Cruella De Vil

> "*I'll get even. Just wait. You'll be sorry.*"
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**Cruella De Vil** is one of three playable Villains in the Villainous expansion, *Perfectly Wretched*. She is from the movie *One Hundred and One Dalmatians*, released in 1961, in which she is voiced by Betty Lou Gerson and animated by Marc Davis.

Cruella De Vil has Puppy Tokens, which track her completion of her Objective. There are twelve tokens: three for each location (two each with 11 Puppies, one each with 22 Puppies). At the start of the game, all the tokens are placed face down above Cruella De Vil's board to form a Supply, whence they will be added to her board via various card Abilities. When a Puppy Token is added to her board, it is turned face up, and put in the specified location. Once a Puppy Token is turned face up, it is never turned face down again. Puppy Tokens do not prevent actions at their location from being used.

## Objective

Cruella De Vil must bring Puppy Tokens into her Realm, and then capture them until she has at least 99 puppies. To bring puppies into her Realm, she can activate Flashlight and Horace, and play Cruel and Here, Puppies. To capture them, she can activate Horace and Jasper, and play Bought and Paid For. Roadster and Spotted can also help get Puppy Tokens to advantageous locations, while Telephone and You Idiots! can get her Allies where they need to be. She can only win at the start of her turn.

## Realm

Cruella De Vil's Realm contains the following locations, from left to right:

* Radcliffe House
	+ Fate | Activate
	+ Vanquish | Play a Card
* Countryside
	+ Play a Card | Move an Item or Ally
	+ Gain 3 Power | Play a Card
* Milk Farm
	+ Discard Cards | Gain 1 Power
	+ Play a Card | Fate
* Hell Hall
	+ Move an Item or Ally | Activate
	+ Play a Card | Gain 1 Power | Discard Cards

## Villain deck

The following cards are in Cruella De Vil's Villain deck:

* I Live for Furs (×3)
* Cruel (×2)
* Devilish (×2)
* Fireplace Poker (×2)
* Flashlight (×2)
* Get the Job Done (×2)
* Here, Puppies (×2)
* Spotted (×2)
* That Devil Woman (×2)
* The Devil Take It (×2)
* Whatever It Takes (×2)
* You Idiots! (×2)
* Bought and Paid For
* Horace
* Jasper
* Roadster
* Telephone

These include 2 Allies (Horace; Jasper), 4 total Conditions (Cruel; Devilish), 18 total Effects (Bought and Paid For; Get the Job Done; Here, Puppies; I Live for Furs; Spotted; That Devil Woman; The Devil Take It; Whatever It Takes; You Idiots!), and 6 total Items (Fireplace Poker; Flashlight; Roadster; Telephone).

## Fate deck

The following cards are in Cruella De Vil's Fate deck:

* Flew the Coop (×2)
* Reckless Driving (×2)
* Twilight Bark (×2)
* We're Labradors (×2)
* Anita and Roger
* Captain
* Colonel
* Nanny
* Perdita
* Pongo
* Sergeant Tibbs

These include 8 total Effects (Flew the Coop; Reckless Driving; Twilight Bark; We're Labradors) and 7 Heroes (Anita and Roger; Captain; Colonel; Nanny; Perdita; Pongo; Sergeant Tibbs).

## Strategy

Cruella De Vil is a slower Villain, but given enough time, she can get herself into a position where she cannot lose. It is also quite easy for her to Fate constantly and still work toward her win condition, making her a formidable opponent. However, her slowness does make her vulnerable against faster Villains, and such match-ups can be challenging for her.

Cruella has one goal: capture Puppies. Doing this is, however, a multi-step process, but fortunately her deck is rather flexible, as there are some redundancies in the Abilities on her cards. In order to capture Puppies, they first need to be on her board, and she can get them there with Cruel, Flashlight, Here, Puppies, and Horace. Cruella should try to get as many Puppies on her board as possible, both to avoid getting hit by Flew the Coop, and to maximize I Live for Furs, as otherwise she struggles for Power the whole game. If Cruella tries to find and capture Puppies simultaneously, she will find herself with no Power, and she'll have to to go to Countryside just to play anything, thus forgoing her necessary Activates and Fates and falling behind.

