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[theJester]

Looking for ways to improve my engine play, I've looked at some I've boards I (mis)played in the last couple of weeks. I'd ask for any opinion and advice on how to approach these:

Game 1: http://gokologs.drunkensailor.org/static/logprettifier.html?20140729/log.515c0c7ce4b093d38b19b125.1406657644857.txt

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Native Village, Warehouse, Horse Traders, Ironmonger, Tournament, Baker, Mine, Minion, Tribute, Hoard
Despite my best efforts, I feel like I horribly lucked out here – getting Princess in my last turn helped a lot. While my opponent played what could only be described as BM+various vards (opening Mine – Native Village), I tried to built Minion engine. What slowed me down the most was lack of trashing and clumsy +buy (Horse Traders), so by the time I managed to start engine going, my opponent was already much ahead in points.

Despite this, I'm convinced engine should be the right call here – so I'd really like to hear how I should have played it.

Game 2:http://gokologs.drunkensailor.org/static/logprettifier.html?20140828/log.515c0c7ce4b093d38b19b125.1409234202600.txt

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Crossroads, Oasis, Smugglers, Advisor, Monument, Remake, Council Room, Graverobber, Highway, Jester
I can't say much about this one, except I think I got completely outplayed. There are tons of interesting combos here, and my opponent utilized them better than me.  I tried to connect pieces  for a Highway megaturn, but something went awry, and I collected only 16 points after 20 turns (terrible for an non-attack board). Any advice is welcome.

Game 3:http://gokologs.drunkensailor.org/static/logprettifier.html?20140828/log.50ff19fae4b0b5f05eb45683.1409237487971.txt

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Lookout, Sage, Scheme, Caravan, Smithy, Spice Merchant, City, Saboteur, Border Village, Hoard
An interesting board, I'd say. All of engine elements are in place, except for one – Spice Merchant is the only (conditional) source of +buy. Naturally, I trashed down first, only to find out that SM was running out of fuel, and due to lack of virtual money I didn't want to trash all of my treasures. After 15 turns, the game ended in tie.

So how would you play this board? Is simple Smithy-Hoard-BM best option here, or does some kind of engine beat it?

Game 4:
http://gokologs.drunkensailor.org/static/logprettifier.html?20140916/log.515c0c7ce4b093d38b19b125.1410934869158.txt

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Candlestick Maker, Moat, Loan, Cutpurse, Ironmonger, JackOfAllTrades, Harvest, Horn of Plenty, Journeyman, Hoard
Not en engine board at all – factors such as lack of proper villages should make moneyish approaches superior. What I'm interested in is would e.g. replacing Moat with Village make an engine viable? If so, how would you open and play it? Some kind of Village-Journeyman-CM deck with Loan for trashing? Is Horn of Plenty fast enough? Or does money-based strategy still work best?

[Davio]

The last board you can probably do something with Ironmonger, Candlestick Maker and JoaT and a Loan for the Coppers.

[theJester]

The last board you can probably do something with Ironmonger, Candlestick Maker and JoaT and a Loan for the Coppers.

I saw that, but I feared it would be way too slow to compete with BM+Jack or BM+Ironmonger, especially with Hoard around.

[Davio]

The last board you can probably do something with Ironmonger, Candlestick Maker and JoaT and a Loan for the Coppers.

I saw that, but I feared it would be way too slow to compete with BM+Jack or BM+Ironmonger, especially with Hoard around.

You might be right, but at least the CM can give you a much needed +buy.
BM-Jack-Hoard is pretty darn strong when unopposed though.

Might need Journeymen to make it more reliable.

I mean, the cards look like they could be stuffed into an engine, but pulling it off against a very solid Jack-BM is very tricky.

[silverspawn]

Despite my best efforts, I feel like I horribly lucked out here – getting Princess in my last turn helped a lot. While my opponent played what could only be described as BM+various vards (opening Mine – Native Village), I tried to built Minion engine. What slowed me down the most was lack of trashing and clumsy +buy (Horse Traders), so by the time I managed to start engine going, my opponent was already much ahead in points.

Despite this, I'm convinced engine should be the right call here – so I'd really like to hear how I should have played it.

this looks like a followers rush to me, actually. probably open tournament/tournament, get silver with 3$, tournament/ironmonger with 4$, baker with 5$ (only use coin tokens when you can buy a province), gold with first 6$. hope that you get followers. if you get trusty steed, make use of the silver option. don't get more than 3 or 4 tournaments total. mine/mminion/tribute/NV shoulöd be ignored entirely I think. Warehouse probably has some uses.

after that, hoard/BM.

minion engine loses, because it will delay your prices and you don't have anything to handle junk. also, having to buy a province early is bad news for minions.

[Davio]

I would probably open Horse Traders/Tournament, get one more Tournament and just Ironmongers at $4 and one or two Warehouses at $3.
At $6 I might forego Gold for an extra Baker, depending on the current situation.

