Darn online version making it so that me getting to play Nocturne at bgg.con is much less of a big deal!
The game was so new that it wasn't available in the library until part of the way through the con. I was really glad to see that they got a copy.
Anyway, so I played a three player game with a couple friends who don't play very much Dominion at all. Using all Nocturne cards so that I could see as much new stuff as possible. Our Kingdom:
I opened Monastery and Necromancer to trash early. Eventually, built a fun thing that used Necromancer to play Tragic Hero from the Trash, giving +3 cards, +1 buy, gain a Gold every turn. With the help of 2 Ghost Towns each turn to make sure I could play everything. I also had a Bard and a Conclave in there somewhere. And a Shepherd once I had several Provinces. It was a pretty reliable Province + something every turn engine.
Got some help from an opponent who played a lot of Sacred Groves. One guy bought a Vampire but it only got used once.
Both players just resigned after it was clear I was simply buying a Province every turn; the game was no longer fun for them.
So what I learned....
- Even though I knew nothing about any individual card's strength; being a good Dominion player still carried a lot of weight in being good at Nocturne.
- Monastery seems really good. I don't think I ever trashed 2 cards in a turn with it, but the fact that it's non-terminal, and can trash Coppers from play, is super nice.
- This is obvious, but in a reliable engine, 2 Ghost Towns are a Hireling that also gives an extra action each turn. That's really good.
- Boons are good. You want them.
- Necromancer is great with one-shots. Unless they say "if".