Poll

How well do The Magic Portals and The Plague play together?

They are an excellent pair!
They seem to work well most of the time.
It really depends...
They don't seem to work well together.
They don't cooperate at all!
They don't appear to interact in any significant way.

Author Topic: The Magic Portals & The Plague – Element Match-Ups #14  (Read 5812 times)

Offline Whaleyland

  • Great Khan
  • Global Moderator
  • Marquis Chevalier
  • *
  • *
  • Posts: 2743
  • Merit: 101
  • Toulouse: Carcassonne's insignificant neighbor.
    • View Profile
    • Derek R. Whaley, PhD | Librarian, Historian, and Writer
The Magic Portals & The Plague – Element Match-Ups #14
« on: December 18, 2015, 12:43:49 PM »
Element Match-Ups is a new series of weekly challenges for all members of CarcassonneCentral. Each week, an element from a large expansion will be matched up with an element from a small expansion. Your job: try it out and let everybody know what you think about the pair. Consider this a quasi-scientific survey in that you are only playing with these two elements and the base game — nothing else! Otherwise the results will be skewed. You have a week to try the match-up from the time the match is announced until the next match is announced (which usually occurs sometime between Friday and Saturday, depending on time zone).

This week our elements are THE MAGIC PORTALS (from Princess & Dragon [Expansion #3]) and THE PLAGUE (Spielbox Magazine). The Plague is devastating the landscape, forcing Followers to flee in every direction and taking out many (MOST!) of them in its path. But fortunately, the fairy folk have come and hidden small Magic Portals throughout the countryside, allowing people to sneak about undetected. Do the Magic Portals make playing with The Plague more manageable? Or is chaos still incarnate? Discover it for yourself and share the results!

The elements are set, the challenge is issued, and now it is for you to decide whether these elements work well together or are terrible companions. Summarise your experience below in however much detail you wish, and feel free to share any strategic advice you have for other players taking the challenge.

Linkback: https://www.carcassonnecentral.com/community/index.php?topic=2254.0

Offline jungleboy

  • Viscount Chevalier
  • ****
  • Posts: 3045
  • Merit: 89
  • Nine points!
    • View Profile
    • Spirit of the Camino
Re: The Magic Portals & The Plague – Element Match-Ups #14
« Reply #1 on: January 18, 2016, 02:37:54 AM »
I've never played this combination but it's intriguing. It's always interesting to try to see what expansions can go well with the Plague. Magic portals by themselves certainly seem to fit this bill, to allow you to repopulate features that have been devastated by the plague. But if you use the dragon too it would be an incredibly destructive game! Maybe Fliers would also go well with the Plague for the same reason as the magic portals.

Offline Guy

  • Count
  • **
  • Posts: 251
  • Merit: 11
    • View Profile
Re: The Magic Portals & The Plague – Element Match-Ups #14
« Reply #2 on: January 18, 2016, 05:33:57 AM »
I have used this combination and have found it effective when utilising what I believe to be a loophole in the plague rules:

The rules for the Plague say that "a flea token may never be placed on a plague source tile" p.177 CAR 7.4 (emphasis mine)


When an outbreak is eradicated and the Outbreak token is turned to its field side, using the rule above, it means that the magic portal can be used to claim a feature on the outbreak tile and be safe from the plague for the rest of the game!


The CAR also states that "the player may not deploy a follower" p.175 when the outbreak tile is first placed but says nothing about subsequent placement e.g. once it is a latent outbreak.


I know it's a blatant abuse of an already quite glitchy expansion but until there's an official clarification to the rules for the Plague the i'll continue to use it!
I play orange

Offline Carcking

  • Duke Chevalier
  • *
  • *
  • Posts: 1853
  • Merit: 33
  • I call Red!
    • View Profile
Re: The Magic Portals & The Plague – Element Match-Ups #14
« Reply #3 on: January 19, 2016, 06:04:55 AM »
The rules for the Plague say that "a flea token may never be placed on a plague source tile" p.177 CAR 7.4 (emphasis mine)

When an outbreak is eradicated and the Outbreak token is turned to its field side, using the rule above, it means that the magic portal can be used to claim a feature on the outbreak tile and be safe from the plague for the rest of the game!

My copy of the English rules states that "Flea chips may never be placed on Outbreaks!" Then in the next section afterward it states "Once no Fleas are left in the supply at the start of a player's turn, the Outbreak with the lowest visible number is eliminated - that is, it is turned over to show the Field." (my emphasis)

Since the Outbreak is eliminated you could easily logic that once it's flipped over it's no longer a source for the plague. It's time has come and gone.

The CAR also states that "the player may not deploy a follower" p.175 when the outbreak tile is first placed but says nothing about subsequent placement e.g. once it is a latent outbreak.

This one is harmless enough I think. My copy says you "cannot place a Follower on that turn." It says nothing about placing Followers on that tile on later turns, and also does not limit you playing special figures on your turn.

I just drew the perfect tile for my MonKnighThieFarmer!

Offline Hounk

  • Baron
  • *****
  • Posts: 965
  • Merit: 15
  • I haven't updated my profile yet!
    • View Profile
Re: The Magic Portals & The Plague – Element Match-Ups #14
« Reply #4 on: January 19, 2016, 10:41:24 AM »
When an outbreak is eradicated and the Outbreak token is turned to its field side, using the rule above, it means that the magic portal can be used to claim a feature on the outbreak tile and be safe from the plague for the rest of the game!
But this applies just the same without Portal, doesn't it? Since you can move your followers within a structure playing with Plague, you can exploit that option, whenever a save tile is part of your building, and you have a straight way to the tile not crossing tiles with fleas.

Offline Guy

  • Count
  • **
  • Posts: 251
  • Merit: 11
    • View Profile
Re: The Magic Portals & The Plague – Element Match-Ups #14
« Reply #5 on: January 19, 2016, 11:54:18 AM »
When an outbreak is eradicated and the Outbreak token is turned to its field side, using the rule above, it means that the magic portal can be used to claim a feature on the outbreak tile and be safe from the plague for the rest of the game!
But this applies just the same without Portal, doesn't it? Since you can move your followers within a structure playing with Plague, you can exploit that option, whenever a save tile is part of your building, and you have a straight way to the tile not crossing tiles with fleas.

Yes, very true the magic portal just allowed you to claim a feature when you're not attached to the feature already to flee the plague.


Share via delicious Share via digg Share via facebook Share via furl Share via linkedin Share via myspace Share via reddit Share via stumble Share via technorati Share via twitter

  Subject / Started by Replies / Views Last post
question
Wheel of Fortune & Mage & Witch: Element Match-Ups #4

Started by Whaleyland

3 Replies
3226 Views
Last post October 11, 2015, 12:41:07 PM
by Hounk
lamp
The Magic Portals – Element of the Week #13

Started by Whaleyland

6 Replies
9364 Views
Last post January 15, 2017, 07:58:09 AM
by dirk2112
question
The Tower & The Flying Machines: Element Match-Ups #2

Started by Whaleyland

18 Replies
10122 Views
Last post September 30, 2015, 03:25:54 PM
by Hounk
question
The Princess & The King: Element Match-Ups #7

Started by Whaleyland

3 Replies
3687 Views
Last post November 01, 2015, 07:37:15 AM
by Hounk
question
The Big Follower & The Festival: Element Match-Ups #9

Started by Whaleyland

2 Replies
2525 Views
Last post November 15, 2015, 10:52:01 AM
by Halfling