How would you change VTES? 8

8. Discard Phase

In your Discard Phase you receive, by default, one Discard Phase Action. You may use only one Discard Phase Action per Discard Phase to put an event card in play. or to You may also use a Discard Phase Action to discard a card from your hand (and draw to replace it as usual); you may use as many Discard Phase Actions in this way as you wish. Some effects may change the number of discard phase actions you receive or may give you alternate ways to use your discard phase actions. Discard phase actions not used in this phase are lost; they cannot be saved for later.

How would you change VTES? 6B

6.2 Attempting, Blocking and Resolving Actions

During a Minion Phase, minions may attempt actions and these actions may be blocked by other minions. This is the core of a game of VTES: minions taking actions, either having them succeed or having them blocked and personal combat.

6.2.1 Attempting Actions

A minion may attempt any action for which they meet the requirements. These requirements also include enough blood to pay for the cost of the card when the action is declared (it may lose blood during the action to the point where it cannot fully pay for the cost of a card).
To attempt an action you must tap the acting minion and declare the action that minion will attempt.
Declaring an action requires the following:

• Either play an action card from your hand OR you nominate a card in play which provides an action your minion can attempt
• If a target must be chosen, then when you declare your action you must declare its target and any other details of the action (e.g. how much blood you will spend, how much blood would be lost by a chosen minion, etc).
• You must pause play momentarily to see if an action card played from your hand will be cancelled 'as it is played'. If you do not play an action card from your hand, then you may ignore this step.

Once the card has been successfully played (i.e. it was not cancelled as it was played) and you have replaced it, you may play any cards that are played as the "action is announced". Below is an example of such a card.
Seduction 
Type: Action Modifier
Requires: Dominate
Only usable as the acting vampire's action is announced.[dom] Choose a younger vampire. That vampire cannot block this action.
[DOM] As above, but you may choose a vampire the same age or older.

Once all of these cards have been played, along with any cards which may be played "before block attempts are declared" you may then choose to not play any cards at the moment and ask for block attempts.

6.2.2 Blocking Actions

6.2.2.1 Which Minions May Attempt to Block?

During a Directed action, only the minions controlled by the Methuselah who is being targeted by that action (either as a player directly or by targeting any card controlled by that Methuselah, counter in play, card in the ashheap or by card text) may declare a block attempt.
During an Undirected action, both the Prey and Predator of the Methuselah who controls the acting minion may have their minions declare block attempts. The Prey of the acting Methuselah gains the first opportunity to block, as per the Sequencing Rule (insert reference here). After the Prey of the acting Methuselah has declared they will not attempt to block ("declined to block") then the Predator of the acting Methuselah may declare their block attempts, if any.
If a card or effect changes the target of a Directed action, then any minions of the Methuselah who is the new target of that action may declare block attempts.  If a Directed action changes target to a Methuselah who has previously declared no more block attempts, then as a new target of the Directed action, they may declare new block attempts using any minions including those which previously declared block attempts. Any intercept that minion has had from previous block attempts is retained by the minion until the action ends (either by resolving or being canceled).

6.2.2.2 Making a Block Attempt

Once a Methuselah's minion has been chosen to make a block attempt, any card which may be played "When a minion attempts to block" may be played. For an example of such a card, see below.
Crocodile's Tongue
Type: Action Modifier
Requires: Auspex
[aus] Only usable when an ally or a younger vampire attempts to block. That block is canceled (the minion is not tapped). The blocking minion's controller cannot attempt to block this action again. The blocking minion can cancel this card by burning a blood or life.
[AUS] As above, but canceling this card requires an additional blood or life.

