Does anyone play Dominion ? It is from Rio Grande games originally, found here. I play the german version, of course. It is a lot of fun and easily one of my favorite games at the moment.
Stefan
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I agree.
This has to be the best card game on the market right now. It has an inventive mechanic and the ability to play differently depending on the cards that are chosen.
It is so high on my list of favorite games I am uncertain what might come along and knock it off. It would have to be a fantastic game to do that.
Dominion is just an all around fun experience that never grows old.
There are at least two expansions for it too, Intrigue and Seafarers.
I played Intrigue as well, it adds a ton of fun. We don´t have Seafarers now, but we will see.
I already got a special promo card from a German gaming mag:
Black Market: 15 different unused Kingdom cards are put on a stack before starting the game. If you use the Black Market as your action, you get +2 money, and three of the Kingdom cards are taken, and you may buy one as an additional buy. The card itself costs three. Can´t wait to see how this plays.
There is a fansite containing 200 fan-made cards as well, but as these are all in German, linking it won´t do any good, I guess...
Stefan
Awesome game. My 12 year old son and I play with some of his friends, and they really dig it.
I got Intrige for Xmas, but haven't tried it out yet. Both my son and I are looking forward to it.
I've played a few times and enjoyed it. Though a friend of mine dislikes it immensely, referring to it as competitive shuffling.
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I played Intrigue as well, it adds a ton of fun. We don´t have Seafarers now, but we will see.
I already got a special promo card from a German gaming mag:
Black Market: 15 different unused Kingdom cards are put on a stack before starting the game. If you use the Black Market as your action, you get +2 money, and three of the Kingdom cards are taken, and you may buy one as an additional buy. The card itself costs three. Can´t wait to see how this plays.
There is a fansite containing 200 fan-made cards as well, but as these are all in German, linking it won´t do any good, I guess...Stefan
In the English version, the Black Market says take any unused Kingdom cards (i.e. if you've got all the expansions, and the specials you're taking 68 cards into the deck.). It makes play more interesting, but the set up of the special deck (and especially putting it away is a pain and a half).
There's also another special (at least in English. Can't imagine why it wouldn't be in German too): The Envoy. This allows you draw five cards, reveal them and the player on your left discards one. The rest go into your hand. It's basically a super-strength smithy except you won't get the best card. Still very powerful.
As for Seafarers (Seaside here in the UK), it doesn't include an additional starter set of treasure and victory cards like Intrigue did, but introduces a couple of new mechanics.
One is duration cards that have effects on the subsequent turn as well as the turn they're played.
Another are the mats where certain cards allow you to place cards aside to be reclaimed later.
Thirdly there are two cards that use tokens for different effects: The Embargo that lets you 'poison' cards in supply so that taking them gets a curse card and the Pirate that allows you to gain tokens by raiding cash (like a thief) and then use those tokens instead of cash.
I like it with the expansions as they massively enhance replayability, but it can seem overwhelming when introducing them to a new player. Carrying it all around is starting to be a problem as well. But a fun game, although Xarls' friend's comment about competitive shuffling does have some merit.
EDIT: @Torrillan Intrigue adds quite a bit more interaction, and some cards where you have a choice of a couple of things to do, but it is a lot more complex. There's a lot more explanation text on some of the cards than in the base game. Just a heads up
There's also another special (at least in English. Can't imagine why it wouldn't be in German too): The Envoy. This allows you draw five cards, reveal them and the player on your left discards one. The rest go into your hand. It's basically a super-strength smithy except you won't get the best card. Still very powerful.
Yes, it is available. I think it is close to be overpowered. IIRC, it costs four. For this price, it is very powerful.
The German sets seem to be rather close, if not identical, to the original ones. Seaside is just an expansion, not a stand-alone game, as well.
Thanks for the description. I think somebody will get that expansion soon.
