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[TheOthin]

Caravan Guard being weak outside of the presence of attacks isn't a reason for Caravan Guard's Reaction being good; it's a reason for Caravan Guard's concept being bad.

I feel like it'd be more impressive if it was terminal but otherwise stronger, so you're playing it for free rather than wasting the +1 Action. Of course, then it'd take FAQ clarification about what to do if it had a +1 Action token on it since it would no longer make sense to have that on card text but that doesn't seem too awful.

[Beyond Awesome]

Caravan Guard is definitely a wtf card. It's probably not as bad as a lot of people think. A lot of times it has to be better than buying silver I would think.

[werothegreat]

I'm sorry he wasn't able to entirely stop all those marauders from pillaging one of your markets.  He's just one guard, you know?

Caravan Guard can never be hit by Pillage!

[TheOthin]

Hey, that's a funny contrast. When it's your opponent that's picking what to discard, cantrips in hand become an advantage.

[markusin]

Caravan-Guard-without-reaction being a cantrip, you'd still put it in a lot of decks if you don't want more Silver, but that's true of Spy too and that's considered one of the worst $4s.

Well CG directly adds to your economy whereas Spy only adds a tiny amount of sifting.

I think it's wrong to call CG without the reaction "quite weak".  It looks better than Silver and Oasis in situations where you can't draw your deck.

But the reaction is nice, useful, thematic, adds good flavor, etc.  A solid addition to the game.

This sums up my thoughts on CG.

What does it guard? Not you, the monarch/player. It guards your Caravans. You play a Caravan and a Caravan Guard. You get their duration bonuses at the same time. Since Militia, coin has been associated with fighters as well as commerce, but this is especially so in this expansion (Soldier, Training, maybe a few others I'm forgetting). CG is just a Caravan escort. If you get attacked, they spring to action.

Playing CG through the reaction is a whole lot better than playing it normally on your turn and having to wait until the turn after that to discard it. Playing it on your opponent's turn means you can discard it on your next turn, so it can be played again the next turn (or even played as a reaction).

[AJD]

I'm just saying that it feels weird to me that the action and the reaction are so very similar.

I agree that this feels kind of weird, but I mean, why shouldn't they be? A lot of new Dominion players are confused by the fact that the same card's Action and Reaction effects are so different from each other.

And Jimmmm hits it on the head too, part of it is also that this is a reaction specifically to an attack that feels unrelated to the attack (unlike all other such reactions)

Most Reactions to Attacks are unrelated to some Attacks. Horse Traders hard-counters Militia, but just gives you +1 card against Witch—a nice bonus to have, but not actually countering the Attack. Beggar keeps Saboteur away from the cards you care about, but against Ghost Ship it's just hey, who wouldn't like a couple of Silvers? Caravan Guard is to most Attacks as Horse Traders is to non-handsize attacks—a nice consolation prize for getting attacked, not a counter that neutralizes the attack itself.

[eHalcyon]

I'm just saying that it feels weird to me that the action and the reaction are so very similar.

I agree that this feels kind of weird, but I mean, why shouldn't they be? A lot of new Dominion players are confused by the fact that the same card's Action and Reaction effects are so different from each other.

And Jimmmm hits it on the head too, part of it is also that this is a reaction specifically to an attack that feels unrelated to the attack (unlike all other such reactions)

Most Reactions to Attacks are unrelated to some Attacks. Horse Traders hard-counters Militia, but just gives you +1 card against Witch—a nice bonus to have, but not actually countering the Attack. Beggar keeps Saboteur away from the cards you care about, but against Ghost Ship it's just hey, who wouldn't like a couple of Silvers? Caravan Guard is to most Attacks as Horse Traders is to non-handsize attacks—a nice consolation prize for getting attacked, not a counter that neutralizes the attack itself.

HT counters hand-size attacks.  Beggar interferes with most trashing attacks and weakens discard attacks.  Caravan Guard doesn't really respond to any type of attack.  I'd expect a Guard to provide more of a defensive effect than Beggar.

I never said that it shouldn't be weird.  I said that it was interesting!

[TheOthin]

The thing about comparing to Horse Traders is, both against handsize and non-handsize Attacks, the Reaction part of Horse Traders is just so much more significant than the Reaction part of Caravan Guard. When it's an unrelated consolation, it's much better to get +1 Card at the start of your turn while still having Horse Traders on hand to use normally than it is to just get the +1 Coin from the one Caravan Guard play a bit faster, and against handsize Attacks, Horse Traders can outright block them while Caravan Guard just helps address the scenario where you'd discard Caravan Guard itself.

