My first thought while skimming over this board was that it was a relatively weak kingdom.
"Power cards" -- this board doesn't really have any. It features an extremely weak attack (Bureaucrat) and a primary card draw (Envoy) that most people consider inferior to Smithy's +3 cards for the purpose of building an engine and just about comparable for big money decks. None of the other cards seem particularly relevant. Trashing is very weak (Moneylender -- I don't think Farmland really counts). Watchtower could be used as draw-to-X but it's hard to see how that will help us much.
The benchmark strategy is big money. The best pairing for straight treasure here would be Envoy, and Big Money + Envoy is expected to get to 4 provinces within 14 turns. It's hard to see an engine doing much better than that, so if any engine works, it'd have to work through Alt VP.
An Alt VP strategy that centers around Vineyards, though, seems like it might not be fast enough. You don't have a cheap way of gaining actions, your +Buy costs $5, you don't have actions that produce money, card draw doesn't seem that strong ... so my first impression on this board is that big money envoy would be the best way to play it. Open Silver/Envoy, gain treasure, and watch to see what your opponent does. If he's copying you, race to Provinces, and maybe get one more Envoy later on (but not too early). If he's trying some kinda fancy engine around Vineyards, then be cautious and build up with more treasure (unfortunately Markets are more likely to be dead draws because of Envoy) before taking the plunge to empty out the Provinces yourself.
Things get different if you use other Alt VP cards:
1) Duke (
http://dominionstrategy.com/2012/02/13/intrigue-duke/). One of the most powerful Alt VPs in the game, Duke would undoubtedly change the landscape and shift it away from Provinces. You definitely should expect a mirror against a skilled opponent. The most important card here is probably Bureaucrat, which is weak in Province games but very strong in Alt VP because it gives you treasure to offset green card bloat.
Open Silver/Bureaucrat, pick up another Bureaucrat early on, and build up a bit of economy (not too much) before pouncing on the Duchies. You're in for the slog so it helps to sustain a healthy treasure base, but you must get at least 4 Duchies -- and if you get 5, then you're in great shape.
A Duke strategy should crush a treasure strategy gunning at provinces here.
2) Gardens. This seems like a bad choice, because there isn't like an Ironworks/Workshop to support you. Previous students and teachers in the Dominion Academy and other schools have outlined two basic approaches to alt VP, the rush and the slog:
http://dominionstrategy.com/2012/08/27/a-guide-to-alternate-victory-points/Without helpers cards, the rush is simply outta the question, so we're back to the slog. But in a slog, it'll be hard to get enough points to beat Envoy/Big Money when he depletes the provinces.
If you DO face an opponent going for Gardens on this board, then your best strategy is probably to let them. Let them take 4-5 of the Gardens, and then try to get a few of them, maybe two, as a spoiler for them without hurting yourself too much. But focus on the provinces, because that's where it will really come from:
Original Gardens article:
http://dominionstrategy.com/2010/12/16/dominion-gardens/3) Silk Road. I hardly feel qualified to write about Silk Road because I read WW's article about it, tried it out multiple times, and always find myself losing with them. Still, the same basic principles of Gardens applies here. Silk Road definitely has more potency in a slog, so the opposing player should try to get a couple of them, maybe 3, because otherwise if the Silk Road player grabs them all up and then eats a bunch of estates and duchies and maybe some Farmlands, it's over for the other player even if they get all the Provinces. Still, it seems like Silk Roads would probably be a supplement to Provinces here and not an end to itself. If you do decide to do Silk Roads, Bureaucrat will again be useful, in both generating income for you and also in slowing the opposite player a tiny bit.
4) Great Hall. This isn't really considered Alt VP, so I would have written this off entirely -- if at some point while doing Big Money I get $3 after I already have a province or two, grab a GH as a tiebreaker.
In summary, I would have expected this board to be Big Money Envoy with all the Alt VP cards except for Duke, in which case it becomes a cookbook Duke contest with Bureaucrat being the only important card in play. I'm curious to see if the more experienced players read this board any differently.
