Dominion - Session Report

My wife and I played a couple of games of Dominion last night.  As usual, we used a random set of kingdom cards from all of the sets we have (see list in Boardgame Collection).

Game 1

 

In the first game I planned to go for the treasure maps and use the cartographer to try and get them together.  The name synergy of using the cartographer to find the maps just an added bonus.  The problem I ran into is that by focusing on the maps I didn't have 5 coins to spend until it was too late, so the plan fell apart.  As well, my attempts at using the crossroads was hampered by us using the Dark Ages starting cards in place of the three estates.  My wife ended up using a couple of Goons and Death Carts to walk all over me.  Final score was 47 to 31.

 

 

Game 2

In the second game I used the trader to ditch my Estates and get Silvers instead, which worked rater well.  I then used Shanty Towns and  Spys to build towards Alters.  In the end the province split was 5-3, but I also had a bunch of Duchys gained through the Alters, which allowed me to win the game 42 to 28.

Dominion - Count Score During the Game?

One of the things that I struggle with while playing Dominion is how closely to keep track of the score during the game.  Knowing where I stand during the game can greatly affect my strategy, and the final outcome of the game as well.

During most games I keep track of exactly how many provinces (or colonies if they are being used) everyone has and keep a an eye on how many other point cards everyone has, without necessarily keeping an exact count.  Although I have played a few three and four player games, I have played many more two player games, which makes it easier to track everything.  I have done it enough times now that I know I am capable of keeping an exact count of the score in a two player game, but the extra effort needed means that I am not nearly as social as when I don't.  Because I play the majority of the games against my wife, the social aspect is important to me, and even more so to her.  So what is the right balance?

We played a game earlier this week, which highlights what happens when I don't even keep an eye on the points cards!

As usual, we played a random set (using the randomizer cards) from among Dominion (Original), Intrigue, Seaside, Prosperity, Dark Ages and Hinterlands.  The set was: Poor House, Sage, Fishing Village, Coppersmith, Feast, Pillage, Minion, Tactician, Nobles & Forge.

Dominion Kingdom Card Set, 19-Aug-2014

I started with a 2-5 split, which actually seemed worse in this set.  I took a Poor House, thinking that I might be able to get a couple, and then dump a bunch of coppers with Forge.  The problem is that I wasn't able to get anywhere near 7 coins until I was able to get a bunch of other cards.  In the end I think I used them maybe twice, and for 1-2 coin each time.  What ended up working for me was a combination of Fishing Villages and Tacticians; I would have the coins from the fishing villages each turn, and every other turn was a big one, and I could get a province on most of these turns.  However, by the time I got that up and running my wife was way ahead, and I (knowingly) split the provinces 4-4.  I had picked up a Nobles along the way, but had dumped my estates, and I thought this would be enough to squeak out the win.  When we added up the score though, I had lost 29-26.  Turns out my wife had kept her estates and had also bought a noble that I hadn't kept track up.  Had I known all of this I probably would of been very close to being able to buy a duchy per turn, and might of been able to get enough before she got the last province or two.  

In this particular game I simply didn't keep track since I was so tired (my wife is too, and new baby will do that), but it still comes back to how closely I want to track the scores during the game.  I am competitive, and want to win, but if it starts to seem like work it totally ruins the fun of playing for me.

Dominion - First Blogged Game

Dominion is one of my favourite games, and one my wife is willing to play with me fairly regularly.

When we play, we generally select a set of kingdom cards randomly using the randomizer cards, from among the expansions we have: Dominion (Original), Intrigue, Seaside, Prosperity, Dark Ages and Hinterlands. This gives us a huge variety of results, but I usually tweak them a bit before we play.  I want to make sure that there is a range of costs available (i.e. not just 2, 5 and 5+) and I also try to have some variety in the mechanics so that multiple strategies/combos are available.  Sometimes they end up working great, other times not so much.  We will play with platinum/colonies if the first one selected is from Prosperity, and with the alternate starting cards if the second card selected is from Dark Ages.

A couple of nights ago we played with the following set; Border Village, Duchess, Ghost Ship, Hermit, Ironworks, Mine, Native Village, Scavenger, Scout and Storeroom.  In this one we played with the Dark Ages alternate starting cards.

I was originally super excited, thinking that this would be a great set.  A couple of plus actions, a plus cards, a plus buy, and a bunch of cards that seem to naturally fit into combos (scout, native village, scavenger).  As we started to play, I just couldn't get my deck going.  I didn't hit 6 coins at all near the beginning, so all my plus actions were from the native village, and without a specific plan its ability is actually more frustrating than useful.  My wife managed to hit a couple of Border Village buys, which got her deck going pretty well.  As a result I started focusing on hermits, and managed to get a few madmen into my deck, which I was able to stack with a native village to pick up my whole deck a couple of times, each resulting in being able to buy two provinces.  That is the only thing that made me able to squeak out a win, 36 to 31 if I recall correctly.

This one was interesting enough that I might actually try playing with this identical set again sometime in the future, which would be a first for us (other than the pre-defined ones in the rulebooks).