Best functioning combinations of Expansions

[TheSteveAllen]

I guess I'll just make a house rule then, since it makes the Count mechanics much better if cloisters are more valuable and therefore worth joining. Hills and Sheep could be another good expansion to play with the Count for the same reason, because cloisters can be worth more due to the vineyards.

Good idea Jungleboy to adopt this as a house rule in this instance. Another House rule that I adopt for this combination is that, in a contest between a cloister and a shrine, the winner gets all the points for both features, while the loser, obviously gets zero. This means that a winning cloister or shrine is worth anything from 13 points (9 + 4 minimum for loser) up to 17 points (9 + 8 maximum for loser). Using this rule, I think that the added vineyards option would sway the Cathedral option in the City of Carcassonne a little too far, so I would avoid using the Hills & Sheep expansion.

I am thinking on giving a 'Social Interaction Game' a go tonight, featuring the following line up:-

Wheel of Fortune - Catapult - Bridges, Castles and Bazaars, 2 x Fliers, Robbers, Crop Circles 2 (the ones that I have of crop circles 2)

I am hoping that the mechanics of the catapult to remove or replace farmers will counter the inherent problem with all BCB games ending in a battle for 1 big field. Here's hoping!!

[Just a Bill]

Another House rule that I adopt for this combination is that, in a contest between a cloister and a shrine, the winner gets all the points for both features

Intriguing ... I'll have to try this. It might also be fun to encourage more of these conflicts by using both cloisters and monasteries, along with my extra shrines. Could make for a pretty swingy but fun game, and you'd need to keep an even sharper eye out for potential abbey holes.

[TheSteveAllen]

It might also be fun to encourage more of these conflicts by using both cloisters and monasteries, along with my extra shrines.

I would like to know from you whether or not this works out. If you stick strictly to the 'No cloister can be adjacent to 2 or more shrines or vice versa' rule, then having more than a few of each may make them very easy targets for blocking. This game mechanic works well because of the rarity of shrines, in my opinion. If they are too common, they can be used easily to block other shrines/cloisters.

Please let me know how you get on, if you try it out. I would be more than a little bit interested to try this myself.

[TheSteveAllen]

In my continuing quest to find expansions that complement each other well, last night we tried a combination which, I believe, makes a really good change if, like me, you get a bit fed up with fighting over control of large farms in every game. Given that the tiles in the Watchtowers expansion and the Big Top expansion work in a very similar fashion, I thought that these two together would be an interesting combination. Coupled with Traders & Builders and the River, and using the Abbott, we had a game which allowed us to concentrate on the individual mechanics of each part of each expansion, as they interacted so seamlessly. Because of all the field breaks in the tiles, the resulting landscape also had many small farms which were worth a battle in their own right at the end of the game. The mechanic of the Ringmaster, in conjunction with the mechanic of the watchtowers meant that we were picking up some pretty hefty points for some very small features if used with a bit of careful planning.

If, for example, you can land a 'Meeple Watchtower' next to a set of acrobats and a few old circus locations and use the ringmaster to complete a road or small city, that gets a big sack of points.

I have only played this combination the once as yet, but I must say that it makes for a good entertaining couple of hours with a lot of tactical variety.

In the attached photo, you can see the large number of fields that it generates. You can also see that some of them merit fighting over with farmers.

[TheSteveAllen]

A combination of expansions that I have tried over the last couple of days (until I ran out of table) was one which seemed to work particularly well, and I would like to know other members' thoughts on it.

I used the base game; Traders & Builders; Bridges, Castles and Bazaars; True North (my modified version from the one suggested by Just a Bill) with Leven's added tiles; The Forest (fan expansion) and The Green Dragon (fan expansion). I also used the rules to 'Timber!' but with only the 3 tiles in the Green Dragon expansion.

I never seemed to run out of meeples, as there is always a way of getting them back (using True North) and there appeared to be numerous new clever ways of scoring points. These fan made expansions are really very good if they are explored a bit more deeply.

I would recommend this combination to anyone who has a lot of time and a very big table.

[Decar]

Great write up thesteveallen!  Merit from me for trying so many fan-expansions together!

Happy 100th post too!

[Leven]

I used the base game; Traders & Builders; Bridges, Castles and Bazaars; True North (my modified version from the one suggested by Just a Bill) with Leven's added tiles; ...

Actually the additional Wind Roses were made by Jputt927, I only added a river wind rose.