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Steve Tudor
United Kingdom
Malvern
Worcestershire
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Every so often a mechanic comes along that takes the gaming world by storm and in 2008 Dominion introduced the concept of deck building. This is a mechanic whereby players start with a small deck of cards and add to this deck by acquiring cards that all have new abilities and effects. Deck building is now everywhere and has become a game genre of its own so let’s have a look at the pioneer in this field.
Dominion is a card game for 2 to 4 players. It typically takes an hour to play and is relatively quick to set up. Thematically the game has players taking the role of feudal lords who are expanding their kingdom by acquiring lands. This theme adds flavour to the cards but it isn’t binding; this game could easily be about space pirates or building a badger sett. The first thing to note about Dominion is the remarkable level of presentation. The cards are good quality, full coloured and the artwork is well done. There are a few cards where the artwork is a bit off but you’ve got to look closely to notice. What really stands out however, is the packaging. Taking pride of place in the box is a simple piece of vacuum formed plastic and a coloured reference card that keeps the entire game organised. It’s so simple but it’s so nice to see that Rio Grande Games have considered what you do when you’re not playing.
A game of Dominion uses 17 piles of cards, typically referred to as the supply. This is made up of three types of treasure cards, three types of victory cards, one pile of curse cards and ten piles of kingdom cards. The treasure and victory cards are the same in every game but the kingdom cards can be chosen randomly, selected by the players or taken from a suggested list of cards. Kingdom cards are mostly actions but can include defensive options and victory point modifiers. There are 25 different kingdom cards in the base game, with ten different cards drawn each game this leads over three million different combinations of cards. This means that every game of Dominion is different but you may find a couple of key cards can end up taking over any game in which they appear.
The mechanics of Dominion are simple to the point of genius; each player starts with a deck of 10 cards from which they deal themselves a hand of 5 cards. Each turn a player can play one action card and buy one card for their deck. They then discard the rest of their hand and draw a new hand of 5 cards. The game ends when either the supply of province cards (the most valuable of victory cards) or three other supply piles are used up. Whoever has the most victory points in their deck at the end of the game is the winner. That’s it, Dominion is that simple.
Where Dominion’s interest and complexity lies is in the action cards. Each pile of cards in the supply has a different effect. Some give you a second action or allow you to buy two cards in one turn. Some actions remove cards from the game or give bonuses to other cards. Some directly affect your opponent by making them discard cards from their hand or take a curse; a special form of card that gives the player -1 victory points. As the game progresses your deck grows and so do your options. Later in the game it is possible to string together a long list of actions. Any card that directly affects the other players is identified as an attack card, to counteract this there is also a defence card that gives players a chance to react to an opposing attack.
Dominion is a game all about management. The most crucial behaviour is that of managing your deck to make it as optimised as possible and to work against your opponents decks. A good example is the victory point cards. These are necessary to win the game but during the game they do nothing, they are just empty cards clogging up your hand with useless baggage. Too many victory cards too early in the game and your deck will be crippled, buy too late and all the high point cards may already be gone. You could buy ‘Cellar’ that allow you to discard cards in exchange for drawing more from your deck or you could buy the ‘Chapel’ so you can trash the low victory point cards and lean down you deck into just the high value cards. These methods change in every game depending on the supply available.
Those with mild OCD will love keeping their cards neat and organised.
There are some that criticise Dominions’ deck building mechanic, accusing it of being little more than multiplayer solitaire. This is certainly an issue if the supply cards chosen don’t include any attack cards but this can be remedied by players making sure at least one attack card is used in every game. For some players this may still not be enough. Hardcore gamers or those that thrive on direct combat may be better of looking into alternative deck builders such as Nightfall or Ascension.
