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!