Introduction: Only a short issue this time as I don't have too much time on my hands - neither to write this stuff nor to test elaborate concepts as the promised Brujah intercept decks. So instead I dug out some old stuff... Fiction: The "war room" deep underneath the Don's impressive summer house in Vermont is in complete disorder. Sitting on a crate full of ammunition Rake stifles a yawn. Improvised alliances, as quickly forged as broken, are outlined on the vintage chalk board. Partly dismantled weaponry obscures the view of the huge map spread on the oaken table, where many pins and the occasional dagger mark territories and possible movements. One of the legendary brainstorming sessions held every midsummer night in the Dons private residence is drawing to an end, the jokes are getting as stale as the beer in the few remaining unbroken glasses. Outside dawn is breaking. The Prince of Atlanta staggers to his feet, scattering empty beer bottles, and shuffles over to the board. Slowly, methodically he spray-paints letters onto the wall. "Chaos is the score upon which reality is written." He scratches his mohawk, nods and turns towards his audience. "Anyone for a group picture?" he asks. Only Uma, a joint burnt down to the fingers, shows any reaction, but slowly shakes her head. Some thoughts on the new Camarilla set: Our local playgroup has thankfully gotten some fresh blood in the form of new players, and to those the Camarilla is little more than a myth. They have read my newsletters, they see me playing these decks, but they don't have any first-hand experience due to lack of old cards. Of course the new Camarilla expansion is just a few weeks down the road and got us all, veterans and newbies, excited. This prospect got me thinking: What can we expect for the Brujah. I'm hoping for easy access to Torn Signpost, Immortal Grapple and all the Tradition goodness, some nifty new special effects and good new vampires. Some POT/cel instead of CEL/pot in the medium range perhaps, and maybe a further developed "fifth" (after Dominate) discipline for the clan - I wouldn't mind Fortitude as we have it so far, but crazy stuff like Thaumaturgy, Quietus or Necromancy doesn't hurt either. The new faces will be welcome, if only for me to get over my Volker trauma (I draw him every time, even with only one copy in a deck). On the other hand it will be both a joyous and sad event, as over the years I have learned to live with the limitations of the Brujah as they stand - it never stopped them from being effective, but added to their character. Actually I've begun to play Jyhad-only decks again lately, for varied reasons. The most exciting thing about doing this is to live with the limitations - I mean, Pursuit is no longer a no-brainer, as it doesn't exist... My first one was a Nosferatu thing with disguised Magnums, animalism intercept and moderate stealth bleed that, to my great surprise, fared very well in our local meta game. Only one game saw me without a VP, and it proved itself against Thomas Gschwandner's Rammstein tournament winning deck as well as several other highly focused creations. It's one of these things that don't look impressive on paper but do their job. As the cheapest way for a brand new player to get a feeling for the Camarilla clans will lie in getting their hands on one of those still cheap Jyahd boxes, I thought about presenting you an "old style" Brujah deck for this issue. It's only Jyhad and centered around a fragment of a deck idea from '96 that I found scribbled on some old paper scratch. It is not something you could normally build out of one box of Jyhad cards I'm afraid, but this deck makes use of many typical Jyhad cards that I hope will get reprinted as they formed and still form the backbone of most Camarilla decks. While some of the concepts have been mimicked in the Sabbat releases, others are still more or less unique in the game. The deck also introduces a new strategy for the Brujah, although it is nothing that positively requires Brujah - they just lend themselves reasonably well to it, especially in a pure Jyhad context. This strategy is centered around one card: Card of the month: Anarch Revolt Master Put this card in play. Each Methuselah burns 1 pool during his or her untap phase. Any vampire can burn this card with a successful referendum; calling this referendum is a +1 stealth action. A quick search on Google will give you plenty of designs trying to abuse this card, and