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Dominion. Game Review

Good day, Your Excellency! Like the deep roots of your descendants, you are the ruler, the only king of a small, sweet kingdom in a world of lakes, streams and vast green forests. But if you compare you and your descendants, you are full of goals and endowed with dreams! Yes, a cute little kingdom is good, but you are a king, you already need something more! You need it! But in order to unite disparate lands that do not yet imagine and do not understand that they will be better off under your cozy wing, you will have to work hard!

But there was a small snag. This idea stuck in the minds of other rulers! And there is nowhere to go; now we will have to fight for every piece of land. The path to victory is an army, good and smart assistants and, of course, ensuring the treasury. Don't expect your parents to be proud of your actions, but we know for sure that your paternal grandfather will definitely appreciate the essence of what is happening! Go for it!

Each player will have a deck of cards. It includes the resources of the kingdom, the lands of the state, various actions. The beginning will not be so bright, you will collect various resources and spend copper coins. By the end of the game, the winner will be the richest, smartest, kindest and most strategically savvy ruler!

The more points you have, the closer you are to creating your own utopian kingdom!

Preparation

Let's begin our review! The first player must be chosen using the compliance method or by lot. Then you will move in a circle and the next game will be started by the person sitting to the left of the pioneer.

7 copper and 3 copper ore are collected. All this is mixed and placed on the table reverse side. The participant’s own deck is ready, you need to draw 5 cards from it.

In a board game, not all cards are played. Those that remain in the box will be called reserves. They are laid out separately in some place on the gaming table. If you look closely, its type will be indicated below on the card. Discarded cards are called dumps.

Game process

Each turn the player performs 3 phases:

Actions: You can play an action card

Acquisitions: well, you probably guessed it, the purchasing process is underway.

Clearing: after the first two phases there is a discard phase and drawing 5 cards from the deck

At the end of the last phase, the turn goes to the next participant.

Actions

If you have a card that says “Action”, then you can play it. In the very the beginning is coming purchasing various cards for copper coins, so you won’t see action cards for the first couple of turns. The action card involves following the instructions written on it. While all instructions on the card are being carried out, it remains in the participant’s personal zone, then goes into the discard pile. More details can be found in the Game Rules section.

Issues

Dominion (basic version)
Dominion. Seaside
Dominion. Intrigue

To play we post:

Three decks of treasure cards, gold, silver and copper. The largest number of copper cards.
Three decks of victory cards, they are green.
Ten decks of action cards.

The essence of the game. Gold is needed to purchase cards, and victory cards are needed to ensure a win. The person who has the most victory cards at the end of the game is the one who whitewashed. There are a large number of action cards to win. There are 25 of them, but 10 are needed to play. That is, we select each game from total number There are 10 action cards, this provides good playability and variety in the game. The gameplay is constantly built in different ways and each time the game feels as if it is new. We take out 10 decks of 10 cards each (one deck contains 10 identical cards) and lay them out on the table. There are action cards of attack, reaction, etc. For example, thief, spy, witch are attack cards. An attack is a kind of action when we claim some value from other players, their money, cards. Among the action cards there are witch cards, if they are present, we must put curse cards into the game, they will be received by the players on whom the witch has placed a curse. According to the rules, the game is from 2 to 4 people, if you want to increase number of players and play 6, you will need to buy the add-on and combine the two games. Participants are given 7 copper cards (let's take a game for two as an example) and 3 estate cards. An estate with the number 1 is the minimum victory card and is worth one point. The resulting cards are the player's deck. We carefully shuffle it and place it face down, then we draw 5 cards from there. On the cards below is written the cost in coins, in order to buy them you need to pay the appropriate amount.

Example: We got 3 copper and 2 estates in our hands. We buy 1 treasure map - silver, since it costs 3 copper. Estate cards are only needed at the end of scoring, so we discard them. We put the purchased card of silver and 3 copper in the same discard. In total, we have a stack of cards that we can play when our entire deck runs out.

During his opponent's turn, he dropped 5 copper, and he used it to buy a witch. Throws it all into its discard. The first player goes next and takes the remaining 5 cards from his deck. There are 4 coppers and 1 estate. Silver is bought again and the goods are discarded. During the second player's turn, he takes out the remaining 2 coins and buys an estate with them. The cards are discarded.

