Harbingers of Skulls Newsletter, Summer 2007
Malone
Harbingers of Skulls Quarterly Newsletter, Summer 2007
CONTENTS
I Featured Card: Trochomancy (warning: possible spoiler)
II Tips for Beginners: Cards that cost blood
III Anarchs of Skulls
IV Decks: Knock Knock. Who's There? Zygodat. & Brinkskirmish
LIBRARY CARD SPOTLIGHT
From the preview of the upcoming Lords of the Night set:
Trochomancy
action modifier
[nec]: Remove 13 cards in the target Methusela's ash heap from the
game
to get +1 bleed. Not useable if there aren't enough cards in that ash
heap. You cannot play another action modifier to increase this bleed.
[aus nec]: As [nec] above, but remove only 7 cards
[AUS NEC]: As [aus nec] above, but for +2 bleed
Obviously a bleed increasing action modifier is a welcome addition to
the Harbingers of Skulls arsenal, especially one that can give +2
bleed with no blood cost. Every HoS can use the card; only Mina
Grotius is limited to the 'inferior' [nec] level. Of course, the card
does have an opportunity cost beyond just taking a bleed action - your
prey (or whichever methuselah you're bleeding) has to have some cards
in their ash heap. But this 'cost' is one that we Harbingers are
especially able to pay. Resource denial is one theme of our clan,
manifested in various ways of burning out-of-play cards.
In group 2, Agaitas and Egotha have specials that can move cards to
your prey's ash heap, as does Zygodat in group 4, and the three of
them can each use Trochomancy at its top level. In a group 1/2
Trochomancy deck, non-Harbingers Le Dinh Tho and Dr. Jest are worth
considering. Both have specials that drive your prey to discard. The
highly-esteemed Le Dinh Tho can also play Trochomancy at its middle
level, while the often-ignored Dr. Jest has [aus for] for block/
prevent defense and [OBF] that could be invaluable for generating the
stealth (via Cloak the Gathering, Veil the Legions, and Psychic Veil)
to push through your bleeds.
Then, of course, there is The Slaughterhouse, the card most often
thought of as determining the flavor of the HoS as a clan. Burning
your prey's library is a good way to annoy them, and it can cripple
their ability to perform in the endgame, but in and of itself it had
no power to oust when The Slaughterhouse was first printed.
Brinksmanship changed that a few years later. The radicalness of the
introduction of a non-pool-based ousting mechanism is, it seems to me,
underappreciated. In any case, passing the Brinksmanship referendum,
depleting your preys' libraries and preventing their withdrawal
certainly has not become a popular strategy. Now finally there is a
straightforward way to attack your prey's pool that has synergy with
the HoS ability to attack your prey's library.
Trochomancy is also a way to attack another Methuselah's ash heap.
Most decks will never try to access their ash heap, but there are some
strategies that do involve doing so and Trochomancy can devastate such
decks. Most any Imbued deck would be included here, as removing their
Conviction cards from play will probably cripple them. They may not
normally have seven Conviction in their ash heap, indeed they tend not
to burn a lot of cards of any kind, but between Slaughterhouses, our
vampires' special abilities, and the occasional Lupine Assault or
Lessons in the Steel, we should be able to seed their ash heap enough
to pay for Trochomancy and eliminate whatever Conviction was in there.
TIPS FOR BEGINNERS
Avoid cards that cost blood. That's the simple version of the tip.
The more nuanced version would be to use cards that cost blood only
when you can be fairly sure they will have the desired effect, that
the effect is significantly better than is available from cards with
no cost, and that your vampires can afford to pay the blood.
For example, a hand strike at +2 strength with no cost (superior
Undead Strength) is generally better than a hand strike at +3 strength
for a cost of 1 blood (superior Pushing the Limit), for several
reasons. The improvement, 1 extra damage, does not exceed the cost.
