Assamite Clan newsletter. Volume 4, Issue 8 (August 2004) Written by Otto Koskinen ========================= This month see's a new episode blossoming. I'm giving the Assamites some speculation as to how to use them as sidekicks, much like the AUS princes were to be used with Aziz in last month's episode. Also some other random ramblings are to be seen. Hang on tight. ---------------------------------------- BLOOD DENIAL The general rule, at least, is that while property may be regulated to a certain extent, if regulation goes too far it will be recognized as a taking. -Oliver Wendell Holmes Lately I've again wondered about blood denial. One of my favourite tactics, it is, and has lately been bolstered with a couple very interesting cards Crocodile's Tongue Action Modifier Auspex [aus] Only usable when an ally or a younger vampire attempts to block. That block is canceled (the minion is not tapped). The blocking minion's controller cannot attempt to block this action again. The blocking minion can cancel this card by burning a blood or life. [AUS] As above, but canceling this card requires an additional blood or a life. Now, there arent too many vampires in the Clan with AUS, mainly two (Tegyrius and Tariq), of which Tariq doesnt really fit the bill. Many others do pack Auspex as an ooc discipline. Al-Ashrad, Fatima and Ur-shulgi all have inferior aus, and are big enough to get a bang for their buck with this card. Now, why bother with inferior auspex pseudo-stealth, when you have Obfuscate? That's where the second card comes in. Restricted Vitae Event Gehenna. Do not replace until a vampire successfully hunts. Vampires cannot hunt unless forced to hunt. A vampire who must hunt may hunt by stealing a blood from a younger vampire as a (D) action instead of performing the usual hunt action. Now, both of these cards work on the premise that you are OLDER. A good synergy between the two. How do you get the most of this one, then? Well, Clan Assamite has this: Succulent Vitae Action Modifier Quietus [qui] Only usable when a hunt action is successful. Place this card on this acting vampire. When this vampire plays a card that requires Quietus, he or she may burn this card to reduce the cost of that card by 1 blood. [QUI] As above, and gain an additional blood from this hunt action. Yep. That one works completely with Restricted vitae to pump up that hunt for 2 blood, from the vampire you are hunting. Plus, it makes that nigh' must-have Foul blood free. Not a bad treat, considering you are lying all the time on low blood to be able to hunt constantly from other vampires. Now, to get the most from the hunts, you want something that adds into the amount of your hunt. There are many ways, of which Succulent Vitae is but one. Anarch's can have more via Hospital food, then there is Aaron's feeding razor, some vampires have a special which allows them to hunt for more blood, and so on. None of these compare to Hungry Coyote. A 2 pool unique location which makes all your Sabbat vampires hunt for one additional blood. But the Assamites arent Sabbat, you say. Null problemos. Hungry Coyote can be landed without any Sabbat vampires in play. And while you are waiting for that "Into the Fire" why not Free States Rant those pesky vamps, bleed, or do a multitude of other actions available to you. Okay, let us conclude that there is a multitude ways of gaining more blood while hunting, many of which can be applied to Restricted. Next problem. Restricted Vitae is a 0-stealth hunt. Zero, none, nada, zip, zilch. That means you will get blocked often. Now, there are a couple ways to go here, all of which open up technically very different decks. One is to play Crocodiles Tongue when you are about to get blocked, which makes it a lose-lose situation. Not a bad call, especially if you can back it up with some stealth. Of course, that means more cards to be played, and personally, I dislike using too many transients when you have more than a few moving parts which need to be in place before you can start to rumble. The other one, the more natural for Clan Assamite, is to play Obfuscate. It is one of our Clan disciplines, so that one is quite easy to come by. Also, there is Unlicensed Taxicab, a piece of equipment which gives you permanent +1 stealth while hunting. Add to this Sunset Strip, a unique master, which you can tap to give all vampires +1 stealth while hunting until your next untap phase, and you can hunt with 2 stealth while using Restricted vitae, thus hugely lessening the need of transient stealth.