Stefan
My brother-in-law has the basic game, intrigue, seaside and prosperity so far. We played a few rounds with random cards from all sets last sunday, and it was a lot of fun. The cards from seaside that are lasting are a nice tactical element.
Stefan
I love it, and all of the expansions :) It's my favourite game right now.
I bought the main game last night. My mom beat me at the first game, but we had a blast. She kept buying all the markets... lol. So towards the endgame, she was playing three a turn and buying up everything else. I learned though.
In the second game we played, I bought laboratories and markets when I could afford them. Very cool.
Question on tactics. I know the chapel card works well when you have the witch in play and curses going everywhere, but my mom was confused about having it in a game without the witch. I kind of thought it could be useful for getting rid of the estates and stuff that were cluttering up the hand too often. Anyone else want to share what to do with the chapel card?
My thought on the chapel is that you can use it early in the game to keep your hand small but build up money:
So, buy a chapel. Buy a silver.
Trash coppers so you hand is basically silver, & 1 copper. Buy another silver.
Repeat, until you hand is basically chapel, 3 silvers.
Start buying gold, trash your silvers, until you hand is essentially chapel & 4 golds.
At that point, you can start buying your provinces.
Someone's been reading The Ascetic Virtues, but I like your continual service to the church.
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I need some help. I am playing with the pirate and ship expansion, and there's a special campaign mode, where I have to buy 12 ships and win the game:
Playing with four players. We are playing with: Lighthouse, Warehouse, Pirate Ship, Treasure Map, Ghost Ship, Merchant Ship, Explorer, and Wharf.
I have spent about 6 hours of my life on this little game, and its beginning to be annoying. (Whereas before it was enjoyable).
My main problem is that when I'm scrambling to buy ships, everyone else eventually gets to the point where they're buying Provinces. Or else three stacks go down to 0 very quickly.
I've tried the Pirate Ship approach to try to keep my opponent's coin reserves low, but usually if I don't start by building the Wharf as soon as possible, I won't have enough Buys to purchase enough ships before getting too far into the game.
Any suggestions, tactical advice?
I bought the main game last night. My mom beat me at the first game, but we had a blast. She kept buying all the markets... lol. So towards the endgame, she was playing three a turn and buying up everything else. I learned though.
In the second game we played, I bought laboratories and markets when I could afford them. Very cool.
Question on tactics. I know the chapel card works well when you have the witch in play and curses going everywhere, but my mom was confused about having it in a game without the witch. I kind of thought it could be useful for getting rid of the estates and stuff that were cluttering up the hand too often. Anyone else want to share what to do with the chapel card?
We use it primarily when the Feast card is in use. You can use it to trash Feast, which needs to be trashed in order to get the benefit on the card (being able to "purchase" one card of value up to 5 coins). It's a pretty effective combo and using the two in conjunction with each other can either build up Duchy's (which cost 5 coins) quickly, or actual useful cards rather quickly. When both are out I usually start off by buying a couple of Chapels, then buy feasts.
Bella Sara Charter Superscriber
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We use it primarily when the Feast card is in use. You can use it to trash Feast, which needs to be trashed in order to get the benefit on the card (being able to "purchase" one card of value up to 5 coins). It's a pretty effective combo and using the two in conjunction with each other can either build up Duchy's (which cost 5 coins) quickly, or actual useful cards rather quickly. When both are out I usually start off by buying a couple of Chapels, then buy feasts.
That's not how Feast works. Feast trashes itself when played, and, as a result, you can get a card costing up to 5. If you trash a Feast with Chapel, you didn't play the Feast and you don't get a card.
Chapel is one of the best cards in the game. DMFTodd laid out the strategy above - trash everything in your original deck, replacing it with silvers and golds. Eventually, you might want to pick up some card draw to keep the thing moving in the end game, but a chapeled deck can take control of a game and end it very quickly.
(Been playing a ton of online dominion over the past few weeks...)
