Contents Section 1.0 Welcome Section 1.1 Feral Whispers Section 1.2 Talking point Section 1.3 Vampire of the month Section 1.4 Card of the Month Section 1.5 Deck of the Month Section 1.6 Ritual Challenge Section 1.7 Conclusion --------------------------------------------------------------- --------------------------------------------------------------- Section 1.0 WELCOME Come, brother, sit by my fire and listen to our tales of old. We are Gangrel and we are the beast. Hmmm... I have a worry. I’ll tell you, things are gonna be very different as a result of one card in Final Nights. Us Gangrel are going to be amongst the clans most affected by it, and it is going to be either very good or very bad for us. The more I think about it, the more I worry about exactly how things are going to change in the upcoming months. What am I talking about? Check out card of the month and see what I mean. Also a new competition this month - enjoy. Enjoy! --------------------------------------------------------------- --------------------------------------------------------------- Section 1.1 FERAL WHISPERS Well, the results of last month’s competition are... nobody entered, so I win. Hurrah! I’d like to thank members of the academy, etc etc. I had a nice prize lined up to. Ah well, I get to keep it. No letters either. Feel free to comment either to the group or to my email address: davecrazy@hotmail.com --------------------------------------------------------------- --------------------------------------------------------------- Section 1.2 TALKING POINT A Bluffer’s Guide to Table Dealing, part one... Well, this is speculative, but I have given a lot of thought around the way the game works lately, and have come to a few conclusions which I will be writing up over the next few newsletters. Hopefully, this fabulous part-work will form an invaluable reference guide that the whole family can enjoy. ;) Part 1 - Feel the Deal When it comes to playing, your passage to victory is typically a lot smoother if you actively go and seek table deals. A good player is typically a confident player. He is in control of his cards, pays attention to the table, and gives off "I am a good player" vibes. He knows this, but the rest of the table won’t, especially when you meet a new crowd for the first time, and it is just not done to go around saying "I’m gonna beat you coz I am a great player, far better than you amateurs". You have to do it subtly. VTES is predominantly a sociable game, where interaction between players is encouraged, so it is easy to demonstrate to other players that you are in control, and therefore a force to be reckoned with. The best way to do this is by actively seeking sensible deals - for example "I won’t bleed you next turn if you don’t block this action" or "You can borrow my Rumour Mill if you want, but I’ll have to ask you to help me out with the next vote". By offering table deals, this demonstrates you are a good player. In being a good player, you win more games. In winning more games, you become more confident. In being more confident, you offer more table deals. Etc. Although dealing is to be encouraged, remember a few points: 1) Don’t be stupid. Don’t offer deals that will help your predator oust you unless you absolutely positively have to. 2) Deal often, but little. The more comfortable people get dealing with you, the more credible you become, so when you REALLY need some help, it gives you a little more bargaining power. So try to get involved with other peoples play as often as possible by offering Votes, Stealth, Intercept, or by jiggering with Combat if you can. The more you add to play outside of your turn, the higher your table credibility will be. 3) Spread it around. Deal with everyone on the table. Obviously, your preferred dealee should be your Grand Predator or Grand Prey. However, if either your predator or prey are particularly powerful, it could help to deal with them (helping them a lot) or dealing with anyone else AGAINST them (to fight off a common enemy). Either way, try not to show favouritism unless there is a clear target. 