Carcassonne Central
Carc Central Community => General => Topic started by: Decar on April 08, 2016, 10:23:37 AM
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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.
(http://www.tehill.net/carcassonne/fun/coloured-abbots.png)(http://www.tehill.net/carcassonne/fun/pinkAbbot.png)
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Then there's the Grey Abbot - which doesn't officially exist because that player colour has been revoked in Carcassonne II - forcing members to create their own.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. :(y)
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!
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I think you don't need Abbots. They fit nicely in Carcassonne II but are not needed in Carcassonne. Perhaps if they had been released as a separate expansion for CI, they would have a place, but as they only exist in CII, it's hardly reasonable to expect players to buy this just to get hold of them.
Is what I wish I could say.
*sigh*
I own Carcassonne II, and abbots in purple, pink, orange and white. I didn't buy it just for the abbots, although they were a large part of it. I would love a grey abbot and I can't stand the idea of having an incomplete player set, but as it seems unlikely I'll just have to replace grey with something else as the 'standard' sixth player set. Probably purple, as that would make the phantom fit.
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I need Abbots to use with Monasteries in Germany.
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Since gray is not an official colour, it's only fair to state it's not needed for the official completion collection.
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I have recently decided to fully consider Carc II as a separate set, so I will only play with the abbots when I play with the new art. I'm therefore happy with the default colours including pink.
I do actually have a grey abbot though, which I painted from a black one. I made this before deciding that the too collections were separate!
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I use Abbots with Carcassonne II and also as Abbot on a German cloister to make them an Abbey.
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I use abbots with Carc I and Carc II. If playing a larger game I usually mix the Carc I and Carc II tiles. I also let the abbots claim shrine and abbey tiles, or any other cloister-like tile. I like playing with the gardens so the abbots have more of a function. Sometimes we also play that the abbots can treat vineyards like gardens and be played on those as well.
On a side note, Princess and Dragon is the only full-size expansion that I don't have yet. I've had the opportunity to buy it (shipped from Germany) but I have not. I'm in the US and I'm waiting for the Carc II version of it to come out here so there will be gardens on some of the tiles. :green-meeple:
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I don't currently own enough Abbots to really do much with them. I think I have three official ones and some plastic grey ones I got last year from here. However, I would probably just use the German Monasteries abbot rule that's been fairly universally accepted now. In fact, I would use those for any/all cloisters regardless of the artwork. That way any one player can only ever have one cloister scored like a German Monastery. If more tiles with the Vineyards artwork from Hills & Sheep were available, I'd probably use those as a stand-in for the Gardens.
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I voted for the second option, but I will say that I'll be OK if I don't get them. I don't intend on getting Carcassonne II and so I don't think they'd be useful in a game without the gardens. That is of course unless I don't understand the rules for them. At any rate, I'd rather wait until they are available in all colors.
Speaking of lime green meeples, are they available in full sets, or just the standard meeples?
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I voted for the second option, but I will say that I'll be OK if I don't get them. I don't intend on getting Carcassonne II and so I don't think they'd be useful in a game without the gardens. That is of course unless I don't understand the rules for them. At any rate, I'd rather wait until they are available in all colors.
Speaking of lime green meeples, are they available in full sets, or just the standard meeples?
I think they'd be interesting in Carc I game. They are specialist meeples for monasteries. When you get blocked round a monastery you pull back the abbot and it can move onto its next calling.
If one was really desperate for gardens one could mark the relevant tiles.
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I voted that I'm not sure where mine are but that I think Ailurus has them. In fact, I told Tom this when we were discussing this during the week so I've a feeling this option was especially for me. Apparently I'm not the only person to have selected it though, which is worrying, as it suggests that Ailurus has got someone else's Abbots now as well! :o
Speaking of lime green meeples, are they available in full sets, or just the standard meeples?
Just the standard meeple sets as far as I can tell from here (http://www.meeplesource.com/proddetail.php?prod=LimeGreenMeeple).
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ROFL!
Perhaps Ailurus voted for that option too?
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I dare not even stand at the top of the slippery slope that would lead to beginning a CarcII collection which would inevitably happen even though I don't like the new art and don't want to buy anything to do with CarcII even those things that haven't and won't be released in the 'classic' art because if I started I wouldn't be able to stop myself and then where would that lead to I know even more Basically Wooden boxes to house the CarcII collection that I didn't even want to stand at the top of the slippery slope of collecting in the first place I mean I'm even having difficulty finishing this sentence
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It sounds like you may already be standing at the edge of that slippery slop. A wiseman of this forum (Rosco) once said: "What does someone collect once they have everything?" "I suppose I should just start my second set"
Don't worry about that fnishing that sentence too, you missed the fullstop at the end! C:-) C:-) C:-)
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Don't worry about that fnishing that sentence too, you missed the fullstop at the end! C:-) C:-) C:-)
That was the difficulty I was having :)
Just in passing - and OT here - I wonder how much a complete CarcII collection would cost over the coming years ... I hate to think what my CarcI collection has cost me along with all the spin-offs!
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Just in passing - and OT here - I wonder how much a complete CarcII collection would cost over the coming years ... I hate to think what my CarcI collection has cost me along with all the spin-offs!
