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Table of Contents
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Accept No Substitute
Gun Kata
Tap'n'Taste
Deck of the Month: Blood Suckers
Next Issue
Accept No Substitute
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Guns and melee weapons are tools which are easy for the Assamite clan to use. Their in-clan disciplines of Obfuscate and Celerity support weapon-based combat so well that guns and melee weapons have become the de facto fourth discipline of the clan.
Being a combat-oriented clan, Assamites need permanent combat enhancers in the long run, because otherwise their decks run the risk of depletion due to heavy card expenditure in combat. That is, of course, if you want to do effective damage to your opponents and are not trying to avoid combat. Guns which give one optional maneuver each combat can be life savers and also let you save cards. For example, combine .44 Magnum with Pursuit and Taste of Death, and you only need to play two cards to do 2R normal and 2R aggravated damage, at cost of 1 blood.
Five Assamites have +1 strength as a special ability, which combines very well with melee weapons, and since most Assamites cannot perform diablerie, burning is good way to get rid of opponents. Combine Sengir Dagger (strike: strength-based aggravated damage) with Parnassus and he becomes very lethal. If you're wondering how you actually manage to burn a vampire instead of just sending him to torpor, try Thin Blood and/or Wave of Lethargy to get rid of the blood on the opposing vampire before striking for aggravated damage.
Sometimes it can be difficult to equip your vampires with weapons, so here is a segment which Finbury posted on The Path of Blood (www.thepathofblood.com) on how to make the equipping easier:
1) Multiple weapons + multiple Concealed Weapon: This is your standard option; you're probably running about 6 or 7 copies of each card.
Pro:
- Unstoppable and you never lose your gun
- Doesn't cost you an action
- Can be a surprise
- Some variety - if you play multiple weapon types and draw into them, you can choose which one to play
Con:
- Can generate a lot of handjam as you're using 12-14 deck slots. (The handjam goes away if you're using cheap or disposable weapons like Pokers, Garrotes, or Saturday Night Specials with DBR.)
- Relies on drawing into an in-hand combo
2) Multiple weapons + Disguised Weapon: AKA "Ivory Bow as well." Strictly better than the above if your crypt supports it, can be a lot worse otherwise.
3) Few Weapons + multiple Vast Wealth: You're probably running 2-3 weapons here and 4-7 Vast Wealth.
Pro:
- Fewer card slots - 6-10
- Additional Vast Wealths can be cycled via MPAs
- You never lose your gun on a failed action
- Can be used for non-gun equipment (i.e. Talbots' Chainsaw, Eye of Hazimel)
Con:
- Wastes an action, or maybe more than one
- If you've already drawn all your guns, Vast Wealth is useless
- Easy to stop, especially if your prey has permanent intercept
- No surprise
- Can't draw into and play combo on same turn
- Variety is bad - since the weapon you're getting is essentially
random, your choices are to play all the same card or to risk getting the wrong card for your current situation
4) Multiple Weapons + Fatima al-Faqadi: Use 7 or so weapons and Fatima's special to play them.
Pro:
- Least card slots - 7 total
- Can be used in combat
- Unstoppable and you never lose your weapon
- Some variety - if you play multiple weapon types and draw into them, you can choose which one to play
Con:
- Can only work with Fatima's disciplines
- Fatima is a target
- Not really a surprise
- Only Fatima gets the weapon, unless you want to take equipment exchange actions or play with Heidelburg Castle/Nod/etc.
5) Few Weapons + Multiple Magic of the Smith: Say 1-2 of the former and 5-6 of the latter.
Pro:
- Can be used with other equipment, such as bleed boosters, permanent intercept, damage prevention, etc.
- Relatively few card slots
- Most variety, as you can dial-a-weapon if you play with multiple types
Con:
- Can be blocked, although it is difficult
- Requires an action
- Costs blood
6) Few weapons + Alastor-vote: Say 1-3 of the former and 6+ of the latter
Pro:
- Relatively few card slots - 7-10.
- Half-price weapon is nice
- Best variety - you can dial-a-weapon
- Doesn't have to go on the acting vampire
- You get permarush as well
Con:
- Can be blocked
- Requires a referendum
- Requires an Inner Circle member or Justicar
- Only works on a Camarilla vampire
- Your vampire can't diablerize (which is a shame because you have a lot of votes in play...)
