Fueled by Heart's Blood.


"Do not replace until a vampire commits diablerie. Put 10 counters on this
card. Remove one counter each time another Gehenna card is put in play. A
blood hunt cannot be called on a vampire whose capacity is greater than the
number of counters on this card when he or she diablerizes a younger
vampire."


Fueled by Heart's Blood is, seemingly, a card best used to enable high
capacity vampires to commit diablerie without fear of a blood hunt. The
vampires most likely to be at risk from burning from a blood are those from
clans that are politically weak in as much as they have few titled vampires.
The trust of this article is to determine and explore the best strategies in
which high capacity vampires from politically weak clans can exploit
diaberlizing opponent's vampires with impunity.


Other than the intrinsic advantage of denying an opponent a vampire and
gaining a skill card (unlikely given you are using high capacity vampires),
there are a few cards that make diablerie a worthwhile proposition. The best
of these is Ritual of the Bitter Rose (RotBR) which generates blood on each
your vampires equal to the amount remaining on the burned vampire. An
additional advantage is that when played in combat, RotBR can be used
multiple times, multiplying the blood gained. To maximise the effect from
this card you need a number of semi-empty vampires and a way to translate
blood gained on them into a way of ousting your prey.


My thoughts on how this can be achieved diverge at this point. One option
would be to use Baltimore Purge to send multiple vampires to torpor,
diablerise your predator and/or prey's vampire(s) possibly using Siphon Soul
on the remainder or using Graverobbing on appropriate vampires, fuelled by
blood gained from RotBR. Another option would be to rush and diaberlise
vampires using Amaranth and RotRB using the blood gained to fill vampires
brought into play via Possession. Either way, both options are best
implemented with the Giovanni.


Dealing with the first option initially, using Baltimore Purge with a high
capacity vampire will send multiple vampires into torpor. It may be
desirable to control a Lasombra to choose the targets. Fortunately there are
two 10cap Giovanni with fortitude which means that Freak Drive and Rapid
Healing or Renewed Vigor can be used to maximise actions in the turn
following the purge. You would need a fortitude skill card or a gateway
event to burn a counter from Fueled by Heart's Blood to enable these
vampires to diablerise, although I don't see it as much of a problem.


With up to four other vampires in torpor, the most useful can harvested with
Graverobbing and those controlled by your predator and/or prey can be
diablerised depending on the number of Freak Drives used, and the blood
spent regained with RotBR. The Giovanni can also make use of Siphon Soul
whilst there are vampires in torpor. This can set your hand up to purge on
the following turn. Keeping your vampires in a state to receive blood can be
achieved with the use of a large number of Blood Dolls. Your pool can then
be used to bring out more vampires to oust your prey with. Govern the
Unaligned helps both with the expedient influencing of vampires and ousting
your prey, as always.


As well as Regina and Silvia Giovanni, Ignazio Giovanni is good and The
Baron and Unre, Keeper of Golgotha both have +1 bleed and all the useful
skills. Pochtli might also be a consideration. All are also younger then the
two big girls and can be governed out. A big crypt, so some acceleration is
probably also a necessity (as well as the governs), I would go with Dreams
of the Sphinx to iron out the transfer imbalances in the early game and
ensure you have the Deflections and Freak Drives when you need them.


The second option may well be best employed with a similar selection of
vampires to those above. By using Ex Nihilio, Rowan Ring and Amaranth (with
RotBR- although the Ex Nihilio'd vampires won't gain from it) it should be
possible to set up a Ignazio Giovanni multi-rush deck that has increased
stability from other members of the clan with fortitude. Heidelburg Castle
can be used to transfer equipment from Ignazio to Silvia or Regina (Rowan
Ring and Talbot's Chainsaw for instance) which should ensure a large number
of rush actions per turn with Ignazio's special ability and the Eye of
Hazimel if the deck can afford it. The cost of Ex Nihilio is reduced to a
minimum by the use of RotBR in that the vampire can burn the card and be
refilled before playing another.


Chain of Command, Dawn Operation (with Conditioning or the Heidelburg
Castle) and Possession should ensure that you always have a good number of
empty vessels to fill from the RotBs used. Pochtli should, once again be
considered for inclusion to ensure a steady supply of rush actions and
Amaranths.


Both styles of deck make use of Fueled by Heart's Blood and would not be as
good without its inclusion. They both seem viable and capable of taking
victory points as they contain powerful cards and are capable of affecting
players across the table.



Matt Green
matt@rid0utass0ciates.c0.uk