Dominion – Review

Dominion was first published in 2008 and is designed by Donald X. Vaccarino. According to BoardGameGeek.com, this game has taken the boardgaming community by storm! To date, there are two other expansions in the Dominion series that add a lot of depth and complexity to the base game. (This review was originally posted on BoardGame-Reviews.com)

Dominion:

• Designed by: Donald X. Vaccarino
• Published by: Rio Grande Games
• Number of players: 2-4
• Playing time: 30 min
• Player ages: 8+

A Quick Overview

Each player takes on the role of a monarch of a small kingdom whose goal is to expand the size of their kingdom by acquiring the most duchies, estates and provinces in order to win.

Each turn is simple and quick and players make the best use of their deck of cards to build the most prestigious kingdom as quickly as possible.

Game Play

Dominion is a card game and the entire game consists of cards. In the base game, there are 25 different kingdom cards, of which 10 are chosen to be played with. Before the game begins, the land is populated with 10 different “kingdom” cards. Each of these cards has a cost and specific bonuses when played.

On a player’s turn, he makes use of his hand of cards to “build up” his deck into something that will generate enough coins (copper, silver and gold) to purchase estates, duchies and provinces which are the main generators of victory points (VPs).

Each player starts with the same hand of 10 cards. These ten cards are of:

• 3 Estates (1 VP each)
• 7 copper  (1 coin each)

The player then draws a hand of 5 cards (which may be modified by other players’ action cards) and then game play follows the A-B-C process listed in the rule book.

• “A” is for Action; a player can only perform one action using a card with an action property.
• “B” is for Buy; a player may only purchase one other card from the existing cards in play.
• “C” is for Clean up; a player then discards all cards, played or not, into a discard pile.

Observations

At first, when I played it, I wasn’t too enthralled by it. I thought it was an ok game. More of a “meh” game. Somehow, the ease of teaching this game and the play time of this game made it one of my favourites.

In fact, after playing it 15 times, I decided that I had to buy it!

Since being released in 2008, I played Dominion 70+ times; I haven’t bored of it yet! There is something about choosing 10 different decks from a set of 25 to play with each time!

And the more I play, the more interesting card combinations become.

What I also enjoy about this game is that it appeals very readily to younger players. The time to play a game is very short and it keeps fidgety kids from getting distracted too easily.

Rio Grande Games is the publisher of this great card game. It is a 30 minute game for 2-4 players and it retails for about $45 US.

Inside the box that is rather similar to Ticket to Ride’s, you will find a nice insert that has nice slots for holding all 500 cards in this game! That’s right! For $45 US you get yourself a nice box and 500 cards!

I don’t use the box for this game because I think it is unwieldy. Instead, I use 3×5″ plastic bags to hold each set of kingdom cards which I place into a smaller container for easier transport. This has the added bonus (for me) of being able to more easily choose a set of kingdom cards to play with.

Happy gaming.

Last Train to Wensleydale – Review

Last Train to Wensleydale was first published in 2009 and is designed by Martin Wallace who has designed a number of “train” games. This game attempts to simulate the movement of cheese, stone and passengers from the Dales all the while trying to make a bit of money. (This review was originally posted on BoardGame-Reviews.com)

Last Train To Wensleydale:

• Designed by: Martin Wallace
• Published by: Warfrog
• Number of players: 3-4
• Playing time: 2 hours
• Player ages: 13+

A Quick Overview

Each player takes on the role of a director of a small railway company who attempts to make some profit by building rail track in some of the most difficult terrain in England.

Players obtain investment money which they then use to buy influence in the government and other national rail companies, build track and attempt to ship cheese, stone from nearby quarries and the occasional passenger.

Game Play

Last Train to Wensleydale takes place over 4 turns (5 for three players) and build a profitable rail network. Profitability is ensured by delivering goods and passengers along your rail network.

Each turn is broken into 10 “phases” which are played in turn order. These phases allow a player to:

• Receive “investment” income
• Bid for influence
• Build track
• Buy trains; Ship passengers and goods
• Sell off unprofitable track to national railway companies

The heart of the game revolves around delivery of goods and passengers. Over the course of the game, deliveries are slowly exhausted and by later turns, you are struggling to ensure a profitable rail network.

There is also a bit of an auction element which allows players to get influence points which affect turn order in the different phases of the game.

