Review: Eminent Domain PLUS Expansions!
It’s been way too long. I should’ve done this, seriously, 4 years ago. I missed it when it was kickstarted (was it? I think it was). I just remember getting it in 2012, sometime after it’s release in 2011. In fact, I remember posting on my instagram feed back then, polling my followers to assist me in making a decision whether to buy Eminent Domain, Race for the Galaxy, or Core Worlds. While they’re all different games, they were essentially space-based card games. Got a lot of votes, pretty evenly, for each of the games. One comment though, really pushed me to Eminent Domain. The funny thing is that it was a comment that almost was positioned as a slight towards the game, as in this feature made it less interesting. That feature? It was simple.
Simple? Is that a ... a problem? And is it actually simple?
So I went for Eminent Domain. And dang it, I’m so glad I did. If you follow me around enough, you’ll know that it’s my favorite deck building game. I could seriously do away with all other deck building games, and contently hang on to this one for a long time. So, with my sanguine success of my last review of Luna, I’m going to do the same here. I’m tired of rigid structure. Every other board game reviewer does it, and i’m going to make my own formula. Boom.
Anyway, I am really excited for this review. Tasty Minstrel Games generously provided a copy of the expansion “Exotica”, and it was then I decided that I shamed myself for not having a copy of the first expansion “Escalation”. Fixed that real quick, bro.
So if you’ve never played a deck building game, here’s a quick synopsis according to our friends at Wikipedia:
A deck-building game is a card game that uses building a deck as the main focus of the gameplay. It is similar to collectible card games (CCGs) in that each player has their own deck. However, unlike CCGs, the cards are not sold in randomized packs, and the majority of the deck is built during the game, instead of before the game. Typically, the cards provide a type of game currency which allows players to buy more cards to add to their decks.
Make sense? There’s a pool of cards, limited cards, that you can buy in the game. As you buy these cards, they get added to your tableau, eventually making it to your deck, to your hand, discarded, back to your deck, then your hand, and rinse and repeat.
Here’s where Eminent Domain differs from other deck building games: the ‘currency’ as included in the definition above doesn’t feel like typical currency in most deck building games. See, you have a hand of cards that might add up to a total of say, 3 bucks. You have 3 dollars to spend on cards in the center of the table. Whatever 3 bucks gets you, you can buy, thus beginning the process of building your deck of cards.
Eminent Domain doesn’t really have currency in that form. Actually, in addition to deck building, ED contains one of my other favorite mechanisms... Role Selection! To build your deck, you choose a role, any role, from the center of the table, and add that card to collection to begin building your deck. Instead of paying for the card, you do the action included on the card. The sweetest part, is that not only do you get to do the action, but your opponents can either follow you by doing a modified version of that action, or they can draw cards into their hand (called “dissent”).
The goal of the game is to add planets to your tableau (these planets are obtained through a deck of cards separate from the roles). The planets themselves offer some sort of benefit usually, including points at the end of the game, or possibly an increase in hand-size. These planets you are either going to overtake through force or through expanding colonies to it (get it? Eminent Domain?)
The roles themselves are:
Survey, where you can draw cards from the planet deck, choosing which one you’d like to attempt to add to your domain either through force or colonization.
Warfare, where you can add ships to your fleet or begin to overtake / attack a planet.
Colony, where you can stack colony resources (other colony cards) on a planet so that you can also potentially settle that planet once enough colonies meet the demand.
Trade / Produce resources, where you can have your open planets produce resources then trade them in for points.
Research, where you can either cull your cards in hand (if they’re junky and no longer helpful) or use your planets or cards in hand, to assist in obtaining permanent or temporary technologies. Oh baby, with these two expansions, there’s a crapload of them:
This is just one side of the tech-tree. The other side has even more stuff to research. These cards typically provide a special action to take, or modify existing actions to take. Another action to take is a political action, and that allows you to take a free card in hand. Depending on the number of players, when some variable number of role cards are depleted from the center of the table, the game ends, and the person with the most points wins.
So is that simple? No. It’s not simple. But that too isn’t an insult. Some people equate simple with easy, and that’s just not the case. Those are, in my opinion, are two different ways of measuring things. Easy and Hard are polar opposites, whereas Simple and Complex are also polar opposites. Something can be Hard to do / learn / understand, but simple in nature. I have plenty of games in my collection that are like that (Roll for the Galaxy, for example). Eminent Domain is EASY to pick up, yet has such a level of complexity that I never get tired of playing it. Recently, I played my buddy Rex, and we both just kept talking about how wonderful the game is, and how refreshing it is to play a game that’s easy to maneuver, yet has such a complex nature to it that being able to replay it over and over doesn’t wear it out.
If you’re new to deck building games, I’d definitely recommend this game. If you are wanting to explore an role selection game, then definitely explore this one. While the card game San Juan is pretty classic, incorporating the role selections with deck building is remarkable and memorable.
So what do the expansions add?
MORE OF EVERYTHING. PLUS MORE.
Let’s start with the Escalation expansion.
In addition to more of the same thing in the base game (planets, techs, etc), there are a few new things to incorporate. In the base game, everyone starts with the same hands and resources. In Escalation, they introduce new ‘scenarios’, giving players new starting hands and resources. This offsets the balance at the beginning, putting players on a particular path for the game. Initially I was apprehensive about it, but the more I played it, the more I liked being able to have decisions made for me ahead of time. It felt like it eliminated the need to have to make split decisions when pursuing a particular path (like Warfare or Colony).
Also, in the base game, the ship tokens do not come with any particular value. They’re just...ships. In Escalation, however, the ships themselves have specific values. These values can affect what planets you settle, or even what techs you choose to add to your deck.
In the Exotica expansion, you’ll find that it’s again, coming with the same stuff, including more planets, more scenarios, more of everything. This time, the new stuff incorporates Asteroids that can be mined, and a new type of planet (Exotic).
In addition to a new planet and asteroids, they also come with a new resources that can be used, too. Mining an asteroid is similar to attacking or settling a planet. This time, you can do it by discarding your whole hand, which can be helpful if you have junk. And just like most everything else in the game, mining asteroids could associate to a technology you’ve researched, thus setting off a chain reaction of benefits.
If you have both expansions, you can use the Exotica Promo Pack, that will allow you to make use of features found in both expansions (assuming you’re using some or all elements of each expansion.
If you can only get one expansion, I’d probably lean towards Exotica. Use of the extra features is pretty simple, and isn’t nearly as complex as what Escalation offers. If you can swing it, though, I’d recommend getting both expansions. They’re wonderful additions to the game, and offer a lot of replayability for you and your game group.
Mining the asteroids seems kooky, but I tell ya, it’s a neat addition to the game that isn’t just planets and techs. Using the ships as different levels of, well, currency, is neat too. While it doesn’t feel like it’s missing from the base game, using the different levels of ships in the expansion also doesn’t feel out of place. If there’s one thing that these expansions did and did it right, is that it kept them very seamless.
Eminent Domain will remain high atop the list of favorite games, and will likely remain as my favorite deck building game (which is why I sleeved the game). I can’t wait to teach my kids to play this game. To call it a masterpiece might be high praise, but for me it isn’t high enough. I really love this game, and would encourage you to explore Eminent Domain.
[thank you Tasty Minstrel Games for providing a review copy of Exotica!]
