let dash off dot com

first impressions is a series of board game reviews.  all commentary is based upon the first time the author and companions play the game “straight outta the box,” and do not reflect prolonged exposure to the game.  reviews are designed to give a quick ‘first impression’ of a board game, with the hopes that it will encourage more thoughts (and support) for some of the more uncommon board games out there.  we will also heavily refer to board game geek, which is widely considered the spot on the internet for board game news.

Dominion is a medieval-themed, expandable, and versatile card game with a healthy balance of luck and strategy.  Players win when they acquire more victory points than the other player; these VPs are tabulated at the end of the game.  VPs are styled mostly after titles of land or property; by the end of the game, you could have acquired several Estates, Provinces, or Duchies.

Until Dominion, I’d never played any other sort of card games beyond traditional types such as poker, or a brief affair with Magic: The Gathering in my younger days.  This card game was a breath of fresh air, in more ways than one.  For example, the way that the game proceeds is all about adding new cards to your deck, or exchanging old ones for new ones.  At the end of your turn, you discard your entire hand, and draw a new hand before you start the next round.

The drawing-and-discarding mechanic of the game was a stumbling block for me at the outset, and this may discourage new players from trying it.  You may end up spending a lot of time shuffling cards as well, which may discourage those not already ‘drinking the kool-aid’.  That being said, these are minor issues, and after some shepherding from a more experienced player, I was able to smoothly cruise from one round to the next.  I actually won a game against him (by the narrow margin of a single victory point!) before we packed the game up for good.

Cards vary in appearance, function, and usefulness; although this game definitely had a medieval theme (and perhaps a little light fantasy sprinkled in there as well), it could easily have been a science-fiction or even an urban planning game world.  The artwork and theme do their best to conceal the intricate game mechanics, that could easily be applied to some other milieu.

There are over ten smaller decks of cards per game from which you purchase or trade out to build your deck.  I found this a fascinating aspect to the game, as you could pick and choose which of these smaller decks you would include in the game.  By choosing different combinations of cards–each with different functions–each new game calls for a subtlety that an over-arching, one-size-fits-all strategy cannot match.  For example, players may be tempted to purchase the ’saboteur’ card to reduce the number of valuable cards in their opponents’ hand, or perhaps they want to pursue more end-game VPs by adding Gardens to their hand.  If Curses (which subtract VPs in the endgame) are included, a Witch or Swindler may come in handy.  In fact, it was all these options that make the game not necessarily overwhelming, but perhaps too complex for its own good.

In the beginning of the game, it’s tempting to simply go for Wealth cards, as these help you purchase more Action and Attack cards.  Eventually a player must switch their strategy to acquiring Victory cards, which add VPs to their total at the endgame.  Within that normal trajectory, there are a vast array of Attack and Action cards to purchase, many of which add more Actions to a player’s turn.  If even one of the players loads up on these, this slows the game down exponentially, leading to a loss of player interaction, and much longer games.  One player may be totally absorbed in the strategy they’ve cooked up (however flawed), while the other player sits back for the next five minutes or so, waiting for their turn to begin.  These moments of ‘absorption’ can be traced back to the fundamental game mechanics, so only those who refine their strategies over time or otherwise know the game quite well can consistently avoid this.

There’s also the risk of a player’s deck ’stalling out,’ which I encountered at least once.  It’s tempting to pick up VPs as soon as you’re able to purchase them.  However, as they are not Wealth cards (which allow you to purchase more cards) or Actions (which allow you to do more in a single round), if you have a hand full of Victory cards, your round will be somewhat useless.  My recommendation is to spend the first three rounds or so building up a strategy of Wealth acquisition and a few key Action cards, and don’t even consider Victory cards until after you have a basic strategy rolling.

I consider the game an “expandable” one, because players can purchase additional sets of cards to add to the already robust starter set.  The experienced player who introduced me to the game had two additional expansion sets, but we didn’t even touch those; we had several hours of engaging games with just the original set.  Even so, I can see how even more strategic options can be a tempting addition to the original game…and help keep the game company in business.

To sum up, after the initial learning curve was overcome, I was very entertained by Dominion.  The wide assortment of strategies allowed by the different combinations of smaller decks makes for a new game experience each time you play.  Keeping the game short by refining my strategy into a “finely-wrought VP-gathering machine” will be my goal.  Next time we have game night, hopefully Dominion makes another appearance.

please note: all photos taken from board game geek.

Tags: board games, writing //