Monday 8 June 2015

Doctor Who - The Terror at Devils Bay.



The sea laps quietly along the shoreline of Keavaig Bay...


...little do the residents of 'UNIT Deep Sea Research Facility 7' realise that the peace is about to be shattered.

Pvt. Smith guards the Tech Lab / workshop while Pvts. Stratton and Joey are on duty at the main gate.


The Doctor, Liz, Prof. Urqhart and Sgt. Benton discuss recent events and study one of the Mobile Technical Platforms that had been used to create the missing sea probe.


The Doctor feels with a few minor modifications he can recreate the experiment, with hopefully better results.


At the dockfront area, Pvts. McBrain and Dickenson patrol by the old store shed.


Sgt. Affection, Pvt. Murray, Pvts. Harris and Burr patrol on the other side of the shoreline by the science buildings, radio mast and communications array.


Suddenly, without warning, there are strange movements out in the water. Awful humanoid shapes slowly pull themselves out of the shallows and begin their relentless march towards the stunned UNIT troops on the dockside!


Pvts. McBrain and Dickenson are the first to spy these hideous undersea monsters emerge. With a cry, the two men react instinctively. Sensing these creatures are clearly not here to be friendly, they both open fire but their bullets seem to have little effect, literally bouncing from the torsos of the foul 'Sea Devils'...


Hearing small arms fire from the dockside, Sgt. Benton moves quickly, warning the Doctor and the others to keep under cover whilst he investigates. Pvt. Smith is not far behind the brave Benton as the technicians and Miss Lympkiss emerge from the Tech Lab to join Urqhart and the Doctor...


..."Just as I thought." says the Doctor "Reptiles, like those creatures in the caves. Completely hostile."
Liz can't help herself and follows Benton to see what the hell is going on..."Get back Miss Shaw!!" shouts Sgt. Benton.


Almost as soon as the commotion at the dockside begins, an unwelcome visitor to the base makes his first move. Skulking around in the UNIT living quarters, the Master is stunned to find (in the first place he looks) the missing component from his TARDIS taken by the Doctor. It seems the rather absent minded Technician Grealish had simply left the component on his bunk! Using this fortuitous opportunity, the Master sets about sabotaging the nearby UNIT land rover to hinder any potentially annoying chases when he makes his escape.


Back at the dockside, Sgt. Benton has been marshalling the defence of the base. Pvts. McBrain and Dickenson lay down a constant stream of fire at the Sea Devils as they climb from the water. Pvt. Harris and Pvt. Murray move to defend the centre ground as Sgt. Affection joins Pvt. Burr on the wooden jetty and both open fire at the approaching monsters. One of the creatures lets out a gutteral screech and slips back under the water!


The Sea Devils continue their relentless assault, using bizarre disc shaped weapons but the UNIT troops are lucky and narrowly avoid harm.


The Doctor calls to Liz and Prof. Urqhart to join him. "If we work together, we can come up with something to repel these creatures..."
Sgt. Benton shouts back at the Doctor "Better work quickly then Doc. There's more of 'em coming!"


As if on cue, a second wave of the sea dwelling beasts appear along the waterline...


...two of them climb up on the wooden jetty...


...and open fire with their 'sonic discs' - with a scream, poor Affection and Burr are both caught fully by the blast and drop to the floor!


The Sea Devil leader utters in a strange gutteral tone "Thisss isss our planet. My people ruled the Earth when man wasss only an ape." Another round of fire from the disc rays and Dickenson falls clutching a large smoking hole on his chest.


The Sea Devil leaders urges his brethren forward and McBrain is next to join the growing list of casualties.


(Helicopter shot: an overview of the battle)


Meanwhile the Master continues with his nefarious plans, sneaking quietly around the base, out of sight, sabotaging whatever he can in his destructive wake.


The techs and Miss Lympkiss take cover behind supply crates as the battle rages...


...while the Doctor works frantically on modifying the platform into something more useful!


The fight is not going well for Benton and his men. Smith, Harris and Murray all open fire on the advancing enemy but their bullets struggle to penetrate the Sea Devils armour.


At the main gate, Pvts. Stratton and Joey stand guard but the desperate battle at the shore end of the base is becoming a priority. Both men look at each other and make their decision to go and help the 'Sarge.'


As Stratton and Joey rush up to join the defence of the base, Burr pauses for a second as something flits through the corner of his eye...he pauses, turns, then spots the Master trying to sneak up to Bessie, no doubt with the plan to steal her!


Pvt. Joey does not see his comrade stop and continues to run down the main access way to the sounds of fighting...