The most difficult part of a board game is shuffling the discard pile and forming a completed deck. The new deck will contain previously purchased cards, that is, by buying them we ensure our future for subsequent moves. After shuffling the cards, we again collect 5 pieces.

Example: We come across 4 copper and 1 silver. We buy a thief with them and dump everything. The second player similarly comes across only money, we buy the thief.

The fun begins when we come across action cards. In one turn you can make one purchase and one action.

Example : The second player comes across a witch, according to the rules of the game of witches, she gives him the right to take two cards from the deck, and she also places a curse on each opponent in the form of a curse card. We take the curse card. What it gives, firstly, can come across in the hand and interfere as an unnecessary card, and at the end of the game it will also kill one estate. Our move. A village comes into your hand, giving you the right to play two actions per turn and draw one card. We collect a card and a thief comes across. The thief card means that all other players reveal the top two cards of their deck. If there are treasure maps among them, we can take them or throw them out of the game. Next we buy a moat. It helps to defend against the attacks of a thief; to do this, during an attack by a thief, you just need to show it.

There's another one interesting map- Throne room. It allows you to play an action card from your hand and multiplies its ability by two, for example a village would give two cards and allow you to perform 4 actions. Action cards add any number of purchases, money, allow us to spy on the enemy, and discard unnecessary cards. The more expensive the card, the better it will play in the future. The game ends when any three decks are empty, or the deck with large estates runs out, but you can come up with some of your own rules, or something that will determine its end.

Full rules can be downloaded.

“Like your parents, you are a monarch. The ruler of a small cute kingdom - rivers, forests and all that. But, unlike your parents, you have ambitions! You want a bigger and prettier kingdom - more rivers, forests, and all that. Do you want yourself real possessions! And there are a lot of “independent” pieces of land around, ruled by toy “lords”, but in reality mired in anarchy. Well, how can you not bring civilization there by uniting them under your flag?

But what is this?! Is the idea really so obvious that neighboring monarchs also thought of it? You'll have to be proactive: grab no-man's lands and drive your rivals away from them. Acquire minions, start construction, strengthen the castle, fill the treasury... Hmm, perhaps your parents would not be delighted with this. Although, if you dig into history, all this is quite in the spirit of your maternal ancestors...”

These words open the book of rules of the game, which will be discussed today. "Dominion" was a hit in Essen in 2008, and remains a hit now: on this moment seventh place in the BGG ranking with 12.5 thousand voters. The list of awards is also quite impressive; suffice it to say that it contains “Spiel des Jahres” and “Meeples Choice”.

So, before us is a card game for 2-4 people, played on average for 30-40 minutes. The theme is building the strongest kingdom possible, which is represented by a deck of cards. And here, before we speak further, we will have to remember the two whales on which we stand collectible card games (CCG):

each player in competition with the opponent(s) operates with your own deck;
acquiring cards and building your deck from them is an integral part of the player's lifestyle.

It would seem, what does this have to do with it, since Dominion is not a CCG? In fact, it has very much to do with it. The fact is that it reproduces these same two principles within the framework of the game traditional.

The difference with the CCG is that you will have to get cards for your deck not in stores and exchanges with other players, but from the “base”. The box contains a large number of cards with various effects (25 types in total), and before the start of the game, a certain subset of them is selected (specifically 10). Each player receives a minimum “starting set” (it is the same for everyone) - and go ahead! By paying with “money” cards from this set, you can buy cards from the “base” for your deck, and then use them to further develop the deck, as well as to acquire victory point cards.

There are three types of cards in total:

Action cards - allow you to do something or get some benefit.
Money cards - allow you to buy new cards for your deck.
Victory point cards - bring these same victory points at the end of the game. (In fact, there are also curse cards that do the same thing, but with the opposite sign, i.e. take away victory points.)

There are also combination cards that combine more than one type, but there are relatively few of them.

Players’ decks are constantly “scrolling”: cards played and paid for are discarded, and when the deck runs out, the discard is shuffled and used again. As in CCGs, there is a concept of “removing from the game” (here it is called the trash zone).

Each turn consists of three phases:

Actions. Here you can play an action card - by default only one, but some cards add another to be played immediately.
Purchases. Here you can buy a card from the “base” for your deck - again, by default only one, but some action cards (played in the previous phase) add the number of purchases. You can pay either with treasure cards from your hand or with “virtual” bonus money, which again is provided by some action cards from the previous phase. Purchased cards are placed in the discard pile.
Cleaning. After completing the actions of the two previous phases, the player discards the remaining cards from his hand and immediately takes five new ones from his deck.

