EC Last Chance Qualifier – ‘ A Steep Learning Curve’
 

Game One
 

Me  w/ Horrid Form > Stanislava/Ingrid Bleed > Marionette & Temptation deck > ??? Kindred Spirits > Weenie Animalism Combat
 

This was a bad start to the day as I was informed that using currency for counters was illegal in Italy.  Fortunately one of the Burtonian Brits appeared to lend me some counters (thanks Matt).  Once we started, the table quickly stabilised quite nicely.  My predator had to go defensive in order to defend against bleeds, while when he did go forwards I was able to trump his combat.  My prey also proved not to be as resilient as I had suspected and never deployed any sleaze.  I moved forwards in the mid game, torpored his minions with Fame and eventually bled him out.  Meanwhile my minion stealing grand prey ousted his prey through minion theft and bleeding.   Things then slowed down and despite sticking Fame on Matthias it didn’t seem that I quite had the forward power to oust in time for the win.  We agreed to a withdrawal.  2 vps to me, 2 vps to the Matthias player, 1 vp to the weenie Animalism.
 

Random thoughts: I was glad that I didn’t choose my Garou deck as I would have been cross-table contesting Matthias during the first game.  Perhaps I should have rejected the withdrawal and gone for the oust too, but time was very tight.
 

Game Two
 

Me  w/ Horrid Form > French THAU/AUS wall deck > Swansea Swede NEC/DOM bleed > Tzimisce ANI combat w/ Regent > Giovanni and S.Hordes
 

This started with the NEC/DOM quickly powering into and through his prey.  The Giovanni Hordes player then began to back contest vampires in an unusual effort to stay in the game (although I suspect that paying the contestation costs was better that losing 5-6 pool x2 per turn).  I, in the mean time, began to put pressure on my prey who had several minions and was setting up a defensive AUS and equipment wall.  I burnt his Smiling Jack immediately, revealing that my combat was better than his, and began to slowly knock his minions into torpor (although our two 5 caps mutually annihilated each other in a flurry of aggravated damage).  The NEC/DOM bleed then ousted its second prey and stalled as I walled up and threatened to rush backwards.  DEAL ONE … the French player then proposed that the only way that the two of them could proceed against me was to cut a 3/2 vp deal.  I simply pointed out that I could offer precisely the same deal to the NEC/DOM player, hold off, let me oust my prey and we both withdraw.  After some reflection he decided to take the French deal, looking for revenge for being ousted by me in the Swansea ECQ.  I then proceeded to kill vamps backwards and forwards.  However, it wasn’t quite enough and I was eventually ousted.
 

Random thoughts: this was quite a reasonable deal and I didn’t have any problems with it or the player who made it.  I could have probably changed the game if I had rushed backwards slightly more than I did (and then offered my deal).  Quite an enjoyable game despite my 0 vp result.
 

Game Three (AKA: ‘the Game from Hell’)
 

Me with Horrid Form > the Imbued > French Kindred Spirits > ??? Vote/Bleed deck >  Hugh and the EC winning Ahrimanes deck
 

I wasn’t initially too worried by this state of affairs, I thought my deck could kill Imbued, I thought I could handle the Ahrimanes.  However, what I could not handle was the table talk.  Fairly early I blocked some Imbued powers and also rushed forwards.  However, I wasn’t able to push through to burn the Imbued and slowly they bounced back, grew, powered up and walled up.  Hugh, in turn, didn’t put too much pressure on me (for fear of losing minions I suspect, and lightly battered his predator when he acted).  The French player then proceeded to get a little irritated that myself and his prey weren’t particularly talkative.  I proposed that my only way forwards was to ally myself with the Imbued and give him zero pressure in exchange for 2vps.  This was, though, a difficult deal to manage as it would be particularly difficult for the Imbued player to be in a position where he could transfer out.  The French player, in turn, “encouraged” and cajoled me to go forwards – probably in an effort not to be ousted – and also quite reasonably assisted me by bleeding and suddening cards backwards.  The French player ousted his prey during this time, Hugh bled forwards a few time quite heavily (although catastrophically), the Imbued resisted despite being pressured and low on pool.  Hugh proposed a withdrawal ten minutes from the end, to which everyone remaining agreed.  1 vp for me.
 

Random thoughts:  this game exemplified for me the difference between French and Anglo-American play styles.  Brits tend to keep there heads down and play the game in a more focused and quiet style.  The French, in turn, tend to have an eye on the bigger picture and look to affect the game state through conversation and persuasion.  Obviously there are exceptions on both sides.  Bunter is a talker and can effectively manipulate the game state through talk, personality and bullshit (as well as good play).  Hugh seems able to quite effectively adapt to whatever situation he is in, talking more if there are other talkers at the table, for example.  This was somewhat stressful, having to work in this environment; but I also recognise that it was odd or stressful for the French player having to work with players who weren’t talking and negotiating.  Personally, I think I will have to adapt in order to improve.
 

LAST COMMENTS:  An interesting day and I was satisfied with my choice of deck.  Things could have gone differently, though, if I had dealt a little more actively.  However, the main problem was that when I did want to deal the language barrier was a problem.  The nuances and niceties of some deals are very hard to put across, particularly when you realise that your own version of English isn’t too accessible to your fellow Europeans.
 

European Championships Day One (‘Bring on the Deals’)
 

Game One (‘Politics, Politics everywhere’)
 

Me w/ Strictly Ballroom > M. Hari, Tsunda, Tumnimos Politics > Toreador Gp 1/2 Politics > !Malkavian Politics/Bleed > Nos & Ventrue Politics.
 

