I'm debating on where to start next. I'm think I will finish off the Here I Stand (HIS) Strategy blogs which I started. I've since played several dozen games of HIS since my hiatus. There have been many great games out there since.
So, what game do you feel I should work on next? Give your feedback in the comments or feel free to email me.
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A place to chat about boardgames, strategy, and playing tips. I post every week on Saturday (scheduled in advance). If you find it of interest please share it with other like minded individuals.
Monday, June 19, 2017
Tuesday, May 30, 2017
Back at it
Been some time (years actually), but I'm restarting this blog again. going to give it another go and see what happens.
Dominion I - Tracking Score ()
One of the most important things about playing Dominion competitively is knowing the score. In Dominion, the leading player is based on who has the most victory points in their deck. You aren't permitted to look at any player’s decks during the game, so this is hidden information - but it’s easily knowable. In every game, all players start with three victory points and will show all other players whenever they purchase more. It’s a simple matter to keep track, especially if you use a notepad to write on.
The advantage of keeping track is being able to make smarter decisions towards the end of the game. One of the players is going to decide when the game ends by buying either the last Province or by buying the last card of one type ,once two other purchase options are sold out. If one player has a major advantage in a game, knowledge of the score won’t help change the outcome. However, if you’re contemplating buying that last Duchy and your opponent is two to four points ahead of you, knowing the score can make a big difference!
Keeping track of the score can also be a good method of evaluating your strategy, if you are less concerned about winning this particular game. Knowing the score moment to moment will let you see when your opponent is pulling ahead of you. It can also give a sense if they’re making poor decisions and getting lucky draws, or if their strategy is a superior one. Maybe you’re using an over complicated approach and buying too many action cards, while they quietly pick up VPs every three or four turns.
Dominion - Main VP cards |
Ultimately, deciding whether to keep detailed track of the score or not should be based on how tolerant your other players are to the delay. You could easily be performing addition instead of making decisions when your turn starts, so the other players will have to wait while you’re calculating. It isn't conducive to a good time, so it’s important to streamline the process if possible.
columns for each player. When a player gains victory points, I write that digit in their column. When all players have gained an equal number of points, I cross out all of those digits together.
Scoring Sample: At this point, everyone has accumulated 4 points so simply start over at 0 |
Not totaling also offers a little flexibility if your current game involves cards which change in value over time. Gardens are a frequent problem for keeping track. Dukes from the Intrigue expansion present another. In these games, I would use ‘G’s and ‘D’s to keep track of those purchases. Crossing them out isn't an option since your Garden’s value will not match your opponent’s. I usually didn't keep exact track of deck sizes in Garden games, but you might find it important enough to do it.
As for Dukes, it should be relatively easy to know the value of your opponent’s deck if you use exact values when writing down digits on your pad. In that situation, you can look at their column and see how many ‘3’s there are, whether crossed out or not. That count will be the value of their Dukes. Also, once all of the Duchies are purchased, the Dukes become a fixed value for the rest of the game. At least, it’s highly unlikely a Duchy will be discarded at that point.
This is the best and quickest method I've come up with for tracking the score of Dominion. If you choose to give it a try, your mileage may vary, but I believe this style has a considerable amount of advantages. You will want to adopt and adjust to find the practices that work best for you. And it will change from game to game, depending on what your card selection turns out to be.
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