Harbingers of Skulls Newsletter March, 2006: Legacies of Blood What's new in Legacies of Blood? Legacies of Blood reprints most of the library cards from Bloodlines, and introduces a few new library cards and new group 3 and 4 crypt cards for each of the associated clans and disciplines (except Baali and Daimoinon). It features a new sect, the Laibon, with four new clans and two new sect-based titles, and adds a few group 4 vampires (mostly Laibon) to some of the Sabbat and Independent clans. This expansion also introduces a new discipline, Abombwe, and a new card-type, Reflex. All of the Harbingers of Skulls' library cards from the Bloodlines expansion, Erebus Mask, Lazarene Inquisitor and The Slaughterhouse, were reprinted. We got two new clan cards, Ghost Eater and Maabara, and five new vampires, Babalawo Alafin, Mina Grotius, Phagian, Solomon Batanea and Zygodat. Comparing the Vampires, Old and New Of course the correct way to compare crypt-selections is in group pairs, like groups 2 and 3 versus groups 3 and 4. But for the purposes of this newsletter, let's compare the old HoS (group 2) to the new ones (groups 3 and 4). The Legacies vampires are exactly one less in capacity than the Bloodlines set - old: 6, 7, 7, 8, 9; new: 5, 6, 6, 7, 8. All the old HoS are Sabbat and two have Sabbat titles, while none of the five new HoS have titles and three of them are Laibon. The old Harbingers are a cohesive bunch, just as happy (if not happier) to work with each other as to appear in a supporting role with members of other clans. The five of them have a discipline overlap of [aus for NEC]. The five new Harbingers of Skulls have a discipline overlap of [nec]. That's a big difference. These new folks really want to interact with other clans. Zygodat with [pot AUS NEC] is most compatible with the Osebo, Giovanni or Nagaraja. Phagian has [dom for AUS NEC THA] and his special ability reads, "Any vampire you control may play cards that require Necromancy at the basic level, with the cost increased by 1 blood." Since every HoS has at least [nec], his special ability is irrelevant to his own clan. But picture him with Ladislas Toth, the Torch (!Tremere Archbishop of Frankfurt [for AUS DOM THA] ) and some other smaller !Tremere. You use the classic Dawn Operation/Weather Control combo to virtually guarantee your opponents a trip to torpor. Ladislas can Red List them so you can get away with diablerie via Trophy: Diablerie. Meanwhile, every one of your minions can play Chill of Oblivion or Daemonic Possession. Babalawo Alafin and Solomon Batanea do both have all of the clan disciplines and could form the core of an all- or mostly-Harbinger group 4 crypt. But if you want a storyline-legal HoS crypt, you want to use group 2 anyway. Babalawo's special ["During your untap phase, if Alafin is ready, you may discard two cards (draw afterward). If the two cards are the same, each other Methuselah's hand size is one card smaller until his or her next untap phase."] suggests using him with Specialization ["During your untap phase, you may tap this card and discard two copies of the same card from your hand to gain 1 pool."] in some kind of trick deck. Solomon, a 5-cap Laibon with [nec AUS FOR] could add a little necromancy to a Laibon !Salubri Kerrie deck; put in a few Weighted Walking Sticks and Maabara can bring them back from the ash heap. Mina Grotius This month's featured crypt card is Mina Grotius. Mina Grotius [LoB:U] Cardtype: Vampire Clan: Harbinger of Skulls Group: 3 Capacity: 6 Discipline: cel FOR NEC Laibon: Whenever a vampire controlled by your predator or prey is burned, Mina gains 3 blood. Once each action, she can burn 1 blood to get +1 bleed. Artist: Sam Araya Access to +1 bleed is just always a good thing. Paying a blood for it usually isn't prohibitive, and has a cornercase benefit. The Harbingers' usual way to become big bleeders, Pulse of the Canaille, makes them an easy target for Justicar Retribution, the referendum that burns every vampire with a bleed of 3 or more. With Ancestor's Spirit or Kduva's Mask on her (or Tasha Morgan or a Laptop Computer) Mina is basically a 3-bleeder but is counted as a 2-bleeder. Gaining 3 blood when one of your prey's or predator's vampires is burned is also pretty sweet. If the Shambling Hordes she recruited is successful (those zombies are good with a Garrotte), Mina gains back the recruitment cost. Even if you're not playing to burn opponents' minions it'll happen now and then. Her Celerity and Fortitude give her access to Forced March, and since she's also Laibon they make her a natural candidate to work with the new Ishtarri clan. In fact, there are two 6-cap Ishtarri with Necromancy, Agru Kabera (+1 bleed, [cel nec pre FOR]) and Honorine Ateba ([cel nec FOR PRE]). That's a lot of synergy. Mina is group 3, making her the 'bridge' vampire