The cost makes your vampire more vulnerable, so that a vampire with
only one or two blood might choose not to play Pushing the Limit (and
a vampire with no blood cannot play it!), while Undead Strength has no
such problems. Also, the opposing minion could dodge, strike to end
combat, or prevent all damage from your strike. Then Pushing the
Limit costs you a blood but has no effect at all on your opponent. A
card like Uncontrollable Rage is an even worse investment - an action
modifier played as an action is announced for a cost of 2 blood (at
superior), it makes a vampire's hand strikes do +2 aggravated damage
until the end of the action. That's a great effect, but your opponent
sees it coming. They're very likely to avoid combat, end combat,
dodge, or maneuuver to long range; then you're out two blood for
nothing.
Of course, with proper card support it's possible for Pushing the
Limit or even Uncontrollable Rage to be useful cards. Drawing out the
Beast keeps the combat at close range, letting you play Immortal
Grapple to prevent dodges and strikes to end combat, and Taste of
Vitae will usually recoup the blood expense. But even with those
cards in hand there's plenty that can go wrong. Frenzies and Grapples
can be canceled (Drawing out the Beast is a Frenzy); damage can be
prevented.
That's the worst thing about cards with a blood cost - paying the
blood and not getting any result. Action cards are safest, since you
only pay the cost if the action succeeds (that is, the action is not
blocked or canceled) and, with the exception of bleeds and political
actions, once an action succeeds it almost always has the desired
effect. Bleeds are susceptible to being reduced or having their
target changed (being "bounced"), and referendums can be voted down or
canceled, but even so a blood cost on a bleed or political action is
generally not the kind of negative attribute that it would be on a
combat card. You just need to weigh the cost against the effect, and
consider your vampire's ability to afford the cost. Compare Govern
the Unaligned and Scouting Mission.
Govern the Unaligned
Cardtype: Action
Cost: 1 blood
Discipline: Dominate
[dom] (D) Bleed with +2 bleed.
[DOM] +1 stealth action. Move 3 blood from the blood bank to a younger
vampire in your uncontrolled region.
Scouting Mission
Cardtype: Action
Discipline: Dominate
[dom] (D) Bleed with +1 bleed.
[DOM] +1 stealth action. Move 2 blood from the blood bank to a younger
vampire in your uncontrolled region.
Because it's only paid when the action is successful, the cost of
Govern is fully balanced by the effect (at either level). That
doesn't mean the cost is negligible. A deck built around low- and mid-
capacity vampires may prefer Scouting, as Govern could exhaust the
vampires too quickly... unless you're only going to use a few such
actions, in which case Govern is probably a better choice because
you'll get more power from fewer cards.
There is one special danger to blood-costing action cards. Since you
only pay the cost when the action succeeds, if you're not careful your
vampire could have enough blood when you declare the action but end up
unable to pay the cost by the time the action would resolve. In such
a situation, the action 'fizzles', i.e. it ends unsuccessfully. If
your vampire could pay part (but not all) of the cost, they must pay
as much as they can but the action still fizzles.
One more thing to note about cards that cost blood - allies cannot
pay a blood cost because they have life counters, not blood counters.
So even a card that does not require a discipline and does not
explicitly or implicitly require a vampire (Political Action cards,
for example, implicitly require a vampire to play them) cannot be
played by an ally if the card has a blood cost. However, some allies
are able to play certain cards "as a vampire"; in that a case, the
ally may burn life counters to pay for playing the blood cost of such
a card.
OVERVIEW: HARBINGERS AND ANARCHS
Being an Anarch gives a vampire access to certain cards not usable by
non-Anarchs. Most obvious are the 'threefers', the cards which have a
use at the basic level of each of three disciplines.
Diversion. This can be one of the strongest of the threefers, due to
the synergy between the three uses of this combat card. For the HoS,
[for] "prevent up to 2 damage" is decent, but without access to the
[cel] or [tha] it hardly justifies going Anarch. Mina Grotius would
also have access to [cel] "gain one additional strike", so there are
some possibilities there. Phagian has [tha] for a ranged strike to
steal one blood, with an optional manuever, but it's not a strong
enough combo to be using an 8-cap vampire.
Friend of Mine. This reaction card is the only threefer featuring two
HoS disciplines, [nec] and [for]. Unfortunately, it costs a blood and
its effects are better gotten via Spectral Divination and Telepathic
Counter. No HoS can use the [obt] effect, which is unimpressive
anyway.
