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1

Game Reports / IW-Workshop-Vineyard rush

« on: January 29, 2013, 08:54:28 pm »

cards in supply: Adventurer, Cache, Harem, Ill-Gotten Gains, Ironworks, Margrave, Potion, Torturer, Trading Post, Vineyard, and Workshop

As I first scanned this kingdom, I couldn't figure out what I wanted to play. Seemed like Trading Post into IGG. Then I saw three cards and planned for a rush: Ironworks, Workshop and Vineyard. I correctly guessed that my opponent would get confused by my Workshop open (only Workshop and Ironworks were available as targets for it among kingdom cards and he responded by opening Ironworks with no obvious plan for it). From there it was pick up Ironworks with IW followed by Workshop having mixed a few Potions in to then grab Vineyards. Once the two piles ran (IW and Workshop), grab Estate and buy Vineyard when possible. With point tracker on this was made a bit easier, but the reaction to this came late and heck, it ended up eating IGG alive and I suspect would have done so even had my opponent played better. I ended up piling out with Estates because it was easy to do so and the game was won just half the Vineyards.

Any ideas out there to do this better? Would you consider playing it yourself if the cards came up. Would you consider trying this with just Ironworks (no way with only workshop, right)?

http://dominion.isotropic.org/gamelog/201301/29/game-20130129-174426-d44adbe8.html

2

Help! / Jester killed me on Bank board - Did I have any recourse?

« on: January 27, 2013, 06:55:53 pm »

There were villages, tons of draw and +buy and Bank on the board. Admittedly, I didn't go for Bank because his early Jester luck threw me off my game (he bought a turn 3 Jester and then his my Masquerade on turn 6, therefore getting him past his Worker's Village open with no issue, then hit Council Room on turn 8, Hamlet on turn 9 and was then off to the races).

Other than get to Bank quicker somehow, what else should I have done? My Rabbles basically never hit, I kept getting my good cards hit by his Jester (I eventually countered with Fortune Teller to topdeck green and then Jester him for a curse in the hope it would slow him down, might have worked better without so much big draw here).

http://dominion.isotropic.org/gamelog/201301/27/game-20130127-154852-bdda697a.html

3

Game Reports / 48 Turns and All I Got Was This Stupid Draw (I mean shared victory...)

« on: December 26, 2012, 11:54:57 pm »

Yes, it was an Ambassador game, but still. 48 turns to get to this.

#1 Wingnut: 84 points (7 Silk Roads [20 victory cards], 2 Colonies, 2 Provinces, 4 Duchies, and 5 Estates); 48 turns
         opening: Militia / Ambassador
         [63 cards] 7 Silk Roads, 5 Embargoes, 5 King's Courts, 4 Ambassadors, 2 Embassies, 2 Margraves, 1 Ironworks, 1 Militia, 13 Coppers, 7 Silvers, 3 Golds, 5 Estates, 4 Duchies, 2 Provinces, 2 Colonies

#1 worldhouse manager: 84 points (4 Colonies, 4 Provinces, 4 Duchies, a Silk Road [17 victory cards], and 4 Estates); 48 turns
                    opening: Ambassador / Ironworks
                    [67 cards] 5 Ambassadors, 5 King's Courts, 3 Ironworks, 2 Margraves, 1 Embassy, 1 Militia, 1 Silk Road, 4 Coppers, 20 Silvers, 9 Golds, 4 Estates, 4 Duchies, 4 Provinces, 4 Colonies


http://dominion.isotropic.org/gamelog/201212/26/game-20121226-205108-25effc1c.html

4

Game Reports / Developing Grand Market to win

« on: December 24, 2012, 02:22:53 am »

In this game I somehow went to sleep early and forgot about the Vault/Grand Market synergy. With King's Court also on the board, this would normally mean death. But not here as I stumbled upon using Develop to change my fives into topdecked Grand Markets (of course this also topdecked useless Talismans in this game as that was the only 4 and it was a Colony game as well, thank you Loan for being available as well).

Still, I was in ok shape with the cities having only one left and the Grand Market pile empty and I drew the hand of City, City, Develop, Grand Market, Copper. From there is was play the first City. Develop Grand Market, topdecking the final City and a King's Court. Play City (now at level 3 after clearing the pile). KC-City. Pile out for the win.

http://dominion.isotropic.org/gamelog/201212/23/game-20121223-231029-41aea896.html

5

Game Reports / I lost, badly (many mistakes) but did successfully combine Amb and Scout

« on: December 03, 2012, 02:47:11 am »

http://dominion.isotropic.org/gamelog/201212/02/game-20121202-234152-8ed9f003.html

As for why I lost, I stupidly dumped too much coin and never got anything ramped up and going. By the time I did, I was buried by Tunnel, Oasis (I lose to this card regularly because I loathe it for some reason I still don't understand) and Golem. Still, an interesting early game if nothing else.

