Carcassonne Central
Carc Central Community => General => Topic started by: jungleboy on October 27, 2014, 02:57:59 PM
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Let's do a less complicated poll than the last one I tried. 8)
What's your favourite major expansion? You have nine to choose from - vote in the poll and discuss below.
For me, it's probably still a choice between the first two classic expansions, Inns and Cathedrals and Traders and Builders (with honorable mentions for Abbey and Mayor and the Tower and perhaps Hills and Sheep, though I've only played this once so far).
My final choice is probably Inns and Cathedrals. I really like the cathedral tiles and concept, I like it how inns make roads more important and valuable, and the big follower is a game-changer (though apparently not for Whaleyland! >:D). Plus, I&C has my beloved four-city tile with the little field in the middle.
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I choose abbey and mayor. More wood. And i like the abbey
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Just for that snarky comment, I added Wheel of Fortune to the list! Actually, I consider that a large expansion among the rest, which is why I added it. I feel that its status as a stand-alone game makes it probably the largest expansion, even if not the best.
That being said, I voted for Hills & Sheep. Though I've only played it twice and both times in two-player mode, I just love how clean the expansion is. Very much like Inns & Cathedrals. The Hills mechanic is mildly confusing but still a fun idea and I love the concept of removing tiles from circulation. That's one hit against the tile counters. I think the Vineyards are perfect and something that should have been introduced a long time ago. And the Shepherds are a fun mechanic that adds a bit of risk taking to the game while rewarding you for successful attempts. The fact that HiG clearly plans to enhance this expansion by adding its features to other expansions such as The River (III) and The Halflings II really underlines the point that this is a good expansion.
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It comes down to Traders and Builders vs Inns and Cathedrals for me.
The only reason I and C wins is because of the less city tiles. Trader's is filled with them overshadowing roads and cloisters.
What makes I and C great is also that it's balanced. You don't rely much of this expansion to tip the scale in any favour dramatically. Instead you would enjoy the core game with a few more tile combinations.
And should you score big, it's because you had to make some effort to do so, with the Cathedral being quite risky.
Wheel of Fortune should be classified as a major expansion, at least in Big Box 5. ;)
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The first and the second expansions are parts of my "base game". I only play without these expansions when I teach new people to the world of Carcassonne.
This time I vote for the towers. The towers are great if you play the game with 3 or 4 people...
I can't remember if I ever played the towers with more than 4 people.
But to play the game with only two people - that is not much interesting.
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Nice poll jungleboy... :(y)
I agree that Inns & Cathedrals seems to be a more balanced, carefully thought-out expansion but I just find that Traders & Builders tends to make games more fun so I voted for that. It definitely makes games a bit city-heavy but I like how the trade goods give you something else to go for even if it means giving points away every now and again. I love the idea of the builder (most of the time) and the pig can make a difference on occasions too.
If I could vote for "Inns, Cathedrals, Traders & Builders" as a single expansion then I would do as these two are usually played together anyway! Throw in a river, King & Robber Baron and, of course, The Phantom and you've got my favourite setup right there!
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Look Dan, two votes for the Tower already, and neither of them was my vote! O0
Edit: And one of them was from kettlefish! That makes it virtually official!
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Even though there are elements from other expansions that I like better, I will have to vote for I&C. It is the only big expansion from wich I nearly always use everything.
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Look Dan, two votes for the Tower already, and neither of them was my vote! O0
Edit: And one of them was from kettlefish! That makes it virtually official!
I can't think of a clever or suitably sarcastic response at the moment, so for the time being I'm just going to say: :P
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Even though there are elements from other expansions that I like better, I will have to vote for I&C. It is the only big expansion from wich I nearly always use everything.
I think Inns and Cathedrals and the Princess and the Dragon are the only two major expansions where all elements work together perfectly. At the opposite extreme, King, Count and Cult is just a bunch of unrelated mini-expansions put together. To me, Abbey and Mayor, Bridges, Castles and Bazaars and even Hills and Sheep seem a bit like that too. Even Traders and Builders, which I love, doesn't flow together the way I&C and P&D do - i.e. what does the pig have to do with the builder, or the trade goods? And of course, the Tower and the Catapult have just one element each.
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Bumping this thread to give an update with 19 votes cast. Inns and Cathedrals leads with seven votes, one ahead of Traders and Builders. No other expansion has more than two votes. Four expansions are yet to receive a vote, which are KC&C, BC&B, the Catapult and Wheel of Fortune.
If you haven't voted yet, please do so above!
