Official V:EKN Newsletter for Anarchs - August 2008 ANARCH NEWSLETTER By: Adam Hulse Contents: I - Introduction II - Fiction III - Anarchs in Combat - Key Card IV - Deck Idea V - Conclusion I - Introduction This is my first attempt at a Newsletter. I have been playing vtes for sometime now, not since the beginning of the game mind you, but for just a couple of years. I'd like to think that I can offer some advice to all you players out there. As a New Yorker, we are known for our combat (don't know why, maybe it is the city air that gets us so aggressive?) As such, I figured I'd talk about combat with the new set that is out, Twilight Rebellion. i.e. Anarchs. But first, some theme fiction about the topic. Enjoy! :) II Fiction - "Is this is a good look for me ladies?" said Mitchell as he stuck a ridiculous pose with his shredded leather jacket. "I'm stylin'!" Hester and Tabitha looked at each other and rolled their eyes. Posing as an anarch coterie is one thing, but having to deal with this moron Pander was starting to get on their nerves. On the other side of the alleyway, the rest of the "coterie" were having their own issues. "This is a bad idea!" hissed Ignacio. "We should just go in there, right before dawn. The old one would already be taking a nap. Kill everyone there, a quick call to our minions to watch over us, (ignoring Mitchell's sing-song of "Call in the Juice Bags!"), and use their own haven till the next night." "That, my excitable friend, leaves way too much to chance." replied Dr. Julius Stephen as he flicked some non-existent dirt off his immaculate suit. "Some of our companions, ride to close to the Beast as it is. For all we know, they could pass out before Miss Victorine Lafourcade does. No, better would be to pose as this Rabble we are supposed to meet here, use their numbers to weaken her defenses and retainers. Then we claim the prize and put the blame on them." Looking at the third person of the discussion, a certain Black Hand commander who watched their argument unblinkingly, Dr Stephen hastily continued "My contacts in Seattle have assured me that our cover as Anarchs from that city is secure. Our meeting with their compatriots here in Atlanta is just a formality. We are just "reinforcements" to make sure that their plan to take over the city goes smoothly. They will take the city with our help... whether they keep it, that's another story." Stephen then held up his hand up in placation "Look, "Father", we no longer have time to argue about it. Here our come our contacts." "Allllright!!! It's party time!" said Mitchell with a crazed grin. ***** The sky was clear and devoid of clouds. Mortals during the day would be uplifted by such weather and would glance up high in appreciation. However, within the darkness of night and respective souls, such simple joy is lost on the undead. And even if they did glance upward, they would have no chance of noticing the silent observer who took note of everything. *****An empty parking lot. The moon shining dimly on the few abandoned cars that made their home there. At one end of the lot, shadows began to move across the lot like a dark cloud of smog that bellows out of the few factories in the district. Several figures emerge from the cloud, breathing heavily. The fact that they were breathing at all attributed to how much lack of control they had at the moment, all of them regressing to their mortal days where fear kicked in and their bodies was desperately trying to compensate. "Oh shit oh shit oh shit!" panted Hester over and over again. "Would you shut up!?!" said Ignacio "What the Abyss was Delgado doing there? What the FUCK was Delagdo doing there?" Dr. Julius Stephen, one once did not have a answer and just glared at the Priest. His suit was in tatters, and one of his hands was stripped to the bone. He just didn't have the blood to heal it. Stephen was very close losing to the Beast, Ignacio could tell. So in a rare show of calm Ignacio managed to lower his voice to diffuse the situation. "Tabitha is gone. That idiot Mitchell as well. What the hell was "Banjoko" thinking? Going after Delgado like that? We got played man, we got played! This was all a set up! A set up!" "Well at least the bitch Lafourcade went