Contents - Section 1.0 - Welcome Section 1.1 - Talking point Section 1.2 - Vampire of the month Section 1.3 - Card of the Month Section 1.4 - Deck of the Month Section 1.5 - 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. After a busy February, it seems I have the luxury of a little time to consider all things Gangrel again. This month I am going to look at the strategies that can assist in the creation of a Gangrel Bleed deck, that deck of mystery. As dedicated Gangrel fans know, the one thing that Gangrels can struggle with is Bleeding, there being not much in the way of bleed boosters available to their core skills of Protean, Fortitude, or Animalism. Even their "forth discipline" of Potence doesn't help much. So we will be looking at ways of maximising their bleeding potential. Enjoy! ---------------------------------------------- ---------------------------------------------- Section 1.1 TALKING POINT Protean Combat Cards Protean is the all-in-one combat discipline, with a twist! It is one of the most lethal ways of demolishing your prey or predator (or anyone!) and since it is owned almost exclusively by the Gangrel (or !Gangrel) makes them the feared clan they are. Let's look at the highlights: AGGRAVATED DAMAGE Wolf Claws Claws of the Dead Bone Spur All these deal agg hand damage for a small outlay (1 blood). These are the staples of the Gangrel combat portfolio. STRIKE: COMBAT ENDS Earth Meld Rapid Change Form of Mist These are real stunners, since they allow S:CE but with a great twist. Rapid Change is the weakest (costing 1 blood, and only offering S:CE at superior) but is great due to its flexible nature - stealth or S:CE. Form of Mist at superior, however, offers both! One of the most interesting of combat cards, it allows to continue "as you were". It's a card that any Gangrel deck should have, just in case. Earth Meld is a great defensive card, since it is identical to Majesty, but better since the untap of the Superior version is free. DAMAGE PREVENTION Flesh of Marble Adaptability These are not as good as getting rid of damage as Fortitude, but they are great at limiting the damage, and in some cases preventing it. Flesh of Marble is the Potence decks nightmare. It effectively puts up a damage "filter" up, so that only 1 point of damage gets through. Compare that to the usual 3 to 6 a potence deck would deal out and you can see the obvious benefit. Adaptability is useful for stopping aggravated damage. This, used in conjunction with Flesh of Marble is a great way of preventing the brunt of combat damage. Of course, it is not airtight since non agg can still get through) but it is very useful. "SPECIAL" CARDS Shadow of the Wolf Body of Sun Body Flare These are more expensive cards, costing 2 blood or (with BoS) 4 points of blood to activate. Body Flare is fairly self-explanitory, dishing out 2 agg damage and at range in the superior. It does what it says on the tin. Shadow of the Wolf is a great card. It gives an additional strike, extra damage on the second strike, and a press at superior. This is the only non-celerity combat card (except Arms of the Abyss) that allows you to strike twice in the same round, and also gives you extra damage. Combine with Bone Spur and Scorpion sting, and you are dealing a world of hurt! Of course the cost of this combo is 3 blood, so you might not want to try it too often. However, Body of Sun is something you'd never want to try more than once, since it costs 4 blood! It is a card that makes everyone go "ouch" at! It allows you to do 3 agg damage to both combatants and their retainers. It is a "neutron bomb" of a card. The curious thing is that the Gangrel get most of their strength from their retainers, so what kind of combat monster would use this? This is still the funniest card to play against a Brujah deck, though. There should also be a honourable mention to Uncontrollable Rage, which is a natural follow up to a Bums Rush or Ambush. This allows hideous extra damage (+1 agg hand damage / +2 agg ahnd damage), at a proportionately small cost. COMBAT SUPPORT Dissolution Quick Meld Form of the Ghost Eyes of the Night These are all simple maneuvers and presses, but they are very useful indeed since the only discipline that has access to as many combat support cards as this is celerity. So, from this quick roundup, you can see Protean is a combat discipline with all the aces! It's a shame there isn't much in the way of hand damage boosting, but bearing in mind