OFFICIAL VEKN GANGREL-ANTITRIBU NEWSLETTER VOLUME 4 NUMBER 5 MAY 2001 IN THIS ISSUE.. EDITORIAL: END OF AN ERA [tribute to John Eagles] FICTION: FINAL KNIGHTS [A sequel to an old story [see this NL for January 2000], inspired by the new GW Inquisitor skirmish game] MATTHEW GREEN'S POWERBASE WATFORD DECK [another really creative deck from the Master of such things, with his comments] EDITORIAL: END OF AN ERA As everybody knows by now, John Eagles' shop at Second Byte in Albert road has closed. John is continuing with a PC rental business and is also looking into getting a "proper job". Marshall MacCrombie of Southsea models has bought most or perhaps all of John's role-playing stuff but there's no getting away from the fact that this is a Light Night for the UK VTES-playing community. We can take comfort from the fact that Dave Hammond and Mike Nudd's tournaments continue, that tournaments are happening in Southampton, and we hope that John will be able to find a new venue for the Portsmouth tournaments. Most of all we should recognise the HUGE debt that we owe to John for his promotion of the VTES scene essentially single-handed for so many years. Thank-you, John, for all your efforts. FICTION: FINAL KNIGHTS An enormous red arc was rising out of the horizon to its left as the figure in battered power-armour reached the top of the slope, where a rim of broken walls surrounded a pock-marked and repeatedly-melted surface. The mind in the suit scanned around the site with its artificial senses. Sparks and little tendrils of dust were beginning to rise from the ash-slope as the radiation from the rising star burned through the thin atmosphere. Miroslav, the mind suddenly thought to itself, Miroslav, that was my name when I was alive, so very, very many centuries ago. And then the Knights came to my castle and I was turned into that which I am, Vampyr. Those Knights . I remember ..Walther and Joachim, whatever became of them? Ah yes, didn't they dig out Walther during the witch-hunts? He screamed like a pig for hours, or so it seemed. And Joachim, he lasted for a bit, the wily old dog. A leaky suit on Rigel 6 let him down though, two, maybe three centuries ago - and I too would burn to a crisp here in seconds if THIS suit malfunctioned. Little puddles of viscous glass were forming around the feet of the suit and Miroslav could feel the slight pluck as its feet rose and fell, touring around the arena. Yes, this would do ... he scanned around for a suitable surface, and picked up a flat stone. Extending a carborundum-coated claw he wrote on it in Latin: "Here fell Miroslav, Formerly Count of the Hungarian Marches on Terra, Last of the Teutonic Order. Long Life-in-Death to the Emperor of Mankind!" And then, certain other preparations having been made, he settled down to wait. Across the plain the Aliens were coming, thirty or so greenskins in and around a ramshackle half-tracked vehicle. Kaptin Grumbelly mopped his ablative brow and cursed as more little bits of burned skin flaked off, obscuring his vision. "C'mon ya fakkin' stuntyfakkas! They can' 'av gotten far!" A smaller greenskin on the bonnet of the vehicle looked back at him mournfully. "Sorry, boss, difficult to track in these conditions. No moisture, no scent . an' even the bleedin' footprints is meltin'. Maybe that hilly thing? I kinda sense the Imperialists over there, course it could be the building." "'K, let's try it. Ladz, youze lot go right, youze go left . NOOO!! THAT left, ya boneheads. Mork's Jockstrap, youze lot are as much use as as Elf in a beerkeller." The vehicle turned and slowly began to crawl up the slope to the ruin. Grumbelly heard the click of the first razor mind just in time to duck, but not quickly enough to warn his Boyz. Three of them exploded in showers of blood and guts as the little blades ripped through their bodies. Other blades tore into the guts of the vehicle doing it no mechanical good at all, judging by the way it ground to a complete halt, and the surviving greenskins alighted. They began to weave their way up the hill on foot, firing as they did at their unseen enemy. Grumbelly followed them, trying to pick out where the counter-fire was coming from .. Not too much of it, anyhows, just five or six geezers. Hah! Saw one of them there, maybe even winged 'im. "C'mon, ladz! Roast Human tonight, I'm finking! Bagzi the liver!" The remaining Greenskins began to breast the rise and then . to waver??? WATTHEFAK??? They were running back! Grumbelly shot down one of the runners and picked another up by the throat where he writhed, wild-eyed and frothing at the mouth. "Su-su-suckas, boss! There's a fakkin Humie Dead Sucka