BRUJAH ANTITRIBU NEWSLETTER Volume 2, Issue 6 June 2001 Author: Wes ============================================== Sela tapped her fingers, scowled and waited for her chance to speak. The unruly Esbat of Detroit Sabbat vampires were beginning to annoy Sela. Granted, her clan were the rowdiest of the lot, but respect should be given, especially to her and especially now. "Silence please." The crowd ignored her. A scuffle broke out between two younger licks while the others urged them on. These fights rarely lasted long. The younger vampires were apt to show off their combat prowess at every opportunity. Normally, she wouldn't have cared. "Silence! I'm trying to speak!", she yelled. Again, the crowd ignored her. Sela walked right up to one of the two fighting vampires, grabbed him by a lock of his hair and then tore out his throat with her fangs. The crowd, shocked, watched as she threw the torporous vampire into a nearby bathtub already filled with blood and walked back up to the podium. "Now... if I have your attention... I'd like to introduce Julian Sanders. Templar Sanders has recently returned from a scouting mission in Europe and the near East and I'd like for him to give his report. I expect you all to give me the same respect you showed me...", she licked the vitae from her lips as if to punctuate her last remark. From the shadows, an attractive man wearing a dark robe stepped up to the podium and gave the crowd a wide smile. Charismatic mother-fucker, Sela thought to herself. He seemed to look through every vampire in attendance before speaking. "Greetings. The purpose of the Sabbat is to prepare ourselves for Gehenna. My brothers and sisters, Gehenna is upon us! The non-alligned clans appear to have thrown off the yoke of neutrality and engaged themselves in the War of Ages." "I will now relay my observations of each clan and my overview of the war in general. Let's start with the Assamites...", Sanders threw open his robe to reveal a horridly scarred stump of flesh that should have been his left arm. =================================================== OBSERVATIONS ON THE FINAL NIGHTS EXPANSION 1) Assamites seem to have a more cohesive set of secondary disciplines than most clans. Assamites with AUS (7)... THA (6)... PRE (5)... FOR (3)... This offers an intriguing number of combinations. 2) The Assamites are still vulnerable to S:CE, but this seems appropriate given the increased capacity for carnage they are now capable of. While they are vulnerable to S:CE, many of their cards are *not* vulnerable to Dodge or damage prevention. 3) The new QUI cards in combination with the standard CEL cards makes the Assamites likely to be able to control how much blood is on the opposing minion... convenient for when you want to burn opponents with a well-placed Taste of Death. 4) Contracts are more powerful than they were, but still do not seem as useful as Haven Uncovered, generally speaking. Clandestine Contract seems more useful than Contract, if only because it gives an immediate ability to rush. On the other hand, cards that hose contracts will still be few and far between as they will be too corner case and unlikely to be drawn at the appropriate time. 5) Tariq seems to be the most likely vampire to include in any Assamite rush deck. His ability to diablerize without having a Bloodhunt called makes him useful to clean up after a nice round of carnage. His disadvantage, while severe, does not affect his ability to diablerize and it's likely he will increaese his capacity before long. 6) Tajdid is effectively useless when Tariq is available. At least he doesn't suffer the consequences of a Bloodhunt. 7) Ur-Shulgi and the independent 11-caps in general are not nearly as powerful as their Camarilla equivalents. While this may seem appropriate from a thematic point of view, this is not the RPG. In the CCG, an investment of 11 pool needs to be worth investing 11 pool. That is not to say these vampires are useless; far from it. Also, cards like Zilah's Valley make 11-caps more likely to appear than in the past. 8) There are a *lot* of minions with the (D) Rush ability in this set, making combat a more likely occurence (and viable option). 9) Followers of Set have the following as their 'secondary' disciplines: CEL (5)... DOM (4)... POT (4)... FOR (3, + Aabt makes this more likely combo)... NEC (3). 10) It is not easy to bleed the Setites without getting hurt somehow. The Setites are now able to gain the Edge when their predator bleeds them (Edge Vitiation, ensuring a gain of 1 pool on their untap), a way to use the Edge against their prey (Enticement) and damaging a minion that attempts to bleed (Ecstasy) 11) The Bane Mummies have hilarious names. 