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Bella Sara Charter Superscriber
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I need some help. I am playing with the pirate and ship expansion, and there's a special campaign mode, where I have to buy 12 ships and win the game:
Playing with four players. We are playing with: Lighthouse, Warehouse, Pirate Ship, Treasure Map, Ghost Ship, Merchant Ship, Explorer, and Wharf.
I have spent about 6 hours of my life on this little game, and its beginning to be annoying. (Whereas before it was enjoyable).
My main problem is that when I'm scrambling to buy ships, everyone else eventually gets to the point where they're buying Provinces. Or else three stacks go down to 0 very quickly.
I've tried the Pirate Ship approach to try to keep my opponent's coin reserves low, but usually if I don't start by building the Wharf as soon as possible, I won't have enough Buys to purchase enough ships before getting too far into the game.
Any suggestions, tactical advice?
I don't understand - does severyone have to buy 12 ships, or just you?
The fundamental problem I see with your set up is that it's all terminal actions except Lightouse and Warehouse, and all the card draw is terminal. I'd probably open with warehouse and a silver or warehouse and a treasure map, spend the second shuffle trying to buy a Warf and another Treasure Map. Use the Warehouses to find the Treasure Maps to get Gold, then use the Warf and its extra buys to keep getting Warehouses, Warfs, Gold and Provinces. If Pirate Ship is used a lot by your opponents, invest in some lighthouses. I wouldn't really want any of the ships in this set up, particularly not without a +2 action card. Plus, Warf is extremely powerful - taking it out would increase the chances of the other cards seeing play. Otherwise, a player who focuses on Warf will likely take over the game and win pretty quickly.
We use it primarily when the Feast card is in use. You can use it to trash Feast, which needs to be trashed in order to get the benefit on the card (being able to "purchase" one card of value up to 5 coins). It's a pretty effective combo and using the two in conjunction with each other can either build up Duchy's (which cost 5 coins) quickly, or actual useful cards rather quickly. When both are out I usually start off by buying a couple of Chapels, then buy feasts.That's not how Feast works. Feast trashes itself when played, and, as a result, you can get a card costing up to 5. If you trash a Feast with Chapel, you didn't play the Feast and you don't get a card.
Chapel is one of the best cards in the game. DMFTodd laid out the strategy above - trash everything in your original deck, replacing it with silvers and golds. Eventually, you might want to pick up some card draw to keep the thing moving in the end game, but a chapeled deck can take control of a game and end it very quickly.
(Been playing a ton of online dominion over the past few weeks...)
I had to double check the rules, but it looks like we've been doing it wrong. That's what happens when you read several rulebooks in a row back to back. (I'd been using a rule from another card game that essentially confused the issue for us).
Oh well, at least it's an easy adjustment.
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Bella Sara Charter Superscriber
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There're are a few little rules that surprised me, but it's not nearly as technical as magic rules. One thing I have to constantly remind people is that you don't discard a card after you play it - you keep it in front of you until your turn ends and then you discard all cards in play. Otherwise, you could theoretically shuffle a card and play it twice in the same turn.
The other interaction that tends to cause confusion is Goons + Throne Room or King's Court. Unlike in Magic, the virtual copies of the card created by Throne Room/KC aren't technically "in play". So, if you Throne Room a Goons, you still only get +1 VC per card bought. However, if you use Village to play two Goons, you'd get +2 VC per card bought (+1 VC/Goons in play).
Also, it's a quasi-official rule that, if someone plays King's Court + Possession, you have the right to slap them with a large Atlantic cod.
There're are a few little rules that surprised me, but it's not nearly as technical as magic rules. One thing I have to constantly remind people is that you don't discard a card after you play it - you keep it in front of you until your turn ends and then you discard all cards in play. Otherwise, you could theoretically shuffle a card and play it twice in the same turn.