6

Game Reports / King's Court as nothing more than Remodel and Remake fodder

« on: November 16, 2012, 11:31:45 pm »

What a strange game here.

http://dominion.isotropic.org/gamelog/201211/16/game-20121116-202358-a8fba89d.html

Kingdom: Chapel, Herbalist, Swindler, Remake, Remodel, Horse Trader's, Feast, Militia, Farmland and King's Court

I just kind of played without thinking about a real strategy until late in the game and it ended up working (I was Nameless Cult Leader) as my opponent opened Chapel (likely out of habit given this kingdom) while I went with Remake/Swindler. Maybe I was aiming for KC-Swindler (which I did play once to almost no effect).

Still, this game came down to who could do a better job of Remaking and Remodeling their way to Provinces (that and the rare KC-Feast for 3 Duchies play on turn 16).

What say everyone else here since I still don't have the slightest idea how I would play this if I ever saw it again?

7

Help! / Dark Ages IRL Help - 3 Games

« on: October 29, 2012, 06:42:05 pm »

Game 1

4-Player using Base, Seaside and Dark Ages. Estates as starting cards.

Cards in Kingdom: Squire, Fishing Village, Urchin, Gardens, Fortress, Salvager, Death Cart, Wharf, Witch, Cultist

I have no idea what to do here. And I'm not going to share what I was going for as I was 4th player, Player 1 drew 5-2 and I drew both of my opening cards (Fishing Village and Salvager for the record) on turn 5 meaning my strategy didn't matter all that much. I didn't reach 4 on any of my last 8 turns of the game (I drew 10 coins with no +buy on the first hand after shuffle and then drew no coin other than FV after that until the game ended).

Still, as 4th player I would think going Cultist is the best route as everyone else normally will go Witch (Player 1 went both with his 5-2 draw and early advantage and killed everyone).

What would everyone else have done as Player 4? What about if it was 2-player?

_______________________________________________________________________________________________________________
Game 2

3-Player Game using Base, Seaside and Dark Ages. Shelters in Play.

Cards in Kingdom: Forager, Moneylender, Bureaucrat, Rats, Sea Hag, Graverobber, Mystic, Festival, Bazaar, Adventurer

With no card drawers and a big curser with a lack of trashing the play seems clear here with Sea Hag. Rats ended up being big especially in my case as I trashed my extra Rats with Forager and Graverobber throughout the game while one player ended up with 12 Rats in his deck by the end. Moneylender was a big trap on this board as one player in this game hates when his deck has more than 20 cards in it.

______________________________________________________________________________________________________________
Game 3

3-Player Game using Base, Seaside and Dark Ages. Shelters in Play.

Cards in Kingdom: Squire, Vagrant, ,Lighthouse, Moat, Caravan, Smithy, Catacombs, Rebuild, Merchant Ship, Treasury

I'll admit this was a fairly dull kingdom, but after the cursing of the previous games it was welcomed. I won't speak of my strategy here because I went against everything I know and played like a pre-Village Idiot, overbuying actions with no way to play them. I nearly recovered at the end with a Rebuild strategy but ran out of time.

8

Game Reports / Governor - Golem - Possession What could possibly go wrong?

« on: October 09, 2012, 04:03:14 am »

http://dominion.isotropic.org/gamelog/201210/09/game-20121009-005933-2fdf375b.html

I didn't even mind losing as this was one of the bizarre games I have ever played. Both of us played Possession on Possessed turns because of Golem but it was generally worth it to try because of Governor. Just an odd game all around, particularly with thin decks because we trashed down with Steward. We also had the corner case of using Gov to gain Gold and therefore gaining both Silver and Gold on the play.

Any thoughts from the community at large here?

9

Rules Questions / Fun-looking Board - Ruined by the Bane (any guesses on that card?)

« on: October 04, 2012, 03:53:17 am »

I was so looking forward to playing this during the veto. I enjoy longer grinding games with good cards but the ability to have a focus still (normal cursing games are quite fun to me) and the lack of trashing seemed to indicate this...