[werothegreat]

Caravan Guard hard counters Bridge Troll.

[markusin]

Caravan Guard hard counters Bridge Troll.

Hrm...

The Caravan Guard reaction is interesting in that it might not actually defend you against anything.  It just gets you +$1 earlier and makes it less likely for the card to miss the reshuffle.  On its own, I can't think of any attack that it actually defends against.

Well, Bridge Troll.

Sort of?  But you also lose the +$1 you would have had on the next turn.

[AJD]

Caravan Guard hard counters Bridge Troll.

Hrm...

The Caravan Guard reaction is interesting in that it might not actually defend you against anything.  It just gets you +$1 earlier and makes it less likely for the card to miss the reshuffle.  On its own, I can't think of any attack that it actually defends against.

Well, Bridge Troll.

Sort of?  But you also lose the +$1 you would have had on the next turn.

Horse Traders hard-counters Militia, but only if you want Horse Traders to be one of the five cards you have in hand.

[pacovf]

Caravan Guard is a cantrip. You can spam them without hurting your deck. You can't spam Horse Traders or Moat.

[TheOthin]

Caravan Guard hard counters Bridge Troll.

Hrm...

The Caravan Guard reaction is interesting in that it might not actually defend you against anything.  It just gets you +$1 earlier and makes it less likely for the card to miss the reshuffle.  On its own, I can't think of any attack that it actually defends against.

Well, Bridge Troll.

Sort of?  But you also lose the +$1 you would have had on the next turn.

Horse Traders hard-counters Militia, but only if you want Horse Traders to be one of the five cards you have in hand.

But getting the Reaction doesn't take away from Horse Traders' on-play effect. Being in hand is a part of almost all Reactions.

[Schneau]

Is it just me, or is Gear sort of boring, like a terminal, optional, 2-card Haven? That's probably the card I'm least excited about from Adventures.

[jonts26]

Is it just me, or is Gear sort of boring, like a terminal, optional, 2-card Haven? That's probably the card I'm least excited about from Adventures.

Gear is a pretty strong card. It's not super sexy or anything, but it has some great big money and engine utility. Up to two cards is so much stronger than haven's one.

[Awaclus]

Is it just me, or is Gear sort of boring, like a terminal, optional, 2-card Haven? That's probably the card I'm least excited about from Adventures.

Gear is a pretty strong card. It's not super sexy or anything, but it has some great big money and engine utility. Up to two cards is so much stronger than haven's one.

And +2 cards is already a reason to buy the card sometimes. Plus the Haven ability is a lot more useful on a terminal.

[joel88s]

Horse Traders > Wine Merchant.  Though I could see WM having a niche in certain games.

As long as we're making trivial complaints, my biggest beef with this card is the art! Man, who wants to be seen around that guy? I'm scooting to the other edge of the tavern, bro.

Clearly a Merchant who knows his own wares.

[7string]

I'm really excited looking at all the new cards.  The potential strategies and variety look to make this the best set yet!  And most of the art is just far better than previous sets - particularly Guilds with all cartoon like images.  And hats off again to the Wiki folks for getting all the cards and images posted so quickly!!

But....am I the only one disappointed in the low resolution rules?  Why??  It is hard to read the card text even zoomed in, and it does not do justice to the well crafted art on the cards.  I don't think the other rules weren't that low-res.  Same goes for the low resolution images on the wiki where the images are about 1/2 the resolution of the existing cards.  I do hope that there will at least be higher resolution images available for the wiki eventually...  And it would be good if RG could post a higher res version of the rules.

[enfynet]

Most of the rules pdf I have are low-res.

[werothegreat]

I'm really excited looking at all the new cards.  The potential strategies and variety look to make this the best set yet!  And most of the art is just far better than previous sets - particularly Guilds with all cartoon like images.  And hats off again to the Wiki folks for getting all the cards and images posted so quickly!!

You're welcome!  ArcticPenguin was great in getting all the images and raw FAQs up fast.