Actually, this is what it is All rules! This is determined by the action cards played. As an example, let's look at three pieces (card images are taken from third-party sources - my copy of the game is still on its way to me - so don't be surprised at some color differences).

(Spy), when played, immediately gives its owner one card from the deck and the right to play another action card. Moreover, after this All players reveal the top cards of their decks, and the one who played the Spy decides whether to leave them there at the top or immediately put them in the discard pile. Such an action affecting other players is considered attack, which is what is written at the bottom of the map. (There are cards that allow you to repel or weaken other people’s attacks.)

(Village), when played, immediately gives its owner one card from the deck and the right to play two more action cards.

(Workshop), when played, gives the owner the right for free pick up into your deck any card from the base worth up to 4 inclusive (for example, the same Spy or the same Village). Let me remind you that after this there is a buying phase, when you can buy something else.

I think, looking at the Spy card, many have already found the answer to the question hanging in the air: There is interaction between players in Dominion. 🙂 Some cards (like Spy) allow you to play dirty tricks on others at the same time as benefiting yourself, some do exclusive and purely dirty tricks, and sometimes very vilely. The number of both is not so small.

The game ends when one of two conditions is met. Either the stack of Province cards in the “base” is depleted (these cards are the most valuable, each brings 6 victory points), or the three any stacks. The winner is the one who scored the most victory points (in case of a tie, the one who needed the fewest moves to do so, i.e. everything is determined by the position of the last player to move in relation to the one whose move opened the game).

Here the question may quite logically sound: what, exactly, is the point of the game? Why is it so catchy with such simple rules?

And the highlight is the same as in the CCG. 🙂 In the playable balance of the deck. I'll explain now.

There are five cards in your hand at the beginning of the turn. And this, I must say, is not a weak limitation! Because:

You need to collect victory point cards. But they will play their role only at the very end. And when they come to hand during the game, they will only uselessly take up space in it, hindering actions.
You need to have a lot of money to buy valuable cards. But the mentioned Province card, for example, costs 8 coins. And at the beginning of the game basically You cannot have more than five in your hand (five “copper” cards of one coin each, and only if you’re lucky). This means that you need to buy money “in large denominations”, but... a “gold” card with a value of three coins costs as much as six upon purchase! And even after purchasing them, small change of little value will stick in your hand, again hindering your actions.
You need to have powerful cards useful actions. But they are expensive (see point 2), and it is not a fact that they will arrive at the right time. This means you need to have some means of delivering them to your hand. Which again are powerful cards of useful actions - see point 3. 🙂

In general, the deck must be built with great intelligence. But not only that, she also has to play directly during the construction! Moreover, perhaps, somehow adapt to the actions of your opponents and their dirty tricks! So there is a zest, and a great one.

If you watch the actions of experienced players, it can be very impressive. An experienced player can build a deck that “scrolls” through the hand completely in one turn (and such a deck does not need a lot of money: why would there be a lot of it if they all end up in the hand anyway?). An experienced player can generously pour money and victory points into trash, and still win (because the deck will still have a clearly working mechanism for producing much more big money and much more victory points). This, of course, also depends on the composition of the “base”. In general, if you don’t see it for yourself, you won’t understand...

Spoon first concerns a gaming legend, and now I will again mention “Race for the Galaxy”. Here's the thing. Some who have played “Galaxy” note that they do not create an association in their heads between the game mechanics and the stated theme (building a galactic state). They say that the cards and their actions are unconvincingly tied to the theme.

So. If this sounds like you, then “Dominion” will seem to you completely drawn to its subject matter. 🙂 “Galaxy” in comparison is the pinnacle of logic and strict associations. 🙂

Even the cards given above as an example are quite sufficient. The spy, for example, is quite logical. And the Village?! Why is it so - “plus one card, plus two actions”? What does this have to do with the village name? (note that “plus two cards, plus one action” - this will be Laboratory. And “plus two coins, plus one purchase” - for some reason orub). Or here's the Workshop. With this card you can get a card in your deck for free Districts (Estate, one victory point, cost two coins). How, tell me, does the workshop ensure the territorial expansion of the kingdom?! 🙂 And many such examples can be given.

