Ironworks

Ironworks
Info
Cost
Type(s)	Action
Kingdom card?	Yes
Set	Intrigue
Illustrator(s)	Martin Hoffmann
Card text
Gain a card costing up to . If the gained card is an… Action card, +1 Action Treasure card, + Victory card, +1 Card

Ironworks is an Action card from Intrigue. It is a gainer, more specifically a Workshop variant that offers an extra bonus depending on the card types of whatever is gained. Since it is non-terminal when gaining Action cards it is very convenient for picking up cheap engine pieces.

FAQ

Official FAQ

• The card you gain comes from the Supply and is put into your discard pile.
• You get bonuses depending on the types of the card you gained.
• A card with 2 types gives you both bonuses; if you use Ironworks to gain a Mill, you both draw a card and get +1 Action.

Other rules clarifications

• If you gain a card that has none of the listed types (such as Curse or Ghost Town), you get no bonus.
• If you gain an Estate after buying Inheritance, you get +1 Action and +1 Card.
• Abilities that happen when you gain a card happen before you get the bonuses from Ironworks. For example, if you gain a Mill and play it with Innovation, you'll get +1 Action and +1 Card after you finish playing the Mill.
• During a Possession turn, Ironworks will never give you any bonus (see the blue dog rule).

Strategy

Ironworks is a Workshop variant that gives you a small bonus depending on the type of card gained. In most cases, its primary advantage over similar cards is that it can function as a non-terminal gainer for Action cards, which makes it a particularly useful source of extra gains while building an engine, especially those with overdraw. If many relevant engine pieces (or just a couple of very strong ones) in a Kingdom are cheap enough to be gained with Ironworks (e.g., villages such as Plaza), it may be a good buy in the early game so that you can benefit from the extra gains sooner. Like other Workshop variants, Ironworks is especially useful whenever the Kingdom promotes gaining many cheap cards, e.g. when certain one-shots such as Experiment or Way of the Horse are present, when you’re scoring with an effect like Vineyard or Orchard, or when there is no stronger strategy available than a Gardens rush.

Although Treasures and Victory cards are usually weaker than Action cards as Ironworks targets, each can sometimes be relevant. Strong, cheap Kingdom Treasures (e.g. Supplies) can be usefully gained, especially if the bonus from Ironworks helps you to afford a desirable card on the same turn, and adding an extra Estate or other cheap Victory card can be very helpful in the endgame. As a last resort, it can also be worth using this option to avert a premature end to your turn by allowing Ironworks to draw a card. Ironworks is also especially good with dual-type Action and Victory cards, e.g. Island and Mill, because it becomes a cantrip when used to gain these. In some Kingdoms, the potential to gain many cards with Ironworks promotes the possibility of piling out, particularly when an Ironworks autopile is available. This requires sufficient overdraw to keep drawing the gained copies, but no extra terminal space is needed to play them.

Ironworks becomes significantly stronger with cost reduction, such as from Canal or Highway, as this means it can gain more powerful cards (including more copies of Highway itself in the latter case).

Versions

English versions

Print	Digital	Text	Release	Date
		Gain a card costing up to . If it is an… Action card, +1 Action Treasure card, +  Victory card, +1 Card	Intrigue 1st Edition	July 2009
		Gain a card costing up to . If the gained card is an…  Action card, +1 Action Treasure card, +  Victory card, +1 Card	Intrigue 2nd Edition	October 2016

Other language versions

Language	Name	Print	Digital	Text	Notes
Chinese	打鐵舖 (pron. dǎtiě pù, lit. blacksmith shop)				Error : Ironworks refers to "Gold" cards, rather than "Treasure" cards.
Czech	Hutě
Dutch	Ijzergieterij
Finnish	Rautapaja
French	Fonderie (lit. foundry)
German	Eisenhütte			Nimm eine Karte, die bis zu kostet. Ist die genommene Karte eine… Aktionskarte: +1 Aktion Geldkarte: +  Punktekarte: +1 Karte	2. Edition (2021) one or more other versions listed here
Hungarian	Kohó (lit. smeltery)
Italian	Fonderia (lit. foundry)
Japanese	鉄工所 (pron. tekkōjo)			コスト以下のカード1枚を獲得する。 獲得したカードが… アクションカードの場合、+1 アクション 財宝カードの場合、+ 勝利点カードの場合、+1 カードを引く (複数該当する場合、順に実行する)。
Korean	철공소 (pron. cheolgongso)
Norwegian	Jernverk
Polish	Huta żelaza			Dodaj kartę o maksymalnym koszcie . Jeśli jest to… karta Akcji: +1 akcja    karta Skarbu: +     karta Zwycięstwa: +1 karta	(2016)
Russian	Кузнечный Цех (pron. kuznyechyy tsyekh, lit. blacksmith's shop)			Получите карту не дороже . Если полученная карта – Действие, то +1 Действие; Сокровище, то +;    Победа, то +1 Карта.
Spanish	Fundición (lit. foundry)

Trivia

Official card art.

Secret History

A somewhat late card, although still from prior to development. I designed it specifically to interact with the cards with two types. As it happens it only interacts with one such card in this set. But the card is cool anyway. Kelly was the one who suggested the template used to squeeze the text from this and Tribute onto the cards in a readable fashion.

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