(Obfuscate cards, and such). Of course Sunset Strip gives *ALL* vampires +1 stealth when they hunt, but what do you care? They cant hunt off you in the first place, since you are bigger than them to begin with, and if they do hunt successfully, you can not only make them lose their blood, but also hit torpor in the way, via Foul Blood. The major problem with this decktype sofar for me has been getting Restricted Vitae fast enough into play. Without it, the deck has pretty much zero game. And while waiting for it to come, the deck should be able to keep it's head above the water, and preferably act against it's prey in the process. Or just get ready for the mechanic to hit gear five. For these reasons, the deck below is only 65 cards. The deck needs to be small enough so that the crucial parts which are only playable once wont clog the hand too much, but more critically, that they come into hand early enough in the game. For the "in waiting" actions I have chosen Unlicensed Taxicab, Laptop Computer, Aaron's Feeding Razor, and the three allies. This is 11 actions, and should give you 3+ actions to do while waiting for that Restricted/Fortschritt library to come in hand. Of course, sometimes you get lucky, and you want to get going as fast as possible, and for that reason I've included the vampires with Fortitude, and a couple freak drives. Since getting out an Assamite early isnt crucial, since no one can hunt until they are empty, you can come up with Spider-Killer or any other of the non-Assamites (who all can multi-act, I might add) and start getting your engine rolling. Deck Name: 65 hunters Crypt: (12 cards, Min: 38, Max: 42, Avg: 10,00) ----------------------------------------------- 2 Ur-Shulgi aus CEL DOM OBF QUI THA 11, Assamite:2, 2 votes 2 Thetmes CEL dom OBF pot QUI 10, Assamite:2, 2 votes 2 Spider-Killer ANI aus cel CHI FOR OBF 10, Ravnos:2 2 Lucretia ANI aus cel for OBF pot 10, Nosferatu:1, Primogen 2 Hannibal (ADV) cel dom AUS DEM OBF 10, Malkavian Antitribu:2, Cardinal 2 Baron dom FOR NEC OBF THN 9, Samedi:2, 2 votes Library: (65 cards) ------------------- Master (26 cards) 3 Blood Doll 1 Communal Haven: Cathedral 1 Dominate 1 Dreams of the Sphinx 2 Fortschritt Library 2 Heidelberg Castle, Germany 2 Hungry Coyote, The 1 Information Highway 3 Into the Fire 5 Minion Tap 2 Parthenon, The 1 Secure Haven 2 Society of Leopold Action Modifier (8 cards) 5 Freak Drive 3 Lost in Crowds Political Action (5 cards) 2 Banishment 1 Free States Rant 2 Reinforcements Reaction (12 cards) 2 Deflection 3 Foul Blood 4 Obedience 3 Wake With Evening's Freshness Ally (3 cards) 1 Ghouls of Plaza Moreria, The 1 Gregory Winter 1 Mylan Horseed (Goblin) Equipment (8 cards) 1 Aaron's Feeding Razor 2 Laptop Computer 5 Unlicensed Taxicab Event (3 cards) 1 Anthelios, the Red Star 2 Restricted Vitae -- Now, the deck itself relies heavily on permanents. Get either Spider-Killer or Lucretia to be your "designated hunter" if at all possible, and keep the others as a bit of a reserve. Of note itself is the political action, Reinforcements. Now, since the deck is so small, you are bound to run into situations where you might discard cards you know you will need later. Go ahead, make your day. Just dont let go of the Reinforcements, since those are the cards which will allow you to play more Banishments, more Foul Blood's and resurrect the allies, should they die. While on master phase, get as much blood on to one vampire via Heidelberg and Cathedral, and then Minion Tap him to zero, and go hunting. With Anthelios and Reinforcements, and Parthenon in play, this can be done for a hefty bloat, for as long as vampires have blood. And when they dont have blood, you've won. At least, that's the silver lining with this deck. Other thoughts, since this decktype can be taken into *many* directions: -Auspex and Crocodile's Tongue. The !Malkavians especially can be of help