Second spoon becomes obvious if you open the game box and look inside. It contains exactly 500 cards - no more and no less! And cards different types You shouldn’t interfere with each other (otherwise preparing for each game will take a lot of time, it won’t seem like much).

From here, on the one hand, follows this “tray” storage method, as you see in the picture on the right. It’s reasonable and relatively convenient from a practical point of view, but it takes up a lot of space. In the gallery on BGG you can see how people distort it in order to minimize volume - filing cabinets with labeled dividers are especially popular. 🙂

On the other hand, this unambiguously follows the unspoken rule of the game: if you’ve gathered a party, please carefully arrange all the used cards into piles for the convenience of future games! And then select piles from the box for a new game, and (possibly) count out cards from them according to the number of players, and arrange them on the table in ascending order of value... It takes quite a lot of time, especially in comparison with fairly fast games...

On the third hand - buy 500 protectors! And put cards on them! And this is highly recommended, because the cards move around the hands and on the table extremely intensively. The good thing is that (according to reviews) the protected cards continue to fit into the box, albeit with some tricks.

Now let’s summarize, according to the already familiar and proven scheme.

Advantages of the game:

A very interesting mechanic, a kind of variation on the CCG theme, but without constantly spending money on developing the deck. A wide variety possible strategies depending on the composition of cards selected for the “base”. (Combinatorics suggests that there are 3,268,760 ways to choose 10 cards out of 25. Moreover, it is far from a fact that within each there is a single optimal strategy, and even if so, it still needs to be found...)
No one forces you to choose “base” cards at random. You can do this based on your gaming preferences. If you want intense dirty tricks in the munchkin spirit - turn on more cards with attacks. Do you want pure competition with complete absence interference - do exactly the opposite. To train beginners, you can take a set that excludes particularly sophisticated interactions and effects, etc. Some possible options are given in the rules. By the way, this is very convenient for holding tournaments.
Excellent scalability. “Dominion” plays great with any composition of players from the 2-4 stated by the publisher. To practice (or test a strategy), it is quite possible to race the deck alone.

Disadvantages of the game:

Form factor with all the ensuing consequences: inconvenient storage/carrying, manipulation between batches, the need for large quantities protectors. Detailed discussion above.
Quite a weak connection between the game mechanics and the legend. (You shouldn’t give the game to fantasy fans just because of the theme.) The details are again above.
In some “base” layouts, a very large downtime (waiting time for a move) may appear. Scrolling through a deck of two or three dozen cards, for example, takes a fair amount of time - during which other players can only wait. If there are more than two people playing, it can get quite boring. It is partly cured by the possibility of selecting a “base” for the situation (see advantages).

Ambiguous features of the game:

Despite the fact that the rules are very simple, practical mastery of the game will take a lot of time. This requires real experience. So Dominion is a game for those who are ready to learn and know how to do it. Until you are torn apart a dozen or two times by experienced players, you simply will not feel what the peculiarity and strength of certain cards are, and how they can be used with the greatest benefit. Are you okay with being torn while learning? 🙂 Decide for yourself.

Well, a few more comments at the end.

Firstly, Dominion can be played very well online (against live opponents) on the BrettspielWelt. There are even additions to the game implemented - albeit partially, but still noticeably increases interest. You can also play against the computer, which I wrote about quite recently. True, this computer partner is very weak, but in quality primary education and for basic training it will do.

Secondly, development is currently underway official computer version of the game. And I don’t know who it is, but I won’t spare money on it when it comes out.

Thirdly, just the other day SMART announced the upcoming localization of Dominion in Russia. They promise it already in the fall of 2010... however, until now they have extremely rarely met the stated deadlines. My forecast is unlikely before the New Year. 🙂 If anyone doesn’t understand, this is the good reason that was mentioned at the beginning of the review. 🙂

And fourthly and lastly. Curious what the Lately many auxiliary “Dominion” programs have appeared for mobile phones and PDA. Purpose - generation of a set of “bases” according to specified conditions. For example, which add-ons to use. Or so that the “base” includes cards of all available prices. Or that attack cards must include “antidotes”, etc. It is clear that this clearly indicates an increase in interest in the game.

Number of players (and optimal): 2-4 (2-4)
Difficulty of mastering: moderate
Preparation time: up to 5 minutes
Party time: up to 1 hour

Greetings, Your Majesty!