Card in supply: Cellar, Explorer, Farming Village, Goons, Governor, Haven, Monument, Peddler, Village, Young Witch
Cards vetoed: Minion, Jack of all Trades

... then I saw the Bane: Swindler (are you f'ing kidding me, total ruin) and then was dismayed to see I opened 5-2. My opening Gov was hit early and this went from a fun grinder to a boring can I build a Swindler proof deck against a guy who has a million villages, Goons, Governor and Swindlers? No fun at all, especially when you realize that the best Swindler move on the board when it hits a 4 is to give Young Witch.

Oh well. This is normally why I veto Young Witch. Because who knows what is coming with it. I play veto because sometimes I want to avoid Ambassador and Swindler in particular. Tonight was one of those nights.

Here's the game: http://dominion.isotropic.org/gamelog/201210/04/game-20121004-004409-3530cee5.html

How would everyone have played it? I realize I was nowhere near optimal in my play but I'm just curious.

10

Help! / Beaten by a level 0 on a Chapel board! What happened?

« on: September 18, 2012, 04:39:19 am »

http://dominion.isotropic.org/gamelog/201209/18/game-20120918-013410-8c4ecce4.html

Is there anything at all I could have done here considering I opened Chapel and still had 3 Estates in my deck on turn 10 (drew Chapel turn 5 with no Estates and then drew it with no Estates again on turn 7) and my opponent managed to trash two Estates and get 2 Alchemists in his deck by turn 5?

I suppose I should have bought a few less Silver but still that doesn't really help here I don't think.

Any ideas?

11

Game Reports / Wingnut makes an incredible comeback... and still loses 122-51

« on: September 14, 2012, 01:05:41 am »

http://dominion.isotropic.org/gamelog/201209/13/game-20120913-215605-b83b2164.html

Lesson of this game #1: Don't open 5-2 on a Familiar board with nothing costing two. It has a way of making things miserable really quick. Especially since it means you are likely to still be in the 2p position later too.
Lesson #2: Resign when you realize you've lost the curse split 9-1 and Grand Market, Goons, Apprentice and Margrave are all on the board.
Lesson #3: If you haven't followed Lesson #2, resign when your opponent starts buying the Inns you were using to give yourself some fun in this grinding slog of doom.
Lesson #4: Sometimes it is better to look for moral victories. This was one of those times. Despite all of that I managed to double province on turn 30
Lesson #5: When you pull nonsensical garbage that works like what occurred in Lesson #4, don't be surprised when your opponent decides to try and run up the score for achievement purposes just because he can and you haven't given up yet.
Lesson #6: End the game when some sort of victory can be claimed. I may not have won the game, but I had more points in victory cards than my opponent
Final Lesson: Find a way to have fun playing Dominion even when the situation is totally hopeless.

12

Game Reports / 34 Turns of Misery

« on: August 27, 2012, 10:12:55 pm »

http://dominion.isotropic.org/gamelog/201208/27/game-20120827-190621-f7ef1d05.html

Let's just say that this is a combination of cards I would rather not see ever again. Tournament, Ambassador, Duke, Fairgrounds, Grand Market, Village, Saboteur, Counting House, Secret Chamber and Throne Room.

The Throne Room made this thing horrible as it kept colliding with my opponents single Ambassador allowing him to keep up early on in the Ambassador war even though I had 3 Ambassadors. Then of course I had to overcome Trusty Steed and Followers once my deck was bloated. And of course my Tournaments kept getting blocked. I feel like this is the type of game why people hate both Ambassador (I ultimately won the curse split 8-2 despite Followers because I eventually did win the Ambassador war) and Tournament. To play them together with other enablers. Well, I can be happy Saboteur was never bought in this game.

13

Game Reports / How would you play this powerful kingdom?

« on: July 22, 2012, 02:49:59 pm »

Cards in supply: Border Village, Bridge, Conspirator, Farming Village, Governor, Horse Traders, Militia, Nobles, Quarry, and Wharf

http://dominion.isotropic.org/gamelog/201207/22/game-20120722-114454-84ee5185.html

Even though I won I have no idea what the optimal play is. My first instinct would normally be either BV-Wharf (played by both of us) or Governor. Still, I won by 3-piling on turn 12 and I feel like the deciding cards were Quarry and Militia.

What does everyone else like here?

14

Game Reports / Dumped all 10 curses into my opponents deck in 3 turns

« on: July 08, 2012, 03:19:16 pm »

Needless to say, this one is a little odd especially as the curses were all dumped in turns 13-15. Chapel was available as were Young Witch, Familiar and Alchemist. Also Outpost which turned out to be super important.

http://dominion.isotropic.org/gamelog/201207/08/game-20120708-115856-d58ee9f9.html

I started with a Young Witch/Chapel open against my opponent's Chapel/Oasis. Considering Oasis was the Bane, this went about as bad as it could for me in slowing him with curses, but he was still slowed by needed cards to discard for Oasis. Knowing what is happening I buy a Potion with the idea of Familiar and maybe Alchemist since it looks like I won't have a Young Witch coming back at me based on the early strategy here.

