Rio Grande Games Dominion Empires Game for 168 months to 960 months

My wife and adult kids and I all really like the Dominion series. Empires continues the trend toward having a good new idea (or two) with each new expansion. This time, it introduces the concept of borrowing to buy cards you cant afford, and then paying off the debt (how real life is that!). And supply piles that are half one card, then half another.

Nice new shiny expansion for people already hooked on the game.

DOPE

Just as Dominion was growing stale, Donald X and his merry band of play-testers came up with some concepts that have infused the game with new life and myriad possibilities. This revival started with Adventures, where we were introduced to Events and Reserve cards, and now with Empires we get Landmarks and Debt tokens. The game has evolved from the primitive stages to the world of capitalistic conquest. Empires comes with a small number of attacks, but they are amusing and sometimes brutal. Legionary has destroyed a game or two of mine, forcing me to discard down to 2 cards before drawing one, while Enchantress has disrupted a few games with her card-shifting ways. Catapult is a handy way of trashing, while punishing your opponents at the same time. This expansion has other good trashers with Sacrifice and Temple, and some fun game mechanics involving split piles--a 10-card pile that has 5 of one card on top, and 5 of another on the bottom. The bottom cards usually provide a strategy to go with the top cards, and can become a goal unto themselves. The real fun for me, though, is the Debt token concept. These are cards that can be gained for a certain amount of Debt tokens, which must be paid off before you can buy anymore cards. There is the immediate drawback of the debt, but as in the real world, the wise usage of this can lead to big gains. Overlord costs 8 Debt, but can function as any Action on the board costing 5 or less. City Quarter also costs 8 Debt, but can be a game-changer. As for Capital, you buy this Treasure for 5 coins, and when you play it, you get 6 coins of purchasing power and an extra Buy. The only catch is that you gain 6 Debt tokens when you do so. Sure, you might take a hit for a turn or even two, but as with Tactician (from Dominion: Seasides), the payoff can be huge. The real mind-blower is Fortune, which costs 8 coins and 8 Debt tokens. It doubles your buying power once in a turn, and can shift a game quickly from buying cards that cost 4 and 5 to buying Golds, Platinums, and multiple Victory cards. Another fun card is Castles. The pile of 12 Castles is set out with the cheapest Castle on the top, the Humble Castle. By upgrading and gaining more Castles, you can reach the Kings Castle. Fighting over the Castle pile could be a strategy unto itself, where a player can run out 3 piles before the other player gets too deep into the Provinces or Colonies. I havent even touched on all the ideas in the Landmarks and Events. The possibilities seem endless, especially when mixing Empires and Adventures with other Dominion sets. The way I see it, Dominion just keeps getting better. Instead of rushing out ideas just to make a buck, Donald X seems to really think through these concepts and make the game something that continues to grow, evolve, and add new surprises. When many were frustrated with the cheaper quality of some of the game pieces and cards in Adventures, he listened and made sure that the next expansion had quality cards and even better Victory tokens than before. In caring about the game and its fans, he has truly built an Empire.

