Introduction: While leafing through the stuff I have written over the years, it occurred to me that I have most of the major strategical elements covered (and some minor ones as well). I say most, because this issue is dedicated to a quite essential bit I haven't talked about yet - blood-management - and the strategy that can be derived from this: bloat. Fiction: Postmortem Philosophy You probably think that life is hard enough as it is, and then you die... But you're wrong, at least as far as our old town of Muenchen is concerned. That's Munich for you not fluent in the germanic tongue, or even Monaco if your second name should be Giovanni, much to the confusion of everybody else, since the Princedom of that other, rather rocky outpost of the super rich is not on debate at this very moment. Nor is the Munich one, to be precise, but that's just because as usual Cammie politics are too chaotic here among the first blossoms of spring, the first beer mugs lifted towards a pale but increasingly warm sun and the first drunkards disappearing later the evening while stumbling through the nocturnal splendor of Theatiner, Maximilians- or Brienner Strasse. One could say that the police is getting nervous, alas it can't be helped: A conclave of some importance is held in a forgotten bunker complex underneath the Hofgarten, and the kindred are thirsty after banging their heads against the most incomprehensible tracts and treaties presented there for discussion, derision or decision. Ah yes, the plain clothes police officers in their suspiciously unsuspicious Volkswagen finally disappear towards Schwabing and we disentangle ourselves from the shadows of the Feldherrnhalle and move east towards the National Theater. There's only the slightest idea of dawn lingering in the air, but bedtime's near - "Bedtime for Democracy, to quote the Dead Kennedys", I add. Angel's spiky hair vibrates with the connoisseur's joy about this apt reference to what we were doing to the local Camarilla grandseigneurs, and while it did feel like child's play, the bullying, the "Every bullet in this gun is one vote against" logic, I do believe that we all are Children of Caine, and shall be childlike in our doings, so that life is not all that hard after you die. And, fact: It just got a little better for us, Triole's kin, as the bewildered Elders were all too keen on allowing our clan the unlimited and exclusive use of the inner city hunting grounds - said more and more populated areas outside where the pale sun is growing in strength, the beer in quantity and the flowers in beauty. They said their "aye" not by their own free will, but in the face of a gun - so what? Who among them hadn't signed their last will a long time ago anyway? We enter the subterranean parking lot at the theater, throw the heavy sports bag into the trunk of the suspiciously unsuspicous Merc and cruise away towards our haven. I unsuccessfully search for a Dead Kennedys tape, stuff a Gauloise between my fangs and ask Brachah for enlightenment. Strategy: On pool-gain At the beginning of each game you have 30 pool, if these are gone your game is over. Offensive actions by your predator plus collateral damage from votes etc. all over the table threaten this cushion, plus you have to pay the influence for your minions out of this. So it does look like a good idea to think about some ways to get back some pool during the cause of the game. Almost all decks have an element of pool-gain built into them, be it a Blood Doll or five for your minions, some Governs that can go down on your uncontrolled minions and further into your pool, or an Ancient Influence in your vote deck. If you plan on gaining more pool than you can realistically expect to loose through your predator's actions, we are talking about bloat. Bloat is a both defensive and offensive strategy - you maximise your pool to a point where you can basically ignore the damage done to you, so without the need to assign blockers each turn and the possibility to recruit more minions from that pool you'll also have plenty of action slots available, which - if not eaten by your bloating mechanism - will directly translate into pressure towards your prey. Here are some of the classic bloat mechanisms: Minion Tap plus refill tech: Minion Tap is a staple for bloat decks, reaping huge amounts of pool in one go. The über-refill tech used to be 5th Tradition, which got straightened out in the CE overhaul. So