Carcassonne Central
Carc Central Community => Online Games and Competitions => World Cup of Carcassonne Central => Topic started by: danisthirty on August 28, 2014, 02:16:33 AM
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Now that the group stage is over (well, almost over - the one remaining match in Group B won’t change who qualifies and RSV is insanely busy at the moment) it’s time to move on to the first round of the knock-out stage of the competition: the quarter-finals!
If you’ve qualified for this stage of the competition you should have received an email from me already (please let me know if you haven’t). For those who haven’t qualified but who are keen to know who’s playing who, the diagram below should explain everything!
(http://www.dan.tehill.net/WC_Knockout_QFs.jpg)
Please post results, screenshots, match reports, banter, smack-talk and anything else relating to this stage of the competition here!
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Jéré and I played our quarterfinal and I won 235-195. To be perfectly honest, I have no idea how I won this match. Jéré executed his game plan - which was to try to block my meeples in the early part of the game - very successfully, and for most of the game I believed I had no chance to win.
Early in the game, Jéré drew a cathedral and, showing the way he was going to play, he opted to place it in a city under my control rather than in one under his control. I like nothing more than closing a big cathedral city, so I fell right into his trap and eagerly expanded my city, adding my builder to it and (still not fully understanding Jéré's strategy) adding two more consolidation meeples for a total of three. Luckily I kept my big meeple out of it. Rather than trying to join my city, Jéré manoeuvred tiles around the city for blocking purposes and left me needing a CRFF tile to complete it. At that stage I wasn't even sure that tile was in the bag at all, because I often confuse the CRFF and the CFFR tiles and I know that T&B only has one of them. Meanwhile, Jéré also blocked a monk of mine (which needed the exact same CRFF tile) and another knight (which needed the CFRF tile that had already been played elsewhere on the board). So with the game only about 1/4 finished, he was in a very strong position.
The game was very low scoring in the early stages, as I was trying to complete what I could and Jéré was trying to block me without paying much attention to his own features. I took a lead of about 20 points or so, but it soon became clear that Jéré had several more meeples up his sleeve and was going to overtake me. Looking ahead to how the end-game scoring was situated, the trade goods were fairly even throughout the match, and while I had taken an early farm that featured a nice configuration of four adjacent two-tile cities (with the four-city CCCC tile in the middle), Jéré quickly added three farmers in the area, which I couldn't match at that stage given my meeple shortage. His strategy from then on seemed quite simple: win the main farm, win the trade goods if possible, and finish small and easily completable features to eventually wear me down without getting bogged down in large features himself.
In the middle part of the game, I used my big meeple to complete what I could, trying not to risk too much. This included a 20-point city to the south which yielded a couple of trade goods. Jéré overtook me, though, and looked on his way to a comfortable win. In hindsight, though, my ability to stay close (within about 10-20 points) and do the best with what I had during this stage was very important. Jéré also placed a meeple on a road by accident, thinking his tile was a four-way intersection that would complete the road when it was a bridge that didn't complete it.
With about 40 tiles to go, I took a look at the whole board and determined that the only way I could win was to complete my cathedral city and at least tie the big farm - so I decided to put all my efforts into those goals. By now I had realised that the tile I needed for my cathedral city was indeed in the bag and so I had a 50% chance of pulling it. As for the farm, I decided to add my double meeple in the area to try to tie it, even though this left me with only my phantom meeple left and meant there wouldn't be much city/road scoring left for me. I also knew that Jéré still had his big meeple in reserve which, if added to the main farm, would have clinched the farm and probably the game for him. He did indeed try to get his big meeple onto the farm, but I blocked him out of it which gave me hope as the farm was tied 3-3.
With about 15-20 tiles to go, the key moment of the game took place when I drew the CRFF tile to complete my cathedral city for 48 points and three silk trade goods (which guaranteed me 10 more points). This gave me a lead of about 36 points, setting the stage for the farm battle to decide the game. I managed to get my phantom onto the main farm to take a 4-3 lead, but Jéré was only a simple straight road, corner road, T-road etc tile away from tying it back up at 4-4. Remarkably it took him a long time to draw the piece he needed and it only came on the last tile of the game. We therefore each claimed 40 points from this 10-city farm, as we both had our pigs in it too.
Jéré had a few other little farms going as well, and I was able to win two 6-point farms as well with the meeples I got back from my cathedral city. With so much action in the last part of the game it was difficult to keep recomputing the situation, so when Jéré laid the final tile to tie up the farm, I still wasn't sure who had won with a lot of end-game scoring to come. I was surprised to see that the margin was 30 points (edit: 40 points) but this still showed that even with the cathedral city, it would have been touch and go if I hadn't tied up the main farm. We each claimed 20 points from trade goods so this wasn't really a factor, though there were a couple of situations in the middle of the game where we each closed cities of the other player to earn trade goods.
In the screenshot of the board below, I have circled the two most important moments of the game for me: the last cathedral city tile (circled in red) and the tile that blocked Jéré's big meeple out of the main farm (circled in blue).
Thanks to Jéré for a very well played, cut-throat game that was worthy of a World Cup quarterfinal :)
If I end up playing MrNumbers next, who plays a similar game to Jéré, I will have to be smarter about the way I play!
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A great report jungleboy! It was an incredible game to watch too (since I was hosting) as Jere really was absolutely ruthless throughout, especially in the early stages of the game where he was absolutely intent on blocking at every available opportunity, and making opportunities where there weren't! I think he scaled this down in the second half of the game but I too thought he'd done enough for the win by then.
One thing jungleboy did particularly well was simply to keep going even when he was down to his last meeple. I was surprised that the scores stayed so close for so long considering the scale of the disadvantage that jungleboy was facing, but he kept going with short roads and small cities and didn't give Jere the chance to get too far ahead when a lesser-player (i.e. me) would have given up.
