Hit me baby, one more deck

The VTES UK National Championship is happening at the end of this month and, after some careful planning, calendar negotiations and presumably a successful political action at home, I managed to register. I have attended a few smaller tournaments by now, but this will be my first properly large event. Last year's championship had 27 players, many of them elders who have probably forgotten more about VTES than I have learned so far. Obviously I am extremely excited. I am also experiencing the healthy amount of terror expected from a neonate voluntarily walking into a room full of Methuselahs.

There is, however, one important matter that needs resolving before then: what on earth am I going to play?

At this point I have several candidates, and every time I think I have made a decision, another deck whispers seductively from the shelf. The whole situation is starting to remind me of a Britney Spears song, you know, the one where you make a questionable decision and then somehow do it again. One evening I'm committed to the Hecata, the next I'm polishing the Ventrue, and by Wednesday I'm staring lovingly at my Tremere cards again. Oops.

The Hecata: The patient candidate

The obvious choice is my Hecata deck. I've played it several times now and genuinely enjoy how it operates. Recruiting allies and slowly building an undead workforce is tremendously satisfying. There is something wonderfully reassuring about looking across the table and realising that your domain now employs several corpses. The zombies are particularly good at draining blood from opposing vampires, although serious combat decks can dismantle them rather efficiently and Strike: Combat Ends remains the undead equivalent of someone simply closing the door in your face. Family Gathering, meanwhile, has become one of my favourite cards in the deck. Accelerating out additional vampires means that by the late game I can sometimes have one or two more bodies available than I otherwise would, and those little vampires can make a surprisingly large difference.

The problem is speed.

Hecata don't generally produce enormous bleeds. The deck needs time to establish itself, recruit allies and fill the table with enough unpleasant things that my prey begins reconsidering their life choices. Shroud of Decay can be fantastic, but its superior effect also requires my prey to have enough cards in their ash heap. In other words, death cannot be rushed. Apparently there is paperwork.

According to my VDB research, Hecata won twelve tournaments last year and six so far this year. Clearly they can win, but piloting them often feels like preparing an elaborate funeral: everything needs to be arranged properly before the guest of honour (let's call them prey) can finally die.

The Ventrue: Previous management experience

Then we have the Ventrue Princes.

This is the deck I took to Bedford, where, somewhat unexpectedly, it carried this neonate all the way to the final table. Naturally, this means the Ventrue department has included "proven tournament performance" prominently on its application. My reasoning at Bedford was fairly simple. The environment seemed full of combat-heavy decks, and combat-heavy crypts often meant fewer titled vampires. If my Ventrue could survive the violence (and Fortitude is rather useful when someone attempts hostile corporate restructuring with a Torn Signpost) I hoped my Princes could dominate the political game.

Surprisingly, the calculation worked.

Once referendums actually happened, votes were rarely my problem. Getting the political actions through was another matter. Ventrue have many wonderful qualities, but quietly sneaking through the back door isn't traditionally one of them. If the table decides that your political action must not happen, reliable stealth would be rather useful.

The bigger question is whether the Bedford strategy scales to a much larger tournament. Four Ventrue tournament wins this year according to VDB doesn't exactly suggest that the aristocracy is currently enjoying a golden age. Still, Ventrue have survived far worse things than an unfavourable meta. They would probably describe it as a temporary market correction.

The Tremere: The emotional favourite

Then there are the Tremere.

I took my Tremere toolbox to my first tournament and, while the results weren't spectacular, I loved playing it. The deck has answers to almost everything. Auspex provides intercept. Dominate gives me powerful bleeds and Deflections. Thaumaturgy provides a respectable combat package. It feels like carrying a large toolbox into someone's house: I may not know exactly what is broken, but I'm reasonably confident I brought something that can fix it. Or set it on fire...

I also simply love the clan. Their lore, their aesthetics, their cards, if tournament performance didn't matter at all, I'd happily bring the Usurpers again. Unfortunately, the current numbers are not particularly encouraging. According to VDB, Tremere haven't recorded a tournament win this year so far. Somewhere, an entire Chantry is pretending this statistic doesn't exist.

Part of me would love to be the neonate who changes that number from zero to one. The more rational part of my brain has calculated the probability of this happening and quietly returned to the library. Hopefully future releases give my favourite blood sorcerers a little assistance. Until then, the Pyramid remains under review.

The Malkavians: The dangerous consultant

Recently, I've also been looking more seriously at Malkavians.

My wife loves them. More importantly, she seems to particularly enjoy using them to remove my pool, so I've had plenty of practical demonstrations of what they can do. And annoyingly, they can be very good. They can stealth bleed. They can power bleed. They have access to politics. Auspex gives them defensive options and intercept. Dominate gives them excellent forward pressure. Obfuscate makes stopping that pressure considerably more difficult. It's an impressively complete package wrapped inside a clan whose members probably shouldn't be trusted with scissors.

I suspect I could build something interesting here. Whether I can do so without slowly losing my own mind during the process remains to be seen.

The Other Applicants

The Salubri power bleed deck has proven itself remarkably effective in Aaron's hands, although taking his usual deck to Nationals feels slightly like borrowing someone else's favourite sword before going to war. Diana and the Toreadors remain tempting because I enjoy political decks immensely, and the Path of Power continues whispering promises of Sabbat Cardinals, political manipulation and entirely reasonable amounts of backstabbing. So yes, there are options. Far too many options.

There are, however, several clans that have already been politely informed that their applications were unsuccessful.

Definitely Not Gangrel

Let's be honest: Gangrel are doing perfectly fine without me. They already have 21 tournament wins this year and counting. Clearly the wilderness department has met its quarterly targets.

I'm not suggesting that my participation would somehow upset the competitive ecosystem (I have a healthy understanding of my own abilities) but Gangrel hardly need another volunteer. I'm also fairly confident I'll encounter them across the table anyway. Probably while they're rushing something I care about.

Definitely Not Tzimisce

You know my position. The Tzimisce know my position. Everyone is comfortable with this arrangement. I sincerely wish their players the very best of luck. Preferably at another table.

Probably Not Lasombra

This one actually hurts because I love Lasombra. They have Dominate. They have excellent combat. They can play politics. They have shadows. They have style. They approach negotiations with the reassuring energy of someone who has already arranged your disappearance. Unfortunately, other people also seem to have noticed that Lasombra are good. And that creates one terrifying word: contesting.

I dislike contesting. Nothing destroys the fantasy of being an ancient supernatural mastermind quite like discovering that another ancient supernatural mastermind has brought exactly the same vampire and now both of you are standing there awkwardly arguing over custody.

So Lasombra will probably remain safely at home.

The board will reach a decision

And that's where I currently stand. Hecata offer familiarity and an army of dead employees. Ventrue have previous tournament experience and an excellent management structure. Tremere have my heart and an alarming absence from this year's winners list. Malkavians are standing in the corner smiling suspiciously (someone should probably check the fire extinguishers before asking what they're up to). Meanwhile several other decks continue submitting unsolicited applications.

I have a few weeks left to make the final decision, tweak the library and hopefully squeeze in some practice games. I'm not expecting to walk into the UK Nationals and suddenly become an elder. My ambitions are considerably more realistic: play some good games, secure a few victory points if possible, learn something from much more experienced players and avoid doing anything spectacularly embarrassing. And if everything goes horribly wrong? At least I'll meet more VTES players, come home with another story for the blog, and have several hours on the drive back to explain to myself why I definitely chose the correct deck.

The game never ends, only pauses. I'll see you at the next move.

Custodian Hargrave

The Seventh Tradition: Panic

A few days ago, Vampire: The Masquerade Sixth Edition was announced (player pack here, storyteller pack here)  and, judging by the internet, someone had accidentally started a global frenzy check. Social media transformed into one giant Elysium where everyone was passionately explaining why V6 would either save Vampire forever or personally set fire to their favourite clan. I downloaded the alpha playtest the moment it became available.

