V:EKN Clan Gangrel Antitribu Newsletter, June 1998 Gangrel Anti Newsletter Vol1 number 4 June 1st 1998 IN THIS ISSUE .... More Tales from Legbiterland. Are you sitting comfortably, children? A cute and cuddly deck from the fluffiest and biggest-eyed Methuselah on the block ..... SORROW!!!! More nice games for well-behaved children ... Jyhad variants that borrow rules from other neat CCGs. The Charming solution to Legbiter's merry Betrayer deck puzzle. FICTION Eventually of course I was ousted in story1, by David Pontes. Here is the decisive turn - some of the story is mine and some is Davidıs. I expect you can work out which is which! starting pool: 8 pre-untap: tap the Heidelberg to move 1 blood from Victoria to Gilbert. Vicky 4/5, Gilbert 6/7 Untap: Everything. blood to Iliana Master: blood doll on watenda. suck from him and iliana. I forgot to say that I tapped the Frag and discarded a Malk Prank and a Telepathic Counter during my master phase Minion: Gilbert is too wild tonight. He knows something is going to happen. He's too restless to stay in his room. he opens the door. He runs like mad (?). He goes back, for no apparent reason. He runs forth again. He finally decides to go running off to a ship, sailing to Glasgow. Wreck and havoc. Wreck and havoc... Iliana arrives on special flight from Germany. The airport's unseen eyes penetrate her primitive disguise of velvet gloves and mirrorshades. Fortunately she has Katarina's permission. Strangely enough, someone whose description fits her own was seen prawling on the city's harbor. Strange things are happening... [Iliana bleeds for 1. If blocked (or not), Gilbert will play Mask1K for +1 stealth, or just to untap Ily] More to come... David haha! Just as I foretold! [no blocks, but Caitlin telepathically counters the bleed down by 1]. Grrrrr.... Allright, Grendel will bleed then! It seems everyone was invited to that party... Grendel can come to the party, IF he can get by the bouncers [Caitlin DOES have rather magnificent breasts, trust me on this one.... this time she blocks]. Hey, you must know your minions... Very well, it's a block. Grendel strikes hands, no press. Next, Victoria bleeds. Then Watenda. Goddamit, one of these days I'm going to develop a split personality neurosis. Oh, shut up, David... Ok, Watenda and Victoria don't bleed. After Grendel, Iliana does a GtU. Caitlin struck hands in the scrap with Grendel, no press. The Renegade Garou blocks the GtU. Grrrr .... Grendel at 3/5 Snarly runs at the shadow lurking behind the manor. He rakes at it, painting the wall with gashes of red. He totally dismembers the corpse. He ends up with a perfectly human hand coming out of his mouth. Not Iliana's. You can't be a homeless looking for shelter in Glasgow anymore, can you? Watenda is unnoticed as he enters thru the windos of the manor. He finds his way thru the house, entering the basement. He meets some neonates, dancing at a melancholic waltz on the basement. He approaches them, looks in their eyes, and madness pours into their minds. They each happily take a parcel, wich they knew would grant them salvation. [Watenda takes the action with sup. Mask1K. If unblocked, Watenda at 1/4. You pool:3] Next, as the ravenous Garou digests his victim, he gapes in awe at *another* Iliana, this time coming thru the front gate. He burps. [Ilyana bleeds again (no, I'm not repeating actions).] Snarls STILL thinks Iliana looks like a mail-loving sort of lick .. so he blocks again .... He runs at her, eyes red with rage, but suddenly she's no longer there! He senses someone else in the vicinity. A Nosferatu? [Tusk plays cloak for +1 stealth. If unblocked, you pool: 2, and Tusk bleeds. Guess who's tapping the Labirinth...] (I'll haste things up) Snarls-at-postmen can smell that his other enemy wore once a leather bag and a hat! He's completelt out of his mind when he sees a hideous visage grinning at him from under a sewer grid. [your pool: 