The fact that the main farm was tied was also rather surprising as Jere went at this with some aggression right from the start of the game. I couldn't believe how long it took to get his fourth farmer onto it (the right tile simply refused to come along), but jungleboy did well to cut his double-meeple off and kept his share of the farm in doing so. Interestingly enough, if Jere had won the 40-point farm outright the final scores would have been even!
Great game both. Very well played.
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That was a very nice report, jungleboy! I could feel the game flow reading it! :)
If sometimes Carcassonne tournaments will need a professional commentator, I know one guy ;)
It really looks like Jéré is playing similar style as me. Reading his moves and desicions I also stayed confused how he could lost. Anyway, if I win rfielder (who will have a rematch with me), I will have a rematch with you, jungleboy, since you are the only one, except Dan, of course, who win a game from me in the League.
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Obviously jungleboy has played one game more than the rest of us and Jere has been eliminated in the process, but it’s funny how the 7 remaining players are the same 7 who played in the league. The World Cup has turned into a League reunion! Now if only it has the same result... ;)
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The World Cup has turned into a League reunion! Now if only it has the same result... ;)
In that case I would repeat my second game against you, Dan, in the final! ;D
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I think the League was a learning process for a lot of us (or certainly for me). I lost games I probably should have won, and then I've won those same types of games in the WC. So the experience of the League definitely helped.
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Brilliant report jungleboy! Thanks for sharing and of course congratulations for the victory!
I cannot say the luck factor played an important role in this game since he had 50% chance to draw the tile he needed (aka the pig tail!) Despite having a strategy that I thought solid, I managed to make a few mistakes. I have no excuses for not taking full control of the main field, which was relatively easy. Merit goes to jungleboy for blocking my double follower. Surprising but well deserved victory! Bravo!
Thanks Dan for organising this WC: Amazing job! I'm eliminated now but I must say I had a lot of fun and I'll be back for the next tournament! Cheers! :)
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@MrNumbers - if it looks like that’s going to happen I may never play Carcassonne again! Although, if we’d been playing with Abbey & Mayor (as will be included in the final) I could at least have won the farm for myself by placing my barn before you’d stolen it from me (assuming you didn’t do it first)...
@jungleboy – definitely agree. I think the league was useful both in learning to play using JCZ but also in developing tactics and other tricks.
@Jere – I’m sorry I didn’t get to play against you. Hopefully we can arrange a “friendly” game sometime after the competition is over?
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Another QF game just happened: MrNumbers vs. Rfielder.
Final score - 280:184.
I can't write such beautiful reviews as jungleboy does, but there are some things that can be told about the game :)
Right from the start of the game, after placing all the river tiles, Robert claimed a city and then placed builder on it. But opponent's builder for me is like a red reg for a bull :D Very soon it was blocked till the rest of the game (Robert had an opportunity to avoid blocking, just did't spot it). I continued to search for blocking opportunities and found 4 throughout the game. At 2/3 of the game I started to build a city with a Cathedral, Robert tried to connect to it with a big follower, I tried to add mine, but this city just remained incomplete and my builder was frozen too. Robert continued to expand his part of the city, although I hoped to merge them with a purpose not to give Robert these points, but didn't get the right tile. My opponent received 14 points for his part in the end. At the very end Robert managed to connect to my 14-point city in just 2 moves and stole from me trade goods: 2 grains and 1 wine, which equalizes our grain quantity and Robert received additional 10 points.
What surprised me much is that Robert didn't fight for the farms. As a result I have claimed all good spots earning 66 points in total.
Now I will have a rematch with jungleboy in semifinal ;)
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I can't write such beautiful reviews as jungleboy does, but there are some things that can be told about the game :)
On the contrary, this is a very beautiful line:
But opponent's builder for me is like a red reg for a bull :D
...and a good reminder for me to be careful with my builder in our semifinal. Congratulations on your win and see you soon!
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Rosco vs Quevy
I have won 268/232
it was a good game, balanced and fun.
The luck was on my starts more times than Rosco.
Sooner or later everything will turn against me and I will not receive even a tile favorable.
(http://i58.tinypic.com/2ijqoi1.jpg)
(http://i58.tinypic.com/16gifdc.jpg)
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Well done to everyone who has played their games so far. Sorry to those who have been eliminated. I have had the privilege of watching 2 of the 3 games and they have been fantastic!
Quick summary of the action so far:
Q/F1: (due to be played on Tuesday/ Thursday)
Q/F2: quevy 269 - 232 Rosco
Q/F3: jungleboy 235 - 195 Jere
Q/F4: MrNumbers 280 - 184 rfielder
S/F1: ? vs. quevy
S/F2: jungleboy vs. MrNumbers
Really looking forward to playing Carcking and (potentially) getting to play quevy in the next round! :(y)
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I like the trash talk to psych out Carcking ;)
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If only it had been deliberate. Sorry if this appeared disrespectful, my somewhat presumptuous post was entirely accidental! :-[
I know from previous experience that Carcking is a force to be reckoned with. He's a very cunning player and I learnt a lot from him in our games as part of the league.
The best/ luckiest man will win, and I genuinely have no idea who this will be (but I'm looking forward to finding out)...
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Dan, would you prefer MrNumbers and I wait to play our semifinal match until after your quarter-final match? I only ask because I will be going away next Wednesday (10 Sep) and I would like to finish up my remaining match(es!) before then if possible. I will have my laptop with me while I'm away but it could be a bit difficult to arrange a match.
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Thanks for letting me know. I think it would be better to try and keep things balanced if possible.
As I see it, once Carcking and I have had our match there will be only four players left and two semi-finals to play. If I’m not able to play Carcking this week (Thursday is likely the latest we can play) then you should definitely play ASAP regardless of what else is going on. As I say though, I think it is preferable to know who all four of the semi-finalists are before either of the semi-finals have taken place as long as this doesn’t complicate things.
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I like the trash talk to psych out Carcking ;)
:(y) 8)
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Go Carcking (from a fellow group A player).
