Carcassonne Highlights in 2016

[MrNumbers]

Nice highlights MrNumbers! But surely meeting me should be included? Unless you're saving that as a highlight of the decade like everyone else?

But you were included! You are HiG big one, don't you?


Seriously: of course, meeting you, Dan, and also Decar, Jungleboy, Jéré (for the second time) and other members from CarcC and CarcF was one of the biggest Essen highlights, which gainfully differs this visit from other Essen trips

[stalcupojoy]

2016 was my first year at Carcassonne Central (I joined in December 2015). Becoming a part of this community of fellow fans was my first Carcassonne highlight of 2016 and the one that led to all the rest. Other highlights for me were:

Discovering Fan Expansions. When I first discovered Carcassonne Central (and CarcF), I immensely enjoyed looking through the library of Carcassonne fan expansions that I had never known existed. It was (and is) a treasure trove of creativity, and I was impressed with the quality of several expansions which I considered on par with (or better than) many official expansions, both in gameplay and tile design.

Some I loved for their elegant simplicity (meepleater's Wells, Fritz_Spinne's City Gates), others for their interesting gameplay mechanics (Trebuchet's Bards of Carcassonne, CKorfmann & Jputt927's The King's Gate), others for their quirky creativity (aenima's The Big Black Pig Escape, PresetM's Questionable Creativity), and others for their beauty (wolnic's The Coast, and Astargoth's Kingdoms). These, and a wealth of other fan expansions which I very much enjoyed looking at, even inspired me to create my own.

Creating Fan Expansions. After "cutting my teeth" on some tiles for a relative's birthday, and learning a lot from the more experienced authors here at CarcC and especially at CarcF about how to design quality looking tiles, I went on to create five fan expansions in 2016: Fiefs, Vistas, The Schoolhouses, The Labyrinths, and still in-progress, The Royal Gates (an update to The King's Gate).

I really enjoyed the process of creating these (many hours in GiMP while listening to music) and, of course, the finished products. I also enjoyed the community input (both affirmation and helpful constructive criticism) and even had the pleasure of Leven designing a mini-expansion for Vistas called The Hiker. It was especially fun, if I may dip into 2017 a bit, to see Decar's beautiful prints of Fiefs yesterday.

I dare say I like creating for Carcassonne more than playing for it -- and not because I don't enjoy playing it. I just love creating for and drawing out the potential of this beautiful and elegant game.

Experiencing Generosity. I have been amazed by the generous spirit of the Carcassonne fan community. For starters, the newbies here (like myself a year ago) are helped rather than talked down to, steered clear of bad Carcassonne deals rather than taken advantage of, and quickly welcomed into the life of this community.

And then there is the love for giving to each other. I saw it in the I love the postman... thread before I ever experienced it personally -- people sending little gifts, even surprises, from across the world, just for the love of the game and because they liked each other. As I continued to take part in the Caracssonne fan community, I experienced this same generosity myself. quevy sent me a tile to sign for KJW's gift when I had no tiles of my own to spare. Fan from CarcF sent me a surprisingly large gift package. And danisthirty sent me The River II, along with one of his ever-caffeinated Dan meeples, as part of his Spare Bits Giveaway. I continue to be amazed at this community's generous spirit toward each other.

Adding to the Fun. Lastly, I made a few purchases this year: German Castles, Halflings II, The School, The Labyrinth, and a custom deck of Carcassonne Selector Cards including cards for my favorite Fan Expansions listed above.

Thanks you to all of you who have welcomed me into this community so warmly and treated me with such kindness and generosity. Though I live way over in Thailand and am not able to attend any of the meetups in Europe or the U.S., I am glad to be able to at least be a part of this fan community over the Internet and through the mail. I look forward to what new fun we will have together in 2017.

[danisthirty]

March was Santorini season - I found the picture!

I had just been googling "boardgame shelfies" to demonstrate to my wife what proper shelfies are supposed to look like i.e. without little doors or drawers or anything silly like that to make it look tidier, and after my proving my point I kept on scrolling down until stopping at the first interesting looking Carcassonne picture which, quite by surprise, turned out to be this one! Obviously I didn't know where it had been posted, or who had posted it, so it was a nice surprise to see that it was here and that it had been posted by Decar.

Isn't it a small internet?

[Decar]

Haha that's amazing - I must have been being 'shelfish' taking up all that internet 

Which reminds me I really need to sit down and close the door on 2016!!!