From there it is massing Familiar with the idea of a huge curse dump. Doing it slowly won't work with the cycling of Oasis and the presence of Chapel in his deck. Hence why on turn 12 I choose not to play my Familiar in hand as it would trigger a reshuffle and making my Familiar I am about to buy miss the reshuffle as well.

Then, with my opponent having already greened with 2 Provinces I unleash the attack on turn 13. 2 Familiars followed by a 3rd one on the Outpost turn. Turn 14 was 2 Familiars followed by 2 more on the Outpost turn and then Turn 15 was the final 3 to put all 10 curses in his deck in a 3-turn span, the first seven of them in the span of one reshuffle. Even down three provinces, I know the game is mine from here as even a Chapel deck with cycling is going to choke on the combination of green and curses that got added in that short of a period. There was just no engine good enough to overcome that available.

15

Help! / After the bad luck, where did I go wrong with Remake?

« on: July 06, 2012, 02:15:36 am »

http://dominion.isotropic.org/gamelog/201207/05/game-20120705-231100-e67848d6.html

I'm not one to say the bad luck cost me the game here. I had some bad shuffle luck early (open Silver/Remake and not hit 5 for first reshuffle and also have Remake on turn 5 and have Remake miss all Estates) but I feel like I let it get me off my game. Still, how would everyone else play this thing? Even with that and I feel some bad play in the mid-game I only lost by 6 points.

16

Game Reports / An interesting P-Stone vs Amb game

« on: July 05, 2012, 11:21:57 pm »

http://dominion.isotropic.org/gamelog/201207/05/game-20120705-200505-7fece92d.html

On this board I open Potion with the idea of using Philosopher's Stones as a counter to Ambassador especially with no big draw other than Envoy available meaning the Bridge megaturn was unlikely at best (how wrong I was). Then my opponent opened Envoy. Envoy-BM would be absolute death to my original thought of PS countering Amb so I picked up an Ambassador. Then my opponent bought Amb to go with his Envoy setting up a clash of two bizarre openings - Potion/Ambassador with on PS for Potions against Envoy/Amb.

From there the game takes some interesting twists and I end up with a big lead after having had a bunch of copper passed to my deck to power my stones and then pairing that with Adventurer (my only non-points buy costing more than 4 in the game) to build an insurmountable lead. Then my opponent used Envoy-WV-Bridge for his megaturn and bought all the remaining points, still leaving him 7 points sure.

2 questions from this game.

1. Given the openings, what would you do from there (from either side)?
2. What would you open because I know most players sure as heck won't open Potion/Amb or Envoy/Amb there (or maybe ever)?

17

Solo Challenges / Wingnut challenge 1 - A Monumental Challenge

« on: June 01, 2012, 06:06:13 am »

I've been wanting to run a few of these for awhile but work has not allowed me too until now. This is the first of four that will run for each of the next 4 weeks.

Victory condition: End the games in the fewest turns possible while having played Monument at least 50 times and finishing with over 100 points (I'll post the game this was inspired by after the challenge as I scored 127 points while playing Monument 63 times in an actual game using some of these cards). Tiebreaker if needed is most total points.

Kingdom: Inn, Tactician, Monument, Salvager, Remake, Moneylender, Menagerie, Trade Route, Warehouse, Cellar, Colony, Platinum

Entry: PM to me with log by 11:59 PDT Thursday, June 7

18

Help! / Opening 5-2 on a board with YW/Tunnel and Ambassador - help

« on: May 18, 2012, 09:46:46 am »

Cards in supply: Alchemist, Ambassador, Caravan, Cellar, Duchess, Potion, Spice Merchant, Thief, Treasure Map, Tunnel, Workshop♦, and Young Witch

Given that I opened 5-2 as second player with no 5 on the board, what should I do here against the YW/Tunnel open?

I opened Tunnel/Cellar (don't see that everyday) with a turn 3 and 4 Ambassador. Of course my economy was in trouble but I had a chance to luck into a victory at the end and it didn't quite work out.

Gamelog: http://dominion.isotropic.org/gamelog/201205/18/game-20120518-064044-6fa15bb8.html

Thoughts? Help? Or was I just screwed with very little chance of victory here?

