| | |  | Tents & Accessories | Home » » » » Dominion: Alchemy Expansion | | | | | | WARNING:| CHOKING HAZARD -- Small parts. Not for children under 3 yrs. |
| | | Description: | | There are strange things going on in your basement laboratories. They keep calling up for more barrels of quicksilver, or bits of your hair. Well it's all in the name of progress. They're looking for a way to turn lead into gold, or at least into something better than lead. That lead had just been too good of a bargain to pass up; you didn't think, where will I put all this lead, what am I going to do with this lead anyway. Well that will all be sorted out. They're also looking for a universal solvent. If they manage that one, you will take whatever they use to hold it in and build a castle out of it. A castle that can't be dissolved! Now that's progress. This is the 3rd addition to Dominion. It adds new Kingdom cards to Dominion and as it is an expansion, you will need Dominion, or Dominion: Intrigue to play the game. Dominion: Alchemy is an expansion, and can't be played by itself; to play with it, you need Dominion, or a standalone expansion to Dominion (Dominion: Intrigue). Those provide the Basic cards you need to play (Treasure, Victory, and Curse cards), as well as the full rules for setup and gameplay. Dominion: Alchemy can also be combined with any other Dominion expansions you have. | | | Features: | |
• This is an expansion to Dominion, not a standalone game
• 150 new cards
• Takes about 30 minutes to play
• Adds depth and complexity
| | | Product Details: | | | Product Length:
| 12.0 inches | | Product Width:
| 7.8 inches | | Product Height:
| 3.0 inches | | Package Length:
| 8.0 inches | | Package Width:
| 2.8 inches | | Package Height:
| 1.0 inches | | Package Weight:
| 1.35 pounds | | Average Customer Rating:
|  based on 24 reviews |
| | | | Customer Reviews: | |
Average Customer Review:
 ( 24 customer reviews )
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
71 of 75 found the following review helpful:
 Interesting... But SuperfluousJul 12, 2010
By JasonK
Dominion: Alchemy is an expansion to the Dominion card game series. You will need Dominion or Dominion Intrigue in order to play Alchemy.
Dominion: Alchemy is the smallest expansion to date, bringing 12 new kingdom cards and a new treasure card to the table. Alchemy brings a new theme and some very interesting cards to the table, but it can feel awkward to integrate Alchemy cards into a "normal" game without a keen understanding of the cards and a sound strategy. Specifically, the "Potions" resource is implemented, the crux of this expansion. The Potion is a treasure card, costing 4, necessary to purchase most Alchemy cards. Whenever a Potion appears in hand, it nearly forces players to purchase an Alchemy card, and, without extra buys, players often waste treasure purchasing them, as they cost very little but require a potion in addition to the treasure cost. Since Potions have no other benefits, they can easily become worthless cards cycling through the deck.
On a positive note, the majority of the artwork for the Alchemy cards is beautiful. Having been disappointed with many of the illustrations in Seaside, particularly, Alchemy brings some redemption to the aesthetic appeal of Dominion. For those who may be concerned with the content of this specific Dominion theme, it should be known that a few of the cards, whether the art or indicated by the card name, are dark in nature. The cards in question can be, in my opinion, easily avoided (in gameplay with children, for example) or discarded, if you so desire.
In my experience, playing with Alchemy cards makes for a longer game, especially if you are playing with those new to Alchemy. Alchemy lends itself to advanced players and should be avoided in play with newcomers to Dominion. Beware; an Alchemy game may conclude and you might feel as though you only pursued bunny trails the entire time. Is it any surprise though, since the art of alchemy lead to a lot of nothing? Though intriguing, Alchemy is probably the most superfluous of the Dominion series. My opinion is that many will buy this expansion more out of excitement or for a sense of completion for their collection.
33 of 37 found the following review helpful:
Interesting advanced expansion for Dominion -- buy 4th of the gamesJun 23, 2010
By Edmund Davis
"@rurugby"
Got Dominion: Alchemy for my birthday today.
Have played a couple rounds with it so far and if my opinion changes on the game I will update this review.
