Doctor Who - Doctors & Companions.

Doctor Who & Companions...

A selection of Doctors and their companions over the years - filling a few gaps in the collection!

First up, the Doctor from First to most recent incarnation (not including the 'War Doctor').

The First Doctor with companions - Ian Chesterton, Barbara Wright, Steven Taylor, Sara Kingdom (back row), Susan Foreman, Vicki, Dodo Chaplet (front row).

Ian Chesterton

Barbara Wright.

Steven Taylor

Sara Kingdom.

Susan Foreman.

Vicki.

Dodo Chaplet

The Sixth Doctor with Melanie Bush and Peri Brown.

Mel Bush.

The Seventh Doctor with Mel Bush and Dorothy Gale McShane, better known by her nickname Ace.

Ace. 

The Eighth Doctor with Dr. Grace Holloway and Chang Lee (okay, not a companion but here he is the cheeky git).

Dr. Grace Holloway.

 The Ninth Doctor and Rose Tyler.

Rose Tyler.

And again with Rose and Jack Harkness.

Captain Jack Harkness.

Figures are by Black Tree and Crooked Dice.

Doctor Who - I, Robot.

Robot grow big...

A newly regenerated Doctor joins UNIT in an investigation into the theft of top secret plans and equipment from supposedly secure premises. Sarah discovers that the raids have been carried out by a robot invented by scientist Professor Kettlewell while he was working for Think Tank, a body involved in developing emerging technologies.

The robot, K1, has been reprogrammed on the orders of Miss Winters, the director of Think Tank, and used to obtain the means for constructing a disintegrator gun with which the Scientific Reform Society - of which she is a leading member - can steal the computer codes controlling the nuclear weapons of the world's leading powers. In this way, the SRS hopes to hold the world to ransom unless its demands for a purer way of life are met.

In the bunker, Winters has Kettlewell make the international computer linkups so they can use the destructor codes. Kettlewell still believes Winters is bluffing, but she disabuses him of the notion. If the world governments do not give in, she will fire the missiles. The countdown begins.

Kettlewell has a change of heart and tries to stop the countdown, but Jellicoe pulls a gun on him. Harry and Sarah have escaped their bonds and Harry knocks Jellicoe to the ground. Kettlewell holds the countdown while the other two open the doors. As they exit the bunker, K1 swings the disintegrator gun on them.

Sarah tries to convince K1 that Think Tank are evil. K1 struggles with the dilemma and fires the gun, disintegrating Kettlewell. With a wail, the robot cries out that it has killed its creator and collapses. With K1 apparently disabled, the Doctor and the UNIT troops make their way into the bunker. The robot then suffers an electronic mental breakdown and tries to activate the nuclear weapons.

As K1 exits the bunker, the Brigadier fires at it with the disintegrator gun. Instead of being destroyed, the robot grows to gigantic size. It picks up Sarah like a doll and heads towards the nearby village.

It places her on a rooftop as a pitched battle takes place between K1 and UNIT troops, while the Doctor races back with the virus. Driving by K1's feet in his roadster, Bessie, the Doctor throws the batch of virus at it. The virus instantly spreads over the robot, throwing its growth into reverse. It shrinks to doll size and then dissolves completely.

Figures by Black Tree, Tank by Corgi, K1 Robot by Character options.

7th Voyage - Harpy Kill.

Robafett (GM) and I finally got around to playing our first game of 7th Voyage after Salute. Not having a huge amount of time, plus our whole 7th Voyage project still being a work in progress, we elected to grab what suitable terrain and figures Rob already had and try a out simple game to familiarise ourselves with the rules.

I selected 4 of Robs lovely Harpies (Aellopos, Kalaino, Ozomene, Okypete) for 80pts, whilst he selected 6 Dryads (Balanis, Karya, Morea, Nomia, Phoibe and Sose) - we used modified Amazon stats for the Dryad and armed 3 with bows and 3 with spears (of a sort) which I later came to regret as spears have a bonus against flyers! One of the spear armed warriors (Balanis) was upgraded to a Leader (1) for a total of 75pts.

The Cast:

The Dryad - 
Balanis (a young leader armed with a spear)
Karya (second to Balanis, armed with a spear)
Morea (a youngling armed with a spear)
Nomia (armed with a bow)
Phoibe (armed with a bow)
Sose (armed with a bow)

The Harpies - 
Aellopos
Kalaino
Ozomene
Okypete

Location / Setting:

A ruined temple in the middle of a forest clearing a long time ago and far, far away...

