Landmark

Tomb, a Landmark.

Landmarks, introduced in Empires, are landscape effects that give additional means to score (or lose)   other than through the normal use of cards or Events. Some provide means of accumulating Victory tokens during the game, while others add rules affecting how scores are calculated at the game's end.

Landmarks are not Kingdom cards; including one or more Landmarks in a game does not count toward the 10 Kingdom card piles the supply includes. In fact, Landmarks are not considered "cards" at all; any text referring to a "card" (such as instructions to "name a card") does not apply to Landmarks. However, for reference, the Landmark effects are printed on cards in a landscape orientation with dark green frames.

There are 21 Landmarks, any number of which may be used in a game of Dominion, though Donald X recommends not using more than two total Landmarks, Events, Projects, Ways and Traits. When choosing a random Kingdom, the Landmarks may be shuffled into the randomizer deck; any Landmarks that are dealt once 10 Kingdom cards have also been dealt will be included in the game.

Official Rules

Landmarks provide new ways for players to score.

• Like Events, [Landmarks] are not Kingdom Cards.
• Players may choose how to determine what Landmarks to play with. They may shuffle them with Events and deal out 2 cards from that pile every game; they may shuffle them into the Randomizer deck and use 0-2 depending on how many come up before finding 10 Kingdom Cards; or they may use any method they like.
• Whatever method is used, Landmarks in use are visible to all from the start of the game.
• We recommend using no more than two per game.
• Many Landmarks only apply when scoring at the end of the game.
• In addition to counting up their regular points, players add some bonus based on the Landmark.
• A few are penalties instead - players subtract points from their score.
• Some Landmarks start with 6   tokens on them per player in the game. So, 12  in a 2-player game, up to 36  in a 6-player game. These Landmarks then provide a way for players to get the   tokens from the Landmark.
• When the   tokens on the Landmark run out, players cannot earn further points in that way.

List of Landmarks

Aqueduct Arena Bandit Fort Basilica Baths Battlefield Colonnade Defiled Shrine Fountain Keep Labyrinth

Mountain Pass Museum Obelisk Orchard Palace Tomb Tower Triumphal Arch Wall Wolf Den

Gallery

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Trivia

In other languages

• Dutch: Bezienswaardigheden
• Finnish: Maamerkki
• German: Landmarke
• Japanese: ランドマーク (pron. randomāku)
• Polish: Krajobraz
• Russian: Веха (pron. vyekha)

Plateau Shepherds, an Ally from the Allies expansion, is not a Landmark but has been described by Donald X. as "the Landmark Ally", since it has a similar function as a landscape that provides an alternative way of scoring  .

Preview

At last, Landmarks. And five of them because why not. There are twenty-one of them so there are still plenty you haven't seen.

Landmarks are landscape-style like Events. You can shuffle them into the randomizer deck, and flip over cards until you have ten kingdom cards, using Events and Landmarks if they show up; if using this method I recommend having a max of two total Landmarks/Events. Or, you can shuffle Landmarks and Events into a separate randomizer deck and just always play with one or two of them. Or whatever else you think of; we like to leave that up to you.

Landmarks change the scoring for the game. Some just change it at the end; some use   tokens to score during the game. You don't buy Landmarks like you do Events; they just sit there, telling you how you could be making points, if only.

—Donald X. Vaccarino, Empires Previews #4: Landmarks

Secret History

I didn't try the "bonus" cards for a while. When I finally got to them, they initially didn't matter enough, but it was easy to make them matter more and that all worked out. I made more and more of them and in the end there are 21. It could have been 20 Landmarks, 12 Events, 2 blanks, but I had the extra cards so in they went. Originally the Landmarks were all "when scoring" except it took a while for me to add the actual words "when scoring" to them. The first "6  per player" cards started with 12 , and I tried a few at "4  per player."

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

Should Landmarks be tied to VP?

You could just make cards that modify the rules. I considered it way back when; it's a thing I've done in many games. I didn't do it because Dominion has kingdom cards filling that rule; they change the rules plenty. Dominion doesn't need other rules-changing cards. I considered it again later and still didn't want them. But I do have Events and now Landmarks. Events can change the rules, but only via the Event-buying mechanism, which is like buying a card without the card; it felt like a reasonable extension. Landmarks can change the rules, but only in these  -making ways. While they are each a step towards just having randomizer cards that change the rules, they still both try hard to stay within limits, to only affect the game in a way best done via these mechanisms. In general the best way to change the rules in Dominion is still to have kingdom cards that do different things.

—Donald X. Vaccarino, Interview with Donald X.

Naming Landmarks

It is embarrassing when you don’t know the cards, and there are just a few cards in Dominion, there are few Landmarks, where the names were so arbitrary relative to what the cards did, that it’s hard to remember which one is which. Which one is Labyrinth and which one is Basilica… And it’s because I had the abilities, and I had names, and I need to line them up or come up with new names. I had lots of good names, and I had lots of good abilities, and it wasn’t… They didn’t always. It wasn’t always anything that made sense.

—Donald X. Vaccarino, Dice Tower Dish part 7