One of our Dictators is missing...

Here is the second scenario of three we played as part of the Dalek Civil War, fought out over an excellent weekend of gaming I hosted a couple of months back.

A brief reminder of the three different factions' objectives for each scenario -

UNIT

Imperial Daleks

Renegade Daleks

As you might have guessed from the title of this post, the objective for all three sides in this game was to locate and recover/capture Davros. The Renegades want to apprehend the criminal, Davros to send him back to Skaro for crimes against pure Dalek kind (his use of Human DNA in creating the loyal Imperial Daleks in the Revelation of the Daleks story). UNIT want to capture him as a means of gathering vital intel on Dalek science or at the very least denying the Daleks access to Davros' strategic leadership. The Imperial Daleks of course want to rescue their creator.

The game started with Davros skulking in the centre of the wood in which his escape pod crash landed, having been ambushed by Renegade Dalek saucers in high Earth orbit.




Lead elements of the Imperial Dalek force can just be seen about to enter the far side of the wood, whilst UNIT and Renegade forces approach from the table edges.

Again the Ogrons are ushered forward as a protective screen in front of the Renegade Dalek patrol. Despite not being able to see through the thick vegetation of the woods, Davros' ranting can be clearly heard from some way away!

The Imperial rescue mission readies itself to levitate and enter the difficult ground of the woods - Daleks can only move across such terrain by levitating, severely slowing down their advance.

A much stronger UNIT force readies itself for battle under the watchful eye of Captain Yates. A full heavy weapons detachment consisting of Bren gun, Bazooka and Mortar teams have been made available, along with two Land Rovers to assist in bugging out with the captive. The Seventh Doctor has also finally turned up with Ace - where Davros is concerned the Doctor can't resist showing up...

However, their increased presence does not go unnoticed - the Renegade's Special Weapons Dalek zeroes in on the Bazooka team and exterminates the loader.

Luckily for the surviving trooper, he already has a round in the chamber! The rest of the Renegades push on towards the wood behind the loping forms of the Ogrons.

Davros waits impatiently while his loyal Imperial Daleks begin to congregate on his position.

UNIT enters the woods under the watchful of the Brig. The Doctor shakes his head wryly at his old friend's reliance on military force. Ace just looks excited and toys with the fuse of one of her Nitro Nine bombs!

Whilst the main thrust is through the southern tip of the woods, a Bren gun team and one of the Landies advances along the western flank, threatening the Imperial's escape route.

With a cry of vengeance the surviving trooper from the Bazooka team returns fire and scores a direct hit on the Renegade Special Weapons Dalek.

The machine is caught in a terrific explosion and even its heavy armour can not save the creature within...

... leaving behind only a twisted frothing mass of hate amidst the charred remains of its outer casing.

UNIT artillery also enjoyed success against the Imperial Daleks with a well placed mortar round wiping out a Warrior Dalek as well as the Engineer. With Davros' travel machine damaged by the crash landing, the Imperials would have to wait till another Engineer could be called or ignominiously manhandle their great leader out of the wood with their robotised troops.

The Imperials arrive in strength and return fire but their Special Weapons Dalek over shoots its target.

Back on the eastern edge of the wood the Renegades concentrate fire on the accelerating Land Rover hurtling towards them. Burning and almost out of control, the plucky UNIT driver manages to keep his vehicle on target.

The rest of the Renegade force enters the wood, ready to do battle with the Imperials.

With a tremendous crash the Land Rover smashes into the lead Dalek warrior. The Dalek is shunted violently backwards but other than some disorientation is otherwise unscathed from the collision. The already damaged Land Rover is not so lucky.

A lucky save!

Under orders from its Dalek masters, one of the Ogrons lumbers off to scout out any more UNIT threats from that direction.

A certain pattern of desperate tactics from UNIT begin to emerge as the second Land Rover follows suit - its target, the Imperial Special Weapons Dalek. This time the Dalek is not so lucky and it is hurled backwards with its casing split.

Badly damaged the Land Rover careers to the right and slams into a second Dalek. Both Dalek and Land Rover are destroyed in a huge ball of smoke and flame!

Recognising the serious threat UNIT forces present to their mission, the Imperial Dalek closest to Davros swings right to confront the troopers advancing through the undergrowth.

Behind it the Imperial reinforcements converge on the wood.

A third Imperial force splits off to neutralise UNIT forces to the south.

Supreme Dalek Command issues its orders with the most advanced Dalek technology available.

