Saturday 31 December 2011

Day of the Daleks

[This is a scenario for the wargame Doctor Who Miniatures Game]



Notes

This is probably the scenario I'm most proud of. Games like this, where one side has more powerful forces than the other on the table, are very difficult to balance. However we've played this numerous times and Styles appears to die just about as often as he survives.

Introduction

There have been strange goings on at Auderly House. Ghostly intruders appear and then vanish. Several U.N.I.T. soldiers guarding the building have disappeared, however crusty old diplomat Sir Reginald Styles refuses to consider holding the upcoming peace talks anywhere else. The Brigadier decides it’s time he called in his Scientific Advisor.

The Board


Auderly House is an old house set in parkland and the house is approached by a long curved driveway. The estate is surrounded by a high wall that requires one action and an AGI test to climb over. Heroic figures that leave the board are safe.

Inside the grounds are trees, bushes, an outhouses, a pond and a tumbledown folly - meaning lots and lots of cover. The area 6 inches around the house though is grass.

Figures can enter or leave Auderly House by the front door with no movement penalty. Figures in contact may shoot in or out via the windows. Using the windows to enter or exit requires one action and an AGI roll.

Styles’s diplomatic car is parked in front of the house. Round the back is a U.N.I.T. Land Rover with an HMG (SFMG if you're using my optional gun rules) in the back.

Behind the house, on the opposite side of the wall, is a canal with a footpath alongside. At one end of the path is an old tunnel, leading off the board. Figures in the tunnel are out of play until they re-enter the board. As inside the tunnel is pitch black no combat is possible there.

Monster Set Up

The monster player gets to control both the Daleks and their Ogron sidekicks, and the Guerrillas. The Daleks and the Guerrillas both want to kill Styles, although for different reasons. The Daleks think he’s a goody who will prevent a nuclear war, the Guerrillas think he’s a baddy who is trying to start one.

The Daleks will time travel to Auderly House in three teams, each of one Dalek and two Ogrons. One team is led by a gold Dalek Supreme. The idea is to bracket the house to avoid Styles slowly getting into his car and driving away - which is what he would obviously do if the attack was launched from only one side ...

The Guerrillas are fewer in number, and only have three figures, (Anat, Boaz and Shura) who must all arrive at once. All have normal human Security Guard stats except for Anat who has Leader (2) and Luck (1). They are armed with Disruptor Pistols (Range 12", STR 4, Disruptor, Pistols) and Dalekanium High Explosives.

Both the Daleks and the Guerrillas have a detailed map of Auderly House and so can plan the point of their arrival accurately. However they have no idea who is guarding the place. The Monster player should mark on a sketch map of the board exactly where the three Dalek teams and the Guerrillas are due to materialise, which must be within 6 inches of a table edge, before the Heroic player sets up their figures.

Natural Enemies

The Daleks wish to finish off the Guerrillas even more than they want to get Styles, and the Guerrillas know this.

If a Guerilla finds themselves in line-of-sight of a Dalek or Ogron they will immediately hide in the nearest cover. Whilst hiding they cannot shoot and cannot be seen unless a figure comes within 6 inches. (The ease with which they can do this, and the ability of the Guerrillas to slip past U.N.I.T. patrols without being seen, suggests the Guerrillas are actually wearing some kind of hi-tech reactive camouflage clothing that can adapt itself immediately to its surrounding - but that is just speculation.)

If there is nowhere to hide the Guerrillas and Daleks will shoot at each other, regardless of what else is going on. This shooting will be simultaneous.

Not Really Evil

The 22nd Century Guerrillas are, of course, not really Monsters, but just mistaken as to what is going on. If the Doctor can get within 6" and make an INT roll he can convince them the Daleks are the real enemy and make the Guerrillas become Hero faction. In the Two Player game control passes over to the Heroic player.

Heroic Set Up

Styles (Administrator), the Brigadier and the Doctor are in the main house. optional Civilians may also be in the house.

To guard Styles the Brigadier has team of twelve U.N.I.T. soldiers, including a mortar team, plus Captain Yates and Sergeant Benton. Some will be deployed either on their own or in pairs around the grounds keeping watch. At least one must be by the front gate, and another, in his Sunday best, is at the front of Auderly House. The rest can be in reserve near the main house, ready to be sent where they‘re needed.