My feelings can best be described as 50% excitement and 50% existential dread.

I remember V5 receiving a similarly divided reception. The Hunger Dice, the Beckoning, the fall of the Tremere Pyramid, the Second Inquisition: many of those ideas felt controversial at first. Over time, though, they became some of my favourite parts of the game. Our tabletop group still alternates between V20 and V5 depending on the kind of story we want to tell, so I promised myself I wouldn't judge V6 too quickly.

Then I started reading.

Tabletop changes

Mechanically, V6 isn't trying to be "V5 with a few tweaks." It's a much more fundamental redesign.

The biggest headline is that Vitae and Health are effectively merged into one resource, meaning almost everything your vampire does now draws from the same pool. On paper, I actually like the idea. It reinforces the constant struggle between power and survival. Every Discipline activation becomes another little negotiation with your Beast: "Do I really need to survive this fight, or would I rather cast one more ritual?" That feels very VTM. In reality spending life to use a supernatural ability feels bad. I do not think this will be great, but we shall see.

There are some nice quality-of-life improvements though. Character creation now revolves around lifepaths, relationships and your sire's influence, which immediately caught my attention. The idea that your sire's personality shapes your starting resources and even your disciplines feels incredibly thematic. A Ventrue elder should raise a very different fledgling than a Toreador diva or an absent-minded Tremere Regent. That's exactly the sort of flavour I enjoy seeing in a roleplaying game.

Unfortunately, not every mechanical change landed quite as well with me.

The new dice system replaces V5's Hunger Dice entirely. Instead of replacing dice with Hunger, the Storyteller now subtracts dice from your pool based on difficulty, and successes only occur on 8, 9 and 10.

This worries me.

One of the reasons I loved Hunger Dice was that they constantly reminded you that the Beast was present. Success always came with a price lurking in the background. The new system feels much more mathematical than thematic. It also appears to reward larger dice pools even more heavily than before. Watching the demonstration game, the vampires often felt surprisingly ineffective. Of course, this is only an alpha, but my first impression wasn't particularly encouraging.

The discipline earthquake

Now let's talk about the part that immediately made my VTES brain start calculating future decklists. The Discipline changes. Some clans escaped untouched. My beloved Ventrue continue being sensible adults with Dominate, Fortitude and Presence, while Banu Haqim, Brujah, Nosferatu and Toreador also remain comfortably familiar.

Everyone else? Well... Someone clearly walked into the Discipline cabinet with a blender. The biggest casualty is Protean. Gone. Just... gone.

Gangrel now receive Animalism, Celerity and Fortitude, while the Ministry lose Protean as well in favour of the new Corruption Discipline. Protean powers are now merged into Animalism. As someone who has recently spent a great deal of time building Gangrel decks around Protean tricks like Earth Meld and Form of Mist, this feels like a particularly strange decision. Those powers are almost synonymous with the clan. Removing Protean from Gangrel feels a little like removing fangs from vampires because they're "too iconic." On the other hand, Nossies will be happy with their new tools I guess. 

Meanwhile Lasombra now choose between Corruption and Oblivion, Tzimisce can apparently choose between Tellurgy and Vicissitude, and Tremere gain access to either Blood Sorcery or Necromancy.

Which brings me to my favourite undead necromancers.

Spare a thought for the Hecata...

Or the Giovanni. Or both. When V5 introduced the Hecata, I had mixed feelings. I always loved the Giovanni, and initially I wasn't thrilled about them merging into one giant necromantic family reunion. Eventually, though, they won me over. So much so that I stopped chasing old Giovanni cards and instead invested heavily in Hecata because I assumed that was where the future of Vampire was heading. Now V6 quietly brings the Giovanni back. Part of me is delighted. The other part is staring at my Hecata deck wondering whether we've all just been through a very expensive identity crisis.

The Giovanni now use Auspex, Potence and Necromancy instead of the classic Dominate combination. On the tabletop I can certainly appreciate Auspex. In VTES... let's just say if someone offered me Dominate back, I wouldn't spend very long negotiating. There is one encouraging detail, however. Lasombra retaining Oblivion means Black Chantry could theoretically continue expanding Oblivion-based archetypes even if Hecata receive fewer new releases (if any). As someone who has recently become suspiciously fond of summoning zombies, I choose to interpret this as good news until someone tells me otherwise.

What about the Sabbat?

One thing noticeably absent from the current alpha is meaningful discussion of the Sabbat. No real mention of the sect. No discussion of the Paths. Readers of this blog already know where my loyalties lie. I absolutely love Path of Power and Path of Death. One lets me manipulate the table through politics, while the other lets me recruit zombies and generally behave like an enthusiastic undertaker. Between those two archetypes, they cover an alarming percentage of everything I enjoy doing in VTES.

Hopefully they're simply outside the scope of the current playtest rather than quietly disappearing into the night.

And then there's Black Chantry...

One group of people I don't envy at all is the Black Chantry design team.

Every major tabletop edition brings changes to lore, clans, Disciplines and identities. Meanwhile, they somehow have to keep VTES coherent while respecting both decades of existing cards and whatever new direction the roleplaying game decides to take. That cannot be an easy balancing act.

Looking back over the years, they've had to adapt to the rise of the Hecata, changing sects, changing Disciplines, and now potentially another significant shake-up. Whatever your opinion on V6, that's an enormous design challenge.

Final thoughts

At the moment, my feelings toward V6 are probably best described as cautious optimism wrapped in healthy scepticism. I genuinely like some of the narrative ideas. I genuinely dislike several of the mechanical ones. Thankfully, this is still an alpha playtest. That's precisely what playtests are for: to identify what works, what doesn't, and hopefully improve the final product.

So for now, I'll do what every good Tremere researcher should do. I'll read. I'll test. I'll provide feedback.

And then, like every Ventrue pretending to remain perfectly composed while the world changes around them, I'll quietly hope someone at White Wolf decides that perhaps upsetting every clan at once wasn't the wisest political strategy. I'm really curious where everyone else stands. Which V6 ideas have you enjoyed so far, and which ones leave you reaching for an older rulebook?

The game never ends, only pauses. I'll see you at the next move.

Custodian Hargrave

Where fate meets darkness

Although Malifaux Fourth Edition has been out for some time now, I only managed to play a couple of games. Life has an annoying habit of getting in the way of hobbies and without regular games, even familiar rules begin to drift back through the Breach. When James and I finally picked a date for a game a few weeks ago, I immediately started looking forward to it.

It also gave me the motivation I needed to finish another piece of terrain for my western table. A lonely market stall had been sitting unpainted for far too long, patiently waiting for inspiration to strike. Thanks to the school summer holidays, I found myself with an enthusiastic painting assistant. My daughter joined me for the project, and I was genuinely impressed by how steady her brushwork was. Together we finished the market stall in just two days, perfectly in time for Monday's game. Every gaming table tells a story, and now this one had a little bit of ours built into it.

James and I already knew we wouldn't have time for a full game before the club closed, so we agreed to treat it as a practice skirmish. That suited me perfectly. My rules knowledge needed dusting off almost as much as my measuring tape. For my crew I chose Kastore and the Returned keyword. Ancient vampires? A flying sword? What's not to love? James answered by bringing Seamus and the Redchapel crew, a master I'd barely encountered before. I had no idea what to expect, which in Malifaux usually means you're about to learn something the painful way.

By the time James arrived, the table was ready. Wooden houses lined the dusty streets, the saloon waited for its next inevitable bar fight, the gallows stood as an encouraging reminder to behave, abandoned carts littered the roads, and my freshly painted market stall proudly took its place among the scenery. Seeing painted terrain actually being used always feels strangely satisfying (the density is still not sufficient though, progress needs time).

