VEKN Brujah Newsletter March 2002 Introduction: A full weekend of V:tES lies behind me - I played two storyline tournaments, one in Munich and one in Vienna. Didn't fare too well though, went to the Munich final with the deck I will present to you in this issue, and got 4 VP, no GW in Vienna with a Tzimisce stealth bleed deck. In my opinion the idea behind this storyline thing was great. Of course the chances are minimal that any of the deeds anyone of us players did in one of these tournaments will actually end up in the story, but I enjoyed the illusion none the less and equally enjoyed trying some more tricky deck ideas for the event(s). A big thanks is due here to Monica (Munich) and Carl/Alex (Vienna) plus all the other organizers for a month that I think we can safely assume to be one of the most intense in V:tES tournament play ever. Fiction: "I am sorry, but I cannot comment on this issue at the moment," the Don declares moments before he slams the receiver down. Angel, who is crouched into a voluminous leather couch, tries to be invisible. Alas, she is not of the Nosferatu kin (and proud of it), so she doesn't succeed. Normally she would never think about fate, but what else but fate can it be that makes her the one and only minion available to face the Don's wrath on a night like this - a night when she was asked by an unnaturally agitated Mr. Winthrop to "get her sorry ass over immediately", to put it in the original words of the Don. Everybody else is away: Rake, Anvil, Crusher and the lot down south, Dre over in Munich, Theo AWOL as usual, the European princes in their domains... And here the problem starts. Or the problems, to be more precise. The task force to handle them consists of the Don (screaming, ready to evoke the sixth tradition on every one of his subjects) and Angel (silent, wishing to be somewhere else)... Apparently Hector (or "this crazy pothead", as the Don chooses to call him among other, more imaginative but unprintable expressions) has screwed the masquerade big time, with embracing that girl, leaving his wallet on site and leading the investigating police forces straight to his apartment in Hoboken. Which he managed to set on fire before all hell broke loose, but now the charred remains of his diary ("A diary! For Caine's sake!" was all the Don managed when he had stumbled upon the news first) grace almost any local paper - including some rather cryptic but less than flattering remarks about Cruez himself. Which has lead to the just finished phone call by an overly eager reporter. The other bad news comes from the other side of the ocean: The German press calls it the "Valentine's Day Massacre" and makes Eastern European mafia groups responsible, only the Don knows better. So far eight of members of the clan's weapon supply chain have been murdered in the most brutal way after Volker has finally rediscovered Talbot's legendary machine. He's now running amok among the local Ventrue forces - not that the Don is opposed to random acts of violence in general, but this doesn't fit his political agenda too well at the moment, it is not coordinated with headquarters and it threatens the masquerade even more - as the Ventrue will find out as soon as they recover from the shock. All in all the "secret" agitations of the Brujah forces have gathered ten minutes of coverage on the news only this evening, and clearly the Don is not amused - the still smoking remnants of the TV set are only one witness to this. "So, what are we going to do? Apart from smashing furniture...," Angel inquires with a slightly trembling voice. Surprisingly the Don doesn't fall into yet another fit of rage. He grabs the miraculously still intact tumbler and helps himself to a good shot of Laoghaire. "I have no clue," he admits. "Why not call Dre and send him to Frankfurt? It's only four hours from Munich, and I guess the Bavarian mystery may remain unsolved for a couple more days - considering the circumstances..." Angel sincerely hopes for any sign for her to leave as soon as possible, even if it would mean that she would have to go to Germany herself. But there is no such sign. "We all might have to go into hiding," the Don ponders, not really paying attention. "This Sosa affair is positively disturbing." Angel gnaws her fangs, not knowing any way out - that is, for her personally. "Why are we not trying to arrange some sort of cover