even more comments on how these decks play. One thing will stick out: People don't like this at all. Anarch Revolt is a potentially very table-destabilizing cards, as all methusalah's suffer from it. You, of course, are prepared and suffer less, but you have to make sure that the table collapses in the right order so you collect the VPs, and that you will not be killed by a concentrated effort of the whole table before this happens - it will most likely be "Let's oust that guy and decide on the winner afterwards." It gets even worse: In order to collect your VPs the most promising strategy (apart from Life Booning) is table rearrangement - something uniquely Jyhad/Vampire thanks to Dramatic Upheaval and its strong brother Kindred Restructure. Not only do these cards screw the established predator/prey relationships, the resulting card moving etc. annoys a lot. So, while this may be an effective deck, don't play it too often in friendly games. But learm how it works - you don't see Anarch Revolt decks to frequently, but every second tournament or so will have one, and as soon as the first two Revolts hit the table, you will not be able to proceed with your game as if nothing happened. Vampire of the month: Before we all see hundreds of new faces, let me introduce another old favorite of mine: Uma Hatch Brujah 3, cel pre Barring mono-discipline decks, the classic two-skill 3 caps are something you really like to see in your starting crypt. The Brujah have two main archetypes and a 3 cap for each: Dre (cel pot) for combat, Uma (cel pre) for bleedy/votey stuff. Celerity and Presence is the ultimate in combat avoidance (think Flash/Majesty), Presence one of the best offensive disciplines in the game. Apart from straight weenie decks it's either Dre or Uma for me, and mostly Uma lately as I abstain from combat a little these days. Plus she has a very hot picture, if you are into leather and tribal tattoos... Deck: A revolting sight This is a Brujah deck by virtue of being 50 percent Brujah in the crypt. It needs Presence (preferably superior), some Celerity (Flash/Majesty is about as good a S:CE gets), princes (for the Camarilla power cards) and cheap minions. Even today Rake is the guy you want for that, although Anson with his additional master action comes in a close second. Basically you want to pile out the Anarch Revolts, gain pool and wait for the things that will happen. Change places to grab the VPs, or Life Boon the victim if you can afford it. KRC and Parity Shift let you direct the way the table destabilizes. Try to get away from a heavy bleed predator, as your best defense is ignorance - just bloat. Be very conservative when it comes to spending pool on vampires, Rake or Anson and one of the weenies should be enough in the beginning. Of course many things could and should be different if you want to include non-Jyhad cards. Secure Haven and Creepshow Casino, Itzakh Levine instead of Uma Hatch, maybe a Parthenon... But even in this vintage fashion it is fierce. Of course you can and should adjust this to your metagame: what it needs to get votes passed and survive against combat. Biggest problem will always be any form of reliable intercept. Crypt (12 cards, Min: 12 Max: 30 Avg: 5,25) 3 Anson (Toreador 8, aus CEL dom PRE, Prince) 3 Gideon Fontaine (Ventrue 3, PRE) 4 Rake (Brujah 6, aus cel pot PRE, Prince) 2 Uma Hatch (Brujah 3, cel pre) Library (80 cards): Master (19 cards): 8 Anarch Revolt 1 Barrens, The 5 Blood Doll 2 Life Boon 2 Sudden Reversal 1 Venrtue Headquarters Action (4 cards): 4 Fifth Tradition: Hospitality, The Action Modifier (16 cards): 6 Bewitching Oration 4 Bribes 6 Voter Captivation Political Action (15 cards): 1 Dramatic Upheaval 2 Kindred Restructure 6 Kine Resources Contested 2 Parity Shift 1 Praxis Seizure: Boston 2 Rumors Of Gehenna 1 Ventrue Justicar Reaction (11 cards): 3 Dread Gaze 6 Second Tradition: Domain, The 2 Wake With Evening's Freshness Combat (15 cards): 5 Flash 10 Majesty Final notes: Hopefully I'll have some more time to spare on the newsletter next month, so I can give you some of the promised stuff. Still, time moves on, and I'm as likely to come up with some brand new ideas. Stay tuned! All comments etc. are welcome at skaffen_amtiskaw@mail.ru, please direct all abuse to /dev/null. Skaffen Archon of The Cold Dawn "There is no greater equalizer than the stupidity of men - especially when those men have power." (Davio Fo, from "Accidental Death of an Anarchist")