Gangrel Antitribu Newsletter

OFFICIAL VEKN GANGREL ANTITRIBU NEWSLETTER VOLUME 5 NUMBER 4 APRIL 2002

IN THIS ISSUE ......
EDITORIAL: Springtime in Paris
DECK: Children of the Night
DECK: Jared Strait's City gangrel storyline deck

EDITORIAL: Springtime in Paris
This newsletter is a couple of days late because we were in paris over
the weekend, mainly so that i could play in the Creation Rites: Paris
tournament, which was fabulously good fun. Michael was in Scotland for
his bi-termly Ordeal by Cousins, so it was only myself and Sarah who
caught the boat over to Le Havre. It was a gorgeous day and we had a
lovely meal on the boat - Smoked Haddock Rarebit was my choice, quite
delicious [Sarah's duck salad was less successful but perfectly edible].
At Le Havre Francois Alix picked us up and then we had a pleasant drive
to Paris where we hooked up with Philippe Lang at his flat. Denis Gerard
[Baron 2nis] and Nicolas were already there and we worried a bit about
Dave and the other brits who were late, but happily they all arrived
safely shortly thereafter. Philippe's flat is near the Moulin Rouge and
it is quite small, but somehow or other they managed to feed us a HUGE
meal, to amuse us with a couple of games of VTES, and to put us all up
for sleeping purposes - all to the accompaniment of copious quantities
of alcohol. i played my Chicago circle blood brothers deck and got
roundly kicked in by Nicholas [Ahrimanes] and Dave [Tremere], which
pretty much decided me against playing combat for the next day's
tourney.

Next morning it was over to the Guilde des Jeux which is in the deuxieme
arrondissement, quite close to the Rue de Sevastopol. i finally decided
to play Temptation of Greater Sleaze which is still probably my best
deck, and in the first two games i did alright, gaining 2+2 VP despite
contesting Lucien in BOTH games. Alas for me, in the third game i looked
too strong too early on, and consequently i lost Legendary Greger
Anderssen to Cryptic Mission/Society of Leopold [sandwiched between TWO
Cryptic missions decks, how unlucky is THAT???]. A little boy called Leo
won that game, playing a very sweet massive vampire bloat deck. None of
the brits did much better than me, though barney and dave both got table
wins and 6 and 4 VP respectively - Barney being amongst the top seven at
least qualified for the December final. Poor Pierre did the worst of all
- he managed to lose ALL his games, PLUS his wallet, the Queen Mother,
and a whole HOUR [later on he found the wallet, which was good]. But
none of us really minded - all the games were good fun and there wasn't
much evidence of the sorts of collusive behaviour which some people were
worried about [because the prize was a complete set of Jyhad, one could
imagine scenarios in which people MIGHT have agreed to do one another
favours in exchange for a share of it]. In between games we drank beer
and admired the VERY numerous prostitutes who throng that part of Paris
- plucky girls, many of whom look in need of a really decent night's
kip. i also picked up some new Zoon packs and a metal vampire for the
confrontation miniatures game, plus a game about werewolves which is
sort of like a superior version of Murder in the Dark [crossed with
Survivor], with cards. Sarah got back from walking the streets of paris,
or rather Versailles, just in time to hear me get a prixe for Fair Play
[Dave also got a prize for most creative deck, and deservedly so]. i'm
not sure what i did to deserve my prize, though - i was breaking deals
left, right and centre, and table-splitting like a bugger. All i can
think of is that i did it all with a smile on my face, AND i alerted the
judges to an error in the records which if left untouched would have
worked in my favour. While the final was afoot we went out for a meal,
and by the time we got back Kamel Senni had triumphed with his War
Ghouls - very well done to him!

Then it was back to Philippe's flat after a democratic vote [the
alternative to playing games was to go to a sex-club]. This time i
played my Brit-combo deck which i really must post; the first time i got
shut down by two suddens and a DI, the second time i got 5/6 VP
[Philippe got the other]. i must admit i rather enjoyed ousting Francois
"turbo-maitre" Alix with this deck, having been on the receiving end of
his equally-hideous turbo-Arika deck in Watford. i think Matt Rehlow is
probably right to claim that his concept is more robust than turbo-Arika
and i would add that it is MUCH quicker to get going. And so to bed, at
least for me [Sarah having retired a couple of hours earlier], but play
continued amongst the others until day-break.

Next day we bade our generous hosts farewell and went off to the Musee
Quai d'Orsay which is an amazing place, well worth the massive queue.
There were exhibitions of "Last Portraits" [Death Masks and the like,
very harrowing in places], the early years of Piet Mondrian, and an
American Realist painter, James E- ..... sorry, i've forgotten his name.
This art and culture thing is something the French do extremely well,
i've always thought - they write intelligently, creatively and
enthusiastically about these matters, they have a talent for the
arresting image/phrase, and they manage not to descend into the mire of
sloppy pseudo-intellectualism which besmirches many equivalent
enterprises by Anglo-Saxons. We also managed to fit in another meal in
the glorious restaurant, and more impressionists than you can shake a
paint-brush at. GREAT stuff.