for the Harbingers of Skulls. Her access to vampires from group 2 suggests trying her as the designated necromancer (and player of Shared Strength) in a crypt with Jimmy Dunn, Jacob Bragg, March Halcyon (cheap diablerist), Victor Tolliver and Volker, the Puppet Prince. If you need her to have Potence in such a deck, give her the Hand of Conrad. Of course she could also work with her group 2 Lazarene clanmates, but they were already self-sufficient. Ghost Eater This month's featured library card is Ghost Eater. Ghost-Eater [LoB:R] Cardtype: Action Clan: Harbinger of Skulls +1 stealth hunt action. Choose a minion or retainer in any ash heap who was burned from play since your last turn. Remove the chosen minion or retainer from the game to add X blood to this Harbinger of Skulls, where X is the capacity of the chosen vampire or the starting life of the chosen ally or retainer. Artist: Steve Eidson Looking through Legacies of Blood for the first time, I lumped together Consume the Dead, Emergency Rations (these are the two library cards for the Nagaraja clan) and Ghost Eater as basically the same worthless card. I'm starting to see more of their nuances, and I've even come to believe that Emergency Rations is a strong, useable card. I'm still not impressed with Ghost Eater. To justify using Ghost Eater at all, you have to expect minions or retainers to be burned from play. To be better than a Summon Soul or Restoration action, it needs to deliver more than 2 blood (preferably more than 3), so using it in conjunction with little self-destructive minions and retainers like Escaped Mental Patient or Zombie doesn't pay off. Also, removing the burned minion from the game short-circuits most of the necromantic tricks you'd want to use on your own ash heap, so you really want it to be other methuselah's minions that are being burned. (I say "minions" because you really can't assume other players will control any retainers with starting life greater than 2.) That's not so easy to guarantee, and in many such situations (e.g. Rotschreck/Amaranth) wouldn't Ritual of the Bitter Rose be a much better card? It is a hunt action, so it's effected by all the cards and effects that force, help, hinder, prevent, punish or reward hunts. In any given game such effects might matter a lot, but all in all I think Ghost Eater is neither better nor worse than it would be as a non-hunt action. My best idea for Ghost Eater: use Ghoul Escort in, say, a block-denying/block-punishing Pulse-bleed deck . Burn an escort to untap (without untapping the blocker), then eat its ghost for 4 blood. I'd like to hear other people's ideas. "Slaughterhouses of the Ebony Kingdom" This month's deck is an all-Laibon stealth-bleed Slaughterhouse deck, featuring Mina Grotius, Agru Kabera and Honorine Ateba. Chill of Oblivion (at [NEC]), Divine Sign and Leather Jacket are 'free' actions, in the sense that the acting vampire untaps (immediately or at the end of the turn), and Forced March works with this to let you take lots of actions and still have blockers untapped. Insurance Scam lets you cash in your locations for pool, if you're in a pinch. You should have enough combat tricks to stay alive and even occasionally kick some butt. If you do lose a vampire, you might be able to afford to replace it. The deck uses only new-layout cards, so many of the possible uses of Necromancy were excluded from consideration. CRYPT (12) 4x Mina Grotius HoS 6 cel FOR NEC 3x Agru Kabera Ish 6 cel nec pre FOR 3x Honorine Ateba Ish 6 cel nec FOR PRE 1x Shasa Abu Badr Ish 5 cel for PRE 1x Kenyatta Ish 4 cel for pre LIBRARY (90) Master (19) 8x The Slaughterhouse 4x Blood Doll 3x Life in the City 2x Dummy Corporation 1x Insurance Scam 1x Mbare Market, Harare Equipment and Retainer (14) 6x Desert Eagle 2x Bloodstone 1x Erebus Mask 1x Leather Jacket 2x Shaman 1x J. S. Simmons, Esq. 1x Tasha Morgan Action (15) 4x Divine Sign 4x Social Charm 2x Chill of Oblivion 1x Arson 1x Entrancement 1x Intimidation 1x Legal Manipulations 1x Media Influence Action Modifier (14) 5x Forced March 4x Uncontrolled Impulse 3x Dawn Operation 2x Suppressing Fire Combo: Action Modifier/Reaction (1) 1x Ishtarri Kholo Reaction (6) 3x Wake with Evening's Freshness 2x Forced Awakening 1x Delaying Tactics Combat (21) 5x Flash 3x Unflinching Persistence 2x Dead Hand 2x Projectile 2x Rolling with the Punches 2x Skin of Night 1x Indomitability 1x Skin of Rock 1x Soak 1x Spiritual Intervention 1x Staredown Next Month Usually you run your Slaughterhouse business at a loss, figuring that it's worth a few pool to deplete your prey's library. Next month we look at how to make your Slaughterhouses profitable, using Baldesar Rossellini and Insurance Scam. Oh no, I just gave it away! But check out next month's Harbingers of Skulls newsletter anyway, available on or around April 2.