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[gman314]

As I discovered in this game Butcher works quite well as a Hunting Party buddy. Basically, you use Butcher as the X in a hunting party + X strategy, and just consider the trashing as a bonus.

What makes it work quite well is that there are often turns in a HP strategy where you end up with $9 or more, because the first card drawn by at least one HP was a duplicate Copper or Silver. With Butcher, you can save up to two of those coins for later turns when your engine doesn't fire, or you can save up for a big improvement of a card you don't want to a VP card at the end.

Butcher also helps in the early game, as you can get rid of Estates; which while not strictly necessary can still help HP significantly. These Estates can become Silver and get you an extra token to save, but can also be turned into other useful parts like Hunting Parties. Making Hunting Parties can also deal with the occasional extra Silver you pick up in the early game.

Any thoughts on Hunting Party + Butcher?

[ftl]

The main issue is probably taking the time to pick up a Butcher, since it conflicts with HP, and stopping to pick one up could leave you losing the HP split. I can see how it would be quite nice once you have one already though! And perhaps it can lead to double-HP turns to catch up.

[awildnoobappeared]

I really like the idea of hastening the end of the game by Butchering a Province into another Province, and buying yet another. I have no idea whether it's better than just buying HPs outright though.

You could also pull some last-turn shenanigans by turning spare HPs (if you have any!) into Duchies.

[qmech]

I like Butcher/HP a lot.  Here's a sample game.

Butcher does a lot for me this game, clearing Estates, picking up extra Hunting Parties, trashing through the Provinces and grabbing extra Provinces towards the end.  I was impressed.  There are a couple of reasons this game is atypical though: first, there are no good 3s or 4s, so there's not so much tempo loss in spending 5 on an X.  Second, I was not contested, which makes it harder to judge whether losing an HP buy hurts your chances with the split.  My suspicion is that it doesn't though: Butcher can turn two Estates into a Silver and an HP, so I think it will usually make up the "lost" HP.

[Destierro]

I have yet to play a game with both butcher and hunting party, but here are my thoughts.

While HPX is normally paired with a 3-4 cost card (baron, monument, swindler etc), it also is useful with certain 5 costs. Mountebank is one, Counting House has the potential of being another, though it has no other upsides besides near-guaranteeing 8, stash and royal seal work in a pinch, and there are a few new compelling Dark Ages cards. One is Rogue, which has the potential of trashing the opponents HP's in a mirror, and the other is count, which can store excess HP's on top of the deck, and if you happen to hit  8 without needing it's +3 then you can duchy province for fairly cheap.

Of all the 5's there are a few that really stand out. Mountebank(duh), Butcher, Count, and Rogue. Whether these overcome the loss of tempo it takes to gain them is debatable, but I think they are all certainly strong options to consider.

[sudgy]

I have yet to play a game with both butcher and hunting party, but here are my thoughts.

While HPX is normally paired with a 3-4 cost card (baron, monument, swindler etc), it also is useful with certain 5 costs. Mountebank is one, Counting House has the potential of being another, though it has no other upsides besides near-guaranteeing 8, stash and royal seal work in a pinch, and there are a few new compelling Dark Ages cards. One is Rogue, which has the potential of trashing the opponents HP's in a mirror, and the other is count, which can store excess HP's on top of the deck, and if you happen to hit  8 without needing it's +3 then you can duchy province for fairly cheap.

Of all the 5's there are a few that really stand out. Mountebank(duh), Butcher, Count, and Rogue. Whether these overcome the loss of tempo it takes to gain them is debatable, but I think they are all certainly strong options to consider.

The opponent could get junk cards to give you with Rogue...

[dondon151]

That seems like an awfully inefficient way to counter Rogue if there are no other trashers in the kingdom.

[gman314]

Another good $5 to get for HP X is Merchant Ship: HPs only need to find it every other run through.

And, you can even step it up to $6 on occasion for Goons, or (significantly less awesomely) Harem.

[SirPeebles]

Has anyone tried a combo of Hunting Party + Counting House + Feast?  The idea would be to build a Hunting Party + Counting House deck which has eight Copper but no other treasure.  To afford your early 5s, you'd buy Feasts, which will trash themselves.

[sudgy]

Another good $5 to get for HP X is Merchant Ship: HPs only need to find it every other run through.

And, you can even step it up to $6 on occasion for Goons, or (significantly less awesomely) Harem.

I one time won because I got a Harem while my opponent got a Fortune Teller...

[eHalcyon]

That seems like an awfully inefficient way to counter Rogue if there are no other trashers in the kingdom.

You don't need to buy to specifically counter Rogue. If it's not a mirror then HP-Rogue will inevitably gain things it doesn't need and clog up.