The Master chuckles. For a moment he deliberates on whether to steal Bessie and ride down the hapless UNIT man...but no, that would be too uncivilised....


...he calmly raises his hands and slowly walks towards the soldier. "I surrender..." he calls out "...you have bested me sir." Pvt. Stratton can't believe his luck. The Master, captured by him, just a lowly private!


Meanwhile the battle at the waterfront rages on. Things are not looking good for the beleaguered UNIT men as Harris takes a hit from a disc gun and collapses in a heap.


Lucky shooting by Sgt. Benton, now behind cover, takes out another of the Sea Devils. With its expressionless face, the Sea Devil leader strides forward, urging the others on and shooting down Pvt. Smith before he can flee to better cover.


The Sea Devil forces continue to edge forward.


Pvt. Murray now stands alone between the invaders and the defenceless science team in the building behind him.



The terrified scientists, Allen, James and Marks, huddle in abject fear at the main science building. Dr. Marks points out at the carnage unfolding before them whilst the other two can only look on in silent horror.


As Pvt. Stratton secures the Master, he calls out to his pal Pvt. Joey who duly turns around to make his way back with a happy look on his face. As Stratton turns back, the Master quietly whispers in the excited privates ear..."I am the Master, and you will OBEY me!".


For a moment, Pvt. Stratton is confused...as he looks round he finds not the Master but Pvt. Joey standing next to him??? Joey (who's voice seems strangely different) barks at Stratton "the Master has escaped!!" and points up the access road...and somehow, there he stands, the Master has somehow swapped places with Pvt. Joey...


"Open fire, shoot him!! The Master is getting away!!" cries out Pvt. Joey. Despite the Master actually running towards him, for some reason, Stratton thinks this is clearly the right thing to do and opens fire with his SMG at the Master...only to realise too late that he has just shot his own buddy! "No. Noooo, JOOOEEEEYYY!!" The Master strokes his beard and smirks as he uses the moment to slip away from his distracted guard.


The Master is not quick enough...Pvt. Stratton speedily turns around and is just in time to see the evil manipulator before he vanishes. Taking no chances this time, Stratton unleashes a hail of bullets from his SMG cutting the Master down as he runs! His apparently lifeless body flops to the ground.


With a few final tweaks, the new 'weapon' is ready! The Doctor shouts orders and the two technicians, with the help of Liz and Dr. Urqhart, move the modified platform forward.


The Doctor stands behind the invention as it is wheeled into place. A concerned Sgt. Benton points at the worryingly close Sea Devils as the raise their disc guns...Pvt. Murray puts up a brave fight but the assault is too much and he too finally falls.


But...the Doctor fires a single shot from the weapon...and one of the Sea Devils immediately drops to the ground! Another shot forces their leader to retreat back to the shore.


The weapon is a success! The demoralised Sea Devils realise they cannot beat this weapon and slowly retreat back into the safety of the sea. The base was safe at last but at the loss of several loyal UNIT troops. Only Sgt. Benton and Pvt. Stratton remain standing.


Victorious, the Doctor stands by the modified Mobile Technical Platform and is joined by Liz, Urqhart and the other scientists as they gaze in awe at the Doctors handiwork. "How did you do it Doctor, I thought we were done for?" asks Dr. James. "My dear fellow. I reversed the polarity of course..."


But what of the Master? When Sgt. Benton returns to the place where the Master fell there is nothing to be found! Where is he??


"You musssst come with usssss...."




****************************************************************

So, the Master managed to escape death / captivity again with the help of the Sea Devils in a post credits sequence...

Another great game of DWMG! Robafett took on the command of the Doctor and his UNIT allies, Andrew, playing his first game of DW was the Master and the Sea Devils whilst I GM'd it.

This one was tight again for the heroes of the piece. The superior Sea Devils with their armour came very close to over-running the base and the UNIT soldier detachment was almost wiped out to a man. At the last moment, the Doctor, with help from Liz and Prof. Urqhart (adding to the Invention rolls) managed to come up with an 'anti-Sea Devil' weapon that pretty much spelt doom for the assault, although if we had played it through to the bitter end, judging by the carnage they were causing it is possible the Sea Devils could have still won.

