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Carc Central Community => Reviews & Session Reports => Topic started by: TheDoctor_13 on November 23, 2017, 08:17:04 PM

Title: Overwhelmed - 3 Expansions
Post by: TheDoctor_13 on November 23, 2017, 08:17:04 PM
Recently got Abbey & Mayor, and decided to throw in I&C/T&B/A&M. And oh boy was I overwhelmed. The amount of meeples were insane but no one made use of the wagon or mayor, and only I used the barn and pig. Also the tiles made the game so long, my brothers quite maybe half way through (40mins in). Defiantly going to stick to T&B or A&M with select meeples like builder, big meeple, and the regular ones. Abbot we usually use as a score piece, might keep it in play.


How much expansions do you use in a typical game?
Title: Re: Overwhelmed - 3 Expansions
Post by: Decar on November 24, 2017, 04:52:49 AM
I usually only prefer 1 or 2 large expansions at most.  Sometimes I like one with a few minis.
Title: Re: Overwhelmed - 3 Expansions
Post by: thodekey on November 24, 2017, 05:17:41 AM
We always use I&C and most of the time T&B.
T&B gives more tiles but speeds up the game a bit because of the builder.

For the rest, we usually use 1 more expansion...a major one or a little one (1 or 2 mini's) according to the people involved.

But what's at least as important is to estimate how fast your group is playing.  Personally, i play rather fast but some of my friends like to take their time...in that case, I try not to use to many expansions.
Title: Re: Overwhelmed - 3 Expansions
Post by: Just a Bill on November 24, 2017, 05:37:16 AM
One trick people have used over the years to speed up play is to let players hold a "hand" of one tile. At the start of the game everyone draws a tile. The first player places his, then draws a replacement to his hand. Then the next player goes. While others are taking their turn, you get to study your own next tile and figure out where it should go. Granted, other players' tile and figure placements right before your turn can cause you to re-assess your options, but knowing what you will be playing definitely cuts down on the think-time needed.
Title: Re: Overwhelmed - 3 Expansions
Post by: danisthirty on November 24, 2017, 05:54:13 AM
I'm not usually a fan of big games either, but I think the complexity of the game you played was probably more to do with which expansions you included than the number of tiles as all that extra wood will have given you a lot more to think about.

I can understand the wagon getting left out, but I do tend to use my mayor if I've got one and will always use my barn when a decent opportunity to place it presents itelf. Barn + pig can generate a lot of points if you use them in the right way :@ :(y) Perhaps you would have enjoyed the game more if you were more familiar with some of these components?

Maybe it would help if we had some way of calculating overall complexity of a game? My suggestions would be (very much open to debate):

Inns & Cathedrals - 1 star
Traders & Builders - 1 star
Princess & Dragon - 2 star
The Tower - 2 star
Abbey & Mayor - 3/3.5 star
King & Consort - 4/4.5 star
Bridges, Castles & Bazaars - 3 star
(all other expansions) - to be decided!

Then add the stars together to get the overall complexity of the game, so yours was a 5/5.5 star game.

If I'm using expansions for a casual game, I'll usually include I & C and T & B but won't include many more as few people I know are familiar enough with the rules. 2 stars is nice level of complexity for a casual game.