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- Verified Buyer
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 King's 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 haven't 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.
