Thursday 14 May 2015

Zombicide Report: Doctor Who, Cheeta And Jai Verses The Yeti And Cybermen

DOCTOR WHO AND HIS JUNGLE COMPANIONS FACE THE YETI AND CYBERMEN OF MONDAS
This game was played using the rules from ‘Season One’ of “Zombicide” by “Guillotine Games” and as we were attempting the Tutorial Mission from the boxed set it uses Tiles 2B and 1B. Unfortunately as I dislike playing with unpainted miniatures, and have a mountain of partially painted models already in my painting queue, it seemed prudent to simply swap the Survivors and Walkers for some previously finished figures from my 28mm collection. This gave us the idea of trying to run a “Doctor Who” themed campaign using the first few scenarios from the rulebook (and possibly some from the boardgame’s website) in order to tentatively recreate some of the Timelord’s more exciting adventures… albeit with the occasional twist.

“The story so far… The TARDIS has landed inside a London tenement in the near future. Having left the building with his two travelling companions, the chimpanzee Cheeta and the jungle boy, Jai, the Eleventh Doctor goes exploring. Within minutes however the time travellers come to realise that the capital’s street are deserted because the Great Intelligence has once again invaded the planet and the deadly robotic Yeti are on the prowl. Desperate to return his friends to the safety of his time machine the Doctor sets out to lead them back to where it materialised. But another evil may yet be lurking in the sewers beneath them… and only Rassilon knows what will happen if the monkey discovers a chainsaw.”
THE TABLETOP - "ZOMBICIDE" TILES 2B & 1B
Before we started the Doctor was awarded the skill +1 free search action, Jai was given Slippery, and Cheeta bestowed with +1 free move action. The objective was simple in that the TARDIS crew had to reach the TARDIS and get inside. All the rules of the Tutorial scenario, such as a reduced Yeti deck and special starting equipment, were followed. Which meant that the game started with two of the Great Intelligence’s hairy robots already in play, and that all three of the heroes began the adventure armed with nothing else but frying pans….
THE YETI STAND BETWEEN THE TIME TRAVELLERS AND THE TARDIS
Utilising his free search action, the Doctor immediately found a crowbar and quickly moved east into an adjoining room. From there the Timelord quietly prised open the door to the street beyond and stepping outside gasped as he saw the close by Yeti. Cheeta managed to find a fire axe and dragging it behind him, scurried outside to join the Doctor. Jai located a pistol and simply waited inside for his friends to give the all clear. Easily spotting the time travellers the Yeti moved into their area and signalled to his colleague up in the north-west corner to stomp south and join him. As this hairy robot obeyed his comrade another Yeti appeared right behind him.
CLOSE ENCOUNTER OF THE HAIRY KIND - THE DOCTOR AND CHEETA FACE A YETI
Regretful that he wasn’t wielding a cricket bat, the Doctor brought his crowbar crashing down onto the head of the ‘attacking’ Abominable Snowman and the brute was destroyed. The Timelord then popped back into the building behind him and grabbed some canned food he found before stepping outside once again; “Jelly baby anyone?” Cheeta moved north and then west so he was already in front of the locked door leading to the TARDIS. Jai conducted another search inside the building he was in and having discovered a glass bottle moved outside and travelled north past the Doctor. The two Yeti in the north-west both moved south so that one of the monsters was now within reach of the chimpanzee. Fortunately though there was no sign of anymore of the hairy robots arriving.
MONKEY MAGIC - CHEETA KEEPS THE YETI OCCUPIED AS HIS FRIENDS CATCH HIM UP
Determined to find something more deadly than a crowbar, the Doctor once again searched the building behind him and this time stepped outside to join Jai equipped with a sawed off shotgun. Cheeta meanwhile went ‘ape’ with the fire axe and after three swings brought the Yeti in front of him crashing to the ground. With a cheeky grin, Jai joined the monkey and then froze as the one remaining Yeti turned the street corner and faced the friends. Worse two more of the Abominable Snowmen appeared in the north-west corner.
MAD MONKEY WITH A FIRE AXE - AS THE YETI CLOSE IN CHEETA GOES IN FOR THE CHOP
Fearing for his companions the Doctor raced up to the locked door which was stopping the time travellers from reaching the TARDIS and ripped it off its hinges with his crowbar. With a gasp the Timelord realised that there were more Yeti inside the building; two were guarding his time machine, whilst a third was stood directly in front of him. Worse the two manhole covers directly behind him were suddenly flung into the air as two Cybermen emerged from the London sewer system. The fiendish Great Intelligence had clearly sought an alliance with the Cyberleader of Mondas. Realising that they were about to be swamped Cheeta swung his weapon at the first of the silver giants and took its head clean off its shoulders. Encouraged by the lucky blow, the monkey launched itself at the remaining Cyberman and fortunately felled it as well with two chops of his fire axe. Jai aimed his pistol at the Yeti fast approaching him from the street, and squeezing the trigger as Tarzan had taught him, felled the robot with one deadly shot. The boy then swung round and fired at the Yeti in the building’s doorway and amazingly brought that machine to the ground as well. With a victory cry the jungle child raced into the building. Hearing the commotion the two Yeti guarding the TARDIS silently moved towards the noise, one wading into the room to its west, whilst the other entered the room to the south.
DELETE DELETE - THE ORIGINAL CYBERMEN EMERGE FROM THE LONDON SEWERS
Worried that Jai might be overwhelmed the Doctor leapt beside his young ward and quickly conducted a search of the bedroom they were in. Pulling out a submachine gun from under the duvet, the Timelord first gave the Yeti in the eastern room both barrels of his sawed off shotgun. With an electronic roar the hairy robot exploded into flames. The Doctor then blazed away with his Uzi 9mm at the Yeti to his north, but despite bullets whizzing all over the place, the Abominable Snowman remained intact. Not for long though as Jai ‘popped’ the monster with his pistol, and together with Cheeta raced for the safety of the TARDIS. 
ON GUARD - JAI TAKES A QUICK NAP HAVING FELLED A YETI
Outside a procession of Yeti slowly sauntered south towards the sounds of a disturbance. But before they could arrive the Doctor rushed to the door of his time machine, briefly fumbled with the key and moments later there was a strange “vorph vorph” before all was quiet once again…
DEADLY DOCTOR - ARMED WITH A SAWED OFF SHOTGUN & SUBMACHINE GUN THE TIMELORD ATTACKS THE YETI
Having successfully concluded the scenario it was clear that even with three survivors (the Tutorial recommends four) it was relatively easy to outwit the Great Intelligence and win the day. Although a crazy chimpanzee with a fire axe is clearly a useful combination. However the Doctor is far from finished with the Yeti or the Cybermen. Having identified a Cyber factory at Battersea power station, Chelsea, the Timelord is determined to try and make sure that this new version of the silver giants are sealed within their manufacturing plant forever... 

