Next "Cause & Effect" Episodes

The first episode of the fourth season of the VtES webcast "Cause & Effect" are scheduled for September 2nd, 2012 (next weekend's Sunday). Currently the plan is to go live at 20:00 at www.justin.tv/causeampersandeffect. Afterwards the recorded episode is uploaded to the YouTube channel, http://www.youtube.com/causeampersandeffect.

VtES Tournament "Vampire Heart" in Bochum

On the occasion of the annual Essen Games Fair, the playgroup in Bochum will hold the traditional Midnight Tournament on Saturday, October 20th, 2012. The pub the tournament will be played at, is less than 20 km away from the Essen fair area.

Vampire: The Eternal Struggle - Constructed Tournament
Vampire Heart

• Time:
  Saturday, 20 October 2012
  Doors open at 19:00 h
  Start first round at 19:30 h
• Location:
  Zu den Vier Winden
  Hofsteder Str. 94
  44809 Bochum
  Germany
  
• Round system: 2 rounds plus final (time limit: 2h each)
• Format: VEKN Constructed
  (In case there are less than 12 players, the multi-deck system will be used)
  
• Entrance fee: 3 EUR
• Remarks
  
  • Please note: The location is a pub, so you may not bring your own food and drinks.
    Pre-registration is possible via email to the organizer or a post in the German VEKN web forum in this thread.
    
• Contact:
  

  Gerhard "Hardy" Range
  prinz (/dot/) bochum (/at/) gmx (/dot/) de
  German VtES Forum

P.S.: And it's one of the last tournaments before the VtES EC 2012 starts the very next week.

State of the V:EKN: August 2012

As posted on VEKN.net on August 22nd, 2012:

Fellow Methuselahs,

I am daring the bursting sunlight to get you some news of things happening within the V:EKN.

We had an announcement a couple of months back that we wanted to staff some (new) positions within the V:EKN. I am pleased to announce that we have chosen Antonio Cobo Cuenca to become the Vice Chairman. He is originally from Spain but currently residing in Paris. I would think he is an excellent choice, having a background in different playgroups and also being a long time contributor. Of course the availability of a Vice Chairman will help me and help smoothing out the situations where I am stuck with real-life situations. On top of that Mike Nudd will take up the responsibility of Storyline Coordinator. He is from the UK and currently the prince of London. With an extensive background in game development he will be working closely with the Design Team to bring you some exciting new storyline ideas. Expect something for late in the year, we will poll on some options soon.

We are still working on Marketing and Spokesperson, but very close to a decision. Expect to hear something in the next couple of days. Certainly it has been very interesting that with all the complaints of the V:EKN being a secretive organization there have been very few actual applications for the positions.

Certainly you have been reading about the new fan-based set that is currently being developed and produced by the V:EKN. Progress is good and from a personal perspective I am very excited to see everything coming together with artwork and actual cards designs. The release schedule is not yet very clear but, barring any unforeseen problems, we should make it available late in the year, certainly there will be a display of cards at the European Championship.

Our Nosferatu have been productive as well so we are currently in the alpha testing stages of the rating system event reporting/upload module. Alpha testing means it does actually look and work like it will in the end but there are still some rough edges and real bugs. We will move to an open beta testing by mid-September, so prepare your Archons and get ready to upload and give feedback. The first priority will be to get the current design and workflow online and in use, we will then do a second round of development where you all can give suggestions for improvement.

Everything is on track regarding the biggest V:TES event of the year, European Championship in Budapest. There are over a 100 people per-registered already so do not hesitate and get your trip booked (www.vtes2012.com/). For those of you who did not attend a continental championship so far I can only encourage you to take part in this certainly unique and worthwhile experience.

Johannes Walch
Chairman of the V:EKN

Announcement Polish National VtES Championship 2012

The Polish National VtES Championship 2012 will be held on September 29th, 2012 at the club 4 Art in Gliwice, Poland . The details for the tournament are as following:

• Type of Event: National Championship (qualifying for this event is not necessary, everyone is welcome to participate.)
• Location:

  4 Art (1st Floor)
  ul. Wieczorka 22
  44-100 Gliwice

• Time Table:
  • 10:15 - 10:45 -- Registration
    
  • 11:00 - 13:00 -- First Round
  • 13:15 - 15:15 -- Second Round
  • 15:15 - 16:00 -- Lunch Break
  • 16:00 - 18:00 -- Third Round
  • 17:15 - 20:15 -- Final Round
• Entry fee: 30 PLN (8 Euro)
• Format: 3R + final (2h time limit each)
• Rules: Standard Constructed. Detailed rules can be found on the VEKN Tournament Rules webpage.

In case of questions you can contact the organizer via email (izi79 (/at/) o2 (/dot/) pl) or post your questions in the Polish VtES Forum.

