Hello everyone, Bucko here for my first contribution to Rygnan's blog on BMG! Today I'm going to discuss the Watchmen - an amazing comic, an even better movie (IMHO), and a team of KM minis that have sadly been OOP for a number of years now. As such, they've also been victims of the inevitable power creep in the game and aren't competitive anymore. I'll therefore also discuss the custom Team rules I've developed to rebalance the team for 2nd Edition - if you're lucky enough to own a set of these minis, hopefully you will find the changes thematic, fair, and fun to play with and against.
Watchmen is the trait that all members of the team have. In short, it allowed them to be assembled as a team of free agents before there were rules for Teams in the game. As a small bonus, it makes the team immune to Run Away.
The Watchmen have no equipment options, and KM didn't bother to cost The Comedian's funding accordingly because there was nothing else to spend funding on. Therefore, keep in mind that my balance changes aim to make the characters equivalent to a modern team like Bat Family with further equipment upgrades already incorporated.
The Watchmen have only the 5 characters, which add to 350 rep ready for a standard game.
Ozymandias
Offence - Ozy is only average on offence, with no bonuses to hit or rerolls meaning he will not put out much damage against higher-tier characters. His Attack 4 will get blocked half the time, but he may still get enough hits through to worry henchmen with his very reasonable Strength 3+ and Reinforced Gloves.
Defence - This is where Ozy shines. Defence 5 with Martial Artist is superb, whilst having Movement 4, Acrobat, and Reflexes almost guarantees that every MC spent will result in a successful dodge.
Overall - Ozy adds some pre-game with Grand Strategist and Mastermind, and on the board is your tank in the team. Very thematically, you can put him in the path of the opposition crew and watch him shrug off plenty of attacks - so he's great at contesting their objectives while the rest of your team gets to fighting or scoring off your own objectives - provided that you devote a lot of your counters to Movement and Defence. Unfortunately, 100 rep is a lot to spend on someone who just blocks and dodges, and that sub-par offence is what leaves him slightly lacking compared to other models of similar rep (eg Modern Age Batman).
Bucko's 2nd Ed Tweaks - add Sustained Defense. Ozy isn't as badly underpowered as the other members of the team, and although this looks like a further defensive bonus he doesn't need, in practice it should actually free up an extra counter or two to be assigned to attacks each turn and increase his damage output without making him overpowered.
The Comedian
Offence - The Comedian is a ranged character who only does work when opponents come into point blank range. He has an unreliable Riot Gun for M Range shots with no bonuses. At 8" he can use his .50 Cal pistols and gets Shooter, at 4" he can add Distract and in base contact he gets Dirty Fighter. The possible +2 to hit is fantastic, but doing max 4 blood damage (2 if you have to move first to get your shot) is very sub-par. His Attack 4 and Strength 4+ is a reasonable backup if you run out of ammo.
Defence - Endurance 9 and Hardened is nice for soaking up damage, but he needs it to stay alive for long at only Defence 3. In a team of only 5 models, he'll still go down quickly when getting swarmed - or coming up against a single Damian Wayne/Borgon the Cursed style model (both much cheaper but far more dangerous).
Overall - Because he is so poor at moving then shooting, The Comedian's threat range is very low. It's easy for your opponent to avoid finishing their movement too close to him before he's activated, thereby forcing The Comedian to move, use RoF 1 and reduce his already minimal damage output. Compare him to the 66 rep Huntress - her better mobility with Acrobat, Hidden and Movement 3, her better Defence 4 with Martial Artist, Stealth and the ability to dodge, and her comparable offence with Rapid Fire and Distract - and you'll see just how underpowered he is as your team's primary shooter.
Bucko's 2nd Ed Tweaks - Lose Hardened, gain Kevlar Vest and Instinctive Shooting, change the .50 Cal Gun's damage to 3x Blood and change the Riot Gun's damage to 2x Stun, RoF to 2 and traits to Blunt: 2/Mechanical (which are the standard Riot Gun traits on newer and 2nd Ed models - see QRT 1 and Arkham Guard 3). Kevlar Vest lets him live longer and is in line with other similar models (eg Gordon), and the rest significantly increases his flexibility, threat range and damage output. He becomes what he should be, which is a cheaper, Two Face-lite style shooter.
