Okay, you inspired me to play on Ventures yesterday, thank you
http://councilroom.com/game?game_id=game-20111227-064340-d01a3c92.html
The game is a bit different because:
a) I had Moneylender, you had Remake, so it was a bit harder for me to start the engine.
b) My opponent was more skilled than your opponents (he went for Ventures too, attacked me with Militia and was very fast with the greens)
c) I had no time to get a +buy, so Platinum was an obvious choice (maybe the 3rd one should have been a Province, but I think Platinum was better in that moment)
But I still think this is a nice example of working Venture (I get rid of all the Coppers and did not buy any Golds) and not working Venture (my opponent did not - but he had Salvager and Militia, so he had some compensation for this)
I don't know if I would've went for Ventures in that game, I'll admit that having Thief in the supply looks really uncomfortable, even if Thief is not a strong card. Knowing how I'd normally play, I'd probably go Militia/Silver too, and grab a Stables asap. If I was feeling really gutsy, I'd get a bunch of Worker's Villages and Thieves.
I think going for Moneylender was a good idea this game. Moneylender is pretty likely to hit 5 or higher from my experiences, so I don't think Moneylender is slower than Remake for getting a Venture engine started. Remake is definitely better at clearing out Coppers though. Getting another Moneylender seems like it was helpful; you were able to get rid of all your Coppers by turn 14 and you hit Platinum pretty often. Adama on the other hand, was hitting mostly Coppers and Silvers with his Ventures, so I don't think those were doing much good for him. Stables or another Salvager might've been better imo, especially since playing Ventures made him lose some turns with Actions.
Salvager might've been good, but it looks like Adama didn't get much of a chance to make it useful. Your early Province and Colony probably put on a lot of pressure, so he made some very hasty decisions (he only used the Salvager 4 times, once was on a Copper that gave him no direct benefit, the other 3 times were on cards that could've been useful). Ventures don't care about actions or extra VP in the deck though!
What I thought was cool is that, of the 5 times Militia hit you, you were still able to get 2 Platinums and a Province. I mean, one of the Platinums could've been a Colony instead, sure, but knowing my normal buying patterns and responses to discard attacks, I'd be holding onto a Militia and a Worker's Village and something, and that would've done jack squat for me.
Outside of Thief, this seemed like a swell Ventures game. Good show!