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Can't believe P&D only has two votes. It adds a new dynamic to the game, makes you think more about tile placement to avoid being too close to the dragon, but also balances the likelihood of being eaten with the magic portals to allow you to claim incomplete, unoccupied features. All in all a well balanced game which adds a lot to the original. More P&D votes!
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I like P&D but I see it as an expansion to be played occasionally rather than regularly, because of the aggressive nature of it.
In real life, I usually play two-player games and we often play three consecutive games in one session. We usually include an aggressive expansion only once, and even then we tend to favour the Tower more than P&D because it works better with two players (i.e. because the dragon can be fairly well contained with only two players).
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Can't believe P&D only has two votes. It adds a new dynamic to the game, makes you think more about tile placement to avoid being too close to the dragon, but also balances the likelihood of being eaten with the magic portals to allow you to claim incomplete, unoccupied features. All in all a well balanced game which adds a lot to the original. More P&D votes!
I think the voting seems fair so far. I don't think there's anything wrong with Princess & Dragon, it's more about what's right with Inns & Cathedrals and Traders & Builders! I will concede that Inns & Cathedrals is probably the better of the two in terms of balancing out the game but I still think Traders & Builders can make the game more exciting, hence this is what I voted for.
Because it's a destructive expansion I don't take games played with P & D all that seriously, but they're certainly fun. Some purists might argue that it changes the game too much though, or that some of the changes introduced aren't entirely for the good. Personally I don't like that the idea that meeples can be removed (yes you can do your best to defend against this to some extent but if everyone else is against you they will almost always get what they want) as I think this undermines the fundamental strategic element of the game. But like I say, I do enjoy playing with it from to time in the same way as I enjoy using a Snakes & Ladders board instead of a score track!
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Can't believe P&D only has two votes. It adds a new dynamic to the game, makes you think more about tile placement to avoid being too close to the dragon, but also balances the likelihood of being eaten with the magic portals to allow you to claim incomplete, unoccupied features. All in all a well balanced game which adds a lot to the original. More P&D votes!
It's a pickle, can only vote for one! :@
I like Princess and the Dragon too, it's a lot of fun to play. Which is really what the game is about. Still, it was Inns and Cathedrals for me that won the poll.
If it makes you feel any better, I own 10x copies of Princess and the Dragon. Or was is 11x...? >:D
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Another vote for T&B. I like that you have tangible resources to show for the hard fought city battles, then the race that ensues as you work for the majority. With that in mind I am also a big fan of the Gold Mines as well.
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I like Abbey and Mayor most, because it adds so many new followers and of course abbeys. :D
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I'm surprised to see that Traders & Builders is ahead of Inns & Cathedrals (albeit only narrowly) as I'm sure when this question has come up in the past the latter has been voted more popular.
If they were available together (presumably as "Inns, Cathedrals, Traders & Builders") then this would be undoubtedly and unwaveringly be my favourite expansion of all time.
I wonder if HiG might think to pack large expansions like this together in order to get all of them out in the new art style as quickly as possible? If indeed they're going to do this at all, but that's quite another subject...
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I wonder if HiG might think to pack large expansions like this together in order to get all of them out in the new art style as quickly as possible? If indeed they're going to do this at all, but that's quite another subject...
I don't think, they will do that, rather that they will pack a new bonus feature like the "Abbot" to every expansion, they release in the new artwork. But if they want to combine main expansions, don't you think, they rather throw in "The Catapult" with I&C. ;D
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To me, Inns & Cathedrals and Traders & Builders don't sound like "major expansions". They're great, they had tiles and new scoring mechanism but not much strategy like Princess & Dragon or the Tower.
Those two may be considered as destructive ones but they really bring a lot of thinking before laying tiles on the table (especially the Tower).
I&C and T&B should be packed with every base game set ;)
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To me, Inns & Cathedrals and Traders & Builders don't sound like "major expansions".
Yes, you're right. They are no "major expansions". They are "essential add-ons". ;D ;D
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I still have to play a lot, before I can determine, which is my favorite major, so I won't vote jet. However: this is something to be heard and read alot, and I think, it does not really do justice to A&M:
I think Inns and Cathedrals and the Princess and the Dragon are the only two major expansions where all elements work together perfectly. At the opposite extreme, King, Count and Cult is just a bunch of unrelated mini-expansions put together. To me, Abbey and Mayor, Bridges, Castles and Bazaars and even Hills and Sheep seem a bit like that too.