the various means of pumping up hand damage (Ritual Challenge, Depravity, being Zach North or Angus the Unruled) it is not too hard to inflict up to 6 agg hand damage in before you lay strike cards! Being a Gangrel is cool. ---------------------------------------------- ---------------------------------------------- Section 1.2 VAMPIRE OF THE MONTH Stanislava Clan: Gangrel Capacity: 11 Title: Inner Circle Artist(s): Max Shade Fellwalker Set(s): *Dark Sovereigns * Set card was introduced Ability: (4 votes) Retainers employed by a minion opposing Stanislava lose their abilities until the end of combat; allies cannot block Stanislava. +2 bleed. Disciplines: Superior Animalism Superior Celerity Superior Dominate Superior Fortitude Superior Protean Comments Stanislava is the ultimate vampire. She is the best value-for -pool package in the game. She has 5 Superior disciplines, 4 votes, +2 Bleed, and a semi-useful ability, all for 11 pool. She is one of the few Big vampires who does not have a target painted over her ass, since going up against her could seriously damage your health. Animalism, Protean, and Celerity can make a devastating combo (Carrion Crows, Scorpion Sting, Blur, Scorpion Sting, Scorpion Sting, Wolf Claws could burn a 6 point vampire at a cost of 1 blood!) and Dominate as well makes her the ultimate "Bruise and Bleed" monster! Fortitude also allows her access to damage prevention, so she won't go down easily (oo-er!). The only danger with Stan (as I affectionately call her) is the cost involved in bringing her out. 11 is a big dent in anyone's pool, and unlike Arika and Leandro, she tends not to go into Political decks, due to her lack of Obf or Pre. This means you really need someone like Ingrid Rossler involve to allow the old Minion Tap / 5th Trad parlour trick (sleazy, but oh so good). Again, another expensive vampire and risky to pull off. Nonetheless, Stan is a Titan amongst Vampires. All hail the mighty Stan! ---------------------------------------------- ---------------------------------------------- Section 1.3 CARD OF THE MONTH Shackles of Enkidu Type(s): Equipment Clan: Gangrel Pool Cost: 2 Rarity: Uncommon Artist(s): Michael Weaver Set(s): *Dark Sovereigns * Set card was introduced Card Text: Unique equipment. Before range is chosen in a round of combat, you may put the Shackles on any minion opposing the vampire with this card. This vampire still controls this card, however. Combat ends. The Shackled minion does not untap as normal during his or her untap phases; he or she burns 2 blood during each of your untap phases. Any minion may burn this card as a (D) action. Clarifications and Rulings "The shackled minion" refers to the minion the card is put upon (not the Gangrel the card is put upon with the equip action). [TOM 19951212] Once placed "on" a minion, the Shackles will harm the minion they are on. [LSJ 19990602] An Ally does not suffer the "burn 2 blood" effect from being shackled. [RTR] Comments This is a fabulous piece of kit for a Gangrel Intercept deck, and also a real pain in the ass for anyone intercepting. The most useful function of the Shackles is, clearly, that it ends combat before the range stage is finished. That means no Immortal Grapples! Great if you are playing a "Fortitude-lite" Gangrel sneak bleed deck. It also gives you some great bluffing potential - you may get away with a few bleeds "for one" with a minion owning this equipment, simply because the blocker can't be arsed to deal with it! Downsides are obvious - waste of an action, and 2 pool (2 POOL!), but every time I've used it in a game, it has always worked a treat. Worth considering, even as a "prayer card". ---------------------------------------------- ---------------------------------------------- Section 1.4 DECK OF THE MONTH Deck Name: Gangrel Bleed Created by: DH Description: Classic Gangrel stealth and bleed Crypt: (12 cards) [Min: 13, Max: 37, Avg: 6.08] 1 Anastasia Grey (ani pro, Gangrel, 3) 1 Badger (ani FOR pot PRO, Gangrel, 6) 1 Camille Devereux (ani FOR PRO, Gangrel, 5) 1 Chandler Hungerford (PRO, Gangrel, 3) 1 Faruq (ANI dom for pot PRO, Gangrel, 8) 1 Iliana (DOM FOR PRO tha, Gangrel, 7) 2 Ingrid Rossler (ANI dom FOR PRO, Gangrel, 9, Prince) 1 Raven (ani FOR PRO, Gangrel, 5) 1 Ricki Van Demsi (for pro, Gangrel, 3) 1 Roman Alexander (ani for pro, Gangrel, 4) 1 Stanislava (ANI CEL DOM FOR PRO, Gangrel, 11, Inner Circle) Library: (90 cards) Master (17 cards) 1 Animalism 1 Backways 1 Barrens, The 4 Blood