Vampire: The Eternal Struggle
Vampire: The Eternal Struggle is a multiplayer collectible card game published by White Wolf Publishing. It was set in the World of Darkness.
Publication history
The game was designed in 1994 by Richard Garfield and initially published by Wizards of the Coast and was the third CCG ever created. As Garfield's first follow-up to his popular collectible card game, he was eager to prove that the genre was "a form of game as potentially diverse as board games". In 1995 the game was renamed from Jyhad to Vampire: The Eternal Struggle to increase its appeal and distance itself from the Islamic term jihad. Wizards published a player's guide Darkness Unveiled. After the 1996 Sabbat expansion, Wizards of the Coast abandoned the game, and in 2000 White Wolf took over development.White Wolf announced that Vampire: The Eternal Struggle would cease production on September 10, 2010.
On April 24, 2018, Black Chantry Productions announced the company has obtained the license to produce Vampire: The Eternal Struggle and return the game to print.
Richard Garfield noted that the experiences he had made with the Magic: The Gathering collectible card game had helped him to improve his design of the game. In an interview with Robert Goudie, Garfield particularly notes dedicated multi-player rules, a lack of "land cards", and a more rapid card drawing mechanism.
Setting
The game is set in the World of Darkness, drawing mainly from the role-playing game. After the events of Gehenna ended the official World of Darkness storyline, V:TES is considered a sort of alternative reality of the setting, as it continues though White Wolf publishes no further official products for the roleplaying game.In V:TES, each player takes on the role of a Methuselah, an ancient and manipulative vampire, who is not itself present in the struggle, but acts from afar. Each Methuselah will try to eliminate all others by nullifying their influence and power. To that end, the Methuselahs will control and manipulate a number of minions to attack and destroy the other Methuselahs' resources.
Gameplay
Overview
The game is ideally played by a group of four or five players, but it can be played by any number of players from two up. Group play with more than six players is rare, as an individual's turn can easily take two to three minutes, causing a slow game for all. Two-player games also suffer from lack of opportunity for the kind of inter-player alliances and treachery that are a large part of the game.As in most other collectible card games, each player designs his or her own deck. Each deck is built with two components:
'Crypt' - containing cards representing vampires that the player may control during the game.
'Library' - containing cards generally representing assets or actions to be taken during the game.
Most cards in the library can only be used in conjunction with vampires. Some cards have no cost in resources to play, in other cases to put a card in play it must be paid for using 'pool' or the blood on his vampires. Pool represents the player's influence, and if it is reduced to zero the player is out of the game. Therefore, players continually have to make decisions based on how much they want to invest into assets in play and how much to retain to stay alive, especially against other players capable of sudden dangerous 'bleeds'.
Each turn one player directs his minions to perform a number of actions and attacks, which other players' minions may intercept or interrupt. Each player attempts to 'oust' his 'prey' while defending himself from his 'predator. This continues until only one player is left on the table. Ousting one's prey is worth one victory point, and being the last person left at the table is worth an additional victory point. However, ousting one's prey also nets the player 6 pool, and thus makes him stronger and more dangerous to the next prey. This is one of the reasons why other players may suddenly start helping a player in a weak situation, or even gang up on a player who seems to be going for a 'table sweep', making shifting alliances part and parcel of the game.
Gameplay offers many options for alliance or betrayal. Short-term deals and trade-offs are typical. Bluffing is also often used.
Games can take anything from half an hour to three or more hours. In tournament play and in some informal games, a time limit may be imposed, after which all remaining players receive half a victory point in addition to any they may have already received. Standard time limit for a tournament game is 2 hours. Game time varies greatly depending on the number of players and the style of decks played.
Playing styles
There are many ways to win in V:TES, though they all depend on eventually wearing down your prey's pool. Some of the most common styles, as described in official player's guide are:- Bleed / Stealth Bleed - this deck concentrates on causing as much pool loss as possible, either as quickly as possible, or by bleeding heavily during a moment of weakness. It usually has some way of ensuring that bleeds are more likely to slip past the defenses, the classical way of which would be playing 'stealth' cards.
