Popular card game 'Dominion 2nd Edition' & extended version 'Dominion: Renaissance' play review to increase your territory while building a deck



'Dominion ' is a competitive card game in which the player becomes the lord of medieval Europe, thinks about his own tactics from the infinite existence, and expands the territory while building a deck according to it. The Japanese version of 'Dominion: Renaissance ', which was released in 2009 and won various game awards, was released on February 28, 2020, and the basic set and the extended version I actually played both with the editorial staff who had no experience with Dominion.

Dominion: 2nd Edition | | ANALOG GAME INDEX

http://hobbyjapan.games/dominion_2nd/

Dominion: Renaissance | | ANALOG GAME INDEX
http://hobbyjapan.games/dominion_renaissance/


◆ I played the basic set 'Dominion: Second Edition'
◆ I tried playing the expansion set 'Dominion: Renaissance'

◆ I played the basic set 'Dominion: Second Edition'
The package of 'Dominion: Second Edition' looks like this.



The number of players is 2 to 4, the play time is about 30 minutes, and the target age is 14 years old or older.



The contents are a manual, a card, and a board that serves as a disposal site. This Dominion: 2nd edition is the personal property of the editorial staff, so the card has already been opened.



The cards used in Dominion are roughly divided into two types: basic cards and kingdom cards . Of these, the basic cards consist of 'treasure cards,' 'victory points cards,' and 'curse cards.' The back of the card has this design.



There are three types of treasure cards: 'copper coins,' 'silver coins,' and 'gold coins.' At the bottom left of every card used in Dominion, the price at which the card can be purchased is written, and the treasure card is used as the currency for purchasing the card. The price of bronze coins is '0', so you can buy them no matter how difficult you are. On the other hand, gold coins must be purchased at '6'.



There are three types of victory point cards: 'Yashiki', 'Public territory', and 'Province'. The number of points written on the card is the victory point, and the person with the highest total number of victory point cards finally obtained wins.



Curse cards are cards with -1 victory points per card. It is a troublesome existence that comes into the deck depending on the conditions.



There are 25 types of kingdom cards, and the effects unique to the cards are written.



All cards can be stored in a box in a sorted state.



To prepare for the game, first place the basic cards in the center of the table. The place where the pile of cards is lined up in the center of the table is called 'supply'.



Then, you need to select 10 types from the Kingdom Card and arrange them in the supply. Use the randomizer card as a way to choose the kingdom cards to put in play. The randomizer card is a copy of the kingdom card, and by shuffling and drawing 10 cards, you can decide which kingdom card to put in the field. The content of the game changes greatly depending on the kingdom card you choose as a supply, so the main feature of Dominion is that 'no matter how much you play, the feeling of playing is fresh every time.'



The randomizer card must be kept separately so that it will not be mixed with the kingdom card. The frame on the back of the rider mizer card is purple instead of yellow, so it can be identified at a glance.



That's why I shuffled the randomizer card and drew 10 ...



Place a pile of the same Kingdom Cards as the 10 Randomizer Cards you pulled out into your supply as shown below. When placing a kingdom card, the cost will increase in the order of Z from the upper left to the lower right.



Then, as an initial deck, 7 'copper coins' and 3 'mansions', a total of 10 cards, will be distributed to each player.



Finally, place the disposal board and the game is ready.



Dominion advances the player's turn clockwise. The turn is the 'Action Phase ' where you can activate the effect of the action card from your hand only once, the 'Purchase Phase ' where you can purchase the card only once using the treasure card, and you can process the cards that came into play to get a new hand. All you have to do is proceed through the three 'cleanup phases' that you draw, one at a time. 'Action-> Buy-> Clean up (C)' in alphabetical order.

At the beginning of the game, the player shuffles the initial deck well and then draws 5 cards in his hand. The remaining 5 cards are placed at hand as a deck.



At first, the action phase is executed, but the first turn does not have an action card, so skip it. Advance the purchase phase. With 3 'copper coins' in your hand, that is, a total of 3 gold coins at hand ...



Purchased a 'silver coin' with 3 written on the bottom left from the supply.



Place the purchased card in your discard area and move to the cleanup phase. Place all the cards in your hand and the surplus hand in the discard area, and draw 5 cards from the deck. This is the end of your turn, and you can turn to the next player. In addition, the player's hand is as shown in the image below.