down I think. I busted that bat right across her head. That thing caved in like a melon." said Hester in a small voice. "And so what?" snapped Stephen, his calm demeanor gone with the car he threw at the wall in order for them to escape earlier. "You think she can't heal that!?! You didn't finish the job! And as far as I can tell, no one did!" "Do you think Banjoko got him? Why did he do that?" asked Ignacio is a quiet voice. Stephen finally managed to reign the Beast in, and in a typical move brushed the dust off of his tattered suit. Little clouds of debris and dried blood flecked off. "I don't know. It must have been a hit. Delgado must have pissed someone off, someone in the Hand. But I do know that Delgado saw us. And recognized us. We are as good as dead now." Hester chimed in then "So what do we do now?" Stephen and Ignacio just looked at each other, no answer forthcoming. ***** Gemini, watching while cloaked inside one of the abandoned cars, just smiled. Everything was going as his employer predicted. These three were alone with very few choices before them. Now to just lead them to the only one that made sense. Fin. ----------------------------- III - Anarchs in combat. With Twilight Rebellion released. The Anarchs now have access to some very interesting cards to give them and interesting edge. I will briefly will go over some of them and then discuss the Key Card - Hell-for-Leather. Shoulder Drop - Grapple. Play when you successfully inflict damage from a hand strike. After strike resolution, if this minion is still ready, the opposing minion takes 1 additional damage. The opposing minion cannot press this round. A minion may play only one Shoulder Drop each strike. Review: Although not requiring an anarch, this can fit into several anarch decks. As this is environmental damage, this is like a discipline-less inferior carrion crows. Also, as your anarch guys are usually on the smaller size, the opposing minion being unable to press (continue or end) can be a good thing. This card could be used in conjunction with Steely Tenacity (for animalism) pretty well. Punch for 2 (+1 environmental) where you can press and he cannot. Add Crows for the win. Take that celerity decks! Lam Into Requires an anarch. Do not replace until after combat. Strike: hand strike or use a melee weapon strike. [for] This strike is at +1 damage, with an optional maneuver. [pot] This strike is at +2 damage. [vic] This strike is at +1 damage, with an optional press. If another round of combat occurs, range is automatically close. Review: The versatility of this card is enormous. Fortitude is not known for its maneuvers. Inferior potence punch for 3 (at no cost!) And the [vic] is very nice with the press. There are a decent amount of POT/vic vampires out there. Since immortal grapple is such a key card, POT usually has a weakness against long range. This guarantees close range in the next round. Just swing-and-miss in round one, you'll hug 'em and hit 'em on the backswing in round 2. J Haven Hunting +1 stealth action. Requires an anarch. Put this card in play. At the end of a combat involving an anarch you control, if both combatants are still ready, you may burn this card to have the two combatants begin another combat. Review: Psyche! in a can! As you learn the game more, sometimes you'll find that forward-forward-forward is not the way to go. Sometimes you need to lay low of a little while. Take some harmless actions like this one. Trust me, you will use it soon enough. Steely Tenacity Requires an anarch. Do not replace until the end of this action. When you would replace this card, you may take this card from your ash heap instead. [ani] [COMBAT] Strike: hand strike or use a melee weapon strike. This strike is at +1 damage, with an optional press. [dom] [ACTION] (D) Bleed at +1 bleed. [qui] [ACTION] +1 stealth action. (D) Enter combat with a ready minion. Review: So far, all the discussions I heard about this is the dominate part. Doesn't anyone care that animalism is a Hand Strike with a Press! And it comes back to your hand! This is great all around! Animalism decks are the obvious choice. Howler or Muricia with their +1 strength comes to mind. The Quietus rush (for all your minions with one