The other interaction that tends to cause confusion is Goons + Throne Room or King's Court. Unlike in Magic, the virtual copies of the card created by Throne Room/KC aren't technically "in play". So, if you Throne Room a Goons, you still only get +1 VC per card bought. However, if you use Village to play two Goons, you'd get +2 VC per card bought (+1 VC/Goons in play).
Also, it's a quasi-official rule that, if someone plays King's Court + Possession, you have the right to slap them with a large Atlantic cod.
I think perhaps because it's much more streamlined than most CCG's it's easy to over think. One problem I have (and I'm fairly confident the Feast card is the only card I've significantly confused as I only have the base game so far) is having read 3 different set of card game rules back to back during the time I first got this game: Two out of print CCG's and this one (not to mention I've recently picked up Magic again).
Overall I rather enjoy this game, and I'm looking to pick up a few of the expansions for it now.
Great game, one of my favorites to the date. Friend of mine bought this as he has been playing it for a while so he felt that he needed to show awesomeness of Dominion to others. I like how this game works: you can build your own pack and play your own game and beat others with it. There isn't many ways in basic version to totally ruin one's game (like in Munchkin), you can make it bit difficult but you can't win the game by just harrasing others.
Waiting to day when friend buys expansion.
but you can't win the game by just harrasing others.
::cough:: Witch ::cough:: My family hates that card.
but you can't win the game by just harrasing others.::cough:: Witch ::cough:: My family hates that card.
Witch is annoying but it is so good that "all" will buy it and suddenly all curse cards have gone. Then destroy those annoying curses with chappel or that card which let you destroy one card and you can take card which value is two higher (don't know name in english, I've only played finnish version). I often happily collect curses and then slowly destroy them. Yeah I might have some after at the end but I have noticed that some players just don't get rid of those and I can win but small marginal. On the other hand we all are beginners but owner of the game.
but you can't win the game by just harrasing others.::cough:: Witch ::cough:: My family hates that card.
I've yet to see a Witch heavy deck give victory to the user. We've played a lot of Dominion over the last 2 years and the Witch, will always causing some concern when it shows up, rarely gets bought out and the person using the Witch has never won the game ime.
Now Gardens on the other hand - if that card shows up I do everything in my power to buy them as quickly as possible. I have never lost a game when Gardens is in the mix.
We just got the Seaside expansion and tried it our last night. I cannot figure out why they felt the need to put those 'player mats' in the box. Pretty much useless imo.
Dominion is a recent addition to our gaming group. We have the Core, Intrigue, Seaside, and Prosperity.
The core and Intrigue are both great. Seaside's persistent cards are a great addition, but the rest of the cards are either a bit too wordy or rehashes of previous cards. Prosperity has been my favorite set. The unusual Treasure cards are awesome, and the really high-cost cards make mid- and late-game, where you end up with that dreaded 7 coin hand, more interesting. The additional Colonies and Platinum also see a lot of play in our group.
I've played with both Alchemy and Cornucopia. They are okay, the new mechanics presented are cool. Just not that good.
Hitherlands expansion was just announced. Cannot wait. Gotta love the description:
'The world is big and your kingdom small. Small when compared to the world, that is; it's moderate-sized when compared to other kingdoms. But in a big world like this one - big when compared to smaller worlds anyway, if such things exist; it's moderate-sized when compared to worlds of roughly the same size, and a little small when compared to worlds just a little larger - well, to make a long story short - short when compared to longer stories anyway - it is time to stretch your borders. You've heard of far-off places - exotic countries, where they have pancakes but not waffles, where the people wear the wrong number of shirts, and don't even have a word for the look two people give each other when they each hope that the other will do something that they both want done but which neither of them wants to do. It is to these lands that you now turn your gaze.'
It's been entirely too long since I've played Dominion. Some of the card combos get outright CRAZY if you get that one turn that you need. I once bought three Provinces in one turn by making liberal use of Throne Room, Festival, Smithy, and a couple of others that I don't quite remember. I love Throne Rooming Throne Rooms. :D