today you'll see more bloat along the line of Voter Captivation (huge in political decks), Taste of Vitae (at least a good way for large-cap combat decks to generate blood on vampires) or Renewed Vigor by means of the maybe most contested vampire of late, Matthias. All-master decks work the MT/Golconda angle quite successfully. All these can be stopped with Sudden Reversal, although you'd need many Suddens to completely dry out a dedicated bloater. Tribute to the Master: Sort of the Sabbat equivalent to Minion Tap, Tribute relies on having many minions to feed from instead of one fattie. It doesn't see play that often, although it has to be said that weenie swarm/Tribute/hunt is probably the most basic bloating mechanism Other cards relying on huge minion numbers are Consanguineous Boon/Autarkis Persecution, political actions that gain pool according to the number of vampires from a clan and number of minions respectively. While the political actions that target huge minions are all only playable once per game (Ancient Influence, Political Stranglehold), these can be included in any numbers. Obviously these cards are not exclusively seen in bloat decks, and other, more common tools for blood management (Blood Dolls, Hunting Grounds etc.) are very useful in bloat decks as well. The above examples though are common strategies that have only one goal: Bringing huge amounts of blood to your pool. If left undisturbed, bloat can be a very powerful and disturbing strategy, as it allows you to ignore many strategies possibly played against you. Then again it is easy to disrupt, by killing the minions, blocking the pool-gaining actions or suddening the (almost always) crucial master cards. All bloat strategies count on drawing out the game, their offense is usually not as vicious as that of a deck totally devoted to killing its prey, and the minion advantage typically emerges only in the later stages of the game. Speedy deck types can catch them before they get their pool gain going, or wrap up the table before the bloater becomes a major offensive force. Don't forget: Earning 6 pool each for an ousted player is a way of bloating in itself. The Brujah are not specially renowned for a powerful bloating archetype. The only mechanism that seems to be specific to their abilities is MT/beat someone up/Taste of Vitae, which roughly translates into a big-minion combat deck - not the most promising strategy if you believe in conventional wisdom. Then again they can do most of the standards reasonably well, especially bloating by voting due to their Presence. What never made them a tier 1 in this arena is their general lack of stealth. If you are thinking about playing Brujah in a heavy bloat environment, consider two things: many Sudden Reversals to stop pool-gaining masters, and harsh combat - dead vampires don't bloat. If you plan on playing a bloat strategy with the Brujah, be careful - your lack of stealth will usually give you problems. Apart from that you have access to some of the best (after the post-CE degradation of Fifth Tradition) cards to refill minions: Voter Captivation and Taste of Vitae. Social Charm and Legal Manipulation also have a nice pool-gain sideline if you plan on bleeding. My Brujah decks always lean a little towards the bloat side, since our clan is not the strongest when it comes to the usual defense things. With intercept being casual at best, bounce only available by means of an out-of-clan discpline, a healthy pool-cushion is good for your peace of mind. So: Make sure to include a reasonable amount of Blood Dolls and use those cards that let the blood flow where it belongs - to your pool. Card of the month: Oxford University Master, Brujah Master: unique location. During a political action, you may tap this card and burn X pool to get X votes. Admittedly there are cooler locations to gain votes, but after the recent CE overhaul Oxford University is not as sucktastic as it used to be. This card shines in a political environment where one or two votes make all the difference. Plus, as a permanent, it gives you options opposing political decks have to take into account. That Parity Shift for five against you is more unlikely with OU out, since they'll potentially need five more votes to make it happen. On the other hand - since votes can be gained before the terms of a referendum are set - it is useful if you want to Parity Shift yourself and need to drop in pool to