Gun Kata
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(Kata means a series of combat maneuvers, used in Budo, a Japanese martial art.)
Okay, you have the heat in your pocket now. All that's left is for you to know how to use it. Celerity provides you with maneuvers, presses, dodges, additional strikes, an anti-S:CE card and even S:CE itself. But Celerity is not the only discipline the Assamites can use to supplement weapon-based combat. Obfuscate is an asset you shouldn't ignore. Obfuscate grants you maneuvers, presses and dodges, just as Celerity does. However, additionally, you might also need some stealth to acquire the right target for your rush, so Swallowed by the Night is very good option. And when playing Disguised Weapon, you should consider the right timing when playing it, as this card can have great surprise value. If you play it at inferior, before range is determined in combat, you get the chance to use the maneuver a gun might grant, but then again, your opponent is ready for it.
The main question here is the amount of combat cards you should include in your deck. If your local playgroup uses lots of S:CE, then put loads of Psyche! If the response is usually hostile (Thrown Sewer Lids, etc.), then make sure you have many dodges and additional strikes available.
Here are a few examples of gun-oriented combat packages:
Type I:
Flash x6
Concealed weapon, or Disguised weapon x6
Sidestrike x5
Behind You! x4
Psyche! x6
Projectile x4
Taste of Vitae x5
Taste of Death x3
total: 39 cards
Type II:
Behind You! x8
Projectile or Blur x5
Pursuit x6
Concealed Weapon, or Disguised weapon x6
Taste of Vitae x4
Psyche! x6
total: 35 cards
Cards which provide variety in use are always great when you're not sure what you're going to be up against, so you should be sure to add a few Swallowed by the Night to both of these packages. And remember to add Sire's Index Finger if your offensive combat is based solely on weapons.
Tap'n'Taste
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Having a hard time keeping your pool healthy? Here's an idea to try out - since Blood Dolls are sometimes too slow in their effects, try Minion Tap. This allows you to bring high capacity vampires into play without the fear that you'll lose too much pool in the early game. It is also much easier to win combats with all the superior disciplines and special abilities bigger vampires have. If you choose to use Minion Taps, be sure that you have enough of them, and make sure to use the proper amount of Taste of Vitae and/or Provision of Silsila in your deck to recoup blood.
Deck of the Month
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Deck Name : Kuppaajat, Blood Suckers
Author : Jarkko Suvela
Description : This is an old deck which I used to play a lot. The basic idea is to use blood denial on opposing vamps and burn them or send them into torpor with various cards.
Crypt [12 vampires] Capacity min: 1 max: 8 average: 5.25 ------------------------------------------------------------ 3x Anisa Marianna Lop 8 FOR NEC QUI aus Harbinger:2 3x Tariq, The Silent 7 AUS FOR OBF QUI cel Assamite:2 2x Kyoko Shinsegawa 5 aus cel dom for Tremere:3 2x Harika Guljan 3 QUI Assamite:2 2x Julius 1 qui ser Caitiff:2
Library [90 cards] ------------------------------------------------------------ Master [13] 4x Blood Doll 2x Lazarene Inquisitor 2x Necromancy 1x Path of Blood, The 4x Society of Leopold
Action [6] 1x Bum's Rush 2x Daemonic Possession 3x Nose of the Hound
Action Modifier [10] 5x Freak Drive 1x Kiss of Ra, The 4x Succulent Vitae
Action Modifier/Combat [2] 2x Draught of the Soul
Ally [2] 1x Ghouls of Plaza Morerķa, The 1x Gregory Winter
Combat [34] 6x Blood of the Cobra 7x Resilience 6x Rolling with the Punches 8x Scorpion's Touch 7x Unflinching Persistence
Equipment [4] 2x Aaron's Feeding Razor 2x Erebus Mask
Reaction [16] 6x Foul Blood 4x Precognition 6x Wake with Evening's Freshness
Retainer [3] 1x J. S. Simmons, Esq. 1x Mr. Winthrop 1x Tasha Morgan
Next Issue : Vizier, Warrior, and Sorcerer - a look at the three castes of the Assamite clan.