The aim of the game is to keep Styles alive - at any cost.

Multiplayer Options

For more than two players the Guerrillas become a third faction. Additional players can take the roles of the Doctor, the Brigadier, Yates, Benton and the three Dalek teams.

Playing the Game


The Monster player automatically moves first in the first turn. They roll for each of the four time travelling parties and on a 4, 5 or 6 they materialise. Once on the board they have a turn to move or shoot before U.N.I.T. can react. A team materialising in the tunnel does not need to be put on the board until it emerges. In the three player game the 22nd Century Guerrillas go first, followed by the Daleks.

The Brigadier cannot react until he has word of the attack from one of his men, has seen a Dalek, Ogron or Guerilla, and not been disintegrated for his trouble. He can then, if he wants, try to persuade Styles to leave the building. This takes a whole turn and a U.N.I.T. soldier must be assigned to Styles to see he actually moves, otherwise he will endlessly collect together his papers. Otherwise, unless Styles can actually see Monsters shooting at him, he will stay put.

Styles can be loaded into either car, and as he will hide on the floor it is not necessary for the Heroic player to reveal which car Styles is in if they both drive off at once.

The Doctor

Once he comes face to face with a Monster the Doctor will have no trouble working out what’s going on. By making an Invention Breakthrough roll he can re-tune his sonic screwdriver to manipulate the time travel devices and send them back to the 22nd century. This is done in the normal way and the Doctor has to be within 6 inches and requires a roll of 4, 5 or 6. Only one figure can be sent back at a time.

Winning and Loosing

If the Heroic player can get Styles off the board in more or less one piece then they have won. Styles goes off and negotiates a peace treaty and the world is safe.

If Styles is shot and wounded by one of the Monster player’s figures, then they have won.

However, it turns out subsequently he really was a baddy trying to wreck the peace talks. If it was the Daleks that got him then they have inadvertently changed history and exterminated themselves. That is the problem with low-tech time travel - it creates paradoxes whenever it’s used.

Rule Amendment: Vehicles

Obviously this scenario won’t work if U.N.I.T. can just load Styles into their laser proof vehicles and drive him away. For that reason use my optional vehicle rules, rather than those in the main rulebook.

60 comments:

  1. This looks like a great scenario. I can't tell from the overview picture, where you located the tunnel?

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  2. This is one of my favourate scenarios. I've played it though quite a few times and it does seem to be balanced. The result tends to come down to who gets initiative in the final turn, who can play the right card at the crucial moment and whether Styles can make his agility role to climb the wall.

    The tunnel is located on the board edge, so figures in it are effectively off the board. It would be top right in the picture at the top of the page.

    I should update the pictures as I now use an open topped Land Rover with a SFMG in the back, both by Assault Group, which is what appears in the TV series.

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  3. Thanks, I will probably make the tunnel out of a big piece of Styrofoam and a railway tunnel entrance frame similar to what you used. I have the Harlequin Land Rover but have not seen the Assault Group one, I will take a look at it.

    There are a lot of walls, are they foam core board with brick paper glued to them?

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    1. Yes, wood with brick paper glued on. I found they do hardwood exactly the right size for it's not foam board. There actaully aren't as many as there appear. I find them inconvient to use when the game is in play, so just put them on when needed. I actually made far more than I needed.

      The Land Rover isn't that important, but on TV the Brog appeard with a GPMG tripod mount in the back of an open topped Landie. That would never work in real life, but it looks like it might. The Assault Group Landies aren't perfect, as they're stripped down with no doors and have balloon tires, but at least they're open topped and a Mark III. the driver 9which I haven't painted yet) came from S&S Models. They also do an open topped Landie, but it's a Modern Defender. To pedants like me that makes a difference!

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  4. Wood sounds better than foam board for walls as it is less likely to get knocked over.
    Very tempted to get that open topped Land Rover, but they are a little pricey from the Assault Group (AG) and O will take a look at the one from S&S. I do have a British Land Rover or jeep with an open back by Dinky, but there is not much room in the back as it is not a stretched design like the one I saw by AG and I doubt it would fit a GPMG and 2 figures. I would be curious to see a picture of you GPMG and Land Rover set up when it is done. Will you’ve to ensure the figures are not on the round plastic bases to fit them in?

