I am not a Doctor Who fan.

I have never been a Doctor Who fan.

But I am a fan of Robots.

EX-TER-MIN-ATE!

As I begin to move away from Games Workshop itself, and instead look towards using other miniatures for my RPG enjoyment, I found some Daleks between 28mm and 33mm....

http://www.shapeways.com/search?q=Daleks&facet%5BcategoryId%5D=38

I'm going to try and put together some profiles for Dalek adversaries but any ideas you might have would be very welcome. Especially if you're a fan of the Doc. Details of what role the Daleks will play in a campaign I'm planning will be forthcoming soon.

So there I was one day watching Journey 2 Mysterious Island with Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson when I had an apophany.

Oh yes....an apophany....it's like an epiphany but more apocalyptic.

At the heart of a sector of Imperial Space there is a system where six warp channels converge. Unfortunately, the entire system is shrouded beneath a fierce warp storm that has claimed many a foolhardy captain and their ships. But this warp storm is a storm like no other, for it seems to be a turbulent region surrounding a massive sphere of calmness at it's heart. Navigator's can't see into it. Astropaths can't communicate into or through it. It is a massive, system-spanning Null Zone.

What has caused this is a mystery that has been debated at length and has become the topic of stories and myths across the sector and beyond. Taking it upon him/herself to investigate the phenomena, an Inquisitor rounds up some acolytes and boards a vessel belonging to a friend/relative/debtor to take them into the storm. Time passes and there is no word from the ship or the Inquisitor.

Now a Rogue Trader has set out to rescue the Inquisitor, an important Navigator and a fellow ship and crew. But more importantly of all, the chance to solve the mystery and possibly stop the storm and open up a six-way warp channel is too lucrative to ignore. This is where the Daleks come into the campaign. It is they who have set up technology to hold back the warp from the system. It is they who are responsible for the fierce warp storm shrouding the system. As you can imagine, they won't be very welcoming towards intruders. Especially intruders who try to sabotage their technology.

I am not a Doctor Who fan.

I have never been a Doctor Who fan.

But I am a fan of Robots.

EX-TER-MIN-ATE!

Daleks are not robots, there are fully sentient, hateful, little creatures piloting them.

I am not a Doctor Who fan.

I have never been a Doctor Who fan.

But I am a fan of Robots.

EX-TER-MIN-ATE!

Daleks are not robots, there are fully sentient, hateful, little creatures piloting them.

I call Borg robots too. Really should stop doing that! Daleks, like Borg, are officially classed as Cyborgs.

Or cybernetically enhanced organisms.

Now that that's out the way, how about some fan-based ideas?

Haha what an interesting idea.

You'd probably want to give them some sort of force field to represent their high tech defensive technology. Some sort of las technology for their primary weapon (though maybe a bit more powerful than your standard lasgun, I'm too lazy to go through and see what's most appropriate) and probably the traits machine and hoverer (to get over those pesky stairs).

Of course if you wanted to chuck in Davros and/or the Emperor Dalek you may need additional stats for those.

So are you also going to have a lone xenos warrior who looks human but has travelled through time to defeat the daleks as he has many times before? The adventurers might get aided by him before turning on him as a filthy xenos ;-).

Some sort of las technology for their primary weapon (though maybe a bit more powerful than your standard lasgun...

Might be a bit much, but maybe porting over Necron Gauss Flayers from Deathwatch? The way their weapons were shown in Eccleston's run seemed pretty Gauss Flayer-ish.

old school necrons are daleks for all intents and purposes

I wasn't thinking of having a lone Xenos warrior who looks human....but that might be fun to include.

I was considering Necron Gauss rather than anything las. If I did go laser, it would probably be the hotshot lasgun. But I do think Gauss feels right as people shot by the Daleks seem to vanish. But then I looked through the Rogue Trader armoury and found a weapon I thought looked better.

Naturally, Necrons are a good starting point for the Daleks. Here is what I've been thinking:

WS 20 BS 45 S 45 (8) T 45 (8) AG 25 INT 3 0 PER 30 WP 4 0 FEL 15 WOUNDS 20

Movement: Hover ( 6 )

Armour: Machine Trait ( 6 All ) Force Field (50)

Skills: Intimidate (S) +10, Logic (Int) +20, Tech-Use (Int) +20

Talents: Disturbing Voice, Iron Jaw, Nerves of Steel, Strong Minded

Traits: -20 to all Skill and Characteristic Tests that rely on sight, Sturdy, Strange Physiology

Weapons: Crux Dalek Beam Gun: Basic 80m RoF: S Dam: 2D10+5 E Pen: 6

That's what I've got so far....but it is work in progress.

Well, Daleks (at least more recently) are rather well-armored, have force fields, bizarre plungers of power, and 1HK stick-beamers EACH, so dealing with them can be a challenge. Even when we meet Daleks with more personality and wit (the Cult of Skarro), they are MORE dickish, and not amenable to diplomacy or barter.

Part of it will depend on your Daleks. Are they isolationist, and happy where they are? Militaristic and conquest-driven, waiting and building up to eventually fly out and own everyone else? Do they take orders from a crazy super-Dalek who fancies himself divine and immortal? Are there many more across the galaxy? Those six warp conduits each lead somewhere, right?

Lots of this is above already, so sorry bout that. Hope it works out well.

Part of it will depend on your Daleks. Are they isolationist, and happy where they are? Militaristic and conquest-driven, waiting and building up to eventually fly out and own everyone else? Do they take orders from a crazy super-Dalek who fancies himself divine and immortal? Are there many more across the galaxy? Those six warp conduits each lead somewhere, right?

I would say isolationist and happy where they are. If it were possible for a Dalek to be "happy". But perhaps they are secretly building up their forces ready to take on the sector, and perhaps the galaxy.

There is no Davros, unless Shapeways makes one, but there will be a Commander to lead them.

I'm not so sure whether there will be more elsewhere in the sector, the initial idea was the last remnants of a long thought extinct race.

The plan for the sector was that it was made up of seven sub-sectors. The system is located in one sub-sector at the heart of the sector, with the six warp channels leading off to the other six sub-sectors.

As for their personality. They will hold a conversation and take prisoners if people are unarmed or surrender, but they can't be bargained with. Surrender or die are your only options. Surrender just means they'll use you until you outlive your usefulness and then EX-TER-MIN-ATE.

Unlike the Necrons, there will be no bro-fisting here.

I'm busy trying to decide how to represent their....plungers....in game terms. From what I've read they can be used to access computers, read minds and crush heads. Think I might up armour and force field protection, but leave out unnatural toughness.