Introduction: Welcome, dear readers, to this new issue of the Brujah newsletter. Once again I am writing about combat, and although this topic will never cease to be interesting, I want to leave it at that for the moment. I've come to a point where all my deck ideas are either fun and amusing (at most), as last month's Submachine Gun deck, or revolving around the well known and proven deck concepts (this month's deck is yet another version of an Euro-Brujah combat monster). My main problem: We are not playing too often locally, and I guess I was a little too predictable lately. Bad thing, metagame-wise... Actually the strategy section is largely inspired by my experiences with an Assamite deck I was playing the last few weeks (which you can find here: http://colddawn.vr9.com/deck_call.html). Fiction: The black-clad backpacker clearly is in no good mood. "Screw the bloody Masquerade", he mumbles as his mind goes back to the humiliating farewell from the other Archons at the Grosseto train station for the fifth time. "It's clearly the best cover", the Don had explained, after he had handed him a second class (at that to him, a prince!) train ticket for the night express to Munich - no reservation, either. "You ain't gonna sleep, are you?", he had joked. Oh, the embarrassment! Now he's sitting on his bundle - containing a black parachute, a passport for a certain Horst Kempf, his Palm and a sixpack of warm italian beer - and tries to ignore the smell of piss and unwashed feet and the incredible noise this railroad junk makes as it crouches northward. Of course EVERY SINGLE seat was taken, so it's the corridor with a nice view on the toilet door for Volker. His thoughts wander a little further back, and all of a sudden a bleak smile appears on the man's face. Why is there no such thing as pure victory, Volker ponders as images from the fine old villa near Marina de Grosseto drift through his mind. That was some real action! Swiftly the Archon brigade had dropped from the sky, sneaked into the house and gave way to the intoxicating lust for violence. The picture of Carlotta Giovanni hovers vividly in his memory: Her look of surprise and horror as he had rammed the stake into her chest, the fragile moment when he could sense how her will crumbled and the Grim Reaper entered the room. The orgy of blood as he and his brothers unleashed the beast for some brief, but precious minutes... Mollified he searches his backpack for a beer and chances upon the corpus delicti - a plain oaken stake, still smeared with dry clots of Carlotta's vitae. Volker, who has a weak spot for nostalgic memorabilia, gently strokes the slightly splintered tip and begins to select a suitable place for this trophy in his Frankfurt haven. "Been out there camping, dude?" An obviously still drunk American traveler has emerged from the toilet - which is, as Volker notices with disgust, not more than a hole in the floor -, where he presumably spent a considerable period of time. "Yeah man, we nailed some gorgeous chicks..." Volker tries to sound as uninviting as possible, but to no avail. A puke-stained finger creeps towards the sixpack. "Can you spare me one, amigo?" Strategy: Controlling the table with a large-capacity combat deck While the usual strategy with a pure weenie rush deck comes down to killing everyone that is a threat to you and all your prey's minions, with the only remaining question being the timing. Bigger (in terms of capacity) combat decks need to work the table more delicately. You don't have the abundance of actions a weenie deck has, so two things become important: a) to survive, and b) to win in the end. a) comes first, both strategically and tactically: Establish a foothold in the game, slow down things by showing your combat abilities, gain pool and bring out more minions. b) is the tricky bit, as other decks on the table might make short work of their prey. Your goal should be to level the table - if there is an area of high pressure, intervene. Make a deal with the losing player, eliminate a vampire from his predator, use the deal to damage your prey. Do not allow the game to come to a stalemate, where everybody fears you and no one dares to move, but do not allow Blitzkrieg victories either. Never show your real strength until you are ready to move - then overwhelm your prey and move forward. More often than not some other player will gain a VP, but a well-built