At this point, the acting Methuselah may play action modifiers again. Methuselahs can only play cards that grant additional stealth (e.g. "+1 stealth") if the acting minion has stealth which is not greater than the current intercept of the minion attempting to block. Cards cannot be played to gain stealth if the action would already be unblocked.  Other players may respond to each action modifier played using the Sequencing Rule (insert reference here).
A minion attempting to block may play any reactions they wish, but can only play reactions that grant additional intercept (e.g. "+2 intercept") if the minion attempting the action has greater stealth than the blocking minion has intercept. Cards cannot be played to gain intercept if the action would already be blocked.
Once both the acting minion and blocking minion have finished playing cards, using the Sequencing Rule (insert reference here), then a check is made to see if the acting minion has more stealth than the minion attempting to block has intercept. If the acting minion does have more stealth than the minion attempting to block has intercept, then the action will be successful. Otherwise, the minion attempting to block successfully blocks.
If one minion fails to successfully block, other minions may attempt to block the action. If a Methuselah declares that no more of their minions will attempt to block, then the next Methuselah (using the Sequencing Rule) may declare attempts to block the action or declare they will not attempt to block.
Some cards can be played or have their effects trigger when a minion blocks another. Examples of these are:
Change of Target 
Type: Action Modifier
Only usable when this acting minion is blocked (play before combat, if any). Untap the acting minion, do not tap the blocking minion, and end the current action (it is not successful). This minion cannot perform the same action again this turn.
Ghoul Escort
Type: Retainer
Ghoul with 4 life. Requires a ready vampire.
When this vampire is blocked, he or she may burn this retainer and untap instead of entering combat. (This does not untap the blocker.) 

When an acting minion is blocked, the two minions will begin a combat. See the rules for Combat below (insert reference here) for more details on how to resolve a Combat between two minions.

6.2.3 Resolving Actions

Actions can only resolve two ways: successfully or unsuccessfully.
Before an Action can resolve, its cost must be paid. Once the cost is fully paid, the action immediately resolves; no other effect can prevent the action from resolving.
Actions which are canceled, do not resolve either successfully or unsuccessfully by default. However, many of cards which will cancel actions taken by other minions change this. Cards which check for the resolution of an action (either as successful or unsuccessful) cannot be played if the action is canceled.

6.2.3.1 Successful Actions

When an action is not blocked and the cost of the card is fully paid, an action is resolved successfully. It has the full effect as declared. Any card or effect which works after a successful action will be playable now.

6.2.3.2 Unsuccessful Actions

There are two main ways an action can be unsuccessful: blocked or not fully paid.
If an action is blocked by another minion, then that action resolves unsuccessfully.
If an action is unblocked but the acting minion cannot fully pay its cost, then that action resolves unsuccessfully. If a minion has less blood than is required to fully pay the cost of an action, then whatever blood or pool that is available is paid and the action resolves unsuccessfully.
For any unsuccessful action, the declared effects of the card do not occur.

6.2.3.3 Unsuccessful Bleed Actions that are not Blocked

An action that is not blocked is successful.  A bleed action that is not blocked, but does not result in pool damage to another player, is not a successful bleed but it is a successful action.  Cards and effects that require a successful action will be playable after a bleed action that resolves for 0 pool damage. Cards and effects (including the Edge) that require a successful bleed are not playable after a bleed action that resolves for 0 pool damage.

How would you change VTES? 6A

6.1 Types of Actions

There are a number of actions which a minion may take without requiring any cards. Any minion may declare a bleed action. In addition there are some actions, which do not require a card from the Methuselah's hand, which can be taken by vampires and others by Imbued.
There are a number of types of actions:

• bleed,
• hunt,
• equip,
• recruit,
• political,
• diablerie,
• rescue,
• enter combat and
• become anarch.

Each of these actions will have more detail below.

6.1.0 Special Conditions on Actions

Some actions have special conditions or terminology, they may be on a variety of cards on their own or as key phrases. These are listed below.

6.1.0.1 Non-repeatable Actions

There are some actions which a minion may only attempt once during a minion phase. A minion may only attempt:

• any one bleed action
• any one political action
• to use an action card from the hand or in play with a specific name
• to use an action provided by a card in play (such as a vampire's card text or a master card in play)

This rule can be referred to as "the NRA rule" or the "No Repeat Action rule".

6.1.0.2 Mandatory Actions

Minions can have mandatory actions. If not explicitly referenced as a 'mandatory action', any action which include "must take an action to" as part of its text creates a mandatory action. 
All mandatory actions must be taken before any non-mandatory actions are declared. They may be taken in any order.
If a mandatory action occurs during a Minion Phase (e.g. a vampire loses blood so it has 0 blood and is untapped during a minion phase) then it must be taken before any further non-mandatory actions.
If a minion has more than one mandatory action to take in a turn, they cannot take any actions (since there is no way to prioritise the mandatory actions) and remain untapped.

