Thursday, December 15, 2011

Ignazio's Bleeding Army of Fools

As a response to the deck concept posted by Johannes Walchs here I created the following variation using the same core mechanic of using Chain of Command on a vampire with DOM and FOR/for to then bleed with them, have them explode during the bleed (Daring the Dawn) and then bring them back with Possession.  The trip through the ashheap also rinses them clean of NRA (AFAIK) so you can rinse-repeat on the bleed actions.
V:TES deck - Ignazio's Army of Fools

Deck Name: Ignazio's Bleeding Army of Fools
Created by: Juggernaut1981
Description: Ignazio Giovanni + Chain of Command/Daring the Dawn + Bleed style shennanigans.
Crypt [16 vampires, average capacity: 7.25]
6x Ignazio Giovanni DOM FOR NEC POT obf 9 Giovanni:3
1x Lucita DOM FOR OBT cel pot 8 Lasombra:2
1x Victorine Lafourcade DOM FOR PRE tha 8 Ventrue:3 prince
1x Blackhorse Tanner AUS DOM FOR 7 Ventrue antitribu:3
1x Gracis Nostinus DOM PRE aus for 7 Ventrue:3 primogen
1x Charice Fontaigne AUS DOM for pot 6 Ventrue antitribu:3
1x Edward Vignes DOM PRE for 6 Ventrue:3
1x Vanessa DOM FOR aus pre 6 Ventrue antitribu:2
1x Catherine du Bois DOM for obf pre 5 Ventrue:3
1x Ranjan Rishi, Camarilla DOM PRE for 5 Ventrue:2
1x Ingrid Russo DOM for 4 Ventrue antitribu:2
Library
[83 cards]
Master [16]
2x From a Sinking Ship
2x Golconda: Inner Peace
2x Perfectionist
4x Wider View
6x Zillah's Valley
Action [16]
6x Chain of Command
6x Possession
4x Scouting Mission
Action Modifier [40]
4x Command of the Beast
8x Conditioning
8x Daring the Dawn
4x Foreshadowing Destruction
6x Freak Drive
4x Safe Passage
6x Seduction
Equipment [1]
1x Sargon Fragment, The
Event
[2]
2x Break the Code
Reaction [8]
8x Deflection

Saturday, December 10, 2011

The Spider League 2012

In 2012, I'm thinking of running a number of Constructed Tournaments that will also contribute to rankings in The Spider League.  They would also be Standard Constructed Tournaments that would contribute to VEKN Rankings and so on.

The Spider League takes its name indirectly from a quote from Matt Barnett "We're not here to [have intercourse with] spiders... let's play some VTES!".

So, without a moment to waste...

Rules
  • Each of these will be 2 Rounds + 1 Final.
  • Round VPs = 1 point, Round GWs = 2 points, Final VPs = 2 points, Final GWs = 3 points
  • TPs will be accumulated as normal through the League and will be used to break ties.
  • If TPs cannot break the tie, then it will be done based on GWs (both Rounds and Finals). If this will not break the tie, then comparing Final GWs to Round GWs or Final VPs to Round VPs 
Prizes
There is:
  • a minimum of bragging rights.
  • potentially a perpetual trophy will be kept at Unlimited Hobbies
  • Deckbackers
  • Pool counters
  • Counter Cards
  • Buttons/Badges
  • Other loot...
When?
I'm planning to include competitions on the following dates...  (these dates are very much in the DRAFT stage except for Burning Wrath)

Burning Wrath (Australian Continental Championship Qualifier) Saturday 18th Feb 2012
Claws of the Dead (Constructed) Saturday 15th June 2012
Exuding Blood (Constructed) Saturday 17th August 2012
Gemini's Mirror (Constructed) Saturday 23rd November 2012

Where?
I'd plan to hold all of these games at Unlimited Hobbies Blacktown NSW 2148.  I may hold them in other locations if Unlimited Hobbies is unavailable but they will also be within a short distance of Blacktown Train Station.

Thursday, December 8, 2011

Custom Made Tournament Loot

Here is a start of some of the custom made things I am planning to use in the future for my tournaments... Packs of 40 seem like a good number.  If you are regularly running tournaments, I might be able to make some for you to give out as loot at your games... We can figure out the details of costs and so on later.  I'm also happy to make and send my Counter Cards for you to give out as prizes.  Again just send me a message (either here or via my email or on my VEKN Profile)



These beads have a 12mm diameter design on paper and have been backed with Red felt.  I liked the blue vase stones (sold by a local hardware store) but of course they can appear in other colours.  The flash and exposure are high on this image to help you see the design in the background; it turns up poorly in low light and in the other photo.
EDIT:
Here is a couple of "Action" shots of the Corruption Counter Cards underneath Theo Bell ADV.  They have been shrunk slightly (I think the Local Stationery Chain may have resized it rather than set it to full bleed) because they are supposed to be as tall as a normal card.  I might also have to make them a little wider... but you get the idea.  Put them under your stuff (or under other people's stuff) to keep track of the counters they have...



Burning Wrath: Tournament Announcement

Monday, December 5, 2011

The Hunters are about...

All I'm getting out of the VEKN page is...

"Database Error: Unable to connect to the database:Could not connect to MySQL"

Hopefully we can re-establish...

Friday, December 2, 2011

Bent, Broken, Wallpaper and Boring...

After ICLee's nice post I felt the need to spend some time of my own talking about the following ideas:
- What makes a card 'broken'?
- What makes a card 'powerful but not broken'?
- What is the role of the metagame in the ongoing life of VTES?
- When is the metagame unhealthy?

Please, do go read IC Lee's post. It's very good and I do think that he makes one particularly good and interesting point:

People think the metagame is 'unhealthy' or 'sick' when it is not fun to play anything but a narrow range of deck types.

I am very firmly in this camp. I don't care much if I am not playing the most 'efficient'* deck. I love my Nos Princes Hate You All (Nos Princes Anathema/Archon Deck) because it is unusual, fun to play, competitive in many versions of my local metagame and is often more about play skill than 'beating the Card Gods of Fate'.

So what makes a card broken?
In my own mind, 'broken' cards are those cards that can single-handedly distort the metagame over a long period of time.  These are often the 'Autoinclude' or 'Must counter' cards that are mentioned in deck-building advice for Tournament Quality decks. Pentex Subversion, Carlton van Wyck, Mylan Horseseed, Villein, Parity Shift... Many people feel the need to directly counter the effects of these cards.

From many people's comments on the VEKN Forums, there is a strong sentiment that Villein is single-handed distorting the metagame.  Many others are saying "It has had little effect compared with Minion Tap which it has replaced in the metagame".  I agree with this.  I don't think Villein has distorted the metagame as much as is claimed. I do believe it is probably too powerful for its cost (it's efficiency is too great).  Archon Investigation on the other hand is about right (maybe a little low for my taste, but not 'waay out the bottom') because it has steep conditions (4+ bleed action on you required) that can be countered (careful player decision) and a moderately high cost (10% of your starting pool + 1MPA) to get a strong effect (destroy a vampire).