The journey back to Le Havre was a LITTLE tiresome, since we had to
change trains and go part of the way by coach, but we arrived in good
time and had a SUPERB meal in a little seafood restaurant just by the
port. Oysters, whelks, prawns, all perfectly cooked [except, of course,
for the oysters which were perfectly raw] and delightful. Once on the
boat Sarah and i played our third duel which she won [2-1 to her over
the whole weekend], and so to the perfect sleep which you only seem to
get on a boat.

Thank-you to all our friends for this absolutely TERRIFIC holiday! We
hope to see at least some of you in England and to repay some of your
kindness this spring and summer, perhaps starting with the Portsmouth
tournament on the 21st of April, which will be held in the Oasis near to
the Pyramid Centre on the seafront - more details shortly.

DECK: Children of the Night
This month i have two decks that use Gangrel antitribu vampires. The
first one is my own work i'm sorry to say, so before i hit you with its
full brutality i'd better come up with a few lame excuses. It's actually
the second of two new decks that i played last night in our regular
wednesday pub game. The first deck was a True Brujah Happy Families deck
[6 true Brujah, 2 of each, 6 assorted pot/pre Brujah/!Brujah], and while
i was building it i became aware of the "outferior" text on Clotho's
gift. Once i had picked up my jaw i immediately set about building a
weenie obfuscate Night Moves deck with this card for added nastiness.
Here's the deck.

CRYPT: 25 vampires of capacity 4 or less, all have obf or OBF.
Watenda
Laurent de valois
Roland Bishop
Yorick
Agrippina
Regilio
Hadrian Garrick
Tansu Bekir
*Wren*
Agatha
Basil
Shannon Price
Daliyah
Zoe
Normal
Lena Rowe
*Max Lowell*
Claven
Celine Chevalier
Sammy
Duck
Josef
Nepata
Dollface
Dimple

LIBRARY [90 cards]
MASTERS [19]
Archon Investigation x 2
Effective management x 9
The Parthenon
Pentex Subversion x 2
Sudden Reversal x 3
Tribute to the Master x 2
ACTIONS [52]
Clotho's Gift x 10
Night Moves x 42
ACTION MODIFIERS [14]
Cloak the gathering x 3
Faceless Night x 3
Lost in Crowds x 3
Spying Mission x 2
Swallowed by the Night x 3
REACTIONS [5]
Delaying tactics x 5

Need i add that it swept in about 25 minutes, and that with an Info
Highway or two this could have been quicker? The Trujah deck did alright
as well, but my predator [Matt Stockton] managed to top-deck an Aire of
Elation to win.

DECK: Jared Strait's City gangrel storyline deck
In last month's newsletter i alluded to the fact that Jared Strait won a
storyline tournament with a Gangrel antitribu deck, and good for him!
Here is the deck - i stole it from another site without permission which
i THINK is ok because it's all public and above board but if not,
grovelling apologies to anyone i've upset. i'm making no comment on this
deck because it looks to me like a REALLY hard one to play, and i mean
to build and use it myself before i comment upon it [still trading for
cards for this].

Created By: Jared Strait
Crypt (12 cards): 
2 Sadie 
2 Max Lowell
2 Wren
1 Pieter 
1 Darrell Boyce 
2 Ellen Fence
1 Chandler Hungerford 
1 Daliyah 

Library [72 cards]: 
MASTERS [16; 22%]
1 Campground HG
1 City Gangrel Connections
1 Twisted Forest
2 Fame
3 Major Boon
1 Archon Investigation
2 Powerbase Mexico City
2 Gangrel Conspiracy
2 Blood Doll
1 Dreams of the Sphinx
ACTIONS [12]
3 Abomination
2 Arson
4 Bum's Rush
3 Shadow of the Beast
EQUIPMENT [4]
3 Improvised Flamethrower
1 Ivory Bow 
ALLIES [3]
3 Black Spiral Buddy
ACTION MODIFIERS [9]
3 Cloak the Gathering
6 Hidden Lurker
REACTION [6]
6 Wake With Evenings Freshness
COMBAT [19]
3 Disguised Weapon
3 Earth Meld
4 Form of Mist
2 Quick Meld
3 Flesh of Marble
4 Claws of the Dead
COMBO [3]
3 Swallowed by the Night

************************

And that's it for April! See you all in May when outdoor sex begins and
the vampy fun just keeps on flowing!