Ludocracy Now

With some pestering, I got Jeff to sit down and play some Dominion with me tonight.  I had recently sleeved the rest of my Dominion cards and was eager to try some new cards.  We did stick to Base+Intrigue+Prosperty still, and I used my iPod app to select a kingdom set for us:

(Thanks to Dominion Deck for the visuals!)  Notice that there are no +Card Kingdom cards yet also a Goons attack which shrinks your hand.  Jeff and I should have stuck to a pure Big Money strategy but I think I bought a little of everything and my deck ballooned to a worthless heap.  Longest game of Dominion I’ve ever played as we continued to dilute the average value of our decks and could barely muster up enough money to buy anything.  I mercifully ended it, 68-56.  We decided we wanted to add some +Cards, take out the Goons and Saboteur and add something better suited to Trashing.  That gives us:

This was a lot more fun.  Jeff squeaked out a relatively quick victory on the first game of this deck as I kept drawing dead hands.  He won 34-69.  The next game, I went for a Laboratory+Conspirator strategy and managed to get the engine running really well at the end game.  I was stringing Kings Courts with Labs and ending up with 7-length conspirator chains for $28+ twice in a row.  It was tough to get a Festival in there (the only +buy card) but when I did, it was lights out.  I won 85-71 (Not as much as I felt I was winning by)  Seriously, does any part of these last two paragraphs make any sense to anyone?  Probably not.

As fun as it is to string together 10+ actions in one turn, it can really drag for the opposing player.  Jeff: “I could have done laundry during one of your turns.”  Still, a good time and a quick play—but I’m still looking for that perfect set of 10 Kingdom cards that balances down-time while allowing for deeper strategy than just Big Money.

It was perfect board game weather: drizzly, muggy, rapture-y, so what better opportunity to while away a Friday night (ok. I know most people are thinking “I can think of about thirty other things to do.” but come on, it’s a board game tumblr!) with some taut two player train track laying action??

I was joined by long time ludocrat Jacob who had suggested we play Ticket to Ride but had heard it was “complex.”  I assuaged his fears and we pulled out the Nordic map with the funny looking city names and got to work.

To our pleasure, Jacob picked up the game very quickly.  We both held on to our original 5 destination tickets and heading into the final trains Jacob had a slight edge on me.  “I’m pretty sure I beat you” -Jacob, and I was nervous he was right.

However, he had an inability to line up the cities on his cards to the cities on his map and I cleaned up 107-64 by completing my set of 5.  Jacob was eager to try the game again so we poured another (“This is the nerdiest beer I could find”) beer and handed out new tickets.  I got Copenhagen to Murmansk(?) and for some reason couldn’t discard it.  The idea of laying a track of 9 for 27 and completing the ticket for 24 soon turned into a compulsion and I rode that proverbial train straight into the ground.  Jacob, meanwhile, seemed to be drawing tickets every turn and completing them with ease.  Final score: 78-140 (I did manage to finish the Copenhagen to Murmansk ticket…but nothing else)

CAT PICTURE INTERLUDE

Since I don’t care for Ticket to Ride generally and specifically not after a walloping, I suggested we play Dominion since I had been on somewhat of a winning streak in that game.  However, I managed to continue my strategic inflexibility by following a failed remodel strategy to a 9-44 defeat—ugly.

The next games saw a split, I squeaked out a 33-30 victory in the second game with a well timed Duchy buy, and Jacob won the third 32-45 as I tried, again, and failed, again, with a remodel strategy.  Damn my inflexibility!  Jacob’s Market strategy worked perfectly as he chained them together for +$ and faster deck cycles (and who doesn’t love going shopping at the market!) which he repeatedly pointed out worked far better than anything I was trying to do.

The lesson here is this: either 1) learn to be flexible or 2) play only cooperative games.

Tune in next time when 20 pounds of new games are delivered to my door step!