So if Villein is, at most, closer to 'broken' than Minion Tap... what is their common effect that people object to?  Mass converting blood back into pool.  Both Villein and Minion Tap convert a large amount of blood into pool.  This explains why Blood Doll, which was (and is in my opinion) a staple card, is very rarely considered broken... each copy can adjust your pool total by 1 per Master Phase.  Since, more often than not, Villein and Minion Tap are used on pool you have recently spent on a large minion... where is the problem with them?  My conclusion is: Being able to use Villein/Minion Tap again on a minion.  So this means that the root of the problems with Villein and Minion Tap is not these cards but instead with putting blood onto vampires.

Cards that are 'famous' for putting blood onto vampires are: Giant's Blood, Taste of Vitae and Voter Captivation.  Most of the Fortitude actions seem to be largely ignored (e.g. Restoration) or things like 5th Trad are again ignored.  So this means that these cards should be investigated.
Giant's Blood has very restrictive conditions and powerful effects.  Sure this makes it a "Giant's Blood Raffle" for who is going to get it to arrive out of their deck first... but then it is over.  Giant's Blood has done its thing and gone.
Taste of Vitae has a lot of conditional requirements.  You need to cause damage to your opponent in combat (and while combat is a regular occurrence in VTES it is not guaranteed to run in your favour and can be highly risky).  You need to not be sent to torpor by your opponent.  You want to be on comparatively low-blood when you begin the combat (increasing the risk you are taking).  Then it can only give you the blood you have removed with damage (so your opponent could spend like a drunken sailor before paying for damage if they assumed they were going to torpor anyway).  Few people complain about Taste of Vitae because it is seen as a facilitator card for a 'sub-optimal' ousting methodology; Oust-by-Combat.
Voter Captivation has some requirements. You need a successful referendum called by this vampire.  If you are calling referendums, you are usually doing it to either damage your prey's pool or to increase your own.  Both of these goals are strong components of winning VTES.  You need to have that referendum pass.  Voter Captivation relies on the same discipline that provides most of the highly effective additional votes (Bewitching Oration and Awe).  Voter Captivation rewards the player by, at least, providing blood back to the acting vampire and potentially adding up to 2 pool as well.  So every aspect of this card provides a significant bonus with a comparatively limited risk; Vote is a strong defensive and aggressive strategy, Vote-push and Voter Cap are both Presence functions, Vote decks are naturally protected against other Vote decks by the nature of their votes.

My conclusion is that Villein and Minion Tap were never the cards actually distorting the Metagame.  It was the easy availability of additional blood counters through Voter Cap (and to a lesser extent Renewed Vigor) that led to the increased use of Minion Tap/Villein.

[Similar logic will also explain why Villein has proven more problematic now that players can play Villein & Golconda in a single turn with limited additional mechanical setup.  The original AAA decks required additional MPAs and this mitigated them but also cemented them as a very strong deck in the Metagame]

So what makes a card 'powerful but not broken'?
Cards that are 'powerful but not broken' are easy to find, but a little harder to define and the 'grey' area of this debate (in my opinion).

Giant's Blood is a highly powerful card, but its ability to distort the game has been mitigated by its 'once per game' clause.  The same goes for cards like Political Stranglehold, Ancient Influence, etc.

Minion Tap is a highly effective card but without the ability to refill vampires, it is more of a gambit.  You are increasing the risk to your minions to decrease the risk to yourself.  That risk-trading seems like an acceptable balance.

Parity Shift is a highly effective card but comes with a fair amount of risk.  You must have a way to balance your own pool to be less than your prey when needed.  You must have a way to manage your own safety against your predator while on a 'lower than you would otherwise be' pool total. You need to pass the vote (although the requirements of Parity Shift often help you ensure you have enough vote power).  In return for this, you then get to change your absolute pool total by up-to-the-number-of-players but your relative pool total with your prey by twice that amount.  This usually means you are playing a slightly dangerous game of relying on the absolute pool amount to be enough to protect you while you exploit the relative pool change.  A few in my playgroup actually dislike playing decks that have Parity Shift as a major mechanic because of the risks associated with the card.

What is the role of the metagame in VTES?  When is the metagame 'unhealthy'?
This is all surrounded by the idea of 'What does a healthy metagame look like in VTES?' and this does come partly down to taste and philosophy.  The things that have always attracted me to VTES is its "Rock-Scissors-Paper-Lizard-Spock" nature and its multiplayer nature.  Its "rock-scissors-paper-lizard-spock" nature is that no one deck beats all others; each decktype has "countering" decktypes and others it will neither help nor harm.

I think in VTES the role of the Metagame should be to increase the diversity of decks and diversity of cards played.  It should be dynamic.  At its healthiest I think the Metagame should slowly prove the maxim "No one deck can always win VTES" (i.e. the VTES metagame is 'anti-net-deck').  So the more narrow the decks appearing at tournaments and winning tournaments, the less health I think is in the Metagame.  I think that the Qualifier Scene in Australia has been sick in the past, purely because it was rife with mid-to-low-cap Dominate decks.  The metagame did heal itself partially at one point, when at a Qualifier around 8 vampires across 25-players in a 2R+F tournament were burned with Archon Investigation.  3 of those were burned by the predator of the acting vampire.  5 of them burned in a single game.  This brought some health back to the Metagame in Sydney, there are a wider range of decks appearing (bleed is still very strong, but there are a number of variations on the bleed deck) but more vote decks are appearing, Laibon decks are appearing, some Wall decks and the usual rogue Trick Decks and Combat Decks making guest cameos.  It is leading back towards some powerbleed, particularly with the Guillaume Giovanni "Hand of Library"power-bleeding decks appearing, but we do not seem to be experiencing much in the way of "Girls Will XYZ" decks.  Imbued have recently had strong success (winning the 2011 National/Continental Championship for instance) which has provided an interesting element to the Metagame.


So, I think I've addressed many of the ideas I have about the structure and health of the Metagame at least in Sydney and the impact cards can have on that.  My personal method for assessing the power of a card is to analyse its effect on people's thinking on deck design because this is usually the point when people decide to conform or contradict the metagame. Some people become more inventive (attempting to use old cards in new ways) as a response to the metagame and others return to 'tried and true' decks that are 'out of favour' in the metagame as a way to mix it up.  That constant dynamic change in the metagame without the prevalence or dominance of a single deck or family of closely related decks is a sign of health in a VTES metagame.


*Efficiency, as often espoused by the European VTES players on the VEKN Forum seems to be short-hand for "Using a deck with the minimum number of cards required". Possibly from my own background of Science, Mathematics and personal history... I find a minimisation concept of efficiency as very limited. I have always preferred the concept of efficiency as "Effect achieved from effort expended". So I am likely to increase the size of a deck to include cards that will potentially have a large effect to my game. I have no fear of a 90-card deck and some of my favourites are 90-card decks. I think of Ashur Tablets as less of a 'library extension' tool, but as an efficiency enhancer since it allows me to reuse many effective resources from my Ash Heap and giving them twice the effect for approximately the same number of card slots. I see Ashur Tablets as a very efficient card, because it enhances the efficiency of other cards dramatically as well as providing a bonus on their own.

Friday, November 25, 2011

Does this vampire feel balanced to you?

This is a LOT of positive and negative text... just not sure if it all balances out in the end.




EDIT:
The intent of this vampire (from a thematic building point) was that they were a paranoid recluse. Chi & + stealth help her avoid others, but getting out there and doing things (like bleeding, etc) requires extra effort for her (hence increased cost). But being a paranoid recluse with [AUS] means you'd also be keenly aware of anything happening nearby and constantly vigilant (hence the burn 1 blood for -1 stealth anywhere near her).

