Carcassonne Central

Carc Central Community => Reviews & Session Reports => Topic started by: Whaleyland on September 27, 2014, 09:52:55 PM

Title: My First Carcassonne Tournament
Post by: Whaleyland on September 27, 2014, 09:52:55 PM
I was introduced to a new game group yesterday in Christchurch and was surprised to see how large it was. It even had its own store! When I saw the sign advertising a Carcassonne tournament with prizes, I had to sign up ($2 cover charge).

Unfortunately, three situations arose that ensured my failure. First, the game was played with 5 players, which I never play with (I usually play two to four, and mostly two). Second, they only scored small cities as 2 points, killing them as an investment. And three, they had us all use hands of tiles, which I detest (my own campaign rules not withstanding). I tied for third but that's not really an achievement. My large city was never completed, I didn't get in on the large farm because I ran out of followers one turn too soon, and I had an utterly worthless farmer that never connected to the other farm, thereby giving me the majority. The winner had 68 points, I had 38. Not a great game, though quite fast.

Next time, I think I'll insist on standard 3rd edition rules with no hands and 4-pt small cities. Rules need to be consistent for these kind of things. Ugh. Not a great $2 expenditure....and I really wanted to win Pirate Dice. .:.sigh.:.
Title: Re: My First Carcassonne Tournament
Post by: Paul on September 27, 2014, 10:14:43 PM
That's awesome.

For 2 bucks I'd sign up even if I knew I was going to loose.  :)
  Gotta challenge yourself instead of sticking to the same blokes that you play with over and over again.
Title: Re: My First Carcassonne Tournament
Post by: Carcking on September 27, 2014, 10:18:20 PM
Sounds like that was a rough game for you whaley. What I find funny is the three things you listed are all three things we include in our games  :)

Up to 5 players (usually 5 to 6)
2 point small Cities (4 pointers are just a cheap shot  :) and they tend to blow up farms.)
Hand of tiles - we usually play one, draw one. But if we play with the Builder we play holding two.

It also sounds like a robust game group. I envy you there. That's something my wife and I wish we could find or get started here.
Title: Re: My First Carcassonne Tournament
Post by: Whaleyland on September 27, 2014, 11:11:36 PM
Sounds like that was a rough game for you whaley. What I find funny is the three things you listed are all three things we include in our games  :)

Up to 5 players (usually 5 to 6)
2 point small Cities (4 pointers are just a cheap shot  :) and they tend to blow up farms.)
Hand of tiles - we usually play one, draw one. But if we play with the Builder we play holding two.

It also sounds like a robust game group. I envy you there. That's something my wife and I wish we could find or get started here.
It was a brand new group in a new area, but their online presence was well established beforehand and they had a pretty good marketing campaign to bring people in. An independent game seller had become established with the group and provided door prizes and the Carc game prizes (1st and 2nd place) as well as helping to pay the rent. I don't know how many games he sold, but he didn't seem disappointed. All his games were 20% local retail (which is a fortune) and a bunch were 50% due to damage from the journey over (I assume he was comp'd for some of them).

Gotta challenge yourself instead of sticking to the same blokes that you play with over and over again.
Or my wife, in my case, though she can be just as aggravating as a bloke sometimes. We intentionally played at separate tables to increase our changes of making it into the finals and sweeping the top two spots. Then they started pulling the more experienced players into the game. What a disappointment...
Title: Re: My First Carcassonne Tournament
Post by: Andrew the Ambo on September 28, 2014, 02:23:33 AM
Sing out if you are up north in Hamilton, especially on the first Thursday of the month, and I will introduce you to some more players.
Title: Re: My First Carcassonne Tournament
Post by: Whaleyland on September 28, 2014, 03:24:20 AM
Sing out if you are up north in Hamilton, especially on the first Thursday of the month, and I will introduce you to some more players.
We're currently planning to go to Wellington on the weekend of December 17th to see The Battle of the Five Armies at Jackson's theatre there. Not sure if we're going to be travelling elsewhere, though. If we go to Hamilton, I'll let you know.
Title: Re: My First Carcassonne Tournament
Post by: danisthirty on September 29, 2014, 03:34:44 AM
Ha ha. I understood from your title that this was a tournament for "My First Carcassonne". I thought maybe you were competing against a group of children because there was no maximum age specified!

I think I probably would have entered just for the sake of getting a game or two in but I also think I would have found it very frustrating.

I don’t have a lot of 3-player experience but the tactics when there are 4 or more players completely change the game. For the worse if you ask me, as the luck of the draw becomes too much of a deciding factor. Tactics change a lot too compared to the 2-player game.

I don’t see why 2-tile cities shouldn’t be worth 4 points (with the exception that they’re more easily completable but does this also mean that 2-point roads should only score 1 point?) but that’s how I’ve always played so I don’t have anything to compare it against. And I will often play with a tile in hand but won’t draw it until I’ve placed my last tile so I’m never in the situation that I have a choice of more than one tile to place.
Title: Re: My First Carcassonne Tournament
Post by: Sawyer on September 29, 2014, 05:29:17 AM
I was introduced to a new game group yesterday in Christchurch and was surprised to see how large it was. It even had its own store! When I saw the sign advertising a Carcassonne tournament with prizes, I had to sign up ($2 cover charge).

Unfortunately, three situations arose that ensured my failure. First, the game was played with 5 players, which I never play with (I usually play two to four, and mostly two). Second, they only scored small cities as 2 points, killing them as an investment. And three, they had us all use hands of tiles, which I detest (my own campaign rules not withstanding). I tied for third but that's not really an achievement. My large city was never completed, I didn't get in on the large farm because I ran out of followers one turn too soon, and I had an utterly worthless farmer that never connected to the other farm, thereby giving me the majority. The winner had 68 points, I had 38. Not a great game, though quite fast.

Next time, I think I'll insist on standard 3rd edition rules with no hands and 4-pt small cities. Rules need to be consistent for these kind of things. Ugh. Not a great $2 expenditure....and I really wanted to win Pirate Dice. .:.sigh.:.

I have to admit that it's the first time for me to hear the "Hand of tiles" rule, I'd certainly try this some time in the future with my friend and see how it change that game.
Title: Re: My First Carcassonne Tournament
Post by: Whaleyland on September 29, 2014, 05:04:49 PM
I have to admit that it's the first time for me to hear the "Hand of tiles" rule, I'd certainly try this some time in the future with my friend and see how it change that game.
Yeah, the variant is quite common among some groups of Carc players. I've never been a fan, but my sister likes playing with that variant. It works in most games but can get a little messy when playing with some expansions such as the Abbey & Mayor. I generally insist on complete random draw.