Note to self: I think it would be MUCH better if each 'turn' represented a month in all future FFH games I document. That way a game lasts a much more realistic 83 years, 4 months, rather than 1000 years

Remember that we are rebuilding Erebus, not researching new things... so it's not that unusual to have a complete empire up and running in 83 years... I think... Oh well.
Expansionist Vampires
Year 50 - Year 150
Year 56: My city pops to size 3. Since I had a lack of food resources, and a worker already out the gate, it is a reasonable assumption to assume every other civ has pop 3 too. So...

I cast
River of Blood. Along with "For the Horde", River of Blood is a GREAT spell to cast early. The effects are simple: -2 pop in all other cities, +2 pop in all my cities. The only catch is that, as a world spell, it has a one-time use (2 times, if you complete the Birthright Regained ritual, which is a ritual that comes very late in the game)
This is great for me (Immediatly popping me up to the happy cap), and terrible for the AI (Immediatly moving them down to either 2 or 1 pop!)
Year 66: The people of Presper have claimed to have found a witch. They want you to order her execution.
Option 1: Give the people what they want: +1

for 10 turns
Option 2: We don't execute on the whim of the people: Nothing happens.
Unlike BtS, where all events have all thier effects listed, some events in FFH DON'T have all the effects listed. As a result, sometimes, you have to learn to read between the lines. I *think* executing the witch may cause a barb witch to appear later on (As any proper witch could cast a spell to protect her from fire

), but I am almost definitly wrong.
Year 69: Grab an event (a FFH-only one) that gives +112 beakers to mining.
Year 76: I see a bear hut, in the tundra near my borders.
Year 77: The Lizardmen start appearing. They constantly come, raiding my borders.
As 4 strength, 2 movement, recon units, they are hard to beat on the field, but with -20% city attack, when they attack my cities, they are easily defeated. They are Hunter replacements, which means they also can see invisible animals, and have +50% vs. animals
Year 80: The Lizardmen attack, I defend.
Year 84: WOOT! I got this event that I have only heard about in legends...
I get a great prophet (The alternative was something like +19 beakers towards mining -.- ). I use him to bulb Ancient Chants (The next tech on my tech path, which unlocks both monuments, and many awesome events)
So for 50 gold, I got something like 150 beakers! Not a bad deal...
Year 93: Sometime between now and then, I found my second city. It is caled Nubia, and is predominantly a poor (half the land is tundra) commerce (Gold, and much riverside grassland) city.
In the Year 93, I hook up gold to my cities.
Year 101: I am the 7th most cultured civ in the world... which doesn't tell me much...
Year 107: One of my bloodpets is killed by a lizardman, while defending on a forest, across a river. Oh, that sucks. And now, since in FFH you get tons of XP for attacking, and winning, at low odds, that Lizardman has become a threat.
Year 111: I survive (My bloodpet now has combat II). I also get a promotion, I get Defender.
Defender has a simple ability: Doubles fortification bonus. From memory, that means in 5 turns you have a 25% fortification bonus, and in 10 turns, you have a 50% fortification bonus. As a result, it is only good for melee units, defending cities, and other places of strategic military importance
Year 113: Ortheus is created... and he is close...

This is both bad, and good. If Orthues attacks me quickly, I can get some decent defenders, and win the fight, and grab the axe. If he waits, and attacks someone else, then I have more room to expand.
But if he waits, and attacks me, then I am in DEEP trouble.
(Ortheus is explained in more detail in the previous game)
Year 117: I see goblins... but they are hill fort goblins:

The difference? Goblins are weak, 2 strength, 2 movement, recon units. Hill Fort goblins are strong, 2 strength (+1 poison strength), 2 movement recon units. They also are spammed (from a goblin fort), and are better defended (with a goblin hill fort archer, with 3/5 strength (+1 poison strength), 1 movement). Remember that poison strength poisons all units that survive combat with it, hampering heal rates, and making raids that much worse.
With at least 3 lizardmen camps, a skeleton, and a goblin fort on my tail, I am both going to be fighting for my life, and getting TONS of XP!!
Year 119: Kill a skeleton on a Barrow, in a desert. I then (after fortifying to negate the -25% defence penalty of desert), try to explore the Barrow...
Year 120: Meet the neighbours 1:

For a long time, I thought he was calling me a demon... but actually, he is calling me... living. "Fashioned Friends", as it turns out, refer to Golems (sort of like robots, for those entirely mythologically challenged), and that is the Luchuirp strength. And thier weakness. Golems are often MUCH stronger than thier non-golem counterparts, but they have the small penalty of NOT BEING ABLE TO LEARN PROMOTIONS. The only promotions they can get is from thier hero: Barnaxus (Who gives the Empower X promotion to all golems, where X is the level of combat Barnaxus has). However, with them being stronger (Their WORKERS have 2 defence strength!), and more resistant to most forms of damage, they are still a powerful adversery, and one of the best civilisations to live peacefully with.
Year 122: Satisfactorily fortified, my warriors pop the lair (Otherwise Garrim would have got it, with his scout). And out pops... a Hill Giant with, what I assume, is some sort of specter summoning power (
7 strength, 1 movement, with a quite nice bombard strength), and 3 Ira's (
3 strength, +3 Fire combat, fast moving, flying units that start tons of fires). My other warrior kills the barrow, and gets poisoned by a cloud of noxious gas. It isn't a good outcome, and both die the next turn.
Year 125: My weakened Bloodpet pops a hut, and gets gold (Yippee!! A good outcome).
Year 128:

Grab bronze working, but no bronze nearby. At least I have got my Moroi, however (Which are easier to promote to vampires, when I get some vampires, that is). The main reason, however, is to cut down forests, so that I can build cottages, which is my next target (With Education)
Year 144:

Wow. What luck. I have 2 Great Prophet events. This time, however, I have a dilemma. I can either bulb the Great Prophet, keep him, or settle him.
Bulb: I get a free tech, which is the best outcome for several turns. But then again, it isn't a great tech (Mysticism), and I am not focusing on it yet.
Keep: I can get a free religion later on. But there is no short term bonus...
Settle: Double production in my new city, and +5 GPT, allowing me to settle 2 or 3 more cities at 100% science. It also repays itself quite quickly... 10 turns!
I choose to Settle, as I don't want an el-cheapo religious win by grabbing the first religion
Year 150: Grab Education. That was quick!! (Actually, at 24 turns, it was quite slow. But the next tech (Animal Husbandry) is quite quick: 14 turns!!
Year 151: I am the fifth most powerful civ.
In addition, I seem to have found copper, which lies just outside my borders: It is just in the top-right corner of this screeny:
The sad thing is that it is almost GUARANTEED that some civ will settle with it in thier BFC, and take it from me. So I start building a monument ASAP to get some culture flowing. Copper is a very nice metal to have!!
Save is attached in the previous post.