OFFICIAL VEKN GANGREL-ANTITRIBU NEWSLETTER VOLUME 8 NUMBER 1 JANUARY 2005 In this heaving-its-gigantic-cyclopean-bulk slobberingly away from the festive board issue …. *************************************** EDITORIAL: New year, new cards FICTION: Bauble LETTER TO THE EDITOR AND DECK: LSJ's Black Hand *************************************** EDITORIAL: New year, new cards Naturally we begin this first issue of 2005 by wishing a happy new year to ALL our readers, but it is fair to add that this will be an EXCEPTIONALLY happy new year for devotees of the Gangrel antitribu on account of the new cards in the 10th anniversary set and the Kindred Most Wanted expansion. KMW includes starter decks for the Gangrel antitribu as well as the Baali, and two other decks [Alastor and Anathema] which I must admit I'm a bit vague about, so will shut up about them now – let's just leave the subject with a general expression of editorial chuffedness about having a !Gangrel starter. The 10th anniversary set will have been creating bulges in most of our readers' Christmas stockings and four of the cards are of particular interest to !Gangrel players – I refer of course to the two new allies, the Orb of Ulain and the Bowl of Concordance. The first three will be a significant boost to Sebastian Goulet cheap ally fun decks [see fiction, below] and the fourth to wall decks based on Omaya, ie to the things which our clan does best, most people would agree. Arguably Powerbase: Los Angeles will also turn out to be jolly useful if one accepts this Newsletter's view that !Gangrel make the best Anarchs. Sigh. So many decks to build, so little time! *************************************** FICTION: Bauble January gales sweep up the channel and the great walls of water are funneled and focused into the Solent, pounding onto the pebble beaches and concrete fortresses of Southsea. On nights like this Sebastian likes to walk along the front, imbibing the sheer ferocity of Nature, but tonight he has a mission, so he crosses the road at South Parade Pier and approaches the entrance to Joanna's Nightclub. The doormen seem not to notice as he slips past them, turning left at the cloakroom and down some steps into Joanna's little-known sister club, The Burrowers Beneath. It's a Changeling joint, a domain of the Unseelie Court who have never really got over the Saxon interlopers' arrival on this shore. Sebastian buys a packet of Cohiba cigarillos and a box of matches from a Bunny girl and flops into a leather armchair. The trick is, he thinks, to let THEM come to YOU. "Hey-hey-hey! If it isn't the Dirty Frenchman!" High on glamour, the speaker is Moongleam, an Unseelie Satyr. Sebastian looks at him with hooded eyes and blows a smokering. "Do you, erm, have it?" Sebastian feels in the pocket of his leather coat and tosses something round and shiny towards the Changeling. "Here you go. Happy New Year, compliments of Legbiter!" "Wow! Thanks ma-, erm, much obliged, compadre!" Moongleam knows that there will be a price to pay for the shiny bauble, but not until tomorrow night. ************ As the sun sets next evening, Jost Werner is already up, preparing his brief for another Legal assault on Legbiter's powers and privileges. Despite the able assistance of his Marijava ghoul he is not surprised when Moongleam appears out of the shadows. "Haha! Caught you at last, you scheming reptile!" "Yes, well, very interesting, who would have thought that reading the London Evening Star with that funny new eyeglass would reveal our plans so exactly. Now bow down before my gobsmacking beauty, and then you can tootle back off to your hobbit hole and I'll get on with faking a few more Vermeers." "O, ok. Lovely weather for the time of year, don't you think?" From the corner of his eye Jost notices the curtains twitch and a blaze of sunlight sweeps into the room. In sudden, unreasoning panic he shrieks, tries to flee, and then faints. When he awakes it is to find Sebastian standing over him, and Legbiter's voice speaking from the shadows behind him. "Hullo, Jost! We'll be working together from now on." *************************************** LETTER TO THE EDITOR AND DECK: LSJ's Black Hand Hi James, You had asked me for a decklist for the blackhand deck I played at Zopf*Con. So, after a ridiculously long wait, here it is. Merry Christmas. Crypt: (12 cards, Min: 19, Max: 31, Avg: 6.42) ---------------------------------------------- 1 Yazid Tamari ani dom obf CEL QUI 8, Assamite:3 1 Wah Chun-Yuen cel dom pre POT 5, Brujah antitribu:3 1 Ezekiel obf pot PRE SER 6, Followers of Set:3 2 Skryta Zyleta obf pot pro CEL 5, Gangrel antitribu:3 1 Soldat cel dom obf POT PRO 7, Gangrel antitribu:3 2 Tarbaby Jack dom ser ANI OBF POT 8, Nosferatu antitribu:3 2 Teresita for ANI OBF POT 7, Nosferatu antitribu:3 1 Blackhorse Tanner AUS DOM FOR 7, Ventrue antitribu:3 1 Katherine Stoddard dom for 4, Ventrue antitribu:3 Library: (90 cards) ------------------- Master (27 cards) 1 Admonitions, The 2 Blood Doll 5 Corporal Reservoir 1 Direct Intervention 7 Dominion 1 Dreams of the Sphinx 2 Obfuscate 1 Shakar 1 Shanty Town Hunting Ground 2 Special Report 2 Using the Advantage 1 Watchtower: Four Ride Forth 1 Weeping Stone Action (13 cards) 2 Bloodwork 2 Form of Corruption 4 Night Moves 5 Reunion Kamut Action Modifier (25 cards) 2 Art of Memory, The 1 Circumspect Revelation 10 Cloak the Gathering 2 Conditioning 3 Faceless Night 1 Forgotten Labyrinth 2 Lost in Crowds 2 Marked Path 2 Mask of a Thousand Faces Political Action (2 cards) 2 Watchtower: Greatest Fall Reaction (7 cards) 4 Guard Dogs 2 Ministry 1 Wake with Evening's Freshness Combat (6 cards) 1 Burning Wrath 2 Canine Horde 1 Death of My Conscience, The 1 Pushing the Limit 1 Thrown Gate Ally (9 cards) 3 Courier 1 Gregory Winter 3 Marijava Thuggee 2 Political Antagonist Equipment (1 cards) 1 Changeling Skin Mask [Editor's note: I saw Scott win a tough table with this deck in the USA and asked for a transcript. I think it is a good one, but should perhaps add that David or possibly Robyn Tatu once told me of an occasion when, to cover for a missing player in a tournament, Scott unwrapped a Jyhad starter deck and proceeded to sweep the table with it.] *************** And that's it for January! See some of you at Bloodbath 2005 and the rest whenever the Aether Sprites next move my fingers to dance on the key pad! O, and before I forget, if you haven't already seen it you MUST get hold of the Japanese animation Spirited Away, ESPECIALLY if you are anything at all interested in the Wraith or Changeling RPGs. Thanks to my Mum for this tip. Address for correspondence: chopsalotapepl"at"yahoo"dot"co"dot"uk