If you run out of decks and can't draw cards, shuffle your discards to create a new deck and replace it. In Dominion's play, this 'shuffle of discards' is performed many times, so the key to play is which card you discarded and how well you can shuffle. If the shuffle is sweet, it tends to be a squid play, so you should shuffle it firmly by multiple methods such as

deal shuffle and Hindu shuffle.



The turn goes around once, and it's my turn again. This time, put all four 'copper coins' drawn in your hand into play ...



Get an action card called 'Militia' from the supply. By putting 'Militia' into play in the action phase, you can add 2 gold to the total value of the treasure cards that came into play in the subsequent purchase phase.



After a few turns, you can now purchase cards for a total of 5 gold by using the 'militia' drawn in your hand in the action phase and then issuing 3 'copper coins' in the purchase phase.



With this 5 gold, get a 'festival' with a cost of 5 from the supply. Festival is a card that has the effects of 'increasing the number of action phases by 2', 'increasing the number of purchase phases by 1', and 'increasing the purchaseable cost of the purchase phase by 2'.



With this kind of feeling, proceed with the game while incorporating treasure cards and action cards into the deck. While making full use of the effects of action cards, pay the collected treasure cards from your hand ...



Get the victory point card 'Province'. The condition for ending the game is whether all 'provinces' are purchased and disappear from the supply, or the pile of 3 types of cards disappears from the supply. In order to win the game, it is important how many 'provinces' each have 6 points and how quickly you can collect them.



It's also important to think about how to build your deck, not just buy cards. For example, a 'chapel' with a purchase cost of 2 allows you to discard up to 4 cards from your hand.



Instead of discarding the discarded cards, remove them from the deck and send them to the disposal area.



Some may wonder, 'If you remove the treasure card you need to buy, you won't be able to buy the card you want.' But this disposal is very important. Due to Dominion's basic rule of 'drawing 5 cards from the deck', as the number of decks increases, the probability that silver coins, gold coins, and action cards you want to use will come to your hand will decrease. In other words, not only buying cards in the dark clouds, but also 'compressing the deck' that eliminates cards with low effect per card such as bronze coins and mansions from the deck is very effective as a tactic.



There is also a tactic of drawing cards with the effect of the card and increasing the number of cards in your hand and the number of purchases. For example, draw one card with the effect of 'Guardian', activate 'Festival' to increase the number of action phases and the number of purchase phases, and use 'Blacksmith' twice to add 3 cards to your hand. So, the following is the place where I succeeded in pulling 3 'copper coins', 2 'silver coins', and 3 'gold coins' into my hand at once. With a total of 16 gold, I was able to get two 'provinces' at once in one turn.



As I proceeded with the play like that, the game ended because the 'province' withered from the supply. One play is about 40 minutes including the rule explanation. Each player calculates the total number of victory points cards in his deck.



Looking at the deck of the player who won 33 points, a large number of treasure cards are characteristic. It seems that the strategy of collecting treasure cards and bringing a large amount of treasure cards to the hand has worked brilliantly while keeping the purchase of action cards to a minimum.



The editorial staff who played Dominion for the first time commented, 'While the rules are very simple and easy to understand, it was fun to think of action card combos.' Dominion's fun is not just to get victory points, but to be absorbed in building a deck that asks how the effects of action cards work together.

In Dominion, purchasing cards while thinking about what kind of deck to make is the key to victory, but since there is an operation to shuffle the discard pile and rearrange the deck, 'necessary at the required timing' The luck of 'Can you draw the card to your hand?' Is also important. 'What kind of tactics should be adopted in consideration of probability' is a big attraction of Dominion, and it is no wonder that it is highly evaluated all over the world.

◆ I tried playing 'Dominion: Renaissance'
This time, I played the expansion set 'Dominion: Renaissance'.



Please note that the Dominion: Renaissance is an expansion set only, does not include the basic treasure cards and victory points cards, and cannot be played by 'Dominion: Renaissance' alone.



The number of players is 2 to 4, the play time is about 30 minutes, and the target age is assumed to be 13 years old or older. The target age is slightly lower than the basic set.



The contents are the rule manual and ...



Box labels, token boards, wooden pieces, coin tokens, cards.



The token board is available in 6 colors. Since it has a cut, it can be easily removed from the cardboard without using scissors or a cutter.



The wooden top is a cube of 2 colors x 6 types.



