Hunting Grounds

Hunting Grounds
Info
Cost
Type(s)	Action
Kingdom card?	Yes
Set	Dark Ages
Illustrator(s)	Simon Jannerland
Card text
+4 Cards When you trash this, gain a Duchy or 3 Estates.

Hunting Grounds is an Action card from Dark Ages. It provides a large amount of terminal draw but is relatively expensive. When trashed, it gives you a free Duchy or three Estates.

FAQ

Official FAQ

• When you play this, draw four cards.
• If this is trashed, you either gain a Duchy or three Estates, your choice.
• If you choose the three Estates and there are not three left, just gain as many as you can.

Other Rules clarifications

• If you trash Hunting Grounds and the Duchy pile is empty, you can still choose Duchy (and gain nothing).

Strategy

Hunting Grounds is very efficient at converting terminal space into draw, and with a village available it can therefore provide a large amount of draw. Because it draws more cards per copy played than the majority of similar cards, fewer copies of Hunting Grounds are necessary to achieve the same total amount of draw compared to alternatives. However, because having fewer copies of your draw card increases the chance of bottomdecking a significant portion of them, it's usually best to acquire more copies than strictly necessary for the amount of draw you need. Although this eventual overdraw is often useful, Hunting Grounds’ high price can make it difficult to acquire early in the game, and difficult to ramp up your draw.

A variety of supporting effects can help mitigate some of these issues.

• Sifters or topdecking effects such as Scheme can reduce your odds of an unfortunate bottomdeck. Similarly, cheaper sources of supplementary draw (such as Caravan) can also solve this problem.
• Effects that make Hunting Grounds easier to gain, such as Advance or Horn of Plenty, can also make it faster to build with.

Because of its on-trash benefit and high price, Hunting Grounds is a good target for trash-for-benefit effects in the endgame, especially Remodel variants, since this allows you to add a substantial number of   in both Province and Duchy or Estates. However, given that replacing a strong draw card with multiple stop cards has a highly detrimental effect on your deck control, this is usually only viable at the very end of the game, and it may be difficult even then, as you need to be able to draw without playing the Hunting Grounds that you want to trash.

Hunting Grounds' on-trash effect means that it combos exceptionally well with Lurker. By almost exclusively buying Lurkers and using them to trash Hunting Grounds from the Supply, you can very quickly rush down the Duchy pile and subsequently the Estates. As a result, the game generally ends very quickly with a pileout on Duchy, Hunting Grounds, and either Lurker or Estate.

External strategy articles

Note: Article(s) below are by individual authors and may not represent the community's current views on cards, but may provide more in-depth information or give historical perspective. Caveat emptor.

• Stef's 2015 article
• WanderingWinder's 2015 article

Versions

English versions

Print	Digital	Text	Release	Date
		+4 Cards When you trash this, gain a Duchy or 3 Estates.	Dark Ages	August 2012
		+4 Cards When you trash this, gain a Duchy or 3 Estates.	Dark Ages (2017 printing)	September 2017

Other language versions

Language	Name	Print	Digital	Text	Notes
Czech	Revír			+4 karty Když zahodíš tuto kartu na smetiště, vezmi si Vévodství nebo 3 Statky.	(2016)
Dutch	Jachtvelden			+4 Kaarten Als je deze kaart vernietigt, pak dan een Hertogdom of 3 Landgoederen.	(2013)
Finnish	Metsästysmaat
French	Territoire de chasse
German	Jagdgründe			+4 Karten Wenn du diese Karte entsorgst: Nimm ein Herzogtum oder 3 Anwesen.	(2019)
Japanese	狩場 (pron. kariba)			+4 カードを引く これを廃棄するとき、公領1枚か屋敷3枚を獲得する。
Korean	사냥터 (pron. sanyangteo)
Polish	Łowisko				Although Polish version is not released, this card is referred to in the Polish version of Empires rulebook
Russian	Охотничьи Угодья (pron. okhotnich'i ugod'ya)
Spanish	Coto de Caza			+4 Cartas Cuando elimines esta carta gana un Ducado o 3 Fincas.	(2014)

Trivia

Official card art.

Secret History

The bottom started out on a victory card worth 3  . It was a defense vs. Knights, and cute with Remodels, but not really so worth doing. So I dropped that card, then brought the bottom back with a simple action top. I see from my files that I briefly tried it at with "+3 Cards +1 Buy" before going to the +4 Cards version.

—Donald X. Vaccarino, The Secret History of the Dark Ages Cards