I apologize if this has already been posted. If so, my search-fu wasn't strong enough to find it.

My question is...what if a character, we'll say Barry, is in overwatch and Eva starts her activation in line of site to him, on the same path. Eva decides not to move or act. What does that do to Barry's overwatch? If I'm reading the rules correctly, he can't take a shot - which seems silly.

Thanks in advance for your comments.

- netgeist

Barry looses his action like Eva.

That's how it reads but it's kind of silly to think they just stare at one another.

 lol !!!

Nice catch, stupid and fun! You should be able to respond wherever you please when on overwatch, after all it cost you a CP and your movement!!!

Hey, that´s super dramatic! Hero and villain staring at each other, no one dares to take the first move... Just imagine both pointing their weapons at each other!

Ok, it´s not realistic, not at all. maybe it is really stupid,  But that´s how it works. It´s a turn to turn board game simulating real time action that happens at the same time. Of course there are flaws in it.

I immagine they reach an impasse, or a situation like far west gun fighters: one-on-one, but none does the first move.

I think it isn't so silly. In a different way, how would you change that rule?

I wouldn't like if overwatch allowed a free (and first) attack.

Great answer Katsuyori, you post it while I write mine

Carlos Castaneda said:

Overwatch is far from "free" its a first attack that cant be special like granades or anything but cost your movement and a CP so i think its ok to first attack for that price.

True, I expect there to be flaws in games. That one just struck me as odd.

If trigger events include someone ending on a space on the same path, it would add more excitement. Instead of the dramatic stare down, there would the dramatic "Oh s---!" moment when someone sees the gun aiming their way and tries to beat feet out of the area.

- netgeist

 Maybe a rule like descent, you can interrupt anything you want at anytime you want but if you take damage, you lose your reserved action, in this case the overwatch, so this way you can have a penalty and cant stand in a place for ever just overwatching.

I imagine that Eva has taken cover and just sits out  this round, while Barry scans then room.

Also:

If Barry has Line of Sight at Eva when she activates, he should have had LoS when he declared Overwatch. So if he actually wanted to shoot her, he shouldn't have declared Overwatch. 

There are some situations where it would make sense for Barry to go into overwatch in that situation. For example, maybe the player wants to activate someone else (to take a med kit, for example) but doesn't want to lose a chance to shoot Eva while she's in his sites.

- netgeist

That's called a Mexican Standoff

I don't think the game's implementation of this is silly at all - this really happens.

Artemus Maximus said:

Not really, the person on overwatch should have the advantage and if he wanna use that, he just cant... And that's what i call silly...

Nobody controlls you while you're playing: if you don't like a rule, you are free to not use it or to change it.. it's simple.

ah i see what you mean - because the OW character can't change the OW decision after the round starts, right? Yeah thats annoying, i agree...but i suppose if he really wanted to take the offensive and attack first instead of sitting back to respond to an action, that player could have tried to win initiative to go first and just attack w/o OW in the first place...

I guess i dont see OW as being an inherent advantage per se, but a choice to be passive/defensive rather than aggresive and the game makes you make that decision at the start of the round.

Than being said, i've been thinking about adding the option to remove OW on a character at the cost of 1 CP somehow after the round starts...

Carlos Castaneda said:

That was totally uncalled for, believe me i know i can do wharever i want with my game, i think we were just discussing a rule and giving out opinions. Wasn't meant to offend anyone or anything like that.

But about the rule, really? Im the only one who believes that at the cost of a CP and your move, its too much to ask that overwatch can be used at anytime?