Dominion.

[Jexik]

I wrote a review of the expansion over on BGG.

Spoilers: I liked it.

[Drumline3469]

Has anyone else seemed to notice how much longer it takes to play with Intrigue?

[Jexik]

Nope. I address that in my review.

Chaining Nobles does essentially the same thing that people used to do with Labs or Villages. The people who tend to win our games are those who buy lots of gold and carefully select their action buys. Granted, some new cards can affect that strategy, but the same can be said of the Thief in the original game.

[Drumline3469]

Originally Posted by Jexik

Nope. I address that in my review.

Chaining Nobles does essentially the same thing that people used to do with Labs or Villages. The people who tend to win our games are those who buy lots of gold and carefully select their action buys. Granted, some new cards can affect that strategy, but the same can be said of the Thief in the original game.

Yeah, that's assuming the Noble is in the game. We like to chain Scouts into Nobles or Harems using the Scout's ability to gain Victory Points into your hand, but the game still drags on for an hour to an hour and a half for us whereas Dominion only took 30 minutes.

[Jexik]

An hour has pretty much been my longest game with Intrigue (mixed or alone) while I have had a game of regular Dominion go just as long where we went crazy with Thieves and when no Moats were present.

Played 4 games last night (2 player) in less than 2 hours. Each game was about 25 minutes, with a few minutes in between some games to go to the bathroom or grab a beverage. This was with Intrigue alone. The Saboteur was there at least once, and there were a lot of +action cards, so maybe that was part of it too. I tried (unsuccessfully) to make use of the Conspirator a few times. I think the best bet is mass Great Halls and maybe... laboratories.

I still think that once you get used to playing with the new cards it'll be just as quick as the original.

[Drumline3469]

Anyone heard anything about Seaside? It looksl ike it may be at Essen, but I'm not for sure. Does anyone know the projected release date?

[nbxfan]

My gaming group has considered picking this or Race For The Galaxy up. (yes I posted in each thread as I assume some people have played one orr the other or may look at one or the other...sorry) However, because there are generally 6 of us, we would have to buy both sets to play with. Not the end of the world outside of the expense which when split isn't that bad either. One of the big concerns is the card size and the comments I've read on many various sites about needing to "sleeve" them so that they stay nice else they will wear thru fast. Can you shuffle a sleeved card? Also, how much of this is based on luck? Finally, any oppinion on which you would recommend picking up first would be appreciated. That is this or "race."

[Drumline3469]

Originally Posted by nbxfan

My gaming group has considered picking this or Race For The Galaxy up. (yes I posted in each thread as I assume some people have played one orr the other or may look at one or the other...sorry) However, because there are generally 6 of us, we would have to buy both sets to play with. Not the end of the world outside of the expense which when split isn't that bad either. One of the big concerns is the card size and the comments I've read on many various sites about needing to "sleeve" them so that they stay nice else they will wear thru fast. Can you shuffle a sleeved card? Also, how much of this is based on luck? Finally, any oppinion on which you would recommend picking up first would be appreciated. That is this or "race."

To play RftG you would need to buy both expansions as well as the base set, as each expansion adds one player. Dominion, in my experience, is better for less involved gaming. Play is quick and light. The rules are easy and accessible and the strategy is not SUPER in depth. Some of this game is notably luck, but a lot of it is deck building/ratio. A lot of RftG is luck as well since you could have an amazing strategy, but just not be able to draw cards for it. Race has a lot of adapting. You may want to have a military build, but just keep drawing aliens. Then you shift to an Alien build, but then you start drawing only Genes worlds. You just have to learn to adapt. Overall, to start with, I would throw in my vote for Dominion.

[nbxfan]

Originally Posted by Drumline3469

To play RftG you would need to buy both expansions as well as the base set, as each expansion adds one player. Dominion, in my experience, is better for less involved gaming. Play is quick and light. The rules are easy and accessible and the strategy is not SUPER in depth. Some of this game is notably luck, but a lot of it is deck building/ratio. A lot of RftG is luck as well since you could have an amazing strategy, but just not be able to draw cards for it. Race has a lot of adapting. You may want to have a military build, but just keep drawing aliens. Then you shift to an Alien build, but then you start drawing only Genes worlds. You just have to learn to adapt. Overall, to start with, I would throw in my vote for Dominion.

That's great...appreciate it. What about card quality and sleeving?

[Drumline3469]

We play quite a bit. We never really shuffle our decks like you would a standard deck of playing cards. We merely deal them out into 3-5 piles in front of us, then re-stack them and deal again, then mix em up by cutting the deck a few times. This saves wear and tear, I'm sure. We don't play with sleeves and our cards don't see much wear and tear at all. I do know from experience with TCGs though that sleeves make it easier to shuffle. It would just be costly to buy 1,000 sleeves...

[wdgrant]

I have to disagree about RftG and luck based opinion. I think adaptability is necessary, but you shouldn't lock into a strategy. Luck plays only a small part of it. Dominion is definitely easier to learn, but I also feel it gets old faster. I love the game, but would prefer Race any day. I just feel Dominion can get stale because certain cards will always call for a certain strategy.

As for sleeves, we don't use them. Just rotate you use of certain cards, copper, silver, gold, and they should all wear approximately similar. It won't affect game play.

[nbxfan]

Originally Posted by wdgrant

I have to disagree about RftG and luck based opinion. I think adaptability is necessary, but you shouldn't lock into a strategy. Luck plays only a small part of it. Dominion is definitely easier to learn, but I also feel it gets old faster. I love the game, but would prefer Race any day. I just feel Dominion can get stale because certain cards will always call for a certain strategy.

As for sleeves, we don't use them. Just rotate you use of certain cards, copper, silver, gold, and they should all wear approximately similar. It won't affect game play.

This is the issue I have run into. I have been reading site after site on both of these games and their various reviews. Naturally they are all different and, I don't follow board games enough to know what sites are better suited to reviews than other. I personally don't mind the complication or rules. We are also picking up Arkham Horror which my understanding has a massive set of rules that are fairly complex. Also, between all of us, we have so many various games that even if we played something new, it could be weeks before we go again. So, not necessarily concerned about things getting stale. But that is definitely important to know. I may have to just recommend getting both or pick one for now and then the other later down the line. Thanks for the note on sleeves as well. Looked them up and they do get expensive for that many cards. Almost doubles the price by sleeving 1000 cards.

edit: Ended up picking up both. Prices weren't to bad and couldn't make a decision on just one or the other. Thanks.