Examples of mandatory actions on cards are:
Lunatic Eruption
Type: Action
Requires: Dementation
Cost: 2 blood
[dem] (D) Put this card on any ready minion. During his or her minion phase, the minion with this card must enter combat with a ready minion controlled by his or her prey as a (D) action (unless the minion must hunt). Any minion may burn this card as an action.
[DEM] As above, and the minion taking the action to burn this card takes 1 unpreventable damage when this card is burned.

Phillipe Rigaud Clan: Gangrel antitribu (group 4)
Capacity: 7
Disciplines: DOM OBF PRO ani aus obt
Sabbat. Black Hand: Phillipe cannot block undirected actions. When any older vampires are in torpor that Phillipe may diablerize, he must attempt a diablerie action (unless he must hunt).

6.1.0.3 Directed Actions

Directed actions are actions that target one or more other Methuselahs. A directed action may target every other Methuselah.
An action is a Directed action if:

• it chooses a card in play which is controlled by another Methuselah (e.g. a minion they control, an item of equipment, a location in play)
• it chooses the Methuselah specifically (e.g. "Choose any number of other Methuselahs.")
• it chooses a Methuselah's pool
• it chooses a card in a Methuselah's hand or ashheap
• it chooses a counter or other play token which is controlled by another Methuselah.

The target of a Directed action is the thing or things which are chosen to be affected by the action.
If you declare a Directed action which targets yourself, it becomes an undirected action.
Only the minions of a Methuselah targeted by a Directed action may attempt to block that Directed action.

6.1.0.4 Undirected Actions

Undirected Actions are actions which have no specific target or are actions which would be directed but are directed at you. Some actions are undirected by default.
If you declare a directed action which targets yourself, it becomes an undirected action.
Undirected actions can be blocked by minions controlled by your Prey and Predator; your Prey has the first opportunity to declare block attempts (as per the Sequencing Rule).

6.1.1 Bleed

Bleed actions are an attempt by your minions to destroy resources controlled by another Methuselah. By default a bleed action targets your prey.
Bleed actions are affected by the Non-Repeatable Actions rule (See 6.1.0).
To declare a bleed action, you tap a minion you control and announce the current total bleed amount; vampires and Imbued bleed for 1 by default while Allies will have their default bleed printed on their text.
If this action is not blocked (it is a successful action) then your prey will burn pool equal to the bleed amount.  If a player is forced to burn pool for resolving a bleed action taken by one of your minions, you will gain the Edge.
A bleed action is considered a "successful bleed" if it resolves and causes damage to any player's pool.  A bleed action is considered a "successful action" if it is not blocked by another minion.

6.1.2 Hunt (+1 stealth)

Hunt actions can only be attempted by vampires. It is their own efforts to gain resources such as blood to power their abilities but also limited amount of money or other intangible resources.
Hunt actions have +1 stealth by default.
Vampires who have no blood have a mandatory action to hunt.
To have a vampire hunt, the vampire taps and declares a hunt action. If it is successful, then the vampire gains 1 blood from the blood bank.
If a vampire would gain more blood than their capacity, then the additional blood is lost.

6.1.3 Equip (+1 stealth)

Equip actions are attempts by a minion to gain equipment like electronics, weapons, vehicles, property or protective clothing.
You may Equip with equipment card that are in your hand. To do so, tap the chosen minion and reveal the chosen equipment card (or other action which provides the Equip action). If this action is not blocked, then the chosen equipment will be placed on the acting minion.
A minion may also Equip with equipment cards that are currently in play on another minion you control. To Equip equipment that is on another minion, tap the acting minion and declare the minion which has the equipment and which equipment you will be moving to the acting minion. You may move more than one equipment card in a single equip action.

6.1.4 Employ (+1 stealth)

Employ actions are attempts by a minion to gain a retainer, similar to a personal assistant or a specialist pet. They give bonuses to the minion with the retainer.
Employ actions are at +1 stealth and undirected by default.
You may employ a retainer from your hand. To do so, tap the chosen minion and reveal the chosen retainer (or other action which provides the Employ action). If this action is not blocked, then the chosen equipment will be placed on the acting minion.