I may amend it to have the increased cost on (D) actions and keep the "burn a blood". The title seems not to fit with the rest of the idea, so I might give her a 5th discipline (since those would be roughly a half-price discpline).

Thursday, November 24, 2011

Ishtarri Bleed to Live

Deck Name: Ishtarri Bleed to Live
Author: Juggernaut1981
Description:
This is a variation on my Ishtarri Bleed Deck. This was originally made from 2 Ishtarri Starters mashed together to make a deck. It's entire plan is that a good offence is better than a solid defence. Basically it intends to bloat via bleeding. Ganhuru + a Social Charm or Public Trust will give you 2 pool and other minions bleeding will give you another pool. If you can get a blood or two from things like Blood Doll then combined this will probably turn into a steady trickle of pool (once you've got the minions out).

One of its historical moments was that it took 15 pool, bloated approximately 12 pool and that is without VP-pool.

One of the greatest things this deck has done has basically helped train me into being a more aggressive predator, one that even when "walling up" still takes forward actions. It is exceedingly rare for me to not take forward actions, even if it is a simple 1-bleed. This deck was responsible for that change in play.


Crypt [12 vampires] Capacity min: 4 max: 7 average: 6
------------------------------------------------------------

3x Ganhuru 7 FOR PRE cel pro Ishtarri:4
3x Ubende 7 CEL PRE for obf qui magaji Ishtarri:4
2x Honorine Ateba 6 FOR PRE cel nec Ishtarri:4
2x Shasa Abu Badr 5 PRE cel for Ishtarri:4
2x Kenyatta 4 cel for pre Ishtarri:4


Library [90 cards]
------------------------------------------------------------

Action [16]
4x Enchant Kindred
2x Entrancement
4x Public Trust
6x Social Charm

Action Modifier [24]
4x Alacrity
2x Dawn Operation
8x Forced March
4x Freak Drive
6x Uncontrolled Impulse

Ally [4]
4x Informant

Combat [16]
8x Hidden Strength
8x Majesty

Equipment [1]
1x Kduva's Mask

Event [4]
2x Bitter and Sweet Story, The
2x Narrow Minds

Master [19]
4x Blood Doll
1x Celerity
1x Fortitude
4x Life in the City
1x Mbare Market, Harare
1x Pentex(TM) Subversion
2x Port Hunting Ground
1x Powerbase: Tshwane
2x Sudden Reversal
2x Wash

Reaction [6]
6x Terra Incognita

Tuesday, November 22, 2011

Quotable Quotes 22/11/2011

Johannes Walches:
Let´s just call Quietus "challenging" and not "underpowered". When you have won so many tournaments with DOM, accept the challenge and go QUI!

Translated into the Blacktown VTES group vernacular:
"Get your nuts out of your purse"

Sunday, November 20, 2011

Legalism, Intent and Game complexity...

I'll do more later, but I'm starting to get frustrated by the interplay of three effects in VTES.

Player legalism
Card/Rule Intent
and Game Complexity.

These are basically the same set of forces that are turning up and maxing tax law overly complicated in Australia. As a feedback loop it works something like this.

A Card or Rule is created with a specific intent (e.g. Villein: To make Minion Tap more difficult to play but also to not become a perceived problem like Minion Tap had become)

Players read the Card/Rule with a mindset based on "If the law doesn't explicity say it can't be done, then it must be legal even if I know the intent is the opposite". (From what I remember of the Tax Lawyer babble I used to hear when I worked in a Big 4 Accounting Firm they label that the "Narrow Reading"). Some players seem to spend their entire time reading cards for 'loopholes' where they can deliberately circumvent the intent of a card/s or rule/s.

So those creating the cards and rules then feel compelled to 'close the loopholes'.

In Australia, that process has created Tax Law documents for Federal Taxes that is something like 3000-pages on A5 paper at 8pt print for Company Taxes only. The next part is that around 500 tell companies what taxes they need to pay, how to pay it, when, how to document it, how long to keep records and so on. The other 2,500 are basically the deductions against the other 500 pages. When I was dealing with a 'small uncommonly used section' the core of the deduction was covered in about 3 pages (including when and where, documentation, etc), another 20+ pages was amendments made to it because people deliberately went out of their way to abuse the wording of the first 3.

I know that many lawyers realise, especially tax lawyers, would be out of a job if they didn't make the tax law more complex. By making it more complex, they make their existence more needed and get to charge more to sort out the problem they explicitly helped to create.


How this seems to be playing out in VTES:
This has been the set of forces that seem to be heading us towards EVERY card nearly having its own off-the-card ruling about how it 'should be read' and how it 'should be played' and it often just reads a long list of ways you are or are not allowed to abuse the card beyond its intent.

This is why there have been rulings that several players find counter-intuitive. This is why there are words that now seem to have gained new 'keyword meanings' compared to what they have had in the past.



Now I am not saying that the Role of Pascal is irrelevant. He is needed and valuable and does a good job (and I apologise if he thinks I am deliberately targeting him or LSJ).

As players, I think we need to take a greater responsibility for our collective Legalist tendency. We need to stop looking for the ways we can break cards by ignoring things like the card's design intent and if nothing else, help to make our game less complex. VTES does not need to have new players thinking they have to become close buddies with the Rules-Lawyers and keep their own 20-page document of not-on-the-card-card-texts-and-interpretations-of-those-cards to play VTES once a week...

It is our fault that things in VTES are becoming this way. We should drop our need to push for the loophole as if it gains us some genuine advantage. We pay for that 'advantage' in increased complexity.

Thursday, November 17, 2011

Villein, Minion Tap and all of that jazz...

There is a LOT of debate going on about these cards. I don't feel that individual forum posts can really express my wider thoughts (although if you do read all of them you'd get a similar picture) about Villein. I'm happy to explain more, I like debate... but play the argument and not the man. I try to do that and if you think I'm not feel free to call me out on it (I think its a sort of 'ungentlemanly conduct' in debates).

Villein. The card causing all the chaos. It seems worth putting its text up here and telling you what I thought the card meant after taking it out from a booster.

Villein
Type: Master
Master: trifle.
Put this card on a vampire you control and move 2 or more blood from that vampire to your pool. Minion Tap cards cost an additional pool. Villein costs an additional pool to play on this vampire.

What I thought the text meant when I first read it...
Simple. Choose a vampire that has 2 or more blood. Put this card on the vampire and tell everyone how many (at least 2) blood you are siphoning back into your pool. If you play Minion Taps they will cost more (up front of resolution, like all card costs) and if you play another Villein on this vampire, it also costs more (up front of resolution, like all card costs).

What LSJ told me the text meant later...
Choose a vampire that has any amount of blood and put this card on the vampire. Tell everyone how much blood you are taking off (at least 2) and if they don't have enough then you take what they have. If you play Minion Taps they will cause you to get 1 less pool per Villein than you thought, you don't have to pay before you siphon off the blood just deduct it out as you put it into your pool.If you play another Villein on this vampire, just do the same thing as the Minion Tap.

