Doctor Who: The Card Game - Classic Doctors Review

The Doctor Who Card Game has been kicking around for a couple of years in an edition featuring the recently popular “boyfriend Doctors” (that would be Doctors #10 and #11). Oh, and also the 9th Doctor. Despite it being a Martin Wallace design, I sort of shrugged it off as a fan service trifle and didn’t bother with it- despite being a huge fan of the long-running BBC institution. The newly released Classic Doctors edition, on the other hand, caught my attention immediately because it features, as you might expect, the first eight Doctors- yes, even Paul McGann- along with their assorted companions and adversaries. Being in the midst of a massive Doctor Who binge, it felt like the right time to take a look at this simple yet surprisingly decent card game. Each player opens with a starting location and a five card hand. The cards are other locations where The Doctor and his companions (Defenders) will struggle with Enemies for control. There are also Support cards such as the Sonic Screwdriver, Bessie, K-9 and the incredible Whomobile that aid both Defenders and Enemies. On your turn you can do as many actions as you’d like, most of which are playing cards either to locations or to a reserve to play later. You cannot, however, go below three cards in your hand. To circumvent this you might buy some card draws with Time Points, which you earn from playing locations or voluntarily discarding cards.

The reason that you can’t go under three cards in your hand is that you must pass three to the player on your right at the end of your turn and they will draw two when it gets back to their go. So there is always some limited hand knowledge around the table, and potentially some hilarity as everyone wonders why the mostly unloved 7th Doctor (Colin Baker) hasn’t been chosen after a full round.

So you play Defenders like Jamie, Sarah Jane, Ace and of course The Brigadier face down to your Locations to protect them from Enemies such as The Master, Sutekh, Haemavores, Ice Warriors and other familiar faces (where applicable). Enemy cards are played face down to other players’ locations to attack them. When there is an opposition, both sides flip their cards and if the Defenders win, a TARDIS counter in the player’s color is placed on the Location to show that it is under The Doctor’s protection and will automatically win the next attack there. If the Enemies win, the controlling places a Dalek counter on the location, effectively taking it over.The goal of all of this is control the highest value in Location victory points by the time an End of Game card is drawn or a player has all five of their TARDIS or Dalek counters in play.

Those expecting a Gale Force 9-level treatment of the IP will probably be disappointed by the fairly non-specific mechanics that do not really leverage the setting and characters to their fullest advantage. It’s also, surprisingly, totally a Martin Wallace design and strong settings are not one of his stylistic trademarks. But the very limited economy of Time Points and the relatively long list of possible actions definitely are. Make no mistake, I’m sure this game was a contract job and it’s not like it is the next Age of Steam or A Study in Emerald so be sure to measure expectations if you are a Wallace fan.

But cynicism aside,But while we are waiting for that company to bring us Time of the Daleks (my most anticipated game for 2016), The Doctor Who Card Game offers a fun and very accessible design with some unexpected nuance. There’s more game here than is immediately apparent, and the card play is fun and interesting with some special exception cards and fun rules such a limit on playing enemies that “work” together. For Doctor Who fans, I think there is plenty enough fun and quality of design to add this low cost, great looking game to a collection. I love the packaging and the illustrations (not stills!) of classic Doctor Who characters, and if you are playing with other fans you’ll undoubtedly spin off plenty of nerd-out conversations about the show that may prove to be as much fun as the game itself.