Played a three player game last night with the minis plus the Wheel. I probably handicapped myself a little bit since they were all new to me and I was teaching my eager, 5-year-old son, but I hadn't had an opportunity to play them before, so I took it. I found them to be pretty intersting.
The Ferries - give opportunities to steal long roads if they are available and gives the roads a little bit more value, if only perceived.
The Flyer - worked perfectly a time or two. Didn't think I'd like it, but it turned out to be pretty good.
The Mage - seems strangly familiar... I digress. Seemed to work fine. I was a little confused as to whether you were permitted to move one on the board while the other was still off to the side.
The Gold Mines - This one was a lot of fun, maybe because I got eight of them, four in one move, but enjoyable.
The Robber - Not sure we played this right. If I were to skip one, this might be it. Having so many figures on the score board was really confusing at times. I confused them for the other meeple more than once.
The Messages - This was a nice little bonus every now and then. Again, it was a little confusing having multiple figures on the board, but my only gripe is that there are too few (and perhaps also that my son knocked the stack on the floor so after shuffling, my wife got the extra tile one twice in a row).
Corn Circles - First play with this as well. It did make for some intersting decision making during the game. Can definitely be used to your advantage.
Festival - Not a mini, I know, but it was my first play as well, so I included it. I found it to be not that useful. I don't think anyone took advantage of it the whole time. I think I might be the type of player that would rather wait and hope that I eventually pull the tile I need though, especially if it's a decent sized city.
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