up there!" Grumbelly shook his captive twice, hard, breaking his neck, and then began to toil up the slope himself. "If you want a fing doing right, do it yaself. ALWAYS the same. Can' even eat the buggers when ya finish wiv 'em, either." Seeing their Kaptin going on seemed to revive the greenskins' spirits but they still followed him in a most unmilitary huddle as he advanced, twiddling various dials on the great Kannon he carried. They reached the top of the hill preceded by a salvo of frag-grenades and Grumbelly looked around. Nuffink, or so it seemed. Silently the old greenskin waved his warriors to form an arc in front of him and they began to move forward. A flicker of movement, and there it was, smashing old Bogpot with its right fist, blowing Tuska's brains out with the bolter in its left hand. Big bloke, sucka alright, one of them ones in white armour wiv black crosses. Haven't seen one of them for a long time. Long before those thoughts had finished forming the Kaptin's weapon was at his gigantic shoulder and carbon monofilaments were streaming from its barrel. Up a bit .. right a bit .. damme, e's quick. Indeed, the combination of Miroslav's millennia of military training, his undead abilities and the technology of his suit was threatening to overwhelm the Greenskins, but Grumbelly didn't panic .. shifting his aim, he fired ahead of the vampire on fully automatic and it swerved to avoid the curtain of monfilaments . straight into the pool of molten glass, up to its knees. In the same microsecond the vampire realised that it had been outwitted, and the Kaptin realised he had won. Miroslav's last conscious action was to raise his hand in salute, which Grumbelly misinterpreted as an attempt to shield against the focussing stream of monofilaments .. the heart .. gotta get the heart .. gotcha! Suck on that, ya bugger! The surviving greenskins circled their motionless opponent warily, and then began to laugh and caper. "Good ol' Kaptin! Gotta Sucka! Wot we gonna do wiv im, boss?" Grumbelly growled. "Cut is 'ead off. Only way. Can't eat 'em, can't loot 'em, fakkin waste of time an boyz. Ah well. Ooze gotta nice sharp choppa?" On the way back down to the wrecked vehicle, Grumbelly stumbled on a stone with humie writing on it. Carefully he picked it up and squinted at the words. More stoopid humie crap, he thought, tossing it into the sky and then blowing it to atoms with his Stoppa rounds. Gork's bogies, it must be two days trek back to camp. Fak im an Fak all the fakkin humies an suckas. Bastards. MATTHEW GREEN'S POWERBASE WATFORD DECK Matthew very kindly promised to let me feature this deck which he showed him at the last Portsmouth tournament. I give the deck without comments other than Matthew's own. Actually no, I do want to say that THIS is the kind of deck which in my opinion makes it worthwhile to play VTES, and ratings and VPs can just go hang. Morning James', Man did I suck. I had precisely no luck with the seating in this tournament. Round 1: Predator was Lasombra sneak/bleed deflection. Got deflected to 6 times, Redirected twice. Would have been OK if; a) prey wasn't a non-combat Assamite run-away deck (and would you believe i forgot to metagame for that?) or b) I had avoided the 4 Wynn opening draw. *wince*. Round 2: Put 4 of Barny's weenies down. Died like a punk. Round 3: Prdeators first action: Rush Darius with Uncontrolable Rage. prevention...?Hello? no. oh. Burn him? sure. Stanaslava. Uncontrollable what? sure. burn her. oh. ok. So, in short, a fun deck that should remain that way. Even though i sucked for 6 straight hours on Sunday, i did have a riot playing this: Body and Soul. Crypt: 3 Darius Styx 4 Wynn 2 Genevieve ***!Gangrel newsletter*** 3 Stanaslava Library: 2 Dreams ot Sphinx 4 Redeam the Lost Soul 2 Golconda, Inner Peace 2 Blood Doll 4 Chimestry 2 Sudden Reversal 1 Giants Blood 4 Fata Morgana 9 Illusions of Kindred 10 Body of Sun (stop laughing) 5 Wolf Claws 7 Gleam of Red Eyes 5 Rolling with the Punches 3 Superior Mettle 4 Freak Drive 4 Drawing out the Beast 6 Cats' Guidance 6 WwEF 6 Bums Rush 2 Ambush 1 Mark of the Damned 1 Dramatic Upheaval Important rules bit: If the illusionary vampire is burned in combat (ending combat), the acting Methuselah chooses whether he is sent to the ash heap or removed from the game. [RTR 20001020] The rest should become clear from there. Nice on paper. lol. matt. And that's it for May. Is it just me or is the standard of the other newsletters just getting super-stellarly high? Not that they were ever bad, but it's amazing how thought-provoking and creative this month's crop are. Good work, comrades in evil! See you all again in June!