Introduction: These last few months have been rather grim. The war that Konstantin has not brought us the most fortunate of circumstances. If we were a persecuted clan before, it is a hundred fold worse now. While we have secured Montreal and Toronto, we have resources to draw upon and we go into battle with crude weapons fashioned from wood and plastic. Were it not for our ability to enhance the effectiveness of these weapons with illusions, we would all have perished long ago. ----------------------------------------------------------------------- Exerpt from the Narrative of the Groundhog's Day Massacre While the reporters were setting up to record the festivities in Punxsutawney 75 miles away, Sarisha Veliku was engaging Alvaro, the Archbishop of Pittsburgh, in combat for the second time that night. She had earlier given him the bum's rush in the middle of the street as he got out of a limo. Despite being pecked at by a flock of carrion crows, he managed to dodge the shots from the two assault rifles she had leveled at him. Had he known that in reality, she was only shooting at him with a single zip gun, a crude pistol carved from wood and plastic, he might not have bothered. In any event, he disappeared into the shadows beyond her reach. Having earlier uncovered his haven, she merely awaited his arrival and this time he had no defenses prepared. She had created the illusion of his estate burning down around him and he began to frenzy from terror. Unable to defend himself, she blasted him with the zip gun and illusions again while the carrion crows attacked. As he crashed to the ground, she set on him and drained the rest of his vitae, but did not destroy him. She wanted him to be a warning to the Sabbat. Meanwhile, in other parts of the city, Lazar Dobrescu and Salbatore Bokkengro were leaving similar warnings. ----------------------------------------------------------------------- Card of the Month: Mass Reality Well, this month features the one card in the game that makes Zip Gun worth playing. All other clans have to be satisfied with 1R damage. Well, the Ravnos can not only get enough Mass Reality cards in play to make an Assault Rifle look wimpy in comparison, but they can use Terror Frenzy to make sure the opponent stays at long and doesn't use that Assault Rifle or Leather Jacket. I initially had planned on using Mass Reality with Wooden Stakes, but found that getting the stakes was either too unwieldy (an equip action) or too expensive (Horrid Reality). Zip Guns turned out to be much each easier to use. ----------------------------------------------------------------------- Deck of the Month: Another Mass Reality of Zip Guns Lasombra's web site already has a deck called "The Mass Reality of Zip Guns," (http://lasombra.tripod.com/zip_reality.htm) but I wanted to do something a little more focussed. Since the Ravnos only have one way of dealing with S:CE...keep attacking them until they run out. That's why Freak Drive is extremely important. If you don't get them with the Bum's Rush, Freak Drive and get them with the Haven Unconvered. One caveat, this deck hasn't yet been tested, so when I built the deck I stole some from Lasombra's deck and some from Peter Bakija's Potence Weenie rush combat deck. I've got 12 Bum's Rush cards and 5 Haven Uncovered cards. I might shave a few off of the Bums Rush and Carrion Crows if I find that I need more damage prevention, but if ranged damage isn't used very often, you probably won't need it. As it is, the Skin of Night will at least keep your vampires from being burned or nailed by a Dawn Op/Skin of Night/Weather Control combo. If I find that, as usual, the blood costs of cards are a bit high (big suprise there), I'll try to fit in some Masochism cards to make the Zip Gun damage work for me. Anyway, here it is: --Vampires (12) Lazar Dobrescu (x2) Salbatore Bokkengro (x2) Vaclav Petalengro (x2) Sarisha Veliku (x2) Joaqunia Amaya (x2) Natalia Konstantin, Baro of the Caravan --Library (90) --Master Cards (14) Haven Uncovered (x5) Fame (x2) Inbase Discotek, Frankfurt Park Hunting Ground Powerbase: Montreal Blood Doll (x4) --Actions (20) Mass Reality (x8) Bum's Rush (x12) --Action Modifiers (7) Freak Drive (x7) --Reactions (10) Cats' Guidance (x5) Wake with Evening's Freshness (x5) --Combat Cards (39) Carrion Crows (x7) Terror Frenzy (x8) Taste of Vitae (x8) Skin of Night (x6) Zip Gun (x10) ----------------------------------------------------------------------- Next month will feature a Ravnos version of the Gangrel Juggernaut deck as I show that the Ravnos are capable of being a decent bleed deck without losing tons of blood in the process. ----------------------------------------------------------------------- If you want to send me deck ideas or other comments and questions, feel free to e-mail me at dharzhak@yahoo.com. I would also enjoy reading feedback on usenet. Regards, Noal McDonald Prince of Metro Detroit -- "I was probably pretty young, when I realised that I had come from what you might call a family, a clan, a race, maybe even a species, of pure sons of bitches." --Faulkner, "The Mansion"