4) Pick on the unpopular kid. Sneak Bleed. Power Vote. Nasty Rush. Weenie Anything. All these decks are very unpopular, and usually get the whole table’s attention. Wherever these decks appear, the people either side just groan. Deal all around the table to make sure that the threat is neutralised and that you are considered a safe bet to deal with. 5) Golden Rule. There are actually two parts to the Golden Rule. The first is Stick to Your Deals. Whenever you cut a deal, keep it. If you break a deal, it could take some time before people forget it. If it’s with your regular playgroup, it is not so bad, since they can always get you next time or whatever. However, at a tournament you only have 3 or 4 games to last it out. You will almost certainly be playing with the same folks in later games and they will remember. The taint of "deal breaker" can also mean people take seemingly unprovoked actions against you if you look like you are on the rise. 6) The second part of the Golden Rule is If You Are Going to Break A Deal, Don’t Get Caught! Claim it was an accident, or you forgot, or you had to. Try and bring the other person down. However, remember that this newsletter does NOT recommend deal breaking at all. Honest! More next time. --------------------------------------------------------------- --------------------------------------------------------------- Section 1.3 VAMPIRE OF THE MONTH Haakon Mortensen Clan: Gangrel Antitribu Capacity: 8 Ability: During your untap phase, you can move 1 blood from Haakon to any Gangrel or Gangrel-Antitribu in your uncontrolled region. Haakon can take an action to move 1 blood from the blood bank to any untapped vampire. Artist(s): Christopher Shy Disciplines : Superior Animalism Superior Fortitude Superior Protean Haakon is a Gangrel Methusula’s dream. If he is used in conjunction with the Ecoterrorists, the Zoo Hunting Ground, and maybe the Twisted Forest, you will never have to pay for a vampire ever again! Up to three blood transferred to vampires each turn, which also becomes a great source of blood gen later in the game. This really IS a special! The skills too are excellent for us country gangrels - a perfect fit in fact, which gives far better options for a !Gangrel / Gangrel deck, especially using Genevive, Monique, and Luther. He is on a par with Gitane St Claire, who is one of my favourite Gangrels, and he costs about the same too. Cost, in fact, is one of only two dowsides I can see to him, and the reason why he might not appear in every deck I make: he costs 8 pool and has no votes. For 1 pool more, you could buy Ingrid Rossler, who also has 2 votes and an equally cool special, as well as Dominate. 1 Less buys you Gitane who is the same without the skills. It seems, therefore, that you are paying solely for that special. It does seem worth it, but it is a little costly. Also, he is not a Gangrel, he is a !Gangrel. This means either a clan impersonation, or you may have to do without some of the really useful stuff (Backways for stealth, Ritual Challenge for punch, no Dog Pack or Rengade Garou). This means you could loose some focus. Nonetheless, I expect he will be a big hit amongst Gangrel lovers. --------------------------------------------------------------- --------------------------------------------------------------- Section 1.4 CARD OF THE MONTH King of the Mountain Type(s): Combat Discipline: Fortitude Blood Cost: 2 Rarity: Common Artist(s): Brian LeBlanc Card Text: Basic Prevent all damage from the opposing minion's strike. If the strike was made with a melee weapon, that weapon is destroyed. Superior Play after range is determined and before strikes are chosen. If the opposing minion inflicts damage with a hand strike this round (even if the damage is prevented), he or she takes an equal amount of damage during strike resolution as well Well, this changes everything. Fortitude now has a chance to become an offensive discipline! The superior of this could revolutionise combat in that environmental damage and weapons become more important in the game. What do I mean? Well, this one, single, common card means that all those with rush decks using potence or protean hand strikes facing a Fortitude Heavy deck will be screwed unless they are able to pack damage prevention to cover the hits back! Brujah and !Brujah can’t, Nossies and !Nossies (on the whole) can’t, !Gangrel can’t, but Gangrel can, so most rush decks could be railroaded by this