Topics

136

General / Favouritism Poll #7 - Big Boxes

« on: May 06, 2016, 03:55:41 AM »

This week we ask you to vote for your favourite Big Box.  Rather than just voting for the one you bought, or bought first, I'm asking to to review the contents of each big box and determine which you should had the best distributions of expansions.

Here's a quick run down:

Before any Big Boxes were released there was the Limited Edition from 2003, considered by some as Big Box 0:

Along with the Base game it contained:

• The River
• Inns and Cathedrals
• Traders and Builders

Next up was Big Box 1, from 2006.


Along with the Base game it contained:

• The River
• Inns and Cathedrals
• Traders and Builders
• The Tower
• Princess & Dragon

The German Edition had no River!


Big Box 2 was released in 2008.

Along with the Base game it contained:

• Inns and Cathedrals
• Traders and Builders
• Princess & Dragon
• Abbey & Mayor
• River II, The Count, King & Cult

Next Up is Big Box 3 2010:

Along with the Base game it contained:

• Inns and Cathedrals
• Traders and Builders
• Princess & Dragon
• Abbey & Mayor
• Bridges, Castles & Bazaars

Next Up is Big Box 4 2012:

Along with the Base game it contained:

• Inns and Cathedrals
• Traders and Builders
• The Flying Machines
• The Messengers
• The Gold Mines
• Mage and Witch
• The Robbers

Last up we have Big Box 5, from 2014:

Along with the Base game it contained:

• Inns and Cathedrals
• Traders and Builders
• 7th & 8th Player Colours
• The River (considered by some River 3)
• Hill and Sheep
• The Wheel of Fortune

That's the line-up.  There are some other box sets like the Mueller Exclusive, the Russian boxes, and metal boxed Traders and Builders - but these are considered smaller boxed sets of the base game.

So, over to you:  What's you're favourite Carcassonne Big Box?


We've come to the end of this road of my Favouritism journey.  But who knows what's beyond that next junction - perhaps an Inn, or a Labyrinth, or maybe just a dead-end waiting for that non-existent tile; but who knows perhaps an Abbey will save us.

I'll leave by saying, Many thanks for all of your thoughts and inputs over the last few weeks!

137

General / Forum Refresh

« on: May 03, 2016, 03:01:39 AM »

You may have noticed a few changes to the front page of Carcassonne Central.

We now have a Headline section on the left hand side.

The Forum's Hot Topics are on the right.

There are now 3 sets of recent posts for 3 topics: General, Competition/League Games, and Crafter's Workshop.

I'll be making a few more modifications over the coming days, but if you're seeing anything strange please let me know here.

138

General / Favouritism Poll #6 - Spin-Off Score Tracks

« on: April 26, 2016, 11:16:14 AM »

We're continuing our Favouritism Polls by asking you:

What's favourite Carcassonne Spin-Off Score Track?

And because there are so many, this week you have 2 votes!

Do you like the regiment of 'New Lands' or the ingenuity of 'The Castle'?
Or do you prefer the flow of 'Over Hills and Dales' or the artwork of Cardcassonne?
I've included it, but I hope no one votes for 'The Dice Game', given it's a sheet of paper.

Here are some images to remind yourself of the options:

Click to embiggen:



Let us know your thoughts or remind me of the Spin-Off I missed - I wasn't going to include Cardcassonne because it was so different but the artwork is brilliant!

Remember we're asking you about your favourite score-track here not your favourite spin-off.

139

General / Completionism Poll #12 - Phantom Boxes

« on: April 22, 2016, 10:28:22 AM »

We've got some quick fire Completionist polls over the next few weeks - they'll probably be running slightly faster than once a week so keep your eyes peeled.

This time we ask:  Do you need all the Phantom Boxes to be complete?

Phantoms are everyone's favourite expansion (really) and have been released in 6 different coloured boxes representing the traditional Carcassonne colours: Red, Yellow, Blue, Green, Grey, Black



Do you need all 6 to feel complete or are you happy with just one?
Do you even need the phantom expansion, Did you just pick up the jubilee edition?

Let us know below 

140

Official Rules / Questions about Halflings, Farming and Barns

« on: April 21, 2016, 10:51:29 AM »

We confirmed today how Barns and German Castles interact, but I have some questions about farming, halflings and barns:

1) How many Farms in this picture:



2)How many Farms are in this picture - and which ones can the Barn score?


Now without German Castles:
3) How many Farms are in this picture:


4) Can a Barn be placed here and if so - how many Farms are there and which ones can the Barn Score?