The Game:

We join Balanis and her sisters as they slowly move out from the forest into the Sacred Grove of a ruined temple. Unbeknownst to the Dryad party, a group of foul (fowl?) and grumpy Harpy have recently taken up residence in the surrounding trees, hoping that the lure of ancient treasures in the grounds of the temple will bring unsuspecting adventurers to them.

As the Dryad sisters emerge from the treeline, two angry Harpies, Ozomene and Okypete swoop down on the shocked group, squawking insanely. Nomia, Phoibe and Sose fire their bows but to their horror the arrows seem to have little effect!

Okypete attacks the poor unprepared Morea at the edge of the group - but rather than try to kill she sinks her claws into the young Dryad and promptly proceeds to fly away, carrying the screaming Morea up and back to the Harpy lair, as is the way of Harpies. Ozomene simply launches into Phoibe but quick reactions save the Dryad from harm. Spotting the danger, Balanis orders the archers to fire upon the fleeing Okypete and this time their accurate fire brings the startled creature crashing to the ground. Unfortunately, Morea also comes crashing down with her and is knocked unconscious...

Marshalling her warrior maidens well, Balanis proves to be a competent leader as she orders Karya to join her in attacking Ozomene. The combat is swift and brutal and the feathered beast soon lays dead in front of them!

Further back in the opposite treeline, Aellopos and Kalaino hear the dying screams of their sisters and take to the air. Kalaino is first to arrive and spots the opportunity to finish off the unconscious Dryad (Morea) nearby. Aellopos is not far behind.

Once more, Balanis is quick to react - realising that Morea is unable to protect herself, she and Karya rush forward to protect their fallen sister, just as Aellopos is about to join the fray...

...Balanis and Karya both charge into attack Kalaino before she can reach her target, holding her back, jabbing with their spears...Aellopos sees her chance and swoops down onto the prone sister...but the Gods seem to be with the Dryads and somehow Aellopos fails to harm Morea!

The combat is intense but mercifully brief. Kalaino is unable to escape the fury of the angered Dryads, who are desperately trying to protect Morea. Some moments later, the Harpy lets out a scream and collapses to the ground. With Balanis calling curses after her, Aellopos decides these nymphs are too much to face and flies off towards the temple ruins to nurse her shattered ego and lament her fallen sisters...

The Dryad sisters gather. Other than a few cuts and bruises, they are all in good shape, if a little in shock and poor Morea will have one hell of a headache when she awakens!

A great little game and a good fun introduction to the rules. We kept things simple, with no 'Hero' character types or magic. I tried to play the Harpies according to some myths and hence Okypete trying to carry away one of the Dryads rather than kill her and their temptation to finish off an unconscious foe! The Harpies were strong and lethal but unfortunately (for me) the Dice Gods did not favour these evil ways and saved the Dryad sisters from a potential slaughter. Some good use of the Leader Balanis and well played Audience Appreciation tokens by Rob, plus the benefit of a few spears, turned the tide and the small Dryad group were victorious. Love it and can't wait to play more!

All figures and terrain are supplied and painted by Rob. For his take on the events check out

Alleys of Distraction

"Here the repellent harpies make their nests,

Who drove the Trojans from the Strophades

With dire announcements of the coming woe.

They have broad wings, with razor sharp talons and a human neck and face,

Clawed feet and swollen, feathered bellies; they caw

Their lamentations in the eerie trees."

Gladiators Ready!

A selection of gladiators ready for the arena...

A group of slaves or noxii - doomed to die...

A 'doctor', Commodus and a provocator.

A secutor, laquerarius, securis and a murmillo.

A retiarius, murmillo, velite and a provocator.

Another retiarius, dimachaerus and a hoplomachus.

Lastly, another laquerarius, provocator, scissori and retiarius.

More than enough to be getting on with but tempted to add a few other 'rare' gladiator types.

From Wikipedia - List of Roman Gladiators.

All figures from the Crusader Miniatures Gladiator range.

Doctor Who - Sea Devil Invasion!

The Silurians and their Sea Devil allies plan invasion...

Commonly called Silurians, the creatures have also been referred to by other names. The terms "Silurians" and "Eocenes" are human misnomers, as the creatures date from a period between those times.

The Silurians are a race of reptile-like humanoids. The first Silurians introduced are depicted as prehistoric and scientifically advanced sentient humanoids who predate the dawn of man; in their backstory, the Silurians went into self-induced hibernation to survive what they predicted to be a large geological upheaval caused by the Earth capturing the Moon. The Silurians are related to the Sea Devils, though they are genetically divergent enough to create problems for the offspring of such matings.

