Assamites Clan Newsletter Volume 2 Issue 2 (June 1999) Written by Todd Banister Review of last month: (New section!) In this section each month, I will describe what happened when I played the featured deck from the previous newsletter. I have never understood why people post decks and then do not follow up with either the tweaks they made to the deck or at least describe what happened when they played it. In the month of May, I played the Information Assassins deck (for composition see last newsletter) a couple of times with only a few minor changes. I removed one of the Quietus skill cards and the five Taste of Deaths and added another Auspex card and five more Blood Sweats. The deck actually played better than I expected. I may not have gotten as many victory points as I would like but it held its own. In all of my bleeds, I think that my prey only blocked my Assamites two or three times. This is something that you will need to get use to. I got into combat by using the light intercept and I made the combats count as much as possible. The major problem with the deck is that I was only bleeding for one or occasionally two at a time and it took a while to whittle down my prey's pool. I think that it would help the deck if I substituted the Computer Hacks for some permanent bleed modifiers like Laptop Computers and the unique retainers. At least this way I would be bleeding for two pool consistently. All in all, it is a fun deck. Main Discussion for June - Assamites in Combat (Part one of two): Most of the material below should be fairly common knowledge to experienced players. This guide should be invaluable for beginners, as combat can be tricky to master. I am not sure I can say this any more direct. If you play Assamites, you must win in combat. Plain and simple. No if ands or buts. Yes, there are a few Assamite decks that are not designed to maim in combat but these are more of an oddity and will be covered in the coming months. For now, we must rent asunder our opponents in combat! Before we can talk about combat in detail, we must look at the meta-game in your environment. It is critical that you think about this before trying to build a combat killer. The Assamites have many weapons in combat but they have specific purposes and the deck must be built around them accordingly. Does your group use a lot of Strike Combat Ends? Do your opponents rely on just dodging your strikes? Do you see a lot of Immortal Grappled rush decks floating around? Lots of Fortitude? Are weapons common in your environment? Take a few minutes and think about this. This will give you an idea of what direction your combat cards must go. Without direction, your combat can fail miserably. The reason why the meta-game is so important is if you guess right and you rip up other player's kindred for a week or two either the combat offenses/defenses will change or the players will no longer want to block you. But if you continue to guess wrong, the other players will not fear the strength of the Assamites. Fear is a powerful tool that has to be your ally. When you bleed with a computer hack you need to be forcing your prey to think: Do I just loose the two pool or risk loosing a vampire? Now that you have an idea of the group's current meta-game, its time to look at all of your options. There are several general combat types that most decks will fall into. Typical Defensive combat types: The dreaded Strike: Combat Ends, Damage Prevention, Dodges, Hand Strikes and simple Maneuvers. Typical Offensive combat types: Massive Potence Strikes, Aggravated Damage, Multiple Strikes with Celerity via hands or guns, Multiple Retainers (for example Murder of Crows), Steal Blood Strikes, and Strike: Go to Torpor. We will first discuss how to handle the various forms of combat defenses. The most common combat defense that I run into is Strike: Combat Ends. Unfortunately, S:CE is one of the hardest things to get around for any combat deck. The most efficient way to eliminate S:CE is to use Immortal Grapple but sadly only Hussamettin and Thetmes have potence. But all is not lost. The Assamites have tons of celerity and thus have access to Psyche! You will have to use a Psyche for each S:CE but at least you can continue combat. You can also play a Hidden Lurker and get a free round of combat. You have to make this free round count in a big way. The drawback to Hidden Lurker is that it takes two vampires to pull it off. The rest of the combat defenses are much easier to get around. A single damage prevention card can ruin even the best potence decks but the Assamites have Blood Sweats that deal 3R damage at superior can not be prevented. Capitalize on this card. The Assamites also have several vampires with thaumaturgy so they can use Theft of Vitae as an extra way around damage prevention. Another common combat defense is the simple dodge. Once again celerity comes to the rescue by giving us additional strikes. If your prey is dodging like a fool, just strike with hands on your first strike to save precious cards and then play a card that gives