- Combat / Rush - this type of deck is based on attacking opponents vampires, rendering them incapable of acting, or destroying them outright. After the defense has been whittled away it then starts bleeding normally. It also defends itself by attacking individual vampires which pose a threat.
- Political - this deck is geared to take advantage of the political system built into the game. It concentrates on having as many votes on the table as possible. It is then able to call and pass its own political actions, which classically include those directly damaging its own prey.
- Build - this deck attempts to survive during the early game while it builds up to later on control the table via these accumulated assets, be they vampires, large amounts of reserve pool, votes or other cards. It is usually combined with another style.
- Intercept / Wall - This deck, often combined with the 'Combat' or the 'Build' style, tries to intercept the vampires of the prey when they act. Alternatively, it may be a defensive deck slowly building its strength for the late game, using its intercepting abilities to stop itself from being ousted in the meantime.
- Toolbox - this style attempts to be able to do as much as possible of all the styles above at the same time, mixing its cards. It is often a 'Build'-style deck at the same time.
Distinct nature
What sets V:TES apart from most other collectible card games is the strong group play element. In general a player will concentrate on the player to his immediate left, his prey, and a player who succeeds in ousting his prey receives a strong boost by gaining 6 additional pool. This boost of resources might possibly enable him to eventually "sweep the table" and oust every other player. Thus there is a tendency for players to help weaker ones to frustrate the stronger players' dominance. This ensures that most players stay in the game longer, instead of the playing field being reduced quickly to those with the best cards and the greatest skill.These conditions create a game where players are almost always interacting with the other players for both short- and long-term goals instead of simply waiting for their turns. V:TES is a game of negotiation, skill, and deck-building. Deals and alliances, both for the moment or for the whole game, can play a big role. A whole classification of cards, political cards, are designed with this in mind. When a vote is called each player can cast votes, either by using votes granted from cards in play or by playing cards from the hand.
Sets and expansions
White Wolf releases V:TES cards in base sets, expansion sets and mini expansion sets. The main difference between these are the size of the set and the number of reprints.- Base sets contain booster packs as well as a number of pre-constructed starter decks. The starter decks contain 89 cards as well as a rule booklet. The booster packs contain 11 cards. The base set should provide a new player with a number of cards to be able to build a wide variety of decks. A base set usually contains a high percentage of reprinted cards from earlier expansions.
- Expansion sets contain booster packs and may contain a number of pre-constructed starter decks. The distribution of cards in boosters and starters is similar to a base set. They feature also a particular theme. New players are usually not able to build a large number of different decks with only cards from this expansion's boosters due to the lack of basic cards provided either in the starters or in a base set. The number of reprints is low and usually restricted to the pre-constructed starter decks.
- Mini-Expansion sets contains only booster packs and the number of cards are restricted to 60 new cards.
| Expansion Name | Type | Symbol | Code | Release Date | Total cards | New cards | Booster distribution |
| Jyhad | Base | Jyhad | August 16, 1994 | 437 | 437 | 11C, 4V, 3U, 1R | |
| Vampire: The Eternal Struggle | Base | V:TES | September 15, 1995 | 436 | 6 | 11C, 4V, 3U, 1R | |