I think, A&M is a real clean and thoughtfully put together expansion. Probably not according to theme, but then, when was this ever applied to Carcassonne? I mean: in medieval times, farmers and knights more or less "belonged" to the king, monks to the clerus, and thieves where "free enterprises", so how can you place a follower as one of those to begin with? And theme wise the builder would have fit much better with the cathedral then the trade goods, nevertheless these expansions work better in this combination.
On the other hand: this expansion has a clean goal regarding to game mechanism, everything can be used for: making meeple management "easier" and early farming more rewarding. You get two "special ability meeple", which can be not used for farming, but because of there presence, you can easier spare some of your regular ones for that purpose. And you get an abbey, which can be used to free trapped meeples and/or split big cities, again with potential bigger reward to the farms surrounding. And of course, the barn is the element, where all of this runs together, with it's ability to score farmers during game. So I think, the elements work beautifully together, altering the game in a very different direction, which is, likewise P&D fun to play from time to time. Of course, to further boost this aspect, pig and besiegers are perfect supplements, and I think the second would have made this a perfect expansion, if added to the release. (Although of course nothing to further alter the "meeple management aspect".)
About the pig in T&B: I think, that maybe after the release of I&C, HiG might have thought: hmm, we have included elements to boost roads and cities, we should have done this for farms as well. So on next option, they put something inside for the farmers as well, but to not exactly repeat themselves, changed it to a piece of wood rather than a tile. Surprisingly, it took them years to include vineyards, nevertheless, I would say, pig should have rather going with I&C then T&B, if they had thought of it before.
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For me the only problem with P&D is the fairy marking points for possession, 99% of the times I either forget to move it or forget to score de point for holding it.
One of my house rules is playing without the fairy, I the dragon moves there's no escape. >:D
Considering the above with the standard rules my favourite is the Tower cause you have the opportunity to take the opponents meeples but have to be extra careful not to have it backfire you.
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this one is easy!!! ^-^
Inns and Cathedrals!! :))
I like everything in that expansion... AND you get a 6th player. :) :(y)
There are some other good ones too, but the rest of the expansions have some elements that I don't like.. :( I love the builder, but I'm not exited about the pig and usually forget to use it... I love the shepherd, but the hills are annoying... My least favorite is the catapult, tower, and then bridges, castles and bazaars... yuck yuck yuck... :P
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Vote for Inns and Cathedrals. Why can only vote one?
Hills and Sheep looks good but I don't get change to play it with my family. All of them are keen on Inns and Cathedrals!
From my point of view, I do prefer games with some uncertain factors, like playing a dice or drawing a token, etc.
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On the other hand: this expansion has a clean goal regarding to game mechanism, everything can be used for: making meeple management "easier" and early farming more rewarding. You get two "special ability meeple", which can be not used for farming, but because of there presence, you can easier spare some of your regular ones for that purpose. And you get an abbey, which can be used to free trapped meeples and/or split big cities, again with potential bigger reward to the farms surrounding. And of course, the barn is the element, where all of this runs together, with it's ability to score farmers during game. So I think, the elements work beautifully together, altering the game in a very different direction, which is, likewise P&D fun to play from time to time. Of course, to further boost this aspect, pig and besiegers are perfect supplements, and I think the second would have made this a perfect expansion, if added to the release. (Although of course nothing to further alter the "meeple management aspect".)
Great analysis, I hadn't really thought about it as deeply as this before!
Vote for Inns and Cathedrals. Why can only vote one?
Life isn't always fair :)
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if I had to choose just one , I would stay with T & B .
although my usual set usually includes I & C , ABBEY AND MAYOR , CASTLES AND BRIDGES - bazaars , RIO I- II , KING AND ROBBER BARON .
sometimes combined with Count ( tile only ) and hills and sheep.
:meeple:
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Has to be Abbey and Mayor for me because of the Abbey tiles and the Barns in particular.
p.s. Who voted for The Catapult?
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Made Inns and Cathedral go first !
Just love the use of the big meeple, so much strategy around this guy, I think the whole game is almost just about him.
I didn't play with all expansions though, but my next order from cundco should solve this problem :)
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Has to be Abbey and Mayor for me because of the Abbey tiles and the Barns in particular.
p.s. Who voted for The Catapult?
My guess was Yellow (aka paul)
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I voted T&B although it was a close fight between that and WoF. We just love the second go element the builder gives. Its one the younger players enjoy too, as it is so straightforward, and easy to remember.
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I think the thing that makes me vote for T&B over I&C is the Pig and the Builder. I use them constantly. IMHO though, I&C shouldn't even be an expansion. It should have been included in the base game long ago.