Where I think things all went pear-shaped...
  1. Move = steal. This was basically the centre of the debate about Villein & 1-blood-on-the-vampire. You could play Villein because declaring you want to move 5+ blood off the minion doesn't change the fact that it only has 1. This is different to Minion Tap, you can't choose an 11-cap and choose to take 12 blood... why should Villein (which is clearly supposed to be functionally similar) work so differently? Does this also mean I can move equipment that isn't there...?
  2. Paying for Villein as part of the resolution. Why should this be the only card (well excluding Minion Tap) that is allowed to pay for its cost as part of resolving the card? Every other card requires that you pay for it before you resolve its effects. Use a Patronage on 1 pool? You're dead... so why should it be any different just because its Villein???

So the next big problem is its power. Villein is very powerful for a Trifle. Most trifles provide 1 blood (or 1 blood under conditions later) at most (The Coven being the only exception, Unique and travels around the table). The only other Trifle that directly provides pool is Failsafe, which gives you 4 pool if you are on 3 or less.

All in all, this convinces me that either:

a) Villein needs changing, or

b) Rulings on Villein need changing

Saturday, November 5, 2011

Been having issues getting to VEKN.net

Maybe the Hunters are out again. Damned Society of Leopold.

jtablesession::Store Failed
DB function failed with error number 126
Incorrect key file for table './727k2/josvekn_session.MYI'; try to repair it SQL=INSERT INTO `josvekn_session` ( `session_id`,`time`,`username`,`gid`,`guest`,`client_id` ) VALUES ( 'os5ivkn4j52f5b9emd0ist7ta6','1320462266','','0','1','0' )

Friday, November 4, 2011

Updated site...

I've made a bit of a change to the Crypt Card section of my Downloads Page. Just created some placeholders that allowed a reorganisation of the crypt cards. I'll probably copy something similar for the Library Cards.

Thursday, November 3, 2011

A Protean-Animalism Wall-ish Deck for a Friend...

Deck Name : Pro-Animals
Author : Juggernaut1981
Description :
A Mixed Gangrel/Anti forward-facing wall. Aiming to grind down your prey via Fame and Army of Rats. Almost any action your prey takes should be blocked unless it is forward (which you want to leave alone so your next prey is an easier target)


Crypt [12 vampires] Capacity min: 5 max: 8 average: 6.16667
------------------------------------------------------------

2x Nadima 8 FOR PRO SER ani aus Gangrel:3
2x Horrock 6 ANI PRO vic Gangrel:3
2x Janey Pickman 6 ANI PRO for !Gangrel:4
2x Celeste Lamontagne 5 ANI PRO for !Gangrel:4
2x Dr. Allan Woodstoc 5 PRO ani aus for Gangrel:3
1x Danielle Diron 7 ANI PRO chi for 1 vote Gangrel:3
1x Doyle Fincher 7 ANI PRO aus for obf !Gangrel:4


Library [76 cards]
------------------------------------------------------------

Action [6]
2x Army of Rats
4x Tier of Souls

Action Modifier [6]
6x Earth Control

Combat [20]
6x Claws of the Dead
4x Earth Meld
4x Flesh of Marble
6x Wolf Claws

Master [20]
4x Ashur Tablets
1x Campground Hunting Ground
4x Curmudgeon
2x Fame
1x Frontal Assault
4x Grooming the Protege
1x KRCG News Radio
1x Rack, The
1x Rumor Mill, Tabloid Newspaper, The
1x Zoo Hunting Ground

Reaction [14]
6x Cats' Guidance
4x Lost in Translation
4x Sonar

Retainer [10]
4x Homunculus
6x Raven Spy

Monday, October 31, 2011

Name Forgotten... Mark 2

Another deck utilising The Name Forgotten to smash certain types of decks turning up around the place.


Deck Name : Tremere Hunting Anathemas
Author : Juggernaut1981
Description :



Crypt [12 vampires] Capacity min: 3 max: 10 average: 7.83333
------------------------------------------------------------

3x Lucas Halton 10 AUS CEL DOM THA qui prince Tremere:3
2x Dr. John Dee 9 ANI AUS DOM THA chi prince Tremere:4
2x Anastasz di Zagreb 8 AUS THA ani cel dom justicar Tremere:3
2x Troius 8 AUS DOM THA cel prince Tremere:4
2x Martin Franckel 3 AUS tha Tremere:3
1x Ardan Lane 8 AUS THA dom obf pre primogen Tremere:3


Library [90 cards]
------------------------------------------------------------

Action [16]
4x Govern the Unaligned
4x Magic of the Smith
4x Name Forgotten, The
4x Nose of the Hound

Combat [25]
3x Blood Rage
8x Flash
4x Sideslip
10x Theft of Vitae

Equipment [4]
1x Bowl of Convergence
1x Drum of Xipe Totec
1x Heart of Nizchetus
1x Sword of Nuln

Master [8]
1x Arcane Library
2x Minion Tap
1x Wasserschloss Anif, Austria
4x Zillah's Valley

Political Action [13]
6x Anathema
1x Ancient Influence
4x Archon
1x Political Stranglehold
1x Reins of Power

Reaction [24]
6x Enhanced Senses
6x Eyes of Argus
6x Second Tradition: Domain
6x Spirit's Touch

Tuesday, October 25, 2011

A way around many problems...

I've been thinking about many people's complaints about certain vampires. The "Girls will..." series of decks have been very commonly touted as something that needs nerfing. So I've been thinking of tournament quality decks I could use or propose for the (mostly) EU & US metagames that would have a chance to deal with a "Girls will..." or things like "Una-equips-the-library". It seems that plenty of these decks are 'Star' decks or at least 'necessary goons' decks. So these ideas of mine all end up revolving around:


So my thoughts now gravitate to a few concepts:

Small-to-mid-cap Rush (Nose of the Hound+Burst of Sunlight/Flames of the Netherworld)
Tremere Princes (w/ Anathemas, Thefts, plenty of intercept, lots of votes)
Tremere-Anti Nephandi/Cryptic Mission (Drain them of blood, drop them to torpor, Nephandus nom-nom-nom)
Assamite Magi (Use the standard assamite stuff with a big splash of Name Forgotten, Magic of the Smith, etc, etc, etc)
G4 Snakes (There are quite a few and you could easily splash in a Tha module to complement the other shennanigans you're working on...)

Variation on the theme...

Deck Name : Martin's Wall
Author : Juggernaut1981
Description :
Martin Frankel pulls a lot of weight in this deck... it's not a 'superstar' deck, but Martin certainly does a lot of hard work when you get him.


Crypt [12 vampires] Capacity min: 3 max: 9 average: 5.91667
------------------------------------------------------------

3x Eugenio Estevez 6 AUS THA dom for Tremere:3
3x Martin Franckel 3 AUS tha Tremere:3
2x Oliver Thrace 9 AUS DOM THA nec obf pot Tremere:3
2x Carna, The Princes 7 AUS DOM THA primogen Tremere:3
2x Valois Sang, The W 6 AUS DOM nec tha Tremere:3


Library [88 cards]
------------------------------------------------------------

Action [18]
4x Govern the Unaligned
4x Name Forgotten, The
4x Nose of the Hound
2x Pulse of the Canaille
4x Rutor's Hand

Action Modifier [8]
1x Conditioning
2x Foreshadowing Destruction
5x Threats

Combat [14]
6x Apportation
8x Flames of the Netherworld

Master [14]
2x Academic Hunting Ground
1x Arcane Library
4x Ashur Tablets
4x Blood Doll
2x Chantry
1x Wasserschloss Anif, Austria

Reaction [34]
4x Eagle's Sight
8x Eyes of Argus
4x Precognition
6x Spirit's Touch
6x Telepathic Counter
6x Telepathic Misdirection

Tuesday, October 18, 2011

Quotable Quotes 17/10/2011

"Sword vs child... I like those odds!" - CK

"All I need is a womb!" - Paul Azzopardi

"You could, or you could you know... oust somebody?"

