Sunday 14 January 2018

"Warlord Games" Battle Report: Doctor Who - Battle For A Draconian Desert Moon

THE TENTH DOCTOR AND SOME FRIENDS BATTLE DALEK SEC'S INVASION FORCE
This game was played using some homemade rules in order to allow us to field the vast majority of my painted "Doctor Who: Exterminate" miniatures, and takes place upon a 3' x 3' "Deep Cut Studio" gaming mat. The battlefield was populated with a variety of pre-painted scenery produced by “Gale Force Nine”, most notably several Badlands rocks, Desert palms and a couple of toxic pools. The Doctor and his allies, which started in the west, comprised of a mix of Silents, Sea Devils, Judoon and Zygons. Whilst Dalek Sec and his forces began the fight in the east, and consisted of some Daleks, Cybermen and a unit of Vashta Nerada. The desert moon has five strategic locations, each worth an unknown number of victory points. These would only be revealed at the end of Turn Six, and could only be claimed by an unopposed unit within 6" of it.
THE TABLETOP - A DRACONIAN DESERT MOON
“The story so far… Dalek Sec intends to invade the home planet of the Draconians, but before doing so, he has landed a Dalek invasion army on one of the world's moons. Realising that the race of reptilian humanoids will need time to prepare their planetary forces, the Doctor has assembled an army from some of the Earth's mightiest defenders, and hopes to buy the Draconians some additional time by thwarting the Dalek leader's plans. Unfortunately, having landed upon the desert satellite, the Time Lord has discovered that the Skaro mutants are not alone in their ambition to conquer Draconia, and have brought some 'friends' of their own..."
DALEK SEC COMMANDS HIS FORCES FROM ATOP A BADLANDS BLUFF
Gaining the initiative, the Tenth Doctor sent both Zygon units on his force's flanks forwards, whilst the Silents used their speed to reach Objective Two (a destroyed Dalek hulk). The Sea Devils also moved east and reached the lip of the medium-sized swamp pool. To the ancient amphibious creatures' north, the party of Judoon and (more) Zygons pushed forwards too in between some Palm Trees and a Badlands Pillar.
THE SILENTS TAKE OBJECTIVE TWO AS THE DOCTOR WATCHES ON
The Cybermen in the south-east corner by some Palm Trees immediately opened fire upon the Zygons opposite them, but found the "solidly built humanoids with large, cone-shaped heads" too difficult to hit. Alongside them, more of the silver giants, accompanied by the Vashta Nerada, pressed west towards Objective Five (a container of green goop). The Daleks south of the Badlands Bluff fanned out for a better view of the battlefield, as did the golden-coloured drones to the north of the large land mass. Dalek Sec however, fired upon the Sea Devils... and missed. Finally, the Cybermen in the north-east corner pushed forwards.
THE DALEKS, CYBERMEN AND VASHTA NERADA MOVE FORWARDS TO ENGAGE THEIR ENEMIES
The Doctor maintained his force's momentum by tasking the Zygons in the south-west to guard Objective Two. This released the Silents to approach Objective Three (an ancient bronze statue of a Draconian Emperor). The "Members of the Church of the Silence" appeared to move with incredible speed, as everyone kept forgetting that they'd seen them. The Time Lord and his TARDIS crew moved up behind the Confessional Priests, so as to allow his Command ability to reach the vast majority of his units [allowing any of them within 12" to each re-roll any single dice per turn].