The first duel went James' way, making him the attacker while I defended. Our strategy was Informants, with Runic Binding, Harness the Ley Lines, and Detonate Charges available as schemes. The Flank deployment immediately promised a very different game from the straight-line brawls I was used to.

Having only played Kastore once before, I knew mistakes were inevitable. And mistakes there were.

The first was forgetting to resolve Hunger tokens at the end of activations. Kastore was probably looking at me with centuries of disappointment while I quietly skipped one of his defining mechanics. The second was spreading my crew far too aggressively during the opening turn. I was so eager to occupy the board that several models wandered outside the range of abilities that rewarded staying together. It turns out that "divide and conquer" works much better when you're the one doing the conquering.

For my scheme, I chose Runic Binding. The objective is very thematic: place three Scheme Markers to form a magical triangle, then trap enemy models inside it. In my enthusiasm, I overlooked one tiny detail: the markers must all remain within fourteen inches of each other. My triangle was less "ancient ritual" and more "ambitious civil engineering project." To make matters worse, my final marker was placed by the last model I activated that turn. Since the scheme only scores at the end of an enemy model's activation, I'd missed my opportunity entirely. A perfectly avoidable mistake, but an excellent lesson. Despite that, the first turn wasn't without success. Both of us concentrated on the strategy, and I managed to score the opening victory point by controlling two Informant markers. I also received my first practical demonstration of just how much ground Seamus can cover. Watching him disappear from one part of the table only to casually reappear somewhere completely different is unsettling enough in the lore. Experiencing it across the tabletop is even worse.

Turn two became an exercise in damage control. I repositioned my Scheme Markers to create a legal triangle, finally bringing Runic Binding online. At the same time, Kastore and Seamus decided that diplomacy had failed and settled matters personally. Elsewhere, poor Gwyn found herself on the receiving end of Seamus and Madame Sybelle at the same time. Surviving that encounter felt like a victory in itself. While I slowly lost control of the strategy markers and was forced to retreat, I finally completed Runic Binding and scored two victory points from it. James answered by claiming another point from the strategy, leaving the game nicely balanced.

By then it was clear we wouldn't reach the end of Turn Three before the club closed, so we packed away the models and spent some time discussing the game instead. Practice had been the goal all along, and on that front the evening was a complete success. I'm still spending more time reading character cards than making brilliant tactical decisions, but every game makes the rules feel a little more familiar.

Most importantly, it reminded me why I enjoy Malifaux so much. Every crew feels wildly different, every master brings unexpected tricks to the table, and every game leaves me with a list of ideas to try next time. The Breach has finally reopened. And somewhere in the darkness, Kastore is still thirsty.

The game never ends, only pauses. I'll see you at the next move.

Custodian Hargrave

Rating the new 2026 promo cards

Two weeks ago, Black Chantry unveiled the 2026 promo cards, and I have to admit, I got very excited. Promo cards are usually handed out at tournaments and community events, and one thing I've quickly learned about the VTES community is just how generous veteran players are. At my first few events, several players quietly handed me promo cards they no longer needed. As a new player, that meant far more than they probably realised.

This year's promos immediately caught my attention, since they're all full-art cards. Normally I'm perfectly happy playing with regular versions, but some of these illustrations deserve every millimetre of cardboard they can get. They're simply gorgeous. So I thought it would be fun to go through all eleven promo cards and rate them.

Now, before anyone sharpens their Stakes, this isn't a power ranking. I'm nowhere near experienced enough to tell you which cards are tournament all-stars and which belong in the binder. Orpheus regularly reviews cards based on how strong they are and I genuinely enjoy those articles but my approach is much simpler:

How excited am I to own and play these cards?

Since I apparently can't resist turning everything into an office process, my inner Ventrue came up with the rating system:

Rejected During Grooming (1)

Needs More Stakeholder Buy-in (2)

Approved for Development (3)

Fast-tracked to Production (4)

CEO Personally Invested (5)

With the quarterly performance review complete, let's begin.

Aaradhya: CEO Personally Invested (5)

A while ago I confessed my growing affection for the Sabbat preconstructed decks. Technically only two of the Paths, but let's not let facts interfere with enthusiasm. Aaradhya is the superstar of Path of Power political decks and unfortunately one copy isn't usually enough. Competitive lists often run four or even five copies, which can become a rather expensive investment. That's why I'm delighted Black Chantry included her as a promo. It lowers the barrier for players like me who want to build a serious Path of Power deck without first selling a kidney. Politics? Check. Fantastic artwork? Check. More copies for my collection? Absolutely!

Aelswith: Approved for Development (3)

A Sabbat Malkavian Cardinal with solid disciplines and a useful ability. Her Path doesn't really call to me, but I can definitely imagine trying her in other archetypes one day. She's firmly in the "interesting enough to keep around" category.

Algirdas: Needs More Stakeholder Buy-in (2)

The Path of Caine continues to be the Sabbat archetype that hasn't managed to tempt me. Algirdas has perfectly respectable disciplines and a decent ability, but nothing here makes me want to rush home and build a deck. If someone offered me an interesting trade... I'd probably listen.

Ashur-uballit: Fast-tracked to Production (4)

Now we're talking! A huge Hecata Cardinal, excellent disciplines and tied to the Path of Death, which I'm increasingly interested in. I haven't built around him yet, largely because I'm waiting for the New Blood decks, but once those arrive he's moving straight to the top of my project backlog.

Barachiel: Approved for Development (3)

Barachiel is undeniably good. The problem isn't Barachiel. The problem is that my recent experiences with Salubri have convinced me that power bleed is much more entertaining than charging around the table waving swords at everyone. Combat is fun. Bleeding six pool is... also fun.

Bone Shambler: Fast-tracked to Production (4)

As a certified zombie enthusiast, I want to love this card. A zombie that can bleed sounds wonderful. Right now, though, I feel other Hecata allies steal the spotlight a little. That could easily change with more experience, but regardless, I still want several copies because... well... zombie. Sometimes "because zombie" is all the justification you need.

Eulogio: CEO Personally Invested (5)

This card is magnificent. A Tremere with every in-clan Discipline at superior plus superior Oblivion? Yes, please. His ability is fascinating, his Path affiliation is perfect and the artwork is among my favourites in the entire set. I don't even know what the finished deck looks like yet. I just know I want to build it.

Grazyna: Rejected During Grooming (1)

Tzimisce. Path of Caine. Unfortunately that's already two strikes against her before I even start reading the text box. Nothing against the card itself, it simply doesn't fit what I enjoy playing. I'd happily trade her to someone who'll appreciate her far more than I would.

Hel-Bla: Fast-tracked to Production (4)

Another Hecata? Another interesting necromancy ability? Another fantastic piece of artwork? Black Chantry clearly understands my weaknesses. I can absolutely see myself building around Hel-Bla in the future.

Maddji: Rejected During Grooming (1)

I'm sure there are Tzimisce players reading this wondering what on earth is wrong with me. To them I say... nothing is wrong. I simply continue to have the same reaction every time I see another Tzimisce card: "That's lovely. Would anyone like to trade?" The artwork is excellent though!

Venceslava:  Fast-tracked to Production (4)

Path of Power? Excellent disciplines? Great artwork? A useful ability? This card is checking all the right boxes. The political ambitions continue!

Overall, I think Black Chantry has done an excellent job with this promo set. It contains a great mix of established tournament staples, exciting build-around cards and some absolutely stunning artwork. More importantly, it's another reason to attend tournaments, meet the community, and hopefully come home with a few shiny new additions to the collection. Now if you'll excuse me, I have several performance reviews to complete and a procurement request for additional Aaradhyas that somehow keeps getting approved by upper management.

The game never ends, only pauses. I'll see you at the next move.

