Thoughts on… Dominion


 

“A new day dawns. Those fertile lands that have been beyond my grasp now sit before me ripe for plucking. Let my armies march forth. Let my gold buy loyalty. Let my influence sway the hearts of men. And once this day is done then, finally, I shall have Dominion over this land!”

“For God’s sake Marc, this is our third game tonight, are you going to say that every time we play?”

 

Dominion was a game changer. When released way back in the mists of time (2008), it introduced the board gaming world to an entirely new gaming mechanism, and in so doing launched a whole new genre of games: Deck Builders.

Deck building, as an activity, has been a thing since the collectible card games of the 1990s, players spending hours pouring over their available cards and carefully constructing a deck from a specific combination of them. A deck that will cause their opponents to flee in terror. Think about games like Magic the Gathering or more recently, Android: Netrunner. But this always happened outside of the actual game. Sort of like board gaming homework. It’s what has always put me off joining that side of the hobby.

 

Dominion Market

 

Dominion, and deck builders in general, make deck building the entire game. And it’s brilliant! Everyone has the same set of options, and over the course of half an hour to an hour, players will select cards to add to their deck in the hope of constructing the most efficient deck at doing… whatever the game wants you to do! In Dominion’s case that’s building up enough resources to collect the expensive but high scoring Province cards. Yes, it’s a race to collect victory points…

Except it’s more than that. You’re building your own Kingdom, with its treasure, its land and its people and structures that inhabit it. This theme might get a bit thin and patchy in places (so my dominion purely consists of gold, smithies and festivals… well those smiths sure do like to party!), but the feeling of building something that’s yours runs deep through this game.

Dominion is a classic. Now 7 years old (that’s like… 40 in board game years) the game has won a legion of fans, and launched a thousand or so expansions. And rightly so. There is little we can say here except go play it! It’s a magnificent game with near endless variety, a superb learning curve, quick play time, and is easy to teach. It’s perfect!

… except for one thing. One slight niggly thing. It doesn’t change the recommendation. We absolutely recommend Dominion! But I need to get this off my chest. I need to talk about Attack Cards.

 

Dominion Attack Cards

 

 

Take That

Cards come in three flavours in Dominion. You have your treasure cards used for buying other cards, victory point cards used for clogging up your own hands but eventually winning the game, and action cards that let you do things. These action cards are the meat of the game, letting you create strategies and giving scope for immensely impressive displays that leave the rest of the table both in awe of you and aghast at how screwed they are. They have diverse effects, with each of Dominion’s expansions adding 25 completely new action cards. Each game you play features 10, so they are also the source of the game’s legendary variety. 80% of them are all about your own deck. The other 20%, however, are known as “attack cards”, and they interfere with your opponents’ decks. As you might guess from the name, these are not pleasant things! I have a serious love-hate relationship with these cards, and these are the reasons why.

 

 

 

They cause big swings

Some attack cards are just annoying. Say, the Witch, who adds -1 VP curse cards into your deck. That’s annoying, don’t get me wrong. But it affects everyone equally. The cards that really get my hackles up are those with a luck element, such as the Thief. This son of ***** has you reveal the top 2 cards of your deck and discard any treasure. The player gets to take any card so revealed. What annoys me most about this card is how much its impact is down to luck. There is a huge difference between having a copper taken and having a gold taken. And that can create very big swings! Full disclosure: yes this has happened to me… a lot.

 

 

But there’s no such thing as luck

BUT! As with everything in Dominion, it’s not really all down to luck is it? If I was a really good player, I could notice the risk posed by the Thief, and not put gold in my deck. Instead, focussing on action cards that let you draw through your deck or give you extra purchasing power. The clever thing about Dominion is that everything that happens is something you could have avoided if only you’d built your deck a little bit better. Through cunning design, all the blame for your misfortune rests atop your own shoulders.

 

 

They become more important than any other action card

A game of Dominion starts with the careful reading of action cards, examining and exploring the market, looking for combinations that might work well together and figuring out a general strategy. All cards are initially considered equally, then depending on the potential interactions, some you will mentally discard while others you focus on as the “way forward”. What’s great is that often there are multiple ways of doing this from the same 10 action set. However, if there is an attack card out, its importance is always higher than all the other cards. You cannot ignore it. Either you are forced to play them, or you are forced to play around them. But regardless they have a dominating (hey, hey!) effect on the game you’re playing, and always in a negative way. What’s so cool about the market structure is that you can consider all the cards equally, and even more experienced players will have a choice of options to try. Attack cards break this balance.

 

 

So they encourage new strategies

Since attack cards have such a dominating effect on perceived strategies at the start of the game, they can mean that a strong card combination in one game is not such a strong combination in another. Having a strategy of thinning your deck with trash abilities combined with high value treasures is a strong strategy in many games. But when the Thief is available it’s going to really struggle! This is hugely important for ensuring that any effective card combinations do not become a go-to strategy every time they are available in the game. They force players to consider sub-optimal strategies, making the game more interesting and varied for experienced players.

 

 

They go against the feel of the game

The game is rightly lauded for it’s building element. You are constructing your own machine, full of villages and festivals and other medieval elements, and that feeling of building something is a great sensation and draw to new players. It makes the game enjoyable even when your deck doesn’t work as well as your opponent’s. If I have another problem with attack cards it’s that they ruin this feeling. The feeling of having your deck punched repeatedly in the face completely detracts from the building element that is the game’s selling point. Unless you’re playing with people who love take-that style mechanics (in which case there are better games out there), I’d recommend leaving attack cards in the box when introducing players to the game.

 

They are a proxy for player interaction

When playing an attack card in dominion, it is no different to playing any other card. It is a passive effect from the point of view of the player. There is no two way response, there is no use of the players themselves in the game. I consider interaction to be things like bluffing, negotiation, blocking and manoeuvring. At the least it is thinking about what your opponent needs or wants and denying them that. It requires thought, set up, consideration of the game state. Playing an attack card in Dominion is the gaming equivalent of playing the music in your flat loudly. It annoys your neighbours immensely but is in no way an active interaction!

 

Dominion Money
Sweeeeet!

 

Finally! The End…

Personally, I don’t see the limited interaction in Dominion as a flaw. I’m still trying to build the best deck, I’m trying to keep track of how many points everyone has, and when to try and end the game (if I’m in a position to accelerate that in some way). I don’t like the inclusion of attack cards as a way of crowbarring in player interaction. I do, after much consideration, see their value in mixing up strategies, at least for experienced players. For newer players I think I shall leave them out, particularly the more swingy cards. But love them or loath them, attack cards are as much a part of Dominion as anything else. Learning how to handle them, and seeing them as a challenge rather than a pain, is a key part of becoming a good Dominion player.

 

Well! I was not expecting to come to such a reasonable conclusion at the end of this article! It’s been an objectionable number of words but it has at least had a cathartic effect on me. What are your thoughts and feelings on Dominion, it’s “player interaction” (or lack thereof) and its attack cards? Let me know in the comments or on Twitter!


 

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