30 comments:

  1. Simon, mate, full marks for your ingenuity in converting Zombicide into a Doctor Who skirmish game. That is insanely brilliant! I recognise the building in the background of some of your photos as being the Stoelzel's Derelict Commercial Building, a superb model that is free to download.

    Can I ask how many wounds did each Cyberman and Yeti have? Did you base them on any of the Zombies from Zombicide? For example, the Cybermen could be the equivalent of Walkers (1 wound) whilst the Yeti could represent Fatties (2 wounds).

    By the way, that tutorial scenario is very easy to win. Any other scenario will give you more of a challenge, but they're all fun.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Many thanks Bryan, much appreciated. For this game we simply replaced miniatures, nothing else at all. So the Yetis were simply any Walkers generated normally and the Mondas Cybermen any Walkers generated via the sewers. For the next game I may very well use your suggestion for the Fatties though. I'm looking to try #7 Grindhouse with Tomb Cybermen as the main opponents with werewolves as the runners, and the Cyberking as any abomination. We'll have to see how that pans out :-)

      If you've any scenarios which take about an hour or less to play then I'd greatly appreciate the heads up?

      Spot on with the Stoelzel building. I've only made enough of it to use as background scenery - thus some of the blue glue areas are visible, but that should be addressed for the next game. Nice models and I may buy one of their urban packs as a result of how impressed I am.

      I've really fallen for these rules in a big way, and am already planning on introducing some of my other models to the "Zombicide" world... its such a simple yet fiendish ruleset, which can be set up quickly and has some nice rpg elements to boot.

      Delete
  2. Excellent!! What a collection of heroes & villians from sci-fi land, clever idea using zombicide for them as well.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Cheers Ray. I always like to grab whatever I've recently painted and throw them on the table when I can. Glad you approve :-)

      Delete
  3. Great batrep Simon, on of your best to date, but the Doctor wielding a sawoff shotgun and 9mm Uzi!! Tom baker would never do that. See I said it wasn't proper Dr Who from McGann onwards!! An axe wielding chimp I find perfectly acceptable however.

    I could see the policemen from Resurrection of the Daleks making great zombie proxies though (or Robomen from Dalek invasion Earth.