Gear Up. All HoS could use this card at [nec], none can access either
of the other two functions. That's ok, as moving a card from your ash
heap to your hand and then untapping, all at +1 stealth, is the best
of this action card's three functions. It's certainly worth the one
blood cost, if there's a card in your ash heap you'd like to use on
your turn.
Improvised Tactics. All HoS except Mina Grotius have [aus], and
Zygodat also has [pot], but it's hard to see a use for this card
except in combination with Trap, and not so much even then.
Loose Cannon. This is an interesting card, but only Gisela Harden had
[dem] and only Phagian has [tha], so it's not offering our clan much.
The Mole. Both Unre and Phagian could play this card at [dom], but
are unlikely to be Anarchs and could just use the much better card
Deflection instead. Only Babalawo Alafin has [ani] and only Mina
Grotius has [cel], and neither of those effects are hard for us to
come by anyway.
Principia Discordia. Every HoS but Mina could use the [aus] action to
burn a piece of equipment at +1 stealth. The less-useful [qui] and
[ser] effects would only be available to Anisa Marianna Lopez and
Unre, respectively.
Reformation. Only Unre would get much out of this card, and Unre the
Anarch is unlikely.
Skullduggery. This action card would only be for Egotha, and only at
[obf] to bleed at +1 stealth with an optional maneuver if blocked.
Maybe there's some possibility for an Anarch Trochomancy deck with
Egotha and Raful al-Zarqa?
Smash and Grab. This card offers a nice variety of mildly hostile
actions, if you happen to be packing [ani], [dem] and [pot]. We are
not.
Smoke and Mirrors. Egotha, again, is the only one who could benefit
from this card, again only at [obf], this time for +2 stealth on a non-
bleed, non-political action.
Undue Influence. Only Unre could use it, only at [qui]. It is of no
interest to us.
What about non-discipline minion cards? Groundfighting might be
useful anti-Grapple tech if your only combat defense is Spiritual
Intervention. Fee Stakes could be useful for grabbing Baron titles,
backed up by Emissary and Rant for vote push. Some of the political
actions are ok, too. But there's one card that stands out as begging
for the Harbingers of Skulls to use it.
Border Skirmish
+1 stealth action. Requires a ready anarch.
Each other Methuselah discards one card at random from his or her
hand, and this anarch untaps at the end of the turn.
Any other Methuselah who is trying to carefully grooming their hand
will be hampered by this action. It also accelerates a
Slaughterhouse / Brinksmanship ousting strategy by attacking
everybody's library.
Finally, there are some Anarch-requiring Master cards. Mostly, they
offer improved hunting, intercept or stealth. The first two we aren't
too much in need of, although there is theoretical synergy of Ghost
Eater with other hunting tech. Stealthwise, though, it seems like
Necromancy alone is almost, but not quite, enough to push actions
through unblocked. Erebus Mask is nice, but another source of stealth
like Anarch Railroad can really help.
DECKS OF THE MONTH
Both of this months decks are in the 'preliminary sketch' phase, so
they are likely to need some of the card ratios adjusted (along with
any other changes you might want to make)
I. Knock-knock. Who's there? Zygodat.
Crypt
4x Zygodat [AUS NEC pot] 6 HoS
3x Sennadurek [AUS NEC dom] Black Hand 6 Nag
2x Ingram Frizer [AUS OBF ani pot] Black Hand 6 !Nos
2x Roger Farnsworth [OBF aus] Black Hand 4 !Mal
1x Piotr Andreikov [aus] Black Hand 2 Tzi
Library
6x The Slaughterhouse
4x Blood Doll
1x Crematorium
1x Hungry Coyote
1x Maabara
1x Weeping Stone
1x Erebus Mask
1x Sargon Fragment
8x Reunion Kamut
2x Abbot
10x Trochomancy
8x Call the Hungry Dead
5x Cloak the Gathering
4x Veil the Legions
4x Spectral Divination
8x Telepathic Misdirection
6x Spirit's Touch
4x On the Qui Vive
2x Wake with Evening's Freshness
10x Psychic Assault
3x High Ground
Zygodat's special (she may burn two cards from the library of a
Methuselah she successfully bleeds) helps pay for Trochomancy, as does
The Slaughterhouse. Zygodat and Sennadurek both play Troch at double-
superior, while Ingram or Roger play Cloak and Veil. Auspex bounce
and light intercept make up the defense, with a little bit of pool
return via Dolls and Reunions. Combat is Psychic Assault - it ain't
much, but for a Black Hander it's not a bad one-card package; Spirit's
Touch will sometimes get you to long, with a few High Ground to help.