5)I would like to confirm if these Farms are or are not connected:



6a) Can a Barn be placed here?:


6b)How many Farms are in this picture, and can a Barn be placed here - if So which farms can be scored?

6c) Does the Halfling connect the small farm between the two cities, like a full-size tile would?

7)Variation of the above:


8)Variation on the above:


UPDATE:

For completeness I think the following should be covered too:

9) Variation of the above:



10) Variation on the above:


11) Variation on the above: How many farms can be scored this time if the barn can be placed?



12) A question from JTAtomico - Having placed a barn is it acceptable to place the follow tile?



and if so what about now?:



UPDATE:

13) Can a Barn be placed on 4 halflings, if so How many farms are there, and how are they scored?




14) Through clever play it may be possible to join two Barns into the same farm.  How many Farms are on this diagram?  How do the barns score now?  Are all the farms shared, or is one farm partially shared?



Now some clarifications on Cloisters and Halflings:

1) Is this cloister complete?  If so how many Points does it score; if not how many does it score at the end of the game?



Questions about Flyers, German Castles and Haflings

1) Can Flyers fly over empty tiles? 




2) If so, how big is the empty-space on this diagram (a German Castle is one-tile and it can fit)?:



3)How Do Flyers interact with Halflings.  Which diagrams are correct?







Many Thanks in advance.

141

Anything Else / Re: I love the Dan Chard....

« on: April 20, 2016, 08:44:01 AM »

Brilliant Clownfeet! Merit for the find! You've made quite a lot people jealous indeed!

Welcome to the club Clownfeet!

@Valheru - I wonder if Paul included a Dan Chard signed Tile in your shipment too!

If so, it will be my most prized possesion and I'll put it into a shrine!

a shrine,  or the shrine

142

The Marketplace / The Very 'Best' Of Ebay

« on: April 13, 2016, 11:49:13 PM »

Just thought I'd share this one with you all - An opportunity to own Mage and Witch.  It's super RAR!

http://www.ebay.com/itm/Carcassonne-Mini-5-Mage-and-Witch-/282004170236?hash=item41a8c225fc:g:xUQAAOSwG-1W0uWq

The tiles are an order of magnitude more expensive than usual.

I hold no responsibility for the stupidity of the person ordering it 

143

Online Games and Competitions / Other Online Games - Carcassonne Spin-Offs

« on: April 09, 2016, 07:20:14 AM »

Would someone like to play a game online, perhaps: Carcassonne: Die Burg some time?

There are 3-websites that have many great Euro games online for free:

BrettSpielNetz
Once you've registered you can - http://www.brettspielnetz.de/register.php play Carcassonne: Die Burg!!

http://www.yourturnmyturn.com/

I've only played it once before (physically), I know it's JB's spin-off of choice - so perhaps we can make it a regular thing?

Turns can be taken over a long duration too!

Yucata
While we're listing online sites there is also Yucata too:  http://www.yucata.de/en/CreateGame

They have many HiG games: Stone Age, Yucata, Schweinebande, El Grade, Vikings, Carcassonne H&G, Saint Petersburg, Voyages of Marco Polo and also many other nice games like: Cacao, Jaipur, Castles of Burgundy, Glen More.  These may be nice to try too.  I have used an incognito-m0de to play a quick 2-player game on the same PC, which is very nice is try these games if you are not sure if you want to buy them!

BrettSpielWelt
While we're listing sites, don't forget: http://www.brettspielwelt.de/Spiele/ some Carcassonne is there, but JCloisterZone is better, but they have 7 Wonders & Kingdom Builder too.

I think I'm Decar on all these sites, but perhaps we can share screenames and organize some events to play?

144

General / Completionism Poll #11 - Abbots

« on: April 08, 2016, 10:23:37 AM »

This week is a Completionist Poll!  If you're not familiar we've been running weekly polls where members of the forum share their opinions on ownership.

This week we ask for your opinions of owning:   Abbots.



As you probably know, Abbots are a meeple expansions introduced in the boxed set of Carcassonne II.  Some would say they have no place in Carcassonne, others need them even without Carcassonne II, while others are happy to use them in Carcassonne II alone.

Then there's the Grey Abbot - which doesn't officially exist because that player colour has been revoked in Carcassonne II - forcing members to create their own.  This was the advice I received from Cundco when I tried ordering one. 

Obviously, some of you play with alternate colours too and as yet, there are no Abbots for these!