Careful management of your rail network and selling off track to the existing national rail companies at crucial times will ensure that you will come out ahead.

This is a game of bribery and jostling to prevent other players from developing good routes across the Dales!

Do you have what it takes?!

Observations

I *love* “train” games or train-themed games so it is no surprise that I adore this game! I would very much recommend it.

After several readings of the (rather obtuse) rules and several playings, it reveals itself to be a simple game. Mr. Wallace’s prose is a better fit for a book rather than a rules booklet. If you have played other Wallace games, you’ll understand why. (It is because there are several rules’ exceptions scattered throughout the prose which a cursory reading will not reveal!)

This game is easily played in under two hours and offers a great balance of “game weight” to satisfaction. A 3 player game feels fun and “light” while a 4 player game is very tight and sweat inducing

It is a cutthroat game because you will discover that careful placement of tracks will cause much consternation for other players! There are lots of delightful nuances to the game that is discovered after plays.

What I enjoy about this game is the random setup for each game. However, I don’t like that the initial setup and “seeding” of the game can take a bit of time.

The board is functional yet was garish to look at. After a few plays, however, it was ok; the colours do evoke the sense of a biology textbook but that ensures that you aren’t confused about the landscape.

Every game that I have played was different and each game lent itself well for trying out new strategies for the following game. I think this game is more tactical than it is strategic but that’s not a detracting factor.

I would not play this game with younger players because there are a number of things to keep straight.

Happy gaming.

Stratagem

Promoting thinking skills and historical study by playing strategy games

Presents

Strat-Con

Stratagem’s Annual Strategy Gaming Convention

When:        10 am – midnight Saturday 6 February 2010

10 am – 4 pm Sunday 7 February 2010

Where:       The Military Museums (formerly the Museum of the Regiments)

4520 Crowchild Trail SW Calgary, Alberta

Cost:          $10 for the weekend, $7 for Saturday only, $5 for Sunday only

                   Donate a game (possibly to be used as a prize or auction item) and we may waive the entry fee

Games:       Here I Stand (GMT), Pursuit of Glory (GMT), Conflict of Heroes (Phalanx Games), Twilight Struggle (GMT), Commands & Colors: Ancients (GMT), Axis & Allies (old, new & variant versions), Origins of World War II (Avalon Hill), Victory Lost (MMP), Machiavelli (Avalon Hill),  Successors (GMT), Pax Romana (GMT), Hellenes (GMT), No Retreat! (Victory Point Games), Hannibal (AH & Valley Games)

We wish to thank the Sentry Box, the University of Calgary and the Military Museums for their kind support to this event.

For those interested in helping out at Strat-Con please call Rory Cory at 403-974-2852.

Join Stratagem at: stratagem.groupsite.com or for training: stratagemsolutions.ca

As we all gather to celebrate in the holiday season, it provides us with an opportunity to express our gratitude to you for the last year. So first and foremost, on behalf of the whole FallCon committee, thank you for your support of our convention and activities over 2009.

In preparation for our 2010 convention, we recently encountered an unexpected challenge.  Much to our dismay and disappointment, we discovered we could not secure our regular gaming weekend of September 17-19, 2010.  We tried to find a workable solution to retain our usual date but to no avail. Unfortunately, our existing venue is not in a position to accommodate us on this date and other venues that meet our standards are simply outside the bounds of fiscal responsibility when considering the size of our convention. Therefore, we need to announce that our new date for next year’s FallCon is October 15-17, 2010.  Note that only the date has changed; the location of the Calgary Marlborough Community Hall still remains our venue of choice.

We are well aware that your gaming plans may be disrupted by this news, especially those of you who travel from outside of Calgary to attend our convention.   We are also aware that we will likely miss seeing some of the regular faces that make our event so distinctive. And for that we are truly sorry. However on the other side of the coin, we are also excited that the new date may bring many new faces.  Bottom line, FallCon is continuing forward and we have already secured both September and October dates for 2011. Based on attendance and your feedback, we will take this opportunity to see which date will be more attractive to you.  An announcement of that date will be made after our October 2010 event.  Comments and concerns are always welcome in our Contact Us page or on our Blog.

May the spirit of Christmas, the laughter, the fun and the gathering of family and friends surround your gaming table and home.   We look forward to a new year with anticipation and hope that we will see you across the game table sometime soon in 2010.

Merry Christmas & Happy New Year!