'Doubly Evil One' LOL 12) The Setites are far more capable combat-wise than they were. Consider: Disguised Weapon + Skin of the Adder + Meat Hook (+ The Jones) = Much pain and suffering. 13) Many of the Setites and their cards seem to be directly focused against the Camarilla. 14) Having a Setite predator is a very frightening thing. They are now sufficiently talented at votes, bleeds, combat *and* stealing minions. Having OBF means that more often than not, actions *will* be successful. 15) The Giovanni are now stealth bleeders on par with the Lasombra (though not the Malkavians). Call of the Hungry Dead played with Seduction will most of the time be enough to make a bleed unblockable. 16) Improved card-control means the Giovanni are more efficient than ever. Cards that are rare and/or corner-case for any other clan are available to the Giovanni by discarding and retreiving later when needed. Effectively, their ash heap becomes a permanent un-attackable giant Storage Annex... as long as they have the right minions/cards available to exploit this advantage. 17) Like the Setites, many of the Giovanni's cards seem to target the Camarilla. Actually, this seems to be a trend of the Final Nights set in general. 18) The Giovanni's secondary disciplines are: AUS (5)... CEL (4)... THA (4)... OBF (3)... 19) Calebros' Princeship is a gift to your enemies. Playing with him is automatically considered collusion :) 20) Thaumaturgy seems to have gotten a shot in the arm with Veneficorum Artum Sanguis, Perfect Clarity and a slew of new vampires who have the discipline. 21) Allies in general have been greatly improved. Both the Giovanni and Followers of Set appear to be the most likely to use and abuse them. As a result, ally-hosers are probably more likely to appear... at least while Final Nights are still 'in vogue'. 22) The Ravnos are appropriately made more unpredictable and frustrating to play against. Their many unique actions are likely to concern their prey more so than the standard bleed. Deflections won't do you much good when your DOM vampire just got 'banished'. 23) Ravnos' secondary disciplines are: DOM (5)... AUS (4)... PRO (4)... CEL (3)... PRE (3)...OBF (3)... 24) Ravnos' anemity has been alleviated substantially with the essential Path of Paradox and the less useful Patshiv. Having enough blood still appears to be a problem however. 25) Chimerstry is even more intercept-capable with another 'reduce stealth' card (Draba). In turn, the Ravnos are also less likely to be *caught* with increased stealth and a 'S:CE and continue' combat card. Red Herring is similar to Change of Target and useful for drawing out untaps and transient intercept. 26) Goratrix is a *very* strong vampire, likely to have many decks built around him. He can bleed well, has complementary combat disciplines and can block/deflect without peer. His special screams 'Break me!' 27) Final Nights favour large vampires over smaller to some extent. Cards such as Zillah's Valley, Honor the Elders and Free States Rant give higher caps more bang for the buck. 28) Because of all the new types of strategies avaialble, *defending* against all of those strategies will become a *lot* harder. Gone are the days when packing a few Deflections, Majesties and Delaying Tactics saved the day. Be prepared to use a lot more wakes, a lot more intercept, and a lot more combat-defense. It will be months before the full extent of this will be known. ================================================ "So, as you can see, the Assamites, Ravnos and Giovanni deserve our special atttention. The Followers of Set are not presently a threat and we can safely ignore them for the forseeable future. Thank you." Julian finished his report, bowed gracefully with a smile to Sela and stepped back into the shadows. When attention was no longer on him, he pulled out a sleak black cell-phone and tapped a familiar combination of numbers. "Cairo please. Yes, may I speak to her ladyship? Hello, It's initiate Sanders... Yes, ma'am, I'm sorry to report back to you so late. Yes... no, your ladyship, they don't consider your clan a threat. My payment has been deposited? Thank you, your ladyship. It has been pleasant working for you." Julian paused once more to look around before stepping out into the Detroit night. As he left the old warehouse, another shadowy (and equally hideous) figure jotted down a set of numbers and carefully prepared his own report. ================================================= Cheers, WES The Tripley Evil One