Wednesday, 14 February 2018

Doctor Who: Exterminate! - Delete the Daleks! (aka "The Rescue of the Falkus Clone Mk.III")


Robafett ran an impromptu scenario of the new Warlord Doctor Who game "Exterminate!" for Gary and I using his newly constructed Battle Systems card terrain and a mixed bunch of his very large Dalek and Cybermen armies.

Basic premise was a 'significant' and injured Dalek clone (the "target") had been captured and held by a small Cyberman contingent on a distant space station.

An assembled unit of Daleks was to transmat into the station, disable the power cells fueling the force field to the room where the target was being contained, then retrieve the target and return to the transmat to escape.

The Cybermen were of course busy setting up their Cyber Conversion Unit onboard and had almost completed 'upgrading' the entire crew of the station.

Below we see the basic layout of the station. The Cyber Conversion Unit is in the centre of the picture. The transmat device sits to the lower left. To the right is the main Engineering Control Room with the two power cells at the bottom of the steps. The containment area (with the Dalek target) is to the top left.


The Cyber Conversion Unit, shown here upgrading the last of the crew.


The Engineering Control Room with the two main power cells.


A earlier model Cyberman monitors the engineering control.


The power cell area below is heavily guarded.


A Cyberman at work in the Cyber Conversion Unit area.


The Cyberman Conversion Unit in action...


The Cyberman Contingent on the station...but have others been upgraded?

Cyber Leader x1
Cybermen x8
Cybermats x2


The Dalek attack force.

A Patrol Leader (White x1)
A Unit of Elite (Emperors Guard) Upgraded Daleks (Blue x3)
Two Units of Dalek Drones (Red x5 plus a Specialist in Orange)


An overview of the station as the first unit of Daleks transmat in.


The first four through are the Patrol Leader and three Elite Daleks. They appear to be unopposed?


 They glide in the the stations central corridor...failing to notice the lurking Cybermats!


The continue, oblivious to the danger...


...followed by five more Drone Daleks.


Who quickly take care of the threat!


Two Elites are sent ahead to scout the unnaturally quiet station...



...and are confronted with two Cybermen laying in wait!


The Drones follow on to re-enforce the Patrol Leader.




The first Cyberman is destroyed just as another group of Cybermats appear!


The final Dalek arrives through the transmat...


...to be immediately confronted by the lone Cyberman working in the Cyber Coversion area.


A brief tussle ensues but this Dalek is a Specialist with its own teleportation device...it beams directly into the Engineering Room next to the power cells!


Meanwhile combat rages in the main corridor...


...and the Daleks advance!


Two Drones are sent to acquire the target.


But another Cyberman lays in wait for them.


As the main thrust of the attack moves through the station, the Cybermen begin to re-enforce and pin the Daleks in the central hallway.




The Dalek Patrol Leader is locked in combat!


"EXTERMINATE!!"


"DELETE!!"


The Daleks find themselves under withering fire from the fast reacting Cybermen.


One Drone manages to enter the containment area...but the protecting force field is not down yet! A wily Cyberman follows, narrowly avoiding a shot from another Drone in the corridor.


The overwhelming force of the Cyberman firepower begins to take its toll on the spread out Dalek force...


...the Patrol Leader orders a strategic withdrawal to maximise firepower on the approaching Cybers.


With the force field still up the Drone begins to take a battering from the stronger Cyberman.


The second Drone quickly moves into the area...


...just as the Cyberman smashes the first to the ground!


In the main hall the battle continues. The Dalek Patrol Leader is momentarily knocked off-balance...


..but quickly recovers as the Cybermen begin their steady advance, now under the direct control of the Cyber Leader.


Meanwhile, the Specialist Dalek has finally completed its mission. Both power cells are destroyed and the force field drops!


The first Drone (Sid) recovers and opens fire on the lone Cyberman as the second Drone (also Sid) moves into the containment area to acquire the target.


The Cyberman activates its "emergency combat sub-routine" and blasts the first Drone to bits.


Despite a devastating round of 'full energy blast' fire from the embattled Daleks, the fight just outside further swings in the favour of the Cybermen as the Dalek Patrol Leader is is hit several times and finally destroyed.


 The remaining Elite (Blue) Dalek soon joins its Leader...leaving only two Drone Daleks from the original attack force standing.


The Cybermen march forward to finish their work...


The last remaining Drone (Sid, in the containment area) is ordered to ABORT and opens fire to destroy the 'target' before the Cyberman ultimately smashes it too.


Unbeknownst to the Cyberman, the last Specialist Drone still glides around in the Engineering Control Room. It moves to a main panel and proceeds to initiate its self-destruct sequence for the Space Station...



THE END!

Despite superior Dalek firepower, ultimately the overwhelming melee combat of the Cybermen won the day as Gary made good use of the available cover (plus his special ability cards) and made it difficult for the Daleks to get the most from their better shooting ability. Initiative and Suppression really hurts in this game and the relentless march of the Cybermen into close combat spelt the end for the Dalek force.

A great fun game with Robafett doing a great job as GM for the first time of us playing this. The rules are pretty straightforward and fairly easy to pick up with a few 'fiddly bits' where the rules are maybe not so clear. Despite my reservations, this is actually a pretty decent game for a quick tabletop smash up. It will be interesting to see how the Doctor and his Companions fare when we play next!

All figures and terrain are Robafetts. Cybermen figures are a mix from Warlord, Black Tree, Citadel, Micro Universe and the Daleks are those plastic ones from a magazine. Terrain is all by Battle Systems.


5 comments:

Simon Quinton said...

Cracking report and game table!

Lord of the Western Keep said...

Interesting report and excellent scenery. Will you be switching from DWMG II to the Warlord rules?

wardy-la said...

Hi Brian - these are good fun rules and pretty simple to play but they are quite specific so we are unlikely to use them in place of 7TV or DWMG, which I think ultimately manage to capture the feel of the genre :)
M

Lord of the Western Keep said...

Thanks Mark. So for example you don't think they would work for a scenario like Terror at Devils Bay? I must give them a try using the Dalek versus Cybermen scenario in the box set that I have.
Brian

wardy-la said...

Hi Brian - I guess in retrospect they could have the potential for a good shoot-em-up game between two slightly larger forces like in Devils Bay. I do like the subtlety of DWMG as it just manages to capture the right 'feel' (with the Doctor making invention rolls etc) but to be honest I probably need to try the Exterminate rules again! Perfect for Cybermen v Daleks though, as long as the Cybermen have some cover to avoid the Dalek devastating firepower...
Mark