Custodian Hargrave

Task failed successfully: A Salubri experiment

I always enjoy finding time to play VTES, although with work, family and life generally behaving like an overzealous predator, those opportunities are rarer than drawing Giant's Blood exactly when you need it. So when Cristina invited us over for a game, I was genuinely excited. That excitement briefly turned into disappointment when I checked the family calendar and realised I was already committed elsewhere. Fortunately, some careful diplomacy worthy of a Ventrue elder took place at home, plans were rearranged and before long I was packing my cards. This time it would just be the four of us: Cristina, Manuel, Aaron and myself.

The game was particularly interesting for me because of Aaron's deck. About six months ago, when he first started playing, he told me the idea of sword-wielding Salubri marching into combat sounded incredibly cool. So I built exactly that: a deck full of rushes, weapons and opportunities to introduce vampires to the pointy end of medieval technology. Over the following months, however, I noticed something. Aaron was improving every game, but combat was still asking a lot of him. Between strikes, presses, maneuvers, prevention, additional strikes and all the timing windows, every combat felt a bit like assembling IKEA furniture without the instructions. Before our game at Cristina's, I decided it was time for an experiment. Inspired by the terrifying Salubri power bleed deck I had faced at the Scottish Nationals, I stripped away most of the combat package, kept only the damage prevention and replaced the swords with bleed modifiers, reaction denial and block denial. The crypt barely changed (there simply aren't that many Salubri to choose from) but the deck's personality changed completely. My hope was simple: if Aaron could focus on bleeding instead of remembering the entire combat sequence, the deck would become much easier to pilot.

As it turned out... I may have created a monster.

Cristina brought her ever-improving Path of Death deck, Manuel arrived with an Antonio d'Erlette + Nephandus swarm deck that I had been curious about for ages and I continued testing my trusty Hecata. My undead workforce was ready for another performance review.

The seating ended up as Cristina (Path of Death) > Aaron (Salubri Power Bleed) > Me (Hecata) > Manuel (Nephandus Swarm).

My opening crypt couldn't have been much better. Seeing Mora there immediately made me happy, knowing I could influence her out at the end of turn two. Cristina started with Sakura, Manuel brought out Antonio and Aaron introduced Abaddon. Every time I read that name I smile. Whether the Warhammer reference is intentional or not, my inner nerd chooses to believe it absolutely is.

Very early in the game I discovered something about Manuel's deck. Antonio is good at recruiting Nephandus. Very, very good. One moment there was one cultist. The next moment there seemed to be enough of them to start applying for planning permission. Worse still, they proved remarkably efficient at dismantling my carefully recruited zombies. Apparently every Nephandus attended the same anatomy classes because they consistently knew exactly where to hit (Target Vitals baby!). Meanwhile Manuel's extended master package kept his deck cycling at an astonishing pace. Every turn felt like watching a well-oiled machine quietly become more terrifying.

Unfortunately, my own problems didn't stop there.

My predator had become... enthusiastic. Aaron wasted no time putting the redesigned deck to work. One particularly brutal turn combined block denial with heavy bleed and removed six of my pool in one go. Watching your own deck modifications being used against you is a surprisingly educational experience. Somewhere, Frankenstein was probably nodding sympathetically.

Cristina quietly did what Path of Death does best. While the rest of us were busy trying not to die, she steadily built an impressive board using Freakish Conglomerations, constantly threatening the table and reminding me why I find that archetype so fascinating. I genuinely can't wait for the Path of Death New Blood deck later this year. (No pressure, Black Chantry. None whatsoever.)

To make matters worse, several of Cristina's bleeds were politely redirected in my direction. Apparently my domain had become the table's preferred forwarding address. With around twenty minutes left on the clock, Aaron launched another devastating turn. More block denial. More bleed. This time there was no surviving it. My Hecata became the first casualty of the evening, handing Aaron a victory point and the extra pool that comes with it. The remaining three players continued their struggle until time was called, each finishing with half a victory point.

So the experiment was a success.

Aaron finished the evening with 1.5 VP and looked more comfortable with the Salubri than ever before. That alone made the experiment worthwhile. Sometimes the best optimisation isn't squeezing out another point of bleed, but reducing the player's mental load so the deck can shine. The project met every design goal... except one rather important KPI: don't get ousted by your own creation. Task failed successfully. Next time, I'll try to conduct my experiments from the other side of the table.

The game never ends, only pauses. I'll see you at the next move.

Custodian Hargrave

Beneath the streets of Edinburgh

Last Saturday, six Methuselahs gathered beneath the streets of Edinburgh, hidden away in GamesHub's basement, safely protected from dangerous things like sunshine and vampire hunters. The prize? The title of Scottish National Champion 2026. I was fortunate enough to be one of the six.

Our host for the day was Norbert, the Prince of Edinburgh himself. As any respectable Prince should, he welcomed us warmly, made sure everyone knew each other and guided us through the event with effortless calm. I did briefly question whether trusting a devoted Tzimisce player was wise, but it turns out fleshcrafting and hospitality are not mutually exclusive. Before long I had met my fellow competitors: Attila, John, Kristijan and Edd. It was my first time playing with each of them, which is one of my favourite things about tournaments. Every table feels like opening a new chapter of the Jyhad.

For the first round I finally unleashed my slightly modified Hecata deck. The seating was John (Toreador votes) > Me (Hecata) > Kristijan (Salubri power bleed) > Edd (Helena) > Norbert (Moncada Path of Power). I knew exactly what the Toreadors and Salubri were capable of, but Helena and Moncada remained complete mysteries therefore I focused on the problem I understood first: surviving politics. My Hecata have many talents, but arguing against a referendum travelling at +2 stealth is not one of them. John quickly reminded me of that fact with Camarilla's Iron Fist and Kine Resources Contested, so I responded in the only way a respectable necromancer can: I sent zombies to ruin the Toreador's party. As it turns out, even the finest Grand Ball loses some of its charm when Aggressive Corpses start wandering through the ballroom. Diana had an especially difficult evening, largely because her combat ends decided to remain somewhere near the bottom of John's library.

While my zombies were redecorating the dance floor, the rest of the table was equally entertaining. Edd's Helena deck steadily grew into the late-game monster I had heard so much about and eventually ousted Norbert, demonstrating why Helena has such a fearsome reputation. Kristijan's Salubri, meanwhile, proved much less interested in combat than I expected. Instead of swinging swords, they simply bled with alarming efficiency. I managed to reduce him to three pool and prepared the finishing blow with Shroud of Decay... only for something I'd never seen before to happen. Edd intercepted my action from across the table, saving my prey from destruction. It was a brilliant tactical decision that made perfect sense once he explained his long-term plan (of course he wanted to oust all of us in a particular order). Unfortunately for him, the stars (and perhaps the spirits) had other ideas. The table settled into a tense stalemate and, after two hours, the remaining four players each walked away with half a victory point. It was one of those games where nobody really lost because everyone spent two hours having an absolute blast.

After such an intense political manoeuvring, we decided to have lunch together at a nearby pub. There were burgers, haggis, and yes... fried Mars Bars. Scotland continues to surprise me.

With only six players, one of us had to sit out each preliminary round. This time it was my turn. I used the opportunity to do a little shopping while the others continued plotting each other's downfall. From what I gathered afterwards, Kristijan's Salubri had an exceptionally productive afternoon removing Methuselahs from the table.

Then came the finals.

I entered as fourth seed, with John following as fifth. As seating positions were chosen, I couldn't shake the feeling that everyone wanted to become my predator, but perhaps that was simply the Hecata paranoia setting in after spending too much time speaking with ghosts. The final table was John (Toreador) > Edd (Helena) > Attila (Gangrel) > Kristijan (Salubri) > Me (Hecata).

