The starter box for Warlord Game’s Doctor Who-themed skirmish game, Exterminate, features two pretty well-known things from the Whoniverse. Daleks and Cybermen. It doesn’t, however, have the Doctor in it. It has cards and rules for running the Doctor and his friends, but no actual Time Lord can be found in the box.
In a way, this sort of makes sense; the core game is pretty brutal and you really need to play it a couple of times to get the hang of it. Adding the Doctor and Companions can be a bit tricky. So far Warlord has only provided versions of the Doctor in metal, and each set has come with companions. This new expansion allows for the cross-over shenanigans of your dreams; multiple incarnations of the Doctor. Namely one, four and ten, which is a funny way to count.
The models themselves are made out of resin and are the same poses used in Gale Force 9’s Time of The Daleks game. One is posed neatly; he’s straightening his lapels and looking smug. Four is clowning around, hat in one hand with his arms open and ten is looking away from something, sonic screwdriver ready to go. Each is clearly posed from well-known shots of each character and resemble a 3D publicity photo rather than a piece for a skirmish game. However, the Doctor’s nonchalance turns out to be rather charming. The models are in resin and the detail is okay; those used to Warlord’s fine detail may be a little disappointed as these pieces aren’t quite as sharp. Still, they look great painted up.
Playing with these Time Lords at the Secret STARBURST Gaming Thunderdome revealed a totally different way of playing Exterminate. For a start, you’ve only got three models, compared to the hordes of Daleks, Cybermen and so on your opponent is likely to have. However, there isn’t a version of The Doctor that is underpowered. The First Doctor can talk so much that no one can shoot him (it’s called ‘Eloquent Speech’), the Fourth Doctor can recruit enemy units with the promise of a jelly baby and Ten can kill off two downed foes with his ‘Sorry, so sorry’ routine. The monster. The First Doctor doesn’t have a sonic screwdriver but does have a hypnotic ring that pretty much does the same thing (it stuns opponents). We found that the three of them together lead to ‘cunning’ play which was a lot of fun. Planning and strategy triumphed over brute force in most of the games standard scenarios. A good addition to the game.
DOCTOR WHO EXTERMINATE: FIRST, FOURTH AND TENTH DOCTORS EXPANSION / PUBLISHER: WARLORD GAMES / RELEASE DATE: OUT NOW