Rorschach
Offence - He is by far the best and only reasonable damage dealer in the vanilla Team. Attack 4 with rerolls to hit, rerolls his Crit die with a Bleed: 1 effect, and a double damage blood & stun weapon. Hidden and Batclaw give him some nice mobility to position for attacks, and Bloodthirsty keeps him attacking longer as he takes damage.
Defence - Defence 4 and Endurance 7 are quite reasonable, with no other traits to mention here.
Overall - Rorschach is a good combat model but can't carry the heavy lifting of the entire team. Due to his weapon damage, he is likely to only make a model KO on his first round of attacks, requiring either a second round of hitting the same model or Nite Owl following him around just to use Arrest - either of which are expensive options. Damian Wayne, who is much cheaper, is less sturdy (reduced Willpower and Endurance) but hits much harder (Combo, Sharp, ranged weapon option) and has better defensive traits (Acrobat, Small and Martial Artist). You really need that damage output and ability to take models out of the game when you only have 5 models yourself.
Bucko's 2nd Ed Tweaks - gain Takedown and Intimidate. Both are very thematic improvements that are balanced by costing counters to activate. Takedown helps fix the removing-enemy-models problem, and Intimidate is a limited control tool - the only control trait available in the entire team, and one sorely needed to combat magic and/or mind control users.
Silk Spectre II
Offence - Silk Spectre is designed to be a frontline combat model. She has nearly all of the tricks to make her a good one - Attack 4, a reasonable Strength 4+, Combo and rerolls to hit - but she is then massively let down by only doing single stun damage. She can waste an entire round and most of her counters on attacking someone like Troy Sins (16 rep, Def 2, End 4), and even if he has no Defence counters assigned, based on probability she will still not even knock him out. At that rate, she will not come close to making up her 50pts over the course of a game.
Defence - Silk Spectre has nice tools to survive some fighting with Defence 5, Martial Artist, Acrobat and Movement 3. Counter Attack is a nice touch, although you won't benefit from Combo for any strikes you get using it. Her low Endurance 5 helps justify her low rep cost.
Overall - Unlike the 59 rep Batgirl, who has comparable offensive capabilities, Silk Spectre does not have any other roles she excels at. Batgirl's mobility, stealth and ranged weapon option make her a fantastic objective runner, and she can purchase handcuffs for another tool in her kit. Silk Spectre will likely spend her game bogged down fighting cheap enemies that she can't take care of and who will have a hard time hitting her back.
Bucko's 2nd Ed Tweaks - a simple fix: gain Reinforced Gloves. She still needs help from Rorschach or Nite Owl to remove models, but now pulls her weight.
Nite Owl
Offence - Nite Owl is the weakest link in the vanilla Team. He is a combat model with only Attack 3 (easily blocked) and single stun, with no rerolls to hit or damage. Brutal and Bonebreaker is a nice pair of traits, but costs you an extra counter to activate and still results in a less than 1-in-3 chance of success. He is actually much better off using his Shurikens than punching while he has ammo remaining.
Defence - Nite Owl has a respectable Defence 4 and Endurance 6. His Total Vision means you can't use Sneak Attack on him (but otherwise doesn't provide any benefits).
Overall - Vanilla Nite Owl's best use is following Rorschach and Silk Spectre around and mopping up after them with Arrest, and if he can dish out a couple of cheeky stun damage counters here and there that's a massive bonus. In effect, he's a lady cop that costs 50 rep instead of 14. Even 16 rep fat cop hits harder in close combat than Nite Owl. Archie is a neat deployment trick which potentially provides Rorschach (Hidden) with some early support up the board, or just keeps your opponent guessing.
Bucko's 2nd Ed Tweaks - gain Attack 4, Bat-Armor MK II and Reinforced Gloves, and add Light to the Shurikens (another update to match the weapon's standard rules in 2nd Ed). Attack 4 and Reinforced Gloves now means he has a reason to punch, whilst still being a much weaker fighter than Silk Spectre. Bat-Armor MK II gives him a small defensive bonus and an extra 1" movement, which should help him get in position for those arrests.
As a result of the fantastic BatBoxes, each Team and Crew is getting their own unique and powerful objectives to go with some pretty good unique strategies they each have from the Rulebook or the Teams PDF. I've developed the following team sheet which applies KM's 2nd Ed Team rules to the Watchmen, gives them an objective and two strategies of their own and incorporates the balance changes I've mentioned above.
