THE LAZARENE INQUISITOR vol.1, no1 Harbingers of Skulls Quarterly Newsletter, Spring 2007 CONTENTS 0 About the Newsletter I Tips for Beginners: Rushing II Recent Developments III Deck: Anjimmina IV What Lies Ahead? ABOUT THE NEWSLETTER This issue the newsletter gets a title, The Lazarene Inquisitor, and moves to a quarterly publication schedule. Monthly or even quasi- monthly is too frequent for this editor's abilities. (In fact, half of this issue was written in March and languished on my laptop until now, mid June.) As a Bloodline, the Harbingers of Skulls only get new cards once in a blue moon, anyway. TIPS FOR BEGINNERS: RUSH ACTIONS Combat is a very important part of Vampire: The Eternal Struggle. In fact this game has a much richer combat mechanic than most other CCG's. I often see brand-new players trying to initiate combat just by tapping a minion. I guess they bring with them habits from other games and haven't yet fully adjusted to how minions take actions. In V:TES, combat only happens by default when an action is blocked. Of course there are cards that do allow one minion to take an action to enter combat with another. This is often called rushing, although it's worth noting that "rush" is not a formal term of the game. There are a few other more unusual ways to provoke a combat, but only an action to enter combat is properly called a rush. Choosing among the cards that can give you rush actions, there are some basic criteria. 1) Who can take the action? Some cards require the acting minion to be a vampire, or have other requirements such as a discipline, clan or sect. 2) Who can be the target of the action? Some cards restrict the kind of minion you can target, such as a tapped minion or an older vampire. Remember that your minions can never have combat with each other, only with minions controlled by another Methuselah (i.e. another player). 3) Does the card have a cost? It could cost blood or pool or have some other detriment, such as temporarily reducing your hand size. 4) Does the card have any beneficial side-effects? Your acting minion might get an optional maneuver or press if the action is successful (i.e. unblocked); there might be some reward, such as blood or pool, for taking out the opposing minion (removing them from the ready region by burning or torporizing). 5) Does the action have any inherent stealth? Rush actions at 0 stealth are often blocked. You still get combat, but maybe not with the opponent you wanted. Also, any side benefits of a successful action are lost. 6) Does the card have a lingering effect that could allow more than one rush? There's a whole spectrum here, from one-shot cards like Bum's Rush, thru short-duration cards like Frontal Assault, semi- permanents like Archon and Haven Uncovered, to permanents like Shakar or the various Contracts. A Contract is a permanent rush-granting effect between a specific rusher and a specific target minion. Take all of these criteria into account when figuring out how to work rushing into your deck's capabilities. If you want to multirush, which means have a minion or minions each take more than one rush action per turn by somehow untapping between them, you will need distinct sources for the multiple rush actions - a minion cannot repeat an action that comes from an action card or a card in play. Some minions have the Red List attribute, which more-or-less indicates that they are wanted fugitives. In the game, this allows other minions to take rush actions against them, but only with the proper set-up. From the rulebook, Red List: Any Methuselah may use a master phase action to mark a Red List minion for the current turn. Any ready vampire she controls may enter combat with a marked Red List minion as a +1 stealth (D) action that costs 1 blood. Each vampire can take this action only once each turn. Here is a comprehensive list of current rush-generating cards. The list would be much too long if it included individual commentary or card text. White Wolf has an index of cards with complete text at http://www.white-wolf.com/vtes/index.php?line=cardlist.html . One-shot rush actions useable by any minion: Ambush; Big Game ; Bum's Rush; Harass. One-shot rush actions with requirements: Games of Instinct; Monomancy; Muse of Flame; Nose of the Hound; Purity of the Beast; Rumble; Sense Death; Taunt the Caged Beast. Ways to give a minion rush ability: Alastor; Archon; Enrage; Eye of Hazimel; Joseph Pander; Lunatic Eruption; Redline; Shakar; Stone Dog; Talbot's Chainsaw; Templar; Tracker's Mark. Ways to make a minion a target for