Greetings fellow Methuselahs
It is too cold for smalltalk - here´s the newsletter:

WHAT ABOUT THE ANTHOLOGY 1 ART?
Many are asking, so we better make this clear: Most art in the upcoming Anthology 1 set will be the original art, i.e. the art used for the card in the first printing, not the art produced for the Berlin Anthology printing. This has now been marked on the list at the Anthology 1 product page.

This means the lucky persons who struggled to get hold of the Berlin sets are in possession of something special – Black Chantry will not reuse that art in the forseeable future, with the exception of the ten LARP-related cards produced for World of Darkness Berlin (Styles Margs, The Line, etc.) – these will be reprinted soon.
 

CLARIFICATION: CARDS ALLOWED

Another question that pops up frequently for VEKN and Black Chantry officials are if the “pdf sets” produced by the VEKN 2013-2016 are legal for tournament play. The answer is: YES, they are legal until further notice. The pdf-files are found at Official Expansion sets page at VEKN.net, so go ahead, print and play!

The section in the tournament rules that covers this is:

4.1. Cards Allowed
All cards in a player's deck must be genuine Vampire: The Eternal Struggle or Jyhad cards, or official V:EKN issued cards from the only authoritative source www.vekn.net as listed here:
- Danse Macabre
- The Unaligned
- Storyline Rewards 2015
- Anarchs Unbound
When using V:EKN issued cards they must be preferably color printed on standard paper and inserted into opaque sleeves before another Vampire: The Eternal Struggle or Jyhad card, this requires opaque sleeves for the whole crypt and/or library. These cards are not considered as proxies. See http://www.vekn.net/official-expansion-sets
 

VTES CONTENT COMING ON STRONG
The VEKN are delighted that many new sources create great reading and viewing online. This month we want to give special credit to:

Carnet d'un Le Diableriste: Articles in the beautiful French language, created in Canada, mainly in a very informative questions-and-answer-form with great and funny illustrations. Top notch! http://diableriste.com/

Bindusara´s Jyhad Diary: This Australian site delivers “the oral history of VTES” in interesting interviews with players. Excellent content! https://bindusara.home.blog/

Information Highway: Top French players write this, and they do it very well. Recently we have seen four articles reviewing the upcoming Sabbat-themed preconstructed decks, with strategy advice and tips on how to modify them. We look forward to more! https://vtesinformationhighway.wordpress.com/

VTES One: German long-time blogger Extrala continues to update us on all VTES things. VEKN and Black Chantry frequently send beginners with questions to this site, especially to the deck list section and articles about deck archetypes. Thanks for all the work you put into this Extrala! https://vtesone.wordpress.com/

Generación V videos: The Palma players continue to deliver introductory videos about VTES – currently four clips are up. It is in Spanish, but subtitled to English. A great effort, and great result! https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCE2hQGYrXGxwsSInr2l4cWg

Do you also want to produce some VTES-related content online? You are very welcome, just remember that if you want to use White Wolf property extensively (for example card images), you have to add the Dark Pack logo and follow the Dark Pack rules: https://www.white-wolf.com/dark-pack

BLACK CHANTRY SUMMARY: JANUARY 2019

• The first US distributor for the European printed cards has been found: KGS Cards. Print-on-demand will continue on Drivethrucards, now also testing “European style” tuckboxes.

• January was spoiler month for the upcoming Sabbat pre-constructed decks. Now everything has been spoiled - check out each product page for all card and art previews.

• The release date for the Sabbat pre-cons AND Anthology 1 is nailed: From February 16th you will find these products in stores who made their orders on time, and on Drivethrucards.com.

• A revised pdf rulesbook – in English and Spanish – is available on Blackchantry.com/rulebook. These are the latest official rules, and the version that will be tested and used as a base for the improved, illustrated and beginner-friendly variant that will appear later this year.

• The site Blackchanty.com has received a minor face lift, but will still be kept rather simple. A more advanced site with all kinds of fantastic content is in the pipeline, but for now getting more VTES cards into the hands of players has priority.

• Currently five Black Chantry products are available through Drivethrucards.com and other stores:
- Lost Kindred bundle
- Keepers of Tradition Reprint Bundle 1
- Keepers of Tradition Reprint Bundle 2
- Heirs of the Blood Reprint Bundle 1
- Heirs of the Blood Reprint Bundle 2

Do you have opinions or questions for Black Chantry? Start a topic on the VEKN forum, or contact the company by e-mail, Facebook or Twitter.