for the whole affair? We could drop a rumor that Hector is in fact, like, err, Thomas Pynchon doing stuff on a new novel. He might have lost his mind, sure, but the diary could in fact be, ahem, a rough draft for a piece of pure fiction, just closely matched to some real old friends of his," she offers. "I think I have a better idea", the Don murmurs with a smile to Angel. She sighs inwardly. "What would you think about a slightly disturbed LARP girl, say, his ex girlfriend... you, shedding some light on this story. Teenage drama, no happy end for Rose, I'm sorry to add, but in the end nothing more then the usual tragedy - youth gone wild, that sort of stuff..." Angel wisely chooses not to relate her thoughts on this idea, and on Hector more in general. "And, yeah, of course, get a hold of Dre, will you," the Don adds. Strategy: Allied forces I wrote a good deal about the pros and cons of weapons in the January 2001 newsletter, they as well as allies are a part of the game since its very beginning but never really had a huge impact on generic strategies. Of course a War Ghoul or a Renegade Garou is something no player can ignore, as is a celeritous guy sitting on a Sport Bike, Flame Thrower ready - but decks specially designed to create these situations are rarely seen on the list of tournament winners. I started to think about Brujah ally decks after playing last month's Procreation Of The Wicked deck, a Progeny/Embrace affair that aims for exponential growth in minion numbers. Ally decks can go into the same direction, and there have been some interesting concepts around lately for pure ally decks (using the clanless allies like the Rafastio Ghoul - search Google to find out more). Allies tend to be expensive and fragile. Even with the Vagabond Mystic around they burn when reduced to zero blood, and most of them don't have a special ability that offsets the huge disadvantage that they (usually) can't play any discipline cards. Some good ones are unique, so no exponential growth thing. The feared ones regenerate, prevent damage or have aggravated strikes, but also have a significant cost. Our clan doesn't break out of this scheme, the Brujah allies are all cheap and mostly harmless. Just for completeness' sake here are all available Brujah allies: Arms Dealer Ally, Brujah Mortal with 1 life, 1 strength, 0 bleed. Arms dealer may take a +1 stealth action to allow you to go through your library, find a weapon, and take it into your hand. Reshuffle afterwards and discard down to your maximum hand size. Loyal Street Gang Ally, Brujah, 1 pool Mortal with 2 life, 1 strength, 0 bleed. The Knights Ally, Brujah, 1 pool Unique Mortal with 2 life, 2 strength, 0 bleed. The Slashers Ally, Brujah, 1 pool Unique Mortal with 3 life, 1R damage, 0 bleed. Apart from the Arms Dealer they all suck pretty badly - to fragile, no bleed. The Arms Dealer is a different story though - he costs nothing but the action to recruit him, can fetch you a weapon, can Arson locations, block and die (or survive with a Leather Jacket), etc. So he might even be useful as an auxiliary force in Brujah decks. But what is he worth as a central part of a strategy? I read about an Arms Dealer/Wooden Stake/Lucky Blow deck with added Memories Of Mortality in the report of the Deventer storyline tournament - this sounds interesting. My idea though was different and is centered around the Card of the month - a weapon, not surprisingly. Card of the month: Talbot's Chainsaw Equipment, 3 pool Unique weapon. 3 damage each strike. If bearer is ready during your untap phase, a ready minion you control takes 3 damage (damage not preventable). Bearer cannot hunt. Bearer may enter combat with any minion controlled by another Methuselah as a +1 stealth (D) action. Bearer get a press, only usable to continue combat at the end of the first round, and may prevent up to 1 damage each combat. A nasty, if somewhat double-edged sword. Talbot's Chainsaw offers you a full combat package in one card: Rush at +1 stealth, significant damage, a little prevention and a press. The cost though can cause headaches: 3 unpreventable damage to one of your minions each turn. You have to find a way to deal with this. The famous Ambrosius/Talbot's Chainsaw combo does exactly that: Ambrosius is immune to non-aggravated damage, so you are fine. I will use Arms Dealers first to get the Chainsaw and then to sacrifice