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Well, you know what they say: "the coolest players get knocked-out in the quarter-finals..." :'(
(http://www.dan.tehill.net/Carcking_scores.jpg)
(final scores are correct but feature breakdown is incomplete due to crashed game having to be reloaded - which worked smoothly but reset score breakdown)
(http://www.dan.tehill.net/Carcking_map.jpg)
I felt Chuck and I were fairly evenly matched. I perhaps even had the upper-hand in the first half of the game but in the end I couldn't do enough to overcome his 30-point bonus for trade goods, or even compete with him in this area. My best chance here was to complete a shared city that included my builder but Chuck blocked this just in time and then made the city impossible to complete soon afterwards.
One interesting thing about this game was that we didn't really compete for any farms. We both shared two farms (one with four cities, the other with five) with one farmer each and left it at that really. I also had a 12-point farm and a 15-point farm but was only able to claim the latter because I was lucky enough to draw the last fffr tile (cloister with road leading up to it) which was the only way onto it.
On balance I don't think either of us suffered from particularly bad luck and generally got what we needed most of the time. I had several opportunities to swing things back in my favour within the last couple of dozen tiles but on two occasions I drew the tile I needed immediately after Chuck had blocked my opportunity to use it!
Anyway, on this occasion the best player certainly won - well done Chuck! Best of luck to everyone in the semi-finals...
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Well done Carcking!
Commiserations Dan, but it seems somehow appropriate that you went out at the same stage England usually goes out of the World Cup (though at least you made it out of the group stage this year!). :green-meeple:
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but on two occasions I drew the tile I needed immediately after Chuck had blocked my opportunity to use it!
I saw this before somewhere... :P
Congratulations to Carcking, and condolence to Dan! Anyway, this copy of Cathars needs to change an owner ;)
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@jungleboy - I'm just glad I got beaten properly and we didn't have to go to penalties. Please don't ask me how this would work with Carcassonne...
@MrNumbers - Very true. I thought it best to let someone else win it this time otherwise everyone would think the competition was fixed!
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I'm sorry for you danisthrity...
Congratulations to Carcking also to: MrNumbers, quevy, jungleboy.
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Well, you know what they say: "the coolest players get knocked-out in the quarter-finals..." :'(
Couldn't agree more ;)
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Well done to everyone who has made it this far! Semi-finals will be as shown below:
(http://www.dan.tehill.net/WC_Knockout_SFs.jpg)
Players with highest score differential (quevy and MrNumbers) should start each game.
Games should include the following expansions: River 2, Inns & Cathedrals, Princess & Dragon, The Phantom (no Traders & Builders as this conflicts with Princess & Dragon)
I'm guessing MrNumbers will host for his match against jungleboy. Carcking/ quevy - if you need a host just let me know.
Best of luck to all of you. I'm looking forward to hearing some exciting match reports afterwards!
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So my next opponent is Carcking, congratulations.
Dan, I'm sorry, we do a lot another time.
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Good luck to you quevy in our upcoming match...but not too much :P
How many hours ahead of Eastern time are you? What does your schedule look like for this weekend?
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Thanks for the encouragement, good luck.
In our previous games we have won once each, this is a play-off :)
If I'm not mistaken we have 6 hours of diversity.
I can not tell for availability, depends on the work of my wife and my little son.
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The Game That Wasn't
MrNumbers and I have to replay our semifinal after we discovered near the end of the game that the big meeple can't go through a magic portal (from P&D) in JCZ 2.7. The game was very close the whole way, although MrNumbers had just managed to complete a large city and this gave him a 20-point lead with 19 tiles left. He then tried to use the portal to get his big meeple into a small unoccupied part of a large Cathedral city (worth 50+ points) that I had two meeples in, which would have allowed him to tie the city.
It was a very well played game and both of us benefitted from some good moves and some nice luck. My biggest moment came when I used the princess to evict MrNumbers from the cathedral city and place my phantom in it on the same move (something Dan and I had talked about earlier in the day!). I then added a second meeple and closed it off from possible blocking. I thought, dragon aside, that I had the city won, with only a CCCR tile needed to complete it. It wasn't until later that I realised that MrNumbers could still get into it via the magic portal. Then when he drew the magic portal, all I could do was hope that he hadn't realised that he could still sneak into the city. But when he tried to do it with his big meeple, it didn't work.
MrNumbers' big move came in the other large city (without a cathedral). He had already used the dragon to get my big meeple out of it and he had one meeple in the city and another lurking. I added my double meeple nearby again, and then added a second meeple opposite, needing just a CCCX tile to join both my meeples and finish the city at the same time (as long as the fourth side of the tile was not another city edge). Instead, MrNumbers drew the three-city CCCF tile, which allowed him to finish the city and take all 36 (I think) points for himself and put him in a good position to win the game.
So, we'll take some deep breaths and try again another time.
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Even for uncompleted games you have perfect report, jungleboy! :(y)
I agree in all points, it was a very close game, jungleboy wonderfully used his big meeple and managed to steal a big road and medium city from me. Only one thing is not exactly right:
needing just a CCCX tile to join both my meeples and finish the city at the same
there was opened end left from the big meeple side, so the battle for that city wouldn't be over even after CCCX tile.
Just for fun I finished playing this game with myself, making jungleboy's moves as it would be my moves. That CCCR tile came to me :) Some dragon tiles came to me also and my farmer left uneaten. But if we would continue the same game, randomizing mechanism could behave otherwise, so this experiment doesn't mean anything.
We will try to play our game with JCZ 3.0, where this bug is fixed, if only it doesn't have another major bug.
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Only one thing is not exactly right:
needing just a CCCX tile to join both my meeples and finish the city at the same
there was opened end left from the big meeple side, so the battle for that city wouldn't be over even after CCCX tile.
Yes, you are right. I should have looked at the board again before writing that sentence!
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Today was the second try to play our semifinal with jungleboy. One minor bug was detected, but it didn't interfere our game.
Final score - 210:177 in my favor.