The Sea Devils moved into the middle of the medium-sized swamp pool, utilising their Water-Walker ability to avoid any of the usual penalties incurred by land-based creatures. In the north-west the Zygons swarmed around Objective One (a Stargate). The Judoon fired upon the Cybermen approaching along the northern edge of the battlefield. But despite hitting them, the "race of cybernetically augmented humanoids" survived due to their Heavy Armour [Saving roll of a 5 or 6], and the unit's ability to re-roll one of these courtesy of being within Dalek Sec's Command range.
A MASS OF ZYGONS CAPTURE TWO OBJECTIVES
The Cybermen in the south-west corner pressed further west, whilst the Vashta Nerada took Objective Five. Beside them, more Cybermen fired upon the Silents but failed to strike their target. However, this was not the case for Dalek unit south of the Badlands Bluff, whose extermination blasts felled two of the Papal Mainframe members. Dalek Sec again sought to eradicate the Sea Devils in their swamp pool, yet were unsuccessful once again. To the north, the Dalek leader's drones had more luck, and managed to destroy one of the many Zygons positioned around Objective One. Lastly, the Cybermen in the far north poured their energy beams into the orange-coloured, sucker-covered aliens... without result.
THE VASHTA NERADA TAKE AN OBJECTIVE AS THE SILENTS BEGIN TO FALL
Realising that his allies were starting to take some casualties from the Daleks increasingly formidable firepower, the Doctor encouraged the Zygons by Objective Two to utilise their electrical discharges upon the enemy. Two Cybermen had arrogantly stepped within range of the short (10") attack and despite their Heavy Armour, were brought low in a shower of sparks and fizzes. Weakened by their losses the Silents retreated west behind a boulder, and watched as the Sea Devils ineffectively returned fire upon the Daleks just south of the Badlands Bluff. To the north, the Judoon moved into a better firing position, ready to support a unit of Zygons who bravely pushed east towards Objective Four (a space-radio system).
THE SILENTS RETREAT AS THE JUDOON ADVANCE TO BATTLE THE DALEKS
Determined to finally feast, the Vashta Nerada rushed towards the Zygons guarding Objective Two, whilst the partially depleted Cybermen nearby retreated back to Objective Five. The other Cybermen in the area stomped west to also challenge for Objective Two. The Daleks south of the Badlands Bluff continued to fire without result against the Sea Devils, and the drones to their north were equally as unsuccessful against their Zygon targets. Dalek Sec however, finally managed to fell one of the Judoon, despite the "mercenary police" wearing Armour [Saving roll of a 6].
WEAKENED BY DALEK FIREPOWER A UNIT OF ZYGONS IS ATTACKED BY SOME CYBERMEN
To the north, the Cybermen charged into the Zygons and began chopping away at their necks with their metal hands. Incredibly though, despite the amount of attacks made by the silver giants [4 Attacks = 2 from statistics and 2 more for charging], the refugees from Zygor were able to utilise their Stupefy ability [Only hit on a roll of a 6] to remain unharmed. It was deadlock, with everything still to fight for...

Dum Da Dum, Diddly Dum, Oo-ee-oos…

14 comments:

  1. A very interesting Batrep Simon, it seems very close at the moment, but as we've seen before that can all change in a single turn

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    1. Thanks Dave. I tend to find these rules are quite good at keeping things close until the very end, though Turn 4 does tend to be when things start getting especially interesting and units break.

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  2. Seems like there was no issues within the two alliances. Was there any sort of rules to allow for 'balls up' moments due to miscommunication or egos between species? I like a good balls up, me, when it all goes wrong spectacularly and allies hinder each other :)

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    1. I didn't give anyone any rules like that Roy, as I find my poor dice-rolling alone gives me a bad enough handicap :-)

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  3. A finely balanced game, which is how it should be. Some unusual alliances on show, but it all works rather well and it looks like it was a splendid visual treat. 2018 continues as another year of Who and after that the excellent 2017 that can only be good news. Nice read, keep it up Sir!

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    1. Cheers Undercoat, I think 2018 will indeed be the year of "Doctor Who" on this blog :-)

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  4. Hmm, quite a lot going on to keep track of, must have been hell for you too considering the number of different abilites to consider.
    Enjoyable aar so far and still more to come - yay!

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    1. Thanks Joe. The rules for each force are on just one page per army, so are pretty simple tbh. Most of their skills are incorporated in their stats and that's it. More to come indeed, as I'm trying to get a few more BatReps posted this year than last.

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  5. This has all the hallmarks of an epic battle and it is certainly a great way to showcase your growing collection of "Doctor Who" figures.

    I hope you don't mind some constructive criticism. Once again, your batrep would be greatly enhanced with more wide angle shots of the action, say at the end of each turn.

    Secondly, you said you were using home-brew rules. How do they work? A brief explanation of them would prove useful. Do they take into account the differing races abilities, attributes, armour and weapons? Or are they just a generic set of rules to keep things simple?

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    1. Cheers Bryan. I hoping to do more BatReps using the rules, so will incorporate more rules in future battles; especially as I'm hoping to paint up enough so in future the forces can be less diverse. They do indeed have their differing race abilities taken into account Ref weapons and armour, with some traits which still keep things simple :-)

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  6. Nice report mate. Rules sound fun do you have some examples of combat etc. That would be cool.

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    1. Thanks Simon. The next part is done but I might do something simpler for a follow-up BatRep and do examples etc.

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  7. This is some encounter Simon! If it was one of the TV episodes, I reckon they'd be stretching the budget to get it filmed!!
    I'm another one that would like a little insight to how your rules work if that's possible - it would really help to set the action from the AAR in context :-)

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    1. Cheers Greg. I'll try and do something for a follow-up BatRep, and incorporate a few more rules in the next installment too :-)

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