here not only with Hannibal-ADV, but with also their superior library finding card, Sibyl's Tongue, which allows you to search any card from your library. -More voting power, using the Setites and Sabbat vampires with votes, going more heavy on the FSR angle, and keeping the hunt as a secondary plan. -Heavy on the Assamite angle, concentrating on Succulent Vitae Sabbat Assamites hunting, playing Thin Blood when they are blocked, playing bigger amounts of Foul Blood, combined with Dragonbound, Fame, and Tension in the ranks. -Lasombra & Black hand big caps, who can get Abyssal Hunters and Marijava Thuggees to speed up the process, and nuke vampires into torpor. ---------------------------------------- SIDEKICKS CONTINUED Tell me what company thou keepest, and I'll tell thee what thou art. -Cervantes Last month, I expounded on Assamites using sidekicks. This month, the reality mirror has been turned, and I'll look the matters from the complete opposite angle. Assamites as sidekicks. Is it not the nature of the clan, to many? Hired guns, useful to take care of problems one cant spare the action himself. Sidekicks. But, what does the Clan offer to others? Celerity, Obfuscate, Quietus. As is, Celerity is close to nothing but combat, Obfuscate is mainly stealth, and Quietus is.. mostly combat too, but has some other actions to go with it. As do Celerity and Obfuscate too, but let us keep to the main issues. Obfuscate alone is very powerful, giving access to more certain actions, and thus more success in the game. Celerity and Quietus, on the other hand, are less of a use, in many decks. As is, to talk about the uses of these three disciplines would hardly make a good subject, while still staying on topic, it would be more appropriate to have a look on the out-of-clan disciplines of the many Assamites, and where could those be put to good use. We'll start with Bajazet al-Nazir Bajazet al-Nasir Clan: Assamite Capacity: 8 Discipline: cel for pre OBF QUI Independent: Once each combat, Bajazet can burn 1 blood to make damage from his hand strikes aggravated for the current round. (Blood Cursed) Looking at Bajazet's out-of-clan disciplines, what comes to your mind? Yes, the slick Ventrues. As he is lacking in Dominate, and has only inferior Fortitude and Presence, of what use could he be for the snotty bluebloods. First off, he has the big Obfuscate, which seems to be the fourth discpline of the Ventrues seen these days in tournies. That aside, even if it were not, it still means more stealth for their votes and bleeds, via Cloak the Gathering. Well, there are smaller vampires with superior Obfuscate, so why choose Bajazet over any of them. And here is where his special comes in. How can you combine his special with the Ventrue? A quick glance doesnt see him burning vampires, just going over and poking them to torpor. Big deal! Too bad the one discipline he is lacking is the one I am looking at here. Dominate. So, let us suppose Bajazet takes a contract on an opposing Archbishop, who is very much letting his ire against the Camarilla show with his two votes. Bajazet comes in, hits the poor sod into torpor, and Mr.Ventrue comes to rob the corpse, back to join the fold. Graverobbing, that is. 4 vote swing, with 2 cards, 3 if you need stealth. Remember, Cloak the Gathering. This is just the purpose I've found for him. I'm certain the bright minds out there can come up with something more innovative, than just being a Ventrue lapdog. Keep in mind though, that his inferior Presence also makes him a good one for the Presence bleed decks. A quick one; !Toreador with Bajazet, and Hidden Lurker. Deck Name: Bajazet & ArikaCo Crypt: (12 cards, Min: 32, Max: 44, Avg: 9,67) ---------------------------------------------- 4 Bajazet al-Nasir cel for OBF pre QUI 8, Assamite:2 4 Arika aus cel DOM FOR OBF PRE 11, Ventrue:2, Inner Circle 2 Marcus Vitel DOM FOR OBF OBT PRE 10, Ventrue:3, Prince 1 Lucinde Alastor DOM FOR obf pot PRE tha 10, Ventrue:3, Justicar 1 Queen Anne aus DOM FOR obf PRE 10, Ventrue:2, Prince Library: (90 cards) ------------------- Master (10 cards) 1 Contract 1 Island of Yiaros 7 Minion Tap 1 Ventrue Headquarters Action (18 cards) 5 Clandestine Contract 7 Govern the Unaligned 