rushes: Blood Hunt; Haven Uncovered; Highway Haven: RV (negative side-effect); Illuminate (negative side-effect); Red List; Regent (negative side-effect); Samuel Haight (negative special ability); Trumped-Up Charges; Unacceptable Appearance; Vendetta; Veneficorum Artum Sanguis (negative side-effect); War Party. Cards allowing one specific minion to rush another specific minion: Clandestine Contract; Contract; Dirty Contract; Hand Contract; Haqim's Law: Judgment; Political Struggle. Cards allowing certain kinds of minions to rush other kinds: Break the Code; Covenant of Blood; Dogs of War; Frontal Assault; Imperial Decree; Judgment: Death to the Brujah!. Crypt minions with inherent rush ability : Adonai; Amelia; Anka, Priestess of Thorns; Beast, the Leatherface of Detroit; Black Annis; Count Germaine; Ebanezer Roush; Ellen Fence, the Tracker; Enkidu, the Noah; Faruq; Ferox, the Rock Lord; Hrothulf; Ignazio Giovanni; Jacques Molay; Jeremy MacNeil (Advanced); John "Cop90" O'Malley; Karsh; Kemintiri; Lady Zara Slatikov; Langa; Lucinde, Alastor; Massassi; Nangila Were; Pariah; Radeyah; Roxanne, Rectrix of the 13th Floor; Salinger; Tariq, the Silent; Theo Bell; Tupdog; Uta Kovacs; Wynn. Non-crypt minions with inherent rush ability: Abomination; Amam the Devourer; Call the Great Beast; Cry Wolf; Escaped Mental Patient; Herald of Topheth; High Top; Muddled Vampire Hunter; Order of Hermes Cabal; Ossian; Renegade Garou; Rock Cat; Shambling Hordes; War Ghoul; Wendell Delburton. Minions (crypt or not) that are inherent targets for rushing, including Red List minions: Alexis Sorokin; Angelo; Count Germaine (Advanced); Dylan (Advanced); Genina, the Red Poet; Giangaleazzo, the Traitor; Huang, Blood Cultist; Jayne Jonestown; Kemintiri; Kemintiri (Advanced); Marcus Vitel (Advanced); Margarite; Mata Hari; Ossian; Petaniqua; Petaniqua (Advanced); Rabbat, the Sewer Goddess; Tariq, the Silent (Advanced); Valerius Maior, Hell's Fool; Valerius Maior, Hell's Fool (Advanced). WHAT"S NEW(ISH): THIRD EDITION & SWORD OF CAINE Third Edition is a large base-set expansion consisting primarily of new Crypt cards and reprinted Library cards, while Sword of Caine is a small set with no reprints. Both focus on the Sabbat, with Sword of Caine primarily concerned with the Black Hand. As a Sabbat clan, the Harbingers of Skulls should be in a position to benefit from many of the new cards. The most interesting developments, vis-a-vis our clan, are some new vampires in compatible mainstream clans, which hopefully will be more exciting when we get a few more vampires in the later groupings (3/4 and 4/5). New Crypt Cards While Necromancy cards are not included in either new set, there are a few necromancers among the new vampires. Unfortunately they have huge capacity and little or no synergy with any HoS Mugur Sabau (3E boosters) 9 !Gan G4 [vic CEL NEC OBF PRO] Sabbat Archbishop of Pittsburgh: Each time Mugur commits diablerie, he gets an additional +1 bleed. Luca Italicus (3E boosters) 10 Las G4 [tha DOM FOR NEC OBT POT] Sabbat Archbishop of Philadelphia: Once each round after the first, Luca can strike for 2R damage. Appius Claudius Corvus (SoC) 10 Las G5 [cel nec DOM OBT POT] Sabbat. Black Hand. Seraph: +1 stealth. There are a few good new playmates for Phagian. Jefferson Foster (3E boosters) 6 !Ven G4 [for tha AUS DOM] Sabbat bishop. Polly Kay Fisher (3E boosters) 8 !Ven G4 [for pot AUS DOM THA] Sabbat Archbishop of New York. We should probably also take a quick look at some other new vampires with both Auspex and Fortitude. Of course, there's virtually all of clan Ventrue antitribu. The standouts here are Jefferson and Polly, as listed above; Neighbor John for his affordable permacept; Louis de Maisonneuve and Titus Camille as a way to add Dominate and Obfuscate to the crypt; and Konrad Fleischer, whose disciplines have good overlap with both Phagian and Babalawo Alafin. And it would be wrong not to mention Elimelech. Neighbor John (3E boosters) 5 !Ven G4 [dom for AUS] +1 intercept Louis de Maisonneuve (3E boosters) 5 !Ven G4 [aus dom obf FOR] Titus Camille (3E boosters) 8 !Ven G4 [for AUS DOM OBF] Titus can steal equipment from a minion controlled by your predator or prey as a (D) action. +1 strength. Konrad Fleischer (3E boosters) 9 !Ven G4 [tha ANI AUS DOM FOR] Once each round, Konrad may treat 1 aggravated damage as normal. He gets an optional press each combat. Elimelech the Twice Damned (SoC) 11 !Ven G5 [pro US DEM DOM FOR OBF] Sabbat. Black Hand. Seraph: Elimelech strikes with first strike. +1 bleed. +1 strength. How about the other