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    1. The Assault Group price is for two Landies.

      I can't fit the figures using the gun in as well, but I have some floor plans I use for when people are in the vehicles.

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  5. Did you use an N scale raiwauy tunnel entrance (44mm high) for the game?

    Did you create a floor plan for the house?

    Thanks,

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  6. Yes, that's an N gauge tunnel entrance.

    I didn't bother with a floor plan as if the heroes stay in the house they're pretty much toast anyway.

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  7. Thanks.

    What about Styles diplomatic car was that an O scale (1/43 or 1/48)train scale car?

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  8. It's by Siku. They are a little bigger than Corgi/Matchbox and a much closer fit for 1/55 scale. (see the album UNIT vehicles on the Yahoo group).

    Unfortunately they don't do a lot from the 1970s, so that's a 1930s Citroen. However Modern UNIT are well sorted for cars of all types.

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  9. Thanks I found a Siku Super 1471 Gangster Citroen

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    1. This got put on hold but have got around to it again. Regarding the walls, when do they come in to play? If I understand the scenario, UNIT starts inside the walls and the guerillas and Daleks materialize near the tunnel exit which is also inside the walls?

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    2. The walls just make it harder for poor Styles to get away; he has to do an AGI roll to climb them. They also make a convenient way to limit the geography of the game.

      The Dalesk appear anywhere inside the walls or along the canal, including hiding in the tunnel if they want to try a bit of surprise, but outside of blaster rang of the house.

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  10. Thanks. How many players is the scenario designed for?

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  11. Either two or three player. The Daleks and Guerrillas can be controlled by the same player. If he's silly enough to put them too close together the guerrillas hide and become ineffective. If you have three players they can be a separate faction though.

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  12. Thanks, I am going to try to expand it so it can take 6 to 8 players for a convention game.

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  13. I've been meaning to do it as a convention game for a while. A player for each Dalek, the Guerrillas, the Doctor, the Brigadier and maybe Yates as well was my idea.

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  14. I was thinking dividing it between 6 players on a 4' x 6' board expanding the number of figures like this:
    1st Dalek/ Orgron squad (2 Daleks, 4 Ogrons)
    2nd Dakek / Orogn Squad (2 Dakeks, 4 Orgons)
    Guerilla squad (4 guerillas, 1 controller)
    Capt. Yates with 8 UNIT troopers + GPMG
    Sgt. Benton with 8 UNIT troopers + mortar
    Doctor, Jo, Brigadier, Styles Miss Paget.

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  15. Careful you don't unbalance the game. This is not a fair fight; the Daleks will always win in the end. However the size of the board and number involved and the size of the board mean Styles has a 50/50 chance of getting away. Also think about the event cards, which usually determine the outcome of the game. If you have three Hero players, three Daleks and the guerrillas they can have one each.

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  16. Should have added a 3rd Dalek squad to the list above. I will definitely play test it to make sure it is balanced, probably sticking with the original roster for the first play test to see if that is enough playing pieces for 6 or 7 players.

    Is the similar scenario you created called "The Exterminator" an earlier or later version of this scenario?

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  17. The Exterminator came second and is not as good. The amount of available cover has a big effect on the game. If Styles dies too often add more cover.

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  18. Thanks, will stick to the Day of the Daleks scenario, but might swap the mortar for the bazooka. I will make sure to have sufficient cover.
    Which figure did you use for Miss Paget?

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  19. I think she was from Artizan miniatures Thrilling Tales series. She also doubles as Miss Hawthorn in The Daemons!

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  20. Thanks Miss Greentree looks like she would work as Miss Paget as would Her Tohdt or Mr Peregrine for Styles.

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  21. Do the 12 UNIT troops include the mortar crew (2) and crew for the Land Rover with an HMG in the back (2) or are they additional troops?

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  22. Yes. It's usually worth crewing the HMG with Benton or the Brig so they can use their Luck to modify the rolls in the hope of getting a hit. I have little floor plans of the cars to show where the figures are sat.

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  23. Any plans to create a scenario with Zygons?