target the right methusalah (more on that below). But that's just corner case stuff. Basically we have an in-clan card that gives votes even when there are none available, and it doesn't cost anything to play it - it only costs to vote with it. Vampire of the month: Antoinette DuChamp Caitiff 1, cel pre Camarilla: If Antoinette uses an action or strike that requires Celerity, she burns an additional blood. One thing I always liked about the Brujah is that they get some very decent Caitiff to round up their ranks. Antoinette's nomination as vampire of the month is also meant as a respectful nod towards all the other helping hands for the clan: Hasina Kesi (Caitiff 1, pot), Nik (Caitiff 1, cel) and Igo (Caitiff 1, pre pro). But Antoinette is absolutely the best of the lot (outside pure combat). You get the equivalent of Mazz or Uma Hatch for 2 less pool and a neglectable disadvantage - and she's even looking almost as great as Uma! And, best of all, she's group 2, so her goodness is not lost if you only play Neo-Brujah. The only real problem: You'll contest her a lot - well, maybe less than before, to be honest, due to the downgrading of Majesty. Deck: Vote with a bullet This deck basically combines two popular strategies: Weenie vote and concealed guns. The biggest part of the political angle is devoted to bloating (through Consanguineous Boons and Parity Shift) to give you the pool to finance a swarm of gun-slinging minions. Prepare to bleed for one a lot and ignore your predator as much as possible. As always the Boons are also a great way to shape the table in your fashion: Keep players in the game by giving them pool, exchange favors with other players while building up your forces. The Brujah-specific cards in this deck are actually quite helpful: Oxford University works on the "Return of Investment" principle and can make all the difference if played early on to pass the crucial first Praxis Seizure - plus it allows some tricky bits of play (recently brought to our attention by Bram Vink in the NG) when playing Parity Shift: You can burn the blood to gain the votes before setting the terms, thus bringing your prey into range (note that there must be a valid target for Parity Shift when you play the card - not necessarily your prey though). Al's Army Appartus fetches the guns when needed and slims your library after you have equiped enough of them. Toughest choice was between Celerity or Presence as the main discipline for this deck. Celerity means more combat, thus Archons and Taste of Vitae for blood-gain on minions, Presence leans towards direct Vote/Push/Captivate bloat. As shown the deck focuses more on Celerity and hopes for a gun-friendly meta-game: no Drawing Out The Beast/Terror Frenzy, not much S:CE (although you could always sacrifice fire-power/maneuvers for Psyche). Crypt: (12 cards, Min: 6, Max: 23, Avg: 3,75) --------------------------------------------- 1 Angel (Brujah 2, cel) 1 Antoinette DuChamp (Caitiff 1, cel pre) 1 Black Cat (Brujah 5, CEL pot pre) 1 Brachah (Brujah 5, CEL for PRE) 1 Itzahk Levine (Ventrue 3, cel pre) 1 Nik (Caitiff 1, cel) 3 Rake (Brujah 6, aus cel pot PRE, Prince) 1 Uma Hatch (Brujah 3, cel pre) 1 Vasilis (Brujah 2, pre) 1 Volker (Brujah 5, CEL pot, Prince) Library: (78 cards) ------------------- Master (12 cards) 1 Al's Army Apparatus 1 Barrens, The 4 Blood Doll 3 Celerity 2 Oxford University, England 1 Warzone Hunting Ground Action Modifier (9 cards) 7 Bewitching Oration 2 Voter Captivation Political Action (19 cards) 3 Archon 2 Brujah Justicar 6 Consanguineous Boon 3 Parity Shift 1 Praxis Seizure: Barcelona 1 Praxis Seizure: Boston 1 Praxis Seizure: Cairo 1 Praxis Seizure: Geneva 1 Praxis Seizure: Rome Reaction (7 cards) 7 Second Tradition: Domain, The Combat (24 cards) 6 Blur 7 Concealed Weapon 4 Flash 4 Pursuit 3 Taste of Vitae Equipment (7 cards) 7 .44 Magnum Final Words: There are busy times ahead with the Anarchs Expansion knocking at our doors, and I'm very curious about what dimension it will add to the game. But that's not the stuff for the next newsletter yet, I guess, so I'll try and keep you amused in the meantime. Comments and ideas are as always welcome at skaffen_amtiskaw"at"mail"dot"ru Thanks for reading Skaffen www.8ung.at/colddawn "Name one thing on earth lower than a tough guy Who talks with his fists instead of using his head Who beats the shit out of anything it can't understand." (Dead Kennedys, 'Macho Insecurity')