Justice Department’s Black Ops department, Judge Smiley.

Despite his personal challenges and distinctive aroma, Dirty Frank became a surprisingly proficient member of the Wally Squad. He was instrumental in not only the defeat of the shark / human hybrid Enormo Overdrive, but also in rescuing Chief Judge Hershey from ice monsters led by what was left of his former Wally Squad compatriot, Aimee Nixon. He also displayed incredible loyalty to Justice Department when, ordered to murder Joe Dredd by Judge Smiley, Frank instead chose to shoot himself.

Further Reading

Trifecta (2000 AD progs 1803 – 1812 / Judge Dredd: Trifecta)

Can Dredd, Jack Point and Dirty Frank thwart the three-fold machinations of Judge Bachmann, religious leader Archmime Turner and business mogul Enormo Overdrive? Or will this triple-threat replace Justice Department as the new rulers of Mega-City One?

Extract from Dredd’s Comportment

‘As far as I’m concerned all Wally Squad Judges are just one bad day away from Titan or the kook cubes. In the interim, even I have to admit they do a good job.’

As you might expect, a Wally Squad Judge’s stat block is identical to a Street Judge. Also, as per conventional Judges, a member of Wally Squad must have either the Gunfighter or Brawler skill.

The biggest difference between a Wally Squad / Undercover Operations Division Judge—aside from their somewhat idiosyncratic style of dress—is the lack of normal Justice Department equipment. Wally Squad Judges do not carry a Judge’s standard-issue equipment. Instead, a Wally Squad Judge may only be issued with a conventional one-handed ranged or one-handed close combat weapon.

Fielding a Wally Squad Judge does, however, have its benefits. The Wally Squad Big Meg card, for instance, can be used by any Justice Department faction that includes at least one undercover Judge; this card can be added in addition to a player’s normal allocation of Big Meg cards. It also allows that player to use an opponent’s Action chip to activate a friendly model. This is a double whammy when you consider the player using this Big Meg card has not only got the jump on his opponent, but that opponent now has insufficient Action chips to activate all his models.

The shenanigans don’t end there. The Wally Squad box also includes the Face Change Big Meg card. Another useful way to frustrate an opponent, this card allows players to swap a model’s position with any other friendly model that is not incapacitated, subdued or within 1″ of an enemy model; imagine using this card to swap a besieged and outnumbered Cadet Judge for a Senior Street Judge or a Mechanismo unit, or using it to immediately bring a Med-Judge into base-to-base contact with a wounded compatriot.

The Wally Squad Box Contains

• 3 Famous Wally Squad Judges:
  • Jack Point
  • Dirty Frank
  • Aimee Nixon
• 1 Unit Card
• 3 Character Cards
• 2 Big Meg Cards: Face Change & Wally Squad