It was VERY close game! All last part of the game was one big fight for a 42-point farm. If jungleboy would manage even to equalize it, I would lost by 9 points. I will let jungleboy to write a wonderful review about this game, only will publish final board.
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Hi MrNumbers,
congratulations to you - you are one of the finalists.
Now it is interesting who will your final opponent...
Hi jungleboy,
I am sorry for you, but to win against MrNumbers is not easy...
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Congratulations MrNumbers. Jungleboy, I feel your pain but at least you got one step further than I did and it sounds like it was an exciting match. Looking forward to the report!
How did it go with JCZ 3.0? Presumably the mega meeple is now able to use magic portals? And is the issue with the builder and the dragon now resolved too?
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Hi MrNumbers,
congratulations to you - you are one of the finalists.
Now it is interesting who will your final opponent...
Thank you, kettlefish and danisthirty!
I am curious about the second finalist too. Hope Carcking and quevy will play their semifinal soon.
How did it go with JCZ 3.0? Presumably the mega meeple is now able to use magic portals? And is the issue with the builder and the dragon now resolved too?
It was one minor bug (http://www.carcassonnecentral.com/community/index.php?topic=958.msg11837#msg11837) in 3.0, but it didn't influence the game. Big meeple now IS able to travel through magic portal, but we didn't use that possibility in this game. Semifinal was played without Traders and Builders so I don't know if the issue with Dragon and Builder is resolved.
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Congratulations to the first finalist.
Jungleboy I'm sorry, I'll try to keep the name of the group c.
I just contacted Carcking for our game. I hope we can reach an agreement on when to play.
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This was a tough game to lose but I'm at least happy that I played well. Sometimes things don't go your way, especially against a tough opponent, so I don't have any regrets about this game.
As usual, we played a fairly cautious game at the beginning with no one going for too much out of fear of being blocked. MrNumbers had control of a decent-sized city around the river but I managed to take it from him with one of my new favourite moves: using the princess to remove his follower and then adding my phantom to the city in the same move. To complete the city I now needed only a FCRR tile, but it took almost the whole game for me to pull it, finally drawing it when there were about 10 tiles left. This left me without my phantom for virtually the whole game but still I think it was the right move to make. Despite being without my phantom, I was doing quite well through the early-middle part of the game and held a lead of about 20-25 points.
The other city to develop around this time was in the north-west area of the board as MrNumbers drew several CCCX tiles and began building himself a nice city. He added a second meeple and I countered with my big meeple. He was able to get a third meeple in, however, leaving a nice CCCC gap for him. His cathedral tile came very quickly and he was able to complete his city to score nearly 40 points and take the lead, which he never relinquished for the rest of the game.
By this time, the main farm was increasing in size and potential points, so we both started to try to manoeuvre to get meeples in it. I had one eaten by the dragon but quickly got another one in, and eventually I managed to join it to my other farm to take a 3-2 advantage. MrNumbers made a big move soon after, sacrificing his double meeple for the rest of the game by getting it into the farm with (I think) about 30 tiles left, taking a 4-3 lead.
Though two other cities were developing in the east that we both had interest in, the main farm now shaped up as the decisive battleground of the game. There weren't many opportunities to get another meeple in and eventually with about 12 tiles left I finally got my double meeple within one tile of the farm in the north-east part of the board, needing something like a CFFF or a RRFF tile to join it up. MrNumbers got busy around this tile to try to block it up and this proved successful. By this time he had also added another meeple to the farm so I could only tie it by getting my double meeple in. As it turns out, this might have been just enough to win me the game. By the time I drew the final tile of the game, MrNumbers had put me in a position where I needed a CFFF tile to join the farm. Instead I drew a two-city CCFF tile, which gave MrNumbers the farm and the game.
Congratulations to MrNumbers! He will be very hard to beat in the final. And good luck to Carcking and quevy in the other semifinal.
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A fantastic report! Sounds like you did as much as you could!
Merit for making it feel like I was actually playing! :(y)
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How did it go with JCZ 3.0? Presumably the mega meeple is now able to use magic portals? And is the issue with the builder and the dragon now resolved too?
It was one minor bug (http://www.carcassonnecentral.com/community/index.php?topic=958.msg11837#msg11837) in 3.0, but it didn't influence the game. Big meeple now IS able to travel through magic portal, but we didn't use that possibility in this game. Semifinal was played without Traders and Builders so I don't know if the issue with Dragon and Builder is resolved.
Traders & Builders would have been included if not for the bug, so I thought I'd ask so that we know for next time. I'll download the new version this evening and have a play with it to find out...
Any news on the other semi-final @Carcking / @quevy?
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Unfortunately, this weekend we could not have a moment to be able to play, I hope soon to be able to organize, unfortunately, given the diversity of time not believe that arrive before the weekend.
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Carcking passes in the final.
Game fun.
Tomorrow screenshot and a small summary.
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Congratulations, Carcking! See you in final! ;)
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Congratulations, Carcking! See you in final! ;)
Hi Mr. Numbers. Thanks for that! We have to schedule our match. What window of time do you have this weekend? Perhaps we can play on Sunday?
Carcking
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Carcking passes in the final.
Game fun.
Good game quevy! Thanks for making it fun and exciting. Your Farm play was very good but it came down to some lucky draws for me toward the end!
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Hi Mr. Numbers. Thanks for that! We have to schedule our match. What window of time do you have this weekend? Perhaps we can play on Sunday?
Sunday sounds good to me. As far as I am aware we have 7 hours time difference. So it can be my Sunday evening and your Sunday morning/noon.
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Hi Mr. Numbers. Thanks for that! We have to schedule our match. What window of time do you have this weekend? Perhaps we can play on Sunday?
Sunday sounds good to me. As far as I am aware we have 7 hours time difference. So it can be my Sunday evening and your Sunday morning/noon.
That sounds good. We'll talk more during the week to confirm. Thanks!
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Congratulations guys!