1] Victoria, the last to come, comes out of her limo (actually a Austin Mini) and snobbishly humphfs as she notices the gate guard to be trying to dig into some sewer grid. No-one seems to notice her entry, just today she dressed up for the occasion. She's tired of being ignored. Luckily she has his dear friend Mr. Deadguy, who's always with her, and understands. A pity only she can see him. "Well, Mr Deadguy, it seems we're just in time! These people are so bored they look like walking dead. Let's cast some fire in their souls, shall we?" [Victoria bleeds, and plays Cloak. You're dead, Jim?] I prefer the term, metabolically challenged, m'self .... As Legbiter mansions burns magnificently to the ground, my various minions surrender, are slain or most likely disperse to the four corners of Scotland, there to lie until called to action by another dark master .... me, with my unique discipline of Inconsequential Nonsense [superior, natch], I have no trouble in skirting the pathetic attempts of Pontes' minions to find me, and legging it over the back wall. Uh-oh. Strong hands seize me by the seat of my Undead pants and I find myself raised up and looking into the strange blank [not to say, invisible] face of Mr Deadguy! "Where are they???" "OK, ok, I was just looking for you .. here ...""The Second Knicker of the Nictuku!" For a moment Mr Deadguy's hold slackens, and that's all it takes .... when he looks again, I am gone .... Well played, David! Another 6 pool and another VP .... G'bye Bleu! G'bye Biomech! See y'all in the Shadows! Great game you did too! Thanks a lot for being with us, and I'm really looking forward for another game with you, Jim! SORROW'S GANGREL ANTI DECK I know I said I would do a Commons-only gangrel anti deck this month, but I couldnıt resist posting this little gem from Sorrow [Chris Boget]. Recently Sorrow has been experimenting with EXTREMELY vicious vampire-destroying combat decks and this is a good example of the way he has been thinking. Moreover, since it is largely a gangrel-anti affair it is not out of place in this newsletter. Caitlin - 5 - ANI PRO aus dom Monique - 5 - ani pro for aus Luther - 6 - ANI pro for obt Pieter - 6 - PRO OBF for tha Pieter - 6 - PRO OBF for tha Zachary - 7 - PRO OBF CEL for pre Samantha - 10 - PRO OBF CEL ani tha - Aggravated Hand Damage Samantha - 10 - PRO OBF CEL ani tha - Aggravated Hand Damage Roman Alexander - 4 - for ani pro Raven - 5 - PRO FOR ani Badger - 6 - PRO FOR ani pot Zack North - 6 - for ani pot pro - +1 Hand Damage Fortitude Fortitude Strained Vitae Supply Gangrel Conspiricy Gangrel Conspiricy Gangrel Conspiricy Gangrel Conspiricy Gangrel Conspiricy Gangrel Conspiricy Gangrel Conspiricy Gangrel Conspiricy Slave Auction Slave Auction The Parthenon The Parthenon The Parthenon The Parthenon The Rack Zoo Hunting Ground Campground Hunting Ground Bum's Rush Bum's Rush Bum's Rush Bum's Rush Bum's Rush Restoration Restoration Restoration Restoration Ambush Ambush Arson Arson Arson Masochism Masochism Amaranth Amaranth Amaranth Amaranth Amaranth Amaranth Amaranth Bone Spur Bone Spur Bone Spur Bone Spur Bone Spur Bone Spur Claws of the Dead Claws of the Dead Claws of the Dead Skin of Rock Skin of Rock Skin of Rock Skin of Rock Skin of Steel Skin of Steel Skin of Steel Skin of Steel Resiliance Resiliance Quick Meld Quick Meld Quick Meld Form of the Ghost Form of the Ghost Drawing out the Beast Drawing out the Beast Drawing out the Beast Drawing out the Beast Shadow of the Wolf Shadow of the Wolf Shadow of the Wolf Shadow of the Wolf Shadow of the Wolf Cat's Guidance Cat's Guidance Cat's Guidance Cat's Guidance Guard Dogs Guard Dogs Guard Dogs Computer Hacking Computer Hacking Computer Hacking Raptor Raptor Raven Spy Raven Spy Itıs aimed, obviously, at torporising/diablarising or just straight burning your preyıs vamps. Masochism, Gangrel Conspiracy and The Parthenon are moderately difficult to get hold of but other than that this is