Tuesday, October 11, 2011

Angry Witches Mk2

Deck Name : Angry Witches
Author : Juggernaut1981
Description : This is basically a Nephandus Deck with a LOT of flick defence for when some sleazy mofo manages to crack out a 5-bleed at > 1 stealth. As a point, I'm tossing in two copies of The Name Forgotten, it might even do with 2 more, because it seems very much worth it to ping down a Star Vampire and then strip them out of the game entirely.



Crypt [12 vampires] Capacity min: 3 max: 7 average: 5.41667
------------------------------------------------------------

4x Selena 6 AUS DOM THA !Tremere:3
3x Yasmin the Black 6 AUS THA dom pre !Tremere:3
1x Terrell Harding 7 AUS THA cel dom obf !Tremere:3
1x Antonio d'Erlette 5 THA dom for pot !Tremere:4
1x Janine 4 aus dom tha !Tremere:4
1x Mosfair 4 cel dom tha !Tremere:4
1x Lectora 3 aus tha !Tremere:4


Library [79 cards]
------------------------------------------------------------

Action [18]
4x Biothaumaturgic Experiment
8x Cryptic Mission
2x Name Forgotten, The
4x Rutor's Hand

Ally [8]
1x Gregory Winter
1x Impundulu
4x Nephandus (Mage)
2x Succubus

Combat [12]
6x Apportation
6x Theft of Vitae

Equipment [2]
2x Ruins of Ceoris

Event [4]
2x Restricted Vitae
2x Unmasking, The

Master [17]
6x Ashur Tablets
3x Charisma
2x Dominate
2x Spirit Summoning Chamber
4x Tribute to the Master

Reaction [18]
8x Deflection
10x On the Qui Vive

Thursday, September 29, 2011

The Hunters are about...

Seems like something has gotten into the VEKN website... It's been like this for the last 5 hours at least. So if people don't know, there you go.

Maybe the Hunters are out...

Tuesday, September 27, 2011

DECK: Followers of the Fist

Deck Name : Followers of Fist
Author : Juggernaut1981
Description :
This is an idea that came to me last night. There have been a few Typhonic Beast type decks making an appearance in my meta, but they are basically just "Raaargh Must Smash!" and don't really have a "kill trigger".

So instead I was thinking... Form of Corruption and Temptation both check for blood... There are quite a few snakes with Potence now... why not merge Horseshoes, Touch of Pain and Temptation/FoC into something fun and nasty and a variation on Matt Barnett's Famous Spirit Marionette of Death deck (Spirit Marionette backwards into your predators minion that you use to then bleed your prey with a Day Op or similar... after you gave your predator's minion Fortitude).

So the plan is to use my predator's minions, put Enrage on them (or just make them bleed) and then use my predator's guys to "part the vampire waters" in front of me. Then kill by having a swarm of Waters of the Duat turning around and bleeding with a Dream World in play.



Crypt [12 vampires] Capacity min: 3 max: 9 average: 6.16667
------------------------------------------------------------

3x Shemti 9 OBF POT PRE SER vic 1 vote Follower :5
2x Bupe Kuila 7 OBF POT SER pre Follower :4
2x Clea Auguste d'Hol 6 OBF POT pre ser Follower :5
2x Renenet 5 OBF PRE ser Follower :4
2x Ahmose Chambers 3 obf ser Follower :5
1x Zhenga 5 SER obf pre Follower :4


Library [90 cards]
------------------------------------------------------------

Action [42]
4x Dream World
4x Enrage
4x Form of Corruption
8x Horseshoes
4x Mesu Bedshet
4x Psychic Veil
8x Temptation
6x Waters of Duat

Action Modifier [14]
8x Cloak the Gathering
6x Truth of a Thousand Lies

Combat [8]
8x Typhonic Beast

Master [18]
2x Carver's Meat Packing and Storage
2x Crocodile Temple, The
1x Giant's Blood
4x Path of Typhon, The
1x Pentex(TM) Subversion
4x Potence
2x Presence
2x Serpentis

Reaction [8]
8x Touch of Pain

Monday, September 19, 2011

Quotable Quotes 19/9/2011

"What you got girly-man?" - Me
"That path leads to a fish-raping!" - CK
"Get into my helicopter little boy..."
"You sunk my battleship..."
"Does your plan involve sucking a lot of d***?" - CK
"Do my bidding puppet bitch" - Marty

Wednesday, September 7, 2011

Counters for All...

I've been tinkering with some artwork, and a variety of other things, and I've started creating counters that you could use with your games. I'm thinking that it might be worth making one for Contracts as well (but I'd recommend you laminate them and then use either a dry-erase OR a non-permanent OHP Pen to name the vampire with the Contract). They are all intended to be placed underneath the Crypt Card and have the left-edge showing (300dpi printing for the correct scale).

Here is the first one: Corruption Counter. The idea is that you would place counters on this card to be the corruption counters.



A Bahari Counter (by special request)

Thursday, September 1, 2011

Quotable Quotes...

Some more quotable quotes from the last few weeks (read: months) of VTES at Blacktown...

"I ride the short yellow dalek" (Reference to 'short yellow bus' and if you don't get it, I wont' explain it further)

"Luckily I don't have a job that prohibits me being a pervert."

"When it comes to white women, those black guys can plow a field" - CK

"Brujah in front, Brujah behind... I'm going to get a Bruj-ass"

"He hit you for 15... don't go to torpor or anything."

"Ya Mum's an Army of Rats!"

"Gratitude is nice but it ain't paying the bills"

"Grass, carpet, it's all just code for anal sex..."

"I need to go home and clean myself with steel wool and Jiff" (Jiff is a domestic scouring cleaning product)

"Woger got Red List Wogered" - Marty "Look! He's tapped Roger the cabin boy!" - Me

"Massasi's lost her rack! She had a boob-reduction!"

VTES-Play Moments

Its all about how you use it...
Corine Marcon rush Lambach via a Haven Uncovered. Trap, Close Range, Body Arsenal, Telepathic Tracking... end result... Corine Marcon takes 1 agg, Lambach takes 3 agg...

It seemed like such a GOOD idea...
Nergal is a Famed Vampire. He declares an action and gets around my paltry +1 intercept. Then he gets blocked by Donal O'Connor on his Domain. Surprise! Nergal was Daring the Dawn to do this... and sends himself to torpor. (-3 pool at this point...). A debate starts about rescuing, who might eat Nergal, who would save who from eating Nergal... finally a cross-table deal is met which basically hangs Nergal out to dry. I then soak up the 1 pool damage. (I am playing an AUS-DOM-THA deck). I then turn around and declare.... Superior Graverobbing on my Predator's Nergal... But that Daring the Dawn seemed to be such a good idea at the time...