(http://www.dan.tehill.net/2014final.jpg)
Just to recap, here is the list of expansions to be used for the final:
- River 1 + 2
- Inns & Cathedrals
- Traders & Builders
- Abbey & Mayor
- The Phantom
(MrNumbers starts because of highest score differential)
May the best man win, and please report back here after your match to let everyone know who the champion is!
Dan
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Unfortunately now I do not have time to do a match report.
I hope to do as soon as possible, for now here's the situation tile final.
(http://i62.tinypic.com/35heb2u.jpg)
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I am not sure if we must play with "Abbey & Mayor" while this annoying wagon bug exists. I use wagon features quite a lot and in some circumstances it can be critical, specially for the final game. IMO, two possible solutions here:
1. Exclude "Abbey & Mayor" and replace with something else (less preferable, as I like it a lot).
2. Wait until Farin will fix this issue (more preferable, but only if it won't be months).
Dan? Carcking?
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Unfortunately now I do not have time to do a match report.
I hope to do as soon as possible, for now here's the situation tile final.
Thats 1 huge city worth nothing lol,
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Perhaps farin will be able to find a solution to the wagon problem before you're due to have your match but this is probably a little optimistic. You could postpone until it is fixed but I couldn't guess how long that might take.
Since it's between the two of you at this stage I see no reason why the list of expansions couldn't be revised as long as you are both in agreement on the final set of expansions used. The idea was to make the games bigger as the rounds progressed but this doesn't need to be the case if you're happy to settle for less tiles. So, ultimately it's up to the two of you how you want to play but I would recommend replacing Abbey & Mayor with something else if you can both agree happily on the replacement. Perhaps Corn Circles and The Besiegers instead?
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I am not sure if we must play with "Abbey & Mayor" while this annoying wagon bug exists. I use wagon features quite a lot and in some circumstances it can be critical, specially for the final game. IMO, two possible solutions here:
1. Exclude "Abbey & Mayor" and replace with something else (less preferable, as I like it a lot).
2. Wait until Farin will fix this issue (more preferable, but only if it won't be months).
Dan? Carcking?
I am completely flexible. I can wait or change A&M for something else.
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Congratulations to the both final participants:
Carcking and MrNumbers.
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Well done guys
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And I can take satisfaction that I beat Carcking in the pool play. Go Carcking.
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quevy/ jungleboy:
As you both reached a semi-final but were unsuccessful in making it into the final It seems sensible that there should be a match for third/ fourth if this is something you’re interested in? I know you’ve already played each other at the group stage but obviously the stakes would be a little higher this time!
I think it would be best to use the same set of expansions as will be used for the final (assuming farin is able to fix the issue with the wagon) and it would help to establish an overall ranking so that we can be seeded for the next online contest.
How would you feel about this? You could play it whenever you like and I can probably host but first we will need to wait to hear from farin regarding the wagon.
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I would be interested but I probably can't play for another three weeks while I'm on holidays, so by then it might be too late.
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We can make our game as soon as you can,
this is not a job we have time :)
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I could play tonight (Thursday) at about 8pm or 9pm Italian time if that suits you. But I don't know what the solution is for Abbey & Mayor.
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... and result is
http://jcloisterzone.com/builds/JCloisterZone-3.0.1.zip
fix: wagon issue (usually when playing against ai causing game freeze)
fix: wrong colors of chat nicknames
It sounds as though farin may have resolved this already, although I haven't seen it for myself...
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Good to know. But maybe tonight isn't the best time for me after all, because I have a download limit and an unreliable connection here. Quevy, let's play when I get home. :green-meeple:
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Good to know. But maybe tonight isn't the best time for me after all, because I have a download limit and an unreliable connection here. Quevy, let's play when I get home. :green-meeple:
It's fine when you come home.
There's no hurry.
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Jungleboy when we play our game?
I'm anxious to know who is the winner of the tournament, When is the final? Finalists, I tell you :)
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Can you play tonight? I could play at 21:00 or 22:00 CET, but we need a host. Dan?!
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Yes no problem, I can host for you both. Just let me know what time and I’ll ensure it’s ready and waiting for you! :(y)
I haven’t heard from MrNumbers or Carcking yet regarding their final. In this case I think it’s usual that the last quarter-finalist to be eliminated becomes the overall champion. I can’t think who this was, but they should definitely definitely be the winner... ;D
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I can not tonight, tomorrow would be fine?
Edit:
Tonight I can play. We meet in the chat?
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Great! What time?
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21:30
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OK, see you then. That's 20:30 for you Dan - is that OK?
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Yes that should be fine.
I'll set the game up now and drop you both an email with the connection details. I think it makes sense that the format of this game should be the same as the main final. I'll look up what the expansions should be as it's been so long now that I can't remember what they should be!
Best of luck to both of you!
EDIT: Expansions are: River 1 + 2, I & C, T & B, A & M, The Phantom. quevy starts (score differential of 114 vs 78).
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quevy and jungleboy - have fun in the game - good luck to you both... :(y)
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Hello.
This is a short video extract from the match: jungleboy vs quevy:
http://youtu.be/UUB07hlDmV4 (pretty poor quality - sorry)
The action is all in the top-right corner. Red (quevy) places a road that joins a farmer of his onto a farm containing a barn belonging to Green (jungleboy). He places the pig at the same time, and claims a 2-point road with his phantom. The farm is serving 12 cities, so it seems that this should get him a total of 2 x 12 = 24 points for the farmer + 2 points for the road. However, he gets just 2 points as the 24 points go to his opponent!
Am I missing something or does this not make sense at all?
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His tile placement also joined my double meeple farmer (on the cloister tile above) to both his farm and the barn farm. That's why I had placed a road tile directly above the tile he played, to set up this move.
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Difficult to see but green has a double follower in a field at the very top, next to a monastery, that gets connected at the same time.
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His tile placement also joined my double meeple farmer (on the cloister tile above) to both his farm and the barn farm. That's why I had placed a road tile directly above the tile he played, to set up this move.
It is a very artful set up, jungleboy! :(y)
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Thanks!