6.1.5 Recruit (+1 stealth)

Recruit actions are attempts by a minion to gain another minion, usually mortals, werewolves, or other non-vampiric supernatural creatures.
Recruit actions are at +1 stealth and undirected by default.
You may Recruit an ally from your hand. To do so, tap the chosen minion and reveal the chosen ally (or other action which provides the Recruit action). If this action is not blocked, then the chosen ally will be placed in the uncontrolled region until the end of your Influence Phase when it enters the Ready region.

6.1.6 Political Action (+1 stealth)

Political Actions are attempts by a vampire to utilise the power they have over vampiric society to gain all sorts of benefits for themself.
Political Actions are +1 stealth undirected actions. To do so, tap the chosen minion and reveal the chosen Political action from your hand (or nominate a political action provided by a card in play). If this action is not blocked it resolves into a Political Referendum. A Political action is a successful action regardless of the outcome of the Referendum.

6.1.6.1 Political Referendum

Political Referendums represent the debate between the politically powerful vampires in society.
The first step of a Political Referendum is to declare the terms of that referendum. Once the Methuselah who controls the acting minion declares the terms of the referendum, they cannot be changed. By asking other Methuselahs how they vote, the acting Methuselah has by declared that the terms of the referendum have been set.
For the Referendum to be successful, there must be more votes in favour of the terms of the Referendum than against it. If the Referendum is successful, then the effects declared in the Terms of the Referendum are done.

6.1.6.2 Gaining Votes During a Political Referendum

During a referendum, after the terms have been declared, players may gain votes from a variety of sources.
Some vampires have titles which provide them votes. For more details on titles see (insert reference here).
During a Political Referendum, a player may discard a Political Action from their hand to gain +1 vote. The Methuselah of the acting minion gains +1 vote from any Political Action Card they played to cause the Political Referendum.
During a Political Referendum, a player may burn the Edge to gain +1 vote.
Methuselahs can have their minions react, if they are not the acting minion, to gain votes.

6.1.7 Rescue

Rescue actions are attempts by a vampire to wake another vampire from the state of torpor; which for some vampires has lasted centuries or even millennia.
A vampire that is in the Torpor region can take an action to attempt to rescue themself. This is a +1 stealth undirected action that will cost them 2 blood. If this action is unblocked, then the chosen vampire moves to the ready region after paying the cost. If this action is blocked, the blocking minion may choose to do nothing else or may diablerise the acting minion.
A ready vampire may attempt a Rescue action to move a minion in the Torpor region into the Ready region. This action is a +1 stealth directed action (which will become undirected if you control the target vampire) which costs a total of 2 blood; the cost of this action can be paid in any combination between the acting minion and the target minion.

6.1.8 Diablerie

Diablerie is an attempt by a vampire to permanently destroy a vampire by drinking all of their blood. This action can only be attempted by a ready vampire.
A ready vampire may attempt a Diablerie action on any vampire which is in Torpor; this action cannot be attempted by allies even if they may act "as a vampire". This action is a directed action by default with +0 stealth. However, if you attempt a Diablerie action on a vampire you control it becomes a +1 stealth undirected action. If this action is successful, then the acting vampire will Diablerise the target vampire.

6.1.8.1 Diablerie at other times

Vampires may be Diablerised at other times, such as during a combat and when a vampire is blocked rescuing themself from torpor.
Only a vampire can Diablerise another vampire; allies even acting as vampires or with the ability to act as a vampire may not Diablerise. If a vampire does Diablerise another vampire, the vampire performing the Diablerie takes all of the blood on the other vampire and may take any equipment on the diablerised vampire.
When a vampire is Diablerised, after resolving the Diablerie a Blood-hunt referendum is called.

