Subject: Assamite Newsletter, June 2004 Date: Tue, 29 Jun 2004 16:07:45 +0200 Message-ID: <0tt2e09vog1dsi72s5vaajs104hcdsp1og@4ax.com> Assamite Clan newsletter. Volume 4, Issue 6 (June 2004) Written by Otto Koskinen ========================= Inferno, baby. ---------------------------------------- GEHENNA -Why are we here at the terminal show? Gehenna has come, as the most observant players may have already noted. But, what has it brought to the Clan Assamites, I find myself asking. I'm not really super hot on Gehenna set, yet, but I have noticed a card here, and another there which go into some pre-existing decks and even one which, although isn't propably too new to the game as a whole, at least is somewhat new to me. Name: Songs of the Distant Vitae Cardtype: Action Discipline: Quietus +1 stealth action. [qui] (D) Send a vampire who has committed diablerie since your last turn to torpor. That vampire also burns 2 blood. [QUI] (D) Bleed. This action gets +1 bleed when bleeding a Methuselah who controls a vampire who has hunted since your last turn. +1 stealth, +1 bleed. With a conditional in it. The inferior has a high opportunity cost, not too often you see people diablerizing, but even so, the effect is very powerful. How to get these to their proper uses, then? The inferior is a tad hard to make a deck around, since forcing people to diablerize is not the easiest thing in the book. The superior, though, has potential. Getting people to hunt, now, is a lot easier, especially if you happen to be indepent and hold some voting power. Sadly, short of Aziz, there arent too many of us around who can reliably call a FSR and make it pass. That PRE is just so precious to the plan. But, Aziz as the main man, emphasize on FSR votes with vote pushing from Bewitching Orations and such, and the support group are vampires with QUI. Alamut thrown in with a few Foul Blood's, and combat pack consisting mostly of Thin Blood and Scorpion's Touch. This one will show in proper time what creative will be done around it. Name: Principia Discordia Cardtype: Action Discipline: Auspex/Quietus/Serpentis +1 stealth action. Requires a ready anarch. [aus] (D) Burn an equipment card. [qui] (D) Burn 1 blood on an untapped vampire and tap that vampire. [ser] (D) Steal 1 blood from a ready tapped vampire. Okay, this one requires an anarch. Not a big loss, considering we have some hot anarch disciplines on some very key vampires. Celerity and Thaumaturgy coming up as the first in my mind. Those put aside, this one complements Songs quite nicely, in the blood denial aspect. Note the Serpentis ability, and how well it works when first someone with qui does the trick. Work with the serpents, maybe? Blood denial, with Temptations and Form of Corruptions, with a couple odd Fress States Rant's parked in the Storage Annexes. Name: Flurry of Action Cardtype: Action Discipline: Celerity [cel] (D) Bleed. If the bleed is successful, draw two cards. Discard down to your hand size afterward. [CEL] (D) Bleed. If the bleed is successful, this vampire untaps. Now, this card is the one I mentioned earlier. At first glance, I did'nt really like this card. But now that I've used it more and more, I like it more and more. The ability to bleed and rush in one turn. Yes please. Bleed and stay untapped for blocking. Even more so. The inferior alone makes the card an easy choice to play a couple of, but the superior really makes this card shine. Of course, our Clan ain't the only one who benefits from this card, but I think the Assamites have the most to gain from this card. Ousting in the process off rushing. The sad part is, it has to be a successful bleed. But, you're Assamite. People should be wary as is to block your bleeds of 1. And if you get deflected, your grand-prey can most likely afford to "take one for the team" in order for you to untap and go wreak havoc on the deflector. In future editions I will focus on some other Gehenna cards which I've had the opportunity to more closely look upon. Dragonbound, Crocodile's Tongue and Carver's Meat and Packing come to mind. ---------------------------------------- VAMPIRES OF THE MONTH Two new Assamite's were also printed in the Gehenna set, and here they are. Reza Fatir, The Dark Angel Assamite, 6 cap. obf pro CEL QUI Sabbat. Black Hand: The Blood Curse does not affect Reza. So far, our only member with protean. The "Red Gangrel Antitribu" as has been said by some.. With his CEL QUI obf he makes a nice addition to the group 3&4 vampires, of which there currently arent too many. His Sabbat Black Handedness also opens up some venues, but sadly he is lacking bigger discipline synergies with Yazid Tamari, our Seraph. Not entirely true, but I'd sense Reza to be one of the working horses of the Clan Assamite in future years to come, as group 4 continues to advance in number. Antara Assamite, 8 cap. aus obf pre CEL FOR QUI Independent: Antara gets +1 intercept when attempting to block a Sabbat vampire. He burns 