I don't have time for a complete report right now, but I managed to win the third place playoff 340-325 after quevy led for virtually the entire match. It was a very close and well-played match!
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I see it now, thanks for the clarification.
It was indeed a great match, here are some screenshots:
(http://www.dan.tehill.net/JB_v_Q_scores.jpg)
(http://www.dan.tehill.net/JB_v_Q_map.jpg)
It's probably worth pointing out that this was only the second time quevy had ever played with Abbey & Mayor!
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OK, here goes!
(I was also inexperienced with Abbey and Mayor. This was about the 5th/6th time I'd played with it.)
This was the first time I had played with two rivers and I wasn't sure how to approach it. I think I claimed more features than quevy on the rivers and this probably gave me a few too many cities at this early stage. I also placed a farmer on the pig herd farm and once the rivers had been laid out, I decided this farm would be a good spot for my barn. I drew the right piece and played it as soon as I could. I then spent some time trying to expand this farm to go around the end of the river by building a couple of loop roads, even though one of these finished two cloisters for quevy.
Quevy glommed on to an early city of mine with his double meeple and quickly closed it, giving him a lead that he would keep for the next 100+ tiles. Much of the early part of the game (post-river) was based on the battle for a cathedral city in the south of the landscape. Quevy originally claimed it and added the cathedral to it, so I tried to glom on with my double meeple. He eventually added his double meeple and I added another regular meeple and quevy decided to close it as a tied city when he had the chance. He also claimed a few trade goods with this move and continued to build on this throughout the game. In the end he won all three trade goods easily.
And so the game continued, with quevy always in the lead and building on his lead with some cities and roads in the north of the landscape. His lead was usually around 30-40 points.
As we came towards the last 30 tiles or so, there were two important aspects of the game which would determine the winner. The first was that quevy drew the second cathedral tile and added it to my growing city in the southwest of the landscape, thinking I wouldn't be able to complete it. Since I already had my builder on it, and it only required three tiles to finish the city, I decided to go for it. I think quevy realised he might have made a mistake and then tried to surround the city to make it difficult for me to get the right piece. But I still had my abbey, so I added to my city with one move (blocking myself in) and then used the abbey straight away (getting a second turn with the builder). I was then only a simple CXXX tile away from completing the city, and I did eventually complete it for 39 points (if I am counting correctly).
The second main aspect featured the farms in the northeast section of the landscape. Here I think there was some confusion in the scoring from both of us. Quevy had claimed several small farms in the area. My strategy was to try to expand my barn farm, so I decided to join one of his farm (containing a pig) to the barn farm to add some new cities to my barn farm. But this scored him 30 points - almost as much as my cathedral city! (I am still not sure why he got so many points since I think there were only 11-12 cities in the farm at this stage, but in any case I forgot the value of the pig.)
By this time I had also placed a double meeple farmer in the area as well, and both that farmer, and another one of quevy's in a different farm, were close to joining the barn farm. As described a few posts above, I decided to try to create a situation in which both these farmers would join each other and the barn farm at the same time, thus giving me all the points because of my double meeple. This is eventually what happened. If they had joined the barn farm separately, I believe that quevy would have won the game (given that he re-placed the pig in this new farm).
With four tiles left, I took the lead for the first time in the game (or at least the first time since the river had finished). Quevy retook the lead with an abbey cloister on his last turn. But my barn farm was the difference in the end-game scoring and was the reason I won even though quevy had more points in cities and roads and took all the trade goods. Cloisters were also a good source of points for me with 52 to quevy's 25.
This was another fun and close game and I'm sure we all learned something for our next assault on MrNumbers! :green-meeple:
This was a great tournament to be involved with and I want to thank Dan again for all his work. Hopefully the final between Carking and MrNumbers will take place soon.
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Merit for another fantastic report jungleboy! I'm starting to think you should be some sort of Carcassonne journalist...
I was then only a simple CXXX tile away from completing the city, and I did eventually complete it for 39 points (if I am counting correctly).
I make it 42 as there are 11 tiles + 3 pennants = 14 x 3 (because of the cathedral) = 42.
My strategy was to try to expand my barn farm, so I decided to join one of his farm (containing a pig) to the barn farm to add some new cities to my barn farm. But this scored him 30 points - almost as much as my cathedral city! (I am still not sure why he got so many points since I think there were only 11-12 cities in the farm at this stage, but in any case I forgot the value of the pig.)
I wonder if the pig got included twice because of quevy's pig AND the pig herd from the river? If this was the case, joining his farm to your barn farm would have been worth 3 points per city which could explain the 30 points (10 cities seems about right at that time). I don't think the pig herd tile is supposed to work in addition to the pig though. Maybe I'm wrong.
This was a great tournament to be involved with and I want to thank Dan again for all his work. Hopefully the final between Carking and MrNumbers will take place soon.
You're very welcome :) It was a great game to watch too, even though Breaking Bad was competing for my attention at the same time! Well done to both players :(y)
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Merit for another fantastic report jungleboy! I'm starting to think you should be some sort of Carcassonne journalist...
Wow, a Carcassonne journalist, wouldn't that be amazing? Thanks for the compliment, and I should probably mention at this point that I am actually a sports journalist by trade so it's not that far off.
I wonder if the pig got included twice because of quevy's pig AND the pig herd from the river? If this was the case, joining his farm to your barn farm would have been worth 3 points per city which could explain the 30 points (10 cities seems about right at that time). I don't think the pig herd tile is supposed to work in addition to the pig though. Maybe I'm wrong.
Ding, ding, ding! From the CAR (page 80):
"The pig-herd tile does not generate any additional points for the barn. The pig-herd tile can score an extra point per city when there is a barn on the farm."
So, not only is it not beneficial to have your barn on the pig-herd farm (i.e. you don't score any more points because of it), it can actually hurt you, because other players can get more points for joining onto it. (Of course, you can also join a regular farmer to your own barn farm and benefit that way.)