Yes, you, like a long line of your ancestors, are a monarch, the sole ruler of a small, cozy kingdom in a land of rivers and evergreen forests. But there is a significant difference between your ancestors and you: you are full of hopes and dreams! You need a larger and more comfortable kingdom, you are acutely aware of the lack of rivers, and in the forests you would like a greater variety of tree and shrub species. You need dominion! We will have to try to ensure that the surrounding freeholds, fiefs and fiefs, these pieces of land, miserably governed by small and untalented landlords, accept the gifts of civilization from your hands and unite into a powerful state under your banners.

This lyrical introduction, set out at the very beginning of the game rules, anticipates the introduction to the game “Dominion”. Actually, as soon as these lines are read, you can safely forget about the game’s plot and any hints of a lesser plot. Before us is a game whose action could take place anywhere and anytime. This is not a game about the Middle Ages or about a desperate struggle for power. This is a game about visually following the principle of Occam’s Razor, as well as about the work of Hercule Poirot’s favorite “gray cells”. You are disappointed? Intrigued? Don't rush to conclusions. Now let's figure it all out.

House of cards
The similarity of “Dominion” with collectible card games (hereinafter referred to as CCGs) is noticeable to the naked eye - they are hidden in a large cardboard box exclusively 500 cards. Of course, their names and purposes are very diverse: kingdom cards are the main resource of the game and basically allow you to manipulate your deck, victory cards are an indicator of points scored during the game, and treasure cards are needed to purchase all other cards, although they themselves are purchased for the same “currency”. Add to this curse cards, which are used to poison the lives of opponents, and special dummy cards, the only use of which is to replace lost brothers.

If you play the Lumberjack card this turn,
cutting gold will bring you two extra coins!

The differences from the CCG lie in the main idea of the game - here you don’t need to try to put together a super deck that kills the enemy on the second turn - all players start the game in equal conditions, and only the correctly chosen tactics of acquiring and playing certain publicly available cards can ensure victory. The price of a mistake in such conditions is quite high - an incorrectly chosen strategy at the start can lead to difficulties in the late game, and a fatal mistake in the pre-final race can cost victory in the game.

The players' moves proceed very quickly and consist of three textbook phases. Here they are:

Action phase, in which players lay out action cards from the deck and receive the pluses corresponding to a particular card;

Acquisition phase, during which players spend the money they have on hand to expand their deck with new cards:

Clearing phase- a phase during which unplayed cards are added to those played from the hand this turn, and a new hand of five cards is drawn.

Most expensive card
kingdoms in the game - adventurer

Triumph is awarded to the player whose deck at the end of the game contains the most victory cards - completely useless during the game, but the only ones important when it comes to determining the winner. This rule is the most important principle of the game, dictating the only correct approach, familiar to all CCG fans: the deck must be of a minimum size and contain maximum amount useful maps. A unique feature of Dominion is that at the moment when there are no more cards left in the deck, the player forms a new one from the cards in the discard pile, which means that the same card can appear during the game an almost unlimited number of times. It is in the ability to correctly compose your deck (read - choose the right ratio of kingdom cards, victory cards and treasure cards) that lies the secret of great achievements.

Need more gold!
After several games of Dominion, despite all the variety of tactics and the element of chance, the understanding comes that the game’s potential is by no means 100% revealed. In fact, the original Dominion is the closest thing to a core set in collector's editions. card games- no mind-blowing mechanics or complex strategies, the triumph of a bare idea, and that’s all. Of course, the developers also understood this, and therefore a decent number of additions have already been released for the game in the West. In the meantime, we are waiting for their official appearance on Russian market, let's take a closer look at them:

Dominion: Intrigue (2009) is a standalone expansion that allows you to increase the maximum number of players at one table to six people and includes many new cards, including special Decision Cards.

Dominion: Seaside (2009) - an add-on that requires the original Dominion or Intrigue. As the title suggests, this issue is dedicated to the sea and its role in the life of a medieval port city. In addition to the new Kingdom Cards, this set also contains special Duration Cards that last during your opponent's turn.

Dominion: Alchemy (2010) is a small expansion that requires one of the "big" editions of the game. “Alchemy” develops the theme of pseudo-scientific research that should lead the player to victory. The set traditionally includes a new type of cards - Potion Cards.

Dominion: Prosperity (2010) is a full-scale, but still not independent expansion dedicated to the role of, um, material goods in the gameplay.

Dominion: Cornucopia (scheduled for 2011) is another small addition that should feature an emphasis on card combinations, as well as various rewards for achieving those combinations.

