I have been sadly neglectful of this news letter of late, what with me not posting one in December, and being awfully late this month, but after writing, what, 20 of them over the last couple of years, I figure a bit of slacking off is warranted. This time around, I'm looking at my favorite vampire in the set, KoKo--the Destroyer. KoKo (2) pot Pretty simple. He (yes, KoKo is a he...) is a generic 2 point Nosferatu vampire with inferior potence. No tricks, no gimicks, nothing special, yet in the right circumstances, KoKo is quite the powerhouse of utility. First off, he is a 2 point vampire, which is always useful. An acting minion for 2 is a valuable resource, as he can take many actions just as effectively as a vampire that costs 5 or even 10 points, but has a negligible cost to your pool. In any situation, 2 point vampires are good for being blood dolls (spending every turn hunting), calling votes, taking generic (D) actions, and pretty much anything that your bigger vampires are too busy to do. Because he costs only 2 points, he is, ahem, expendible--if he gets burnt in a blood hunt after diablerizing Arika, it is hardly a loss. As a 2 point vampire, KoKo can easily come out on the first turn (assuming you aren't #1 to go) and be ready to act immediately, which is nothing to sneeze at. That, and he has potence. Potence. That's right, potence. KoKo is strong. Mighty. And he wants to kill you. Of all the disciplines in the set, potence is probably the most utilitarian as a stand alone, offensive, inferior discipline on a 2 point vampire. Sure, Ohanna can deflect bleeds with her dom, which is good and all, but can she bleed? No--she'll just get blocked and beaten up. How about KoKo's kin, Dimple? What is Dimple going to do with his obfuscate? Bleed for 1 at +3 stealth? Woo. And poor, little Vliam Andor. What can you do with inferior animalism? Get an army of rats? Run! He's got beer! Not so for KoKo. With just his inferior potence, KoKo can take down much larger vampires, and right quickly. As the basis of any strong potence based Rush deck (along with Hesina), KoKo comes out fast and hard hitting--he comes out on the first turn (80% of the time) and is ready to torporize your predator's first vampire before it even takes an action. Even with plain, old inferior poence, KoKo can easily take out a 4 or 5 point vampire without even working up a sweat or breathing hard (we'll forget that KoKo is a vampire for purposes of artistic liscence, here...). Rush, play Torn Signpost, Immortal Grapple, hit them with Undead Strength, and Disarm the sucker. Heck-that'll even take down Anson. Play a Taste of Vitae, and you are back where you began, but with your predator down one vampire. On the second turn. Yeah, yeah, KoKo doesn't have any disciplines that allow him to manuver--if he runs into a heavy manuver deck, he is just screwed, but what do you want for a 2 point vampire, huh? He's got a manuver from the Bum's Rush. He's got the Storm Sewers. He can use Fake Outs or Traps (as well as all the potence press cards). Ok. Maybe this time you'll manuver away from him. Next time, don't plan on being so lucky. He'll be bringing a skill card with him... Peter D Bakija PDB6@aol.com "You said that love's never kind. I memorize these lines, practice them every night." -Sleater/Kinney