I just played
this game, and thought the board was really interesting, but ended up going in random directions due to confusing play by my opponent. I wanted to see what others thought.
This is the board:
Apprentice, Fishing Village, Ghost Ship, Goons, Ill-Gotten Gains, Jack of All Trades, Lookout, Remodel, Treasure Map, and Wishing Well
My thoughts when the game started were this: Start with 1 Jack and buy Fishing Villages on 3 or 4. Get a Goons or two while Massing Apprentices that can feed on free silvers from Jack. Then use extra Goons buys to build up to super Goons turns.
Ultimately I got to my target, but the path was very different than expected. This is how things played out:
My opponent opens Treasure Map, which makes me feel good about my chances, but I was already a little bit unsure of my Goons plan, so seeing such a weak opening makes me decide to go for something more boring. I decided to start driving into the IGGs to make his Treasure Map decision an even worse one. On turn 6, he grabs an IGG too, and I decide a second Jack is a good idea to clean up Curses and make my strategy even more boring. On Turn 7... he hits his Maps. At that point, I decided my money strategy is probably back to being an underdog, and head back towards the Goons plan knowing that the IGGs I picked up will be excellent Apprentice fodder. From there on, I pretty much followed the plan outlined at the top here, and it ended up working out really well. I was worried again when my opponent bought 3 more Maps on turns 7, 9, and 10 and hit them on turn 12, but I was able to get multiple Goons in play a few times and managed to play 5 and buy out the last 3 Provinces to finish with a decisive victory.
Ultimately, I guess I am interested in everyone's thoughts, and curious if Apprentice/Fishing Village/Goons is the right play here, or if it would be too disrupted and slow if it were up against something like Jack/IGG.