ein bgg-kommentar zur erweiterung:
"The expansion has added a lot to the first box set, in my opinion. I don't buy into the "Tactic X gets you a province on turn 12.347 on average, whereas Tactic Y gets you one on turn 13.002" mentality. This is partly due to luck (as mentioned above), but also because it doesn't take the other players into acccount.
The best thing about the new set, I believe, is more ways that the players can interact with each other, either directly or indirectly. More attacks, more cards that have effects based on other people's decks. Also, the way to play a hand is slightly more interesting now with the choice cards.
But hand playing is not the point of this game - so if that's what you don't like, your view is unlikely to change. It's too simplistic (which is great for new players, remember!). But the directions you can choose to pursue in terms of deck construction in a single game have been expanded greatly. The supposedly "unbeatable" combinations come up less often. Chapel decks are more vulnerable than they were before. The games have become a lot less obvious in terms of strategic direction since we started using the new cards.
Now the question is whether or not new "unbeatable strategies" will be figured out by the community before the next expansion. Which leads to my final point.
The main thing I'd say about this game is that it will perform differently in different groups. As a group of people all learning the game at the same time, learning through play, it's been very, very enjoyable. There's more experimentation, more unpredictability, more use of cards that most people ignore. Even reading tactics on BGG hasn't yet allowed me to stomp all over other people, especially given how rarely chapel comes up with double the number of kingdom cards, and the new tactics afforded by the expansion. If you seek out the winning tactics online and hone them, then yes - some games where the right combination of cards comes up, you may do well (as long as no-one else has read them).
But doing so is anathema to what we should all be enjoying about games - the fact that every one of them is a learning experience to be shared with friends. Put away the browser, sit down and actually try stuff out. Go hog-wild. Figure out what works for yourself, instead of just accepting what some number-cruncher on the interwebs tells you. Experience the game, don't dissect it. And in so doing, you may find the depth, the fun, and the reasons why it's such a popular game.!