Doll 1 Dominate 1 Ecoterrorists 1 Fortitude 1 Giant's Blood 1 Legendary Vampire 2 Minion Tap 1 Pentex Subversion 1 Sudden Reversal 1 Zoo Hunting Ground Minion (73 cards) 2 Cats' Guidance 4 Computer Hacking 2 Conditioning 3 Deflection 2 Dissolution 5 Earth Control 4 Earth Meld 2 Force of Will 4 Form of Mist 5 Freak Drive 1 Gangrel Justicar 2 Govern the Unaligned 2 Guard Dogs 1 Inveraray, Scotland 1 J. S. Simmons, Esq. 3 Laptop Computer 3 Movement of the Slow Body 1 Mr. Winthrop 2 Quick Meld 4 Rapid Change 1 Rapid Healing 1 Raven Spy 1 Regeneration 1 Renegade Garou 2 Restoration 1 Shackles of Enkidu 2 Skin of Rock 3 Skin of Steel 1 Tasha Morgan 2 Tier of Souls 3 Wake with Evening's Freshness 2 Wolf Claws SNEAKY There are 2 ways of doing Gangrel Bleed - The Sneaky Way and the Agg Damage way. I have elected to do the Sneaky Way, and will probably follow up next month with the Agg Damage way. This method uses the best of the light stealth available - Earth Control, Rapid Change, and Backways. The downside of Gangrel Stealth is that it is so damned expensive - 1 blood per card. However, given the right circumstances, this can generate up to 4 stealth in an action, 5 if the action has +1 stealth (such as Tier of Souls). BLEEDY This leaves great scope for "tooling up" with retainers (JS Simmons and Tasha Morgan), Laptops, Tier of Souls, and (for the patient) Inveraray, Scotland. In fact, the Gangrel are one clan who can really make use of Inveraray - do the "bleed boost" action, Freak Drive, and then bleed. There are also a couple of other ways of boosting bleeds - Legendary Vampire is a big winner if you get it at the right time (I dream of Stanislava being Legendaried. I have heard of some brave soul Banishing his own Satanislava, to bring it out next turn as a Legendary vamp - nice!). Don't forget good old Computer Hackings. SLEEPY Going on to a theme from a couple of months ago, Torpor isn't so bad! Force of Will used in conjunction with a couple of Bleed Boosters can lead to a nasty bleed, but then you get to untap using Movement of the Slow Body. It's a +2 stealth action, as well, giving a head start against even the nastiest intercept deck. While you're there, you could even try a regeneration, only to Freak Drive and Rapid Heal out of there. Very handy against the one major problem with this deck. HUNGRY Yep, the Gangrel Bleed deck suffers from a severe blood flow problem - all the "good actions" cost blood. Even this is not insurmountable, though, since there are a couple of Restorations in there, which often get allowed, since 2-3 blood is not as threatening as a full top up (a la Giants Blood / 5th Tradition). And the Blood Dolls should give you a bit of 2 way generation. Even so, it may help to set up one minion as a "Powerbase" - hunting every turn, and passing blood through the Blood Doll. FIGHTY In combat, you are left with a lot of S:CE, which the Gangrel do suprisingly well. Earth Meld is a superior form of Majesty, and Rapid Change is one of my favourite non-confrontational cards in the game - stealth at basic, S:CE at superior. Finally, there is the mighty Form of Mist, which is great in this deck, since it allows you to carry on through - whatever the action. I have thrown in a few manoeuvres to get out of Grappling range, but with any luck you won't need it! Note also the use of 2 Wolf claws, as a cunning bluff - when you first hit the table, everyone will expect a combat deck. SAFETY Note that there is not much in the way of untapping, and also very little intercept. This deck should be a fairly consistent forward-looking deck. The lack of intercept is only aided by a couple of deflections, so you should always leave one of your minions untapped, regardless of the situation. SUMMARY So, this is a classic Gangrel S+B deck. A little bit weak on the backfoot, but fairly strong going forward. The first time I played this, I got 6VPs over 2 games, but it has languished in retirement ever since. The only changed I have made are along the lines of removing some duff cards (Arson, which I normally always include, and a couple of Guard Dogs) in order to add more bleed boosters. I haven't played it in a while, though, so anyone who fancies a go, let me know how it does! ---------------------------------------------- ---------------------------------------------- Section 1.5 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 (after that Deck of the Month, I am ducking for cover!) See y'all David Hammond UGPOW