Gangrel Antitribu Newsletter

OFFICIAL VEKN GANGREL-ANTITRIBU NEWSLETTER VOLUME 4 NUMBER 6 JUNE 2001

IN THIS ISSUE ...
FINAL NIGHTS [advertising]
FICTION: ON THE STUMP
A DECK I STOLE FROM ANOTHER SITE

FINAL NIGHTS
I feel duty-bound to insert a quick, almost routine plug for the Final
Nights expansion, which comes out about the middle of this month. But
as we all know, there really isn't much need to plug this product. I'm
very pleased that WW have something that is not only a class game but
also an earner - it fairly restores one's faith in inhuman nature. And
so long as they don't print too many expansions a year, and keep up
the quality, there's no foreseeable end to its earniness.

From a strictly-clan point of view the Gangrel-antitribu, of all the
non-independent clans, have the most reason to be excited about Final
Nights. Obviously, this is because the City Gangrel share two
disciplines with the Assamites [obf and cel], and the country Gangrel
share two disciplines with the Ravnos [ani and for]. It would be
amazing if new possibilities for Gangrel-antitribu decks didn't come
out of the Final Nights mix.

FICTION: ON THE STUMP
Here in North Portsmouth we have one of the most marginal seats in the
country. Not on paper - Syd Rapson's majority for Labour was several
thousand last time - but in practise, because the swing to Labour at
the last election was well over the National average. The previous
tory MP was an EXCEPTIONALLY evil plonker, since you ask. And so it is
that in the gathering dusk the Tories are out canvassing in the leafy
suburbs. Every vote counts, and the young man in the blazer bends to
speak into the answerphone at the gate "... canvassing on behalf of
the conservative party ..". There is an indistinct response from the
phone, and then the gate clicks and opens. The canvasser feels the
hairs on the back of his neck rise up but he goes through, and then
almost jumps out of his skin as two shoulder-high dogs emerge from the
shrubbery and fall in to his left and right. There is an evil sardonic
intelligence in their eyes and somehow he knows that to turn back
would NOT be a good idea. He reaches the door, which opens before he
can knock and reveals a tall bearded figure in a black silk dressing
gown.
"How may I help you?"
"I'm canvassing on behalf of the Conservative Party."
"Ah yes, do you know I've been meaning to write to you people. Please
do come in. Down, Rends! Good boy, Snarly! Sorry about the, erm, dogs.
Let me take your coat. Yes, I'm not one to complain or anything but it
IS some time since I heard from dear old Dizzie. We used to be SUCH
pals, and I did give him a lot of useful stuff about that awful
Gladstone man's, erm, eccentricities. How is the old fellow?"
"Er .. Dead, sir."
"O, really? Bad luck. Who's the new chap, then?"
"William Hague, sir."
"Excellent, I remember him well. Good trick with the acid. Not too bad
after being hanged, then?"
"I . er .. Think we may be talking about two different people, sir."
"The general chappie then? No, don't tell me .. The whisky-makers? O
dear, I am sorry to be so dim . contemporary politics not my strong
point, to be sure! Perhaps you could fill me in on your current
policies . what's your line on tacks, for example?"
"We're against."
"Super, SOOO annoying to return home and find one's coffin lid's been
tacked down by the local Millicents. Been a lot of that, recently. I
blame those frightful Reds with their Stakeholder Economy agitation.
By-the-by I hope you lot are still in favour of massive agribusiness
and roadbuilding?"
"Well .. Er ..."
"Because in the end it's all about the trees, you see. No trees, no
stakes, no problem. Cut em all down is what I say. It worked for
Orkney and Easter Island."
"Umm .. Well we certainly stand for One Nation policies, Broad Church
sorta thing, no Euro, or maybe yes to the Euro but not for five years.
O, and no ni-, I mean, bogus asylum seekers."
"O dear, really? We rather like the live meat trade."
"So .. Can we count on your vote tomorrow sir?"
"O I should think so. Just let me have a leaflet, will you, so that I
remember to do the jolly old democratic duty?"
The young activist smirks, and proffers the leaflet. The other takes
the piece of paper, looks at it and suddenly stiffens.
"Well, I mustn't take any more of your time. The gate is that way, as
I expect you remember. Good luck! The dogs will see you."
"To the gate? O, that really isn't necessary."
The figure in black silk smiles, firmly propelling the young Tory out
of the door.
"No, I don't think you will get that far. They will see you
FRIGHTFULLY quickly, I think you'll find."
The door closes and prevents us from seeing the remainder of the young
Tory's evening, but its dramatic nature can be inferred from the
scrabbling, pleading, shrieking, rending and gobbling sounds, which
recede as Legbiter retreats into the interior of the mansion, frowning
the while at the leaflet.
"Ah, Winthrop, there you are. I've just saved us a bit of dogfood. O,
and, tell the staff to vote labour tomorrow, and dispose of this,
there's a good chap."
The old butler looks at the Tory poster and smiles, wryly. No wonder
the master is in a mood.
VOTE CONSERVATIVE. 
VOTE CHRISTOPHER 
DAY.