additional strikes and beat the crap out of the helpless kindred. Some decks try to maneuver away from combat in order to save their vampires. This just plays right into our hands and allows us to blast them with damaging ranged strikes. A few decks even give up on combat entirely and try to survive on hand strikes alone. Ha! It should only take one combat sequence to show them the errors of their ways. Not all decks will just try to survive in combat. They will fight fire with fire. On the offensive side there are more aspects to be prepared for. The most common offensive combat strategy is the use of huge potence strikes. These will crush any vampire that gets hit without a way to prevent the damage. Unfortunately, the Assamites only have access to Sideslips and thus can only prevent one point of damage. Not even close to enough to save the Assamite. So the best thing is to go to long range and stay there. At long range you can blast them while they swing wildly and miss with their plus six hand damage. Another card that can get around the potence strikes is Silence of Death. Thetmes can strike with aggravated damage sending the other kindred to torpor before he can even punch back. Silence of Death will work with any Assamite with Kali's Fang or other melee weapon as long as Immortal Grapple is not in effect. Another common combat strategy is to strike with aggravated damage. No one does this better than the Gangrel. Either pack more Sideslips to prevent the one point of aggravated damage or (the best bet) run like hell and stay at long range. I will get to why the Gangrel can give the Assamites a hard time next month. There is no easy way to get around a steady supply of aggravated damage so watch out. An expense but classic form of combat is the use of ranged guns coupled with celerity for additional strikes. This can be fun when you use all of your extra maneuvers to stay close and use Fast Hands to steal the gun. It's a blast when you then play additional strikes and then shoot them back with their own gun. Even if you do not pack any Fast Hands in your deck, you can still maneuver to long range and then play a Taste of Death to send them away for a while. You will take a little damage but you should not have to deal with the extra strikes. If the other vampire packs a lot of retainers to do the combat damage for him just include a few weather controls. That's a lot of recruiting actions gone down the drain in one simple combat. Oh well. The steal blood strikes should pose no problems as you will lose a little blood but you should be able to dictate the rest of combat. Punish him. The newest form of strikes came in the Sabbat expansion in the form of Strike: Go to torpor. A deadly strike but it only works at close range. Back up and shoot away. Are you seeing a common theme? Hope so. As you could see from above, the key to the Assamites is usually staying at long range. To effectively stay at long range include a ton of either Flashes or Rapid Movements. This way they can serve dual purposes and you can cycle the cards very quickly. Do not forget to include a few IR Goggles as a permanent supply of maneuvers. You can also use these maneuvers to save your powerful strikes when you are unsure of what the opposing kine will do. Just go to long range and strike with your hands. This way if the other vampire plays a dodge or S:CE, you have wasted nothing except a simple maneuver card. Then you can either play additional strikes or press for a new round of combat. All while saving the valuable Blood Sweats and Taste of Vitaes until they can strike home for real damage. Another factor that the Assamites must deal with is the amount of blood on your kindred. All of these additional strikes and Quietus strikes cost precious blood. There are three ways you can go to keep your minions full of life. First, always include a few Paths of Blood in your decks. This basic Assamite card goes a long way to reduce the cost of the Quietus cards. Just remember to protect the Path of Blood as it can be burned. Second, you can always play with a few Taste of Vitaes because you are going to be doing real damage with your strikes. Nothing better than filling up your Thetmes after playing a few Blood Sweats and ripping apart someone else's vampire. Lastly and the most difficult to do is to include a few Sacrificial Lambs in the deck. Not only does this fill your vamps up with blood (if the capacity of the victim is large enough) but also it gives you a way of burning those kindred you sent to torpor earlier. Now that you have the basic idea what to do while in a fight, you need to get your minions into combat. All of those combat cards are just hand jam if you can not play them. There are several ways of doing this reliably. You can use the standard Bum's Rushes and Ambushes to pick a fight with someone. These normally do not let you get into a fight with the exact vamp that you want due to the action is at no stealth and are usually blocked. You can also use your master phase actions to set up combats later by playing either