card. It also causes even more trouble for those who use Melee Weapons. Anybody trying an attack with Kalis Fang, the Sengir Dagger, the Crimson Sentinal, or the Sword of Judgement has to be very careful with the inferior, or expensive hardware bites the big one. Of course, it still depends who you are rushing, but most Ventrue or !Ventrue (two of the most popular clans at the moment in my area) have Fortitude in spades, giving the player choosing them a huge advantage - votes, unblockable (Big) bleeds, and now anti Rush. The Tremere also have quite a few bigger vamps with Fortitude, as do the Assamites, and of course the Ravnos have always had plenty of Fortitude. Most interestingly, Aabt Kindred all have Fortitude at basic - how about weenie Setites with anti combat! So what can be done? Well, for the Gangrel, it means that you just pack a few more Skin of Rocks, just in case (to deal with any damage coming back). But for the other clans... I can certainly seeing a rise in Euro-Brujah Frisbee decks using Thought Betrayed to get around vampires using this card (loose 3 blood from the Sewer Lid, or 2 from the prevention card!). The Nossies and some !Gangrel can use animalism to use environmental damage such as Carrion Crows, or retainer damage via Murder of Crows or Wolf companions. However, all these options upset the card balance in a tightly focussed rush deck. The big downside to the card for its user is the cost: 2 blood is not easy to deal with on a regular basis. However, there is nothing to stop you using a Taste of Vitae. --------------------------------------------------------------- --------------------------------------------------------------- Section 1.5 DECK OF THE MONTH This is sort of a comedy deck, designed to thwart all but the Assamites or the Tremere... Deck Name: Hit me... harder... again... again!!! Crypt: (12 cards) [Min: 23, Max: 35, Avg: 7.25] 2 Badger (ani FOR pot PRO, Gangrel, 6) 1 Camille Devereux (ani FOR PRO, Gangrel, 5) 2 Emerson Bridges (DOM FOR pot PRE, Ventrue, 8, Prince) 1 Ingrid Rossler (ANI dom FOR PRO, Gangrel, 9, Prince) 1 Jan Pieterzoon (DOM FOR pot pre, Ventrue, 7) 1 Nakova (FOR pot, Ventrue, 6, Primogen) 2 Suhailah (FOR OBF pot ser, Ventrue, 9, Prince) 2 Timothy Crowley (ani dom FOR PRE, Ventrue, 7, Prince) Library: (90 cards) Master (14 cards) 4 Blood Doll 1 Creepshow Casino 1 Direct Intervention 2 Hostile Takeover 1 Island of Yiaros 3 Potence 1 Sudden Reversal 1 Ventrue Headquarters Minion (76 cards) 6 Archon 3 Bewitching Oration 4 Conditioning 1 Cryptic Rider 3 Deflection 5 Disarm 1 Disputed Territory 4 Drawing Out the Beast 3 Govern the Unaligned 3 Graverobbing 6 Immortal Grapple 3 Kine Resources Contested 6 King of the Mountain 1 Kiss of Ra, The 2 Parity Shift 1 Praxis Seizure: Berlin 1 Praxis Seizure: Glasgow 5 Second Tradition: Domain, The 3 Skin of Rock 5 Skin of Steel 3 Taste of Vitae 3 Unflinching Persistence 1 Ventrue Justicar 3 Voter Captivation A silly idea: become an Archon, attack a vampire, Draw out the Beast if they have Animalism, or not but keep it close. Then Grapple. Then prevent. Then King of the Mountain. Then Disarm. Then, if you can, Graverob! A silly deck, but it might work... especially against Rush decks! --------------------------------------------------------------- --------------------------------------------------------------- Section 1.6 RITUAL CHALLENGE (or COMPETITION CORNER) What is the most damage a named vampire can do, in a single strike turn, using a maximum of one of any particular card (e.g. only one Increased Strength, not 20)? Answers to the usual address. I have a prize for the first person to produce a correct answer, giving an explanation of how they got to that figure! Extra disciplines are aloud, but remember - a maximum of 90 cards in a deck, and the vampire will have to pay any blood costs (so no good it the combo needs 30 blood to play - unless, of course, they can pay it!). Best of luck. --------------------------------------------------------------- --------------------------------------------------------------- Section 1.7 CONCLUSION Thanks for reading. As before, any comments or ideas, feel free to post, or mail to me at davecrazy@hotmail.com. Any abuse, mail to ghoulsbestfriend@hotmail.com. See y’all David Hammond UGPOW