The game immediately reminded me that the starting crypt can make all the difference. Mine contained mostly lower-cap vampires, making Family Gatherings considerably less explosive than I had hoped. Things started slow, but accelerated quickly when Kristijan produced an incredible turn that stripped six pool from me almost effortlessly. I was so focused on surviving that I completely skipped my Master Phase on my next turn, only realizing halfway through my Minion Phase. It was an embarrassing mistake, but also an excellent reminder that tournaments are as much about keeping a clear head as they are about knowing your cards. I slowed down, took a breath and reassessed the table. At six pool, while everyone else comfortably sat in double digits, there was only one sensible plan: cripple my predator's ability to keep bleeding. Once again the Aggressive Corpses earned their wages, stripping blood from the Salubri, however this opened the door for Attila's Gangrel to finish the job. With the Salubri ousted, I suddenly faced a predator, that embodied everything I imagine Gangrel should be: relentless, resilient and perfectly happy solving problems with claws instead of negotiations. Unlike the Toreadors in the first round, Gangrel are remarkably unimpressed by zombies. Progress came slowly, one corpse at a time.

John, meanwhile, had learned from our earlier encounter. This time Diana always seemed to find exactly the combat end she needed, slipping away before my undead workforce could cause too much trouble. Then, with only five minutes left on the clock, something happened that I had never experienced before. John turned to me and politely asked whether I could allow him one final turn. Looking at the board, I realised I couldn't realistically oust him anyway. So I simply untapped, declined to take any actions and passed. On his turn, his political machine finally came together, ousting Edd and securing the victory point he needed. It was a lovely moment of sportsmanship and exactly the sort of interaction that makes VTES tournaments memorable.

When all the victory points were counted, Attila was crowned Scottish National Champion 2026. Congratulations! His Gangrel fought exactly as the clan should... with claws!

Looking back, I couldn't have asked for a better weekend. I met fantastic players, discovered cards I'd never seen before (including one delightfully annoying curse that jumps to another Methuselah whenever the Edge changes hands), and gained valuable experience piloting the Hecata. Helena's table presence alone was an education, while juggling ghosts, zombies, and my own triggers gave my brain quite the workout. The Hecata still need refining, but they are becoming exactly the sort of deck I hoped they would be. Hearing Norbert compliment my gameplay afterwards was simply the icing on the cake.

Before I finish, I have to mention one final highlight. During the first round I noticed that John and Norbert were playing on a beautiful playmat unlike anything I had ever seen. The colours were stunning, the artwork absolutely breathtaking. It turned out to be the playmat from last month's Irish National Championship. I spent almost as much time admiring that mat as I did counting blood counters. Just have a look at this beauty:

To whoever designed it: magnificent work. If these are ever produced again, please take my money immediately. And if any of you, dear readers, happen to own one and would be willing to part with it... you know where to find me (please do!).

The game never ends, only pauses. I'll see you at the next move.

Custodian Hargrave

The curious case of missing Wilhelminas

Over the last year, my VTES collection has been quietly expanding. Like every respectable vampire, it started with a modest domain and eventually turned into something requiring proper administration. Building decks became increasingly challenging because every new idea began with the same question: "Do I actually own enough copies of this card?" To answer that, I needed a better storage system.

So I bought one of those large card storage boxes with dividers and began organizing everything. Unexpectedly, my daughter decided this looked like a fun activity too. We started sorting cards together, first by type (masters, actions, reactions, and so on) while admiring the artwork and occasionally declaring that a vampire looked "too grumpy" or "pretty cool." Once we had conquered the card types, we took the next logical step and alphabetized everything. Crypt cards followed soon after and that was when we noticed something odd. Some piles were enormous. Others looked positively lonely. Naturally, this led to a completely reasonable question that absolutely every stats loving VTES player asks themselves at this point...

What is the distribution of first letters in vampire names?

Anyone who has ever opened an occult book knows that names have power. Wizards guard true names. Demons fear them. Ancient spirits bargain with them. In fantasy worlds, learning someone's real name often gives you power over them. In real life, knowing the name of the customer service representative at Tesco at least makes your complaint sound a little more personal. Either way, names matter.

As a nerd, I did what any sensible Tremere apprentice would do. I wrote a script. It marched through the entire VTES crypt database and counted every vampire by the first letter of their name. The results were... surprisingly interesting.

A: 194 (10.9%)
B: 86 (4.8%)
C: 96 (5.4%)
D: 103 (5.8%)
E: 61 (3.4%)
F: 42 (2.4%)
G: 85 (4.8%)
H: 68 (3.8%)
I: 40 (2.2%)
J: 97 (5.4%)
K: 73 (4.1%)
L: 110 (6.2%)
M: 161 (9.0%)
N: 54 (3.0%)
O: 29 (1.6%)
P: 54 (3.0%)
Q: 11 (0.6%)
R: 87 (4.9%)
S: 133 (7.5%)
T: 72 (4.0%)
U: 21 (1.2%)
V: 48 (2.7%)
W: 19 (1.1%)
X: 7 (0.4%)
Y: 17 (1.0%)
Z: 17 (1.0%)

The first thing that jumped out was the overwhelming dominance of the letter A. Nearly 11% of all vampires begin with it. Apparently, if you're embracing someone into immortality and cannot think of a name, simply start with an A and you'll fit right in. M and S also perform exceptionally well, while poor old Q, X, W, and U are practically ghost towns.

Where are Quentin, Quentinius, Quasar, Wilhelmina, Wenceslaus, Xanthe, Xenia, Ulysses, Ursula,  Octavia, and Ozric? Surely the World of Darkness has room for at least one terrifying vampire accountant called Wilhelmina.

Meanwhile, I think the letter A can safely take a well-earned holiday. We probably have enough Aarons (or Aerons), Abrahams, Adelinos, Alexes and Alicias to populate an entire Camarilla convention, although real-world first names also heavily favour the letter A. Apparently, humanity has been neglecting the Wilhelminas for centuries.

Of course, none of this information will help you win tournaments. It won't improve your deck building or make your bleeds any stronger. This isn't a problem that needs solving, I was simply curious. Like any respectable Tremere apprentice, I occasionally find myself researching things that absolutely nobody asked about. Sometimes it's refreshing to step away from deck optimization and instead investigate completely pointless mysteries, simply because they're interesting.  Besides, every collection tells a story. Mine told me to get more cards!

The game never ends, only pauses. I'll see you at the next move.

Custodian Hargrave

Necromancy is surprisingly good team building

Last weekend we gathered once again in Cambridge for what has become one of my favourite traditions: five friends, five decks and a few hours of politics, betrayal and the occasional vampire discovering that walking into combat was, in hindsight, a poor choice. The usual suspects were there (David, Manuel, Cristina, Aaron and myself) but this game came with one important difference. I wanted to give my freshly built Hecata deck its first proper trial. Up until now I had never played a deck that relied heavily on allies, especially stinky zombies, so I had absolutely no idea whether I had designed an effective necromantic engine or simply an expensive way of filling the ash heap. To make things even more interesting, I asked everyone to play as ruthlessly as possible. No friendly reminders, no "oh, you forgot to untap." If I missed a trigger, that was entirely my fault (and during the game, of course I did). It turns out tournament discipline is a lot like learning to ride a bicycle: you remember best after falling off a few times.