ARTIST IN FOCUS: MARK KELLY
Mark Kelly immediatelly became a fan favourite when he started illustrating VTES in 2014. His realistic but yet horrific style has proven perfect for eye-catching portraits on VTES crypt cards. We caught Mark in a blur of hardware failures, deadlines and termites (!), and he had the kindness to handle our usual arsenal of artist questions.

Are you educated or self-taught?
- In my younger years I was always being creative and it started mostly when I got a copy of the second edition of Warhammer Fantasy Battle with The Tragedy of McDeath when I was about 7 years old. I was always painting, drawing, sculpting and making things in general.
   After leaving school I started on the path to becoming an architect but I dropped out after two years and left sunny Scotland for Amsterdam. The next 10 years or so are a bit of blur... I spent mostly partying and playing video games. I eventually quit that lifestyle completely and threw all my energy into creative endeavors. That's when I discovered my love for photography. Initially I was drawn to more abstract photography and landscapes but I soon moved over to portraiture, which is my true passion.
   All aspects of my creative skill set are self-taught. From painting, illustration, photography, graphic design etc. I tend to jump in at the deep end and figure things out under pressure.


What kind of assignments do you prefer?
- Honestly, I'm all over the place really. I'm drawn as much to the creepy and macabre as I am to vibrant neon noir cassette futurism. What I prefer most in an assignment is being allowed the freedom to create, within the boundaries of the project of course. I am drawn more to the conceptual interpretation and less so to the generic RPG illustrative approach.

What techniques do you prefer?
- I prefer working with digital media. Mixing photographic elements, light, digital paint and textures. Anything that's going to allow me to convey the artwork as I see it in my mind's eye.

How do you work with models and photos?
- I work with a lot of models and usually cover a range of ideas during a shoot. Some will be more editorial or conceptual portraits while others will be base material for the more illustrative work. I do a lot of experimentation with lights and post processing techniques. Lots of trial and error. There is no default workflow that I follow for the most part. Some times it'll be pure digital paint others it'll be a mix. Anything goes :)


You have made lots of work for VTES and others – what are you most proud of?
- My biggest creative achievement to date was for Mark Rein Hagen's I AM ZOMBIE RPG which was released a couple of years back. A huge project where I did all the artwork, layout, design and factory production management. A 288 page full colour book with bespoke spreads chock-full of artwork, 108 double-sided character cards with a unique portrait either side and the core rule book. Up until that point I'd never used any form of layout software let alone laid out a book, so it was a mammoth challenge that not only turned out to be a great education but a great product. I was also pretty chuffed to get my work included in the new Vampire: The Masquerade Fifth Edition book. I did quite a few full pagers for that.

What other work do you do these days?
- Along with being the lead artist for Make Believe Games (MBG), I've been doing quite a bit of freelance work as both an art director and artist. I've recently started my own publishing company called Dirty Vortex where we'll be producing a range of RPGs and tabletop accessories such as dice sets and 3d terrain. One of our first projects is a collection of Art Deco inspired polyhedral dice called Deco Dice and great for any game set within the Jazz Age. It recently launched Kickstarter and funded within the first 24 hours so that was a fabulous way to start the year. Sets of 10 x D10s are available which are great for VtM and WoD.


- We also have a range of indie RPGs in development that will be releasing in 2019. First up is Solemn Vale which is a folk horror roleplaying game set within an isolated village in the South West of England. It's being developed by Matthew Dawkins and has a bunch of great writing talent assigned. That'll be followed up by Endgame '85 which set in a world devastated by a recent nuclear war and is currently being written by the fabulous Brendan Carrion and Adam Sink from the Full Metal RPG Podcast. Last, but not least, we'll have The Sigma Syndrome where players take on the role of powerful psykers. We've yet to assign dev and writing on that.
   It's shaping up to be a solid year with many projects in the mix and as a huge VTES fan I hope to get a few more card illustrations done.

We thank Mark for this chat. If folks want to see more of his work, he recommends you to follow him on Instagram as he posts there more often than any other social media. You find him at @grimventures (personal work) and @dirtyvortex (Dirty Vortex work)

Please, also read our previous artist interviews, with Ken Meyer Jr, Carmen Cornet, Noora Hirvonen, Riccardo Fabiani and Heather Kreiter - many more will follow!

