Lasombra Newsletter January 2007 INTRODUCTION Happy New Year everyone! 2007 already brings us the promise of a small expansion; Sword of Caine, which will focus on the Black Hand. I always enjoyed the Black Hand mechanic but never found it to be quite as solid as I would have hoped; with luck this expansion will change that. I expect we’ll see at least one or two Lasombra, (given the clan’s position in the Sabbat) though we’ll probably be severely outnumbered by the mongrel Gangrel Antitribu and the Assamites. Regardless we’ll almost certainly see some new cards that’ll benefit our clan. I would like to apologise for the tardiness of this newsletter. This has been something of a busy month and unfortunately VTES was one of the things that had to be put on the side while things got sorted out. I shall try and avoid letting this happen next month? PLAYING WITH THE LASOMBRA This month I’ll be continuing my look at the Lasombra’s clan disciplines by piecing together my thoughts on the Lasombra’s personal clan discipline of Obtenebration; the discipline that probably gave the clan their stereotypical obsession with darkness and no doubt required legions of young Lasombra to dye their hair black. How gothic. Obtenebration is something of a toolbox discipline; it offers a wide range of effects including stealth, intercept alongside offensive and defensive combat options. Obtenebration can serve as a wonderful support discipline in a wide variety of strategies, giving the Lasombra some useful flexibility. Like all disciplines (expect maybe dominate...) Obtenebration isn’t perfect however; pretty much everything it does is done better by another discipline (though no other discipline with the possible exception of Protean offers ALL of these effects) and most Obtenebration cards have a blood cost which will probably leave your vampires low on blood; especially if you plan to use Obtenebration for stealth regularly. Top cards include: Arms of the Abyss Type: Combat Requires: Obtenebration [obt] Strike: dodge. [OBT] Strike: dodge, with an additional strike. Rarity: Sabbat:C SW:C/PL3 Dodges seem to have something of a bad reputation round where I play; most people who plan to avoid combat would rather use S:CE so as to avoid the possibility of additional strikes or ending up as a meal for a flock of deranged crows. This is fair enough but in my opinion most (though not all) serious combat decks will include some way of preventing S:CE and in the case of the most popular card for doing so (Immortal Grapple) this will also cancel a dodge. Despite this I think Arms of the Abyss is a great card; it’s basically a free acrobatics and the additional strike at superior means that it’s possible to avoid an incoming strike and respond with one of your own; using either Potence or perhaps Entombment. This isn’t going to make you the most dominant combatant at the table but it’ll probably keep you from being the worst and may at times manage to save you from a dirtnap. Entombment Type: Combat Requires: Obtenebration Cost: 2 blood [obt] Strike: burn the opposing ally. [OBT] Strike: send the opposing vampire into torpor. Rarity: Sabbat:R SW:R/PL Sure, Entombment is an expensive card but it’s a very nasty card. The fact that it can’t be used under Immortal Grapple makes it hard to ensure that your victim cannot make use of S:CE to defend themselves. Alongside the fact that Entombment can be dodged this means that it’s not really a combat card to try and use consistently unless no-one in your playgroup is worried about combat. The odd copy or two in a deck using Obtenebration seems reasonable to me though; there will be occasions when your opponents can’t escape Entombment and you’ll be glad to use it on them. It’s also worth noting that the card has actually become more efficient thanks to the printing of the Imbued. Given that the Imbued count as allies there are now even more targets who can be burned when the card is used at the basic level; which previously wasn’t that useful at all. Eyes of the Night Type: Reaction Requires: Obtenebration [obt] +1 intercept. [OBT] As above, with an optional maneuver or press during the resulting combat if this vampire successfully blocks this action and combat occurs. Rarity: Sabbat:C SW:PL2 Everyone knows that Auspex is THE discipline for intercept. That’s a fact but do take a look at this card. Eyes of the Night is actually superior to Spirit’s Touch because it offers you the choice of a press at superior rather then just a maneuver. This card is useful because it provides the Lasombra with a source of intercept (and thus defence) that they would otherwise lack. The Lasombra will never be the best of interceptors, lacking both Animalism and Auspex, but this card combined with the odd media outlet can make then significantly better then some other clans. Don’t underestimate the surprise value of this card; a significant number of players seem to forget that Obtenebration DOES offer intercept and fail to take this fact into account while acting. Shadow Body Type: Combat Requires: Obtenebration Cost: 1 blood [obt] Strike: combat ends. [OBT] As above, and if this vampire was blocked while performing an action other than a political action or bleeding, the action continues as if unblocked. Rarity: Sabbat:C SW:PL2 I’m very frustrated that this wonderful card wasn’t reprinted in 3rd Ed. Given the fact that the Lasombra are not the best of combatants and would rather not be on the receiving end of Beast’s affections this card provides a welcome escape from his “friendly hugs”. At superior this card gets interesting. The ability to continue an action after a blocker has tapped is powerful and can