A DECK I STOLE FROM ANOTHER SITE
I learned of this deck's existence when I played with a coupla Czech
guys on-line [one of them WAS Eolis, but it was Bartok Daniak who told
me about this one]. I'm featuring it here because I have long meant to
do so, and because it neatly points up some of the differences between
the different National metagames.

Bob's Gangrel Antitribu 
[from Prague by Night:
http://www.netwave.cz/rpg/english/en_dBobgan.html]
                                                                      
                                                                      
                           by Eolis [comments by Eolis: percentages by
me]

CRYPT: [12 vampires, 67% !Gangrel] 
Basilia 1x (she doesn't belong to Gangrel Antitribu, but her claws are
very, very long:-)
Caitlin 2x 
Daliyah 2x (another one belonging to wrong clan) 
Pieter 2x 
Samantha 2x 
Wynn 1x (and another "normal" Gangrel - but his visiting of his
neighboroughs is apocalyptic)
Zachary 2x 

MASTER CARDS [22.5%]: 
Animalism 5x 
Blood Doll 5x 
Campground Hunting Ground 2x (always ready !!) 
Fame 2x (to kill these ones is much more funny) 
Gangrel Conspiracy 5x (the most important card in whole deck) 
Giant's Blood 1x 
Guardian Angel 3x (intercept and damage preventation together? what
more?)
Minion Tap 2x 
Slave Auction 1x 
The Rack 1x 

COMBAT CARDS [38%]: 
Amaranth 3x 
Body Flare 1x 
Body of Sun 1x 
Drawing Out the Beast 7x 
Earth Meld 10x 
Flesh of Marble 7x 
Form of Mist 3x (if we need some action to be really done ...) 
Scorpion Sting 5x 
Wolf Claws or Claws of the Dead or Bone Spur - together 10x 

REACTION CARDS [6.5%]: 
Forced Awakening 4x 
Guard Dogs 4x 

ACTION CARDS [8.1%]: 
Ambush 2x 
Arson 3x 
Bum's Rush 4x 
Clan Impersonation 2x (for Basilia, Dalyah and Wynn) 

ACTION MODIFIERS [16.9%]: 
Earth Control 4x 
Hidden Lurker 8x 
Lost in Crowds 4x 
Ritual of the Bitter Rose 2x (let us all drink at one time!) 
Swallowed by the Night 3x 

MISCELLANEOUS [8.1%]: 
Changeling Skin Mask 2x 
Laptop Computer 2x 
Palatial Estate 2x 
Raven Spy 1x 
Sport Bike 3x 

TOTAL: 124 cards

To anglophone and Portuguese players [the only groups I've played
with] this deck has a number of oddities; it looks very slow, it's
vulnerable to sneak-bleed, combat and politics, and it's master-heavy.
Its answer to SCE relies on people blocking it, and it's really not
clear why anyone WOULD want to block anything it does. It doesn't
contain Covenant of Blood. It also has a HUGE library which means that
it is designed for tables of 7+! But the Czechs ARE class players and
they know how to design decks - BD had a TERRIFIC Legacy of Pander
bloat-vote deck in our on-line game, and the current European champion
is a Slovak [next republic along to the right, for our American
friends: the Czechs are kinda in the middle and up a bit. They used to
be part of the same country, but split up after the Velvet revolution
mainly, as I understand it, because the Slovaks are less keen on
Capitalism than the Czechs. There was also an unfortunate bit of Nazi
divide-and-rule during the war, not wholly dissimilar to what they did
in former Yugoslavia]. So, I guess what this deck is telling us is
something about the Czech metagame, which I suggest must involve
ENORMOUS crowds of Black-clad central Europeans all excitedly hunched
around the tables in U Flecku, caring little about grubby old victory
points but greatly about pulling off clever card combos, drinking HUGE
quantities of top-class beer and [for those whose tastes lie in that
direction] courting the prettiest girls in the world. And good luck to
them! It's one of this game's very many great points that there are so
many different ways to play it, and still have fun.

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

Alright, that's it for June and next month we will have the Final
Nights cards to chew over. Yippee! I'll see some of you at the
prerelease in Watford. Did I mention I now have a level 48 Hardcore
Necromancer in Diablo2? Duke Karkophilus says hi to all of you!