II. Brinkskirmish
Crypt
4x Agaitas [AUS NEC for] 6 HoS
2x Kervos [aus val] 3 !Sal
1x Egotha [AUS FOR NEC obf] 7 HoS
1x Adonai [AUS VAL for] 7 !Sal
1x Thomas Steed [ani aus val] 4 !Sal
1x Wolf Valentine [VAL for] 4 !Sal
1x Doris McMillon [val] 2 !Sal
1x Franciscus [aus] 1 Cai
Library
10x Galaric's Legacy
6x The Slaughterhouse
4x Auspex
1x Anarch Railroad
1x Lupine Assault
1x Maabara
1x Powerbase: Los Angeles
6x Brother in Arms
1x Erebus Mask
16x Border Skirmish
4x Sense Vitality
2x Gear Up
1x Fee Stake: Los Angeles
1x Fee Stake: Perth
2x Brinksmanship
2x Consanguineous Boon
6x Burning Touch
4x Rant
8x Eye of Unforgiving Heaven
4x My Enemy's Enemy
4x Telepathic Misdirection
3x Delaying Tactics
2x Posion Pill
Play a few Border Skirmish each turn, get a couple of Slaughterhouses
and a few Brothers in Arms in play, and try to stay alive until you
can pull off the Brinksmanship / Rant combo. Give Auspex to your
Brothers and let them get kamikaze with the help of Unforgiving
Heaven.
NEXT NEWSLETTER
Lords of the Night will be released in a few days, and should include
several new Necromancy cards and necromancing vampires. We'll take a
look at these new cards next time.
Orpheus
> the Harbingers of Skulls arsenal, especially one that can give +2
> bleed with no blood cost. Every HoS can use the card; only Mina
> Grotius is limited to the 'inferior' [nec] level.
The popular term coined since Bloodlines is : "outferior".
Yes, it's quite different : I usually prefer to play a Conditionning rather
than a Threat !!
> You just need to weigh the cost against the effect, and
> consider your vampire's ability to afford the cost. Compare Govern
> the Unaligned and Scouting Mission.
>
> Govern the Unaligned
> Cardtype: Action
> Cost: 1 blood
> Discipline: Dominate
> [dom] (D) Bleed with +2 bleed.
> [DOM] +1 stealth action. Move 3 blood from the blood bank to a younger
> vampire in your uncontrolled region.
>
> Scouting Mission
> Cardtype: Action
> Discipline: Dominate
> [dom] (D) Bleed with +1 bleed.
> [DOM] +1 stealth action. Move 2 blood from the blood bank to a younger
> vampire in your uncontrolled region.
>
> Because it's only paid when the action is successful, the cost of
> Govern is fully balanced by the effect (at either level). That
> doesn't mean the cost is negligible. A deck built around low- and mid-
> capacity vampires may prefer Scouting, as Govern could exhaust the
> vampires too quickly... unless you're only going to use a few such
> actions, in which case Govern is probably a better choice because
> you'll get more power from fewer cards.
But Govern gets you a vampire out not only at a lesser cost, but also
faster. Which is why I'll prefer to find a way to mitigate its cost.
Archetypes like Capitalist or Perfectionnist usually do that very nicely.
> There is one special danger to blood-costing action cards. Since you
> only pay the cost when the action succeeds, if you're not careful your
> vampire could have enough blood when you declare the action but end up
> unable to pay the cost by the time the action would resolve. In such
> a situation, the action 'fizzles', i.e. it ends unsuccessfully. If
> your vampire could pay part (but not all) of the cost, they must pay
> as much as they can but the action still fizzles.
Yes, especially when using Necromancy this cannot be underlined enough :
you'll never get that Shambling if you have only 4 blood and need to play
both a Call of the Hungry Dead and a Spectral Divination to get it (barring
all path-like / Charisma card in play, which is why such cards are so
important in a zombies deck).
