VEKN Nosferatu Clan Newsletter - October 1, 2000.
Number 22
Comments welcome to jbwhelan@dorsai.org
Section 1.0 INTRODUCTION: Re-emergence
Section 2.0 ECHOES IN THE TUNNEL: Sabbat war imminent.
Section 3.0 CRYPT & LIBRARY: Lord Sheldon's Domain
Section 4.0 CLAN RESOURCES: Patagia
Section 5.0 MINION PROFILE: Niklaus Vermeulen
Section 6.0 POINTLESS POEM: The Pawn
1.0 INTRODUCTION
Greetings fellow Clan Elders. Welcome to the latest installment of
the Vampire Elder Kindred Network's Nosferatu Clan Newsletter, which
is re-emerging from the sewers after several months in impenetrable
darkness. Earlier installments were edited/authored by fellow clan
elder Peter D. Bakija and can be found archived at his website at
www.geocities.com/bakija6/vtes.html. They are an good source of tips
and strategies, crypts and libraries.
2.0 ECHOES IN THE TUNNEL
This be no rumor: the Sabbat are on the rise. For the last few years
they have made themselves scarce, but now, a new offensive is brewing.
Expect the new Sabbat War to break out by end of this month. You might
want to check with your local contacts and suppliers to ensure that they
are adequately prepared for the assault. We can expect particular
trouble from the Lasombra and Tzimisce, as well as from the Ventrue
and Brujah renegades.
In more distant rumblings, it is known that the outcome of the impending
struggle will be closely watched by the independent clans. Should the
Sabbat make adequate progress, the independent clans are also planning
a coordinated effort to reassert themselves and compensate for their
previously marginal status. The operation, already in the planning
stages, will be code-named "Final Nights", and could go into effect as
early as late Spring, 2001.
Should this eventuality come to pass, one wonders if it will be an
occasion for previously hidden Nosferatu to emerge and involve
themselves in the Jyhad. We hear that Camarilla Elders may benefit
from the "odd goodie," though it is uncertain if this refers to ancillae.
3.0 CRYPT & LIBRARY
This month's strategy is based around our noble Justicar, Lord Sheldon
of the Clog, who is out to prove that nothing can get past him, ... or
through him. As is usually wise for Elders who wish to maintain their
authority, Sheldon has surrounded himself mainly with Caitiff and Neonates.
Any other situation would be too unstable. Nonetheless, Sheldon still
receives excellent support from the ever-loyal Nikolaus Vermeulen.
Lord Sheldon's Domain
Crypt (12)
4 Sheldon - Lord of the Clog (ANI AUS OBF POT for, Justicar)
2 Nikolaus Vermeulen (POT ani for obf, Prince, Special)
1 Grendel the Worm Eaten (OBF ani pot, Special)
1 Koko (pot)
1 Dimple (obf)
1 Hasina Kesi (pot, Special)
1 Navar McLaren (ani, Special)
1 Franciscus (ani, Special)
Library (90 - 10 Master & 80 Minion)
Master Cards (11%)
4x Blood Doll
2x Haven Uncovered
1x Powerbase: Chicago
1x Guardian Angel
1x The Rack
1x Giant's Blood
Minion Cards (89%)
4x Hidden Strength
6x Skin of Steel
1x Army of Rats
4x Carrion Crows
5x Cat's Guidance
3x Conquer the Beast
2x Drawing out the Beast
1x Murder of Crows
4x Song of Serenity
8x Immortal Grapple
3x Pushing the Limit
6x Torn Signpost
4x Undead Strength
5x Eagle's Sight
6x Swallowed by the Night
1x Ambush
1x Bum's Rush
1x Patagia - Flaps Allowing Limited Flight
7x Second Tradition: Domain
6x Taste of Vitae
Notes on Play:
This deck depends on getting out Sheldon. If Sheldon is not available
due to an bad crypt draw, then start with Nikolaus Vermeulen instead.
With a crypt half-full of neonates, you will often find you can bring
out a small vampire first, and still bring out Sheldon or Niklaus with
no delay whatsoever.
If your initial draw provides no means of getting into combat, keep
discarding so that you have something by the time Sheldon comes out.
The deck relies primarily on intercept, but there are a few rush cards
as well.
Once you get into combat, you may need to be willing to engage in overkill.
If you hold back just because you are facing some weenie, then odds are you
will not draw the intercept/untap you need for the next block. The deck is
designed to play many cards per combat. Let them flow.
Many combat cards in this deck are playable before range, which greatly
aids fluidity of card flow. Replacing half your hand before range ensures
you will have the maneuvers you need in the manuever phase, the Immortal
Grapple you need before strikes, etc, etc. The deck was specifically
designed NOT to include combat cards that clog your hand until the end
of the round - no Pulled Fangs, Decapitate, etc. If you tweak the deck,
I recommend that these not be added.
