I played two games yesterday in which Swindlers became an issue for me. I'd appreciate feedback on what I should have done differently.
Game 1: Chapel, Council Room, Counting House, Golem, Minion, Pawn, Potion, Quarry, Shanty Town, Swindler, and Talisman
I went first, opening Minion, then Chapel after seeing my opponent open Swindler/Shanty Town. My plan was to get lots of Minions and Chapel away Coppers/Curses so my opponent had fewer Swindler targets for cursing. The problem was that this left me vulnerable to having Minions swindled into Counting Houses. I'm guessing I should have opened Pawn rather than Chapel for my second buy, but I wonder if Minion was a bad strategy in this setup because there was such a bad $5 around.
Game 2: Apothecary, Chancellor, Chapel, Hamlet, Herbalist, Laboratory, Native Village, Pearl Diver, Potion, Swindler, and Vineyard
Lots of spammable $2 actions, lots of +buy, and Vineyard seemed like a winning combo. I screwed up my deck my buying Vineyards too early and so ran out of coin, but I also took a huge hit from Swindlers trashing several Vineyards, including after there were none left to replace. I don't know if I got unlucky with how frequently the Swindlers hit my Vineyards rather than the $2 cards (which would have had less effect on my deck) and I just timed my strategy wrong or if this was a bad setup for trying an Action-rich strategy.
As always, feedback is greatly appreciated!