The Bren gun team are swiftly exterminated!

Things look like escalating in the wood as the Renegades, supported by their more mobile Ogrons close in on Davros.

Taking cover behind the wreckage of the Land Rover, the Ogron takes pot shots with its clumsy Disintegrator gun at the distant UNIT weapon teams.

Once again the harsh report of the mortar spells destruction for another Imperial Dalek.

Its compatriot in the woods fares little better against a massed grenade charge!

Yet no sooner has the smoke cleared...

... another Dalek has appeared and the all too familiar chant of Exterminate rings out!

The Renegades also suffer at the hands of Imperial fire - one Dalek Warrior is damaged by a well aimed blaster shot.

The Ogrons behind it are unable to return effective fire through the thick foliage.

The wood comes alive with the sizzle and whine of Dalek blasters and Disintegrator guns as another Renegade takes significant damage in the fire fight.

In response the lead Imperial finds itself under heavy fire...

... and is destroyed.

More Renegades pour into the wood as the Ogrons advance upon the now apoplectic Davros.

Eager to close the range. the Ogron and its Dalek holder advance on the UNIT posititons to the East.

Concerned by the intensity of the battle now raging in the woods, Captain Yates wisely pulls his men back.

But not before a well placed shot from an SLR damages a Dalek eye stalk.

Desperate times call for desperate measures and the Imperial Daleks order their Slythers to drag Davros to safety. Davros is not amused...

Being pawed at by walking rugs with eyes on sticks while being fired at by ape men is not how Davros had originally envisioned his day turning out...

Making it through the hail of fire, the first Ogron makes it in to combat, easily overpowering its Dalek adversary.

And an almighty tussle over Davros began as yet more Ogrons leap onto the Slythers!

Perhaps we'd had a couple too many beers by this point but we were in absolute stitches as to how Davros had ended up in this rather ignominious position!

Realising that it was needed more in the struggle in the woods, the Dalek warrior on the eastern edge sent its Ogron slave off to disrupt the UNIT withdrawal and headed off towards its new objective.

As the Ogron closed in on its prey, it noticed that the Bazooka armed trooper now had a new loader...

The battle for Davros continued top rage in the wood with damage being taken by both sides.

UNIT added further to the chaos with indirect fire from the mortar crew.

The explosion failed to find any targets but covered the continued retreat.

Ogron and Slyther remained locked in combat, literally tearing lumps out of each other. Davros' ranting reached new heights of shrill and impotent rage.

Another Renegade succumbs to Imperial fire - this time a lucky hit from a Roboman.

The Renegade Engineer moves into action, repairing the worst hit from the fire fight.

Slowly the Slythers superior endurance begins to tell as one of the Ogron falls in battle.

Things look grim for the sole survivor...

And Renegade reinforcements look like they may be too late to have an effect.

Left to its own devices, the Ogron on the eastern flank begins to suffer from stupidity. Suddenly possessed by the need to fight the nearest target it turns on its Dalek master. Luckily the shot only burns a hole in a nearby tree.

The UNIT withdrawal is almost complete as Ace moves to act as loader for the Bren gun team covering the eastern flank.

The only threat from that direction, however, is a rather contented Ogron, completely absorbed in wandering aimlessly around.

Finally the replacement Imperial Engineer arrives, ready to repair Davros' travel machine and restore some dignity to his escape. The mortar team have other ideas and another round strikes home with deadly accuracy!

The last Ogron is clubbed to the ground by one of the Slythers. Davros is almost home and dry!

Urged on by their masters, the surviving Ogrons charge the Imperial line.

And one of the Renegades gets a lucky parting shot on the receding Slythers.

The Ogrons meet little resistance from the damaged Dalek and Roboman - could Davros still be apprehended...

A Imperial blaster sinks that hope and the last Ogron is set upon by one of the Slythers as Davros is escorted away by two Robomen.

The combat is inconclusive but it is enough to prevent pursuit by the Renegades.

Safety beckons to Davros but the ominous report of the UNIT mortar sounds out once more. The round comes shrieking down towards the Dalek leader...

... and luckily explodes harmlessly behind him!

The Imperials have carried the day and Davros once more escapes justice.

This was perhaps my favourite scenario - not only was it incredibly (and unintentionally) amusing but it actually got really tense towards the end. The Dalek levitation rules and limited visibility in the wood really made you think about how to maneuver them and Ollie's use of the Land Rovers as battering rams was great fun.

So just the big finale to go...