The BBC science fiction series Doctor Who has been on and off our TV screens for more than 60 years. It owes its longevity to its periodic 'regeneration' of its titular lead, with each actor who takes on the role bringing to it their own distinct persona and idiosyncrasies; so, for example, Patrick Troughton's impish sometimes bumbling Second Doctor was very different from William Hartnell's patronising and irascible First Doctor. Given that the show was at least initially pitched at children, it's no surprise that there have been many attempts to market board games based on the IP. There have been simple roll & move games like Toy Brokers' Spinomatic game, the usual Top Trumps, collectible card games, and inevitably a Doctor Who version of Fluxx (Looney Labs). The franchise has attracted some well-known game designers; for example, Martin Wallace designed Doctor Who: The Card Game for Cubicle 7 and Games Workshop had a stab at a Doctor Who board game back in 1980. Gale Force Nine now have the IP for Doctor Who board games. Their previous Doctor Who titles include their Time of the Daleks series and, more recently, the Doctor Who Weeping Angels game Don't Blink. Doctor Who Nemesis is their most recent entry in this science fiction sub-genre.
Not to be confused with Awaken Realms' similarly titled series of ersatz-Alien movie board games, the focus for GF9's Nemesis are four of the Doctor's best-known adversaries: Daleks, Cybermen, Weeping Angels and The Master, who, like the Doctor, has also 'regenerated' over the years. Designer Andrew Haught has perhaps taken inspiration from Ravenburger's successful Villainous series of games because in this card game game you play as one of the Doctor's antagonists...
For each of the antagonists, there's a two-sided board giving a choice of which to play; so, for example, if you're playing The Master you can play either as the Roger Delgado original or as the more recent version played by John Simm. If you're a fan of Michelle Gomez' Missy or of Sacha Dhawan's more recent unhinged incarnation, these and others do still appear in the game. And tho' you're not actually playing in this game as the Doctor, every iteration of the Doctor, from William Hartnell through to Jodi Whittaker, feature in the game along with a healthy supply of companions from the 1960s to the 2020s.
The 2-4 players each have a deck made up of their own faction's cards plus cards for two versions of the Doctor selected at random. Each turn, you'll be playing cards from your hand of five cards in order to complete a Scheme needed for victory or to claim victory by meeting the special conditions on one of your activated cards (for example, capturing two versions of the Doctor). The game is highly interactive because you can play your minions and your hero (Doctor and Companion) cards not just to your own board but also to those of your opponents in order to meddle with their plans.
Several of the Board's Eye View team include lifelong followers of the Doctor Who series, and of all the Doctor Who games we've played over the years Nemesis is the most thematic. It helps that by playing as villains the plotting and 'take that' mechanics make complete sense, but it's the card art too that makes this game stand out: every card incorporates a photo taken from the show over the first 60 years of its run, so covering both the 'classic' and 'modern' eras. Fans of the show will enjoy the hit of nostalgia at seeing Companions remembered from their childhood. There have certainly been games in the past where the Doctor Who artwork has merely provided a thin thematic veneer; this isn't one of them. With Doctor Who Nemesis Gale Force Nine have produced a game that will be appreciated by Whovians and gamers alike.
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