Category Archives: Vampire Wednesday Morning

Blue Updated

Game day, Rivals, Rivals Deck Building, Vampire the Masquerade Rivals, vampire the masquerade: rivals, Vampire Wednesday Morning

Wednesday morning saw me visiting Diego’s Pad once again to play VtM Rivals.

It was a chance to try out the changes I made to my blue deck. Diego was also trying out his first built Rivals deck.

Below are our two leaders for the mornings games.

Our leaders

Our first game was a victory for Diego by knocking out my last vampire in my coterie. I’d shuffled my deck too well and wasn’t hitting the newly added reaction cards. Or when I did it was too late. I also remember running dangerously low on my prestige in this game too. Which meant I also wasn’t hitting any of my prestige generating cards.

Game two ended in an agenda points win for Diego.

Something I was unable to stop.

In this game I failed to control the streets, so there was a build up of citizens and vagrants.

The game did last a lot longer. The control side was working really well. The reaction cards were impactful.

I did mill Diego! And for a couple of rounds had Diego down to zero or one card in hand. Having two copies of mental block out meant a lot of pain for Diego.

I’m happier the deck is working a lot better.

Ok here is the bit folks really want to see, the new deck list.

Blue V2.0

Leader, Haven, and Agenda
  • Agenda – Death is Only the Beginning
  • Haven – Eternal Life Mortuary
  • Leader – Annika (Hecata)

Vampire Deck

  • Faith Gray (Tremere)
  • Lorenzo Murik (Tremere)
  • Anjali the Samedi (Hecata)
  • Bianca Giovanni (Hecata)
  • Kristin (Hecata)
  • Nathaniel (Hecata)

Library

  • Second Tradition: The Domain (Action Ongoing)
  • Sleep of the Damned (Ritual) x 2
  • The Shakedown (Action) x 3
  • Clairvoyance (Action) x 2
  • Blood Makes Noise (Ritual)
  • Truth of Blood (Ritual)
  • Mental Block (Unhosted Action Ongoing) x 3
  • Tenebrous Avatar (Reaction) x 3
  • Fortify the Inner Facade (Reaction) x 3
  • Defense of the Sacred Haven (Ritual) x 2
  • Grave Robbing (Action) x 3
  • Early Grave (Action) x 2
  • Seek Knowledge (Ritual) x 2
  • Fourth Tradition: The Accounting (Action) x 3
  • Flesh of Marble (Reaction Special) x 2
  • Spirit’s Touch (Action) x 2
  • Hardened Flesh (Reaction)
  • The Mighty Fall (Attack/Reaction) x 2
  • Slap in the Face (Reaction) x 2

Thoughts

So approximately a third of the deck are reaction cards! That’s a pretty big commitment.

With me milling Diego in game two I want to try this deck with the Disheveled Shelves agenda.

I’m also thinking maybe cutting back the rituals and adding in the wraith cards!

I still need rituals to increase the havens secrecy. But I’m not really getting the opportunity or deciding to play them. Which means the vampire slots might be open to consideration also.

Funky Vampire Morning!

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My first gaming of 2022 was with Diego this morning.

The session started off so well with home made cheese cake and espresso coffee (for once hot! – Diego’s words not mine). I hadn’t expected the cheese cake but it was a most pleasant surprise. Despite only a couple of days earlier having teased Diego that he had made cake for another friend they had had round for coffee, but never me.

After a most enjoyable (ok it was amazing but need to under play it) slice of cheese cake the rest of the morning went down hill from there.

Our first game of the morning was a two player game of Vampire the Masquerade Rivals.

Tremere (Diego) vs Thin-blood (Me)

Once again it was a precon match up. We will get round to building our own decks. Honest.

Although I did manage to get all of my coterie out, I only drew one Alchemy card. Which was a pain.

However I did take out three citizens from the street. But I wasn’t taking them out fast enough to get the win.

I was undone by that ol’ Tremere blood magic. With Diego playing Grigori as his leader he was soon replacing the blood on my 1 blood potency vampires and then sending them to torpor when he paid for stuff with that blood.

Maybe I should have been more aggressive and attacked Grigori.

The final score of our game, confirming Diego’s victory.

Our next game was one I’d been wanting to get to the table for a while, Funkoverse.

I played Boom, Slash, Splash or T-Rex, Raptor and Jaws with Ghost companion. Whilst Diego chose The Black Widow, Arya with Needle, and Doc Brown.

Although I own a few of the Funkoverse sets, and therefore have a few maps. Having never played the game before I had no idea which maps were good for a first time play. So I chose the map on top of the stack of “smaller” map boards. Which just happened to be the map from the DC101 set. Diego chose which scenario we played for the map.