6.1.8.2 Blood Hunt Referendum

After resolving a diablerie, there is a Blood Hunt Referendum. If a Minion is Immune to Blood Hunts or have the text "Blood hunts may not be called on [this minion]" and have committed diablerie then after resolving that diablerie there will be no Blood Hunt Referendum.
There is no acting minion during a Blood Hunt Referendum.  The terms of a Blood Hunt Referendum are "Burn the vampire who committed diablerie". The vampire is only burned if the referendum is passed by a vote majority.
Since there is no acting minion, no action modifiers or reactions may be played during the referendum. Methuselahs may use effects which are usable during a "referendum" but not a "Political Action" to gain, reduce or alter the votes of minions. They may also burn Political Actions or the Edge as normal for a referendum.

6.1.9 Enter Combat

Enter Combat actions are an attempt by the acting minion to engage the target minion in combat.
A ready vampire may attempt an Enter Combat action only by playing a card from your hand or using the text of a card which is already in play.
If this action is not blocked, then a combat begins between the two minions. For more details on Combat, refer to section (insert reference here).

6.1.10 Become Anarch (+1 stealth)

Any untitled vampire may choose to leave behind their sect and join the Anarch movement; a sect focused on personal freedom above all else.
A ready untitled vampire can attempt a +1 stealth undirected action to become an Independent Anarch vampire. If you do not control an Anarch vampire then this action costs 2 blood. If you already control an Anarch vampire, then this action costs 1 blood.  If this action is unblocked, it is as if the card text of the vampire replaced its current sect and replaced it with "Independent Anarch."
For more details about the Anarch keyword see (insert reference here).

Gemini's Mirror - Tournament Report

It was nice to have a tournament with 8 people! (Last two local tournaments have had 7 people so they haven't been reported!)

Round 1
Table 1
Martin Hall (!Gangrel Wall)
Paul Azzopardi (G1/2 Brujah Gun Rush)
Michael Tomkins (G2/3 Brujah w/ for Anathema/Archon/Alastor) 2VP
Tim Smith (Edward Vignes) 2VP

Table 2
Will Allison (Weenie DEM bleed) 1VP
Brendan Healy (G2 Tzim Vote)
Nick Miller (Ahrimanes Bleed Toolbox) 3VP+GW
Andrew Chirgwin (Tor Aching Beauty Bleed)

Round 2
Table 1
Nick Miller
Martin Hall 0.5VP
Andrew Chirgwin 2.5VP+GW
Paul Azzopardi

Table 2
Michael Tomkins
Will Allison 1VP
Tim Smith
Brendan Healy 3VP+GW

Round 3
Table 1
Tim Smith 3VP+GW
Nick Miller
Brendan Healy 1VP
Martin Hall

Table 2
Andrew Chirgwin
Michael Tomkins 3VP+GW
Paul Azzopardi
Will Allison 1VP

FINALS
Since Michael and Tim entered the finals with identical rankings (including TP) they were separated by a die roll which was won my Michael.

Seating
Nick Miller > Brendan Healy > Andrew Chirgwin > Michael Tomkins > Tim Smith

The game kept on struggling its way forward with everyone balancing itself out with the one exception that Brendan kept a lot of pool and had minimal pressure from Nick. Most of the players were on 5 or less pool at one stage, when Brendan ousted Andrew and Tim with an Ancilla Empowerment. He then later took out Michael Tomkins and Nick with 8min left on the clock before the timeout of the final.


Final Rank Name Prelim GWs Prelim VPs Final VPs TPs
1 Brendan Healy 1 4 4 126
2 Michael Tomkins 1 5 1 132
2 Tim Smith 1 5 0 132
2 Nick Miller 1 3 0 96
2 Andrew Chirgwin 1 2.5 0 96
6 Will Allison 0 3 144
7 Martin Hall 0 0.5 84
8 Paul Azzopardi 0 0 54

Quotable Quotes: Gemini's Mirror Tournament

"Well, my deck flowed better until [all of my vampires] died..." - Will Allison

I'd like some artwork...

I'd love to actually get some unique artwork for my VTES Counters... mostly because if I ever considered selling these (instead of making them loot prizes for my own tournaments) then I should get artwork with stronger copyright permissions than just attribution. But at the moment, the best I could offer you is kudos and credit not cash.

Example card

So, if you are an artist who thinks they could make some gothic/horror style art that fits the ideas for each of these counters... then I'd love to hear from you.  Just follow the link there on the left other left, you know the right...