Going by the original scenario in the rules, technically the Master could have won it within the first few turns. A fortuitous roll by Andrew meant he picked up the missing component of the TARDIS almost immediately and with most of the UNIT force at the 'shore' end of the base, he only had to get past the two UNIT troops guarding the gate. Andrew decided to have some fun with this and proceeded to sneak around the base, sabotaging all the UNIT vehicles with the plan to steal Bessie and drive out of the base! When he was finally spotted by Pvt. Stratton (as he wasn't really aware of Andrew's little secret, the look on Robs face when the figure of the Master was placed on the table was a real picture!) he hypnotised him and managed to get him to shoot the other trooper (poor Joey) before fleeing. Stratton came to his senses and with Rob getting the initiative, the Master didn't get far enough and the angry UNIT soldier shot him down as he ran. (in an 'alternate' take Andrew jump-started Bessie and drove over the UNIT man, but we decided this was too uncivilised for the Master so we moved the game back a step to have him use his hypnotism skill instead - much more of a 'Master thing to do) Of course, the Master can't be killed by a lowly 'extra' so made his escape with the aid of the Sea Devils. Of course, he doesn't realise at this point they have seen through his lies...

Ultimately the game was probably a draw but I leave that to the players to decide!

Looking forward to some more DWMG.

Figures are a mix of Black Tree, Crooked Dice, Copplestone, Pulp Alley, Gripping Beast and Black Cat Bases painted by me, Robafett and Matt Slade. Buildings are from Wargames Model Mods, Warbases, Plasticville, Sarissa, Timeline and 4Ground. Other terrain is from Products for Wargamers, old PMC, Ainsty, Tablescape, Battlefields in a Box and cars are mainly Corgi die cast. 

55 comments:

Mallius Vane said...

Splendid!

Grigork said...

Great stuff

Simon Quinton said...

Excellent mate loved it. Loved the layout and all the miniatures and terrain.

shadowking said...

Amazing love it all, superb miniatures

wardy-la said...

Thanks chaps, it was a good fun game!

Unknown said...

Wonderful , like watching a Dr Who episode, so good and thanks for sharing.

Lord of the Western Keep said...

Great game, enjoyed the story and well painted miniatures and scenery. Where did you source the "Mobile Technical Platforms"?

wardy-la said...

Thanks for the kind comments. The Mobile Technical Platforms are all Ainsty Castings 'Utility Units' - there are three variants of chassis, 6 wheeled, 8 wheeled and tracked. An essential bit of kit!
http://ainstycastings.co.uk/product_info.php/cPath/59/products_id/703/osCsid/d3ba74fca5213aee8da0f8c7253ca43e

Lord of the Western Keep said...

Thanks for the information I have ordered a couple of those Ainsty Castings Utility units. Also need an underwater probe so will get one of the Matchbox 1/64 Diecast #64 Submersible Sub Marine vehicles, see:
http://www.ebay.ca/itm/371643580620?_trksid=p2060353.m1438.l2649&ssPageName=STRK%3AMEBIDX%3AIT

Lord of the Western Keep said...

Also wondering who makes the Professor Urqhart figure?

Thanks.

wardy-la said...

Hi Western
The 'Prof Urqhart' figure is Doctor Strukov from the lovely Statuesque Miniatures Pulp Alley range by Andrew Rae - http://www.statuesqueminiatures.co.uk/c/4513057/1/pulp.html
Buy them all they are great!
Mark

Lord of the Western Keep said...

Hi Mark,
Thanks for the information on the Prof. figure I have a few figures from Statuesque and play Pulp Alley, so will buy the Prof as part of the set he is in and a few others to add to my collection. As you say they are great figures, but a bit expensive for me to buy all all of them!
Cheers, Brian

Lord of the Western Keep said...

What was the source of the gate house (main entrance check-point) building?

Thanks,

wardy-la said...

Hiya Brian
That's from Ainsty Castings in their Streetwise High Street collection.My one is just undercoated grey, never got around to finishing it! Looks like its now £9 but I think its worth it.
Mark

Lord of the Western Keep said...

Thanks Mark, I have added the Ainsty guard house to my collection. Was the game played on a 4' x 4' area?

Cheers,
Brian

wardy-la said...

Hi Brian. Yeah, it was a little under 4x4 (due to curved table edges lol!)
Mark

Lord of the Western Keep said...

Hi Mark, I plan to run it at a convention with 6-8 players, each controlling 5-8 figures so I may need to use a 5' x 5' or 6'x 4' playing area.
Brian

wardy-la said...

Sounds excellent Brian, love to know how it works out so please keep me updated. I would definitely recommend a slightly larger table (as you are planning) as the figures can cover the board pretty quickly, assuming they are not being slaughtered by Sea Devils!
Mark

Lord of the Western Keep said...

I will let you know, the convention is not until late May, and I will need the time to get things ready! I have a 28mm scale 40mm Bofors much like the one used in the TV episode I will put on the beach, and possibly a Hover craft. Where did you source the radar and antenna tower?

.

wardy-la said...