The seating ended up as Cristina (Path of Death) > Me (Hecata) > David (Ventrue) > Aaron (Salubri) > Manuel (Path of Caine). I approached the opening turns cautiously. I had never actually faced a Path of Death deck before and wasn't sure how much pressure my predator would generate. Fortunately for me, Cristina had far more urgent problems. Manuel's Brujah antitribu were already knocking on her crypt door, which gave me the breathing room every Hecata secretly dreams about. I quietly held a few Family Gatherings, influenced out my vampires, and slowly started inviting the dead back to work. There is something wonderfully thematic about Family Gatherings. Most families get together for birthdays or Sunday lunch. The Hecata apparently use theirs to recruit zombies. The deck felt surprisingly smooth. Aggressive Corpses, which I initially wasn't entirely convinced about, proved remarkably useful, slowly grinding away at my prey's vampires until they spent more time hunting than actually accomplishing anything. The only thing that disappointed me was the pace of ally recruitment. I had imagined a cemetery overflowing with restless servants by the late game. Instead, it felt more like hiring one ghost at a time through an exceptionally slow human resources department. That is definitely something I want to improve before the next outing.

David, meanwhile, demonstrated once again why elegant Ventrue politics should never be underestimated. His crypt revolved around Lucinde and a collection of titled princes who, thanks to Obfuscate, could slip important political actions through with frustrating consistency. I managed to keep his smaller princes busy by repeatedly throwing zombies at them, forcing them to hunt rather than govern, but Lucinde herself remained completely untouchable. It felt like trying to disrupt a board meeting by arguing with middle management while the CEO calmly continued signing documents upstairs.

Aaron played his now well-travelled Salubri deck and every time I see it, I become a little more convinced that I originally built it with the wrong emphasis. I leaned heavily into combat because, let's be honest, magical swords are difficult to resist. But after watching the deck evolve over several games, I suspect the real strength lies elsewhere. Between multi-actions, solid disciplines and reliable bleed potential, I can easily imagine it becoming far more aggressive outside of combat. Aaron seems perfectly happy regardless. Whether he keeps choosing the deck because he enjoys three-eyed vampires, aggravated damage, or simply proving me wrong every game, I cannot yet say.

Then there was Manuel. At this point I honestly believe he is physically incapable of building a deck that doesn't terrify people in combat. His Path of Caine deck was every bit as brutal as I expected. Hector was particularly memorable, casually threatening aggravated hand strikes that made everyone at the table suddenly reconsider their life choices. Watching Aaron's Salubri survive an encounter with Hector thanks to Fortitude felt less like winning combat and more like surviving a head-on collision with a freight train. Manuel has an uncanny ability to strip blood from opposing vampires with ruthless efficiency and every time I play against one of his decks I leave with a renewed appreciation for not entering combat voluntarily.

Cristina's Path of Death deck also had its own star. Ashur-uballit seemed determined to demonstrate that death is more of a polite suggestion than a permanent condition. He found himself in torpor multiple times during the game, only to crawl back into action again and again. His enormous blood reserve allowed Cristina to perform all sorts of sinister rituals while refusing to stay down. It was like watching the villain in a horror film that keeps getting back up no matter how many times the audience collectively says, "Surely that's the end of him". But Ashur-uballit (just like Palpy) somehow survived!

By the end of the game, David rightfully claimed the victory, having established the strongest position at the table before the timer ran out. As for me, I walked away genuinely pleased with the Hecata experiment. The deck felt thematic, atmospheric, and unlike anything I've played before. It also exposed a few weaknesses, I'd like to recruit allies more consistently and get my undead workforce onto the table a little faster. Every good manager learns something after the first team-building exercise and apparently the Hecata are no exception. The zombies are enthusiastic, the ghosts seem reasonably motivated and with a bit more practice I might even turn them into an efficient department. Human Resources would probably have some concerns, but fortunately the dead rarely file complaints. I shall now return to my sanctuary, consult ancient tomes, rearrange a few corpses and see whether the next version of the deck can make death arrive just a little earlier.

The game never ends, only pauses. I'll see you at the next move.

Custodian Hargrave

Building a Hecata deck

There are some doors in the World of Darkness that sensible vampires never open. Behind them lie old promises, forgotten names and spirits that should probably be left undisturbed. The members of Hecata, of course, looked at those doors centuries ago and thought, "I wonder what's behind this one?" Then they opened every single one. That, in a nutshell, is why I find them so fascinating (plus I have always loved the Giovanni and the Cappadocians before).

For some time now I have wanted to build my Hecata deck. This is very much an experiment, so please don't mistake it for a tournament guide. Some of the cards I include will be there because they fit the atmosphere rather than because they are mathematically optimal. If I wanted to optimize everything, I would probably end up playing another Ventrue political deck. This project is about something different. It is about building a deck that feels like the Hecata should feel: mysterious, patient and always one whispered ritual away from something very disturbing.

My Hecata collection currently consists of two starter decks and three New Blood decks, which gives me enough pieces to begin assembling something interesting. Before touching a single card, however, I wanted to decide on the deck's identity. To me, the Hecata are vampires who operate just beyond the veil separating life and death. Their greatest strength isn't raw violence or explosive bleeds, it is their relationship with things that refuse to stay dead. Naturally, that means zombies, wraiths and enough Oblivion rituals to make the local priest reconsider his career.

The first challenge appeared immediately in the crypt. I absolutely love Hel-Blá. In a calmer world, one with fewer anarchs carrying Torn Signposts and anger issues, I would happily build the deck around her. Unfortunately, my recent tournament experiences have taught me that investing nine pool into a superstar vampire can sometimes feel like buying an expensive new car only to have someone reverse a truck into it before you've left the dealership. This time I decided to stay with lower-cap vampires. Losing one still hurts, but at least it doesn't require a minute of silence.

The crypt almost built itself after that. Mora, the Death Seer immediately became the centrepiece. Her ability to recover cards from the ash heap feels very much Hecata, as if death itself were simply another filing cabinet to browse through. Lenelle, Mambo of Birmingham joins her because exchanging cards between your hand and the ash heap sounds incredibly useful once the rituals start flowing. Alek König deserves a mention simply because every deck appreciates a three-cap vampire with superior Oblivion. He also reminds me of a fantasy dwarf, which means every time I see him I expect him to complain about tunnels rather than haunt them. Monica Giovanni was an automatic inclusion as well. Superior disciplines across the board, an excellent capacity and artwork that perfectly captures the cold confidence of someone who could negotiate your inheritance before arranging your funeral. I still secretly wish she had Dominate and Potence like the old Giovanni, but one can only dream right? Gebeyehu Abdu brings superior Auspex for those all-important Telepathic Misdirections, while Peter St. John, Hiromitsu Asano, and Holliday "Burgundy" Hall round out the lower end of the crypt with cheap access to Oblivion and useful utility. I would certainly have liked one or two more small-cap vampires, but compromises are part of deck building. Even necromancers have budgets.

The library almost wrote its own ghost story. Rotting Behemoths are simply too thematic to ignore. If you're a clan of necromancers, eventually you should probably animate something large enough to make your prey reconsider combat. Spectral Servitors are another favourite, quietly drifting across the table to deliver those irritating little bleeds or help with defense. Since Behemoths are quite costly, Split the Veil felt like an obvious inclusion to keep the undead workforce growing without constantly paying premium prices. Shroud of Decay provides both bleed enhancement and unavoidable pool damage, while Psychophagia should help replenish the blood inevitably spent on rituals, or lost after some overly enthusiastic Brujah mistakes my vampire for a punching bag. To make sure those rituals actually resolve, I included the familiar Oblivion stealth package of Shadow Cast, Shadow Cloak, and Stygian Shroud. Add Telepathic Misdirection and a few wake effects and suddenly the deck starts feeling like less of a failure and more of a functioning strategy.

