Asylum of the Daleks: Graveyard

Okay team, look inconspicuous

Previous Episode: Nightmare in Silver: Mr Clever

Next Episode: Asylum of the Daleks: Corridor 5L

Game version played: 2.2.1

Pastures new are spread before you. Hedgewick's World of Wonders is left behind, but ahead lies a planet that even the most ruthless race in existence fears to visit. But Brave Heart, Tegan. You have the dark power of the Black Gems at your fingertips and the Emperor of the Universe at your side. It’s time to enter the Asylum of the Daleks.

Before you do anything, make sure that your team includes Porridge. It would be a shame to win him then leave him and his bombs in the TARDIS. 

The level starts in a dim, misty, cable-strewn room. A Dalek lurks caged in the shadows, while another seems to be undergoing repair, or is perhaps just getting dressed. More concerning, you are faced with an animated, desiccated corpse, dressed in polar gear with a Dalek eye-stalk protruding from its forehead. A Dalek Puppet, who is also your first Black opponent. Yes the bar at his feet looks silver or grey, but it’s Black believe me. Select him and you see that Madame Vastra, Yellow, gets a boost with no one being penalised. Your board will now almost certainly have Black gems upon it, so with five colours to juggle you’ll have to work a little harder to get those combos. The Puppet also has a new power called Terrify. Learn to recognise the symbol. Terrify is a Stun power. Another annoying attack as it stops one or more of your team joining in the fight. 

What in the Nine Hells is THAT?

If stunned, a team member gets a little icon on their portrait and they slowly flash. For example if this puppet manages to survive your first attack, which is unlikely, then it may Stun Porridge. This means that he wouldn't be able to plant a bomb if otherwise able, and also that Black combos do no damage. HP still contribute to the team total though. In this battle the stun lasts 2 turns and only one of your team is stunned. It isn’t disastrous here but best to kill them and avoid the nuisance.

Unless you really mess up then the Puppet should be toast before he hits you, which brings on wave 2, a brace of puppets. Still no problem. Grant them the True Death and prepare to face the Doctor’s most famous foe of all. The Daleks.

Your first encounter with the Daleks is with one very cool, cobwebbed, damaged bronze Dalek. When I say ‘bronze’ I am referring to the design or variant rather than its gem colour. The Bronze Dalek is the design that appeared when the series returned in 2005. This is perhaps my favourite design of Dalek. The bronze casing, the bolts, protective struts over the speaker lights etc. all make it look strong enough to shrug off an anti-tank shell. The original Dalek looked great on Black & White 1963 television, but as colour came in and picture quality improved they started to look as if they couldn’t stand up to a well placed Nerf hit.

So although this is a bronze Dalek, its gem colour is Red. Look for the Blue combos and give it what for. It’s an easy enough task to see this asylum inmate off so you’ll soon be facing the fourth and final wave.

My Sevans Dalek

The cool cobweb Dalek is back, but this time he has a Red New Dalek Paradigm mate. Oh dear. Does anyone like the New Paradigm design? I like the colour coding which gives their society more structure and complexity. I also like them being taller, on eye level with the Doctor. However they just look so plastic. Give them angles, a muted metallic sheen and they’d look much better. Still it does seem that the show has listened to feedback and will keep the bronze Daleks as foot soldiers. The red New Paradigm Dalek is classed as a Drone so should have taken their place, but perhaps now they’ll be officers.

Both of these Daleks are again Red so the 11th Doctor is in his element. We’re still early in the game and the difficulty level is low so I expect you to make swift work of Skaro’s finest. In my game I got a Red Time Fragment after Exterminating (couldn’t resist) them in one turn. I also got three Achievements. ‘Allons-y!’ for winning 5 matches, ‘Time Lord’ for making 100 gem combos and ‘No More Red’ for beating 10 Red enemies. This took me up to 6 out of 56 achievements.

Although I got through the level so quickly that Porridge didn’t get a chance to use his bomb, he still earned enough experience to reach level 2. He has an impressive 105 HP making him a Tank. His power isn’t affected by his attributes so it makes sense to build his HP and make your team more durable. This goes double for me as I chose to bulk up Vastra and Jenny Flint’s ATK ability.

My overall review of this level, still easy but a welcome change in scenery and opposition.

The Black Dalek conquers the back garden

What to say about the Daleks? Would the show have got as far as even 1965 without them? What’s the appeal? Are they actually scary? For me I prefer stories focusing on them being the embodiment of racism instead of simply another monster bent on ultimate power. Like many of the best villains their rationale for committing atrocities has a twisted logic, only when there is one species left in existence can there be a final and lasting peace.

My wife wrote a paper on Dalek design for her degree, and it’s hard to think of any monster before or since that looks anything like them. The show tried with the Mechanoids but they didn’t catch on.

Long ago I bought a Sevans model kit of a Dalek and spent weeks building it. I painted it as the Black Dalek in Remembrance of the Daleks. I still display it at home and it is one of my proudest possessions. The Sevans kit was famed for being difficult to build and although only a casual modeller I was very pleased with the end result. I wish a similar model kit was available now. What do you think?