6 Graverobbing Action Modifier (24 cards) 4 Bewitching Oration 4 Cloak the Gathering 2 Elder Impersonation 2 Faceless Night 3 Freak Drive 2 Lost in Crowds 7 Voter Captivation Political Action (17 cards) 1 Ancient Influence 2 Conservative Agitation 2 Dramatic Upheaval 6 Kine Resources Contested 2 Parity Shift 1 Political Stranglehold 2 Protect Thine Own 1 Reins of Power Reaction (13 cards) 6 Deflection 3 Obedience 4 Wake with Evening's Freshness Combat (8 cards) 4 Majesty 4 Rolling with the Punches -- Herein, implementing Bajazet meant sacrificing 12 card slots from the usual Ventrue deck. Of course there are as many Ventrue decks as there are players, but I'm certain many of you get the image. When looking at the gains, though, you get nigh (80+%) guaranteed 8-cap to which all of the other vampires can Govern down, keeping the bloat going on. Also, forget about Bajazet being the hammer of the Ventrue. Screw that! Arika is here just as a cheerleader. I mean, she is a pretty girl, if a bit on the sleazy side *wink wink* cough.. Btw, PTO on Cailean.. ---------------------------------------- BLACK HAND There is a destiny that makes us brothers. None goes his way alone: All that we send into the lives of others Comes back unto our own. -Edwin Markham Black Hand Assamites. Diablerie. Blood hunt. The three walk hand in hand. Of course there is more to the Black Hand than diablerizing left and right. Luckily for Assamites, the Black Hand also includes a plan to avoid the hefty prize of diablerie. Ebony Fox Hunt, a master out-of-turn, costing 1 pool, and absolving one Black Hand member of the bloodhunt. Now, there are only two Black Hand members of Clan Assamite sofar, but two is enough. Reza Fatir, and Yazid Tamari combined, make an investment of 14 pool. And they have access to bounce (Deflection, Redirection), perma-bloat (Watchtower: Greatest Fall), reliable intercept (Ministry), and as mentioned above, access to bloodhunt nullifying effects. How could one maximize these? Neither of the two, Reza nor Yazid have Fortitude, which would enable multi-acting. But they both have CEL, which does have the new card, Flurry of Action, enabling more than one action per turn. Crypt: (12 cards, Min: 16, Max: 32, Avg: 6,17) ---------------------------------------------- 5 Yazid Tamari ani dom obf CEL QUI 8, Assamite:3 5 Reza Fatir obf pro CEL QUI 6, Assamite:4 2 Piotr Andreikov aus 2, Tzimisce:3 Library: (80 cards) ------------------- Master (16 cards) 3 Blood Doll 3 Corporal Reservoir 5 Ebony Fox Hunt 2 Obfuscate 2 Shakar 1 Weeping Stone Action (18 cards) 5 Clandestine Contract 9 Flurry of Action 4 Reunion Kamut Action Modifier (7 cards) 3 Forgotten Labyrinth 4 Lost in Crowds Political Action (2 cards) 1 Cardinal Benediction 1 Watchtower: Greatest Fall Reaction (12 cards) 4 Deflection 5 Ministry 3 Wake with Evening's Freshness Combat (15 cards) 6 Amaranth 4 Disguised Weapon 3 Pursuit 2 Side Strike Ally (3 cards) 2 Marijava Thuggee 1 Mylan Horseed (Goblin) Equipment (6 cards) 1 Blow Torch 1 Flamethrower 1 Ivory Bow 2 Rowan Ring 1 Sengir Dagger Events (1 card) Torpid Blood -- I admit firsthand, that this deck isnt most likely going to win tournaments. Infact, I have not even been able to test this one out at all, so this is all "Theory-Vampire" until some brave soul takes the hint, and gives it a go. If you do, let me know how you did! As for the deck, it's planned to do pretty much what got outlined up before. Bloat a bit, intercept a bit, be a terrifying combat opponent for the unprepared. ---------------------------------------- Whew. It's a bit late, today being the first of September, but who's counting, eh? As usual, as some of you actuall have contact me at: Oko@city.fi ---------------------------------------- PATH OF BLOOD Have you heard of it? No, I am not talking about the card anymore. The Path of Blood is the best on-line site dealing with Vampire: The Eternal Struggle. Mainly dealing with Assamites, naturally. In the halls of Alamut, the latest deck ideas, hottest tech, and the fan fiction keep on flowing. Also good for gossip. If you are interested more closely in Assamites, visit the site at: http://www.thepathofblood.com/ ----------------------------------------