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  24. Yes indeed. I think I'll see what the Warlord games figures look like first, but then the War on Terror theme of The Zygon Invasion/Inversion suggests lots of scenario ideas: make a Morale check to shoot a Zygon who looks like your mum for example.

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  25. I have been thinking of creating a Doctor Who and the Loch Ness Monster scenario myself.

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  26. Do you use the activation system as written in DWMG?

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  27. Is the amount of curvature in the driveway a result of the terrain board you use or is it deliberate to slow down Style's attempted exit?

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  28. Regarding the road curvature, what is to stop the UNIT player taking the Land Rover cross country to take a faster and more direct route to get Styles off the board? I know cross country movement is slower but not that much slower.

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  29. That's usually the best tactic, even though the car has to stop so Stykes can get to and climb the wall, but if the Dalek player is wise he will blast both vehicles in the first turn.

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  30. Thanks. I was thinking of creating a "rabbit hole" event card that would cause a vehicle travelling cross country to be stuck for one turn. But that may not be necessary.

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  31. The alternate turn system sort of does that for you. If you get stuck in the open and lose the initiative things can get pretty sticky.

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  32. It's important to know the rules. +1 to hit large targets like cars, so they are vulnerable. But -1 to hit someone in cover and -1 if they are lying down, so if Styles gets out and hides under the car he's 6 to hit. With a card to use as Luck that makes him reasonably safe, as long as he doesn't move!

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  33. Thanks for the rules reminder. As I am using this scenario at a convention for 6 to 8 players I will use a modified activation system rather than the alternate turn sequence. I draw cards, a player gets to activate all his units (usually 2 to 6 figures) when his or her card is drawn.

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  34. In one of the other sections of your blog you wrote you did not use the DWMG activation system, instead the leaders leadership points were used towards morale? Would that be 1 point to all morale values of troops in the command range or just the 1 or 2 leadership points used for 1 or 2 figures to raise their morale?

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  35. Tried a test run of the game, the UNIT side lost badly. Wondering if I made the driveway too long and winding, it takes 71" to get off the board on the road and the car only travels 16" a turn. How long was your driveway?

    Found your note about the command activation rules:
    "A variant of the rules we usually play is to allow all of a players figures to activate every turn.

    Leader ability is then used to raise the Morale of troops a leader commands. They must be within 12 inches and in line-of-sight and only one leader can influence one group at a time."

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  36. On my board Stles can get off the board in four turns with a bit of luck and no interfenrece: two turns running and two cllimbs, or one turn getting into the car and three driving on the road (24" a turn). UNIT usually lose the battle but with a bit of luck Styles can escape. The Doctorm needs to be brave too; using his Luck to survive a full frontal attack on the Daleks.

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  37. Thanks. What about the Doctor having the ability to convince the Guerrillas on a successful opposed intelligence test that they need to keep Styles alive?

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  38. That's a good idea, very much in keeping with the spirit of the story. I'll add that, with a 6" range requirement.

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  39. Thanks, yes a 6" range makes sense. Clarification on the road movement is the 4" bonus for each action or just once a turn? Also there don't seem to be any specific rules on how the guerillas use their dalakanium bombs, perhaps as a melee weapon with an agility test to see if they can jump free before the explosion? When re-watching the episode noticed the mortar is a 2" mortar, provided I can find the right figures the stats for the 3" or 81mm mortar will need to be downgraded a bit (like a grenade for effect) but the shorter minimum range than the 81mm mortar which would help UNIT in close range fighting.

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  40. I think you'd have to count the 22nd century guerrillas as having lost if the doctor pursues them to switch sides. That gives some motivation for them to shoot him!

    The base movement of a Land Rover is 12", plus 4" road bonus. If it doesn't do anything else then it can move 32" a turn on the road.

    The 2" mortar appears to be the bbc props department coming up short, like sticking a GPMG on a tripod in the back of a 3/4 ton Land Rover and pretending it's a WIMK! A 2" mortar is basically a grenade launcher, so I'd agree the stats sound be like that if you want to amend things.

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  41. WIMK? Is that like the Saracen FV603 or FV432?

    The 2" mortar was a platoon level weapon so it is not surprising they would have it even in the 1970s as it was not replaced until the 1980s. Too bad Harlequin / BTD did not make UNIT figure with one, but I can use some British W.W.II Airborne troops with a 2" mortar instead.