Early game, Cruella should be discarding anything other than one Flashlight, Here, Puppies, Horace, Roadster, and Telephone. Cruel can be kept if it's likely to trigger, and Spotted can be kept if it's the only thing worth playing on a turn, but otherwise they should both be discarded. If you're floating Power, or need to Vanquish a Hero, feel free to play Jasper, otherwise he can be played by Telephone for cheaper later on. Once you have an Ally in play, start holding onto Fireplace Pokers, as they will be crucial to conserve Power and your limited Allies, and once you have Flashlight or Horace in play, stop discarding Get the Job Done so you can start doubling up on Activates. And once at least two locations have Puppies, stop discarding I Live for Furs and start playing them, and rack up Power that you'll need later. And of course, once there are things actually worth picking up from the discard pile, start holding onto The Devil Take It as well.

Once there are at least 99 Puppies in your Realm, you can start capturing Puppies. At this point, you should have Jasper and potentially also Horace in play. If you haven't played Roadster yet, you should play it to a location Jasper isn't at with multiple Tokens. Try to Activate Jasper every turn, optimally twice in a turn (using Get the Job Done). At this point, if you happen to have drawn Bought and Paid For, have enough spare Power to play it, and doing so takes less time than moving Jasper or the Roadster, go ahead and play it. 22 Puppy Tokens should be prioritized. Though you only need to capture 99 Puppies, try to capture 121, as that means one Fate can't stop you. Make it through one round with 99 Puppies intact, and you win!

Cruella has a few extra tools to work around Heroes, namely Devilish, That Devil Woman, and Whatever It Takes. None of these should be held onto for multiple turns "just in case", but definitely make use of them if the opportunity arises.

Optimally, Cruella should be going to Radcliffe House every other turn, both to Activate and Fate, and also deal with Heroes as they crop up. The off turn should be spent at either Milk Farm or Hell Hall, to double up on either the Activating or the Fating. Both locations also have Discard Cards actions, which you will definitely need, and Hell Hall also has a Move an Item or Ally action, which will be necessary at times. Countryside should be used sparingly, preferably if one of the cards you play is Get the Job Done. Spending too much time there means you are neither Activating nor Fating, and thus neither progressing toward your Objective nor hindering opponents.

Countering Cruella means stacking Heroes in Radcliffe House so that one Vanquish is not enough to clear it. Hell Hall is also a good place for Heroes to squat, though ultimately most of your Hero plays will be dictated by where Puppy Tokens are, and where Horace and Jasper are. Above everything else, try to return Puppies to the supply whenever possible. Also remember that Cruella is quite slow, taking quite a few turns to find and capture Puppies, so zooming toward your own Objective as fast as possible is a legitimate tactic, and will force her to spend time slowing you down, rather than focusing on her dogskin coat.

## Trivia

In the film, Cruella is constantly smoking, almost never without her iconic cigarette holder in hand. In the game, all such references have been edited out. For example, the art for Telephone replaces her ashtray with a candy dish.

 **Villain deck**
*3 Copies:* • I Live for Furs
*2 Copies:* Cruel • Devilish • Fireplace Poker • Flashlight • Get the Job Done • Here, Puppies • Spotted • That Devil Woman • The Devil Take It • Whatever It Takes • You Idiots!
 **Fate deck**
*2 Copies:* Flew the Coop • Reckless Driving • Twilight Bark • We're Labradors
*1 Copy:* Anita and Roger • Captain • Colonel • Nanny • Perdita • Pongo • Sergeant Tibbs

 **Wicked to the Core**
 **Evil Comes Prepared**
 **Perfectly Wretched**
 **Despicable Plots**
 **Bigger and Badder**
 **Filled With Fright**
 **Sugar and Spite**
King Candy • Shere Khan