Last week, I sat down with Cristina, David, Aaron and Manuel for another evening of our favourite vampire card game. We met at our usual place in Cambridge, a venue that seems to host a bit of everything: sometimes live music, sometimes Magic players, and sometimes five Methuselahs quietly taking over a table with cards, counters and a weirdly shaped item called the Edge. This game was particularly interesting for me because I finally brought the deck I had originally planned to take to the UK Nationals, before a virus successfully performed the most effective tournament denial action I have encountered so far. The Hecata were finally leaving their crypt, and this time they had a new star: Parijat.
Aaron brought his familiar Salubri, David arrived with Lasombra heavy bleed, Cristina had her Brujah bruise deck, and Manuel surprised us with an Assamite/Tremere wall. The randomised seating was Me (Hecata) > Cristina (Brujah) > Aaron (Salubri) > Manuel (Assamite/Tremere wall) > David (Lasombra).
Going first felt less than ideal, but the dead do not complain about seating arrangements. I started small and influenced out the dwarf looking vampire (Alek König), while beginning work on Parijat. By Turn Three, neither my predator nor my prey had a minion on the table, which presented a beautiful little window of opportunity. Alek went to work immediately. A Spectral Servitor hit the table and successfully bled Cristina, followed by an inferior Shroud of Decay from Alek. Three pool gone, the Edge acquired, and nobody in a position to stop me. Necromancy was off to a very fine start.
Of course, peaceful neighbourhoods in VTES rarely remain peaceful for long. Cristina brought out Theo Bell, while David influenced Maria. Suddenly both directions around me looked considerably less welcoming. I knew exactly how dangerous Brujah combat could be, and Maria's ability to rush made me initially suspicious of the Lasombra too. As it turned out, David's vampires were interested in a much simpler business model: bleed for a lot.
The slow build-up still worked in my favour, and I managed to keep the Edge for two consecutive turns, recovering a little extra pool while everyone else developed their boards. I was feeling fairly comfortable. Then I decided to fight Theo Bell. This was educational.
I sent a Rotting Behemoth after him, hoping to weaken Cristina's board and open a path for my bleeders. On paper, a zombie hitting for three damage sounds quite intimidating. Theo Bell apparently disagreed. Between Torn Signpost, additional strikes and the general experience of being Theo Bell, my Behemoth was quickly returned to a much more traditional state of death. Lesson learned: perhaps don't fight Theo Bell.
From there, the game remained surprisingly balanced. Aaron's Salubri were receiving what I will politely call significant physical persuasion from Cristina's Brujah, but they stayed in the game. Manuel's wall steadily developed, David kept preparing unpleasant bleeds, and my Hecata continued looking for openings among all the chaos.
We had originally planned to play for two hours, but when the timer expired everyone was still very much alive, so we added another thirty minutes. We are still getting faster with combat sequencing and card interactions, and occasionally we stop to check timing or make sure an effect works the way we think it does. Every game makes that process smoother.
David, meanwhile, had clearly decided that my pool total needed correcting. His Lasombra kept coming, including one particularly memorable bleed for four. I had Archon Investigation in my hand and I really (and I mean REALLY!) wanted to play it. However, there was a better option. I could bounce the bleed to Cristina. So, with great personal sacrifice and admirable restraint, I did the responsible thing and redirected the problem to my prey. Nobody gives you victory points for emotional maturity.
As the extended timer approached its end, Cristina was down to three pool. I had Shroud of Decay in hand and enough stealth to make the action difficult to stop. The possibility of my first oust was sitting right there. Then time was called.
Afterwards, we looked at what might have happened next. Manuel potentially had a way to block my finishing action cross-table, while several other players were also dangerously close to securing their own ousts. One more turn could have changed everything. Perhaps the Hecata would have claimed their first victim. Perhaps Manuel's wall would have intervened. Perhaps David's Lasombra would have removed my remaining pool first. We will never know.
And strangely, that made the ending rather fitting. Brujah had beaten zombies back into the grave, Salubri had endured an impressive amount of punishment, Lasombra had thrown huge bleeds across the table, Manuel had quietly built a wall in the middle of everything, and the Hecata had crept within touching distance of an oust before time itself became the final form of table control. No winner. Just five unfinished schemes waiting for another night.
The game never ends, only pauses. I'll see you at the next move.
Custodian Hargrave
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