This will change the way I think about the barns. If you're playing with T&B too, a farmer with a pig on the pig-herd farm is more valuable than a barn on the same farm. Maybe a farmer with pig on the pig-herd tile is the best way to begin the game, and then you could add a barn later (or wait until someone else adds a barn later), allowing you to score a lot of points and then getting your farmer and pig back to keep glomming on to the same farm (assuming it's a big farm). On the other hand, in the last two games with A&M we've seen that placing a barn as early as possible on a farm with good potential has been a valuable move.
Carcassonne strategy - the gift that keeps on giving!
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Merit for another fantastic report jungleboy! I'm starting to think you should be some sort of Carcassonne journalist...
I said something similar before (http://www.carcassonnecentral.com/community/index.php?topic=991.msg11315#msg11315). Great report as usual and great game, jungleboy! Congratulations! See you on Carcassonne ring someday! ;)
I wonder if the pig got included twice because of quevy's pig AND the pig herd from the river? If this was the case, joining his farm to your barn farm would have been worth 3 points per city which could explain the 30 points (10 cities seems about right at that time). I don't think the pig herd tile is supposed to work in addition to the pig though. Maybe I'm wrong.
CAR, p.61:
The pig-herd tile earns the farmer who owns this farm an extra 1 point per city. If a player
has the pig-herd and a pig (from the Traders and Builders expansion), he or she receives
an additional 2 points per city.
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As always it seems that farin’s attention to detail and devoted following of the CAR has proved to be to his credit.
So if you join a farmer to a farm with a barn that also includes the pig tile, and place your pig on the joining tile (or before this), you get 3 points per city?! Still not quite as valuable as the barn itself (4 points per city) but this would definitely set the tone of the game! I had previously thought you could only get the pig bonus once, regardless of whether it came from your own pig or the pig tile...
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The pig, pig herd discussion is excellent. If you play with the GQ11 expansion with the pig here house rule then joining the barn with your farmer, 2 pig herds and a pig will be worth the same as the barn itself! Insane.
Guy
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If you play with the GQ11 expansion with the pig here house rule then joining the barn with your farmer, 2 pig herds and a pig will be worth the same as the barn itself!
That is a lot of bacon! :@ :'(
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Hello.
This is a short video extract from the match: jungleboy vs quevy:
http://youtu.be/UUB07hlDmV4 (pretty poor quality - sorry)
The action is all in the top-right corner. Red (quevy) places a road that joins a farmer of his onto a farm containing a barn belonging to Green (jungleboy). He places the pig at the same time, and claims a 2-point road with his phantom. The farm is serving 12 cities, so it seems that this should get him a total of 2 x 12 = 24 points for the farmer + 2 points for the road. However, he gets just 2 points as the 24 points go to his opponent!
Am I missing something or does this not make sense at all?
When I played that, I zoom, I remembered the double follower of Jungleboy, once I saw the score I realized my mistake, maybe that made me lose the game.
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Hello.
This is a short video extract from the match: jungleboy vs quevy:
http://youtu.be/UUB07hlDmV4 (pretty poor quality - sorry)
The action is all in the top-right corner. Red (quevy) places a road that joins a farmer of his onto a farm containing a barn belonging to Green (jungleboy). He places the pig at the same time, and claims a 2-point road with his phantom. The farm is serving 12 cities, so it seems that this should get him a total of 2 x 12 = 24 points for the farmer + 2 points for the road. However, he gets just 2 points as the 24 points go to his opponent!
Am I missing something or does this not make sense at all?
When I played that, I zoom, I remembered the double follower of Jungleboy, once I saw the score I realized my mistake, maybe that made me lose the game.
Well if you hadn't done it I'm sure jungleboy would have done if he'd been able to. The question is, with just 5 tiles left would he have had the opportunity to do this? The game would almost certainly have depended on it!
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I am not sure if we must play with "Abbey & Mayor" while this annoying wagon bug exists. I use wagon features quite a lot and in some circumstances it can be critical, specially for the final game. IMO, two possible solutions here:
1. Exclude "Abbey & Mayor" and replace with something else (less preferable, as I like it a lot).
2. Wait until Farin will fix this issue (more preferable, but only if it won't be months).
Dan? Carcking?
I am completely flexible. I can wait or change A&M for something else.
Hellooo??
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Hello.
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I already find that 1 week is quite long to play only one game. Imagine if you multiply by 6! At this pace, to complete a tournament of 48 games, it would take about 5 years and a half. :)
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I already find that 1 week is quite long to play only one game. Imagine if you multiply by 6!
Indeed. I guess they both have busy schedules and an awkward time difference to take into account. I'm not paying for either of them to fly out to the other so they can play in person though! :)
At this pace, to complete a tournament of 48 games, it would take about 5 years and a half. :)
The first 40 games of the tournament had been played within the first month which I thought was pretty good progress. We know the winner will be MrNumbers or Carcking though, why are you so keen to hurry them? It's not like it will change anybody else's finishing position... ???
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We know the winner will be MrNumbers or Carcking though, why are you so keen to hurry them? It's not like it will change anybody else's finishing position... ???
I think that's precisely the problem. They have no reasons to hurry so I decided to give them one, just like that, out of pure generosity :)
Ok, my job is done now. I promise not to complaint for the next 6 weeks and yes, I understand they must be super busy, as much as we all are I guess...
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We know the winner will be MrNumbers or Carcking though, why are you so keen to hurry them? It's not like it will change anybody else's finishing position... ???
I think that's precisely the problem. They have no reasons to hurry so I decided to give them one, just like that, out of pure generosity :)
Ok, my job is done now. I promise not to complaint for the next 6 weeks and yes, I understand they must be super busy, as much as we all are I guess...
For what it's worth, they almost played the final last night but had to postpone it because of a technical problem with JCloisterZone. Don't worry though, you're certainly not the only person waiting to congratulate/ commiserate the eventual winner/ runner-up!
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Don't worry though, you're certainly not the only person waiting to congratulate/ commiserate the eventual winner/ runner-up!
