HIGHLANDER Card of The Week #19 Week of 18 March 1996 Copyright 1996, William Brinkman (wbrinkm@chop.icsa.uiowa.edu) --------------------------------------------------------------------------- WATCHER Situation "Use to counter one Watcher card of your choice. Remains in play until used, then discard." --------------------------------------------------------------------------- New York City, Stonewall Cafe. 1988 The spotlight once again focused on Andrew Milton. It didn't matter if he was performing at the Globe Theater or this rat hole called the Stonewall Cafe, he always felt at home on stage, pouring his soul out to the audience and soaking up their attention in return. But finally the moment had come. His monolog was coming to an end. "Well, the doctor says it's almost over." Milton said, his voice choked up from the memories of all the mortals he had seen die over the centuries. "But no matter what the moral minority preaches." He paused, scanning the captivated audiences with his eyes. "I will never regret loving him." The spotlight faded and the audience erupted into applause. Even after several hundred years, that simple sound never failed to move him. The house lights faded up and he could see his admiring audience standing up to applaud him. Especially David Tagget, his current lover. He smiled and yelled "Bravo! Bravo!" Though Milton had only known him for a few months, he felt like they had been together for a lifetime. Milton bowed and stepped off the stage. When he reached Tagget, they hugged and kissed each other lightly. "Our next amateur night is two weeks from today," the announcer said to the crowd. "I'm sure we all hope that Andrew will be there." "You can count on it!" yelled Milton. "You were great!" said Tagget. Milton snorted. "I flubbed the middle part." "You're being too hard on yourself," replied Tagget with a smile. The smile faded, as he looked off into the crowd. Milton tilted his head in concern. "Is something wrong?" Tagget shook his head quickly. "Um. No. No nothing's wrong." "Are you sure?" Tagget nodded. "Yeah. Oh do you need a ride home?" Milton chuckled. "Sure. I'll be damned if I'm walking home at this hour. It's not safe." Tagget carefully buttoned up his jacket. "No," he said quietly, "it's not safe." Milton and Tagget left the cafe and held each others' hand as they walked down the street. "You know," said Milton, "we should do a skit together next time." Tagget lowered his head. "I told you I can't act." Milton smiled. "Yes you can. Trust me, I've seen a lot of people act, and you can act." Tagget didn't respond. Instead he pointed to a dark alley way. "My car's back there." Milton looked down the alley. "You really shouldn't park in places like that," he said, letting go of Tagget's hand. Tagget shrugged and started down the alley. Milton cautiously followed. They made their way down the long dark alley. When they reached the dark form of the car, Tagget stopped and turned, reaching his hand into his pocket. "Wait. Andrew there's something I should tell you." Milton stopped moving. Tagget's hand started to shake in his pocket. "David? What's wrong." "I...I--" The faint sounds of silencer shots interrupted Tagget. Milton screamed before falling to the ground. Tagget froze, staring at the three bullet holes in Milton's back. A voice pierced the darkness. "You were supposed to shoot him." Tagget looked up. A tall man walked out of the shadows, wearing a trenchcoat and gripping an axe. "This...This isn't right." The man moved closer to Milton's head. "I warned you about getting too close to him." He shook his head and readied his axe. "We shouldn't be doing this." Tagget said, his voice quivering. "This is murder!" The man angrily faced Tagget. "This isn't murder. This... thing is nothing more than an abomination! A freak of nature!" His tone grew colder. "We will discuss this later. You can either look away or leave, but you can't stop me from doing what's right!" The man then turned his attention to Milton and raised his axe. The fear in Tagget's eyes turned to blind hate. He pulled a gun from his pocket and fired, emptying the entire clip into the man. When he returned to his senses, he could still hear the clicks from himself pulling the trigger. He slowly put the gun away, tearfully looking at the two bodies. The wail of sirens jolted him back to reality. Wiping the tears from his face, he looked at Andrew one last time, then ran into the darkness. --------------------------------------------------------------------------- Watcher: Counter is like a poor-man's version of Forethought, in that it is limited to countering only Watcher cards. While Xavier decks might find Watcher: Counter too limited a card for use, others decks shouldn't ignore its greatest strength: the ability to counter your opponent's Watcher: Treatment cards. With two Watcher: Counters in play, your opponent will either have to police them away or use Reporter to heal. If they use Reporter, you also benefit. On the other hand, if your opponent uses Police cards to remove your counter cards, your opponent has fewer cards to counter your other situations. Since the average deck has three remove situation Police cards, your opponent will have to spend two-thirds of them just to be able to heal. Even if your counter cards aren't in play, the threat they pose might force an opponent to use them before he or she wants to. Either way, your opponent can no longer choose when he or she wants to heal. While Master's Advice and Quality Blade can increase ability in the short term, they cannot be re-used as easily as Watcher: Treatment. It doesn't matter if your maximum ability is 18 if you're currently at five and can't heal because two Watcher: Counter cards are out. Plus, if these cards are taken out of play, your opponent loses ability. Watcher: Counter is a useful card for Amanda decks, since she is rarely able to make opponents exert past Watcher: Treatment cards. Slan decks might also find Watcher: Counter useful since it reduces the chances of an opponent recovering from one of his power blows or his Shooting Blade. Watcher: Counter should almost never be used to counter Watcher: Sniper or Watcher: Hunter. Preventing your opponent from healing will help you more in the long run. Police cards should be used on these Watcher cards instead. In all, Watcher: Counter, despite its limitations, is really one of the most powerful counter cards in the Limited Edition, and one that most players should consider adding to their decks. --------------------------------------------------------------------------- Highlander is a protected trademark of Gaumont Television, used under license by Thunder Castle Games. The card text is copyright 1996 by Thunder Castle Games. All rights reserved. ---------------------------------------------------------------------------