The coin token is made of metal and feels quite solid. It's just a prop, but it feels as heavy as a real gold coin, and the editorial staff who actually picked it up said, 'I'm enthusiastic even though it's a small item.' Will go up. '



Place the labels in the box and store the sorted cards according to the labels.



In Dominion: Renaissance, in addition to action cards, project cards and ...



Artifact cards that are bundled with certain action cards have also been added.



Dominion: Renaissance preparation, such as supply and hand preparation, is the same as the basic set Dominion: Second Edition. The rule manual contains 'Recommended Kingdom Card Combinations', and there are also Kingdom Card combinations that you can play in a well-balanced manner without using a randomizer card.



In addition to the hand, each player will be given a token board and two wooden pieces.



Also, place the coin token in the center of the table. It is recommended to put it on a flat plate or tray so that it can be easily taken.



Place the project card and artifact card next to the set supply, and the set is complete. This time, I played 'Catch the Flag' which is the recommended supply written in the rule manual. The supply combinations are as follows.



As the name 'catch the flag' suggests, the key to this scenario is the action card 'standard-bearer'. The effect of 'Standard-bearer' is that the total amount of treasure cards in the purchase phase increases by 2.



You can get 'Flag' artifacts when you get or discard them. The effect of the 'flag' is 'when you redraw your hand, draw a +1 card', that is, the number of cards you can draw in the cleanup phase increases from 5 to 6. Even with just one card, having more hands means more things you can do during your turn, so it's a great advantage to have.



However, there is only one 'flag'. If another player wins the 'flag bearer', the 'flag' will be stolen from hand. Therefore, the battle for the 'flag' will be held on the board.



For example, 'remodeling' that allows you to discard the card you have is that you can discard one card from your hand and get a card that costs 2 higher than that card. At first, everyone who was playing with a half-finished card was thinking about how to use it, but if you discard the cost 4 'flagman', you can get a cost 6 'gold coin', and with the effect of the 'flagman', ' You can also get a 'flag'.



The project card can be purchased by paying the cost written in the upper left during the purchase phase, and after purchasing the project, place the token on the project card. The effect of a project once purchased will be permanent. For example, this project card called 'Barracks' automatically increases the number of action phases in each turn by one.



By getting the 'barracks', you can get the 'standard-bearer' that was in your hand at once in one turn, and by issuing the treasure card in the purchase phase, you can get the 'province'. I did.



Other project cards have very powerful effects, such as the 'Cathedral' that forces deck compression by 'discarding one from your hand at the beginning of the turn' and the 'Canal' that reduces the purchase cost by one. Things were prepared.



That's why the player who was actively purchasing and discarding the 'flag' kept the state of 6 cards in his hand to advance the game in an advantageous way and won the game brilliantly. Since there were many scenes where the 'flagman' and 'flag' were the key to victory, all the players were convinced by the strength of the 'flag', 'I see, was that the scenario title' Catch the flag '?' ..



'Ducat Gold Coin' is one of the new treasure cards added in the Dominion: Renaissance. Putting it into play as a treasure card not only adds one coin token to your financial resources, but also increases your purchase phase by one. Another appealing effect is that you can discard a bronze coin from your hand when you acquire it.



Place the added coin tokens on your token board. By paying the coin tokens of financial resources during the purchase phase, it is possible to increase the purchaseable amount by 1 for each coin token. Since the coin tokens obtained by purchasing 'Ducat Gold Coins' can be used in the same purchase phase, 'Ducat Gold Coins' can be said to be essentially the same as 'Bronze Coins'.



Also Dominion: 'King' added in the Renaissance scepter (( Shaku ) '' Is a special card that can be treated as a two-gold treasure card like a 'silver coin', or the effect of an action card put into play can be used again. 'Scepter' is a treasure card, so you can put it into play during the purchase phase.



For example, in the action phase, after using the 'blacksmith' that can draw 3 cards from the deck to the hand, in the purchase phase, put out the 'scepter' and activate the effect of the 'blacksmith' again. Fortunately, I was able to draw a treasure card, so I was able to put two more 'silver coins', one 'scepter' and three 'gold coins' into play.


In addition, by paying one coin token from the financial resources obtained with 'Ducat Gold Coin', the total amount is 16 gold, and I was able to activate a tremendous rich combo that allows me to purchase two 'provinces'.



The 'follower' card has the effect of adding two cards to your hand, but when you get it from the supply, it has the effect of adding two coin tokens to the 'villager' on the token board.



Coin tokens placed on villagers can be increased once in the action phase by paying in the action phase.



