Rio Grande Games Dominion: Renaissance

My boys liked it

This expansion of the game Dominion is not a stand alone game. It does offer unique and creative features, adding strategy to an already fun game. If the expansion sets, this is in the top two (the other is Seaside).

The Renaissance Dominion expansion goes back to the roots of what makes Dominion fun: namely, the cards are simple to play and understand, but they synergize with each other to create complex strategy. There is none of the extreme complexity that exists in some expansions (Empires, Nocturne). There is only one problem with this game, and that is the printing. Fortunately, for the copy I got, the backs are not noticeably different, so I will only take off one star. However, the front color printing differs drastically within the expansion and compared to other expansions. See attached photos.

Pro: I like the new expansion. It adds some nice new options to an already full game. Con: The closest thing I have to a problem with this is that there are fewer cards than a box this size needs, so the extra cost involved is for the metal tokens, which a) although good quality, are the same tokens as were included in other expansions except for a few wooden cubes, and b) one could use a handful of mixed coins or other stuff found around the house just as easily. As of the writing of this review, the game is on sale at a discounted price, and that price (16% off) I feel is a more accurate value, due to there being fewer cards. Still, over all, that does not bring the review down a full star, and I would not have felt cheated if I had paid full price.

Ive never felt like a Dominion set has openly power-creeped previously released cards until Renaissance. There are just a lot of very strong cards for all player types. I loved every game of this that I played; however I felt like some cards from the past were going to be outright forgotten unless randomized in when taking this set into account. Its a great expansion, low on gimmicks and high on well designed cards.

fun

Dominion:Renaissance adds projects that you can use for the entire game (pink cards) Additionally there is a coffee/villager resource that will allow you to add more actions or money to your turn.

Good exspansion to dominion

100% my favorite Dominion expansion. Donald X finally stopped introducing new mechanics and wonky super-complicated cards, choosing instead to refine existing mechanics into simple cards. Coffers’ smoothing out of variance is extended into Villagers, and the States from Nocturne are expanded upon into Artifacts. The mechanics in this expansion are simple enough for a new player to pick up instantly, but add so much more to the game.

My son is collecting all the modules. Got him this one for Christmas. He said they played a whole day with the added game capability.