6 turns! (vs a level 33 opponent. I went 2nd with a 4-3 split.)
Sage, Warehouse, Fortress, Moneylender, Procession, Rats, Baker, Band of Misfits, Governor, Border Village, Shelters, Colonies, Platinums
I think this kingdom can actually get a 5-turn win with good shuffle luck. In
this scrimmage against Lord Bottington (same kingdom, except for Spice Merchant in place of Sage) I started exploding on turn 5, but messed up my gains, so it won on turn 6 instead.
It took me awhile to figure out the process of how to optimize this combo. Here's how it goes:
- Open with BoM and Sage (use Baker coin)
- Then use BoM as Moneylender to purchase Border Village + BoM (if $6) or BoM (if $5) or Procession (if $4)
- Once you have 2 BoMs (or Procession/BoM), you use one as Procession on the other (as Fortress) which gives you +2 cards, +4 action, and gain a Border Village+X
X is the hardest part... generally you want X to be BoM (keeps the combo going) but one of the first couple times you need to have X be a Governor. (Make the Gov gain before a reshuffle.) When you get to Gov, Procession it for +6 cards, +2 actions and it upgrades to Border Village+X... if you don't do this, you'll run out of steam. Keep the Procession+BoM combo going until Border Villages get low. One of your X's has to be a Fortress (again, right before a reshuffle) because once the Border Village pile is gone, you have to shift to BoM(Procession)+Fortress to pile out the remaining BoMs and pick up a few Governors.
At this point, you need to drain your deck and discard pile and then use BoM as a Rats... trashing your Fortress. Do that again, and you now draw a Rats and gain a Rats. Continue until all 20 Rats are gone. 3 empty piles. Now use a Governor to Remodel a Border Village into a Province. End turn, win.
It definitely doesn't always follow this script. Sometimes on turn 6 or 7 you have to use a lone BoM as a Warehouse and hope to pick up 2 others. Sometimes your deck is too thick when you run out the BoM pile and can't switch to Rats... then you have to try to use BoM(Procession)/Fortress to make the Governor pile empty.