For example, the following is where the 'Old Witch' was put into play by acquiring a 'Theatrical Company' that can add 4 coin tokens to the villagers and increasing the action phase with the villagers tokens. 'Old Witch' not only adds 3 cards to your hand, but also has the effect of adding a 'curse' to other players' decks.



The 'Curse' card with -1 victory points will reduce the victory points of the deck unless it is discarded, so the 'Old Witch' is a powerful means of attacking your opponent.



In the game where 'Old Witch' rampaged, the victory point of a certain player is the following image. Although I have collected 4 'provinces', 1 'public territory', and 4 'mansions', I could not discard the 6 'curses' added to the deck, resulting in a total of 25 points. rice field.



The 'Witch' included in Dominion's basic set also has the effect of adding a 'curse' to the opponent's deck in the same way as the 'Old Witch'. However, if the 'Old Witch' has a 'curse' in his hand, he can discard one 'curse' from his hand after getting one 'curse' in his deck. In other words, 'Old Witch' is a slightly milder sabotage card than 'Witch' because you can avoid adding a real curse card.



There are also various action cards in the Dominion: Renaissance. For example, the following 'villain' can not only put two coin tokens in the place called 'financial resources' on the token board, but also 'players with five or more cards in their hand discard one card with a cost of 2 or more. A card that can carry things more advantageously because it also activates interference with other players.



Obtained 2 coin tokens as financial resources by issuing a 'villain' in the action phase. In the subsequent purchase phase, you will pay a total of 6 purchases with 2 'copper coins' and 1 'silver coin', but at the same time, by issuing 2 coin tokens from financial resources, you will purchase a 'province' with a cost of 8. You will be able to do it.



By activating multiple 'villains' in the same turn in combination with other action cards, you can get a large amount of financial resources and buy 'provinces' and 'gold coins' with a small number of treasure cards. .. However, please note that the disturbing effect on the opponent cannot be activated many times due to the limitation of '5 or more cards in your hand'.



Dominion: 'Yamamura' was one of the most awesome action cards in the Renaissance. 'Yamamura' not only increases the number of action phases by 2 times, but also has the effect of 'you can add 1 card from the discard card to your hand', and the used card will be revived.



For example, the following is a combo that combines 'Yamamura' and 'Border Guard'. 'Border Guard' is a card that increases the number of action phases by one, and at the same time, you can add any of the two cards revealed from the top of the deck to your hand.



Not only do you draw cards, but the number of action phases also increases at a tremendous rate, so you can put a lot of action cards into play. Originally, the only treasure cards in my hand were one 'silver coin' and one 'copper coin', but as a result, I reached the point where I could purchase 'provinces' by issuing three 'standard-bearers'.



This 'Yamamura' & 'Border Guard' combo is awesome, with 6 'provinces' even though there are only 1 'silver coin' and 1 'gold coin' in addition to the initial 7 'copper coins'. Succeeded in getting and won a splendid victory. It was not only a strategy to compress the deck to make it more efficient, but also a deck with extreme power play of forcibly pulling cards and using them.



When advanced players and beginners play games together, advanced players who know a lot of conventions are often overwhelmed, but in Dominion: Renaissance, coin tokens, artifacts, and projects can't be helped. It is a system that can break through, so even beginners can compete with advanced players. Therefore, I felt that it was an extended version that was easy to play even for beginners.

Dominion: Many of the cards added in the Renaissance are more powerful than the basic set, but there are few cards that say 'it has a strong habit and is difficult for beginners to use', and the play feeling has become a completely different game. I don't have the impression. On the other hand, the range of tactics will surely expand, so even those who have played Dominion many times can play with a fresh feeling. In addition, if you adopt the officially recommended supply set described in the rule manual, it is recommended because you can quickly grasp the rough way of playing.

Dominion: 2nd Edition, Dominion: Renaissance is priced at 4950 yen including tax and can be purchased at game shops nationwide. It is also available on Amazon.co.jp, but at the time of writing the article, Dominion: 2nd edition is available for 23,500 yen including tax, and Dominion: Renaissance is available for 7490 yen including tax.

Amazon | Dominion: 2nd Edition Japanese Edition | Board Games | Toys



Amazon | Dominion Expansion Set Renaissance (Dominion: Renaissance) Japanese Card Games | Card Games / Playing Cards | Toys

in Review,   Game, Posted by log1i_yk