| Dark Sovereigns | Expansion | Gothic window | DS | December 15, 1995 | 173 | 8C, 4V, 3U | |
| Ancient Hearts | Expansion | Eye of Horus | AH | May 29, 1996 | 179 | 6C, 4V, 2U/R | |
| Sabbat | Expansion | Calligraphy S | Sabbat | October 28, 1996 | 340 | 16C, 5V, 5U, 2R | |
| Sabbat War | Base | Inverted spiked ankh | SW | October 31, 2000 | 437 | 77 | 5C, 3V, 2U, 1R or 4C, 3V, 3U, 1R |
| Final Nights | Expansion | Broken ankh | FN | June 11, 2001 | 386 | 170 | 7C, 3V, 1R |
| Bloodlines | Expansion | Ankh on red blood spatter | BL | December 3, 2001 | 196 | 7C, 3V, 1R | |
| Camarilla Edition | Base | Ankh | CE | August 19, 2002 | 547 | 115 | 5C, 3V, 2U, 1R |
| Anarchs | Expansion | Combined CE/SW Ankhs | Anarchs | May 19, 2003 | 260 | 128 | 7C, 3V, 1R |
| Black Hand | Expansion | Handprint | BH | November 17, 2003 | 286 | 145 | 7C, 3V, 1R |
| Gehenna | Expansion | Stylised Clock | Gehenna | May 17, 2004 | 150 | 7C, 3V, 1R | |
| Tenth Anniversary | Special | Foil "10" | Tenth | December 13, 2004 | 190 | 10 | -- |
| Kindred Most Wanted | Expansion | Gun | KMW | February 21, 2005 | 314 | 162 | 7C, 3V, 1R |
| Legacies of Blood | Expansion | Split ankh | LoB | November 14, 2005 | 461 | 236 | 7C, 3V, 1R |
| Nights of Reckoning | Mini expansion | Plus with circle | NoR | April 10, 2006 | 60 | 6C, 3V, 1R, 1X | |
| Third Edition | Base | Tri-snake biohazard | Third | September 4, 2006 | 537 | 160 | 5C, 3V, 2U, 1R |
| Sword of Caine | Mini expansion | Bundle of swords | SoC | March 19, 2007 | 60 | 7C, 3V, 1R | |
| Lords of the Night | Expansion | Crown | LotN | September 26, 2007 | 295 | 175 | 7C, 3V, 1R |
| Blood Shadowed Court | Special | Silver Ankh | BSC | April 16, 2008 | 100 | 0 | -- |
| Twilight Rebellion | Mini expansion | Tri-snake on Red Star | TR | May 28, 2008 | 60 | 7C, 3V, 1R | |
| Keepers of Tradition | Base | Castle tower | KoT | November 19, 2008 | 457 | 176 | 5C, 3V, 2U, 1R |
| Ebony Kingdom | Mini expansion | Split ankh | EK | May 27, 2009 | 60 | 4C, 3V, 1R, 3C | |
| Heirs to the Blood | Expansion | Three blood drops | HttB | February 3, 2010 | TBA | 168 | 7C, 3V, 1R |
| Danse Macabre | Mini expansion | Fanged Skull | DM | October 5, 2013 | 34 | 34 | - |
| The Unaligned | Mini expansion | Broken Column | TA | October 4, 2014 | 72 | 72 | - |
| Storyline Rewards | Mini expansion | SR | February 21, 2015 | 13 | 13 | - | |
| Anarchs Unbound | Mini expansion | Burning ankh | AU | January 17, 2016 | 42 | 42 | |
| Lost Kindred | Mini expansion | Bleeding eye | LK | June 10, 2018 | 41 | 41 |
Reception
Vampire: The Eternal Struggle was a popular game among card game players according to a feature in Arcane magazine in 1995, although a common criticism reported from players was its slow play speed. Prior to its re-launch as Vampire: The Eternal Struggle, the game had sold poorly in Israel, allegedly because of its earlier name Jyhad; Arcane considered the old name a mistake, both due to how it allegedly had hurt sales in that region, and because it failed to convey what the game was about.Steve Faragher of Arcane magazine gave the game a score of 7/10, calling it the most "intriguingly political" card game he had played, and praising its storytelling atmosphere. He appreciated the higher play speed that came with the Vampire: The Eternal Struggle re-launch's revised rules, although fellow Arcane staff member Jon Moore still found the game slow to play.
Martin Klimes reviewed the Ancient Hearts expansion for Arcane magazine, rating it an 8 out of 10 overall. Klimes comments that "There is now pretty much always a good attack you can choose, and almost always a choice of defences against it. Ancient Hearts will add significant interest to your games, which is all you can ask of any expansion."
Awards
In 2004, Inquest Gamer Magazine picked Vampire: The Eternal Struggle as the all-time best multiplayer collectible card games.In 2006, Inquest Gamer Fan Awards called the Third Edition expansion the 'Best CCG Expansion'.
Reception
- Pyramid #10
''V:TES'' Online