Warlord: Doctor Who Miniatures Game

[Argonor]

Well, interesting to see where this leads, anyways...

[Van-Helsing]

I'm keen to have more Who minis, but I have to say, I'm a bit worried about this

Join the club Brother

I'm a big fan of the Doctor Who Adventures in Time and Space RPG, I have ten books for the game and love running it. However, it is completely pitched at New Who fans, even the Classic Doctor Sourcebooks (1-7) have large sections dedicated to tying them into the Time War and New Who adventures.

I still run a modified version of the FASA Doctor Who RPG, though not to everyones tastes - I've ALWAYS loved it. I've got all the C7 stuff too - but tend to just use it as source material for the FASA RPG

The worst is the Sixth Doctor Sourcebook, which has an entire chapter dedicated to tying Trial of a Time Lord into the Time War. F**k off. (In case you can't tell, I don't care for New Who)

I'm with you there (I actually belly laughed when I first read that) but I like New Who Too (Goo Goo Ca-Choo), the worst 'thing' like that from the FASA RPG was the writers attempt in the Master Sourcebook to insist the Meddling Monk was an earlier incarnation of the Master (as if) - it happens with writers, we all have dumb ideas sometimes.

Worse yet, many of the pre-generated character stats for Classic Doctors, Companions and Monsters are just plain wrong (Doctor 7 is a bad liar, Jamie's not much of a fighter and Mel is bad with technology) because the people writing the game don't care about the Classic Show.
And do you like the Big Finish or New Adventures stuff? Sucks to be you. It's never coming to the RPG. Ever. 

Yep, generally they are poop - one of the Writers (Darren Pearce) who I've known for years insists he's an expert - but begged me for Downloads of Classic Doctor episodes (because I have Who in multiple mediums) to "help him" with his writing   - BUT, thats what Fan produced stuff is for (I've even had Kroton and Abslom Daak turn up as NPC's in my games).

Put simply, we're going to see a 28mm Jackie Tyler long before we see a Celestial Toymaker and we'll NEVER see a Charlie, Fitz or Bennie. Sure, there'll be all eight Doctors and four posers pretty quick, but that'll just be a ploy to keep the Classic fans calm whilst fifteen alternate poses of Clara are made.

That depends (I personally don't think Jackie-T will be high on their list of priorities) and its a HUGE financial investment, so they will be producing what will sell well first (so no, not fifteen alternate poses of Clara) - I think we'll see Modern Daleks and Cybermen first on the Monsters Side, the Current Doctor and Clara - some Modern Unit etc. Then they will work backwards.

I just refuse to get excited over a game that's going to take 5-6 years MINIMUM to get to the stuff I want.

Now that in a way PLEASES me, if the game lasts long term - I'll be happy about that.

Ok... Rant over... 

RANT AWAY - I loves me a good rant  

[Van-Helsing]

really I think 'not' figures (meaning unlicensed rip offs of other peoples IP) have done their dash.

Companies are getting licences for everything from predator and terminator to Dr Who. This means if you plunder pop culture to make copies of other peoples IP without a license. The chances are the end result will now be the line being scrapped to avoid C&D sooner rather than later making it a loss. Pure economics will drive its extinction.

The other option is for makers of 'not' figures to be slightly original in their work. In other words instead of a direct copy of something, use it for inspiration to make something different but similar.  

As for sending C&D's, surely the people who have been doing the wrong thing will just police themselves and stop doing it now the jig is up. If it gets to the point the beeb HAVE to send C&D's to protect the company that followed the law, then really who is to blame here?

If they (the 'not'  figure makers.) feel they have done nothing wrong then surely they will welcome any C&D and enjoy showing everyone how their actions are perfectly legal.

What He Said 

[baldlea]

but that'll just be a ploy to keep the Classic fans calm whilst fifteen alternate poses of Clara are made.

Fifteen poses of Clara sounds...interesting.

Regarding the IP issue, let's not forget that how the BBC operates in the future is currently up for discussion. The new Culture Secretary has voiced opinions on what sort of material they should broadcast and how it shoud be funded (even considering a subscription). As much as I like the "not" manufacturers, if the BBC's commercial viability is being scrutinized, it seems only fair that they should start looking to protect their IP.

Edit: No longer as politically contentious.

[zemjw]

@baldlea - one of the best things about this forum is the lack of politics. You may want to edit your post before the moderators jump in.

Nothing like politics to spoil the image of Clara Oswald in fifteen different poses

[cdm]

haha, if there's going to be 15 poses of Clara, that's 15 too many. My guess is there will be 50 Roses though in every possible incarnation.

[The Mystic Spiral]

Join the club Brother

There is a club? Fantastic! Where can I join?

Trying to remain optimistic about this, nothing else to do really. Positives are that there will be new, official Daleks, Cybermen, etc.

In a small way Crooked Dice have done well out of me, cos I sent them a load of cash the other day due to me being all paranoid about C&Ds. Formulating a Black Tree order now.

J

[baldlea]

@zemjw

Thanks for the heads up...post edited above.

[Steve F]

Even after all these years, I remain astonished by Doctor Who fans' ability to find the cloud in every vein of silver!

