Render:
6-12 T1 (=Scale 3) + T2 + (few T1 or 1T2)
or
6-8 T2 (=Scale 3) + (few T1 or 1T2)
Breaker
12-18 T1 (=Scale 4) + T2
Blighter
6-12 T1 (=Scale 3) + (T1 or T2)
That’s quite a difference in total Threat (I use T for Threat) for a standard encounter between different Broken? Is this intentional?
Given the quadratic nature of Threat (since higher Threat causes more Harm and more dead Rookies) that difference impacts even worse.
Eg: 8x Threat 2 (at Scale3) is 8x8 clocks with each hit a single segment…
(though with a few specialists that can become 2 segments… still requires 16 rolls [and no Black Shot])
Also when reading the Elite Descriptions several seem to have ‘extra’ powers [attack at Scale, Immune Black Shot, Explode] on top of their higher Threat. Is this special power already taken into account of their threat and thus only in the ‘fiction’ or do these extra powers also have mechanical impact? [if so, is there an overview which mechanics impact which Elite?]
This is wrong. Clocks are a fictional position, not hit points. You’d likely either make a slightly bigger clock (like a 10-clock) or just a threat 2 8-clock and make sure to deal with scale appropriately (likely that unit won’t be taking damage in the first place and the rookies have to come up with a better plan on how to handle them than head-to-head conflict).
No. For example a Horror is Threat 2, sometimes with scale
Throughout the whole campaign that I ran for Band of Blades, eliminating the enemy in head-to-head conflict was rarely the objective. Instead, our objectives were things like — hold them off while another objective is fulfilled, punch through enemy lines and make a getaway, sneak past enemy guards or patrols, or use some unique advantage to take them out (such as using siege weapon loaded with grapeshot/shrapnel on one mission).
There was a lot more to every encounter than just the threat and scale we were facing — different enemies and situations required different strategies. While one approach might have required a clock with 8 or more slices, other approaches allowed for problems to be resolved with smaller clocks.
I think the fact that we had to avoid facing the enemy head-on really helped support the themes of Band of Blades — it’s a desperate retreat against nigh-impossible odds… the Legion cannot survive on brute force alone.
Breaker’s Line Troops description gives guidance on how Hexed and Burned support a single Shadow Witch. It offers no guidance at all on how Devourers and the Transformed are incorporated into her squads. Do they replace the Shadow Witch or are they in addition to? When Render adds Thorns to his troops he can send them in place of Hounds, but there’s no guidance for Breaker.
You have a unit and these additional troops “Can appear in any Mission”. Also there’s art in the book of a shadow witch riding a devourer I believe ^_~