The deck runs out of cards quickly. Hopefully, you will do damage fast
enough that this will not matter. You will need to focus on your prey.
This works fine if he is a vote deck, but if he is a bleed deck, you may
need to block his directed actions with Eagle's Sight, or rely on your
rush actions. Use your judgment with Eagle's Sight, though - it is far
more efficient to let your prey and grand-prey kill each other than for
you to have to kill both.
Some comments on specific cards: Cat's Guidance is there primarily for
the untap, which is played after combat ends, but can also serve as
additional intercept if needed. Don't forget to play it after combat,
so you can be ready for the next block. According to current rulings,
Second Tradition can be played by either a tapped or an untapped vampire.
One thing to remember about Eagle's Sight is that, if you want to play
it at superior, you must be untapped - you play Second Tradition first
because attempting to block a cross-table action is not allowable until
after Eagle's Sight is played.
Possible substututions: Swallowed by the Night is there primarily for
the maneuvers, so you can substitute Behind You if desired. Since you
plan on being at close range, Wolf Companion will substitute fine for
Murder of Crows if needed. Similarly, use Jackie Therman or IR Goggles
if you don't have Patagia (but if you use IR Goggles, you should also
replace "Conquer the Beast" with "Trap"). If you have to do other
replacements, try to maintain the proportion of before-range cards
(ie. replacing Carrion Crows with Drawing out the Beast, etc). There
is really no comparable substitute for Second Tradition if you do not
have enough of them, but if you are short you can always throw in an
extra Cat's Guidance, Enhanced Senses, or Rats Warning.
You might want to add a few bleed cards to this deck, such as Pulse of
the Canaille, Laptop Computer or one of the bleed-bonus retainers.
Otherwise, bleeding him out might be slow if he refused to keep desperately
tranferring for new minions. For the moment, however, we prefer to
present the deck in unadulterated form, to better demonstrate its
efficiency as a combat machine.
Any comments, suggestions, or feedback on this deck are more than welcome.
Next month: "Burning Darkness" - stealth bleeds like you've never seen
using superior Obfuscate - Night moves, Spying missions, Mask of 1000
Faces, and more.
4.0 CLAN RESOURCES
This month's card: "Patagia - Flaps Allowing Limited Flight"
Anyone seeking to show that rare cards in V:tES are not, in general,
overpowered, would do well to include, among their list of examples,
the Nosferatu action card "Patagia: Flaps Allowing Limited Flight."
Far from being considered overpowered, this rare is often dismissed
with scorn as being inferior to its more common alternative, "IR Goggles",
since "Patagia" costs 1 blood, whereas "Goggles" is free. In theory,
however, "Patagia" ought to be a better card - not because it is rare,
but rather because it requires a Nosferatu. It is a general rule of
V:tES design that restricted-access resources (those requiring a clan,
a discipline, a vampire with a title, etc.) should have the edge over
general-access cards. While we agree that it would have been better
had "Patagia" not cost 1 blood, the situation is more complex than it
first appears. "Patagia" has many advantages that make it preferable
to "Goggles" in many circumstances. A list follows:
(1)"Patagia" cannot be transferred to another vampire via diablerie.
As such, does not create an additional incentive for others to diablerize
your torporized vampires (as "IR Goggles" might).
(2) "Patagia" can still be used to cancel maneuvers when "Drawing out
the Beast" is played against you. This can be important since staying
at range is an aspect of many DotB-based strategies, due to the +1 hand
damage it gives its victim. The same is not true of "IR Goggles" as
DotB prevents all use of equipment.
(3) Similarly, "Patagia" can still be used when under the influence
of the Master card "Frenzy".
(4) "Patagia" cannot be burned by tapping the "Anarch Troublemaker",
nor by the special actions of an "Arcanum Investigator".
(5) "Patagia" cannot be stolen as a strike by "Blessing of Durga Syn"
or by Lucian's special ability. Nor can it be destroyed as a strike
by "Canine Horde", "Shattering Blow", or "Fractured Armament".
(6) "Patagia" can be used even if the opposing vampire has a "Spiritual
Protector". In short, Patagia is immune to a wide variety of effects
that hose equipment.
Last, but not least (since it is relevant to this month's deck)
(7) it can be used in conjunction with "Conquer the Beast", which at
superior is probably the single best press-card out there.
On the downside:
(1) It costs 1 blood.
(2) You cannot transfer it to other minions via "transfer equipment"
actions or via "Heidelberg Castle".
(3) It is not "stackable" - you can have only 1 per minion.
(4) You cannot use it in conjunction with Vast Wealth or other equipment
enhancers.
(4) Equipment hoser cards are rarely played anyway, so it probably
won't matter.
"Patagia" can also be compared to the retainer card "Jackie Therman".
Here again, "Patagia" has the advantage of being immune to those effects
that destroy retainers. Also, unlike "Jackie Therman" it is not unique,
so you know you will have no trouble getting it into play uncontested.