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    1. The WMIK (got it right that time) is the modern name for the system that mounts a machine gun on a Land Rover properlt, as opposed to what the BBC did.

      However if you go down the line of using only what actually appeared on the screen you are on a slippery slope. The 'bazookas' for example really are bazookas from WWII and would have stats much worse that the ones in the rules. The would struggle to knock out any contemporary tank. The stats though are about right for a real 1970s antitank weapon such as the Carl Gustav.

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  42. Thanks WMIK or Land Rover Wolf, was it around in the early 1970s?

    I agree about the bazooka stats, and that it should really be a Karl Gustav. But I think the 2" mortar makes a certain amount of sense for this scenario, UNIT is on security detail not expecting Daleks so is armed with normal platoon level weapons. Only if they were expecting something like the Daleks would they be getting out heavy weapons like the 81mm mortar. Plus in our test game with the Daleks and Ogrons arriving from all sides the 81mm mortar was not that useful as its minimum range of 18" meant it did not get that many shots before the enemy was too close.

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  43. I don't think the 70s GPMG mount had a fancy name. The really annoying thing is you can't get a proper model of a 1970s Land Rover in 28mm, with or without the gun. You can buy every British AFV, even ones liek the Fox that never saw action, but not a Land Rover.

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  44. I will improvise using a UNIT Land Rover by Corgi with a removable back canopy and a HMG / auto cannon from a Humvee in the back (no room for crew). You can see a picture of it and the test game at:
    http://s1233.photobucket.com/user/BrianH61/library/Day%20of%20The%20Daleks%20Test?sort=3&page=1

    Will likely give UNIT a bazooka next time.

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  45. That reminds me were you going to post a picture of the open topped Land Rover with a SFMG in the back, both by Assault Group that you painted for this scenario?

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  46. Did you create special rules for the Dalekanium bombs or just use the rules for placing charges?

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  47. I just count the dalekanium as explosives that need to be placed and can't be thrown and explode at the end of the turn. The special rule I should add though is that they can be stuck to a Dalek, otherwise they could move away.

    I do need to redo my photos. A job for half term I think.

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  48. I was thinking: Dalekenium Bombs

    These devices are designed to destroy Daleks and are magnetic but have a short fuse. They cannot be thrown, they must be placed. A guerilla must enter melee with a Dalek and score a hit on 4+ (does not matter if they score a wound) to attach a bomb to a Dalek. The guerilla may attempt to jump clear before the explosion by making an agility roll, if successful they then move 1D6” away (this may or may not get them out of the blast template).

    Dalekenium range: placed, Str. 6effect: blast 4’’ 1D6 hits within 2”, 1D3 hits within 4”

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  49. Played the scenario for a second time all 8 players had a good time. One question came up if the diplomatic car drives over the lawn is it considered good going (12")?

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  50. Yes, unless there is other terrain on top (like bushes and trees) the lawn is considered good going for both the Land Rover and the diplomatic car.

    Who won?

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  51. Thanks that is what I did. UNIT won, the Daleks did not deploy any units at the rear of the house and styles escaped over the back lawn in the diplomatic car and climbed over the wall on turn 6. Pictures at
    http://s1233.photobucket.com/user/BrianH61/library/Cangames%202016%20Daleks?sort=3&page=1

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  52. I did however make the car roll for "hitting a rabbit hole" that would end its move. Do you have the novel? There is a map of the grounds, the driveway is not curved and there is a back gate, plus railway tracks entering the tunnel.

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  53. A friends blog gives an AAR here withe pictures:
    http://miniature-mayhem.blogspot.ca/2016/05/cangames.html#comment-form

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  54. Wow! That is really, really great to see someone else playing my game. you've done it really well, I hope everyone enjoyed it.

    Incidently my novel doesn't have a map. However there is a moment in one of the episodes where the Brigader is looking at a perspex map. Can't remembe rif the drive is curved ...

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  55. Yes everyone found the game enjoyable. My novel is an early Target version, perhaps later ones did not have the map or illustrations. Anyway I think the curved driveway is necessary for play balance.
    Thanks again for the scenario.
    Next years convention's theme is "Taking Flight" so am pondering what I will run.

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