Size, as always, doesn't count for everything
Lupo enters combat with a minion. Conceals a Wooden Stake, Strike: Stake for 4. Go Brujah Debate.

Tuesday, August 30, 2011

Australian National Championships

Steve Harris has posted a Survey about the Australian National Championships.

Please, if you're an Australian VTES Player... go fill out the survey.

VTES Australia Survey

Thursday, August 18, 2011

Lying in Wait

Maybe another way for Assamites to get into fights... (and Nos/!Nos)
**Edited Version of the Card**
Grammarians of the world unite...

Wednesday, August 17, 2011

Zentosa Revenant

After thinking about it for a while... Here's my draft of a Zentosa Revenant





Tuesday, August 16, 2011

VTES Creations

I've been creating a lot of cards recently. Seems to be the 'passion' of the moment. At any rate, Blogger isn't very elegant for uploading and storing the many image files that publishing these things for public comment requires. A little while ago I built a Google page to do just that sort of thing. So here it is.

https://sites.google.com/site/juggernaut1981svtesdownloads/home



For others who are interested, there is a link to a relatively recent version of my own RPG d20-style system that might get finished soon (it's already 3 years since I started) but then again might not. I'm at the slow part where I am creating magic items, bit by bit, and magical armour and spells... many spells to create yet to appropriately fill out the different magic levels to make them all worth taking. I think the core of the game is there and solid, but its those kinds of details that take so much time and realistically need to be completed before you can satisfactorily playtest them. Can't have Wizard V Barbarian if the Wizard doesn't have the spells.

Thursday, August 11, 2011

Crypt Ideas - King Snake & Mama Lion




Card Idea - The Madmen

Here are two card ideas, Inyor @ the VEKN Forum basically drafted this idea and I think these are reasonable attempts at getting his idea into a playable reality.

Kindred Madmen



Karl, Lord of the Madness
(Named after Karl Jung of course)

Tuesday, August 9, 2011

Card Idea - Chopper

This one really caught my eye... and the only amendment I wanted to make to it was the ability to grab a non-unique weapon to go with the brand new bike.


Card Idea - Hive of Scum and Villainy

Here's another card that I've knocked up after a discussion on the VEKN Forum.



Sunday, August 7, 2011

Card Idea - The Right Tool for the Right Job

After some of the thoughts here...
http://www.vekn.net/index.php/forum/30-expansion-sets-a-card-ideas/7309-brujah-cards

I went trawling through various places online (such as www.epilogue.net) for artwork to create...



Friday, August 5, 2011

Deck - Wall of Birds

I'm not a particularly strong Gangrel player, so this deck is in part to force me to play more Gangrel and also to push my ability to play Gangrel better.

I'm keen to hear feedback about this.

Deck Name : Wall of Birds
Author : Juggernaut1981
Description :
This is intended to be a Wall Deck based around Animalism retainers, mixed Animalism/Protean combat and classic grinding cards (Jack, Antediluvian, Army of Rats, Anarch Revolt). I'm not planning to go anarch with the deck but wear the grind on my pool through the Blood Dolls. I'll probably try to set it up as strongly-forward blocking as I can manage.


Crypt [12 vampires] Capacity min: 4 max: 9 average: 5.91667
------------------------------------------------------------

3x Lord Ashton 5 ANI for pro Gangrel:3
3x Bobby Lemon 4 ANI pro Gangrel:3
2x Ingrid Rossler 9 ANI FOR PRO dom prince Gangrel:2
2x Danielle Diron 7 ANI PRO chi for 1 vote Gangrel:3
2x Horrock 6 ANI PRO vic Gangrel:3


Library [82 cards]
------------------------------------------------------------

Action [8]
2x Army of Rats
2x Movement of the Slow Body
1x Shepherd's Innocence
2x Tier of Souls
1x Trainer

Action Modifier [10]
4x Earth Control
6x Freak Drive

Combat [34]
10x Aid from Bats
2x Canine Horde
6x Carrion Crows
4x Drawing Out the Beast
8x Flesh of Marble
4x Form of Mist

Master [11]
1x Anarch Revolt
1x Antediluvian Awakening
4x Blood Doll
1x Ecoterrorists
1x Gangrel Revel
1x Smiling Jack, The Anarch
2x Zoo Hunting Ground

Reaction [8]
8x Cats' Guidance

Retainer [11]
2x Dog Pack
2x Homunculus
1x Murder of Crows
4x Raven Spy
2x Wolf Companion

Thursday, August 4, 2011

Deck Idea - Duelling Banjokos

Deck Name : Duelling Banjokos
Author : Juggernaut1981
Description :
Black Hand Disciplineless Deck
It's more wall-ish and less outright bleed. Part of the plan is to grind away blood from your prey by Dominion and multiple actions. Other people swear by Nicomedes but I feel a touch ambivalent but since this is a disciplineless deck it seems reasonable to include him.


Crypt [12 vampires] Capacity min: 2 max: 5 average: 4.41667
------------------------------------------------------------

5x Banjoko 5 DOM obt pot Lasombra:3
2x Nicomedes 5 aus for nec vic Harbinger:4
1x Katherine Stoddard 4 dom for !Ventrue:3
1x Mariano Pomposo 4 aus cel pot !Brujah:3
1x Mosfair 4 cel dom tha !Tremere:4
1x Roger Farnsworth 4 OBF aus !Malkavian:3
1x Piotr Andreikov 2 aus Tzimisce:3


Library [80 cards]
------------------------------------------------------------

Action [12]
4x Abbot
8x Reunion Kamut

Action Modifier [14]
8x Seraph's Second
6x Stealth Ritus

Ally [2]
2x Marijava Thuggee

Combat [8]
8x Target Vitals

Equipment [1]
1x Guarded Rubrics

Event [6]
1x Blood Weakens
1x Dr. Marisa Fletcher, CDC
1x Hunger Moon
1x Narrow Minds
1x Slow Withering, The
1x Veil of Darkness

Master [17]
6x Dominion
2x Heidelberg Castle, Germany
1x Hungry Coyote, The
2x Pentex(TM) Loves You!
4x Tribute to the Master
2x Watchtower: Four Ride Forth

Reaction [20]
8x Ministry
6x Wake with Evening's Freshness
6x Watch Commander

Friday, July 22, 2011

Artwork for new Edge Variations

As usual these were made with files from CG Textures. I love the fact there are sites out there with royalty free images. If you're thinking of doing something like this and don't have any art skills... then I recommend the site.


Wednesday, July 20, 2011

A Trick Deck - Eternal Nergal

Deck Name : Eternal Nergal
Author : Juggernaut1981
Description :
This is basically supposed to be a twisted version of a Turbo-Nergal Deck.

Nergal gets Mostly-sucked dry by Villein + Serpentis, grabs the Soul Gem, then makes a Great Beast ([FOR][OBF][DAI])... Then you get a Free Nergal or Abdelsobek...

If you get Abdelsobek, you Eternal Mask him into Nergal.