No doubt there's some permutation I've not marked - seems to happen most weeks - let us know how you voted below!

145

Other Games / Cornwall

« on: April 03, 2016, 02:02:00 PM »

Today, I got to play Cornwall with my wife.

It was pretty good, the rules were a little fiddly to explain, but straightforward and the player boards helped explain the point scoring.

Basically, you're laying tiles which have 3 hexagonal regions on them.  One of the regions must match a connecting region, the others don't matter.  If you extend 2 different types of region, you get 1coin, which you spend placing more workers.  You have 7 workers, which can be placed onto the hexagons of the tile you laid.  The first is free, the second and third can be laid at a cost of 1 or 2 coins.  Unlike Carcassonne you can also play your workers into regions occupied by other players, but this costs you the number of workers that are already there.  Areas are completed and scored when a cottage is played into it.  Another technique is to make sure no tile can be played to extend the area.  My wife used to to great effect causing me to have a premature evaluation in the middle of our game.

Some of the tiles have chapels on them that give the player 3 points for playing a worker on them.  Once an area is completed the workers head to the pub and the player must pay 1coin to settle their tab and get all their workers back.

The game only has 36 tiles so plays very quickly.  The production is pretty good, the shape of the tiles is a little strange as you'll see in the photo.  The different shaped meeple are nice too, the different sizes affect majority scoring of areas.  As with all tile laying games, knowing the distribution of tiles is very important.

The artwork is fantastic, I particularly like the gloomy cities vs the woodlands, my only complaint was that some regions are called 'swaps' where as we thought 'marshes' would have been thematically better.  It may have been nice to have included some wildlife on the tiles too.

Another victory to my wife - here's the end game:

146

General / Favouritism Poll #4 : Base Game Box Art

« on: April 03, 2016, 03:22:11 AM »

It's been quite a busy, week so this has been delayed again, I'm sorry about that.

This week we ask you:

What's your favourite Base game box art?

There have been several iterations of box design over the years, with variations of logos and awards, but this week we'll specifically ask you which artwork is your favourite, as opposed to overall layout/design.

There are 4 main variations to consider - I'd like to thank GabrielGeek - who is a member here - who has allowed me to share an image he created for BBG, saving me the hassle of photographing everything  So, please send him your gratitude.



Early editions of the game come with a Knight and a Thief on the box art.

Soon after the 2nd editions were printed, the thief had been exiled to a bush, while a maiden is present on the box art.  I like to think this was because they thought that the box art would be more appealing to women.  I also like to think she's in cahoots with the Thief, as their trick didn't work last time the night was in town.

The third box, is very different.  The castle has had a face lift and so have the Knight and Maiden - They're now smiling, even the horse, because the game is so fun - and there is no sign of the thief.  The Thief has been replaced with a man riding a pig; which you should recognise as Hans from 'Hans im Gluck'.  I'm not sure Doris Matthäus was responsible for this cover, her signature is missing.

No doubt you'll all hate the new box art; arguing it's not accurate (The roofs ARE blue). Even though, there's a lot of stuff going on - the thief is back to his own tricks.  The (somewhat creepy) shadow of the player can even be seen, breaking the fourth wall.  It's clear there's adventure to be had in this box and you'll be part of it.

Share your thoughts and let us know which if your favourite, or don't you care and do you need all 4 to be considered a completionist?

147

Anything Else / Happy Easter 2016

« on: March 27, 2016, 08:23:24 AM »

Happy Easter members of Carcassonne Central.

I thought it would be a nice idea to share some Easter Art with you.

A decorative egg and festive-chick:

148

General / Completionism Poll #10 - Favouritism Poll #3 : Die Schule

« on: March 23, 2016, 12:01:42 PM »

This week comes early after last week's Rules landslide.  We are combining Favouritism with Completionism this week by asking you:

What's your Teacher Preference?

Most of you know the 'Die Schule' comes with a teacher meeple and there are 6 colours (Red, Blue, Yellow, Green, Purple, Black).  There's nothing special about the different colours and only one is ever in play.  Die Schule was first released at Essen 2011 and came with a Dominion: Carcassonne Card.

The Poll is a little difficult to run, as there is so many permutations here.

I've included a photo of some of my teachers and their bags:



Here's some things to consider:

Do you need all 6 colours, are you happy with 4, or just one?

Do you need all 4 Meeple bags?

The example shows 3 different productions of Meeple Bags (The strings are different  ): do you need these too?

