7TV: The Time War

Another game of 7TV2...this time with an opponent.

Mike and I have been muttering about playing Doctor Who themed games for a while now. He's player the Dr Who Miniatures Game, but being a narrative game, it really needs special scenarios preparing and writing. However, 7TV2 is much faster to establish a quick game and we finally got a game in using some of his impressive collection of miniatures.

We played the Ambush scenario with forces of 30 ratings apiece. I would be taking the role of the Doctor and some of Gallifrey's finest against Mike's dastardly Daleks. We were using the John Hurt Doctor from the Time War; which seems to fit this more combat oriented game, and also allowed us to use Mike's Cinder conversion (Cinder is apparently a companion from books and radio plays).

Gallifrey Guard:

The War Doctor - Unearthly Traveller (Star)

Cinder - Dependable Deputy (Co-Star)
Gallifreyan Soldier Unit - Alien War Priest, Alien War Leader, Alien Heavy, 2 x Alien Warriors (Extras)

Dalek Patrol
3 x Daleks (Co-Stars - we used the profiles that are available on the 7TV Facebook Group)

I won the initiative roll and opted to go first.

Dalek reconnaissance discovers a weakness in the Time Lord's defences.

After much arguing the Doctor convinces the General to take action.

A small strike force heads out to ambush the Daleks. 

The two forces clash in the remains of a refinery.

The Doctor leads the strike force into position.

Realising that something is up, the Daleks move cautiously.

Early shots are stopped by Dalekanium armour.

But concentrated fire brings some joy.

Cinder spots Daleks moving round the flank.

The Doctor moves into the open to draw the Daleks into the trap. 

Suddenly, Daleks strike. Cinder makes good use of her
custom weapon's 'umbrella' shield.

One Dalek jets straight into the middle of the Gallifreyan forces. 

A blistering series of shield bursts kills an officer and
almost causes Christopher Eccleston to appear.

The Doctor drags himself out of danger and springs the trap, "Fire! Now!"

One Dalek down.

The Time Lords form a firing line, knocking down a second Dalek.

The General kills the downed Dalek
with his 'stylus laser'.

He then turns his attention to the patrol leader...

...knocking it down with an energy blast.

The rest of the Time Lord force moves up to finish of the last Dalek.

However, a Dalek homing mine takes down another soldier.
The Doctor somehow emerges from the flames alive.

Amidst the destruction, a Gallifreyan sniper exterminates the last Dalek.

A really fun game. The Daleks are tough, but the Alien weaponry really hurt them when concentrated and boosted with additional activation tokens. The abilities of the Doctor and Cinder, combined with the benefits of being in a Unit, meant that I had a distinct advantage in activation tokens. Mike really struggled with not having enough tokens to make use of the Daleks' Invulnerability, and after he took the initiative and spent his few spare tokens, he really couldn't get moving again. The next time we play we're going to allow Daleks to operate in units of 3-5, and give one of them the Unit Leader special effect in order to balance this issue.

7TV2 is fast, fun and easy to set up and play. The gadgets and countdown deck add a pleasing level of random bizarness which you suddenly have to explain narratively. With a superhero game and a sci-fi game under my belt the system is looking to be extremely versatile and I want to see if I can get some other genres played. Now, who am I gonna call?