While at first glance Dominion appears to be a board game where you’re given a giant map to battle, it’s actually the opposite. Here you build your empire with the help of cards. Everything is basically at stake here. Today we’ll be looking at the main version of this well-received work, as well as The Coast, the first re-release of this idiosyncratic card board game.
Number of players: 2 – 4
Game time: 30 – 45 min.
Price: 1069 CZK (Muzzle)
Provided by: Albie
Age: 10+
In Dominion, you become a poor noble with great potential.
The basic idea of Dominion is that you build a deck of cards. Its shape is really up to you, but you only have ten shapes to start with. Seven cards represent finances, and the other three offer you goods, representing victory points. At the beginning of each round, you have in your hand five cards from your deck, consisting of exactly ten of the mentioned cards, the range of which you expand by buying new pieces with money. So you can buy score cards, extra money or event cards.
We’ll probably start with a preview of the scorecards. The ones in the base version of Dominion give the player nothing but victory points. Their prices vary, as does the number of points you can expect to earn after purchasing them. However, they don’t give you anything extra, so you’ll have to count on that; buying them won’t really help you, because you won’t be able to get other cards thanks to them. Financial cards have a completely different meaning for you. They are often used to obtain new items. At the start you only have copper coins, with which you can buy silver or gold coins. It mainly depends on how much you can spend. After all, every penny has its own value.
And of course there are action cards representing buildings, citizens and events that might occur in a medieval city. In total, the basic version of Dominion offers you 25 action cards. Each of them has a certain impact on the game. For example, the blacksmith card will give you the ability to draw three pieces from your deck when drawn. The market then allows you to draw one card, you can unload one card, you have one extra copper currency, and even worse, you can buy another card. The actions of individual characters are interesting. Militia, for example, as part of its action forces other players to discard X cards, you can help against it with defensive cards that can protect you from such an action.
When playing Dominion, there are always three stages in front of you. The action phase essentially allows you to perform one free action, after which you can perform more if you collect enough interesting cards that allow you to play more pieces. After you play, comes the shopping-oriented part. At this stage, you can work with coin cards and virtual coins that are located on the laid out cards. With this amount you will be able to buy as many cards from the common promotion as you have enough funds for.
You then leave the money on the table and send it to the discard pile as part of the cleanup phase. You only mix it when you run out of the refill pack. A game of Dominion ends when a pack of provinces or three packs in the general pool are emptied. Then you add up the victory points and you’re done.
Dominion – The Coast Brings Pirates and Far Lands
Isn’t “building” medieval cities enough for you? Then there’s the Dominion – Coast expansion for you, which contains a really big bunch of cards that expand on the gameplay of the base version of Dominion. One of the main innovations is a new type of action. In addition to defense and attack cards, there are also long-term pieces.
Long-term cards differ from regular cards primarily in that they do not disappear during the Cleanse. Well, at least with the first one. You’ll only take them out of play as part of the next clearing event, so you’ll benefit from them for at least one round. For example, in one turn you receive two actions and one money from the Fishing Village. In the second, you can count on one action and one money, so you can suck a decent amount out of it in two turns.
Some long-term cards have a relatively large impact. However, this is not the only news that the Dominion – Coast expansion brings. We also have new maps, and with them, in addition to new visuals and names, comes a trio of fresh concepts. Undoubtedly, one of the most important aspects is the choice of guidelines. Now you will find more options that can be implemented on the cards. The second new feature is the Overview tab, which allows you to look at your draft deck, for example, and then return a piece to your deck. The latest innovation is the “in play” instruction associated with most long-term cards. As a result, there is no shortage of combo cards with actions and sometimes victory points.
With the Coast expansion, Dominion becomes a worthy choice for dozens of hours.
After ten Dominion games, I have to say that it is an extremely addictive game that, despite its considerable accessibility, offers incredible replay value as well as the tension associated with progressing each game. What a coincidence, what a different development of events. Combined with the Coast expansion, this is an obvious choice for any player who enjoys such a well-designed game format. However, you shouldn’t expect anything else from her, because the prime cards are being played here.
We would like to thank Czech game distributor Albi for providing us with a review copy of the Dominion + the Coast expansion.
Source :Indian TV