1 blood when any Methuselah plays a Gehenna card. (Blood Cursed) Another group 4, and what a fine vampire indeed. Conditional +1 intercept, 6 disciplines in which superior Fortitude. Not bad. Now, while on the subject of working horses, I see Antara also with a bright future among the Clan. Mini-Tegyrius, could be said. I have to admit, I have'nt yet used either one of these two. I've had my mind on a few other decks, recently. In the future, at least Antara will see some uses, rest assured. ---------------------------------------- DECK OF THE MONTH Flurry of Bleeds Crypt: (12 cards, Min: 14, Max: 24, Avg: 4,92) ---------------------------------------------- 2 Yusuf aus CEL obf qui 5, Assamite:2 3 Kalinda CEL OBF tha 6, Assamite:2 1 Parmenides CEL qui 4, Assamite:2 1 Abd al-Rashid CEL obf QUI 5, Assamite:2 1 Zahir CEL OBF qui tha 6, Assamite:2 1 Darrel Boyce CEL OBF PRO 6, Gangrel Antitribu:2 1 Max Lowell cel obf 3, Gangrel Antitribu:2 1 Tansu Bekir cel OBF 4, Assamite:2 1 Zoe AUS cel obf 3, Malkavian:2 Library: (90 cards) ------------------- Master (14 cards) 1 Alamut 5 Blood Doll 2 Heidelberg Castle, Germany 1 Khabar: Community, The 1 KRCG News Radio 1 London Evening Star, Tabloid Newspaper 1 Market Square 1 Obfuscate 1 Rumor Mill, Tabloid Newspaper, The Action (18 cards) 8 Computer Hacking 10 Flurry of Action Action Modifier (20 cards) 6 Cloak the Gathering 5 Faceless Night 6 Lost in Crowds 3 Spying Mission Reaction (4 cards) 4 Wake with Evening's Freshness Combat (15 cards) 5 Disguised Weapon 5 Preternatural Evasion 5 Pursuit Retainer (4 cards) 1 J. S. Simmons, Esq. 1 Mr. Winthrop 1 Robert Carter 1 Tasha Morgan Equipment (12 cards) 6 .44 Magnum 4 Laptop Computer 2 Sport Bike Combo (3 cards) 3 Swallowed by the Night <<>> The idea is rather straightforward. Plow onward with Flurry of action, untap after bleed, get permableed or stay untapped to block with the medialocations. Guns and S:CE for defense works rather well, and are easily flowed out of hand as well. Equip a lot of permableed, bleed with one either Flurrying or Hacking for extra *oomph* and then Heidelberg the permastuff for another vampire, who proceeds to do the same. Best done with three vampire, of which one is a weenie, such as Max Lowell, who begins the turn by equipping, and then gets the permableed transferred to the bleeder of choice. Not too heavy on the Gehenna parts, but not lacking in it either. I've found this deck to be rather competetive, reliably (enough) ousting it's first prey, and having little difficulties with the second as well. <<>> Ass Denial Crypt: (12 cards, Min: 10, Max: 21, Avg: 4,00) ---------------------------------------------- 2 Ali Kar obf qui 3, Assamite:3 2 Harika Guljan QUI 3, Assamite:2 1 Anwar cel obf qui 4, Assamite:2 1 Jalal Sayad CEL pot QUI 6, Assamite:2 1 Julius qui ser 1, Caitiff:2 4 Badr al-Budur cel dom OBF qui 5, Assamite:2 1 Abd al-Rashid CEL obf QUI 5, Assamite:2 Library: (80 cards) ------------------- Master (20 cards) 1 Barrens, The 1 Blood Doll 2 Galaric's Legacy 4 Life in the City 4 Quietus 1 Seattle Committee 1 Society of Leopold 1 Strained Vitae Supply 1 Tribute to the Master 2 Vampiric Disease 2 XTC-Laced blood Action (20 cards) 5 Blood Clots 6 Computer Hacking 1 Erosion 6 Principia Discordia 2 Songs of the Distant Vitae Action Modifier (8 cards) 8 Cloak the Gathering Political Action (4 cards) 4 Free States Rant Reaction (15 cards) 6 Deflection 3 Foul Blood 6 Wake with Evening's Freshness Combat (11 cards) 6 Fake Out 5 High Ground Equipment (2 cards) 2 Laptop Computer <<>> Indeed. Ass Denial. Very little of anarchness is used in this deck, anarchness is around mostly to get the Principia Discordia some mileage out of. Tap'n bleed can be done with the deck, to some extent, but mostly the idea is also rather simple. Disrupt your prey with Societies, XTC's and make him pay if he ever goes down to 0 blood via Blood clots. Locking down the early weenie with an early Free States Rant and Blood Clots is never a bad move either. Rarely people feel the need to "unlock" the weenie, and once that is done, you have someone who is constantly hunting, and you can cycle cards on him, if needed. Release the disease at an early time, and let it wreak havoc on the table. It is a touch too random in how it can massively spread and disrupt people's games, but... Not the best deck in the block, I'd wager, but very fun to play. ---------------------------------------- PATH OF BLOOD Have you heard of it? No, I am not talking about the card anymore. The Path of Blood is the best on-line site dealing with Vampire: The Eternal Struggle. Mainly dealing with Assamites, naturally. So, come join us, and see the lates in whipping ass of the snotty Ventrues, making the pathetic Tremere whine to our tune, and the Setites hiss in the corner playing with their snakes. Freaks.. If you are interested more closely in Assamites, visit the site at: http://www.thepathofblood.com/ ----------------------------------------