When a Great Beast gets low on blood... Chuck it off the Khobar Towers and get Nergal to call another Great Beast, then Chuck Abdelsobek off the tower... And so on... Anytime anything


Crypt [12 vampires] Capacity min: 5 max: 10 average: 7.83333
------------------------------------------------------------

4x Nergal 10 AUS DAI FOR OBF PRE THA Baali:5
2x Nergal Adv 10 AUS DAI FOR OBF PRE THA Baali:5
4x Abdelsobek 5 for nec obf pre ser Follower :5
2x Ogwon 7 OBF PRE SER for Follower :5


Library [72 cards]
------------------------------------------------------------

Action [12]
4x Call the Great Beast
4x Eternal Mask, The
4x Force of Will

Action Modifier [28]
4x Cloak the Gathering
4x Forgotten Labyrinth
6x Freak Drive
4x Lost in Crowds
6x Psychomachia
4x Truth of a Thousand Lies

Combat [8]
8x Majesty

Equipment [6]
6x Soul Gem of Etrius

Master [18]
4x Ashur Tablets
2x Khobar Towers, Al-Khubar
6x Serpentis
2x Social Ladder
4x Villein

Thursday, July 14, 2011

PowerEdge for Sabbat Politics

So here are some ideas about a PowerEdge for Sabbat, particularly Sabbat Political Decks.
I've slightly modified Crusader's Edge, but it's basically supposed to be a bloat or Private Audience. Pack Edge is supposed to basically be like Marking a Red List OR allowing all sabbat vampires to work a little bit like they had the Slave attribute (Protect me you fools!). Notorious Edge is supposed to be about Sabbat vampires gaining political mileage from the people they claim to have beaten into torpor; a 'might is right' philosophy turned into political currency.

Crusader's Edge
During your untap phase you may gain 1 pool or add one blood to a titled Sabbat vampire in your uncontrolled region.
Before announcing terms on a political action called by a titled Sabbat vampire you control, you may burn the edge to force all non-Sabbat vampires to abstain during the referendum of this action.

Pack Edge
During your untap phase you may choose a vampire controlled by your prey. Your vampires may enter combat with that vampire as a +1 stealth (D) action that costs 1 blood if you control the Edge.
If an Archbishop, Cardinal or Regent you control is blocked, you may burn the edge and choose a ready untapped Sabbat vampire you control. The chosen vampire enters combat with the blocking minion instead. Untap the Archbishop, Cardinal or Regent.

Notorious Edge
During your untap phase you may put 2 blood on a titled Sabbat vampire you control. This does not count as a Hunting Ground.
During a political action called by one of your vampires you may burn the Edge and choose a titled non-Sabbat vampire in torpor. The acting vampire gains votes equal to the chosen vampire's title during this referendum.

Thursday, June 30, 2011

Bruce Cup Reminder

Just a reminder to everyone...

The Bruce Cup is going to be held in just over a week! Saturday 9th July will be the Bruce Cup.

Gold Coin donations for entry and the donations will go to the Cancer Council of Australia. Bring along your wacky trick deck rather than your Tier 1 Sleaze.

For more details feel free to contact me here or through the VEKN page.

Thursday, June 16, 2011

Sorry for the break in transmission...

After an unintentional hiatus... I'm back. Time to grab some of this backlog of oddities, silliness and quotable quotes...

"I'm like the Buffy of Blacktown" - Marty the Man "It's the cheerleading outfit" - CK
"Angry oiled French women - it has to end somewhere" - CK
"His name is Dirk, he sold your ancestors" (Dirk bleeding a Laibon deck with Legal Manipulation)
"You doing anything stupid... like acting?"
"If I rushed and popped Nakhtoreb, he'd stab me..." - Predator "So rush Nakh?" - Cross-table
"Don't be a racist!" - (someone) "I can be, I'm German..." - Todd
"Ossian... I'd tap that!" - Me

Theme Tunes/Catch Phrases for Allies
Nephandus - the words "Nom Nom" to the 60s Batman Theme
Gregory Winter - The Indiana Jones Theme
Renegade Garou - "Dave's not here man..."
Carlton van Wyck - Theme from Rambo
Ambrosius the Ferryman - Never Say Die
Jake Washington - Theme tune from "Shaft"
Veneficti - Theme from "The Godfather"
Escaped Mental Patient - "Yakkity Sax"
Ossian - "Take on me" by A Ha
Cry Wolf - "Crying Game"
Ponticulus - "Safety Dance" by Men in Hats
Nocturn - "The Roof" by the Blood-Hound Gang
Herald of Topheth - "Bat out of Hell" by Meatloaf
Enkidu - "Smack by b***h up" by The Prodigy

Saturday, May 14, 2011

Edge Variations


So, I've been thinking a bit more of Edge Variations lately. I'm also thinking they could make an interesting addition to the game. I do like the general look of the Mage: the Ascension set created by Ankha (Prince of Paris) and it's made me a bit more tempted to do some serious card creation.

But in the meantime:
Would you be interested in alternative versions of the Edge? For example, Edge effects that feed into your deck's primary strategies (providing additional bleed, untaps for certain actions, additional defences, secondary effects...?)

I see them as similar to the Agendas created for previous WW-Storylines (now VEKN-Storylines) and as such their place is probably more in the realms of a Storyline rather than regular play. Of course though, I'd be very proud if the wider VTES community thought that my tinkering was worthwhile of including into standard play.

So what do you think?
New cards (made by players for players) or New Variations to VTES (Rapid Thought, Edge Variations, Agendas, etc)?

Monday, May 9, 2011

Monday Night VTES 9th May 2011

We did have a good turnout again. It looks like our playgroup has stabilised to around about 8. It was good to have Blake playing again and another player out of torpor (who I've forgotten the name of but turned up with Brendan).

It's good to have 2 to 3 tables every week.


Quotable Quotes...
"To be fair, you were acting like a cock-lord" - Paul Azzopardi

Wednesday, May 4, 2011

"Shameful Love Clan"

Do you have a "Shameful Love Clan"? The clan you love to play despite the fact they may be hard to win with? The clan you try to find novel ways to make them more competitive?

I have a very soft spot for my first (relatively effective) deck. It was a Brujah Bleed'n'Bash built around the core of 2 Camarilla Edition Starters. It had many features that would generally make a mediocre deck... Bang Nakhs, Large Brujah Vampires, probably too many actions, inconsistent pool gain... but I did enjoy playing it. It had the historical moment of blocking my predator four times with Alison Maller equipped with a Sports Bike, Bang Nakhs and a Celerity Master... played WWEF for three of them, played Acrobatics at [CEL] in each combat followed by a strike for 3, and played Taste of Vitae after at least one of them so I had a mostly full vampire at the end of it.

Have you got yours? Come on time to out yourself about the clan you love...

Monday Night VTES 2 May 2011

Well we had a good turnout! It was good to have 9 people around for games.
Blake (our resident Tzimisce) came out of torpor and brought along both Tzimisce and a new Nos Vote-deck.

We had most of the usual crowd: Will, Marty, Joe, Todd plus Brendan and Benny (another climbing out of torpor). Bailey was a noticable absence and the night is always different without him.

Most people dragged out their usual decks, but in the next few weeks I'm thinking I'll see a few new things from most of them.

It's great to see the group building in numbers on a regular basis.

Quotable Quotes:

"Craig's List LIED to me!"
"Monday Night's getting better: spider f***ing and steaks!" (In reference to a quote from Matt Barnett which goes "Hey guys, we're here to play VTES not f*** spiders!)
"It's your first night, don't play properly just f***ing kill something!" (Said to Blake on his first night back in a long time with a Tzimisce deck)
Benny: "I'd like to Perform a Patronage..." Blake: "Wash..." [insert laughter]

A new definition was also developed:
Fagtasy (n): The act of paying 1 pool to see a new vampire in a Toreador or !Toreador deck.