Dominion is me and my wife's favorite game and was thrilled to get this present.
I really enjoyed the potion as a new type of treasure card and like the complexity of the new cards like Possession (where you get to play the next player's turn on the left).
However, I would get Dominion first. Since it is the basic game and has the simplest cards. Then Dominion: Seaside which plays well on its own and has more fun cards then Intrigue. And then Dominion: Intrigue since it lets you play with 5-6 players well and interacts especially well with Seaside.
As far as Dominion: Alchemy goes I would wait until you are an experienced player and have played the first 3 sets quite a few times and would like a challenge.
This is definitely an more advanced group of 12 action cards (plus Potion - a new treasure card) and I suggest it for advanced players only.
But if you have heard good things about Dominion - and want to try it I would start with regular Dominion and work from there.
Edmund
3 of 3 found the following review helpful:
 Big fan of this expansionOct 19, 2010
By E. Lambeth
Two of my favorite cards in the three Dominion games that I own (Base, Intrigue, and Alchemy) are in this series. I absolutely love the Philosopher's Stone card - a treasure that increases in value the more you increase the number of cards in your deck. I love the Vineyards victory card, which opens up a brand new strategy for winning Dominion games. In addition, many of these cards pair very well with Intrigue and Dominion base cards, which to me is what Dominion is all about: Finding strong pairings early and building quickly on a sound strategy.
Because of the uniqueness of this set of cards and the extra decision you have to make with buying a potion card that does little for you unless there are "must purchase with potion" action/treasure/victory cards out there that you want to buy (or a remodel that converts it to a gold), this set can't help but give you more exciting strategies for winning games.
16 of 22 found the following review helpful:
Great and different addition to the Dominion seriesMay 16, 2010
By HeatherM
My DH and I play at least one round of Dominion nearly every night, and we have every expansion now. Alchemy is a neat little addition to the Dominion world. You can tell that the makers of the game enjoy Eragon (Inheritance) and its sequels from the names they use. :)
Fans of Dominion will have long since acquired Alchemy and learned all about it from [...], but for those new to Dominion, let me say that you WILL need either Dominion or Dominion:Intrigue to play with Alchemy.
Dominion is part board game, part card game -- since there's no "board," -- played with Treasures, Victory cards, and other cards that help you gain the Victory cards called "Kingdom" cards. And each set of 10 cards you use in a game determines different strategies you can use to gain the Victory cards. And for those who have not yet played Dominion, you won't understand the rest of the review. :)
Alchemy adds two Treasure cards, one Victory card, and about 10 action or action/attack cards to the game. Like Dominion:Seaside, these cards add a distinctive twist to the games you play with them.
My DH and I enjoy Alchemy. Some aspects of it lengthen 4-player games interminably. And the Potion treasure card would be nearly useless if you played a game with fewer than 3 potion kingdom cards in it. That said, it adds tremendously to the types of strategy you can use with Dominion, and we really enjoy it.
2 of 2 found the following review helpful:
The last Dominion expansion you should buyJan 17, 2011
By J. Hammel
I'm a fan of Dominion, it opened up the door for me to other non CCG card games, and it is on regular rotation at our monthly Game Day events. Alchemy, however, is almost never included anymore, as the concensus seems to be that it just isn't worth it. It isn't a bad expansion, but it really isn't worth it to mix with other sets (for the most part, I wouldn't use less than 60% Alchemy cards). The big problem being that, to use the cards, you have to have an additional card in your hand (Potion) that is completely useless with other sets. Thankfully there are some serious card drawing engines here that make getting and using said Potions easy, but this just feels more like a standalone product then the other sets. I guess that isn't necessarily a bad thing; its still fun, it just doesn't add much to the other sets so much as cards from other sets benefit this particular expansion.
If you're new to the game and want to get all the available sets, I would suggest Amazon's big box edition, Seaside and Intrigue (in that order) or Dominion, Prosperity, Seaside, Intrigue and Alchemy (also in that order).
See all 24 customer reviews on Amazon.com
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