So I played this game today:
http://dominion.isotropic.org/gamelog/201202/29/game-20120229-101532-f1f16fd7.htmlApprentice, Cartographer, Coppersmith, Farmland, Grand Market, Minion, Peddler, Potion, Scrying Pool, Trader, and Tunnel
mcmc starting Minion let me take the Tunnel, and try to find the engine in this set. The early Tunnel is probably a mistake because the Minions usually get played for $ at the beginning anyway. But which way to go otherwise? You want lots of Gold asap, because the GM is the only +buy, and you want +buy both for the Pool and Peddlers. So starting Potion probably is also not the right move?
But I think the game demonstrates nicely how important alternative victory points are for building engines. I give away 7 Provinces, and there are "just" Tunnel and Farmlands on the board as additional VPs, so nothing that can score really large like Fairgrounds. The start was probably not optimal, nevertheless I only lose by 1 points, or come 1 turn 2 late for 2 times, because I could have won if turn 20 or turn 23 would have happend one turn earlier. Or if I would have found additional $3 somewhere...
Any thoughts?