themselves to her - many Arms Dealers. You should know what you are doing when playing with this monster - it makes no sense to have it lying around as your typical deterring .44 Magnum. If you get it, use it - every turn. It doesn't go away, if you can't pay the price anymore you will loose the minion that wields it. If he rests in torpor at last the Chainsaw will be quiet... Deck: The Frankfurt Chainsaw Massacre The idea is simple: Get out a chain of Arms Dealers, let them fetch Talbot's Chainsaw, put it on someone with superior Celerity (preferably Volker) and go to town. The chainsaw eats an Arms Dealer each turn. Heidelberg it around for extra rushes. Get Ivory Bow or Sengir Dagger for another Brujah, so they can recruit Arms Dealers more safely. Consistent +1 intercept is a problem with this deck, although you are normally able to get some stuff done anyway as all your actions (equip, recruit, rush) are at +1 stealth. You can also give the chainsaw damage to the bearer, rush someone soft and full of blood and taste the blood back. Biggest problem is speed - your bleed potential is next to non-existent, and defense: Blood Dolls for pool management, Second Traditions to block some stuff and hopefully kill the offender is about as far as it goes. If you have plenty of Arms Dealers on the table, they of course can serve as emergency blockers. Autarkis Persecution is a double-edged sword (as the chainsaw itself), it can give you much-needed pool, but prolongs the game in general. The Fast Hands are a last minute inclusion, I smelled weapons in the local meta game and had huge fun with this card... I played this deck in the Munich storyline tournament and edged into the final without a Game Win, but most VPs among the remaining players. I had huge problems in the first two rounds, contesting Volker with another Brujah prince deck - you really need that guy as the Second Traditions are more or less your only defense. I would have gotten a GW in the third round, but time ran out when my prey was down to 6 pool with no minions left. The final itself was very interesting, and although this deck doesn't bleed for more than one I thought I had a reasonable chance for at least one VP when my predator does a suicidal block against an Arms Dealer equip by Volker with his Fame'd Abd Al Rashid. Volker had stolen an Improvised Flamethrower earlier and had Talbot's Chainsaw. Range eventually is long, he eats a Blood Sweat and two aggravated from the destroyed Flame Thrower, burning him, Abd enters torpor and ousts his methuselah... I brought out Black Cat and a new Chainsaw but fell to a deflected stealthed bleed shortly afterwards. It is a fun deck (as in "fun to play"), can be quite effective and surprisingly is almost always seen as a bigger threat than it really is. Typical combat deck in that aspect, but with a freaky twist... So here we go: Crypt: (12 cards, Min: 10, Max: 20, Avg: 3,92) 1 Angel (Brujah 2, cel) 2 Black Cat (Brujah 5, CEL pot pre) 1 Dre (Brujah 3, cel pot) 1 Lupo (Brujah 2, pot) 1 Sarah Brando (Brujah Antitribu 3, CEL) 1 Uma Hatch (Brujah 3, cel pre) 1 Victor Tolliver (Brujah Antitribu 4, CEL pot) 4 Volker (Brujah 5, CEL pot, Prince) Library: (89 cards) Master (15 cards) 5 Blood Doll 2 Celerity 2 Fame 2 Heidelberg Castle, Germany 1 Humanitas 1 KRCG News Radio 1 Rack, The 1 Warzone Hunting Ground Minion (75 cards) 16 Arms Dealer 1 Arson 4 Autarkis Persecution 2 Blur 1 Brujah Justicar 2 Fast Hands 5 Flash 1 Ivory Bow 1 Leather Jacket 8 Psyche! 1 Praxis Seizure: Rome 7 Pursuit 5 Second Tradition: Domain, The 1 Sengir Dagger 3 Side Strike 5 Sideslip 3 Talbot's Chainsaw 8 Taste of Vitae Final notes: Farewell for now! I have to admit that after a few weeks of not being to eager to play Brujah decks the Frankfurt Chainsaw Massacre renewed my interest quite a lot - a deck that is only remotely Euro-Brujah, somewhat effective and loads of fun to play. Let's see if I can come up with something similar for next month. On a different matter: I am more or less finished with the redesign of my web page and hope to have some good news on that next month. All comments welcome at skaffen.amtiskaw"at"mail"dot"ru, all abuse please direct to /dev/null Thanks for reading Skaffen Chantry Elder Of Munich, Archon Of The Cold Dawn "The only good Arms Dealer is a dead Arms Dealer!" (Anonymous peace activist in an interview for the German TV channel NTV)