The first version of the deck looks something like this:

Crypt:

2x Mora, the Death Seer
2x Lenelle, Mambo of Birmingham
2x Monica Giovanni
2x Gebeyehu Abdu
1x Alek König
1x Hiromitsu Asano
1x Holliday "Burgundy" Hall
1x Peter St. John

Library:

1x Biotech Company Hunting Ground
1x Cappadocian Crypt
6x Family Gathering
1x Giant's Blood
2x Perfectionist
1x Powerbase: Munich
3x Villein

2x Psychophagia
8x Shroud of Decay
4x Split the Veil

8x Spectral Servitor
8x Rotting Behemoth

2x Freak Drive
5x Shadow Cast
5x Shadow Cloak
2x Stygian Shroud
2x Where the Veil Thins

2x Eyes of Argus
3x Shadow Sentinel
7x Telepathic Misdirection

The overall game plan is refreshingly different from what I normally play. There are no explosive Govern chains, no overwhelming vote lock and no grand speeches from impeccably dressed Princes. Instead, the deck wants to take its time. Family Gatherings should help bring vampires out steadily, Spectral Servitors begin applying early pressure, and once enough allies find their way into the ash heap, the Rotting Behemoths can emerge to deal with problematic vampires. It feels less like sprinting toward victory and more like watching fog slowly roll across a cemetery. Nothing dramatic happens at first. Then, eventually, you realize you are completely surrounded.

Whether this turns out to be brilliant or completely misguided remains to be seen. Like most of my deck-building adventures, it is based on equal parts curiosity, atmosphere and optimism. I'll be testing the deck over the coming weeks, and I'm genuinely excited to discover whether the Hecata reward careful planning... or whether the dead decide they have plans of their own.

The game never ends, only pauses. I'll see you at the next move.

Custodian Hargrave

Clan Focus: Nosferatu

Let us descend beneath the city streets, past the cafés, office buildings, and carefully maintained Ventrue domains, into the damp tunnels where the Nosferatu make their homes. Now let me start by saying that this article gave me an unexpected problem. My original plan for the Clan Focus series was simple: look at tournament-winning decks, identify the stars of the clan and figure out what makes them successful. Unfortunately, when I arrived at the Nosferatu, I discovered they seem to be so good at hiding that they have practically hidden themselves from the tournament winning scene. They still win occasionally, but their victories are rare enough that the community celebrates them the way astronomers celebrate spotting a comet that only appears once every few decades.

This surprised me. On paper, the Nosferatu looked fantastic to me. They have Obfuscate, arguably the king of stealth. They have Potence, which is excellent for persuading people with your fists. They have Animalism, a versatile discipline that offers combat tricks, intercept and allies. It sounds like the recipe for success. Yet after discussing the clan with more experienced players, I started to understand the problem. These disciplines are a bit like owning a sports car, a fishing boat and a tractor. Each is excellent at its own job, but they do not necessarily work together as one elegant machine. Yes, you can sneak. Yes, you can fight. Yes, you can recruit helpful creatures. The challenge is turning all of that into a clear and efficient path to victory.

The crypt itself contains some excellent vampires. Looking through those few tournament-winning decks, I kept seeing familiar names: Molly MacDonald, Petrodon and Sheldon. The Nosferatu Justicars seem to carry a lot of the clan's competitive ambitions. They span multiple groups and provide strong foundations for different deck styles. If the clan had a board of directors, these would be the executives sitting around the table while everyone else listens carefully.

The library choices were even more interesting. One common approach is political Nosferatu. The plan is straightforward: establish titled vampires, gather votes and start controlling the table through referendums. The problem, at least from my outsider's perspective, is that Nosferatu don't seem to accelerate their crypt particularly well. Unless Petrodon and his Dominate are involved, getting enough vampires onto the table to achieve political dominance can feel a bit like trying to organize a corporate takeover using only public transport.

The other major archetype leans heavily into combat. Deep Song appears everywhere, allowing Nosferatu to rush opponents or bleed depending on the situation. This flexibility is fantastic. Combined with Animalism and Potence, they can become surprisingly dangerous in combat. Their defense often comes from Second Tradition if they are title-heavy, while various allies help reinforce their intercept package. In practice, many Nosferatu decks seem to solve problems by dragging vampires into dark alleys and having a very direct conversation.

The more I looked at the clan, the more conflicted I became. Thematically, Nosferatu are incredible. Information brokers. Sewer kings. Masters of secrets. They embody the idea that knowledge is power long before a Ventrue discovers it and writes a report about it. Yet their tournament results remain modest. The official VTES Discord even has a dedicated Nosferatu channel where players regularly discuss how to improve the clan. Whenever a Nosferatu deck wins a tournament, people get excited. Not because it is impossible, but because it feels like witnessing one of those rare moments when everything finally aligns.

Of course, perhaps that is exactly what the Nosferatu want us to think. Maybe twenty-five years of shameful tournament results are not failure at all. Maybe this is the longest bluff in VTES history. Perhaps somewhere beneath the streets, hidden from our sight, thousands of puzzle pieces are slowly being assembled into a master plan. After all, twenty-five years sounds like a long time to us. To a Methuselah, that is barely enough time to finish a cup of blood. Maybe next year will be their year.

The game never ends, only pauses. I'll see you at the next move.

Custodian Hargrave

Cities of blood and power

The Jyhad has always been one of my favourite concepts in Vampire: The Masquerade. The idea that ancient vampires spend centuries manipulating, plotting and occasionally destroying one another in a secret holy war is wonderfully atmospheric. Even VTES itself was originally published under the name Jyhad. Back when I was devouring the Clan Novel series, I was fascinated by the events unfolding in cities like New York and Atlanta. Every chapter left me wondering which domains belonged to the Camarilla, which had fallen to the Sabbat and which unfortunate city was currently serving as the battleground for some elder's thousand-year-old grudge.

In those days, Vampire for me was largely a story about the Camarilla and the Sabbat. The Anarchs existed, of course, but they rarely took center stage in our games. Then came V5 and suddenly the political map became much more complicated. The Anarchs stepped into the spotlight, cities changed hands and the World of Darkness started to feel less like a cold war and more like a three-way bar fight where everyone insists they are the reasonable side.

Naturally, this got me thinking. I wanted a map.

Not just any map, but the kind of map a paranoid Ventrue elder might keep hidden behind a painting in his private office. A map showing who controls what. Which cities are Camarilla strongholds? Where do the Sabbat gather? Which domains have fallen into Anarch hands? I imagined something that would let me zoom out and see the eternal struggle spread across the globe. Then I remembered something. VTES is full of titled vampires. Princes. Barons. Archbishops. The people whose entire job description can be summarized as "I am in charge here and I would appreciate it if you acknowledged that". Those titles are tied to cities. And suddenly the project became much more interesting.

Instead of trying to build a definitive political map of the World of Darkness (a task that would probably require consulting fifty sourcebooks, three wikis and at least one Malkavian oracle) I decided to build a map using VTES titles. Every Prince, Baron and Archbishop became a marker on the globe. The result is not necessarily a perfect representation of modern canon, but it offers a fascinating glimpse into how VTES sees the world. Some cities have a single ruler standing proudly atop their domain. Others look like political disasters waiting to happen. There are places where multiple vampires claimed authority over the same city, which immediately raises important questions. 

Looking at the finished map feels a bit like peeking behind the curtain of the Jyhad itself. You begin to notice patterns. Certain regions are packed with influential vampires, while others seem strangely quiet. Some cities have enough competing leaders that they resemble a corporate board meeting organized by the Sabbat. As a Ventrue enthusiast, I naturally spent far too much time examining which cities have Princes. As a Tremere fan, I immediately started wondering which of those Princes are secretly being manipulated by someone else. Old habits die hard.

In any case, I wanted to share the result with fellow fans of both VTES and the World of Darkness. If you enjoy lore, politics, city domains, or simply seeing where vampires have decided to establish questionable governments, you might find it interesting. You can explore the map yourself using the link below. Just remember: every title on that map was earned through politics, betrayal, influence, violence or some combination of all four.

VTES Vampire Map

The game never ends, only pauses. I'll see you at the next move. 

