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Official VEKN Newsletter for Anarchs |
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Contents:
I - Fiction
II Vampire of the Month (Antonino)
III Card of the Month (Skullduggery)
IV Deck Idea (The Bloodhound Gang)
V - Conclusion
I. Fiction
The midnight forest teemed with life, but there was an edge to it, a prey's awareness of the presence of a terrible predator. The animals gave wide berth to a particular clearing, where sat a ragged figure with wild red hair. The figure occasionally puffed on a cheap cigar, expelling all the smoke rather than inhaling it. A wolf appeared at the clearing edge and paused, nodding to the figure. The smoking figure nodded back and the wolf changed into a man wearing a hat and sunglasses. Most people would be forgiven for calling him a werewolf, but a real werewolf would tell them that isn't how the garou change.
"I've got to learn that trick," the smoking figure said, "perhaps you could teach me?"
"Maybe. Is that why you asked me here?"
The figure snuffed his cigar in the dirt and gave a wide grin, displaying his fangs.
"No no, certainly not. I know you're a busy man, so I wouldn't ask you to travel all the way here for such a triviality. If I really need to I can learn it from Lord Ashton, since he's working so hard to make sure everyone learns to be a good Gangrel."
"Well?"
The red-haired man put away his grin as quickly as it had appeared. "I'm joining the movement, Beckett. And I'm looking for help."
The man in the hat nodded and sat down across the clearing. "I anticipated this. I know you wouldn't have called me unless you already had some support. Who have you got?"
"A bunch of neonates, of course. They love the idea. I've also got some Nos, Nettie Hale
"
Beckett snorted derisively. "One of the wild women? Oh good. THAT lends an air of respectability."
"
and Ashton."
Beckett abruptly stopped laughing. "You persuaded Ashton to help you?"
The grin returned. "Indeed. He seems most eager. He's convinced this is the best way for the Gangrel to really get something done.
Let the elders continue to play their political games; now that we're out of the Cam, that time is over for the rest of us. We've got to move forward."
Beckett nodded. "Okay, Antonino, you've got my support. For now anyway. I will warn you, though, that I may leave abruptly if any of the leads I'm researching yield fruit."
"You really think that place exists? Come on."
"I really do, Antonino. And if I'm right, and if I can actually find Kaymakli, then whatever we do with this cluster of Anarchs doesn't mean a thing." Beckett paused long enough to offer his own fang-filled grin. "Still, this will be a welcome diversion in the meantime."
II. Vampire of the Month
Antonino
Gangrel
Group: 3
Capacity: 6
ani FOR pre pro
Antonino gets +1 stealth on undirected actions.
What's not to like about Antonino? I have mentioned before that certain vampires make for "perfect Anarchs", and I have to say that Antonino goes really well into that list. He's sized just right for Fee Staking, he has a good spread of disciplines for accessing various 3-ways, but most importantly he has a perfect special ability not only for going Anarch but also for many things that you might want him to do as an Anarch.
So where does he fit? Well, if you're going the Baron route, he goes well with the Daughters, the Ventrue or the Ahrimanes, as he shares two disciplines with each of them, one of which is presence. It's easy to see Antonino being used to call votes. But how can you use his special well without using it for votes? The answer is something that is critical to this month's deck permanents. Antonino is exceptionally good at getting equipment, retainers and allies, so he is quite useful in many Anarch decks (or straight Gangrel decks) that use them.
III. Card of the Month
Skullduggery
Action
Requires a ready anarch.
[obf] (D) Bleed at +1 stealth, with an optional maneuver in the resulting combat if the action is blocked.
[pre] (D) Bleed at +1 bleed.
[pro] (D) Bleed at +1 stealth.
What's so cool about Skullduggery (besides Steve Ellis's art)? At first glance, it doesn't seem to be all that special. Both obfuscate and protean have stealth cards that don't have to be used for bleeding, and presence has much better bleed cards. But remember the catch phrase from last month? "Focused but flexible." For one thing, this card can be used to unify a very small crypt. In that sense, it seems almost designed for the Caitiff and Panders. Igo in particular likes this card even more than a Computer Hacking, because he gets a choice between stealth or +bleed in a single card. That choice is one of the most important aspects of this card, and is featured in this month's deck.
The best way to get the most out Skullduggery is to have a fairly small crypt, exploit the choice aspect (which means some of the vamps want presence), and use permanents. Laptops, Cruisers, Tasha Morgan, even Tier of Souls if you're going the animalism route once you've got a couple of these on your vamps, Skullduggery looks much better. It's especially nice for those who can use it at obf, since that free maneuver can make a huge difference for survival (consider Basil).
IV. Deck Idea The Bloodhound Gang
Crypt:
Crypt 12 cards (Min 12, Max 23, Avg 4.25) Andrei Puxon ani cel chi for Ravnos 5 Antonino ani FOR pre pro Gangrel 6 Beckett ANI cel FOR PRO Gangrel 7 Bobby Lemon ANI pro Gangrel 4 Bothwell ani for Gangrel 3 Clarissa Steinburgen ani obf Nosferatu 3 Gustavo Morales ani cel for Gangrel 4 Leon ani for - !Gangrel 3 Lord Ashton ANI for pro Gangrel 5 Nettie Hale ani cel pre pro spi Ahrimanes 5 Panagos Levidis ani obf Gangrel 3 Shannon Price ani obf - !Nosferatu 3 Library (90 cards): Masters (21) Anarch Free Press Anarch Railroad 6x Blood Doll 2x Celerity Filchware's Pawn Shop Fortitude 5x Galaric's Legacy Hospital Food Information Highway Seattle Committee Sudden Reversal Actions (12) 2x Army of Rats 10x Skullduggery Action Modifiers (5) 2x Daring the Dawn 3x Dawn Operation Equipment/Retainers (15) Dartmoor, England J.S. Simmons, Esq. 5x Laptop Computer Mr. Winthrop 4x Raven Spy Starshell Grenade Launcher Stolen Police Cruiser Tasha Morgan Reactions (14) 2x Cat's Guidance 8x The Mole 4x Wake With Evening's Freshness Combat (23) 12x Aid From Bats Canine Horde 10x Diversion
Comments:
The key to making this deck work is knowing who your bleeders and your blockers are, because most of the smaller vamps should really only do one or the other. The bleeders are Bobby, Clarissa, Panagos and Shannon, while the blockers are Andrei, Bothwell, Gustavo and Leon. The other four are flexible and able to fill in the gaps, though Nettie and Antonino lean towards bleeding. If you happen to own more Stolen Police Cruisers than I do, by the way, you may want to swap them in rather than laptops. (3 of each would be nice.)
One side note: although I've yet to make it happen, I really want to pull off the Aid From Bats/Diversion (for extra strike)/Starshell progression. The celerity is mostly supposed to be used for extra intercept, but some occasional additional strikes are nice.
V Conclusion
Next month I'll talk about the acquisition and defense of Fee Stakes, and rather than a vampire of the month, I'll have a whole clan of the month, which I will leave as a surprise for now.
Until then,
Eric Simon
Prince of Chicago
Writer of the Official V:EKN Anarchs Newsletter