This was a very heavy vote game with thirty four permanent votes on the table at one point.  The game started poorly with my grand prey transferring out the Toreador Justicar Anneke while I was transferring out Madame Guil.  We only contested for one turn, though, as I managed to persuade him to concede the title in return for playing Golcondor on Anneke.  The game then descended into a protracted but fairly friendly series of negotiations for votes.  I eventually established a voting agreement with my Itallian grand predator, while the Itallian Ravnos and French Nos/ventrue player fell into an alliance, and the Toreador 1/2 remained a floating voter.  Pool sizes remained relatively similar although I came under quite heavy pressure during the last half hour from the Nos/ventrue and they in turn came under heavy bleed pressure from the !Malks.  Eventually, the !Malk player declared that he could engineer a 3-way table split that was quite dazzling in its complexity.  We agreed, doubting that it was possible.  But he then proceeded to oust his prey (1 vp to him), then myself and the Ravnos player simultaneously (1vp to me and another to the Malk), then he permitted himself to be osuted (2 vp to Toreador Gp 1/2).  Not quite sure why he didn’t propose a withdrawal at that point, granting only 1 vp to the Toreador and 3 vp to himself, but such was the deal.
 

1 vp to me and via an another players political action.
 

Random thoughts: wow, heavy voting, but friendly enough.
 

Game Two
 

Me w/ Strictly Ballroom > Laurie PRO/SER > Daughters vote > Toreador Princes with Guns > Bunter with Tumnimos Eldest are Kholo sleaze
 

This was quite an odd game as I thought that I would be screwed over by Bunter quite early.  However, I got Francois Villon out quite early and manged to lock him down early with some blocks and through hunting off his minions.  He agreed in turn to stop producing Tumnimos and took some hits from his predator.  I, in turn, drew into the Minion Taps that allowed me to inlfuence out Alexandra and I gained a provisional vote lock.  I pushed into Laurie with a combo of bleeds and votes, ousting him quite quickly, and called Ancilla Empowerment which would bring the Daughters into ousting distance with Camarilla Segregation in play and would also hurt Bunter with five pool damage.  Seemingly the vote would not pass without the support of the other Toreador player.  The Daughers player and Bunter pointed out that it was best to vote against it, but the Toreador player voted with it, and it would be an understatement to say that Ant wasn’t too happy.  A debate ensued about the legality of the play and whether a judge should be called over.  However, it seemed fairly clear – to me at least – that the vote by the other Toreador player, although potentially a bad one, was perfectly legal (it was doing five pool damage to Bunter nonetheless).  The vote passed, and probably would have done so anyway with the vote push in my hand, and the Daughters player was ousted on his turn (2 vps to me, yeah).  Then the game stalled.  I couldn’t draw into either killing votes or TGBs.   Moreover, Bunter couldn’t draw in his key votes, Con Boons and other stuff.  Eventually, Bunt hit the Week of Nightmares and bled into me heavily.  I had foolishly influenced another prince in an effort to push past my prey with weight of minions and to defend against the Eldest are Kholo vote push.  However, the weight of bleeds was more than I could handle and I succumbed.  Then, Bunter stalled against the Toreador with Guns.  Bunter rather amusingly gave the Toreador player the opportunity to concede against his “superior firepower”, but the Toreador player wisely played on and started to wake several times to shoot up Bunters small caps (who then had to start hunting off each other due to the week).  Bunt then again offered the player the chance to concede, to which he strangely agreed.  Maddeningly, it was quite clear that the Toreador player could have won (despite the fact that he had forgotten to put counters on the Week of Nightmares).  Quite rightly Bunter just agreed with me and laughed when I pointed this out to him that he was probably screwed afterwards.  2 vps to me and 3 vps to the High Lord of Jedi Mind tricks.
 

Random thoughts: All praise to Bunter the God of table talk.
 

Game Three
 

Me w/ Strictly Ballroom > TUPDOGS (25+ Tupdogs) > Baali stuff > Giovanni and Hordes.
 

This was scary as when I went to cut my preys crypt I could guess what he was playing.  I thought I was screwed but I proceeded to influence out vampires and kept hold of my maneuvers and combat cards.  My predator built up and recruited.   We all agreed that we needed to deal with the Tupdog deck, although the Baali player rapidly died to multi-rush and fames.  The Tupdog player attempted to point out to me that his deck was likely to stall and had limited long term forward momentum.  However, I wasn’t sure if he was offering a 2/2 vp deal or even if I could trust such a deal on a four player table in the final round.  The Hordes and Tupdogs exchanged blows.  I called some political actions but couldn’t push through the Tupdog player.  The Tupdog player then stalled and began to lose to the Giovanni and Hordes who then changed tack and torpored and destroyed my vampires.   The Giovanni then pushed through me and the Tupdog player.  0 vps for me.  1 vp for the Tupdogs and 3 vps for the Giovanni.
 

Random thoughts: a deal with the Tupdog player would have got me into the top 40 as the break off point was about 4.5 vps and this would have given me 5 vps for the day.  However, the problems was that this was a four player table (and it was likely the Tupdog player would want a win) and it was difficult, given the language barrier, to engineer such a deal.  Obviously there was also a question of trust.  The Tupdog player also pointed out that a similar thing had happened in the previous game, and it seems clear that the deck is so intimidating that the table inevitably destabilises as people rush around in an effort to deal with it.
 

LAST COMMENTS:  Again I had the right deck for the day, however, the problem again was when to deal and how to negotiate the deal when some people – myself included – have problems communicating.  However, having said that I had the right deck for the day, I would certainly streamline it in the future as a lot of the extraneous cards and modules are irrelevant in a large tournament.  It seems to be better to run the risk of getting flamed once by seating and then having the right cards in hand in the other two games than planning for various situations or contingencies.  Focus is the key.