Warlord is likely to concentrate on New Who.  Well, what Warlord actually says is, "expect to see Sea Devils as much as Weeping Angels, Leela as much as Martha Jones, and a long, brightly coloured scarf as much as a fez".  

But suppose there is a strong bias towards the new series.  Why would that be a problem?  After all, that's where the gaps are.  We've had twenty years to stock up on Harlequin/Black Tree's extensive (if variable) range covering the old series. Those might even remain on sale.  Even if they don't, they'll be forever circulating on ebay.  It's still possible to pick up the 1980s Citadel/FASA figures at reasonable prices, if you're patient and those were only on sale from the manufacturers for a short time.

I'd suggest we are much more likely to see Warlord minis of Katarina or the Moroks if Warlord makes a success of selling models of Clara and the latest Cybermen than if they kick off with such obscurities.

Manufacturers of "not" minis might have to withdraw them from sale.  Possibly: we don't know yet.  But that can happen at any time to an unlicensed "not" mini: it isn't dependent on a commercial licence being issued to someone else.  There was no new licensor on the scene when QRF's not-Triffids got C&D'd, or when Paramount's lawyers closed down Eureka;s not-Star Trek minis.  So, if you see an unlicensed mini that you want, buy it as fast as you can.  Put in some orders now, like The Mystic Spiral has done.

Bolt Action is not the right basis for the rules.  Warlord refer to "a game system you all know and love," which may well be Bolt Action, though neither they nor John Lambshead, who is writing the rules, have specified that.  If you don't like the thought of Bolt Action (or Black Powder, or Beyond the Gates of Antares or whatever) being adapted to Doctor Who, then go and download Crooked Dice's Doctor Who Miniatures Game now for free ( http://www.crooked-dice.co.uk/wp/rules/dwmg/ ).  Or find the Harlequin Doctor Who Invasion Earth game on ebay.  Or adapt your favourite rules - I've seen threads here recently about Doctor Who games using Zombicide and Pulp Alley.

Warlord may lose interest.  But even if they do, we'll have seen an increase in the number and range of Doctor Who figures available.  It's even possible that it isn't an exclusive licence (until Panini bought up the ailing Doctor Who Adventures, the BBC had issued licensed three different companies to produce Doctor Who comic strips simultaneously - in the 1980s, Citadel/FASA and Fine Art Casting both held licences to make Doctor Who figures at the same time), which would leave open the possibility of someone else picking up the baton.  Whatever, I'm unlikely to have to spend hours converting those Heroclix Iron Man figures I bought into "Nightmare in Silver" Cybermen after all!

There won't be figures derived from the books/audios/comic strips.  Probably not (though cross-licencing does occur - Big Finish audios have featured characters from the comics such as Frobisher and Izzy, and they are currently making a range of adaptations of the Virgin books from the 1900s 1990s - so it's not an impossibility).  But no-one is making them now, so how does that leave us worse off?

Overall, this looks like being a huge net gain.  Let's treat it as such.

Edit: corrected date of the Virgin Books series.

[Zoggin-eck]

So, John Lambshead/John's Toy Soldiers Blog bloke is writing it. Anyone more familiar with his work?

I just refuse to get excited over a game that's going to take 5-6 years MINIMUM to get to the stuff I want.

Ok... Rant over... 

Fair enough. It doesn't even sound like it's targeted to you though, so they wouldn't imagine you'd get excited. I just hope nobody will act surprised that a game released as a tie-in to a current television show will feature the current/recent doctor, baddies, locations and so on. As said, they've already made it a point to say that it won't be all new stuff, but we'll see.

[NurgleHH]

I wonder if warlord will do Harry Potter next year. They do all three month something new. Is it really good for the "old" ranges? I don't think so.

[Vermis]

NurgleHH: official Sapphire and Steel wargame early 2016, official On The Buses minis range next winter?

It's hard to prove they're likenesses though and not generic humans. Ship them with a pistol rather than a screwdriver and they're spy minis. Stick the screwdrivers on a tool sprue and no-one will know.

Some of the "not" figures are a fairly generic bunch.
There have been a few that I couldn't recognise without someine telling me what they were...

I hope they might - after all Foundry still make Dad's Army figures.

Since you mention it. Given the official Dad's Army sculpts that Warlord put out, I'd say there's a good chance the new Dr. Who sculpts could still be fairly generic and unrecognisable...

[Steve F]

one tiny correction is it was stargate not star trek.

Well, those too maybe, but I was thinking of these …


Heh, first picture in a Doctor Who thread and it's the other franchise!

[Steve F]

On reflection, I think you're right, Scurv, that it was Stargate that was that actually resulted in a C&D letter.  If I remember rightly, Eureka took that as a warning and withdrew other potentially risky sets of figures as a precaution.  There were some Planet of the Apes style minis that went at the same time (to be replaced by the boiler suit and space suit apes).

[Inso]

yes Nic removed all 'not' figures and refuses to do them now.

And I know I am really boring but I totally agree with that stance.

There are so many wonderful sculptors that are capable of sculpting really imaginative stuff... yet they go for all the 'not' stuff instead and it is a real shame