Do you play with all 4/6 Meeple at once in some interesting variant?

Is this the worst Expansion ever for the budding completionist?

Time to tell us your interesting stories about 'Die Schule'!

149

The Marketplace / Ebay: BB5 - Kingdom Builder BB - Alhambra BB

« on: March 20, 2016, 03:05:40 PM »

No idea who the seller is, but saw this on Ebay - would have saved me a lot of effort:

http://www.ebay.de/itm/Big-Box-Spielesammlung-Alhambra-Kingdom-Builder-Carcassonne-/281973925408?hash=item41a6f4a620:g:Gf0AAOSwu1VW6m4r

Not a terrible price + Buy It now Option

150

General / Favouritism Poll #2 - The Base Game Rules

« on: March 19, 2016, 04:11:10 AM »

Firstly, sorry for the delay here - I was having it handed to me last night during a Princess and Dragon League game.

But now we're ready to continue the favouritism polls this week by asking you:

What are your favourite Base Game Rules?

As we explore the world of completionism, I think it's also good to take stock of some of the changes that also occurred during the development of Carcassonne.  It's hard to believe over the past 16 years the Carcassonne Rules have been through some subtle enhancements.  Most significantly, the farmer rules.  What I find incredible, is I still go to events and people have to clarify which farmer rules were using.  The last change to farmer scoring was in 2002; but even now Carcassonne is well known for the difficulties scoring farms brings.


Who knows where farmers will be in the years to come?  Carcassonne II has relegated farmers into a special appendix!

I will briefly summarize the differences between editions:

Small City Scoring:



Up until 2002 - The this small city would only score 2-points, not 4 as it does today.

Farming:

The first thing to note is that Farmers would Stand Up like every other Meeple, you can see this, most clearly on the rear of the game boxes:



An option not available today is the 2001 edition, which quickly suggested a playing tip, that farmers should lie down to make it their function clearer, but this rule was only clarified in 2005.  This option is left off because essentially, the same as the 2000 edition.

Farmer Scoring - 1st Edition - 2000

For each completed city, the player with the most farmers touching it gets four points. Tied players all get four points, each.

So in this example:

So for each City going anti-clockwise:
Large City: Red: +4 , Blue: +4 - both players have 2 farmers touching it
Small City1: Red: +4 , Blue: +4 - both players have 2 farmers touching it
Small City2: Red: +4 , Blue: +4 - both players have 1 farmer touching it
Long City: Red: +4 - The Red player have 2 farmers touching it

Red: 16
Blue: 12

Decar's Difficulty Rating: Pretty Simple


Farmer Scoring - 2nd Edition - 2001

The player with the majority of farmers inside that field will score for that field. Tied players all get all points.
A field will score 3 points for each completed city adjacent to the field.
A player can score for a single city one time, and only one time... no matter how many fields and farmers he has next to it.

Back to our example:

North Field: Blue has the most farmers in this field, so may score the Large City for +3
West Field: Red has the majority of farmers in this field, so may score +6 for the Large and Small City.
South Field: Blue may score +6 for both small cities
Centre Field: Red can score +6 for the small and Long City
North East Field: Red cannot score the Long City again.

Red: 12
Blue: 9

Decar's Difficulty Rating: Pretty Fiddly, should that Blue field to the north score the large City, and I have to keep track that the long city was scored once already.

Farmer Scoring - 3rd Edition -2002

The player with the majority of farmers inside that field will score for that field.  Tied players all get full points.
A field will score 3 points for each completed city adjacent to the field.
Each field is scored for itself. Therefore, a city may score more than once for a player.

Our Example Again:

North Field: Blue: +3
West Field: Red: +6
South Field: Blue: +6
Centre Field: Red: +6
North East Field: Red: +3

Red: 15
Blue: 9

Decar's Difficulty Rating:  Simples

Summary

So the significant change between the 1st and 2nd Edition was the switch from 'Majority of Farmers per City' to: 'Majority of Farmers per Field'.  I think the example above shows the difficulty with keeping track of scoring cities more than once.  I had to re-read the rules 3 times to make sure I understood that Blue, being the majority owner in that field, could score the large city - and I'm still not convinced.  Overall though, it seems the 2002 edition does allow for a bigger difference between scores, being 6 points behind, rather than 3 or 4.


Anyway, over to you - Did I make some glaring mistake?   Have you ever played with the older rules?  Do you play with some kind of  variant?  And Most importantly: Which is your favourite?