card!) has potential, haven't really made the deck for it yet. Baseball Bat Melee weapon. Do not replace until the end of this action. Strength+1 damage each strike. If the action to equip with the Baseball Bat is successful, untap the acting minion at the end of the turn. Review: Another card that does not require anarchs. This card goes well with Lam Into, plus, as you will see below, the ability to equip a "meat cleaver" and then untap to be able to deflect is very nice! KEY CARD - Hell-for-Leather Requires an anarch. Only one Hell-for-Leather may be played at a given Discipline each combat. [ani] Strike: dodge, with an additional strike. [cel] Additional strike (that doesn't count against the limit). [obt] Play if this anarch is ready and the opposing minion is not. The opposing minion's controller burns 2 pool. Review: This is an great card for combat decks. The [ani] and the [cel] is pretty straight forward. Strike: dodge with an additional strike at inferior "anything" (but in this case [ani]) is just good. The [cel] is just good and can be pretty funny when you consider Jacko the anarch (has [obt] too!). But the important here is the [obt]. Burn 2 pool when you torpor someone! In a lot of decks, the thing that gets them VPs is what some call the "lunge". Meaning that, in just one turn you manage to out your prey when he thinks he's safe and the rest of the table as no time to react/help. Standard lunge moves are thinks like: Damaging votes (KRC, Con Agg), if you have vote lock, you can do 9 to 12 pool in one turn. Maybe even more! Or the obvious: stealth + bleed. Or some combination of the two. Combat decks on the other hand tend to work more slowly. Destroy your prey's minions, and then whittle away at his pool. Hell-for-Leather allows for a combat type lunge deck. Before when you do a "fame-dunk-redunk" strategy (torpor-rescue-torpor), that is 6-7 pool loss. With Hell-for-leather, you can do 5 (even 6 with Tension) per "dunk". This is a HUGE lunge! A person can be at 13 pool and you can oust them in one turn one with combat! The deck below is built to accentuate that. I have played versions of it several times and it has done pretty well. Enjoy! IV - Deck Idea Deck Name: ALL (Anarch Lunging Lasombra) Deck Created By: Adam Hulse Description: A quick anarch combat deck to take advantage of Lam Into and Hell-for-Leather. Find the weakest vampire on your prey and go for the fame dunk trick. Or, in a pinch, dunk key vamp, and diablerize in a fit of glory. In 60 cards, there are 5 that make you go anarch, plus the 4 Converts should be enough. Smear Campaign as opposed to Rampage to get rid of Secure Haven. If you wish to make the deck bigger (as I've done in some versions) some good additions are the following: (Just make sure you increase the Fame and combat proportionally!) Anarch Troublemaker Anarch Free Press Increase Deflections/wakes Delaying Tactics/DI/Wash Talley, the Hound (aus dom OBT POT) (I like Gemini's animalism here) 1-2 Steely Tenacity, (especially if you fit Talley in there) Shroud of Night (add stealth to your rushs) Lasombra Clan Cards Crypt: (12 cards, Min: 4, Max: 20, Avg: 3.08) --------------------------------------------- 1 Mitchell obt pot 2 Pander 1 Hester Reed obt pot 3 Lasombra 1 Tabitha Fisk obt pot pro 4 Lasombra 1 Ignacio, The Black Priest dom obt pot 4 Lasombra 2 Dr. Julius Sutphen (ADV) dom obt POT 5 Lasombra 1 Gemini ani obt pot OBF 5 Nosferatu 1 Banjoko obt pot DOM 5 Lasombra 4 Anarch Convert 1 Caitiff Library: (60 cards) ------------------- Master (18 cards) 1 Tribute to the Master 2 Haven Uncovered 1 Vessel 3 Galaric`s Legacy 1 Barrens, The 1 Powerbase: Los Angeles 3 Fame 2 Tension in the Ranks 1 Smear Campaign 1 Anarch Revolt 1 Humanitas 1 Seattle Committee Action (8 cards) 3 Bum`s Rush 3 Ambush 1 Go Anarch 1 Haven Hunting Reaction (5 cards) 4 Deflection 1 On the Qui Vive Combat (27 cards) 6 Hell-for-Leather 6 Immortal Grapple 7 Lam Into 5 Disarm 1 Thrown Sewer Lid 2 Fake Out Ally (1 cards) 1 Grey Thorne Equipment (1 cards) 1 Baseball Bat V - Conclusion So that's my first newsletter! Anarch pot combat for-the-win! I hope you guys enjoyed the fiction and the deck idea. As always, feel free to comment, and I look forward to your responses.