combat deck should always have the upper hand in the end game, i.e. win the last 3 VPs. The biggest difference to a weenie rush deck: You don't have to win the speed race. With a little pool-gain you can afford to lie low for a while and work the table dynamics in your favor. Rush is one of the best cross table strategies, if you can combine that with some voting capability (and think Euro-Brujah here), you are well set to let the game run as you want it. Vampire of the month: Volker, The Puppet Prince 5, CEL pot, Brujah, Prince Prince of Frankfurt: Volker cannot attempt to block Primogen. Normally the term "Euro-Brujah" is applied to Dónal O'Connor and Constanza Vinti. Yet there are three of them, as Volker was also introduced in the Dark Sovereigns expansion. As a 5 capacity vampire he remains the cheapest prince in the game, which makes him useful just for that reasons. His skill set sees him mainly in combat decks, he possesses the Brujah standard of CEL/pot. No Presence though, which makes Rake (at 6 capacity, with superior Presence) the better choice for political decks. His disadvantage is neglectable - just keep your eyes open and don't choose him as a designated blocker against Elliot Sinclair & Co. Card of the month: Wooden Stake, Equipment Melee Weapon. Strength damage as a strike. If more than 1 damage is inflicted on the opposing vampire by this weapon in a given combat, then that vampire is sent to torpor. In that case, this card is transferred to that vampire and he or she doesn't untap as normal during the untap phase as long as he or she remains in torpor. Okay, if everybody in your local playgroup plays tons of S:CE, simply forget weapons. But I find them much more interesting lately. Once, because S:CE is not that endemic here in Munich these days, and also because they are permanents and thus save card slots. Wooden Stake is a very special case. It offers a cheap and simple way to put a vampire into torpor - or burn her with Amaranth, which also returns the Wooden Stake to the diablerising vampire. A nice option for a Brujah deck set to destroy others, and an intimidating sight in Constanza Vintis hand. The downside is the same as with all weapons: If someone blocks your equip, you are screwed. Deck: The Impalers A deck to do the stuff I mentioned in the strategy section, The Impalers tries to use the Torn Signpost/Wooden Stake/Amaranth combo to burn vampires. The core is a classic Euro-Brujah deck that rushes and blocks with Second Traditions. It uses relatively few Celerity cards, basically for maneuvers, and no Immortal Grapple or Psyche!, which you might want to change if you see more S:CE in your area. Thoughts Betrayed obviously makes them eat stakes at your will, but this is an expensive card that only Dónal and Constanza can play without additional skill card(s). So only 5 of them, to be played only in crucial combats. All pool destroying potential is designed to go cross-table if need be, so we have Deflections and votes. Crypt: (12 cards) [Min: 15, Max: 32, Avg: 6,08] 1 Anvil (dom CEL POT pre tha, Brujah, 6, Primogen) 2 Constanza Vinti (CEL DOM POT, Brujah, 8, Prince) 2 Dónal O'Connor (CEL DOM POT, Brujah, 8, Prince) 1 Dre (cel pot, Brujah, 3) 1 Lupo (pot, Brujah, 2) 1 Rake (aus cel pot PRE, Brujah, 6, Prince) 2 Theo Bell (cel dom POT pre, Brujah, 7) 2 Volker (CEL pot, Brujah, 5, Prince) Library: (85 cards) Master (13 cards) 1 Al's Army Apparatus 5 Blood Doll 1 Depravity 3 Dominate 2 Heidelberg Castle, Germany 1 Information Highway Minion (72 cards) 6 Amaranth 3 Archon 7 Bum's Rush 5 Deflection 4 Flash 1 Kindred Restructure 4 Kine Resources Contested 2 Parity Shift 5 Pursuit 6 Second Tradition: Domain, The 5 Thoughts Betrayed 9 Torn Signpost 5 Undead Strength 6 Wake with Evening's Freshness 4 Wooden Stake Final words That's it for this month. November will see me exploring different strategies for the Brujah, beginning with an analysis of their relative weakness in terms of stealth and intercept. Please feel welcome to send me comments, praise and ideas at skaffen_amtiskaw"at"runbox.com. All abuse kindly direct to /dev/null Thanks for reading Skaffen Chantry Elder Of Munich http://colddawn.vr9.com "This stake must be driven through her. It well be a fearful ordeal, be not deceived in that, but it will be only a short time, and you will then rejoice more than your pain was great." (Van Helsing in Bram Stoker's 'Dracula')