clans? There are eight new non-Ventrue with Auspex and Fortitude. None looks especially compatible with the current G3/4 or G4/5 Harbingers of Skulls. Since we can expect one more HoS in G4 and one in G5, the eventual viability of cooperation with this crop of new vampires is a matter of speculation. Frere Marc (3E boosters) 6 Gangrel antitribu G4 aus for PRO THA Apache Jones (3E !Mal starter) 5 Malkavian antitribu G4 aus for obf DEM Marge Khan (SoC) 7 Malkavian antitribu G5 aus for DEM OBF POT Klaus Konrecht (3E boosters) 8 Toreador antitribu G4 for pot AUS CEL PRE Sabbat cardinal. Esoara (3E !Tre starter) 5 Tremere antitribu G4 aus for pot DOM Lernean (3E boosters) 10 Tremere antitribu G4 for pro AUS CEL DOM THA Sabbat cardinal: Once each round, Lernean may burn 1 blood to get an additional strike. New Library Cards Abbot (3E) +1 stealth action. Requires a Sabbat vampire. Put this card on this acting Sabbat vampire and untap him or her. This Sabbat vampire gets +1 intercept against (D) actions directed at his or her controller. A vampire may have only one Abbot. There's no reason not to use this card, unless you never intend to block anything. It's cheaper and more durable than a Masquer or a Sport Bike. Biothaumaturgic Experiment (SoC) Cost: 1 pool +1 stealth action. [tha] Employ an animal retainer from your hand (ignore requirements; pay cost as normal). [THA] Put this card on a minion you control. The minion with this card gets an optional maneuver each combat and +1 strength. This could be good in a deck featuring Phagian and some Salubri Antitribu. It's also a (very expensive) way to get Dog Pack on your vampires without controlling a Gangrel. Census Taker (SoC) Cost: 1 pool Unique master. Put this card on a ready Black Hand vampire. During an action, this Black Hand vampire can tap to give any other Sabbat vampire +1 bleed or 2 additional votes for the current action. During an action, this Black Hand vampire can tap to give any other Black Hand vampire +1 intercept. None of the Harbingers of Skulls is Black Hand out-of-the-box, but there are several very compatible vampires that are, and Rico Loco or Piotr Andreikov look good for a Census Taker in a Harbinger deck that might include Sennadurek and Blackhorse Tanner and Katherine Stoddard, or Aredhel. Cloak of Blood (SoC) Action. Requires a vampire with capacity above 5 who can commit diablerie. (D) Diablerize a vampire in torpor, and this vampire may gain one level of a Discipline the victim had. In the resulting blood hunt referendum, this vampire gets an additional 2 votes. Here's a way to get your prey's disciplines on your vampires so you can use the cards that Agaitas lets you draw from your prey's library. There's probably also some good way to use this to, say, have Gisela diablerize Blanche Hill to grab her Obeah, then you influence out Matthias and use Possession to bring back Blanche. Codex of the Damned (3E) Unique equipment. While the bearer has Thaumaturgy [tha], he or she is considered to have superior Thaumaturgy. Each time the bearer with Thaumaturgy commits diablerie, each other ready vampire you control gains 1 blood, and each one younger than the victim may receive a master: Discipline card from your ash heap, hand, or library (shuffle afterward). Use this one in the Phagian + Archbishops aus-dom-for-nec-tha decks that must be out there somewhere. Empowering the Puppet King (SoC) Cost: 1 blood Action Modifier Only usable by a ready, untapped vampire other than the acting minion you control. After playing this card, you cannot play another action modifier to further increase the bleed for this action. [dom] The acting minion gets +1 bleed. [DOM] As above, but usable by a tapped vampire. This is a decent bleed enhancer for scattered Dominate, which is not uncommon for a HoS deck. Forced Vigilance (SoC) Cost: 1 blood Reaction [for] Only usable by a tapped vampire immediately after he or she blocks (play after combat, if any). Untap this reacting vampire. [FOR] Only usable by a tapped vampire during a (D) action directed against you (or something you control). Untap this vampire. This'd be strong if it were free, too strong I guess. At 1 blood it only makes sense if you've got reactions that can't be used during a Wake, which you probably don't. It seems a pointless addition to Fortitude, which is not an overpowered discipline anyway . Framing an Ancient Grudge (SoC) Clan: Ventrue antitribu Master. Choose a prince or primogen, or burn 3 pool to choose a justicar. The chosen vampire loses his or her title. Since among the base-set