    Cheers Roger.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. You're very kind Roger. This game was an absolute scream as you can probably imagine, and I'll be playing quite a few more. I do have a fine collection of Robo-Men from "Black Tree Designs" so you have certainly given me some ideas for that one. Cheeta was 'Chimp of the game' in my books :-)

      Delete
  4. Brilliant! As always! But the Doctor firing an Uzi? This must be the Hollywood version!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Cheers Gordon. I might make some "Doctor Who" themed equipment cards in the future, if we continue to play using the rules. But for now I like the idea of 'Hollywood Version... great name for the game :-)

      Delete
  5. Blooming 'eck! London's a dangerous place, there's pistols and sawn off shotguns and Uzis lying around all over the place to be found!
    Nicely done.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thanks Roy. I thought the bedrooms were especially dangerous as all sorts of firearms seemed to appear beneath the duvets!!

      Delete
  6. UTTERLY amazing..... what a novel idea (yeah, it should be made into a novel that one). I absolutely love the idea of Doctor Who and.... combining elements from Zombicide? Wow, that's really imaginative.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Cheers Steve. It was an absolute hoot and I'm delighted that a dedicated "Zombicide" fan such as yourself approved. They really are a great ruleset, and as I'm becoming increasingly familiar with them I think they really do lend themself to a whole host of different genres.

      Delete
  7. You did warn me that there would be Yetis this weekend and you didn't disappoint. The Doctor, Jai and Cheeta - not a pairing you would expect. Nice batrep. And as for Roger's comment about Tom Baker, I think he did take an elephant gun into the sewers in the Talons of Weng Chiang, but he was hunting a "rodent of unusual size"!
    And thanks for the plug on your previous post - much appreciated.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Much appreciated CC. Baker did indeed use a Chinese Firing piece (made in Birmingham) in "ToWC". No worries about the plug, we're one big happy "Heroclix" community :-)

      Delete
    2. He also played a piccolo in The Pescations (though it was never mentioned before or after), so I guess he might have blown the odd zombies head off with a shotgun, but never an Uzi!! (or a fez!!) what Blax or Crow find a picture of him in a fez now...

      Cheers Roger.

      Delete
    3. I think you're on pretty safe ground with the fez and uzi, Roger :-) But Baker did carry a few firearms in his time... usually as a disguise (Thal Guard in Genesis of the Daleks), though he carries a pistol around for a while in "Seeds of Doom".

      Delete
  8. Really nice idea. Zombicide is a fun game, though I feel gets really bogged down once all the many many variants of zombies are included. But keeping it simple like this and it shines.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Cheers Dai. I like simple, but I do like the rpg element of the game as well. I plan to thoroughly play the first box before moving on, though Vampifan has a nasty habit of tempting me to buy things :-)

      Delete
  9. I agree that this is a brilliant substitution; full marks for ingenuity! The Doctor with a sawn-off shotgun - hmm, maybe. Cheeta with an axe - oh, yeah!

    For what it's worth, I remember a little bit of an old Tarzan film (no idea which one) where Cheeta played with a fallen submachine gun and managed to kill some Nazis when the weapon fired. I don't think it was intentional on the chimp's part, but still...

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thanks C6. That's much appreciated praise coming from such an enjoyable BatRep poster as yourself :-) I must confess to being sorely tempted to pick up a few old "Tarzan" movies at the moment... as I still have a few of Bob Murch's Kojar models left to paint.

      Delete
  10. Lol this is immensely fun looking! Nice AAR mate.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Cheers Simon. Glad you enjoyed it my friend :-)

      Delete
  11. Inspired, BK. Great fun.

    I'm sure Cheeta was glad to get the fire-axe. Much more effective than his usual poo-flinging attack, I'm sure.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thanks Finch. To be fair honest I'd never considered that as being Cheeta's basic attack. I just had him doing cartwheels... But neither would have been terribly effective against robots and Cybermen.

      Delete
  12. That is brilliant! I love the idea of converting the scenarios to match the miniatures too - lots of ideas now running through buy brian.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Cheers Michael. Likewise. The "Zombicide" rules really do lend themselves to other genres, especially those where 'we' want to work together against a system. Made some nice simple rules for baddies firing too. You're all going to be sick of "Zombicide" by the time I've posted my last BatRep using it :-)

      Delete
  13. Cool idea dude! Nice tweaks to customise the story.
    Come on paint some zombies, you know you want to dude!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thanks Bob. I don;t need to paint the "Zombicide" models as I have plenty of modern day zeds already painted from a few years ago. I'm just re-basing them so they fit in with my current method, as I used to glue them to 2p pieces and just flock them without painting the sand/grit.

      Delete
    2. So you used to be a two pence man too eh! Come Blax return to the darkside and together we can rid the world of loose change!!!! Hahahahahahahahahahahah...........

      Sorry I'll get my coat....Roger.

      Delete
    3. Cheers Roger... I think :-) Actually its one of those jobs which I'm starting to wish I hadn't started. But once the glue has dried, the odd damaged mini been re-touched (hard to do with OOP paints) and the new bases flocked, I'm sure all will be fine. Gibber. ;-)

      Delete