an affordable deck as well as a neat concept. To point out that it might struggle against really fast decks is not to belittle this one, but merely to reemphasise the point that a lone combat deck is always going to be short on speed - perhaps this particular deck could be speeded up a little by losing the Computer hackings and replacing them with Rutorıs hand. Combat decks, ironically, have to be MORE diplomatic than political or bleed decks, because somehow or other they have to find ways to be on the same table, and then to carve up the VPs to the satisfaction of both, or all. Perhaps there is a case for all combat decks to have a minor political dimension to ease this process - a few Bribed Dramatic Upheavals, for example, with broken Biff-voters like Volker, Rake, Sela and Caitlin. JYHAD VARIANTS THAT BORROW RULES FROM THE NETRUNNER AND BATTLETECH CCGs. Richard Garfield designed Jyhad specifically to fix some of the problems with Magic, and of course he succeeded brilliantly. However, Jyhad has some problems of its own .... for example, the rule book assumes an IQ of 150+, and the only way to REALLY win reliably is to hit your preyıs pool. Even Magic has two ways to win! So, when he designed Netrunner and Battletech he brought in more ways to attack your opponent [influenced, perhaps, by the excellent Dixie/Eagles CCG wargames] and made the rules such that theyıre readily understandable by a bright eight-year-old. Concepts from Netrunner and Battletech that might fit into Jyhad include the idea of attacking different targets - so that Vampires could bleed you of pool, destroy cards in your hand, destroy inactive vampires, or force the discard of library or crypt cards. You would lose by running out of pool, or of library or crypt cards. Actions against library or crypt would gain +1 stealth. THE BETRAYER DECK. Well I don't know. Another month, a basketful of clues, and STILL nobody came up with a solution to Legbiterıs challenge to build the Betrayer deck. Anyone would think you were all dead or something. Oops. This one is actually rather easy! And it is possibly the ONLY deck type whose Crypt is larger than its library ...... the key point is that Betrayer stacks and each one has to be burnt separately, so with enough of them, and recruitment, you can take your prey for really large amounts of pool every turn without going to the trouble of bleeding or voting against them. Crypt: ALL the vampires [one copy of each - about 250 vamps]. Plus about 150 copies of Anson, and 150 copies of Rudolpho Giovanni. Library: Masters: About 40 - 4 minion taps, 3 Parthenon, 12 Recruitments and 21 Betrayers. Actions: 5 Fifth Traditions, 5 Whispers from the Dead. Political Actions: 7 Rumours of Gehenna, 3 Parity Shifts. Action Modifiers: 8 Bribes, 2 Bewitching Oration, 3 Voter Captivation, 7 Spectral Divination. Combat: 10 Majesty. Ideally, here is how this deck would work: Round 1 - Master is either Recruitment [one of your preyıs vamps] or Parthenon. Bring out Rudolpho. Round 2 - 1-2 Betrayers on your preyıs vamp. Rudolpho calls a bribed rumours of Gehenna. 4 on Anson. Round 3 - 1-3 Betrayers on your preyıs vamp. Rudolpho recovers one from your ash-heap. Bring out Anson. Round 4 - If pool is getting low, minion tap Anson and do a 5th Tradition. Otherwise, 1-4 Betrayers on your preyıs vamp. Your prey is now losing 3-9 pool per turn. Course, they can pay 3-9 not to lose them next turn ..... Maybe start thinking about the next vamp you need to recruit ..... hehehe ...... Oh dear, just as I was getting into it, it's the end of another month. Sigh. If you've enjoyed reading any of this you can post me a little card to tell me about it. Anson, Rudolpho or Carlotta, please; the address is James McClellan xxxxxxxxxx Avenue Portsmouth xxxxxxx United kingdom Please sign the card, and I will think of you when I play it from the Betrayer Deck which I now fully intend to construct and use! See y'all next month!