Dominion Strategy Forum
Dominion => Game Reports => Topic started by: guided on October 10, 2011, 12:59:32 am
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Since I first stumbled upon the TR/Wharf engine (requiring no +action cards whatsoever), I've had a minor obsession with cobbling together bizarre engines on boards that you might not guess could support any engine at all. And this one (http://dominion.isotropic.org/gamelog/201110/09/game-20111009-213507-4c0548e0.html) is probably my favorite so far.
cards in supply: Bridge, Colony, Golem, Goons, Horse Traders, Ironworks, Platinum, Potion, Rabble, Remake, Throne Room, Trading Post, and Young Witch ( Chapel♦ )
I stared at the board for a long while before making my opening buy. Goons, Chapel, Young Witch, Bridge... all kinds of delicious candy you'd like to be able to play if you had unlimited actions. And yet, with no Villages, and not even a cantrip in sight to pair with Throne Room, you might guess this is just another boring Big Money-variant board. Open Young Witch and hope to outrace a Chapel opening with some decent luck? Open Chapel and pick up a few Goons over the course of the game, with no other actions in the deck?
Nah, that's boring. Clearly this calls for shoehorning in a really weird engine!
#1 led: 126 points (71 ▼, 4 Colonies, and 5 Duchies); 18 turns
opening: Ironworks / Chapel
[50 cards] 10 Rabbles, 10 Throne Rooms, 8 Goons, 4 Golems, 3 Bridges, 2 Ironworks, 1 Chapel, 1 Silver, 1 Potion, 1 Platinum, 5 Duchies, 4 Colonies
Ultimately the cards that make the engine run are Throne Room, Golem, Rabble, and (semi-critically) Ironworks for +action to keep going after possible aborted Golem chains. Chapel was entirely necessary to provide the density of engine cards required, with Ironworks enabling quick accumulation of engine cards during the initial trimming phase. Bridge makes for some fun Ironworks shenanigans (gaining Goons and Duchies with Ironworks) as well as providing a critical piece of the payload. Would you have guessed looking at the board that dropping 4 Goons in one turn was plausible? :o This is maybe the most interesting deck I've ever built, and it was an extra bonus to put it together against a top-flight opponent in ehunt who was himself following a perfectly good strategy.
What weird engines have you forced on action-poor (or draw-poor) boards? I'd love to see some other novel ideas!
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This engine can probably even work without Golem!
I won't say I can anticipate how well it will work, but with the same board I'll play exactly the same way. With either Bridges or Goons it worths a try.
I don't have a weird engine in mind right now; I nevertheless played a weird game today. With Throne Room and Embargo, all VPs and treasures (gold, silver, royal seal) are embargoed. There is Remake and Saboteur.
Speaking of action-poor and draw-poor games, I had a decent engine in a game like that in my puzzle. :P In reality the chance to trigger it, even after you set it up properly, is smaller than 1 part in a million I think.
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This engine can probably even work without Golem!
You'd basically have to draw TR/TR/Rabble all in the same 5-card hand to start the engine on any given turn... and I wouldn't be sanguine about the possibility for a big enough megaturn to win the game by triggering the engine only once. Without Golem I'm probably building a Big Money variant deck instead. Whereas with Golem I had a good chance to get it started any time I had a Golem in hand.
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Not really; TR-Ironworks then Rabble can work too. TR-TR-Ironworks to gain estates and draw Rabble if they are not in hand can also work.
I did some experiment, and it seems with Chapel, Bridge, TR, Ironworks, and Rabble, I can quite consistently get 8 Provinces in 12 turns. That probably can beat your BM variant. :P
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neat new engine, fool's gold +Crossroads+trash/draw. Fairly tough to pull off but very satisfying when you do. I used haven+crossroads and 1 hp to draw my deck, bishop to thin it(not of vps though) and fools gold to rake in cash. I would have a log but just played it today and hit return to lobby without thinking.