Sounds good!
The radar is from Sarissa Precision but the antenna next to it was from an ebay supplier that I sadly cannot trace anymore. Maybe one of the other companies do something similar - 4Ground do a 28mm pylon that could be modified or Gamecraft Miniatures do a large Comms tower that may be worth a look?

Lord of the Western Keep said...

Thanks I may order the radar. I ran a Doctor Who Christmas game recently. https://lordofwesternkeep.blogspot.ca/2018/01/doctor-who-christmas-game-2017.html?m=1

Lord of the Western Keep said...

BTW where did you find the cobblestone roads?

Lord of the Western Keep said...

BTW where did you find the cobblestone roads?

wardy-la said...

Hiya. The roads were from Battlefield in a Box. They were quite expensive and difficult to get hold of (when I got mine anyway)
Gordon has a great post featuring them on his blog -
http://ihavewroughtmysimpleplan.blogspot.co.uk/2015/03/cobblestone-roads-battlefield-in-box.html?m=1

Lord of the Western Keep said...

Thanks, I found some, they are indeed expensive.

Lord of the Western Keep said...

Do you use the activation system as written in the rules? I am not convinced it works as well in a multi player game as it would in a two person game. In the past (for 6 to 8 player games) I have drawn cards to randomly activate each player's (leaders) unit, and used the leadership points as either:
a) Morale roll bonuses
b) each point give as single figure as single extra action.
Thanks,
Brian

wardy-la said...

Hiya Brian.
For this game, yes we used the standard activation rules but I agree, any more players it starts to get a bit messy.
We have made it work where we just have two players on each side (so still only 2 sides) but if each player has their own force I think you are right to play with the rules a bit.
We did play another 7th Voyage game with three 'sides' using the standard rules without too much messing about but any more than four might be a pain.
I think with a convention game it just needs to be a smooth and uncomplicated as possible!
Mark

Lord of the Western Keep said...

Thanks for your ideas, I will keep the rules simple for the convention.
Where did you source the boat?

Lord of the Western Keep said...
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wardy-la said...

Hi Brian.
The little boat is an old PMC Games resin model. It is actually a small steam launch and comes with a little motor and canopy but it was the only 'boat' thing I had to hand at the time. I think Caliver Books do the PMC range now under the Battlefield Buildings range. When it was PMC they were a very cheap range but now (and no disrespect meant to them) Caliver have bumped the prices somewhat, roughly doubling them! Ainsty have a couple of good boats so may be worth checking?
Mark

Lord of the Western Keep said...

Thanks Mark, think I will get the River Launch from Ainsty. Also have a larger steam boat (Thor) from Reviresco.
Brian

Lord of the Western Keep said...

Any particular reason for replacing Jo Grant (who was in the original story) with Liz Shaw? The Doctor does seem to have a lot of scientists on his team (4)even without Liz?
Cheers,
Brian

wardy-la said...

Hiya Brian.
Good spot! The players said exactly the same thing :) There was no particular reason other than my Liz figure was better painted than my Jo Grant figure!
I initially added all the scientists and the techs as I realised that (stat wise) the Sea Devils are pretty powerful adversaries (especially the armoured ones) before you even bring The Master into the mix. Plus I thought it would be more fun to add some flavour with a few terrified non-combatant types for the Sea Devils to slaughter! As it turned out most of them hid or kept away from the combat. Having a whole bunch of extras did provide the Doctor player with more opportunity to activate more, which ultimately proved essential as the UNIT troops were decimated. It could have been very one sided so it was pure happenstance that the extras gave the Doctor that extra time he needed to create the device!
Mark

Lord of the Western Keep said...

Thanks very much for the detailed answer Mark, it was very helpful. Similar question about the prohibition on grenades you added for UNIT? Don't grenades help UNIT to become a bit more evenly matched with the Sea Devils? Should they accidentally hit one of the mobile technical platforms then they would lose some Victory poins.
Speaking of points have you tried the unofficial point system for DWMG? I
Also where did you find the shacks you used along the shoreline?
Cheers, Brian

wardy-la said...

Hi Brian. No problem good to chat about Doctor Who games!
The prohibition of grenades started as just a 'story' based decision - we have played a few games with UNIT troops equipped with grenades and they can be pretty devastating. I liked the idea that the Doctor player couldn't just 'bomb' his way out of trouble, so I wanted to essentially force the Doctor player to use his (and the other scientists) Invent ability and have him 'science' his way out of the predicament. Much more Doctor Who to me :)
Having said that, you are right that giving the UNIT troops access to grenades would probably equal things out a little on the combat front. Plus it would be a lot of fun, with stuff blowing up left right and centre! Victory Point penalties would be a good way to contain too much destruction.
I have not used the unofficial points system for DWMG. I guess it could be useful for tournament style play but most of our games are scenario or narrative driven.
The brownish shack on the waterfront is from 4Ground, the radar is from Sarissa. The four brown buildings are from Wargame-Model-Mods off eBay. The small grey shed is from eBay too, I think it was Hoka Hey Wargaming. The red roofed building is by Warbases and lastly the hangar is a Plasticville model that really (still) needs painting!
Mark

Lord of the Western Keep said...