This is another great expansion for Dominion! Most of these cards are advanced and many create significant changes to strategy. I recommend this expansion for experienced, advanced players. Less experienced or advanced players you play with may mutiny against Landmarks, Event cards (which are also present in Adventures), cards using Debt tokens, and complex Action cards. About half of the people I play with regularly have already axed play with Landmarks and some of the Event cards, because they change Dominion completely by turning it from a deck-building game where how you play is mostly based on the cards you have built-up to a game with lots of shifting rules. I get what theyre saying, but Landmarks are really fun for the rest of us. They force you to adjust your strategy. So, as I said, these are for advanced players. Specifically, Landmarks are for advanced players who enjoy the challenge of meeting constantly shifting strategies. I love many of the cards Ive played with. Some seem excessively complex, and cards that have two types of cards in one pile dont work as well in 2-player games (its hard to get down to the fun one beneath the kind of crappy starter card) (though, I love this idea). My major complaint about this expansion has to do with appearance. I imagine their budget might have been a little low after printing problems with Adventures (which had gorgeous images, btw) hurt U.S. sales, but the vast majority of images used for the cards in this game are dull and uninspired. As is also becoming too common, some of the artistic styles dont match the general style of Dominion cards, which always drives me crazy (in this case, they look like cartoons or almost like claymation). But the main issue is just that many images are boring, colors are blah, and theyre just dull to look at. For those of us who find significant value in how aesthetically interesting a game is, this expansion largely tanks on that, unfortunately. -1 Star for too many ugly, uninspired images; contrast issues; ugly card designs for Landmarks & Events; and dull colors (this last one is likely a printer issue, in part, but it really contributes a lot to how much less fun these cards look). On the plus side, over half of the Landmark cards have good images (phew!), though next to some strangely low-quality ones. Points are also lost for excessive complexity on some of the cards which makes it harder to draw in less advanced players (by excessive I mean that there had to be easier ways to say that). That said, Im thrilled that advanced players have an expansion thats 90% geared directly at us, so points regained! Fun, interesting strategies galore! Side Note: Instead of he, these cards now use they to refer to a general player. Dominion is always at the forefront of including its massive following of female players. Thanks, Donald X. Now, lets get to card types and some of the cards. (I wont go into how these cards play to keep this review from being 10 pages, but Ill include their text exactly so that you can begin to imagine.) CARD TYPES • Landmarks: New card type; Landmarks create new Victory Point bonuses and penalties which affect all players just by being in the game; these cards cant be purchased or removed, and affect all players equally by effectively adding a few new rules for victory which change across games (because Landmarks are highly varied and you only include a few in each game). • Events: These Adventures cards return, and allow something else to purchase which is always available to all players • Duration Cards: These Seaside & Adventures cards return, allowing you to play Actions that affect multiple turns • Victory Point Tokens: While not technically a card type, they can play this way. This expansion adds MANY fun new ways to engage with VP tokens (originally in the Prosperity set) - hooray! • Gathering Cards: These cards gather Victory Point tokens to them and allow different ways for you to gain those VP tokens • Split Pile Cards: These Kingdom cards have two kinds of cards in one pile; rather than 10 of the same card, there are 5 of one and 5 of another; you have to get through all 5 of the cheaper card to get to the more expensive, more powerful card • Super Split Pile: (Not an official name for this card type) One card pile, Castle, has 8 different cards with ascending costs and powers! LANDMARK Card Examples Fountain: When scoring, 15 [Victory Points] if you have at least 10 Coppers. Wolf Den: When scoring, -3 [Victory Points] per card you have exactly one copy of. Palace: When Scoring, 3 [Victory Points] per set you have of Copper - Silver - Gold. Battlefield: When you gain a Victory card, taken 2 [Victory Point Tokens] from here. | Setup: Put 6 [Victory Point Tokens] here per player. Basilica: When you buy a card, if you have 2 [Coin] or more left, take 2 [Victory Point Tokens] from here. | Setup: Put 6 [Victory Point Tokens] here per player. Obelisk: When scoring, 2 [Victory Points] per card you have from the chosen pile. | Setup: Choose a random Action Supply pile. EVENT Card Examples Dominate (Cost: 14): Gain a Province. If you do, + 9 [Victory Point Tokens]. Wedding (Cost: 4 + 3 Debt): + 1 [Victory Point Token] - Gain a Gold. Ritual (Cost: 4): Gain a Curse. If you do, trash a card from your hand. + 1 [Victory Point Token] per 1 [Coin] it cost. Tax (Cost: 2): Add 2 [Debt Tokens] to a Supply pile. | Setup: Add 1 [Debt Token] to each Supply pile. When a player buys a card, they take the [Debt Token] from its pile. Advance (Cost: 0): You may trash an Action card from your hand. If you do, gain an Action card costing up to 6 [Coin]. SPLIT-PILE Card Example Gladiator/Fortune: •Gladiator (Action Card) (Cost: 3): +2 [Coin] - Reveal a card fro your hand. The player to your left may reveal a copy from their