Monday 11 June 2012

Lesbians Review: Dominion

Hi everybody, we are a pair of very gay lesbians from Aussieland and today we are reviewing one of our all time favourite games DOMINION! (No relation to anything to do with BDSM)



Dominion Fact File
Players: 2 - 4
Play Time: 20-45m depending on no. of players and card set
Genre: Deck-Building

We first played Dominion inside a games shop inside a mall inside a suburb close to a train station. We were taught by a very nice man whose last day it was working at the shop, so he didn't give a damn about the customers and spent ridiculous time on clock playing with us. We planned to crush him because he was a member of the patriarchy, but actually he won because I wasted my time buying up all the villages and my girlfriend clogged up her deck with too many coppers for her extra buys. (She's Asian, she can't pass up anything free.)

Since then we have played it 1000000000 times and even fallen asleep on it, so we thought we would pick it as our first game to review.


***

APPEARANCE

I like good looking things as much as the next lesbian, and Dominion, while not a woman, is a very good looking game. All the cards appear to have hand painted art, which is both evocative, and sometimes lolzy. All together, the game has very nice ol' timey feel which makes it fun to look at while you play. 


The box also comes with this very snazzy insert that helps you order your cards, which my slightly OCD girlfriend is absolutely in love with.

 
The insert comes with some lovely labels to keep all your cards in order

GF: All the card information is clear and sleek. Doesn’t take long at all to get acquainted with the cards because it is so easy at a glance to see what they do. Also as an art geek I really like the artwork.

 Typical Dominion artwork

GAMEPLAY

Dominion is THE deck-building game. Every player starts out with a deck of 7 coppers and 3 'Estates'. Estates get you victory points at the end of the game, but aren't useful during the game. You use your Treasure cards - coppers, silvers and golds - to buy yourself more cards to add to your deck.

Each turn can easily be summarised:

A - action: play any action cards in your hand until you have no actions left
B - buy: purchase more cards to add to your deck
C - clean-up: bundle up all the cards you've gone through in this round and discard
D- draw: end your turn by drawing five new cards from your deck

The game ends when either:
a) the Province supply pile runs out; or
b) three supply piles run out.

At that point, everyone counts the number of victory points in their deck and the one with the most, WINS.

EXAMPLE TURN



Above: In this turn, VILLAGE was played, allowing two extra actions. Subsequently, WOODCUTTER and MILITIA could be played. The player also has two coppers in their hand, and they use these PLUS the extra money given by the action cards to buy another card. 


OVERALL

The first amazing thing about Dominion is its replayability. This is a long term relationship, Dominion is not a game you are going to cruelly use and then cast aside. In fact, (like my own relationship), it even gets better with time.

There are so very many different card combinations to play with, and so very different many ways to play those card combinations. Achieving a good balance of money, victory points, and action cards is the el dorado of Dominion, and it is extremely hard to get there.

There is also a nice element of luck – luck of the draw here becomes particularly nice, because you’re drawing from cards you picked yourself. Because of this, you don’t feel so much like you’ve been cheated out of a rightful win by luck, more like it’s given you a good bitch slap which you have to try and recover from.

All in all, winning Dominion comes down to four main things:
1. Buy BITCHY ACTION CARDS
2. Buy BIG MONEY cards
3. Do it FAST (well quicker than your opponent)
4. (optional) WIN.
Watch out though, some card sets can get kind of clunky, but the more you’ve played, the more you know to avoid them, or to get the best out of them.

With Dominion you’ll find that in certain rounds certain cards will be hot in demand, while others will be as untouched as a catholic virgin – but which cards are which changes game to game, which goes to show that the cards are evenly balanced.

FINAL REVIEW

Me: I will probably forever love Dominion. The gameplay is speedy and engaging, and presents limitless possibilities. Also, it’s a great one for screaming “damn you!” and “in your face!” at your opponent, which is usually my girlfriend.
Rating: 8.5/10


Girlfriend: I also really love Dominion, though I think I would love it more if it weren’t for the fact that I’m losing by eight games in our ‘first to fifty’ game challenge. That’s right folks, first. to. fifty. That is how often we play this game. If you can afford the price tag, get this one. It is good value compared to most board games, but a little pricey for a card game.
Girlfriend’s Rating: 8/10

8.25/10

6 comments:

  1. awesome review! I'm glad i found you guys. For me, when i first encountered Dominion, it quickly filled the itch that i hadnt been able to scratch since my friends all quit Magic: The Gathering on me. I still love the game, but it has slightly lost its luster for me over time....

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    1. Thanks Slyde. My GF and I would love to know - what are your top three board game pics?

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  2. Dominion is like the only game my gf likes :\

    You should definitely get an expansion, i recommend Intrigue or Seaside to start with. Also in terms of other good games, try Viva El Presidente and Power Grid First Sparks.

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    1. Currently we have the Prosperity expansion, and definitely on the market for another. Does the Intrigue expansion work well with just two people, given that it's main schtick is attacking cards and it is designed for more players?

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    2. Get ALL the expansions. And Intrigue is just fine with two players, though I'd recommend conning some friends into joining you. Con ALL the friends.

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  3. we have had all the expansions and they all work just great with 2

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