[Awaclus]

In game 2, Monuments and Jesters are just a waste of time. I think you also want to trash more Coppers and less Estates, and you want to gain more Silvers and less Oases because when you don't have anything worse than Copper to discard for Oasis, Oasis is basically just a Copper with extra cycling. You should get Highways earlier and you should get a Council Room earlier.

In game 3, Hoard and Border Village are ways to gain more cards, so Spice Merchant's +buy isn't the only way. On turn 5, you bought an useless City which didn't become useful until turn 8, there's certainly some room for improvement there. I also think you need more villages, more Smithies and a second Hoard. I would skip Sage and instead just get another Silver, you want to hit $6 for Border Village and that's pretty difficult with only one Silver.

In game 4, you can definitely build an engine. Not sure if it's stronger than a money strategy, since the BM enablers are also strong on that board, but it's possible to trash down with Loan, use Ironmonger as the splitter, Journeyman as the +card, and HoP as the payload.

[DG]

Game #1 isn't straightforward and you might get some different advice about this one. I'd suggest opening horse traders with ironmongers/tournament. The time spent building a minion engine might not provide any reward against against followers and horse traders.

Game #2 here I think you can look to set up a thin deck with crossroads-council room-highways. To get that you need heavy trashing with remakes plus a couple of silver for the first 5 cost card. Avoid jester/smuggler/monument unless they fit into a remake hand. Graverobber could be useful in closing out.

Game #3 could just be straight smithy-treasure. If you go for the engine you need a lot of six cost hands for border village/smithy and hoard but your income only ramps up after you've bought provinces, which could push you into the endgame at the wrong time. Anyway, schemes, lookouts, and sages are weak cards here unless you have a clear purpose for them.

[Mic Qsenoch]

Game 1 - I like your Minion plan, although there are other competitive strategies on the board and Horse Traders defends against it some. I don't agree with those saying rush for Followers, Minion can shrug off Followers no problem. I think I'd rather see a Warehouse/Minion opening over Silver. I think on turn 6 you should get Minion over Tournament, and also turn 13 I think Minion over Ironmonger. There is pseudo trashing on the board from Native Village, removing even 2-3 Estates or Coppers can really help your deck. It is also possible to control the set aside card some with Warehouse/Horse Traders/Minion discard. I'm not really sure when you should pick up a Native Village though, it's not impossible to open with it I guess. Oh, it looks like on turn 10 you have $7 and two buys so you could get it then. Maybe you can get Horse Traders on Turn 3 instead of Tournament, which will probably let you add Native Village in sooner as well.

Game 2 -  Both of you have too many Crossroads too soon. I mean you trash all your Estates, the Crossroads are practically dead cards. The ideal deck here is just a bunch of Highways, Advisors, 1-2 Crossroads and then Terminals which gain you extra (or different) cards. Those terminals can be Council Room, Graverobber, Smugglers, Jester or Remake. Jester gives you the least control over what you gain so it looks like the worst. I agree with Awaclus that you take too many Oases early, at least one of those should be a Silver so you can buy a Highway. The Jester buy looks like a big mistake. Don't spend loose $2 hands on Crossroads just because you can afford it, don't add a Crossroads until your deck needs one. I am not sure about your turn 3 Smugglers, I think you want a controlled deck here and you don't have control over the Smuggler gains. It can be nice later if your opponent is taking the engine pieces you want.

Game 3 - I am not sure the Lookout is really needed, but I agree with you guys thinning a bit and building up some draw before switching to Hoard stuff.

Game 4 - It is definitely possible to build an engine here. See this log which gets 7 Provinces in 13 turns. And could have had 5 Provinces on turn 11.
http://www.gokosalvager.com/static/logprettifier.html?/20140919/log.51201cbee4b04e88c8da4f9a.1411133766109.txt
I guess the key here is to get Loan and trash a lot, Journeyman and Ironmonger both give you some control over putting Coppers in the discard so you can guarantee trashing Copper. I did this once with a 5/2 start and did not get Loan soon enough and it didn't work very well. The solitaire games are misleading though, I should have realistically restricted myself to like 6 Ironmongers or something since even a money opponent is going to get some of those. If we swapped Village for Moat it would be clearly an engine. If you can draw your deck and get Horn to $8 without bending over backwards than it's definitely worth it. Speed is usually not an issue with Horn.

Jack/Candlestick Maker/Hoard should be pretty good here too. I wouldn't mix Loan with Jack, although if you're lucky and only reveal Coppers it will be good.

[soulnet]

CSM/Jack is soooo good, I don't think you can beat that. I am not even sure you need Hoad, though I would probably get one with my first $6, and green every time I have Hoard in play. CSM/Jack +one Hoard is probably unstoppable even for Duchy dancing. HoP megaturns are pretty nice, but you will have a hard time catching up with lots of Duchies just out of HoP gains. By the time you can really explode, the BM player probably gets to 6 Provinces, or at least 5 and some Duchies.