19

Game Reports / Silk Road rush vs Gardens rush

« on: May 12, 2012, 01:00:59 pm »

Both of us played Workshop/Worker's Village. I rushed Silk Road and my opponent rushed Gardens. Thought it was interesting as I had never played with both options available and Workshop.

http://dominion.isotropic.org/gamelog/201205/12/game-20120512-095727-9e9d4c75.html

I feel like I was a little bit lucky. If given the option, which side would you play?

20

Introductions / Hola everyone

« on: May 02, 2012, 03:56:59 am »

I guess I should start with that since I am the hola hf greeting guy on isotropic.

Other than that, I am another that lives in SoCal. I play a wide variety of games (current favorites other than Dominion are Agricola, Small World and Citadels though my all-time favorite game is Wizard) and have since my time in college at Auburn.

Favorite Card: Monument (for now)

Here on the forum I post every so often when in the mood but tend to lurk quite a bit. I also won the Kingdom Design Challenge and since I had all the sets I sent the Base set to my parents (they already had Intrigue).

I'm happy to play with anyone here and for those in SoCal who might be interested in any sort of games, you should come play IRL with my group. We play something (The current favorites, Dominion, 7 Wonders and Thunderstone right now) most Friday nights late into the night.

21

Game Reports / Winning by abnormal KC combos

« on: April 21, 2012, 05:50:57 pm »

Let me say this wasn't a pretty game by any means to start with (no attacks and both players would have been smoked by basic BM). The notable thing is my final turn, when I finally figured out how to make this awful deck work by KC'ing Cellar, Remodel and Adventurer for a 21 point turn and the victory.

http://dominion.isotropic.org/gamelog/201204/21/game-20120421-144321-7c96e957.html

As for the rest, I forgot my only +buys were Tactician and Contraband at the start (always looks for an extra source of +buy before building some sort of engine). Once I realized I took half the game trying to figure out how to make this work until realizing Remodel was on the board at turn 21. Even then I needed to KC it and Adventurer (and Cellar at the start to get the correct cards in hand). Ugly game with a fun finish.

22

Game Reports / A fun Saboteur game (for once)

« on: March 26, 2012, 04:13:58 am »

I won, but even had I lost, it was fun. And also, seeing Saboteur get played 27 times between us and be one of the three ending piles was just ridiculous.

http://councilroom.com/game?game_id=game-20120326-010322-254ef594.html

As for how this happened, I had a 5-2 opening and decided Mandarin/Saboteur would be good for some idiotic reason. Then my opponent countered with a turn 3 sab and the Mutally Assured Destruction race was on ending with a trash of a Laboratory, 5 Cutpurses, 3 Festivals, 4 Silvers, a Worker's Village, a Mandarin, 4 Loans, 2 Border Villages, 6 Coppers, and 6 Saboteurs in a game with no trashing except Saboteur (edit: and Loan that I forgot about since mine got hit by Saboteur before I used it, nice brain dead moment on my part).

23

Game Reports / A crazed Monument engine

« on: February 10, 2012, 04:55:44 pm »

Thank you Colonies for allowing this enough time to get going. It involves a Double Tactician into playing Monument over and over and over again. By the end of the game (22 turns), I had managed to play Monument 33 times and buy 5 Colonies.

http://dominion.isotropic.org/gamelog/201202/10/game-20120210-134953-94319d0d.html

And before anyone asks, I probably would have tried it without Colonies, and it probably wouldn't have worked either.

24

Help! / Is there anyway to get past my opponents 5/2 Embassy start here?

« on: February 10, 2012, 01:00:42 pm »

I find Embassy to be highly annoying as a card. That said, it is really powerful. Here, my opponent opened Embassy/Haven. He picked up a Remake, another Haven and another Embassy during the game and played BM from there. With no attacks except Rabble, is there anything I could have done here?

http://dominion.isotropic.org/gamelog/201202/10/game-20120210-095749-af448c03.html

25

Help! / Beaten by my own Lookout (and numerous other things too)

« on: February 04, 2012, 04:10:33 pm »

Yes, I had some putrid luck in this game. I'm aware of that. Still, was the strategy of going Ghost Ship and then Torturer sound? And what could I have done (other than not opening Worker's Village since I know that was a mistake here) to help myself here because this was just frustrating to try and play. The couple of turns where this deck worked, it worked beautifully though.

I'll just leave this here and move along and let everyone here tear it apart.

http://dominion.isotropic.org/gamelog/201202/04/game-20120204-130614-30bbf09a.html