How do I get to the library?
Indeed, Dominion is not lacking in variety of tactics. It is responsible for various types of kingdom cards, of which there are more in the game box than take part in each game. Thus, nothing prevents players from first getting comfortable with the basic sets offered for beginners by the authors, and then trying out more sophisticated layouts, which involve more complex tactics and an increased degree of intensity of the fight.

Lone thief. Mage and warrior
were not delivered to Dominion

Despite the previously mentioned lack of any plot, the names of the cards fit well with the mechanics of their action. Eg, forge allows you to “forge” an additional three cards from the deck, market adds a little bit of everything, and militia forces opponents to fold their cards, while simultaneously enriching the owner with extra gold for purchases. Lovers of the most different styles Games - from unbridled aggression to peaceful acquisitiveness - will satisfy you, there is room for any approach.

This is interesting: dominion - during the times of the former British Empire: a self-governing state that is part of this empire and depends on it for its internal and foreign policy (Dictionary Ozhegova).

Win-win lottery
After a certain number of games in Dominion, you can’t help but wonder: isn’t there a single winning strategy? Still, everyone here has equal starting conditions, and the variations of the kingdom cards on the table are finite. The correct answer is yes, there is such a strategy. Astute players will guess after a few rounds that the most easy way collect many, many victory points - buy the most expensive cards provinces at 8 USD each. While opponents are enthusiastically acquiring “interesting action cards to try out,” cold-blooded strategists are accumulating banknote cards of the maximum denomination in the deck, and if they have at least eight coins in their hand, they immediately acquire a province for themselves.

However, despite the reliability of this approach, the variability of the gameplay cannot be given up. In battles between equally experienced opponents, each player carefully monitors the actions of others and changes his strategy on the fly in such a way as to gain the greatest benefit, and at the same time harm the most successful neighbors.

Fun 2 of 3
advantages: the formula “easy to learn, difficult to master” is quite applicable here
flaws: the excitement of a game depends greatly on the level of opponents
Interaction 3 of 3
advantages: both harming opponents and defending against their machinations is extremely interesting
flaws: not found
Study 3 of 3
advantages: game mechanics are developed at the highest level
flaws: not found
Atmosphere 1 of 3
advantages: the features of a particular card go well with its name
flaws: the medieval atmosphere in the game is present only conditionally
Quality 2 out of 3
advantages: game box is ideal for storing cards
flaws: ascetic map design, minor localization errors

Verdict: An excellent tactical card game for experienced connoisseurs of the genre. Avid players of Magic: The Gathering and simply lovers of thoughtful games should highly appreciate the refined balance and variable game process"Dominion". The lack of atmosphere can be attributed to the reluctance of the authors to distract players from the main thing - the battle of wits.

Supplement from mikeiva :
http://dominionstrategy.com/ - the name explains it quite well: a bunch of articles on game strategy, it really helps to understand the basics and point your brain in the right direction. Let's say, for beginners (I know from myself!) it is not at all obvious why Chapel is so cool, which experienced players call the strongest card in the game.
http://play.goko.com/Dominion/gameClient.html - online Dominion. Both against a computer opponent and against living people. But we still need to be able to catch the latter. Often there are a lot of people, but everyone plays :)

Board game"Dominion"

Donald Vaccarino's Dominion board game is designed for a group of two to four people. It takes players to the Middle Ages. Each participant in the game becomes the head of a small state, surrounded by neighbors who are equally modest in size but not in ambition. One fine day, the sovereign, whose role is played by the player, decides that the state is pressing on his shoulders and would not hurt to expand it at the expense of his neighbors. But neighbors, which is typical, have similar ideas, so if you don’t take action, you can lose control over what you have.

In order to win this fight, you will have to use all the available potential of intrigue, personal connections, force and other measures in order to grab as many estates, duchies and provinces as possible under your wing.

The game was first released in 2008, and two years later a Russian localization appeared from the Hobby World company. In these and subsequent years, the game regularly won various awards. So what do people find so special about her? Let's figure it out now.

"Dominion" is sold in a medium-sized square box, on the lid of which there are images of knights approaching a small village. Most desktops that boast packaging of similar dimensions contain colorful playing fields, many tokens, and some are beautifully detailed miniatures depicting heroes and villains.