Haven Uncovered or Contracts. A Haven Uncovered allows several of your minions to jump on a single vampire but the Haven seldom last for more than one turn. So be ready for combat when you play them. Contracts are like the Haven's Uncovered but with a twist. The Contracts can not be removed after it is played (except by a Violation of Trust) and like the Haven Uncovered it offers plus one stealth to get into combat. Another benefit of the Contracts is that when you have a vampire in combat with its intended victim, your kindred now have access to The Khabar: Honor. It is a disciplineless card that allows your vampire to strike for plus three hand damage. Now Thetmes can strike for four aggravated hand damage in the first round of combat using just one card and costing no blood. Wow! The downside of Contracts is that it is one a one to one basis with you and your victim. So choose wisely. Another card that allows your kindred to enter into combat is Covenant of Blood. This card kicks ass! Once you have it in play, each of your Assamites can enter into combat with Camarilla vampires as a directed action. Here princey princey. Another way that you can get into combat is to put pressure on your prey by bleeding. Use Computer Hacks or permanent bleed modifiers and continue to bleed again and again. Eventually your prey will have to start blocking you and you can finally use the combat cards that have been sitting in your hand the whole game. The big drawback is that the combat cards can severely clump up you hand. There are a few other ways that you can get into combat but these are enough to get us started. Whew, that's a lot of typing about combat. There are still several more issues regarding combat that we need to discuss. I am saving them for next month's newsletter. If I have missed anything huge regarding combat, someone please let me know. June's Fiction Section: The air in the night seemed to hang heavily. It was as if nature knew what was about to happen and was holding its breath. The moonlight from above was casting eerie shadows on the ground. Thetmes waited quietly within the shadows of a monstrous house located just outside the city of Pittsburgh. This was no ordinary house with any ordinary owner. This house was the Chantry of Frederick Von Goerring, Prince of Pittsburgh. So far, everything was going to plan. The Nosferatu had supplied Thetmes with all of the critical information about the location of the house, the guards and the traps. Without the data, this hit could not have been possible. Without the Nosferatu, this hit would not have been necessary. Just forty short minutes later, the Prince began his nightly stroll through his gardens behind the Chantry. Frederick was lost in his thoughts but continued to walk the grounds with an air of authority. Dressed in his daily business suit and sipping on a brandy glass filled with vitae, the Prince began plotting the next moves of his Tremere. As Von Goerring passed under the weeping willow tree, he suddenly stopped dead in his tracks. Before him, the shadows surrounding the fountain began to swirl and take form. When the faceless night completed its transformation, a kindred killer stood before the Prince. The only sound in the gardens was the smashing of the brandy glass against the brick walkway as it fell from Prince's hand. The Prince recognized the clan of the attacker immediately by the style of dress and gave up any thoughts of trying to flee the assailant. The only thoughts that crossed Frederick's mind were of survival, and even that was not an easy task against a vampiric assassin. The two vampires began to slowly circle each other in the garden. This combat was going to be over quickly. That much was certain. Thetmes began to chant quietly to himself as he prepared to make the Prince suffer mightily. As the chant continued and came close to completion, Thetmes felt the life force within him being sucked from his body. The mage before him was using one of the oldest tricks of the Tremere. As he smiled within himself, Thetmes thought, "two can play at this game". But instead of sucking vitae out of the Prince, Thetmes used the opposite tactic. He forced massive amounts of blood to erupt from the skin of Frederick Von Goerring. Precious vitae sprayed the surrounding grass as the Prince flailed to try to make the pain stop. Thetmes continued to chant faster and faster until the Prince sank to his knees. The once mighty member of the Camarilla sat on the walkway gasping for life. Thetmes began to stroll closer intending on finishing this undead. The Prince lifted his head slightly and muttered "How? Why?" The Assamite stopped about ten yards to take everything in. Thetmes answered back "We have our ways. Just consider this a very small step towards complete retribution". The Prince began to ask, "but who signed the contract to." as the sound of his words were suddenly cut off. As the short conversation began to unfold, Thetmes started to feel his skin begin to burn. Slowly the burning began to increase. If he did not act quickly, the Assamite's