Sabbat clans the Ventrue Antitribu are most compatible with us, this could be another reason to consider a HoS / ! Ven political deck. Maybe you could pass Brinksmanship without using Dia de los Muertos. Psychic Assault (SoC) [aus] Strike: 1R damage. Any effect which would make damage from this strike aggravated leaves the damage normal instead. If this striking vampire is Black Hand, the damage from this strike is unpreventable. [AUS] As above, but for 2R damage. This looks like it's worth putting a few in a fighty HoS deck that prefers close range, for those awkward times that you get stuck at long - since it's also useable at close it shouldn't clog your hand. If you're playing a non-combat Black Hand deck that wants a little hit- back, it becomes a strong enough strike to consider using Unflinching Persistence / Psychic Assault as your combat module instead of, say, Concealed Weapon / .44 Magnum. Veil the Legions (SoC) Action Modifier [obf] Only usable by a ready, untapped vampire other than the acting minion you control. The acting minion gets +1 stealth. Only one Veil the Legions may be played each action. [OBF] As above, and this vampire may burn X additional blood to give +1 stealth to the next X actions your minions perform this turn. Only one Veil the Legions can be played at superior each turn. If your deck stars Egotha, why not add Watenda to your crypt, and a few of these and maybe a Changeling Skin Mask to your library? Wash (3E) Master: out-of-turn. Trifle. Do not replace until your next untap phase. Cancel a master card played by your predator or prey as it is played (no cost is paid). That Methuselah gains a master phase action (if the canceled card is an out-of-turn master, it doesn't count against that Methuselah's next master phase). This is a lot better than Sudden Reversal if you have your own Masters to use (like, say, The Slaughterhouse). Young Bloods (3E) Cost: 2 pool Unique mortal with 3 life. 2 strength, 0 bleed. The Young Bloods can burn 2 blood from a tapped vampire with a capacity less than 8 as a +1 stealth (D) action. If a vampire controlled by another Methuselah burns the Young Bloods in combat or as an action, he or she gains 2 blood. Use this in combination with Lazarene Inquisitor and Gregory Winter. DECK OF THE MONTH: ANJIMMINA Jimmy Dunn will rush and burn your prey's minions, or your predator's when it's absolutely necessary. The Crematorium can take care of the ones Jimmy doesn't manage to Decapitate. Vast Wealth should go on Mina Grotius. She needs the Ivory Bow or Hand of Conrad for combat strength, and once she has the Erebus Mask and a Laptop Computer she has +2 bleed at +1 stealth. Minion Tap Mina or move blood and spare equipment off her with Heidelberg Castle, because she gains 3 blood each time Jimmy scores a kill and then can use Ghost Eater to gain a bunch more or Daemonic Possession to bring the burned minion back to unlife under your control. Angelo can diablerize with impunity (and even untap afterwards) with Rebirth. The deck is untested, so it's likely some of the ratios will need to be adjusted. Crypt 5x Jimmy Dunn 3x Mina Grotius 3x Angelo 1x Sandra White Library Master ( 11) 5x Minion Tap 2x Vast Wealth 1x Crematorium 1x Frontal Assault 1x Heidelberg Castle, Germany 1x Joseph Pander Equipment (7) 1x Erebus Mask 1x Hand of Conrad 1x Heart of Nizchetus 1x Ivory Bow 1x Laptop Computer 1x Sargon Fragment 1x Sport Bike Action (18) 4x Games of Instinct 1x Ambush 1x Big Game 1x Bum's Rush 1x Harass 4x Daemonic Possession 2x Chill of Oblivion 2x Ghost Eater 2x Rebirth 1x Abbot Action Modifier (7) 4x Forced March 3x Freak Drive Combat (45) 8x Immortal Grapple 6x Pursuit 6x Torn Signpost 4x Flash 4x Soak 3x Decapitate 3x Skin of Steel 2x Blur 2x Dead Hand 2x Psyche 2x Rolling with the Punches 2x Taste of Vitae 1x Disarm Reaction (2) 2x On the Qui Vive UPCOMING DEVELOPMENTS The next V:TES expansion in Lords of the Night. It's known that it will focus on the four mainstream Independent clans, no doubt there will be something more than that. Maybe some Anarch or Red List stuff, or maybe the fifth big Independent clan, the Gangrel, will be there too. The Giovanni starter will no doubt include some welcome reprints of Necromancy cards, and there's just a slight possibility we might get a new Harbinger of Skulls vampire in there somewhere. Next Newsletter is scheduled to take a look back at the Anarchs expansion and the possibilities that going Anarch can offer our clan. Maybe we'll see the Imbuebalawopalooza deck that was originally promised for this issue.