There’s a reason why Dominion won Spiel Des Jahres in 2009 and why it currently sits at the top spot of the 2011 Dice Tower People’s Choice and that’s because it’s wonderful. It is true that many other deck builders have come along since to try and steal Dominion’s crown but it’s easy to learn rules, smooth gameplay and fun but light player interaction make it a winner. Gamers who are in love with heavy theme or complicated gameplay may take a dislike to Dominion; it’s a game that works because of its simplicity and light theme. These combine to make a game that is easy to learn, fun to master and the combination of cards available means you’re never going to have the same game twice.
This review can also be found at my blog http://polyhedroncollider.blogspot.com/
Edit: Correction to kingdom cards as per churchmouse's post
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Bifford Van Bifford (Sam)
England
Semington
Wiltshire
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I've played Dominion once. At the start of the game I was not that keen on it - finding I didn't really know what I was supposed to do, what the cards did, what to pick up, use or discard.
By the end of the game I had improved drastically and actually managed a decent chain of cards (when luck gave me the right combo!), started to enjoy the game and think I might enjoy future games.
Playing with other new players I think is better than a newbie jumping in to a game with 5 old hands (though they helped guide me where possible) but I would recommend Dominion I think
I'd like to own a copy, but can't see it being something I would be able to buy personally any time soon due to finances.
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James Newton
United Kingdom
Wiltshire
In the interest of giving credit where credit is due, my avatar is a scan of a hand-drawn caricature by cartoonist Jim Naylor which was done at my company's 20th anniversary dinner.
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Just a few technicalities that should be corrected lest they lead anyone else astray. These are highlighted below:
Wahoffelmadenga wrote: A game of Dominion uses 16 17 piles of cards, typically referred to as the supply. This is made up of three types of treasure cards, three types of victory cards, a pile of curse cards and ten piles of action kingdom cards. The treasure, curse and victory cards are the same in every game but the action kingdom cards can be chosen randomly, selected by the players or taken from a suggested list of cards. There are 25 different supply kingdom cards used in the base game, with ten different cards drawn each game this leads over three million different combinations of cards. This means that every game of Dominion is different but you may find a couple of key cards can end up taking over any game in which they appear.
The Curse cards are put out in every game. With just the base game it doesn't make much practical difference, but some of the expansions have cards which can utilise Curse cards without explicitly indicating this on the cards (and having text specifying that the Curse cards should be set out when those cards are in use would make such tactics obvious instead of allowing them to be discovered in play).
The kingdom cards are not just action cards. The base game (like most of the expansions) includes a Victory kingdom card, and some expansions include Treasure cards. Again it is a small point when just considering the base game but wrong thinking / terminology can cause confusion when adding in some of the expansions. If anyone needs the distinction described, I sometimes explain that the basic cards are the ones with just a symbol on a background, while the kingdom cards (the ones of which you choose 10 per game) are the ones with a picture in the top half.
Pedantic Disclaimers:
Yes, I know that there can be more (basic) cards in the supply with some expansions, or even 11 kingdom cards, and cards in use that are not part of the supply, etc. And that the new basic cards "expansion" will have full art on the basic cards. Surprisingly, even I reached a limit to the amount of pedantic detail needed in this post!
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Steve Tudor
United Kingdom
Malvern
Worcestershire
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Bifford wrote: By the end of the game I had improved drastically and actually managed a decent chain of cards (when luck gave me the right combo!), started to enjoy the game and think I might enjoy future games.
One of the great things about Dominion, and why it is so easy to learn to play, is that the game starts off very simply and slowly gets more complex as your deck grows.
Bifford wrote: I'd like to own a copy, but can't see it being something I would be able to buy personally any time soon due to finances.
Out of all the games I own I would put Dominion as the best value for money. Most game shops sell it for around £25-30 and I'm still not tired of it.
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Steve Tudor
United Kingdom
Malvern
Worcestershire
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churchmouse wrote: The kingdom cards are not just action cards.
Thanks for the heads up, I've corrected the review. I must admit I only put out the curse cards if the kingdom cards require it so I forget that you're supposed to use them every game.
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Posted Fri Feb 10, 2012 6:29 pm