I, on the other hand, am waiting for one of them to get injured so I get a late call-up to play in the final. >:D
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Don't worry though, you're certainly not the only person waiting to congratulate/ commiserate the eventual winner/ runner-up!
I, on the other hand, am waiting for one of them to get injured so I get a late call-up to play in the final. >:D
How is your injury? Somebody else must have really wanted to play against quevy in the 3rd/4th play-off!
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How is your injury? Somebody else must have really wanted to play against quevy in the 3rd/4th play-off!
It's more or less fine now, thanks for asking. I have three different blisters on my burnt hand and it's still hard to hold pot handles, but other than that it's OK. :(y)
[dedication] But I had to plunge my hand into cold water for 2 hours just to get it ready to play our game last Thursday [/dedication].
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First Carcassonne World Cup has got his champion!
Congratulations, Carcking!
Final score - 349:327.
(http://www.carcassonne.lv/CarcC/F_MrNumbers vs. Carcking.jpg)
(http://www.carcassonne.lv/CarcC/F_MrNumbers vs. Carcking board.jpg)
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Wow, looks like it was a great and close game! Congratulations to Carcking and also to MrNumbers for reaching the final. MrNumbers, did you play this game with your mouse in one hand and your baby in the other? :green-meeple:
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MrNumbers, did you play this game with your mouse in one hand and your baby in the other? :green-meeple:
Baby will be at home tomorrow :) It is normal practice here in Latvia that mother with new-born baby spend 3 days in hospital (as opposed to Great Britain rules - after 6 hours you are at home).
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Carcking,
Congratulations to our winner of this CarcC World Cup final game.
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Good game MrNumbers! That was a close one and was difficult to call right up until the end. When you won the Cathedral city I thought that was the end. I had to battle back and it was tough.
Good match!
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Woohoo! Congratulations Carcking - we have our champion! :(y) Commiserations MrNumbers. :(
It looks like it was a great game, I hope it was enjoyed by both. And how did you decide who got to play Red? I can well imagine quite a battle for that too!
I will complete all of my spreadsheets etc and post the prize list within a week or so. Then I'll just need to get addresses and start sending stuff out.
Baby will be at home tomorrow :) It is normal practice here in Latvia that mother with new-born baby spend 3 days in hospital (as opposed to Great Britain rules - after 6 hours you are at home).
Not always the case! With Jessica (our first), my wife was in hospital for the following 2 or 3 nights. And with Ben, my wife stayed just 1 night. Things went relatively smoothly with both births, but sometimes they like to keep you in for longer than feels necessary. I hope you settle well into life as a family of 4; daughters are very special (as are sons but you know this already!)
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Congratulations Carcking! Honorable mention to MrNumbers for fighting until the end!
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I waited a long time to find out who would be the winner of the competition.
Congratulations Carcking, lose against you was not in vain :)
MrNumber I feel sorry for you.
Now we are all waiting for the surprises that Dan will send participants home :)
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I will complete all of my spreadsheets etc and post the prize list within a week or so. Then I'll just need to get addresses and start sending stuff out.
I assume 3rd place gets BB5, the new edition, Goldrush, and a hand-crafted wooden storage box that perfectly fits all expansions and then magically expands when a new expansion is released.
If that's too much, I'll settle for BB5, the new edition and the magic box. ;)
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Let me go back to the pool play. Did anyone beat Carcking? 8)
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Let me go back to the pool play. Did anyone beat Carcking? 8)
And by a fairly convincing margin too! I imagine that this is why he refused to lose any subsequent games and went on to win the whole competition.
Anyway...
(http://www.dan.tehill.net/prizes.jpg)
All prizes are free (including postage) as a thank you for taking part. Everything is worth owning, but please remember that this wasn't an officially funded competition and as such I'm paying for all the prizes and postage out of my own pocket. I'm perfectly happy to do this, but please bear this in mind if you're expecting to have won cars or holidays.
So if you're on the list above and would like to receive your prizes, please drop me a PM including your postal address (unless I already have it: MrNumbers, Carcking, jungleboy, quevy, Rosco, rfielder). I can't guarantee when you will receive them as I am still waiting on a couple of things (yes, seriously) but these won't affect everyone.
Stay tuned for news of the next competition. Coming soon... 8)
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All prizes are free (including postage) as a thank you for taking part. Everything is worth owning, but please remember that this wasn't an officially funded competition and as such I'm paying for all the prizes and postage out of my own pocket.
Speaking only for myself - a small fee for admission to the next competition, to help offset the cost of prizes, would seem appropriate.
Assuming you are willing to every do this again! :)
FYI, Monwil has the same address as I.
Congratulations Carcking!
Looks like the game was close.....
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Prizes are now in the post! Sorry for such a huge delay but there were a few things I had to wait for and then I basically just wasn't organised enough to get everything together and post it.
It's done now though, thanks so much for taking part! :) :(y)
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Thanks for organising a great tournament!
And thankyou for these cool prizes!
(http://tapatalk.imageshack.com/v2/15/01/15/4b725d4c7db8f98133ee67a322d49517.jpg)
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You're welcome. Glad you enjoyed them!
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Lol, What is that tile??
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Lol, What is that tile??
Prize #1 ;)
(tile designed by our very own jputt927)
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Lol, What is that tile??
Prize #1 ;)
(tile designed by our very own jputt927)
I mean, its orange:$
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It's a 4 sided city tile with 3 different cities.
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Package arrived today. Very much appreciated by both Monica and I. Thank you!
One question - what are trade tokens? Which expansion uses them?
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One question - what are trade tokens? Which expansion uses them?
These are trade goods for "Traders & Builders", just to replace paper tokens.
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Here is the ELO rating after the World Cup. Following table shows the initial rating before, then the situation after the Group Stage and the Knock-out Stage. Last column is the final rating after the World Cup:
(http://tapatalk.imageshack.com/v2/15/03/04/f63df5feef15eb419d4630ac87ed10a0.jpg)