Carcassonne Central
Carc Central Community => General => Topic started by: jungleboy on February 29, 2016, 02:01:28 AM
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The Completionism Poll is a weekly series where we ask how much of a completionist you are by breaking the game down into different expansions and elements. This week we look at the Wind Roses.
There are two versions of the Wind Roses - one released by HiG in 2012 and another released by Spielbox Magazine in 2013. The configuration of the tiles is the same in both expansions, but there are other differences, notably that the Spielbox Wind Rose tiles feature only north and south and therefore divide the board into only two sections, while the HiG version features all four cardinal points and therefore divides the board into four quadrants.
Which of these expansions do you own or want to own? If you own both, do you prefer to play with one over the other? Is there a way of combining them? Discuss your thoughts on the Wind Roses as it relates to your personal completionism below.
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I got the first version thanks to kettlefish and up until about a month ago I did not own or consider getting the second version from the Spielbox magazine until I found a store in the UK that sells the English version of the magazine for 10 Euro or so. Since I was already ready to order the magazine with Half'n'Half from the same store, figure why not other Windrosen as well.
And yes, I consider owning both counts towards complete, not just one of them. :)
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I ended up with both because I originally bought the Spielbox version, not realising they were different. Later I found out that the HiG version had east and west, and so I bought that because I have a huge affinity for compasses, and a compass with four cardinal points make far more sense to me than a compass with two. Thus, I have both, but I don't consider them required for completion. In my opinion, just having the HiG version would be enough. Although, that's easy for me to say because I have both.
When I play with the Wind Roses, I usually use both copies with the HiG rules. The Spielbox versions do not have O and W for Osten and Westen, but they do have a quarter rose with the unmarked cardinal point. I use them as if they also have a quarter segment instead of a half. Actually, more often I use my variation for Wind Roses, but this also uses all of the tiles.
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I found the mechanism so awkward, and I don't think, gameplay will in any way improve by it, no matter which other expansions you add to it. I played a few games on JCZ with that expansion, never suggesting it, but also never turning a game down, because somebody else wanted to play these tiles. And this only confirmed my initial thoughts about it. Totally pointless expansion. So, no thanks, I pass on both versions of that one.
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I really don't like this expansion, as I mentioned recently in a session report. However, for completionism's sake, both are required in my eyes. They are graphically different tiles because of the O and W. I really wish Spielbox hadn't gotten lazy, though, and put their Pentagon on the tiles. Then, at least, I could treat them as part of the "official" Spielbox magazine expansion (I actually have a custom tuck box designed for all of those...except Halflings I simply because I haven't had time to make it yet). On a similar note, Hans im Glück dropped the ball in skipping the watermark for their own tiles. Come on guys! How hard is it to remember the watermark?!
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I have both - kettlefish was kind enough to send me one.
Don't forget the first edition was given away as a prize for completing a geocaching game at a convention. Thematically, it's a great expansion for those people that attended. I think it would be better if there were more tiles.
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I am in the "I own one version, and that's enough for my collection" camp. I don't understand why to have two absolutely identical expansions? Even more - why to have N-S variant, when there is a better N-E-S-W variant? How many times have you played 2-sided variant while having 4-sided one? Expansions are intended for playing them after all :P :D
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I own both versions. The N-S vs. N-O-S-W art change and associated rules difference is enough for me to consider them different expansions.
I got the original version from kettlefish some time ago and then the Spielbox version when it came out.
I play with both versions in my games of Mega Carcassonne. It is definitely more of the more confusing thing to explained to uninitiated players:
No, that tile has only got an N on it, so you have to play it in the North quadrant accoring to the N-S tile. But that one has an N and an O which means you have to play it in the North-East according to the blue N-O-S-W windrose which overrides the original one... got it?
I agree with others saying that they are not a big fan of this expansion. I find it particularly weird that the compass points get reassigned in the middle of the game when the blue rose comes out.
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I have the HiG version that I got for participating in the first league here, via kettlefish. At the time I was a non-completionist and I was not looking to acquire this expansion. To this day, it remains one of the expansions that I own but have never played (the others are the School, the Messages, the Robbers, and the Catapult). Now that I'm a light completionist, I'm happy to have one of the Wind Roses but that's enough for me.
