Dominion Base Card Game - Strategy Board Game for Family Fun

First of all, before I say anything about what I thought about the product, let me detail what the Dominion Base Cards set are.Victory CardsEstate : 24Duchy : 12Province: 12Colony : 12Curse : 30Treasure CardsCopper : 60Silver : 40Gold : 30Platinum: 12Potion : 16Trash : 1Empty : 1All together this adds up to 250 cards, which is packed in three piles laid out horizontal in the box face up. In these piles are the Base set of cards Dominion is required for play, but this time they have brand new artwork. That's right, now it is clearly visible what is a Copper and what is a Gold from all the way across the table with just a quick bat of the eye. The main selling point for the Dominion Base Cards Set (DBCS as we'll call it here on out) is the recognition feature, which is easily achieved with the Treasures, the mild exception being Potion. The reason for this is that Potion's artwork doesn't really "pop out" and it's kind of hard to see just what the picture is. However, when you're playing with Potions, this messy blend of color will stand out from the other treasures and your eyes will pick up on it quickly.The Victory Cards do not stand out as well, but I have just only recently started to get acquainted with them. So far I seem to mix Estate with Duchy rather easily when sorting through my piles, but my eyes are slowly and surely trying to find key features that distinguish them. Curse doesn't have this problem, it's the most outspoken card with absolutely fitting portrait of a crow over a dark night sky.When all's said and done, this set may not be for new players. I know, the cards shine much brighter than their originals, but I believe that it's important to play with the originals before diving into these new ones. This is because the DBCS does not provide an easy way to see the value of your card like the originals do in big bold text in the middle. Sure, you couldn't always tell what its name was, but you knew the value and that was worth all your attention. So really, the DBCS is a graduation for those familiar with the card names and values for a good while so they can now associate a new bright picture with a familiar term they know the meaning of.Finally, there is the issue of packaging, Really, only three slots to put these cards is a gripe, but I'm sure it saved Rio Grande Games packaging costs. Actually, when it comes down to it, the packaging doesn't really matter when it comes to game preparation, because I usually just take all of the cards and set them out. Save for Platinum or Potion, which I'll set to the side half of the time. It's still a continuity issue for me, seeing as everything else Dominion based has a neat packaging and labeling system, which has been completely forgone for a sloppy yet portable container.So should you buy this? Yes, not just for (mostly, but still improved) easy to see cards, but to open up new opportunities for multiple Dominion games at the same time. I bought 2 of them, and actually considering buying one to accompany each expansion so if my Seaside or Hinterlands gets borrowed, they'll also have base cards to use.Do your eyes a favor and buy this, then train the noobies in a couple of games with the original cards and have them graduate to these. You won't regret it.I loved that the Prosperity Colonies and Platinum were included, and I'm sure the Alchemy players appreciate the Potions. That was a pleasant surprise! Cards are just as durable as the Base Set and expansions. It's really nice to be able to play larger games or two separate games. Essential for fans of Dominion.It is really nice that this comes with Colony (victory card) and Platinum (currency card) from the Prosperity expansion as well as Potion from the Alchemy expansion. You really need Alchemy for Potion to do anything. We don't have the Prosperity expansion, but Colony and Platinum add a new dimension with even the base game.We really like Dominion, but the truth is, we prefer Ticket to Ride.Don't get me wrong, we do enjoy a game of Dominion but the majority of the extensions are either not appealing to us, or simply too expensive.The fact that Dominion is for only 4 players IS an obstacle...Enter the Base Cards, which provide 2 major improvements over Dominion.The Base Cards now allows you to play with up to 6 players with additional base cards: plenty of Copper (60), Silver (40) and Gold (30) as well as Estate (24), Duchy (12), Provinces (12) and curses cards(30). You even get 16 potions to increase the pile if you bought Alchemy.With 5 players, use 15 provinces/duchy and for 6 players, use 18 provinces. That's right, with this set, you have 6 extra cards so in theory, you could play with up to 8 players!You should however add 1 Kingdom card per player above 4 and ignore the "3 supply pile" rule.But each of these cards are completely redesigned with much nicer pictures so that they are more than just a big number, so I recommend that for 2-4 player games, you can just use the new cards.For me however, the biggest advantage to the game is the addition of 12 Colony (11g to buy, 10 victory points) and 12 Platinum coin (9g to buy and gives 5 gold).You can otherwise only get these 2 cards from the Prosperity expansion (for almost 3 times the cost of the base cards) and you can add them to ANY game of Dominion, not just those with Prosperity.I personally sleeve my cards but I managed to fit everything I might use in my Dominion box by putting the Platinum and the Colony in the randomizer cards spaces, and then, simply used an elastic to place the randomizer cards on top of the index column.I also placed the extra Gold, Silver, Etc... there.My base card box only has the extra curses (we don't like playing with the Witch) and Poitions (since we don't have alchemy).All and all, a great buy for a very low price.I really rate Dominion highly and have many of the expansions. My problem from the beginning with the base sets was the design/colour of the treasure cards. Why would Copper, Silver and Gold all be the same colour?! How did it get through playtesting without someone saying, why is the Silver... not Silver?!Anyway this base card set rectifies that with new treasure, victory, curse, potion and trash cards. Each card has lovely artwork.It is a shame that these cards were not as standard in the base set as for £15 there is nothing new here, just aesthetics. For most people they probably wont mind playing the standard cards but the base set does make it easier differentiating your money and I think it looks a lot nicer.Anyway I give it 4 stars because they are a good addition to Dominion, its just a shame you have to pay £15 for cards I feel should have been in the sets as standard.Just one thing to consider is that the new Victory Cards have the victory points in the bottom right corner of each card. For new players the older Victory cards are probably easier to learn with as it will take a bit of time to get used to the picture difference between Estates, Duchies, Provinces and Colonies. Other than that I would recommend using the new treasure cards straight away.I'm leaving a review here to let anyone whose interested know that the expansion pack, despite the outdated information on the product page (see images showing old artwork) does actually include cards showing the newer edition 2 artwork, displaying the larger centred fonts and symbols. Hopefully this will help someone trying to decide whether to buy this. See the included images for additional info.The artwork on these alone makes them worth a purchase for all Dominion fans!!Over time and use the money and location cards cards start to look a little worse for ware so this set is a brilliant and inexpensive addition.Take a look at the artwork on the box as the cards are now all illustrated, which makes game play so much more fun and they're easier to distinguish.I got this 3 days before amazon started offering the 2nd edition update pack... and i am glad I did it- the pictures here are clearer and they are a very nice variety to the existing second edition cards.Also it is very fun to play with 6 people. Cant wait to get intrigue so I cans tart playing with 8 !This set of treasure and victory cards is great for allowing you to play expansion sets for Dominion on their own. THe new graphics look great, but are the source of the one drawback - the values on the cards are not as obvious as on the original cards , which had the treasure and victory point values in large figures in the middle of the card. The new ones just have a small figure in the bottom right hand corner. This is not really an issue for experienced players, who are used to the values, but for newer players it takes a bit of getting used to.