Tuesday, April 19, 2011

Photos from Blooding by the Code

The Final Table Nick Miller (with the hand in front of his face), Martin "Marty" Collins (in blue), Martin Hall (on the edge and obscured by a head), Michael Tomkins (in the grey shirt) and Claudio Falcao (with the handful of nuts)
Our finalists were:
Michael Tomkins
Martin Hall
Nick Miller (Prince of Inner Sydney)

Both Martin "Marty" Collins and Claudio avoided the camera... but I plan to add them at a later date...

The Bruce Cup 2011

In memory of Matt Barnett from the Blacktown Playgroup in the early days, who died of cancer. Because of the (in)famy of some of his decks, he was immortalised on the Vampire Lord Ashton.

On June 25th, we're going to hold the Annual Bruce Cup. Everyone is welcome to turn up, and we recommend you bring your whackiest trick deck to the game. Entry is by donation and the proceeds from the tournament will go to the Cancer Council of Australia.



Sunday, April 17, 2011

Blooding by the Code - Qualifier for the Australian Continental Championship

There were 12 players who made it to the event, and about 4 players who wanted to make it but were sidelined by life. It was good to have a number of the Chippendale Boys out west to play such as Claudio, Nick, Michael Tomkins and Leon.

I was impressed by the relatively low turnout of traditional qualifying sleaze decks (there were 3 S&B decks and 1 Dominate Weenie out of the 12). We saw some more amusing decks such as Michael Bailey's "It's a Wizard 'Arry" featuring a large number of Mage Allies and Erichtho, an Anarch Secession-Chameleon deck and an !Toreador Anarch Swarm-Bleeder.

Quotable Quotes (unattributed at the request of a few of the makers of the quotes...)

"That thing bleeds more than Michael J Fox masturbating with a cheese-grater" (about the Weenie-Dominate deck)
"What?! I only bled him twice" (the Ashheap contained Govern the Unaligned + 2x Conditioning)
"[To player 1] What's he doing to you?! Govern down?... [To player 1's predator] Not to diss your game or anything..."
"I hate you with every fibre of my being... I know its a lot of fibres"


After two rounds, the standings before the final were:

Name
GW VPs TPs Ranking
Nick Miller 1 5 114 1
Martin Hall 1 5 108 2
Michael Tomkins 1 3.5 96 3
Martin Collins 1 3 88 4
Claudio Falcao 0 3.5 114 5
Todd Hassmann 0 1 66 6
Paul Azzapardi 0 1 66 6
Will Allison 0 0.5 54 8
James Bonham 0 0 46 9
Leon Tranter 0 0 40 10
Brendan Healy 0 0 36 11
Mike Bailey 0 0 36 11

With that, Nick, Martin, Michael T, Marty Collins and Claudio made it to the finals. The seating of the finals was:

Martin Hall > Michael Tomkins > Claudio Falcao > Nick Miller > Martin Collins

Martin Hall: Malk 94
Michael Tomkins: "All your dudes belong to me" Anarch Secession + Chameleon + Banishment
Claudio Falcao: A !Tre Wall (Bowl, Sniper Rifle, Eagle Sights... you know the type)
Nick Miller: A vote-wall featuring Orlando Oriundus
Martin Collins: No Secrets from the Osebo ("No Secrets from Cesewayo"-style deck)

Michael Tomkins was quickly pommeled by the Malk 94 deck of Martin Hall, it did not help that Jann Berger failed to complete an Anarch Secession without being blocked. That basically crippled Michael as he couldn't use Chameleon on his Predator and try to slow him down. Michael Tomkins was ousted fairly early while Claudio, Nick and Martin Collins tooled up. At this point the table started to stabilise itself with both Claudio and Martin Collins blocking their respective preys.
A few turns later, Martin Collins was able to drop a copy of Dragonbound while Martin Hall had at least two of his Malks in torpor from being blocked by Martin C and Claudio. Claudio blocked Nick's cross-table rescues and Martin Collins kept on knocking down Martin Hall's minions until Martin was ousted.
The final then came closer and closer to timing out as the three decks effectively stalemated themselves. Nick had 8 votes, but couldn't not successfully get an action off. Claudio had 5 pool, but Martin Collins wasn't able to apply enough forward pressure or enough combat to knock Claudio's minions into torpor. Claudio wasn't able to provide enough forward pressure to remove Nick's 12 pool. Martin Collins himself had around 25 pool from consistent bloating through a Hunting Ground and Vessel.
Claudio had the last turn of the final and the table timed out with the following standings:
Final Rank Name Prelim GWs Prelim VPs Final VPs TPs
1 Martin Collins 1 3 1.5 88
2 Michael Tomkins 1 3.5 0 96
2 Claudio Falcao 0 3.5 0.5 114
2 Nick Miller 1 5 0.5 114
2 Martin Hall 1 5 1 108
6 Todd Hassmann 0 1
66
6 Paul Azzapardi 0 1
66
8 Will Allison 0 0.5
54
9 James Bonham 0 0
46
10 Leon Tranter 0 0
40
11 Brendan Healy 0 0
36
11 Mike Bailey 0 0
36

Congratulations to Martin "Marty" Collins for winning the event. Those who have qualified for the Australian Continental Championships are:
Martin Collins, Michael Tomkins, Claudio Falcao, Nick Miller, Martin Hall, Todd Hassmann & Paul Azzopardi.

Deck Name : No Secrets from the Osebo
Author : Martin Collins
Description :
This was the winning deck for Blooding by the Code held on 16th April 2011 as created and played by Martin Collins.


Crypt [12 vampires] Capacity min: 4 max: 10 average: 7.25
------------------------------------------------------------

2x Cesewayo 10 AUS CEL DOM POT THA ani magaji Osebo:4
2x Cesewayo Adv 10 AUS CEL DOM POT THA ani magaji Osebo:4
2x Mamadou Keita 7 CEL aus pot pre vic magaji Osebo:4
2x Homa 6 AUS CEL POT Osebo:4
1x Tatu Sawosa 8 AUS OBF POT ani cel Osebo:4
1x Kisha Bhimji 5 AUS cel obf pot magaji Osebo:3
1x Idrissa 4 CEL aus Osebo:4
1x Ismitta 4 aus cel pot Osebo:4


Library [90 cards]
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Action [12]
2x Anima Gathering
3x Enforcer
2x Heroic Might
1x Legend of the Leopard
4x No Secrets From the Magaji

Combat [34]
6x Acrobatics
6x Blur
4x Disarm
6x Flash
6x Psyche!
6x Sideslip

Equipment [2]
1x Bowl of Convergence
1x Palatial Estate

Event [1]
1x Dragonbound

Master [15]
1x Base Hunting Ground
2x Fame
2x Grooming the Protege
2x Guardian Angel
1x Mbare Market, Harare
1x Powerbase: Tshwane
2x Sudden Reversal
4x Vessel

Reaction [26]
4x Eagle's Sight
4x Enhanced Senses
6x Eyes of Argus
4x Quicken Sight
8x Telepathic Misdirection