BRUJAH ANTITRIBU NEWSLETTER
Volume 2, Issue 6
June 2001
Author: Wes
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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
NAVIGATION
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