Thanks for your thoughts on grenades. I think I will limit the number of grenades to just 3 per figure and only for the UNIT forces in my game, the Doctor’s side will have 3 to 5 base defence squads, most will be RN ratings from the base but one will be from UNIT, maybe one from the Royal Marines (who might also have grenades).
I am not in to tournament games either, but I find for multi-player games (like the convention version of this scenario I am working on) the point system can be useful to balance things out, especially if you don’t have time for a lot of play-testing. The point system is not fool-proof you have to use some common sense. For example I am going to give the Sea Devils a Myrka, simply giving UNIT the equivalent point value in rifle armed troops would not be an even match up, rather they will need something that can deal with its high defence value, like a bazooka.
Thanks for the information on the buildings, I think I found construction hut from TT combat that will work for the shore edge, plus the radar unit from Saressa and Blotz makes some nice barracks. I will take a look at what 4Ground has (they do tend to be expensive). I also have the Palsticville hanger, and mine also needs painting!
Brian

Lord of the Western Keep said...

Hi Mark,

Trying to find the DWMG stats for Sauvix the Sea Devil leader but I can not seem to find them in my copy of the rules or cards. Guessing he would have Leader (2), armoured, extended command range, and luck 1. What do you think?

wardy-la said...

There are stats for Sauvix in the Warriors of the Deep scenarios if you can find it?
Move - 5 Def - 2 Hits - 2 Str - 4 Agi - 3 Int - 7 Morale - 8
Slimy Arm 4+ Str 4
Ray Disc 4+ Str 4
Has Alien, Aquatic, Body Armour, Leader 2, Luck 1
Brilliant Tactician - once per game can automaticalyy win the initiative. Declare before rolling.
Elite Group One - all of his warriors count as having Body Armour (reduce move to 5)

wardy-la said...

TARV do some good Royal Navy miniatures suitable for the period.

Lord of the Western Keep said...

Thanks for the Sauvix stats and the source. Did some digging and found my copy of Warriors of the Deep, I think it was a part of the first edition of DWMG mine is dated 2006-7.
Yes those TARV figures look good, especially the medic which is a figure type that I need, must order a few. However I have enough painted figures from the Regiment Games RN landing party set and the Assault Group's Marine figures for the upcoming scenario in late May.

Lord of the Western Keep said...
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Lord of the Western Keep said...

Seems the TARV set with the medic, NCO, radio & officer is out of stock.

Lord of the Western Keep said...

Did you have a problem with the Ainsty security hut (gate house) roof sliding off too easily?

wardy-la said...

Shame about the TARV models as I fancied a set of those myself...
Don't seem to have any issues with the roof - it sits on top okay but doesn't slip. I fitted some plastic 'glass' into the windows too now.

Lord of the Western Keep said...

TARV says they should have them back in stock in a week. May try a magnet to keep the roof on in case it gets bumped, it is slipping less now that it is primed. Great idea, to add Windows.
Brian

Lord of the Western Keep said...
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Lord of the Western Keep said...
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Lord of the Western Keep said...

TARV just let me know the RN figures with the medic back in stock, but I still don't think I will get them in time to paint them for the upcoming convention game.
Do you have the S&S models 28mm scale griffon 2000 royal marine hovercraft? I am working on one for my scenario.
Brian

Lord of the Western Keep said...
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Lord of the Western Keep said...

Was the boat just decoration or could it have played a role in the game? For example carrying out divers to look for the missing sea probe?

Lord of the Western Keep said...

Hi Mark,

Preparations are moving forward.

https://lordofwesternkeep.blogspot.ca/

Cheers,

Brian

Lord of the Western Keep said...

How do the rules work for the strength 5 fence?
Thanks,
Brian

Lord of the Western Keep said...

Finally ran the game at the Local convention, it was a success. See the AAR here.

https://lordofwesternkeep.blogspot.com/

Thanks for your help Mark.
Brian

wardy-la said...

Absolute pleasure - glad it was a sucess.
M

Lord of the Western Keep said...

I ran a smaller version of the game and had the same problem with the Master finding his TARDIS component on turn 2. See https://lordofwesternkeep.blogspot.com/2019/08/terror-at-devils-bay-august-2019.html?m=1