Carcassonne Central
Carc Central Community => General => Topic started by: Whaleyland on August 21, 2015, 02:41:40 PM
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ELEMENT OF THE WEEK: THE SCOUT
Carcassonne has definitely taken strange turns in the past ten years, so these few expansions may not be in your knowledge bank, but that doesn't make them any less official (or does it?). So as we conclude this series over the next few weeks, feel free to express any form of praise or criticism you may have for these off-beat elements.
This week, we present THE SCOUT (from Carcassonne: Hunters & Gatherers). This is the first of three expansions that have released for Carcassonne spin-off products and it is by far the oldest of those three. Indeed, The Scout predates many mainstream Carcassonne expansions and was originally paired with The King expansion to the latter game. The Scout is a somewhat fiddly expansion. At the beginning of the game, each player is dealt one of The Scout tiles (in two-player games, each player gets 2 tiles). Four of the tiles are standard tiles with a special option on them while a fifth is the extra-special Shaman tile. In brief, the Shaman allows the player once per turn to return one of his tribe members from the board to his supply (no point gain). The other four tiles must be placed to be used and are placed instead of drawing and placing a tile: the Scout allows a player to return a drawn tile and draw again; the Hunter allows a player to score for two meadows using only one tribe member; the Dug-Out allows a player to score points for other players' lakes; and Agriculture allows a player to score at the end of the game for the number of tiles in a meadow.
This is one of those expansions where the rules need to be kept on-hand throughout the game, which is not the most favourable situation. The tiles are also not terribly balanced, with the Shaman and the Scout having no positive scoring option while the Dug-Out, Hunter, and Agriculture all risk early entrapment. Granted the tiles are meant to be used strategically, but I personally have experienced the extremes of this expansion where either nobody really gets anything out of the tiles, or one player runs away with the game due to the tiles. At the same time, I always include the Scout in my games. It is a five-tile addition that does not change a lot overall and fits very well into the larger Hunters & Gatherers theme. Discuss your relationship with The Scout and how you optimise your use of this strategic element.
Next Week: Friday (from Around the World #1: South Seas) :blue-meeple: :white-meeple: :@
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I like this spin-off but I don't have the original tiles for this mini-expansion.
I downloaded the tiles some years ago at the HiG homepage. And played this a few times.
But I don't know which tile is the best...
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I recently bought H&G including the Scout expansion and I haven't had a chance to play it yet... possibly next weekend.