greatly assist you in ensuring that your more vital actions get through. It’s a pity that you can’t continue bleeds or political actions, as these in my mind are probably the most common actions the Lasombra will be taking; but there are plenty of other valuable actions worth continuing such as a superior Govern the Unaligned, an attempt to burn Smiling Jack, etc. As an observation this card is theoretically inferior to Form of Mist because of the limitations on actions that can be continued and the fact that Shadow Body does not provide stealth (which is the real beauty of Form of Mist). The only advantage that Shadow Body has over Form of Mist is that it can be used as many times as you like in a given action. That’s not much, but trust me, the look on your preys face when he realises he’s tapped all three of his vampires and STILL failed to stop you is priceless. As no doubt was the look on my face when he PTO-ed me? Shadow Play Type: Action Modifier Requires: Obtenebration Cost: 1 blood [obt] +1 stealth. [OBT] +2 stealth. Rarity: Sabbat:C SW:C/PL4 Third:C While clearly not as strong as Lost in Crowds (costing a blood) Shadow Play is a powerful weapon to ensure that the Lasombra’s actions pass. Although regular use of it will drain your blood annoyingly quickly it’s the best access to stealth the Lasombra have and is therefore appreciated. It’s a pity it’s not much help when being forced to hunt, but what can you do? Given that Obtenebration is (in theory) exclusive to the Lasombra one doesn’t really need to worry about considering what if offers us as opposed to other clans. Obtenebration works to pad out the Lasombra, supporting both of their other disciplines nicely, as it provides the stealth to land Dominate-enhanced bleeds and additional combat abilities to compliment Potence. Therein lies one of the hidden strengths of Obtenebration; other players must consider that it offers the potential for combat avoidance, stealth and fearsome (if unreliable) combat abilities. The fear of Entombment is a wonderful thing. MINION FOCUS Since we have a Black Hand themed set coming out soon I thought it’d be appropriate to take a look at the two Keepers other then Ermenegildo who have become members of the Black Hand, so without further ado: Banjoko Clan: Lasombra (group 3) Capacity: 5 Disciplines: DOM obt pot Sabbat. Black Hand Seraph. Rarity: BH:U2 Banjoko is pretty cool, a five capacity vampire with DOM is always going to be appreciated and he has both of the other clan disciplines also. The Black Hand trait *is* good because it offers a number of nifty cards. If I have a number of Black Hand vampires in a deck I like to toss in the odd Corporal Reservoir; it’s proven to be very helpful when one bumps into agg-poke or when attempting to disarm people (or avoid being disarmed). At the time of writing Banjoko is also the youngest Seraph in print which gives easier access to the various Watchtowers which are all very useful. Assuming that a decent number of the vampires in Sword of Caine are G4 Banjoko will probably become all the more useful. Henri Lavenant Clan: Lasombra (group 3) Capacity: 7 Disciplines: DOM OBT pot qui Sabbat. Black Hand: You have +1 hand size while Henri is in combat. Rarity: BH:U2 Henri was looked at in January 2004 Lasombra Clan Newsletter and I don’t have much to add or argue about; so much of this will be nothing new. Nonetheless: Henri’s most obvious strength is that he’s a fine bleeder, having both DOM and OBT as a 7 capacity vampire. He can nicely round out a deck focusing on these two disciplines and now that Ermenegildo is among us we now have two Black Hand vampires with these disciplines at superior. Interesting. Obviously the more Black Hand vampires one fields the more useful Black Hand cards in the deck become, so this is nothing but a good thing for us. The funny side? Henri has Quietus which he shares with?No-one. The only time I can really see much use being made of Henri’s Quietus is if he happens to be the central point of the deck and you choose to splash a few cards in for fun. The printing of Black Sunrise has meant that Quietus now has an impressive card that could help Henri in a wall-ish deck; but why bother? He’s not a great combatant and lacks Animalism and Auspex. Sure, you could use some of the Black Hand intercept cards, but it’s not really worth it. Henri’s Quietus is nice, but not very useful unfortunately. Similarly Henri’s special ability’s not that great either. It would be pretty helpful, but Henri’s not actually THAT great a combatant so his ability is somewhat wasted. It’ll be helpful when you need to flush your hand and on the odd occasion, but is unlikely to make much of an impact on the game. CARD FOCUS Elysian Fields Type: Master Requires: Lasombra Cost: 2 pool Master: unique location. Tap to give a Lasombra you control +1 stealth for the current action. Rarity: Sabbat:U SW:PL Third:U Simple yet wonderful. The Elysian Fields may seem a bit expensive on the surface, but they’re excellent. The access to permanent stealth is very strong and it may well be the addition of that single +1 stealth that makes all the difference. Given that Shadow Play costs blood the access to free stealth is also a bonus. This card is a real no brainer inclusion to almost every Lasombra deck. SIGN OFF Again, no deck this month, but there you go. Next month (which isn’t very far away) I’ll be finishing off my look at the Lasombra’s disciplines by taking a look at Potence and giving my own opinion on the argument that “Potence sucks” that was floating around the newgroup awhile back. Until then, goodbye. I promise to not be so late next time around! The Insane Prophet.