CULTS OF THE BLOOD GODS
Onyx Path Publishing (which is doing Chicago By Night and The Fall of London for Vampire: The Masquerade Fifth Edition) recently revealed yet another exciting V5 product in their pipeline: Cults of the Blood Gods. Not many details are disclosed at this point, but the book is developed by Matthew Dawkins and has been described by Onyx Path CEO (and VTES artist) Richard Thomas as "a book detailing the Hecata including Clan Giovanni, the various religions that have sprung out of vampire culture like the Church of Caine, and much more!" Hecata is the V5 catch all-name for the clans and bloodlines in the necromantic tradition; Giovanni, Harbingers of Skulls, Cappadocians and Samedi. We´ll see in the future what this means for VTES!

 
CALENDAR
Upcoming events:
February 2: First flight 2019 - Madrid, Spain
February 2: Rise of the Sabbat - Lisboa, Portugal
February 2: First Blood - New Holland, USA
February 3: Winter Tournament - Montréal, Canada
February 9: Infernal Forge - Barcelona, Catalunya, Spain
February 9: Vampire Saturday - Waterloo, United States
February 10: Middle European Championship - Wien, Austria
February 16: Evento Preconstruido - Granada, Spain
February 16: Presentación Empire - Sevilla, Spain
February 16: Sabbat Preconstructed Decks Release Tournament - Stockholm, Sweden
February 17: Kiss of Judas - Palma de Mallorca, Spain
February 23: Summer time - Santiago, Chile
February 24: Diablerie in Milan - New Prince election - Milano, Italy

For more information on upcoming events see the V:EKN Event Calendar.

CONTACT V:EKN
You can contact the V:EKN Inner Circle members using contact forms at V:EKN.net. Also follow the V:EKN Facebook group, the official V:TES Facebook page Vampire: The Eternal Struggle and the official V:EKN Twitter account @VEKN_VTES

“We can either do politics or we can have politics done to us.”

Greetings fellow Methuselahs
New years – what do they mean? “Age is but a number” some people say, just before they are ousted by older and more powerful Methuselahs like me. Numbers are very important! For example, I have this thing for ousting my enemies in a certain order. I have to start at the left and then continue so, which can be rather problematic sometimes, when the next victim is defensive enough. So happy new year, and good luck with next prey!

FOUR NEW PRE-CONSTRUCTED DECKS EARLY 2019 RELEASE
As announced earlier this week, four brand new pre-constructed decks will be released in the first quarter of the new year. We asked Ben Peal, product director at Black Chantry and earlier also lead designer at V:EKN, some questions about these new decks:

How come did you choose four Sabbat clans for the these first pre-constructed decks from Black Chantry?
- A few years ago, Mike Nudd and I were approached to design a collection of pre-constructed decks as part of a product pitch for bringing V:TES back into publication. A Sabbat theme was chosen as a follow-up to the Danse Macabre set we developed for the V:EKN with the intention of additionally getting Danse Macabre published in printed card form. With a need for a product to help new players get started with V:TES, and with the game being published again by Black Chantry, we felt it was time to get these cards finally into the hands of the players. As for Danse Macabre, some of that set made it into the Anthology set we published and some of the crypt cards have made it into these new pre-constructed decks.

The clans are Lasombra, Toreador antritribu, Tremere antritribu and Tzimisce. Why these clans?
- We had a few design considerations when developing the decks. Rather than the usual “mix of everything” starter decks, we wanted to create decks that a new player could bring to their local playgroup and be competitive. We wanted them to be mono-clan decks for the sake of theme. We also wanted to offer a mix of strategies, with each deck bringing something different to the table. The Lasombra deck is a larger-capacity stealth-voter. The Toreador antitribu deck is a small-capacity breeder with Palla Grande. The Tremere antitribu deck is a Nephandus ally deck with some punch. The Tzimisce deck is an intercept-combat deck. I'm hesitant to call them “starter decks” as they're fully built and effective decks, but there's certainly room to add, modify, and tinker with them.

Are there new cards? And cards with new art?
- Three of the decks have some new crypt cards to help fill out their clans as well as some crypt cards from Danse Macabre. The Tremere antitribu deck doesn't – it's a classic build of the Antonio d'Erlette deck. There aren't any new library cards but the cards we've chosen for the decks should make veteran players happy.

Will there be more pre-constructed decks soon?
- We have another collection of pre-constructed decks currently in development and they'll tie into the V5 edition of Vampire: the Masquerade. We'll have more information about them to share in the coming months. I'm excited about this project as I'm looking forward to bringing V:TES into the present day as well as continuing it as the game we know and love.

The pre-constructed decks contain 89 cards at a suggested retail price of $22-24/€20. More information will follow, so keep an eye on Blackchantry.com and the social media channels.

 The official VEG 2018-2019 playmat, given to all participants, courtesy of our sponsor Ultra Pro.