The Sea Devils are amphibious Earth reptiles. Like their land-based cousins, the Silurians, they lived in prehistoric times in a scientifically-advanced civilisation. As their aquatic colonies awoke from hibernation, these one-time rulers of the Earth attempted to reclaim their planet, usually leading to conflict with the new rulers: humankind.

In some tales, Sea Devils worship the Great Old One Dagon as their god. They are determined to retake the planet from the humans. They hold an unwavering view that, as the original rulers, it would always be their right to do so.

Sea Devils look somewhat like humanoid turtles or plesiosaurus. They have beak-like mouths, large eyes, two fins on their head and long necks. They have three webbed digits on their hands and feet. Their skin tones come in a variety of shades, including green, blue and orange. They are much tougher than humans, since they need to survive the crushing depths of the ocean. Sea Devils communicate in a language like SONAR, but they can speak human languages in a whispering, rasping voice. A Sea Devil's skin is apparently slimy to the touch.

The Sea Devils were more advanced than the humans of the 20th century when they went into hibernation. They had thousands of underwater colonies dotted across the globe, each filled with millions of their kind. These bases were carved out of rocks and were generally covered in algae and seaweed. The colonies could be awoken en masse through the use of a sonic signal.

They used a less effective hibernation technology in these bases, leading to some muscular degradation when they were brought back. They also used special orange capsules to transport land-dwelling creatures.
The Sea Devils had stockpiles of weapons in these bases. They typically used small, round, side arms. During their invasion of Sea Base 4, they made use of a larger version of the device to cut through the doors.

Common Sea Devils wore a blue, gauze-like dress. The elite soldiers in the 2084 invasion wore thick black armour reminiscent of samurai armour.

Figures are from Black Tree and were kindly painted for me by Robafett.

Salute 2014.

Better late than never!

Another good day at Salute - Rob and I managed to actually play a couple of games this year too, rather than just spending too much cash, which I probably did too...

First few shots are from the games we played - "Deads Army" run by the Peterborough Wargames Club and "Hell & High Water" (we called it "Hell Comes to Ducktown") by Fenris Games. Both were great fun.

"Deads Army" featured Otto Skorzeny raising the dead near Walmington on Sea only to be put down by Captain Mainwaring and his trusty Home Guard!

The evil Skorzeny raises the dead...

The unsuspecting sleepy suburb of Walmington.

Home Guard to arms!

"Don't Panic!" Jones is surrounded by the undead at the church!

For more on this and a write up of the game see Robafetts blog.

"Hell & High Water" took place in a Gloranthan style setting where a group of Heroes defend a dam protecting Ducktown from attack by the undead. The unlikely heroes featured two Ducks (one an archer, the other a warrior capable of warping into a Duckotaur) and a group of humans including a druid who could shift into a were-rabbit form upon the eating of magic mushrooms! Nobody said this would be an ordinary game!

The warriors held off the horde of undead, loosing one warrior and Tom 'Ruddy' the Duck archer saved the day on the last turn, taking out the only creature that had reached the dam and was close to pulling it down, just before the sun rose.

This was a superb game, simple to play with loads of character and originality with a beautiful board and wonderful figures.

Tom 'Ruddy' looks out from above the dam.

Tom 'Ruddy' - ace bowman!

The 'Duckotaur' attacks!

The 'Wererabbit' leaps into action.

Lastly, a few pics from some other games on the day. Unfortunately I didn't get too many pics this year, especially of the SEEMS game as I was too busy chatting and playing but hopefully Rob has a load more. 

Pics by wardyla.

Doctor Who - The Master.

The Master — originally called Koschei and known by many other temporary aliases — was a renegade Time Lord and the Doctor's arch-nemesis.

Although they were originally boyhood friends, one of the Master's primary goals was to destroy the Doctor and Earth while acting on a number of schemes, both petty and gross.

The Master - First incarnation.

The Master was referred to as a "jackanapes" and an "unimaginative plodder" by the Third Doctor, the "quintessence of evil" by the Fourth Doctor, "one of the most evil and corrupt beings [the] Time Lord race [had] ever produced" and that his "crimes [were] without number and [his] villainy without end" by High Council President Borusa, "pure evil" by the Eighth Doctor, "stone-cold brilliant" by the Tenth Doctor, and "the Time Lords' most infamous child" by Time Lord founder Rassilon.

The Master - 'Last' incarnation.

It was eventually discovered that the Master's diabolical madness was partially the result of a genuine malady in the form of a never-ending drumming sound that had been retroactively implanted inside his head by the Time Lords on the last day of the Last Great Time War to further their own goals.

Figures by Black Tree and Heresy.