Dominion doesn’t have all this, and it doesn’t need it. In order to enter into a power struggle, you will only need cards, since this is a deck-building card game in which each player will build his own unique deck as the game progresses. And each card in its own way will lead him to victory.

There are a total of half a thousand cards in the box, divided into several decks. But in each game there are only seventeen decks, of which seven are included in any game in mandatory, and ten are selected randomly or completed in accordance with the sets recommended for novice players by the rules of the game.

Each type of card has its own personal properties, so changing the combinations of the decks participating in the game makes each game unique and forces you to develop new tactics each time. And it, in turn, is compiled not only on the basis of the types of cards available in the reserve, but also with an eye on the tactics chosen by the opponents.

Thus, the variability of Dominion is incredibly high. Actually, this is the main reason for its high popularity.

Cards that are required to play include Copper, Silver, and Gold Coins, Estates, Duchies, Provinces, and Curses. Each aspiring feudal lord has only seven coppers and three seedy provinces to his name, from which he makes a deck and takes five cards per hand. With these initial assets, he will have to conquer the nearby lands. Of course, this won't be easy.

To defeat all opponents, the player needs to score as many points as possible, brought by cards of various land plots. Accordingly, during the game you need to collect as many of them as possible. But how to do this if in most cases there are only five cards on your hand at a time, and the province costs eight coins? This exceeds the entire initial capital stored in the player’s personal deck at the beginning of the game.

This is where the rest of the cards in the game come to the rescue. Each turn a player can buy one of these and add it to their discard pile. When a player's deck is depleted, they will shuffle the discard pile and begin playing those cards again. Only now it will contain cards he bought on previous moves.

Thus, the deck continuously grows due to new cards of coins and land plots. But the most interesting possibilities are contained in the very ten types of kingdom cards that were randomly included in the game. During the Action Phase, these cards can be played to gain some benefits. For example, to receive additional money for a purchase in addition to the amount already in hand, to take a few more cards from the deck into your hand, or to play a certain number of additional cards, which allows you to build a whole chain of actions during a turn.

Inflicted curses take away victory points

There are also cards in the game aimed at counteracting opponents. For example, Militia can force them to reduce the number of cards in their hand, thereby depriving them of some options. And “Thief” completely forces opponents to throw away treasures that the player who played this card can collect for himself.

You can resist the mentioned dirty tricks by using the “Ditch” card, but it is not a fact that it will participate in the game. In addition, if you get carried away with digging fortifications, you may miss out on other necessary cards, which in the meantime will be stolen by your opponents.

Thus, you need to maintain a balance of cards in the deck at all times.

Firstly, you need to constantly increase your capital, since best cards and cost accordingly. At the same time, producing coppers that can be taken for free is fraught: when combinations with several actions and more than one purchase per turn are played, they will be much less useful than silver and gold.

Secondly, you need to buy cards of possessions, for the sake of which everything was started. Without them, victory simply cannot be achieved, no matter how much treasure the feudal lord accumulates.

Reserve cards are depleting, but players' decks are getting thicker

Thirdly, you need to constantly add new actions to your deck. If you only have money and possessions on your hand, then what should you play with? Dominion even has an Official card that forces opponents to return one winning card to the top of the deck so that they are guaranteed to draw it again the next turn and deprive themselves of one possible action.

In this case, you need to take into account the cards participating in the game in order to create some advantages for yourself and to protect yourself from possible attacks from the enemy.

Detailed rules take up only eight pages

The game ends if any three stacks of cards are sold out or if all province cards are gone. This circumstance can also be used for your own purposes - if a player is sure that he is in the lead in points, he can buy cards from the thinnest piles in order to finish the game faster, without allowing his opponents to gain strength.

The rules of the game are simple and summary can be placed on one piece of paper. You only need to read them once to master them. basic concepts, and all the other necessary information is located right on the maps.

To randomly select decks for a game, special substitute cards are used. There is one such card for each type. A deck is made from them, and ten cards randomly taken from it determine which decks will enter the game.

Cards without protectors fit perfectly in the organizer

The box is equipped with a plastic organizer, which has sections for each of the stacks. At first glance, this is very convenient, but, unfortunately, the organizer is not designed for cards with protectors. If thin decks of kingdoms can at least be shoved there, then a hefty stack of coppers dressed in protectors swells so much that it is not possible to place it in the appropriate section. The copper has to be placed flat between stacks of sectioned cards.