hand. If they do not, + 1 [Coin] and trash a Gladiator from the Supply. •Fortune (Treasure Card) (Cost: 8 + 8 Debt): +1 Buy - When you play this, double your [Coin] if you havent yet this turn. | When you gain this, gain a Gold per Gladiator you have in play. Note: Doubles your money. ACTION Card Examples Temple (Cost: 4): + 1 [Victory Point Token] - Trash from 1 to 3 differently named cards from your hand. Add 1 [Victory Point Token] to the Temple Supply pile. | When you gain this, take the [Victory Point Tokens] from the Temple Supply pile. Villa (Cost: 4): + 2 Actions, + 1 Buy, + 1 [Coin] | When you gain this, put it into your hand, + 1 Action, and if its your Buy phase return to your Action phase. Engineer (Cost: 4 Debt): Gain a card costing up to 4 [Coin]. You may trash this. If you do, gain a card costing up to 4 [Coin]. Legionary (Attack) (Cost: 5): + 3 [Coin] - You may reveal a Gold from your hand. If you do, each other player discards down to 2 cards in hand, then draws a card. Enchantress (Attack-Duration) (Cost: 3): Until your next turn, the first time each other player plays an Action card on their turn, they get + 1 Card and + 1 Action instead of following its instructions. At the start of your next turn, + 2 Cards. ACTION - TREASURE Card Example Crown (Cost: 5): If its your Action phase, you may play an Action from your hand twice. If its your Buy phase, you may play a Treasure from your hand twice. Generally, there are some really awesome cards that change everything, including cards like Crown and the Dominate Event card. Some cards, though, are overpriced and weirdly under-powered. The best example brings us to a key topic: Debt. Cards costing Debt require you to take out a loan, essentially. This loan must be repaid on your future turn(s) before youre able to purchase anything else. As such, buying Debt cards can involve significant risk to future purchasing power, and must, therefore, be powerful enough to be worth the risk. Unfortunately, for some reason, this just isnt always the case. The best example of this issue is City Quarter, an Action card that costs 8 Debt and sometimes gives you nothing more than +2 Actions. Squire (from Dark Ages), which costs 2, gives you much more than that! 8, the entire price of a Province, is a huge price to pay for something that may be strong or may be largely useless. City Quarter will give you +2 Actions and +1 card for every Action card you have in your hand. If you happen to have a lot, then great. If you dont have any at all, this is one of the worst Villages imaginable: +2 Actions, period. In general, the Debt concept seems to be underdeveloped. Debt is an interesting idea, and works well occasionally, but for the most part, Debt cards are a bad investment when they cant be purchased in mid-early game. Ive lost entire Colonies because I decided to go for a Royal Blacksmith (which gives you +5 cards, you must discard any Coppers, and costs 8 Debt, which makes it a very expensive Hunting Grounds or Embassy, give or take). Generally, if youre planning to go for a card that costs Debt, be sure to get it after youve acquired some Treasure and key Action cards, but before you think you may start affording Provinces/Colonies. Because you have to pay Debt before making any further purchases, the longer you wait to buy them, the more likely you are to lose a Province, Colony, or other major card youre after by having to devote part or all of their cost to paying off a Debt. And, the longer you wait to buy an Action card costing Debt, the less likely it is to be worth the expenses youve incurred (as the longer you wait, the fewer times itll appear in your deck). Overall: PROS • Great new cards and kinds of cards that create entire new avenues of strategy • Some really incredible new cards, like Crown • Awesome for experienced players who like new challenges • Landmark cards are a fun way to create entirely new ways to play Dominion • Return of the Victory Point Tokens! • Card thickness and texture is proper again (not flimsy like Adventures first printing) - thank you!!! CONS • Many cards are too complex or challenging for less advanced players • The wording on some cards is a little confusing and not fully explained in the rulebook (Im looking at you, Capital) • Nearly all Landmark & Event cards are complex, making it difficult to draw in less open-minded or advanced players (a few more less complex or jarring ones would have helped ease them in) • Some cards are wildly under-powered and/over overpriced, such as City Quarter, which potentially gives you just +2 Actions and costs a whopping 8 Debt • Some cards are very powerful, which increases the risk of imbalance and player frustration if they fail to utilize a strategy (huge risk for less advanced players) • Aesthetic Issues: (1) Many images used are horribly dull and uninspired (Adventures was gorgeous but badly printed; this one is okay-printed and ugly), (2) Colors are dull and the box has a horrible texture, (3) Some Event and Landmark cards are hard to read because of contrast issues (offset on others by larger text) In short, if youre advanced and looking for great new strategy opportunities, buy this! While its not as awesome as Id hoped (esp. in terms of appearance) or as widely playable (because you need advanced players for many of the cards), this is an excellent expansion. Never before has an expansion added quite so many ways to shake up the game! Landmarks and some of the shake-things-up Event cards are truly awesome. And Crown. Definitely try Crown.

Always a fun game and the new cards add a nice twist to the game.

great game. I have 4 expansions to add to the variety possible.

very exalted delivery. Notably cute

Major Improvement in the game of Dominion.

Good addition to my other versions