But....am I the only one disappointed in the low resolution rules?  Why??  It is hard to read the card text even zoomed in, and it does not do justice to the well crafted art on the cards.  I don't think the other rules weren't that low-res.  Same goes for the low resolution images on the wiki where the images are about 1/2 the resolution of the existing cards.  I do hope that there will at least be higher resolution images available for the wiki eventually...  And it would be good if RG could post a higher res version of the rules.

All the rules PDFs on RGG are that blurry.  I'll be scanning the physical cards and uploading them as soon as I get my own copy.  The high-res art from the trivia sections of each card will have to wait until they're up on Dominion Online.

[7string]

I'm really excited looking at all the new cards.  The potential strategies and variety look to make this the best set yet!  And most of the art is just far better than previous sets - particularly Guilds with all cartoon like images.  And hats off again to the Wiki folks for getting all the cards and images posted so quickly!!

You're welcome!  ArcticPenguin was great in getting all the images and raw FAQs up fast.

But....am I the only one disappointed in the low resolution rules?  Why??  It is hard to read the card text even zoomed in, and it does not do justice to the well crafted art on the cards.  I don't think the other rules weren't that low-res.  Same goes for the low resolution images on the wiki where the images are about 1/2 the resolution of the existing cards.  I do hope that there will at least be higher resolution images available for the wiki eventually...  And it would be good if RG could post a higher res version of the rules.

All the rules PDFs on RGG are that blurry.  I'll be scanning the physical cards and uploading them as soon as I get my own copy.  The high-res art from the trivia sections of each card will have to wait until they're up on Dominion Online.

Thanks for the quick reply - it is great that you keep on top of it!  Look forward to having the higher res images on the wiki eventually  Yeah...looking back, I guess the other rules I have were not that high res either, but I was able to read the cards on them better...maybe having more cards on one page caused them to be a little smaller.  And perhaps having more text.  I guess I was just so excited to finally see the cards and some great art that I was disappointed not to be able to see it clearer ; )  I guess ordering the game will resolve that. 

P.S. One reason I keep all the PDF's is so that I can have them in the cloud and available on my iPhone if I don't happen to bring all the hard copy rules with me when playing away from home.  The text on the rules themselves is still readable - just the text on the cards that is a bit hard to make out.

[brokoli]

Interesting cards and events ! There are very clever ideas… now I have to wait for a long time before the online implementation 

I don't understand the logic behind Page and Peasant. The effects are so unrelated, I'm not convinced by this because I guess there will be a race for the last card of the chain, after getting a card with some random effect in each previous upgrade. I guess you can control that by adjusting your deckbuilding… I mean if you know you will get a soldier for the next reshuffle, you can invest for more attacks and villages, but that's it.

Caravan guard is so weird.

Otherwise, love the remaining cards.

[werothegreat]

I don't understand the logic behind Page and Peasant. The effects are so unrelated, I'm not convinced by this because I guess there will be a race for the last card of the chain, after getting a card with some random effect in each previous upgrade. I guess you can control that by adjusting your deckbuilding… I mean if you know you will get a soldier for the next reshuffle, you can invest for more attacks and villages, but that's it.

The Page line seems specifically designed to make it harder to reach Champion.  The Peasant line seems specifically designed to make it easier to reach Teacher.  I'm sure Donald X. will reveal his thinking behind it in the Secret History.

[Jimmmmm]

Is anyone else disappointed that Ratcatcher doesn't combo with Rats?

[Jimmmmm]

I don't understand the logic behind Page and Peasant. The effects are so unrelated, I'm not convinced by this because I guess there will be a race for the last card of the chain, after getting a card with some random effect in each previous upgrade. I guess you can control that by adjusting your deckbuilding… I mean if you know you will get a soldier for the next reshuffle, you can invest for more attacks and villages, but that's it.

The Page line seems specifically designed to make it harder to reach Champion.  The Peasant line seems specifically designed to make it easier to reach Teacher.  I'm sure Donald X. will reveal his thinking behind it in the Secret History.

Hmm yeah that's interesting, and it makes sense. Champion has an immediately game-changing effect (it's even non-terminal so you can play it at the start of your turn and then start the fun times), whereas Teacher is a lot slower - you have to spend an action to get it to the Tavern, then wait till your next turn to call it, then actually play your chosen card to get an effect out of it, and it takes a minimum of 4 turns to get its full effect.

So I guess in a sense if you have a Champion you've won that little battle and you get to enjoy the rewards, whereas getting a Teacher is only the start of the next phase of the game.