Playtesting for "Danse Macabre" comes to an end

On August 16th, 2012 the VEKN announced that the final round of play testing for the upcoming VtES expansion is well underway. Although no final release date has been announced (yet), some details of the expansion have been disclosed. The expansion will be named "Danse Macabre" and contains 36 new cards, 14 library cards and 22 crypt cards. It's focused on the main Sabbat clans, and the crypt cards are all in Group 5. The library cards focus on helping the weaker Sabbat clans, the Brujah antitribu, the Gangrel antitribu, and the Nosferatu antitribu. Other library cards include (but are not exclusive to) Sabbat-specific political actions and cards for the Black Hand.

Read the full post on VEKN.net.

Announcement Dutch EC Qualifier 2012

The Dutch VtES EC Qualifier 2012 will take place in Utrecht, Netherlands on September 15th, 2012. Here are the details for this constructed tournament:

Format:

• Standard Constructed. Detailed rules can be found on the VEKN tournament rules webpage.

Date & Time Table:

• Saturday, 15th September 2012
• Doors open/registration: 10:00 h
• First round starting time: 11:00 h
  
• Expected End: 20:00 h

Location:

• De Korenbeurs
  Croeselaan 91
  3521 BL Utrecht
  The Netherlands
• Since the location is a cafe/restaurant, it is not allowed to bring your own food or drinks. Parking space is available and day tickets can be bought at the bar for €6.

Round system:

• 3 rounds, plus final (time limit: 2 h each)

Entrance fee:

• 5 Euro

Pre-Registration:

• Please register in advance by replying in the relevant post on the dutch VtES forum. Any questions you might have concerning the tournament can be asked in the same way.

Announcement Swedish National VtES Championship 2012

The 4th Swedish National VtES Championship will be held on September 29th to 30th, 2012 in Orebro, Sweden. The event is a two-day featuring both a constructed and draft tournament.

• Swedish VtES Nationals 2012
  
  • Date: September 29th, 2012
  • Time: 10:30 – 21:00
  • Fee: 50 SEK
  • Format: Constructed: 3 rounds + final round
• Swedish VtES Draft Nationals 2012
  
  • Date: September 30th, 2012
  • Time: 10:30 – 21:00
  • Fee: 180 SEK
  • Format: Draft: 2 rounds + final
• Venue:

  ABF Örebro
  Drottninggatan 38
  Örebro, Sweden

• Travel: The easiest way to get to Sweden is by plane; either to Arland (ARN) or Skavsta (NYO) and then get on a bus/train to Örebro.
  

E-mail the organizer, Isak Bjärmark Esbjörnsson (national coordinator for VtES in Sweden) at isakbe [att) gmail (dott] com, for more information or where help is necessary. You can find more information in the VEKN.net forum.

Bochum VtES League 2012: August 3rd

Here are the decks of the Bochum VtES League 2012 from the meeting on August 3rd, 2012 (the next prey is from top to bottom), with some quick remarks about the decks being played that evening.

• Hardy -- Cesawayo & Friends Aye Wall -- with one transfer Neighbour John was the obvious first vampire to show up. And right from the beginning he began to harass his prey and predator by continually blocking. And with Martin occupied with Ralf's numerous minions Hardy could build up his resources (like putting multiple Ayes and a gun on Cesawayo), but lacked enough punch to reduce Sascha's pool significantly. Ceswayo's greatest coupe was taking control of Sascha's Escaped Mental Patient and torporizing the recruiting Malkavian antitribu.

---

• Sascha -- Malkavian G2/3 antritribu Bleed /w Escaped Mental Patient -- feared Didi's back rush capabilities (w/Deep Song) and with a lack of stealth performed a number of undirected actions, which allowed in turn Hardy to block with either Cesawayo or Neighbour John. He got under great pressure (and never really recovered) after Hardy stealing his Escaped Mental Patient and Vasantasena got torporized from that same Patient. In the end he was lucky to stay in the game.

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• Didi -- Cailean & Friends Ani/Gun Rush/Wall -- had a very slow start especially after being bled for 5 in a turn and couldn't manage to grab enough intercept for blocking the Malkavians antitribu behind him. But threatening to rush backwards kept his predator at bay during the midgame. Eventually Didi had all the necessary resources (Mark V, Nosferatu Kingdom, Tier of Souls, ..) on his minions at his disposal, but at that point the game was almost over.

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• Ralf -- Giovanni G2/3 Shambling Hordes -- very reasonable start with a lot of minions (and no pressure from his predator for most of the game), but then having a bit of trouble to deal with the weaponary popping up left and right in the mid-/late game. But then he managed to finally oust Martin with around 10 minutes on the clock.





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• Martin -- Assamite Black Hand Toolbox -- initially had to suffer from repeated blocks of his Reunion Kamut by Hardy. Only in the mid-endgame the Assamites could get a Gun and Sport Bike, but a Tattoo Signal (or two) were sorely missed. But with a wall to the left and a rush deck to his right, the deck had trouble showing his potential. In the end, the one gun and one intercept didn't turn out to be enough to hold the Shambling Hordes and their Giovanni master at bay.

---

Result: Ralf 1.5 VP, Hardy 1.5 VP, Sascha 0.5 VP, Didi 0.5 VP