The only major disadvantage here is, once again, that "Patagia" costs a
blood, whereas "Jackie" does not.
Are the advantages sufficient to justify the cost and disadvantages?
We take no definite position on the subject. Unless one is planning
to play "Conquer the Beast" (as in this issue's deck), it is certainly
a judgment call. Our primary reason for recommending the use of this
card is the atmosphere it provides. Thematically, a Nosferatu who
spouts batlike appendages is a lot more appropriate than one who is
wearing some stupid goggles.
As a final note, we might point out that "Patagia" is very similar to
the Protean action card "Shadow of the Beast", with the only advantage
of the latter being that it grants a press at superior. We guess that
this would make Ebenezer Rousch the ideal choice, if, for some reason,
you needed to construct a deck where a minion has two permanent maneuvers
per combat, and plans on playing "Conquer the Beast" as well.
5.0 MINION PROFILE
This months's minion: Nikolaus Vermeulen.
It is no surprise that Nikolaus Vermeulen is included in this month's deck.
He is one of the most popular Nosferatu minions out there.
Normally, a 7 capacity vampire would be expected to get you about 7 slots
of disciplines or special abilities. This seems to fit. Nikolaus has
5 slots of disciplines (POT, ani, obf, for), 1 slot for a title (Prince)
and 1 slot for his special ability, which allows him to move one blood
from Nikolaus to an uncontrolled Nosferatu during your untap phase. So at
first glance, Nikolaus does not seem at all undercosted, (unless we suspect
that his special ability should have been worth more than one slot). So
why is he so good?
Let's start with his four disciplines. What stands out is that he has
both POT and for, always a deadly combat combination. Because several
other Camarilla Nossies posess this combo (most notably Sheldon, Selma,
Chester DuBois, and Marty Lechtansi), Nikolaus complements the others
nicely. Nikolaus, however, ties with Chester duBois with being the youngest
of them all. Nikolaus suffers slightly in comparison with the others for
having both his other two in-clan disciplines at inferior, but this can be
a minor matter in a deck designed around his strengths... and, as we shall
see, he makes it up in other ways.
One major advantage that Nikolaus hold over his peer Chester, is that,
as a Prince, Nikolaus holds one of the best titles out there, whereas
poor Chester (an otherwise excellent vampire) pays an entire slot of his
cost/capacity for a lousy Primogen title (which is one of the most useless
titles out there). As a prince, Nikolaus has access to all the traditions,
and numerous other excellent cards that require a "Prince or Justicar".
The most notable of these, perhaps, are "Second Tradition: Domain" and
"Fifth Tradition: Hospitality," the latter which works great in combination
with his special ability and his access to stealth.
Finally, lets look at his special ability: This ability is in most respects
as good, if not even better, than having him come out with a permanent Blood
Doll. It is worse only in that one must have an uncontrolled Nosferatu to
use it, but better in that it gains you an extra transfer as well as an extra
pool (almost as good as getting a half-strength Information Highway with your
Blood Doll). We know from the example of "Master Skill" cards that a costless
permanent Master is worth about 1 discipline slot, so again this seems to fit.
But, as "Blood Doll" is one of the most popular and useful masters out there,
Nikolaus again makes the most of the equation.
In short, Nikolaus is not undercosted or overpowered in any obvious way.
But somehow, he seems to make the most of all the slots he has.
6.0 POINTLESS POEM
This month's pointless poem was submitted by Tiberius, the self-styled
"Scandalmonger". Tiberius has been virtually ignored by the Clan Elders,
especially since Peter Bajika dismissed him as a useless minion in Clan
Newsletter #3. Evidently he now has plenty of time for both chess and
poetry. Perhaps this work reflects his own frustrated dreams of glory?
But we must not scoff, for, in the final analysis, are we all pawns, and
it may be more fortunate not to be useful.
The Pawn
Our hero spurns the coward's way
And boldly leaps into the fray
No sooner do his feet hit ground
He feels his ankle twist around
"I must have got an muscle sprain,
"I fear I'll never leap again,"
He cries, "But no, I'll not despair.
"Just four short steps and I'll be there.
"I'll win a scepter and a crown,
"And power to sweep opponents down."
But, alas, one rarely sees
Such heroes win such victories.
So many foes do guard his path,
He hardly dares to face their wrath.
"But I shall not retreat," he cries,
And stands there trapped and paralyzed.
He might as well be in a cage,
While battles all around him rage.
And when at last the battle's done --
The king is dead -- the field is won,
He often finds to his dismay,
That glory's still four steps away.
Edited by John Whelan (jbwhelan@dorsai.org). Submissions welcome:
decks, strategy, poetry, humor, ... anything with a Nosferatu theme.
This month's contributors:
Sheldon Del Clog
Tiberius Scandalmonger
John Whelan