The Watchmen are a fun team of interesting characters, just in need of a boost to remain relevant. I hope my analysis above explains and justifies everything on the team sheet, and that it enables you to have a fun experience playing them in your friendly Eternal games!
Team Rules
Equipment
The Watchmen have no equipment options, and KM didn't bother to cost The Comedian's funding accordingly because there was nothing else to spend funding on. Therefore, keep in mind that my balance changes aim to make the characters equivalent to a modern team like Bat Family with further equipment upgrades already incorporated.
Characters
The Watchmen have only the 5 characters, which add to 350 rep ready for a standard game.
Ozymandias
Offence - Ozy is only average on offence, with no bonuses to hit or rerolls meaning he will not put out much damage against higher-tier characters. His Attack 4 will get blocked half the time, but he may still get enough hits through to worry henchmen with his very reasonable Strength 3+ and Reinforced Gloves.
Defence - This is where Ozy shines. Defence 5 with Martial Artist is superb, whilst having Movement 4, Acrobat, and Reflexes almost guarantees that every MC spent will result in a successful dodge.
Overall - Ozy adds some pre-game with Grand Strategist and Mastermind, and on the board is your tank in the team. Very thematically, you can put him in the path of the opposition crew and watch him shrug off plenty of attacks - so he's great at contesting their objectives while the rest of your team gets to fighting or scoring off your own objectives - provided that you devote a lot of your counters to Movement and Defence. Unfortunately, 100 rep is a lot to spend on someone who just blocks and dodges, and that sub-par offence is what leaves him slightly lacking compared to other models of similar rep (eg Modern Age Batman).
Bucko's 2nd Ed Tweaks - add Sustained Defense. Ozy isn't as badly underpowered as the other members of the team, and although this looks like a further defensive bonus he doesn't need, in practice it should actually free up an extra counter or two to be assigned to attacks each turn and increase his damage output without making him overpowered.
The Comedian
Offence - The Comedian is a ranged character who only does work when opponents come into point blank range. He has an unreliable Riot Gun for M Range shots with no bonuses. At 8" he can use his .50 Cal pistols and gets Shooter, at 4" he can add Distract and in base contact he gets Dirty Fighter. The possible +2 to hit is fantastic, but doing max 4 blood damage (2 if you have to move first to get your shot) is very sub-par. His Attack 4 and Strength 4+ is a reasonable backup if you run out of ammo.
Defence - Endurance 9 and Hardened is nice for soaking up damage, but he needs it to stay alive for long at only Defence 3. In a team of only 5 models, he'll still go down quickly when getting swarmed - or coming up against a single Damian Wayne/Borgon the Cursed style model (both much cheaper but far more dangerous).
Overall - Because he is so poor at moving then shooting, The Comedian's threat range is very low. It's easy for your opponent to avoid finishing their movement too close to him before he's activated, thereby forcing The Comedian to move, use RoF 1 and reduce his already minimal damage output. Compare him to the 66 rep Huntress - her better mobility with Acrobat, Hidden and Movement 3, her better Defence 4 with Martial Artist, Stealth and the ability to dodge, and her comparable offence with Rapid Fire and Distract - and you'll see just how underpowered he is as your team's primary shooter.
Bucko's 2nd Ed Tweaks - Lose Hardened, gain Kevlar Vest and Instinctive Shooting, change the .50 Cal Gun's damage to 3x Blood and change the Riot Gun's damage to 2x Stun, RoF to 2 and traits to Blunt: 2/Mechanical (which are the standard Riot Gun traits on newer and 2nd Ed models - see QRT 1 and Arkham Guard 3). Kevlar Vest lets him live longer and is in line with other similar models (eg Gordon), and the rest significantly increases his flexibility, threat range and damage output. He becomes what he should be, which is a cheaper, Two Face-lite style shooter.
Rorschach
Offence - He is by far the best and only reasonable damage dealer in the vanilla Team. Attack 4 with rerolls to hit, rerolls his Crit die with a Bleed: 1 effect, and a double damage blood & stun weapon. Hidden and Batclaw give him some nice mobility to position for attacks, and Bloodthirsty keeps him attacking longer as he takes damage.