entire body would burst into flames. With unholy speed, all of the sounds around the combat were silenced. Death seemed to hang in the air. Time seemed to stand still as the assassin rushed in. As Thetmes closed the gap between the two kindred, he withdrew from under his cloak a pair of Tiger's Claws. Time began to stop. The Prince was still slowly mouthing a silent word when Themes struck the vampire under the chin with a crippling uppercut. The blow sliced cleanly through the Prince of Pittsburgh's head. Bone fragments and blood spewed in the air away from the corpse. For a very brief moment, the faceless body hung in the air before beginning its descent towards the earth. By the time the body hit the ground, the burning feeling on Thetmes' body had subsided. The assassin stood above the victim and watched as time caught up to the body. Flesh and bones quickly turned to ash and mother earth reclaimed what was rightfully hers. The killer turned to face the Chantry and cursed "Let the horror rain down from the lacerated skies. It is time for the Lord of Chaos to begin his reign in blood!" With that, the Assamite quickly turned to go. It was time to head south to Atlanta. Many plans were set into motion tonight. Thetmes did not fully understand what the Nosferatu had in mind with their master plan. Actually, he really did not care but he did enjoy the contract against the Assamites' enemy. Anything to put the Tremere back in their place. Thetmes would do just about anything to have the information that the Nosferatu possessed. He pushed the thoughts from his mind as he began to concentrate on the numerous tasks at hand. The end complete was now one step closer. It would not be long now till word of the Prince's death traveled among the circles of kindred. The Prince's death would be a major blow to the Camarilla, as they had worked hard to gain a foothold into the Sabbat controlled city. A substantial amount of time and money was lost tonight. Hoards of vampires would soon invade the countryside. The Sabbat obviously would not sit still. Now is a golden opportunity for them to drive the Camarilla out of the area once and for all. The power structure here was again on the move. Chaos had begun to rule again. June's Deck Idea Clinic: Combat Whores! The Crypt: Thetmes (10) CEL QUI OBF Thetmes (10) CEL QUI OBF Al Ashrad (9) CEL QUI obf Al Ashrad (9) CEL QUI obf Parnassus (7) CEL QUI Abd al-Rashid (5) CEL QUI obf Abd al-Rashid (5) CEL QUI obf Harika Guljan (3) QUI Sarah Brando (3) CEL Kanya Aktar (2) cel Carter (2) cel Nik (1) cel CEL - 11 (3 at minor and 8 at superior) QUI - 8 (all at superior) OBF - 6 (4 at minor and 2 at superior) Total Capacity of crypt: 66 Average Vamp Size: 5.50 The Library: Masters: (20) 4x Blood Doll 4x Contract 2x Dreams of the Sphinx 1x Fame 1x Fragment of the Book of Nod 1x Market Square 2x Path of Blood 3x Succubus Club 1x The Barrens 1x Tribute to the Master Combat: (49) 5x Pursuit 7x Flash 4x Blur 2x Lightning Reflexes 10x Blood Sweats 4x Taste of Death 4x The Khabar: Honor 2x Silence of Death 4x Psyche 5x Taste of Vitae Other: (23) 2x Laptop 1x Tasha Morgan 1x J.S. Simmons Esq. 4x Covenant of Blood 5x Pack Tactics 2x IR Goggles 2x Bang Nakh 6x Wake With Evenings Freshness Deck Comments: This deck shows that the Assamites can rule in combat. Use the maneuvers to stay at long range and blast away with Blood Sweats and then try to burn the vampire with the Taste of Deaths. Refill with the Taste of Vitaes. Combat should roll very easily and be very deadly. Now how to get into combat. This is where things get fun. Use the Covenants of Bloods to directly attack any Camarilla vampires and then use the Contracts on Independent or Sabbat vampires. These cards should reek havoc on the table. Use the Barrens, Dreams of the Sphinx, and the Fragment of the Book of Nod to quickly go through your deck to set your hand up. But one of the other key cards in the deck is the use of the Succubus club. Use this card to make killer deals. Sell your services in combat to other players for pool, protection, votes, or anything else. Become a combat whore! Let players pay you off for not rushing their vampires for a turn or two. Above all else, be creative. Continue to talk and try to make deals during the entire game. Matter of fact, start trying to make deals even before the Succubus Club comes out. You should be able to gain several pool and have a ton of fun with the Club. If you use this deck, please email me details of your bargains! If they are good, I will include them in the next newsletter. Coming in next month's issue: In the next newsletter, I will show finish up the article on Assamite combat. I will start to unveil how the Assamites can bleed for more than the simple two pool. In the fiction section, we will see why Thetmes has moved the clan's base of operations in the U.S. to Atlanta. Until next month, let the lord of chaos rule and beware of the presence of the Assamites. Todd Banister Prince of Atlanta Bitch of the Assamites Please send all comments to: T_Banister@Premier-Lending.com