If you buy it new, shortly after stuff is released, you'll end up with a Carcassonne 2 collection that cost you a fraction of what it will cost future players when they discover Carcassonne (new artwork edition of course) in years to come and attempt to collect everything for it via eBay or whatever. Spiel 14 and 15 tiles are going up in cost already...
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The votes haven't been going very long, but there's already a sizable rift forming. The two highest voting groups are: "Dont care for them" and "yes but only in carc2". There are however a small contingent of players that use them just for the monasteries expansions. I can't wait to see where this goes during the week!
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The votes haven't been going very long, but there's already a sizable rift forming. The two highest voting groups are: "Dont care for them" and "yes but only in carc2". There are however a small contingent of players that use them just for the monasteries expansions. I can't wait to see where this goes during the week!
I think you need to add the 2nd and 3rd option since they amount to the same disposition. Then it's a three-way split.
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The votes haven't been going very long, but there's already a sizable rift forming. The two highest voting groups are: "Dont care for them" and "yes but only in carc2". There are however a small contingent of players that use them just for the monasteries expansions. I can't wait to see where this goes during the week!
I haven't tried using them with the Monasteries in the suggested way, i.e. as the only follower that can be played as an Abbot. Instead, I use them as a 'follower only' expansion for CI, like the phantom. I use their original rules, so essentially, it's a monk that can't be trapped. This is especially useful when playing with things like the Cult tiles or with Monasteries if you don't remove the base game cloisters, as it helps prevent follower shortage caused by all the cloister mechanisms available.
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This poll is almost over and the community divide hasn't shifted. Looking at all the Yes vs No Votes they're both very similar.
I can't wait to see what happens the first time a 2.0 expansion without meeple comes out, if meeple have done this!
I'm going to leave this poll open, like every other week; feel free to comment.
Tomorrow, the next Favourtism Poll is starting. We have a guest host to ask you the week's question, thanks dirk2112 for the topic!
I won't spoil the surprise any more , you'll have to come back tomorrow to find out - Regular service will continue next week :(y)
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I'm curious what they're going to change in regards to the dragon while the big guy is in motion in its expansion (coming up next) and once The Tower comes into the mix.
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The 'new' Princess and Dragon rules are available in German, the Abbot can be eaten by a dragon - there's no change in the rules except the Dragon's menu is contained.
HTH
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Voted must have a grey abbot because that was close to my feelings, but probably should have voted other.
Now that the Abbots and Gardens have been around they do seem to be a fine addition to the game. In my case I actually ended up going C1 for my collection which started this Spring. My plan had been to try to print and play a C1 set of Gardens tiles and try to get the Abbot meeples, but even the meeples were proving problematic unless you start buying complete 19 piece sets (and Cundco does have these in the standard wood finishes for some colors for a great price - not including the shipping which is $50 for me.) So in short when I was able to snag two copies of the C2 base games recently for $12 each I did for the meeples and tiles. They blend well enough with my yellow-green C1 tiles so I've literally just got the Garden tiles pulled out.
The Abbot meeple front is kind of a Chinese finger trap:
1. The standard meeples have a colored varnish so even if I paint some of my meeples to match the light grey of C1 (and I have a purple set from Big Box 5), they will look like a cheap painted meeple.
2. With Big Box 5 not only do I have the grey from the C1 sets, but I also have purple and the new pink, but sadly that did not come with a lot of the other meeple types (I somehow got a set of C2 Messengers meeples with a pink messenger to go with my copies from Big Box 4.)
3. But in the end completing out these sets without stooping to a painted finish is quite difficult and let's not forget that the Big Top Expansion only came out in C2 which for me means pink and no grey to complete that set. If the shipping were not too expensive I might buy from Cundco; they have a six color set on Ringmasters very cheap that includes the grey (plus Purple) that would get me up to six players for Big Top if playing it with something like Abbey & Mayor (& wagon meeples) plus they have complete sets in pink, grey, brown, white and untreated. Here in the USA I don't trust the meeple source versions (there listings are quite shady with these with no zoom feature, but they do have a natural version with wood grain which I might finish myself.)
The holes for the various colors (the phantom expansion I'll ignore for now, but it only comes with six colors with room for two more meeples.):
1. Pink - no problem for a C2 collection, but C1 collectors would be advised to get the Cundco set. But due to the onerous shipping that is the case much of the time from Germany. Short of this you'd have to pick up a C2 or C3 big box (6 or 7) on the cheap to get most of these plus the messengers and robbers meeple in pink. You also have to purchase C2 abbey & mayor (plus Hills & Sheep if you don't have Big Box 5.)
2. Grey - best to get the complete Cundco set and if you must have the stained finish it is this or their set of six top hat figures.
3. Purple - I believe this is not possible with the colored stain finish (well it was before Cundco sold out of the complete purple set.) You either must paint some meeples purple to fill things out or you must switch to one of the other new colors, brown, white, or untreated. Orange probably was an option at some point as well since their Ringmasters set for Big Top has the following "grey, white, purple, orange, brown and sandy" (sandy is probably natural or untreated finish)
My copy of Mists of Carcassonne (which also plays as an expansion) has not arrived and it has a whopping thirty guard meeples in the current set of six standard colors, so it appears Cundco may eventually carry 24 meeple sets and so I probably wait and will suffer with paint until that day. :-\