And without protectors it’s impossible to play Dominion. Since the cards are constantly shuffled throughout the game, several games will simply kill them if protective measures are not taken. And given that the cards in the game are always different, they will wear out unevenly.

Cards that have become thicker due to protectors do not fit in the compartments

In general, when buying a game, you need to immediately take care of the protectors for it.

Otherwise everything is great. The games are very dynamic, and the game really makes you flex your brains. At the same time, the board game is very easy to learn and even beginners who have not played the game before similar games, are able to win already in the first game. The main thing is to let them calmly study the properties of the cards that are in the game.

Greetings, Your Majesty!

House of cards

If you play the Lumberjack card this turn, cutting the gold will net you two extra coins!

The similarity of “Dominion” with collectible card games (hereinafter referred to as CCGs) is noticeable to the naked eye - they are hidden in a large cardboard box exclusively 500 cards. Of course, their names and purposes are very diverse: kingdom cards are the main resource of the game and basically allow you to manipulate your deck, victory cards are an indicator of points scored during the game, and treasure cards are needed to purchase all other cards, although they themselves are purchased for the same “currency”. Add to this curse cards, which are used to poison the lives of opponents, and special dummy cards, the only use of which is to replace lost brothers.

The players' moves proceed very quickly and consist of three textbook phases. Here they are:

The most expensive kingdom card in the game is the adventurer

Action phase, in which players lay out action cards from the deck and receive the pluses corresponding to a particular card;

Acquisition phase, during which players spend the money they have on hand to expand their deck with new cards:

Clearing phase- the phase during which unplayed cards are added to those played from the hand this turn, and a new hand of five cards is drawn.

Triumph is awarded to the player whose deck contains the most victory cards at the end of the game - absolutely useless during the game, but the only ones that matter when it comes to determining the winner. This rule is the most important principle of the game, dictating the only correct approach, familiar to all CCG fans: the deck should be of a minimum size and contain the maximum number of useful cards. A unique feature of Dominion is that at the moment when there are no more cards left in the deck, the player forms a new one from the cards in the discard pile, which means that the same card can appear during the game an almost unlimited number of times. It is in the ability to correctly compose your deck (read - choose the right ratio of kingdom cards, victory cards and treasure cards) that lies the secret of great achievements.

Need more gold!

After several games of Dominion, despite all the variety of tactics and the element of chance, the understanding comes that the game’s potential is by no means 100% revealed. In fact, the original Dominion is the closest thing to a core set in collectible card games - no mind-blowing mechanics or complicated strategies, a triumph of a bare idea, and that's all. Of course, the developers also understood this, and therefore a decent number of additions have already been released for the game in the West. While we are waiting for their official appearance on the Russian market, let's get to know them better:

How do I get to the library?

Lone thief. Mage and warrior in "Dominion"
didn't deliver

Indeed, Dominion is not lacking in variety of tactics. It is responsible for various types of kingdom cards, of which there are more in the game box than take part in each game. Thus, nothing prevents players from first getting comfortable with the basic sets offered for beginners by the authors, and then trying out more sophisticated layouts, which involve more complex tactics and an increased degree of intensity of the fight.

Despite the previously mentioned lack of any plot, the names of the cards fit well with the mechanics of their action. Eg, forge allows you to “forge” an additional three cards from the deck, market adds a little bit of everything, and militia forces opponents to fold their cards, while simultaneously enriching the owner with extra gold for purchases. Fans of a variety of play styles - from unbridled aggression to peaceful acquisitiveness - will be pleased, there is room for any approach.

This is interesting: dominion - during the times of the former British Empire: a self-governing state that is part of this empire and depends on it in its domestic and foreign policy ( Ozhegov's Explanatory Dictionary).

Win-win lottery

After a certain number of games in Dominion, you can’t help but wonder: isn’t there a single winning strategy? Still, everyone here has equal starting conditions, and the variations of the kingdom cards on the table are finite. The correct answer is yes, there is such a strategy. Astute players will realize after just a few rounds that the easiest way to score lots and lots of victory points is to buy the most expensive province cards for $8. each. While opponents are enthusiastically acquiring “interesting action cards to try out,” cold-blooded strategists are accumulating banknote cards of the maximum denomination in the deck, and if they have at least eight coins in their hand, they immediately acquire a province for themselves.

Diagnostics and diseases. Medicines from A to Z

Dominion. Game Review

House of cards

How do I get to the library?

Win-win lottery