Alchemists

Alchemists (swamp) - Preferred faction when playing against:

Auren

Witches

Dwarves

Engineers

Chaos Magicians

Giants

Fakirs

Nomads

Ability

You may trade 1 Victory point for 1 Coin, or 2 Coins for 1 Victory Point anytime and any number of times (Sorcerer’s Stone).

Stronghold

After building the Stronghold, immediately and only once gain 12 Power. From now on, gain 2 Power for each Spade you get throughout the remainder of the game (regardless of the way you get the Spade).

Story

Alchemists strive for a deeper knowledge of the elements forming the world and how to use them for their purposes. They know how to create gold – the process, however, is very elaborate and is only worth its while when you really need that gold. Alchemists prefer to settle in Swamps as these provide a steady supply of sulfur and other reagents.

Common Strategy: Get 2 extra workers from bonus card and aim to build your Stronghold in the first round. Make sure you have an adjacent opponent when starting. Use double spade power action after you’ve built your stronghold in order to put up more Dwellings. Develop spades to earn Power Tokens easily. Advance your shipping level too early in the game and try to build 3 towns with the “6 town-size” favor tile. 3 to 4 Trading Posts should help give extra income, although alternatively, you may use your faction's special ability as your basic resource supply. The scoring tile that rewards every Spade to 2 Victory Points is especially beneficial to you, especially when available in round 4.

Common Start Positions

Notes:

Green tile + Combo Green/Red tile = preferred starting dwelling positions

Red tile + combo green/red tile = Alternative starting dwelling positions