> OVERVIEW: HARBINGERS AND ANARCHS
>
> Being an Anarch gives a vampire access to certain cards not usable by
> non-Anarchs. Most obvious are the 'threefers', the cards which have a
> use at the basic level of each of three disciplines.
>
> Diversion. This can be one of the strongest of the threefers, due to
> the synergy between the three uses of this combat card. For the HoS,
> [for] "prevent up to 2 damage" is decent, but without access to the
> [cel] or [tha] it hardly justifies going Anarch. Mina Grotius would
> also have access to [cel] "gain one additional strike", so there are
> some possibilities there. Phagian has [tha] for a ranged strike to
> steal one blood, with an optional manuever, but it's not a strong
> enough combo to be using an 8-cap vampire.
>
> Friend of Mine. This reaction card is the only threefer featuring two
> HoS disciplines, [nec] and [for]. Unfortunately, it costs a blood and
> its effects are better gotten via Spectral Divination and Telepathic
> Counter. No HoS can use the [obt] effect, which is unimpressive
> anyway.
>
> Gear Up. All HoS could use this card at [nec], none can access either
> of the other two functions. That's ok, as moving a card from your ash
> heap to your hand and then untapping, all at +1 stealth, is the best
> of this action card's three functions. It's certainly worth the one
> blood cost, if there's a card in your ash heap you'd like to use on
> your turn.
One of the cards definitely worth going Anarch for.
Yes, or bleed in Trochomancy (recurring under Gear Up or Maabara) !!
Anyway, nice letter. I'll be sure to include it whenever I update the
Necrosite !
--
"All Hail the Lords of the Night !"
Orpheus
atomweaver
news:46f719f3$0$18285$426a...@news.free.fr:
>> Obviously a bleed increasing action modifier is a welcome addition to
>> the Harbingers of Skulls arsenal, especially one that can give +2
>> bleed with no blood cost. Every HoS can use the card; only Mina
>> Grotius is limited to the 'inferior' [nec] level.
>
> The popular term coined since Bloodlines is : "outferior".
>
Does that apply, here? After all, the stronger effects make use of a
common discipline, unlike true outferiors...
DZ
Semantics nerd
Orpheus
>>> the Harbingers of Skulls arsenal, especially one that can give +2
>>> bleed with no blood cost. Every HoS can use the card; only Mina
>>> Grotius is limited to the 'inferior' [nec] level.
>>
>> The popular term coined since Bloodlines is : "outferior".
>>
>
> Does that apply, here? After all, the stronger effects make use of a
> common discipline, unlike true outferiors...
I'd say it does, because there is a discipline with only one level, and the
"true" discipline of the card. Rarity of the availability of the discipline
isn't an issue (although it was the reason Outferiors were created). In a
way, the case is the same : Aus / Nec is a Bloodline's combination of
discipline, the same way that Myt is a bloodline's discipline.
--
Orpheus
--------------------
"Never Kill Again To Live Another Golden Day", the James Bond movie you'll
never see.
Malone
> >>> Obviously a bleed increasing action modifier is a welcome addition to
> >>> the Harbingers of Skulls arsenal, especially one that can give +2
> >>> bleed with no blood cost. Every HoS can use the card; only Mina
> >>> Grotius is limited to the 'inferior' [nec] level.
>
> >> The popular term coined since Bloodlines is : "outferior".
>
> > Does that apply, here? After all, the stronger effects make use of a
> > common discipline, unlike true outferiors...
>
> I'd say it does, because there is a discipline with only one level, and the
> "true" discipline of the card. Rarity of the availability of the discipline
> isn't an issue (although it was the reason Outferiors were created). In a
> way, the case is the same : Aus / Nec is a Bloodline's combination of
> discipline, the same way that Myt is a bloodline's discipline.
> --
> Orpheus
That's one way to look at it, but it's not how I use the word
outferior.
If you say "the outferior of Trochomancy" folks'll know what you mean,
no doubt, but likewise if you say "the outferior of Elemental
Stoicism" it would be understood. I don't think that has anything to
do with obf/for being a Bloodlines combination (Samedi?), but rather
with [for] appearing as the first of three levels on the card just
like true outferiors do.