Custodian Hargrave

Clan focus: Brujah

I would like to start a new series on this blog. Similar to my Tradition series, I will be looking at individual clans, their stars, common winning strategies and the general feel of playing them. Since my personal experience is limited to only a handful of clans, these articles will be based mostly on tournament-winning deck lists, observations, and impressions rather than decades of mastery. My goal is not to provide the definitive guide, but rather to explore what makes these clans tick, highlight cards that caught my attention and hopefully learn something along the way.

It felt only appropriate to begin with everyone's favourite troublemakers: the Brujah.

In the tabletop RPG, Brujah are the eternal rebels. They challenge authority, question tradition and generally make life difficult for anyone attempting to maintain order. My Tremere characters often found themselves caught in the blast radius when a Brujah decided that tonight was the night for revolution. My Ventrue, on the other hand, usually arrived afterwards to deal with the consequences, fill out the paperwork and explain to the Prince why half the city was on fire. Their clan bane perfectly captures their nature: they are passionate, impulsive and occasionally their emotions drive straight through carefully crafted plans like a truck through a garden fence. And don't even get me started on Theo Bell and his famous disagreement with Hardestadt. Some people call it a pivotal moment in vampire history. My inner Ventrue calls it a tantrum.

In VTES, the Brujah appear to have taken all that bottled-up anger and converted it directly into combat efficiency. Their disciplines are Potence, Celerity and Presence. Potence and Celerity practically scream "fight me," while Presence looks like it was invited merely to ensure witnesses remember who won. Technically they could use Presence to avoid combat. Looking at tournament-winning decks, however, I get the impression they view that option as a personal insult.

When examining successful Brujah crypts, three names appear repeatedly: Saku Pihlajamäki, Aline Gädeke and Leumeah. Saku's built-in maneuver helps ensure combat happens at the range most convenient for punching people. Aline can unlock whenever another anarch performs a successful action, which is exactly the sort of efficiency that wins games. Then there is Leumeah. No special text, no flashy tricks, just a six-cap prince (ehm, baron) with an excellent discipline spread. Sometimes being solid is enough. Theo Bell still appears from time to time, but these three seem to be the true workhorses of modern Brujah decks. In fact, if two Brujah players sit down at the same table, there is a decent chance they'll spend the evening contesting one of them.

The combat package itself is exactly as terrifying as you would expect. Immortal Grapple and Torn Signpost appear so often they may as well be printed directly onto Brujah character cards. The combination allows them to hit extremely hard while preventing many of the tricks opponents might use to escape. Once the beating is complete, Taste of Vitae often refuels the attacker, creating the vampire equivalent of finishing a workout and immediately drinking a protein shake. Celerity then adds extra strikes, pursuit effects and enough flexibility to ensure the unpleasant experience continues for as long as necessary.

Many decks also use Brujah Debate, a master card that grants +1 strength at the cost of locking one of your vampires. This sounds like a drawback until you realize the Brujah are perfectly happy letting one of their bosses sit in a meeting room while the mob handles business in the streets. Line Brawl is another card that appears frequently, serving double duty by helping with both bleeding and entering combat. It is a wonderfully Brujah design: if talking doesn't work, punch them. If punching doesn't work, punch them harder.

When it comes to defense, Brujah seem to subscribe to a philosophy I deeply respect from a thematic standpoint, even if it occasionally terrifies me as a player: the best defense is making sure the other vampire is incapable of continuing their action. They do have access to cards like Organized Resistance, which provides intercept and unlocks the reacting vampire, but even then the card feels less like defense and more like an invitation to start a fight.

Looking through these decks, I can absolutely see the appeal. Brujah may not be subtle. They may not be elegant. They certainly do not spend much time negotiating. But they are brutally efficient at applying pressure. If Ventrue win through influence and Tremere through preparation, Brujah often win by repeatedly asking the question, "What if we solved this problem with violence?" until the table runs out of counterarguments.

Will I build a Brujah deck myself? Perhaps. My inner Ventrue still finds their methods a little uncivilized, but I have to admit there is something refreshing about a clan whose strategic plan can occasionally be summarized as "run forward and see what breaks." And judging by the tournament results, quite often the answer is "everything."

The game never ends, only pauses. I'll see you at the next move. 

Custodian Hargrave

Death came wearing a smile

This week I finally had the opportunity to play a short game of VTES. It was only the three of us: my wife brought her favourite deck, the sneaky Malkavians, Aaron arrived with the Salubri and I decided it was time for my freshly assembled Path of Power deck to leave the safety of its card sleeves and face reality. The seating arrangement was less than ideal. My prey was the Malkavian deck, which has the irritating habit of winning games, while my predator was the Salubri, which has the equally irritating habit of carrying swords. We agreed that the first player to oust their prey would win the skirmish.

The game began cautiously. I influenced out Aaradhya and immediately called a War of Ages. I absolutely love that card. It feels like placing a curse on your prey and then casually watching the clock tick. Every turn they lose another pool, as if fate itself has marked them for collection. The best part? Once the political action succeeded, Aaradhya untapped. I genuinely think that ability is one of the coolest things in the deck. It feels like finishing a speech in parliament, checking your watch, and calmly announcing, "Right, what shall we do next?" I was fully expecting an incoming bleed and sat there with a Deflection in hand, ready to redirect someone's problems into my prey's domain like a proper politician. Strangely enough, the bleed never came.

Meanwhile, Aaron brought out Djeneba, equipped a weapon and immediately started looking like someone whose diplomatic solutions begin and end with sharp objects. My wife, on the other hand, was quietly assembling a nightmare. Dr. Stephen Norton appeared, followed by Colette and before long the Malkavian machine was running at full speed. Stealth bleeds slipped through unnoticed while the Salubri struggled to catch them. Aaron was also having a rather unfortunate relationship with his Deflections. Every time he needed one, it was apparently vacationing somewhere else in the library. The growing Malkavian momentum forced me to become more aggressive. Around turn four I successfully pushed through a Kine Resources Contested, allocating three damage to my prey, followed by an enhanced bleed using Enchant Kindred. At this point I felt reasonably safe. I had a wake card. I had a Deflection. I had confidence. But as history repeatedly demonstrates, confidence is often the final warning sign before disaster.

The following turn I attempted another Kine Resources Contested. This time, however, my predator was ready. Aaradhya suddenly found herself in combat with Abaddon. Now, in my head, this encounter was going to be a minor inconvenience. Aaradhya would play Majesty, gracefully leave combat, and continue her political career. Instead, Abaddon politely informed her that Majesty had been cancelled by Anticipation. What followed was three rounds of what can only be described as an educational experience involving a very angry Salubri and a very sharp sword. By the end of combat, Aaradhya was sitting on two blood. A painful lesson was learned that evening: sometimes politics fail because your opponent brings a weapon to the debate.

My library wasn't particularly cooperative either. The master cards seemed determined to remain hidden. The only one I managed to play was Black Forest Base, which survived approximately as long as a snowman in a volcano before being burned the following turn. My Villeins never appeared. My carefully planned economy remained purely theoretical.

After about ninety minutes, death finally arrived for the Salubri. Not dramatically. Not heroically. It arrived in the form of lurking shadows, stealth modifiers, Colette returning after a Spying Mission and enough bleed enhancement to make accountants nervous. The final pool disappeared, and my wife once again emerged victorious. At this point I am beginning to suspect her Malkavian deck isn't a deck at all. It is some kind of eldritch artifact that feeds on victory points and refuses to lose.

Despite my defeat, I had an absolute blast. I finally got to play the Path of Power deck properly. I passed political actions, watched War of Ages slowly grind away at my prey, learned valuable lessons about combat and received a memorable beating from a sword-wielding Salubri. For some players, getting punched repeatedly in combat might be a negative experience. For Sabbat vampires, that's just another Thursday. 

The game never ends, only pauses. I'll see you at the next move. 

Custodian Hargrave