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[Robz888]

Hey guys. Young Nick, who is a wonderful fellow, invited me over to play Dark Ages with him. We played 5 games. Each game was half Dark Ages cards, half other cards. Let me just say, it was awesome. It has renewed a bit of the faith I've been losing since the Goko debacle.

1st Game -- Robz888 Wins (Close-ish game)

This was a ridiculously weak board. Probably just buying money beat anything we tried to do. But all those new shiny cards! We essentially did the same things, I just got a bit luckier. We both aimed for Hermit/Madman type draw decks. I discovered that Haven works very well with Hermit/Madman. So that was nice. Some Shanty Towns, Ironmongers, and Storerooms (double of everything because we had Talismans) finished out this extremely weak board in my favor.

2nd Game -- Robz888 Wins (Blowout)

Based on this game, I would say Sage is awesome, but maybe I just got lucky. Man that Sage did a lot for me! He started 5/2 on an IGG board (yuck, but at least I am 1st player). He opens IGG/Crossroads, but probably should have opened with Duchess instead. I open Sage/Monument, and spike an early IGG. Sage ends up being super good for me, because I keep drawing it in my first hand after a reshuffle, then I draw past most of my deck, and either play the Monument or the IGG, buying an IGG, and repeating the process. I end up winning the Curse war, and just have a much better deck to close out with Duchies. Either I got lucky, or Sage is a powerhouse in this type of deck.

3rd Game -- Young Nick Wins (Close-ish)

Here's the first game where the Dark Ages cards really dominated. He heads for Cultist and has more luck in that direction. I draw a hand of all Coppers and idiotically don't buy Mint. I point out how stupid that was, and that turns out to be more stupid, because then he realizes that he should buy Mint. Ugh. I end up taking 7 of the Ruins because of his chained Cultists. I load up on Foragers to do the trashing, and I send a bunch of different Treasures to the trash (Noble Brigand helps) so that playing Forager is actually good for me. I do Mint eventually, and find myself with practically NO Treasure, meaning Poor House is good for me.  And so is Procession! After all, I can Procession a Poorhouse for $8 right there. My many, many Foragers and Poorhouses and Processions slowly close the gap, but in the end I can't come back from such a RUins deficit, and his Cultist chains prevail.

4th Game -- Young Nick Wins (Blow out)

The Dark Ages cards are again dominant. I don't know if either of us had a good plan, but I had a terrible plan. I open Potion for University, but there just aren't enough non-terminals. There's a good draw card in the form of Catacombs, but I just have too many terminals. Scavenger is interesting; we both have plenty of that, and I can keep putting back Platinum (this is the only Colony game). He goes for a Rebuild engine, buying up Provinces and turning them into Colonies. The presence of Feodum makes this more interesting. He ends up having to trash a bunch of Feodums because of Rebuild, but this just makes his remaining Fedoums super valuable. In the end, he slaughters me. Count showed up here but wasn't much of a factor.

5th Game -- Robz888 Wins (close-ish)

I am most proud of this one. People on this forum know me as a non-engine player, basically. Well, here I set up an awesome engine. The key card? Squire. I can't say enough good things about Squire. I'm probably going to write an article on it. It's just a great card. The other key components were Smithy and Alchemist. We had Shelters and Fairgrounds )an obvious and awesome combo) so my goal was to buy everything. Young Nick went for a quicker Alchemist/Bank route, hoping to drain Provinces quick enough. He almost did, but did I mention Quarry was available? If you thought Hamlet and Quarry got along, you should see Squire and Quarry. The thing is, I could choose. Did I need more Actions for the Smithies I had in hand? Squire is actions. Am I at the end of my chain and in need of Buys? Squire does that too. Such a good card, even totally ignoring the trash-for-Attack-card-part. In the end it's close, but I easily get 6 VP Fairgrounds (and could have gotten 8 VP ones) and the last Province to win.

Mega thanks to Young Nick for inviting. The Dark Ages cards are truly enjoyable!

[Young Nick]

This was such a terrific afternoon. Robz888 was a pleasure to play with as we got a chance to discuss all things Dominion while getting some very high-quality games in. My thoughts:

Game 1: Did he mention that there was nothing costing more than 5? Yeah, it was a pretty sorry board.

Game 2: I definitely should have opened Duchess. That was horrible. Also, I was player two and had a 2/5, not 5/2 so the Curse did not hit before his first reshuffle. Having said that, Sage doesn't even give a Rat's ass about a Curse that it can skip over anyway. I think Sage was very good here, especially because the Duchy dancing didn't take long enough for them to clog up Sage. He bought at least three or four IGG in a row.

Game 3: Damn, did I get lucky with Cultist chaining. Procession + Cultist, if you have a few in deck, is just dirty because you have two chances to chain, you get the +3 cards and then, to top it all of, hey, take a Goons. The Goons proved to be not that effective because Necropolis was the only source of +2 actions.

Game 4: My intention here was to go Scavenger for a little bit of accelerated tempo and then to spam Rebuilds. It worked pretty well, but that's because the board was relatively weak. My two Feodums were worth 6(!) by the game's end, even though I had to trash multiple into Estates because Feodums and Duchies had ran. We played with 12 Feodums by accident. If you haven't played IRL in a while, you tend to forget how much set-up there is. Do we use Platinum and Colonies? Are there Shelters? Make sure there are the right amount of VP's, Ruins, and Curses, etc.

Game 5: This board was very interesting, and confusing. Bank, Fairgrounds, Counterfeit, Graverobber, Fortress, Squire, Alchemist, and some others that I can't remember. My general strategy was to go for Alchemist, Banks, Counterfeits on the big turns and maybe Squires for extra buys. That doesn't really work when you don't get the Squires . His strategy was definitely better, though I wonder if mine could have worked if I had contested Fairgrounds harder (instead of Provinces). I was totally lost that game, I must admit.

In all, I was most proud of recognizing Rebuild's power, though I am still not sure of how good it is. At least strategy can be simulated!

The hardest thing of all, though? Restraining ourselves from talking about MVII!

We both agreed that if the timing is right, it would be great to do it again. Any other DC-residents are welcome!

I'll let Robz888 do the honor of posting about how some of the cards combo with Scout. As a teaser...Ironmonger and Mystic definitely like to be able to rearrange the top cards on your deck.

[werothegreat]

Hmmm... I'm only a 3-hour drive from DC... I sense a potential road trip.

[yuma]

All of a sudden I wish I still lived in DC.

[pauley_walnuts]

Man, if only I had time that afternoon. I too live in DC and was actually planning on meeting up with Young Nick in the morning, but logistics didn't pan out. Glad you guys had a great time. If you guys want a third (or possibly fourth) player next time, my roommate and I would be down to play some Dark Ages.

We're also planning on hosting a game night every two weeks or so.

[Gansura]

I'm sorry I missed it! I was traveling this weekend but hope I can join you next time.

[Lekkit]

I wish I lived in that area.

IRL games are always a blast. And with new cards and great players, nontheless.

[Axe Knight]

I too am in the DC area.  I have lots of Dominion friends; keep me in mind if you want to meet up some time.