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I must be in the minority here. I had the HiG version at some point but I gave it away and I'm happy to own just the Spielbox version. I consider them as two versions of the same identical expansion and prefer the Spielbox for the following reasons:
1) the HiG version has colors that don't match the tiles of my collection. The dark green color of the farms is horribly off.
2) the HiG version has language specific lettering (the German O and W for East and West). It would be the only tiles in my collection with such peculiarity. I consider the Spielbox version to be the "international edition"
3) Nothing will prevent playing the Spielbox version with either rule set. The quadrants are clearly identified, even without letters. And the colors of the tiles matches my version of Carcassonne.
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I own both copies of this and would require myself to own them both even if I didn't like/ play them in order to consider myself a completionist.
In terms of whether it's a fun expansion, I think it depends who you're playing with. Some expansions change how you think about the game from start to finish, others change the game much more subtly and you don't really think about them unless you draw one of the tiles. If I'm playing with Mrs_danisthirty, we rarely include more than 3 or 4 expansions as she doesn't like having too many additional elements to think about. Adding Wind Roses to our games can be good in terms of the fact that it's simple, doesn't add to the mental requirements, is slightly interesting, and doesn't have any complicated interactions with other expansions.
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I played with this a little bit on JCZ. It isn't a bad expansion, just not a particularly interesting one. I don't absolutely have to have it, but if I can get it cheap or I have room in a cundco order, I may throw it in.
I originally thought you got the extra points if you put the tile in the correct quadrant AND the compass directions matched that of the blue rose. I think I like the compass directions matching the start tile (or blue tile) for bonus points more than the quadrant rule.
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Ha...great story. I own both.
I bought the Spielbox version at Spiel, with 2 other Spielbox magazine's/promos, so it was only 10 euro for 3 magazines or some offer like that.
When I got to the Cunco/HiG booth, there was this crazy woman running a contest of meeple stacking. She was desperately trying to get people to do the contest, so we thought...why not. She said she had a copy of the windrose if one of us would win.
First, I went against my boyfriend and won. She didn't give me the promo and said I should play again.
So I went against my best friend (there was no one else willing to play). I won again and she still wouldn't give me the promo.
She now said I had to win 3 times in a row. I was starting to get irritated with her and the way she was doing this.
I don't know how, but suddenly she managed to find a Japanese guy to play against me. It was an older man and he had very shaky hands, so within 30 seconds his meeples fell over. The woman thanked the man for playing and started asking other bypassers to play against me. I kindly asked her for the promo and she told me she could only give it if I won 5 times because she was running out of promos fast. I got a bit angry with her, asking her why she was doing this and breaking her promise for the THIRD time! I think I scared her, because she hastily gave me a copy... ;D
No shame for getting angry...it was my third day or something at spiel and was exhausted. Plus, she should just have given me the promo. I guess she didn't think I would win 3 times in a row.
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So far it appears that everyone who wants both versions already has both versions. No one has voted saying they have one but feel like they need the other to complete their collection.
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I own both, but unfortunately haven't got round to playing with either yet. Hopefully I'll have a bit more time for playing in the next month or so and will make an effort to check out The Wind Roses.
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other: I own 1 and I do not consider the other being a separete expansion. There is just one wind rose exp. and the other is exactly the same just worse looking because it lacks west and east.
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I must be in the minority here. I had the HiG version at some point but I gave it away and I'm happy to own just the Spielbox version. I consider them as two versions of the same identical expansion and prefer the Spielbox for the following reasons:
1) the HiG version has colors that don't match the tiles of my collection. The dark green color of the farms is horribly off.
2) the HiG version has language specific lettering (the German O and W for East and West). It would be the only tiles in my collection with such peculiarity. I consider the Spielbox version to be the "international edition"
3) Nothing will prevent playing the Spielbox version with either rule set. The quadrants are clearly identified, even without letters. And the colors of the tiles matches my version of Carcassonne.
They are both not suited for my language as my language should have a Z at the bottom.
If.it.really was language independent it should have a arrow which would be thicker or different color to point out north.
Just like the cult tiles they have the same configuration so.they are the same in my eyes..
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Things have changed a bit since my last update. After one week, just over half the people who have responded so far either already own both or want both for their collection, while half of this (so just over a quarter overall) say one is enough for their collection. Thanks for voting and discussing the Wind Roses!