Defence - Defence 4 and Endurance 7 are quite reasonable, with no other traits to mention here.
Overall - Rorschach is a good combat model but can't carry the heavy lifting of the entire team. Due to his weapon damage, he is likely to only make a model KO on his first round of attacks, requiring either a second round of hitting the same model or Nite Owl following him around just to use Arrest - either of which are expensive options. Damian Wayne, who is much cheaper, is less sturdy (reduced Willpower and Endurance) but hits much harder (Combo, Sharp, ranged weapon option) and has better defensive traits (Acrobat, Small and Martial Artist). You really need that damage output and ability to take models out of the game when you only have 5 models yourself.
Bucko's 2nd Ed Tweaks - gain Takedown and Intimidate. Both are very thematic improvements that are balanced by costing counters to activate. Takedown helps fix the removing-enemy-models problem, and Intimidate is a limited control tool - the only control trait available in the entire team, and one sorely needed to combat magic and/or mind control users.
Silk Spectre II
Offence - Silk Spectre is designed to be a frontline combat model. She has nearly all of the tricks to make her a good one - Attack 4, a reasonable Strength 4+, Combo and rerolls to hit - but she is then massively let down by only doing single stun damage. She can waste an entire round and most of her counters on attacking someone like Troy Sins (16 rep, Def 2, End 4), and even if he has no Defence counters assigned, based on probability she will still not even knock him out. At that rate, she will not come close to making up her 50pts over the course of a game.
Defence - Silk Spectre has nice tools to survive some fighting with Defence 5, Martial Artist, Acrobat and Movement 3. Counter Attack is a nice touch, although you won't benefit from Combo for any strikes you get using it. Her low Endurance 5 helps justify her low rep cost.
Overall - Unlike the 59 rep Batgirl, who has comparable offensive capabilities, Silk Spectre does not have any other roles she excels at. Batgirl's mobility, stealth and ranged weapon option make her a fantastic objective runner, and she can purchase handcuffs for another tool in her kit. Silk Spectre will likely spend her game bogged down fighting cheap enemies that she can't take care of and who will have a hard time hitting her back.
Bucko's 2nd Ed Tweaks - a simple fix: gain Reinforced Gloves. She still needs help from Rorschach or Nite Owl to remove models, but now pulls her weight.
Nite Owl
Offence - Nite Owl is the weakest link in the vanilla Team. He is a combat model with only Attack 3 (easily blocked) and single stun, with no rerolls to hit or damage. Brutal and Bonebreaker is a nice pair of traits, but costs you an extra counter to activate and still results in a less than 1-in-3 chance of success. He is actually much better off using his Shurikens than punching while he has ammo remaining.
Defence - Nite Owl has a respectable Defence 4 and Endurance 6. His Total Vision means you can't use Sneak Attack on him (but otherwise doesn't provide any benefits).
Overall - Vanilla Nite Owl's best use is following Rorschach and Silk Spectre around and mopping up after them with Arrest, and if he can dish out a couple of cheeky stun damage counters here and there that's a massive bonus. In effect, he's a lady cop that costs 50 rep instead of 14. Even 16 rep fat cop hits harder in close combat than Nite Owl. Archie is a neat deployment trick which potentially provides Rorschach (Hidden) with some early support up the board, or just keeps your opponent guessing.
Bucko's 2nd Ed Tweaks - gain Attack 4, Bat-Armor MK II and Reinforced Gloves, and add Light to the Shurikens (another update to match the weapon's standard rules in 2nd Ed). Attack 4 and Reinforced Gloves now means he has a reason to punch, whilst still being a much weaker fighter than Silk Spectre. Bat-Armor MK II gives him a small defensive bonus and an extra 1" movement, which should help him get in position for those arrests.
Team Sheet
As a result of the fantastic BatBoxes, each Team and Crew is getting their own unique and powerful objectives to go with some pretty good unique strategies they each have from the Rulebook or the Teams PDF. I've developed the following team sheet which applies KM's 2nd Ed Team rules to the Watchmen, gives them an objective and two strategies of their own and incorporates the balance changes I've mentioned above.
The Watchmen are a fun team of interesting characters, just in need of a boost to remain relevant. I hope my analysis above explains and justifies everything on the team sheet, and that it enables you to have a fun experience playing them in your friendly Eternal games!
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