Skirmishes in the Dark : 29-06-2010

29th June, in the year 2010, Paradigm Infinitum.

We had 2 tables to start with yesternight, and I happened to sit on the table with Danz as my predator - which immediately given me an edge over everybody else (except his predator) since I now have the aid of the Alleme (The enemy of Allies) of Vtes on my side.

Randomized seating as follows:

Danz's Gehenna, bleeding

My Bouncing Magic, bleeding

WeiYuan's Malkavian sneak bleed game (welcome back!), bleeding

LF's Toreador guns, bleeding

Hardy's Fat THA deck.

Well, as usual, Danz started the game making everybody miserable. A first turn Afifa followed by Gehenna cards every turn. Eventually he threw out like 10 Gehenna cards, and these include (I can't remember the order, but they were really really annoying) Fall of both Sabbat and Camarilla, Thirst, Wormwood, Veil of Darkness, Torpid Blood, Slow Withering, Blood Weakens and Break the Code. Anthelios was played by LF, and eventually everyone was like, 1 cap.

Early in the game I was blessed with multiple Governed the Unaligned with Conditioning, and my prey, being the Malkavian, didn't really bothered to block my attacks, and neither did he bounced my DOM bleeds. Janine, Ehrich Weiss and Frank Weisshadel (eventually supplemented by Cohn Rose) formed my DOM bleed troops, and they quickly reduced WeiYuan's pool to a manageable amount.

Meanwhile, Hardy, after bringing out Louhi and eventually Fakir al Sidi, for whatever reason, went after LF's Toreadors, whom had been busy fending off WeiYuan's Kindred Spirits and was bleeding Hardy for a measly one or two a round. His persistent attack went into the Toreador's gunfire, and though he eventually torpor Anneke without losing too much of his own blood (thanks to Theft of Vitae) as well as burning blood to cancel LF's Carlton Van Wyk and Palatial Estate, he left Danz pretty much to himself for the large majority of the early-mid game.

And Danz, of course, took this opportunity well and brought out Beckett and Jan Pieterzoon. His early Govern bleed went into my bounce defense since my Bouncing Magic is extremely heavy on bounces. However, a very successful Game of Malkav played by WeiYuan increased his pool by 6 and everybody else's by 1 or 3 (I got 3). After that turn or two, Danz, through Army of Rats and his Gehenna attacks (via Afifa), managed to bring my pool down to 4. I wasn't able to kill WeiYuan that turn, only managing to reduce his pool to 2. When WeiYuan called another Game of Malkav I took the risk and selected 5 as my hand. WeiYuan selected 6 and immediately lose 6 pool and die, giving me a total gain of 1 VP and 11 pool. A most considerate prey he was.

Danz didn't give up and continue to hit my pool again and again. Thanks to the Slow Withering my vampires' speed was greatly reduced. Frank's Capitalist kept him bleeding but pretty much everybody else had to take a break every other round. WeiYuan's attacks had put LF's pool at a dangerous level, and eventually I was able to bleed her to death. (The highlight of a battle between .44 Magnum and the new THA combat illustrated the deadliness of the Flames of the Netherworld)

My final push towards Hardy (as he was having very little success against Danz's combat defense) eliminated his 2 pool before time out. Curses! No chance to kill off Danz!

Final VP Count

Me - 3.5 VP plus GW

Danz - 0.5 VP

(o.o)