The scenario we played (chosen by Diego)

I’m not sure what advantage Jaws gets being submerged. I know whilst submerged it can’t do assist, challenge, or interact actions. It’s very thematic that’s for sure. But tactically I’m confused why you would want Jaws to be submerged.

We had done one big rules misplay. Once we interacted with a points marker we didn’t put the marker on the cool down track. We kept having a nagging feeling that we were missing something during the game. What was stopping you from camping next to a marker and interacting with it for both of your actions? If we had played it correctly I think there would have been different decisions and tactics used by us both.

I have to say Funkoverse looks lovely on the table. You are either a fan of the big headed character design or you are not! I obviously am a fan.

Game play wise, it might not be the most complicated skirmish game. But I like how it’s so quick to learn/pick up. It makes it very accessible I think.

Despite the fact I had already put together my team, I love how quick and easy team selection can be. It can be as simple as “I like that character, that character and that character”. Or you can look for synergies and make it a more complicated, in-depth affair.

Having double sided maps and four scenarios per set means you get a little variety in game play per set. However I think there is little or no variety in scenarios between sets. But I need to check that they are indeed similar/same.

This particular map did feel crowded with two three character teams. But that might have been to its advantage if we hadn’t done the misplay.

The final scores sadly show another Diego victory.

I look forward to getting Funkoverse back to the table, maybe with one of the bigger maps, different scenario, even with more players. Plus with the Thanos expansion it introduces ultimate mode, a one verses many game play. Which would be interesting to try.

After our gaming I had to pop into my place of employment to pick up a couple of things that I hadn’t been able to get elsewhere the day before. But thanks to Diego my purchases increased by a couple of items.

Vampire Tapestries!

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Wednesday saw Diego and I go head to head in a 2 player game of Vampire the Masquerade: Rivals. In this game we played the two new clans Tremere and Thin-bloods from the first expansion for the game Blood and Alchemy.

I played Thin-bloods, whilst Diego went with Tremere.

It’d been over a month since we last played. So we were a bit rusty on the rules! Plus add on the fact these were completely new decks that we hadn’t even looked at before hand. It was no wonder that this one game took a couple of hours!

It’s obvious that we were not playing the decks optimally, having to look up rules, made misplays, definitely had rules mistakes. But we had fun.

I enjoyed playing Thin-Bloods. You definitely need all your vampires out and attacking en masse. I liked the gaining an extra action on a turn ability that certain actions/cards gave. I also liked the -1 token and using that to reduce the blood potency of opponents vampires. It’s definitely a fun deck to play.

In the end the game went to the wire with either of us being able to get the win. Both of us missed opportunities to grab victory. But sadly for Diego it was me that made the final break through and won.

The next expansion The Wolf and The Rat is now up for preorder on the Renegade web store. This expansion adds two new clans Gangrel and Nosferatu. Plus preorder bonuses of Tamaska and General Flint Alt Art Cards, and until the end of October a Victor Temple Promo card (previously only available at GenCon). Naturally this has been preordered.

I have also ordered the first three organised play kits for season 1. Apparently a season runs from GenCon to GenCon. Once the kits arrive I’ll give me views on them and where the kits are going.

There are plans afoot to finally get Tapestry back to the table this weekend.

During the global events of the last 18 months or more Stonemaier Games had the first expansion for Tapestry Plans and Ploys come out. Or more accurately it may have been just before. But that’s not important. What is, is that those events got in the way of any plans to get Tapestry and the expansion to the table.

After making arrangements to get Civilization A New Dawn with its first expansion Terra Incognita to the table at the next Friday gaming session (it’s going to be tight fitting it in) I knew I had to make an effort to get Tapestry to the table too. TI4 and it’s expansion is going to require military precision planning, so that won’t be soon.

So a shout out went on the clubs discord server for interested parties. Plans were made, written in pencil, and reliant on circumstances beyond our control.

At the moment it’s looking good. But until we are all sitting round a table, game setup and we are taking actions whilst enjoying beverages purchased from our amazing hosts The Luxe cinema I won’t believe it’s happening!

Here’s hoping for best laid plans and all that.

Vampire Wednesday Morning on a Tuesday madness!

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Tuesday morning was this weeks Vampire Wednesday morning!

It threw out my usual weekly routine of doing the weekly shop on a Tuesday morning. But sacrifices have to be made for the greater good. And that greater good was I needed a break. Especially after having to miss the club night last Friday.

This weeks Rivals game would be a three player game.

