Doctor Who – Battles in Time

Doctor Who - Battles in Time is both a trading card game and the supplementary fortnightly magazine from the partwork publishers, GE Fabbri who have the license to produce Battles in Time for a two-year period. The game and magazine were first released in mid-April 2006 in two 'test-regions' in the United Kingdom (the Westcountry and Grampian television areas) and was made available across the UK on the 20th of September 2006.

Test Series

Each issue came with a magazine and a packet of CCG-style trading cards. Additional booster packs of the cards were only available within the Westcountry region. The first three issues came complete with a free gift (extra pack of cards, and flatpacked TARDIS card-holder). The trial period was said to have been a great success and as such, the BBC have commissioned the magazine to be on sale in the whole of the UK.

Although the magazine featured content from both series one and two of the new Doctor Who, the initial 87 card Version of the 'Exterminator' set only covered material from Rose through to The Christmas Invasion (Series one and the Christmas special that bridged both Series one and Two as well as the Ninth and Tenth Doctor).

The Card set was comprised of 85 normal cards (composed of Common, Rare, Super-Rare and Ultra-Rare cards), and an additional two cards which were un-numbered; Psychic Paper and Super Rose (AKA the 'Golden Ticket').

Nationwide Release

In August 2006 the GE Fabbri announced the nationwide release of the magazine.

This is again called the 'Exterminator' set, but has been enlarged to include the 2006 series of Doctor Who.

There are 275 unique designs to collect based on the 2005 and 2006 TV adventures. Each pack contains 9 cards – 8 common and 1 rare, plus some packs have an extra super-rare or ultra-rare 10th card. 1 super rare in every 6 packets 1 ultra rare in every 24 packets Each card is part of one of eight decks: Hero, Human, Alien, Robot, Monster, Dalek, Cyberman, plus Bonus Cards to change game play. Some cards in the Bonus category require a special decoder to read, in the form of another card (called "Psycic Paper) which came in one of the two packs free with Issue 1.

Pack odds: 231 common cards (8 in every pack), 28 rare shiny cards (1 in every pack), 10 super-rare holographic, scratch ‘n’ sniff, bumpy or glow-in-the dark cards (1 in every 6 packs) and 6 ultra-rare lenticular (moving image) cards (1 in every 24 packs). The rarest card of all – the Golden Ticket – is only found in 1 of every 1000 packs. (Note that these odds were taken from a small group of card packs, and are not gauranteed for all cards)

In addition to the free pack with each magazine, Booster Packs available separately at £1.50 from local newsagents, supermarkets and hobby stores.

The Magazine

The magazine includes :

Game Rules
Card Comparisons
A guide on each episode with scenarios based on the episode that can be played with the cards.
Fold-out guides to a different monster each issue, with notes on all the cards that feature that monster.
Behind the scenes guide to certain monsters or shots.
Comic Strip Story
Artwork covering the "Dalek Wars"
Dr Who themed puzzles.
Which hero/monster are you quizzes.

The Website

The website (www.battlesintime.com) includes game rules, online card collection "blogs", card database and "spoiler" list along with opportunities to subscribe to the magazine for exclusive gifts. Also, included on the website is a database of the entire "Exterminator" set.

External links