VEG CZECH REPUBLIC 2019 SET
The VTES European Grand Prix Czech Republic 2019 will be played at Black Oil in Brno. More info at the Facebook event "VEG Czech Republic". Very welcome everybody – remember that all VEG players get the awesome playmat pictured above!

Also visit the official VEG information page at VEKN.net

VEG BOLOGNA 2018 RESULTS

32 players attended the first installment in the 2018-2019 VEG circuit in Bologna, Italy. The final table had Alessandro Donati Barga (Italy), Angelo Alvisi (Italy), Roberto Venturi (Italy), Martin Weinmayer (Austria) and Pau Vilar (Spain):

Bologna champion 2018 is Pau Vilar, scoring 0.5 victory points but winning with top seed position. Congratulations Pau! We haven´t seen a deck list yet, but reports talk of Valerius Maior, Orlando Oriundus and Frondator in the crypt.

More photos and a bit more info can be found at this Facebook post.

The VEG tournaments are sponsored by Ultra Pro.

VIDEO INTRODUCTIONS TO VTES
Players in Palma, Spain, have started producing a series of video tutorials for beginner players. Two videos are published. Please, check them out and give feedback. Non-Spanish viewers can click the icon in bottom right corner to get English subtitles.

Episode 1: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=velKoYv3LXM&t=6s&fbclid=IwAR00ds7MaibHn0Pn5rBYIzxM1XO_aNpa0MUme7B4eM0L7iUbqkJCGJNW750

Episode 2: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QaO8LeFyMS0&fbclid=IwAR2sNqPF_QCuwgeQbLG8UFEK0l6ARxzuBtUqQIZU45HBP_7V-egR8styBxE

CHILE NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP 2018

This 16 player event occurred at Club Deportivo José Miguel Carrera in Santiago, December 15. After three preliminary rounds a final table was composed of Miguel Saito Vásquez, Gonzalo del Río, Luis Espejo, Juan Ignacio Oyarce and Jackson Kansho Iribarren. Decks were like this:



Take a look at some video content from the final at Facebook:

Miguel Saito Vásquez is the new champion with 3 victory points in the final, congratulations Miguel! Check out his tournament winning deck at: Chilean National Championship winner

ARTIST IN FOCUS: HEATHER KREITER
This month we have the privilige to talk to Heather Kreiter. She has made beautiful art for VTES since Third Edition back in 2006, totally almost fifty pieces.

Heather, thanks for talking to us! What is your background as an artist?
- When I was 14 I discovered the artwork of Larry Elmore via the Dragonlance books. These helped me to discover the wonderful world of D&D. I then became obsessed with other artists, such as Fred Fields, Jeff Easley, and Clyde Caldwell. They were all oil painters, so *I* wanted to become an oil painter so that I too could work for TSR! That was the plan anyway when I was in Junior High.
   I received my BFA in Painting with a secondary concentration in Illustration from Edinboro University in Pennsylvania in 1996. Even though I technically have a formal art education, I feel that I honed my skills more once I was out of school and was creating art for myself. To this day, all of my art is created via traditional methods. I work almost exclusively in either oils or markers.

What kind of assignments do you like?
- I know that when it comes to creating art, I am VERY slow. I do not have a “quick sketch” mode. I prefer several months notice on a project and having several weeks to work on several pieces. Basically one painting per week at the very least with a definite deadline so I can plan my work accordingly. I have two calendars and a dry erase board in my studio so that I can attempt to keep track of all of my projects.
   With VTES, I definitely prefer working on the crypt cards as I feel most confident focusing on a single character. However, whether it's crypt or library, the darker and bloodier, the better. I've never been one to shy away from gore.

What artistical techniques do you prefer?
- Whenever I get assignments I like to take a few days and let the descriptions rattle around in my head so that I can “see” what I want to paint. Once I have my idea in place, I go in search of reference material from books, magazines, friends, etc.  I'll take bits and pieces from all of my source material and frankenstein it together in photoshop. Then, I'll make a sketch using the frankenstein piece for my reference, but I'll adjust everything accordingly to fit the project.
   Once my sketch is approved, I'll transfer it to a gessoed piece of illustration paper, block it off with painter's tape and go to it. Usually these paintings are small enough that I can kind of cradle them in my arm to work on them. I'm a very “close up” painter due to the fact that I'm legally blind in my left eye.
You have made lots of art over the years. If you had to pick one piece, project or period, what are you most proud of?
- As a whole, I had the most fun creating Gengis, Zach North, and Daliah for the Anarchs Unbound set. Every single one of these individuals is based on someone I know personally. Gengis is a mohawk sporting, hearse driving individual I know from the PCS (Professional Car Society). Zach North is Star Wars illustrator, and my oldest con friend, Jeff Carlisle. Daliah, is my tattoo artist, fellow collector of MLP, and one of my best friends, JerZy Milner.