Our third player was a friend of Diego’s Peet. He had never played the game before. But had done his homework and watched some of the how to play videos on YouTube.

This is how the clans broke down for the game:

  • Brujah – Peet (rival me)
  • Ventrue – me (rival Diego)
  • Malkavian – Diego (rival Peet)

As you can see from the fact I played Ventrue, that I continued to work my way through the core set clans. I just need to try Malkavian (so Diego won’t be playing them again next session). After that I’d like to try some deck construction using the core set, before trying the two clans in the Blood & Alchemy expansion.

Diego wanted to try the Malkavians in multiplayer to see if they worked better than in a two player game. And Peet got Brujah because they are a easier deck to pilot for a first game.

  • The Victor

I think one of the hurdles for new players to a card game like Rivals, and this is so true in something like Android Netrunner is learning the terminology.

In Rivals it’s things like Haven, Torpor and Coterie. Netrunner it was such terms as clicks, runs, and ice.

Unlike Diego who has played in the World of Darkness in years gone past. Rivals is my first time experiencing this world. I have no allegiance to a particular clan. At the moment my decision process is based on do they look cool, and mechanically/tactically do they fit with play styles I like?

At the start of our game Peet warned us that he’s a competitive player. Sadly he didn’t play the Brujah deck aggressively enough. Which allowed Diego and myself to get our slower decks going.

Agenda wise I was in the lead. I had two titles attached to two vampires. Boosted my havens secrecy to 2. Had a vagrant attached to my leader. I was ready for the appearance of an S.A.D. Agents in the street.

Peet finally started to attack my leader. Which I was more than able to handle. However he left one of his vampires open to attack from Diego. Which was enough of an opening for Diego to drain Peet’s remaining prestige whilst attacking that vulnerable vampire. And that gave Diego the win.

It was a fun game. I need to look at the Ventrue deck and see what cards are there, and the synergies. I would like to have hit more titles and have more ways to gain extra prestige. Which it might have and I just didn’t draw into them.

Vampire Wednesday Morning

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One of the things I like about Renegade Games and what they are trying to do with Vampire the Masquerade: Rivals is establish a community for the game.

Vampire Wednesdays is their attempt at creating their version of Friday Night Magic. To support this they have been running a weekly live stream on twitch on Wednesdays. With the video being shared on YouTube days later.

Ideally because I don’t do twitch I’d love them to push the live stream to YouTube at the same time, or at least put the video up on YouTube within 24 hours. But I can only dream.

At the moment the only other player I know who likes the game is Diego. Luckily the day he is free to play is a Wednesday. Sadly due to timezones and availability we are playing many hours before the Vampire Wednesday live stream. So any fun formats, rule changes introduced for those joining in are missed. I suppose we could use them the following time we play.

This morning Diego and I met up to play a two player game of Rivals.

I played Toreador, whilst Diego played Malkavian. Once again these were the pre-built decks straight out of the core box with no modification.

We were still having to refer to the rulebook to look things up. Like conspiracies, we hadn’t played them before. But for our second game we were getting better!

I have to say I enjoyed playing Toreador.

My experience with the deck was far far different from Gavin last week. The cards were much much more kind to me. I had Search Engine and Influencer in my opening hand. Both Unhosted Actions. So they were both played for my first turn. A great set up turn. Influencer was great as it set up playing a scheme turn two to take a prestige from Diego.

Whilst Search Engine gave me the Rivals version of the scry mechanic in MtG. I love this card. Being able to basically control the top card of your deck with this deck is important. Several of the cards in the deck have you revealing the top card to get some kind of benefit, like extra attack or influence.

It’s also important with the Toreador deck to get a retainer early on to start buffing your vampires and gaining agenda points. Which I was able to do on my second turn. Getting a vagrant also allowed me to mitigate the S.A.D. damage at the end of my turn until a second one appeared in the street. So I was happy leaving it there to chip away at Diego’s Coterie.

Diego had a nice card that exhausted all my vampires so I couldn’t attack his vampire he was going to claim the Prince of the City with. Unlucky for Diego he never got to benefit from it as I claimed it off his vampire on my turn.

In the end I won by TKO or more correctly sending all his vampires to Torpor.

I enjoyed Rivals as a two player game. It was different to last weeks three player game. I like both player counts. But I can see how a deck needs to be built for either a two player or multiplayer game. Multiplayer your deck can be a bit slower to kick in, but in two player you need to be out of the starting block as quick as possible.

There wasn’t enough time to have a three player game with a friend of Diego’s that turned up mid game. So we had a couple of games of Perudo before I had to head back home.

I’m looking forward to our next Vampire Wednesday Morning.