Ventue Antitribu Newsletter, November 2004 I. Introduction II. Card of the Month: Diversion III. Spotlight: !Ventrue Anarchs IV. Vampire of the Month: Dominique V. Sample Deck: Anarchs Adopt the !Ventrue VI. Conclusion Introduction This month we explore the anarchistic tendencies of our favorite clan, first through exploring a highly utilitarian card, diversion; we then move through an examination of likely !Ventrue additions to an anarch deck, and we finish by looking closely at our advanced vampire and a sample deck. Card of the Month: Diversion Diversion Type: Combat Requires: anarch Celerity/Fortitude/Thaumaturgy Requires a ready anarch. [cel] Gain one additional strike. [for] Prevent up to 2 damage. [tha] Strike: ranged. Steal 1 blood with an optional maneuver. Diversion is almost the only combat card you'll ever need. It enables extra strikes, damage prevention, and a maneuver (with ranged blood stealing). Our clan is perfectly positioned to utilize it at every level, since a selection of our mid-caps have celerity or thaumaturgy. The only combat attributes diversion doesn't provide (presses and dodges) are easily obtainable through either auspex or fortitude (in-clan disciplines for us) for little or no blood. (In the spirit of intellectual honesty, I have to admit that S:CE isn't available through this card either, but in these current nights of easily available intercept, I find it more useful to endure combat and inflict some harm than to run away from it like a scared little neonate.) It has been said that the most attractive feature of anarch decks is their diversity of options. Diversion is perfectly fitting with that philosophy. If you're planning to include fortitude damage prevention cards in a regular deck, you can shift to anarchs and perhaps also gain extra strikes or blood theft by substituting Diversion for those prevention cards (depending on your crypt, of course, but celerity is a widely available discipline; thaumaturgy is a highly valuable one). In the rare event that you don't need to prevent damage, Diversion is still cycle-able due to its "up to 2 damage" wording (you can always prevent 0 damage with it), so it won't even clog your hand. Spotlight: Ventrue Antitribu Anarchs If diversity of disciplines is your goal with an anarch deck, there are several attractive mid- to high-cap !Ventrue that will be perfect for your needs. In the mid-cap range, we have Vincent Day, Paladin and Paragon (5-cap: aus dom for pot tha; extra vote for burning the edge), Dylan (6-cap: aus cel dom for pro; +1 bleed), and Marlene, The Infernalist (6-cap: AUS DOM dem for tha; refreshingly non-infernal). Though not as discipline rich as their clan-mates, you should also consider Gerard (5-cap: aus dom for obt) and Charice Fontaigne (6-cap: AUS DOM for pot) since both potence and obtenebration are quite attractive anarch disciplines. In the high-cap range, !Ventrue have some highly attractive vampires to "Go Anarch" with. Of course you're going to be using Dominique, who at the ADV level is Anarch Baron of Paris, and who is detailed below; you should also consider Owain Evans, The Wanderer (8-cap: AUS DOM FOR cel pre; hunting ground for the Methuselahs of your choice). Both Joseph O'Grady (7-cap: DOM FOR aus cel; burn a blood for a vote, +1 str) and Edward Neally (7-cap: DOM FOR aus pre; very attractive specials you should know from former !Ventrue newsletters) are quite attractive 7-caps for "Firebrand." If the Ventrue Antitribu had nothing more to give an anarch deck but disciplines, they'd still be good, but our clan has so much more to offer. Consider the very attractive !ventrue clan cards. Demonstration (Master, 1 pool: tap to cancel the votes of any vampire) is just as great for the Anarch movement as it is for the Sabbat. Loyalist (reaction usable by a tapped !ventrue: gain 3 votes against a political action) is equally detrimental to the other politicians around the table if an anarch plays it. The fantastic !Ventrue allies, our Political Antagonists (Ally, 2 pool: 1 life/str/bleed; tap to give a !ventrue +1 intercept to block a political action), are pretty amazing little creatures, really, considering that they can help you block those pesky votes to remove your Fee Stakes. Vampire of the Month: Dominique Dominique Clan: Ventrue antitribu (group 2) Capacity: 7 Disciplines: AUS FOR ani dom vic Sabbat: As a (D) action, Dominique may put a vandal counter on a location. If a location has a number of vandal counters equal to its cost (or 1 vandal counter if it has no cost), burn it. Dominique Advanced Clan: Ventrue antitribu (group 2) Capacity: 7 Disciplines: AUS FOR ani dom vic Advanced, Sabbat: During your untap phase, you may burn a location you control to gain X pool, where X is the cost of that location. [Merged] Independent Anarch Baron of Paris. If you asked VTES players to list the most annoyingly powerful location-burning vampire, Arika would likely top their list, but it's probably only because our deluded Camarilla colleagues over-use the Ventrue Inner-Circle member. Dominique should be top on this list due to her ability to rid the table of any location, not just those controlled by her prey. As a cardless action, she can burn any 0 or 1 pool location in a single minion phase. Arson? Who needs arson? In her advanced form, she can gain you pool by recycling useless or stolen locations, and in her merged form she's a Baron. Dominique can play nine of the anarch-requiring discipline-based cards: Diversion, Friend of Mine, Gear Up, Improvised Tactics, Loose Cannon, The Mole, Principia Discordia, Reformation, and Smash and Grab. This enables you to prevent damage, reduce a bleed against you, gain +1 strength, draw an extra card during the press step, cause aggravated hand damage if blocked, untap to block actions, cause a bleed by a younger vampire to fail, burn an equipment card, steal a hunting ground (to use or to gain two pool from!), and burn two life from an ally or retainer. She's a pretty neat little vampire, really, and we've not even discussed her discipline spread. Dominique's AUS and ani make her an especially potent intercept blocker since she can use the permanent retainers of animalism with the transitory intercept of auspex. Once she does block, her superior fortitude will enable her to survive to block another day and her vicissitude lets her torporize unwary victims so they can't take any more actions against our clan. Alternatively, you can go forward with her by combining her AUS and dom to make her a bleeding machine with a Pulse. Her auspex also comes in handy for croc-tongues and a little telepathic vote counting. Need I mention that she can Freak Drive? I thought not. All told, Dominique is a remarkable vampire, especially when she becomes an anarch. But isn't this to be expected? She's one of us, after all. Sample Deck: Anarachs Adopt the !Ventrue Deck Name : Anarachs Adopt the !Ventrue Author : cmb Description : Your primary ousting mechanic is bleed. Use Fee Stakes to gain vote defence. Be careful what you choose to block. Use the diversity of your anarch cards to your benefit by performing "sneaky anarch" actions in order to throw your prey and predator off their game. Keep them on their toes. Crypt (13 vampires) Capacity min :5 max :7 average : 5.77 2x Dylan 6 aus cel dom for pro Ventrue antitribu (group 2) 2x Marlene, The Infernalist 6 AUS DOM dem for tha Ventrue antitribu (group 2) 2x Gerard 5 aus dom for obt Ventrue antitribu (group 2) 2x Vincent Day, Paladin and Paragon 5 aus dom for pot tha Ventrue antitribu (group 2) 1x Dominique 7 AUS FOR ani dom vic Ventrue antitribu (group 2) 1x Dominique Advanced 7 AUS FOR ani dom vic Ventrue antitribu (group 2) 1x Jost Werner 6 AUS PRE ani Toreador antitribu (group 2) 1x Stefano Giovanni 6 DOM nec pot pre Giovanni (group 2) 1x Maria Stone 5 FOR cel obf pro Gangrel antitribu (group 3) Library (90 cards) Master(21)1x Anarch Free Press, The 1x Anarch Railroad 1x Barrens, The 4x Blood Doll 1x Corporate Hunting Ground 1x Creepshow Casino 1x Demonstration 1x Dominate 5x Galaric's Legacy 1x Gift of Experience 1x Hospital Food 1x Powerbase: Montreal 1x Seattle Committee 1x Sudden Reversal Action(20) 1x Fee Stake: Boston 1x Fee Stake: Corte 1x Fee Stake: Los Angeles 1x Fee Stake: New York 1x Fee Stake: Seattle 3x Gear Up 5x Govern the Unaligned 1x Principia Discordia 2x Reformation 2x Skullduggery 2x Smash and Grab Action Modifier(10) 1x Bribes 4x Conditioning 2x Loose Cannon 2x Smoke and Mirrors 1x Threats Combat(17) 2x Aura Reading 8x Diversion 3x Improvised Tactics 2x Primal Instincts 2x Read Intentions Political Action(11) 2x Anarch Salon 1x Conservative Agitation 1x Diversity 1x Dramatic Upheaval 1x Finding the Path 3x Firebrand 1x Kine Resources Contested 1x Rumors of Gehenna Reaction(11) 2x Deflection 2x Enhanced Senses 3x Friend of Mine 4x Wake with Evening's Freshness Conclusion I hope you've gotten some ideas for use with either an anarch or Ventrue Antitribu deck from this month's newsletter. Next month's newsletter will investigate the combat options available to our clan as we encounter the infernal plague and the pending influx of Alastors and Anathema. As always, I look forward to your responses, deck ideas, and submissions.