What work do you do mostly these days?
- In 2013, I pulled myself out of the freelance artist's pool in order to fully focus on my own IP, My Little Demon, a Garbage Pail Kids-type version of My Little Pony. I still continue to create original content for My Little Demon, but I've recently started to branch out into customizing pre-existing toys such as Imaginext Dinosaurs. When I learned that VTES was going to be produced again by Black Chantry, I had to dip my toes back in the pool. I can't not work on VTES! It's the only CCG I've ever actually played, back in 1995 when it was called Jyhad.

Thanks for this interview Heather – your commitment to our game is heartwarming, and we of course look forward to giving you new VTES missions. Check out Heathers site My Little Demon, her Facebook page @heatherkreiterart and and tweet @HeatherVKreiter

Please also read our previous artist interviews, with Ken Meyer Jr, Carmen Cornet, Noora Hirvonen and Riccardo Fabiani - many more will follow!

BLACK CHANTRY SUMMARY: DECEMBER 2018

• In mid December, Heirs to the Blood and a restock of earlier products reached distributors and stores all over Europe and also Australia.

• The four Sabbat-themed pre-constructed decks are revealed – see above. Details about this will follow in the coming weeks.

• Anthology 1 will be out at the same time as the Sabbat pre-constructed decks, if all goes well.

• People ask for a new, better VTES rulebook. Bad news: You will have to settle for the current online one for yet some time. Good news: A new, better, illustrated and beginner-friendly rulebook is being produced. Black Chantry rules director Vincent Ripoll is in charge of the project at this stage – contact him via if you have any input on that. We plan to reach out for all kinds of testing and proofreading when it´s ready for that.

• American players have trouble getting hold of the European printed cards and those nice tuckboxes that they come in. This is because Black Chantry doesn’t have any store distribution in North America (except Chile, in South America). If you or someone you know wants to distribute VTES, please tell us at

• Ben Peal leads the design of the V5-themed box set. Setting issues have been discussed with White Wolf, and things are moving forward. More about this will be disclosed in the coming months.

• Currently five Black Chantry products are available through DriveThruCards.com, and the top three can also be found in other stores:
- Lost Kindred bundle
- Keepers of Tradition Reprint Bundle 1
- Keepers of Tradition Reprint Bundle 2
- Heirs of the Blood Reprint Bundle 1
- Heirs of the Blood Reprint Bundle 2

Do you have opinions or questions for Black Chantry? Start a topic on the VEKN forum, or contact the company by e-mail, Facebook or Twitter.

MODIPHIUS EMBRACES V5
This months most interesting news about White Wolf is that UK-based company Modiphius steps in to manage and publish the Vampire: The Masquerade Fifth Edition (“V5”) product line. Modiphius has until now only been in charge of the V5 distribution, but now gets a broader deal. So, what does this mean for Black Chantry and VTES players: Not much. Black Chantry is a licensee of VTES just as Modiphius is of V5. Black Chantry might need to bounce some V5-related stuff with Modiphius, but otherwise production of VTES continues as planned.

Read Modiphius press release here - including V5 product news:  Modiphius Embraces World of Darkness - Announces The Fall of London V5 Chronicle

Read White Wolfs comment here: Vampire Modiphius Partnership
 

 
CALENDAR
Upcoming events:
January 1: Necrosis: Newark - Heath, United States
January 5: Living on the Edge - Bonn, Germany
January 6: Powerbase: Berkeley – Illegalism - Berkeley, United States
January 6: New Year, New Blood - Vilnius, Lithuania
January 19: Here we go again - Santiago, Chile
January 19: Giant´s Blood: Zagreb - Zagreb, Croatia
January 19: Thanks for the Donation Stockholm 2019 (SE) - Stockholm, Sweden
January 20: Zillah's Tears II - The Return - Vantaa, Finland
January 20: Under Siege: Charlotte - Pineville, United States

For more information on upcoming events see the V:EKN Event Calendar.

CONTACT V:EKN
You can contact the V:EKN Inner Circle members using contact forms at V:EKN.net. Also follow the V:EKN Facebook group, the official V:TES Facebook page Vampire: The Eternal Struggle and the official V:EKN Twitter account @VEKN_VTES

"That which we call substance and reality is shadow and illusion, and that which we call shadow and illusion is substance and reality."