Carcassonne Central

Carc Central Community => Official Rules => Topic started by: vdtricky on November 21, 2014, 05:58:40 AM

Title: Hills & Sheep question
Post by: vdtricky on November 21, 2014, 05:58:40 AM
Hello, this is my first post. I have looked for answers to this question here, and not been able to find it.

So, question is... What is the point of drawing another tile to put under a hill. I don't see the point of it. Because, 1) when it comes to scoring, either you have meeple on the tile, in which case, you can see it's a hill, because it already has a picture of a hill on it; or you don't have a meeple on it, making the hill irrelevant 2) if you pull a cathedral as the tile to go under the hill, what a waste! 3) If you pull the "under" tile from a bag, there's a 50:50 chance you'll see what it is, meaning you have information that nobody else has. 4) I want to play with as many tiles as possible - why waste them?

I suspect when we play this, we will ignore the rule about putting a tile under a hill.

But can anybody tell me if there's a good reason we shouldn't?

Many thanks in advance.
Title: Re: Hills & Sheep question
Post by: Fritz_Spinne on November 21, 2014, 06:18:48 AM
The rule is against all players counting the tiles. So they will not know which tiles are to come afterwards. And physicallly: a hill is a hill.
Title: Re: Hills & Sheep question
Post by: jungleboy on November 21, 2014, 06:38:05 AM
And physicallly: a hill is a hill.

 :(y)
Title: Re: Hills & Sheep question
Post by: Gerry on November 21, 2014, 07:56:49 AM
The only good reason I can think of is to make every part of the tile count as a hill by raising the whole tile.  That way even if you place the follower on a portion of the tile that is not the hill, it still counts as having a tie breaker advantage.

 As for counting Carcassonne tiles well I suggest that you save that skill for the blackjack table and just enjoy spending time with your friends playing the game   :)
Title: Re: Hills & Sheep question
Post by: vdtricky on November 21, 2014, 08:41:01 AM
Thanks for the responses. If they wanted to make a hill look like a hill, perhaps the expansion should come with 8 blank tiles, to stay in the box, and be used as "raisers" whenever a hill is drawn? In fact, I might make some. That way, the hill's still a hill, and no tiles get wasted.
Title: Re: Hills & Sheep question
Post by: Whaleyland on November 21, 2014, 01:07:54 PM
It's for tile counting. It has to be. In a normal game with just the Hills & Sheep expansion there are still eight hills and eight vineyards. In addition, there are eight cloisters from the base game and from the expansion. That's important information that should be known by all players. Besides the eight curve roads and eight straight roads from the base game, there is also the CCCC tile. Most of this information I know off the top of my head. Playing with Hills, though, kills all this knowledge because up to eight of these tiles may be covered. In every Hills & Sheep game I've played, a Hill has been one of those tiles sacrificed, which meant that the Hills themselves were unpredictable.

Great feature all around. I don't much care for the other Hills rule that breaks ties. It just seems messy. But I love the tile-covering option.
Title: Re: Hills & Sheep question
Post by: Khonnor on November 23, 2014, 04:59:09 AM
Do I understand correctly you can't put a shepherd on a hill tile?

Either the Dutch translation is off, or...whatever.,... :)
Title: Re: Hills & Sheep question
Post by: Fritz_Spinne on November 23, 2014, 07:12:02 AM
I think you can put a shepherd on a hill tile, but you don't have any benefit out of it.
Title: Re: Hills & Sheep question
Post by: Carcking on November 23, 2014, 02:08:37 PM
If you put your Shepherd on a Hill it does seem like you should win majority if there is another Shepherd on the Farm...but I think, technically, the Hills only break ties for Followers, not special figures.
Title: Re: Hills & Sheep question
Post by: coyote on November 23, 2014, 04:41:24 PM
If you put your Shepherd on a Hill it does seem like you should win majority if there is another Shepherd on the Farm...but I think, technically, the Hills only break ties for Followers, not special figures.

I didn't realize that shepherds 'combat' against each other?
Title: Re: Hills & Sheep question
Post by: Carcking on November 23, 2014, 05:00:37 PM
If you put your Shepherd on a Hill it does seem like you should win majority if there is another Shepherd on the Farm...but I think, technically, the Hills only break ties for Followers, not special figures.

I didn't realize that shepherds 'combat' against each other?

Well, really they don't because there is no way to break ties. Once there is more than on Shepherd on the Farm they all score the same.
Title: Re: Hills & Sheep question
Post by: coyote on November 24, 2014, 06:53:15 AM
I didn't realize that shepherds 'combat' against each other?

Well, really they don't because there is no way to break ties. Once there is more than on Shepherd on the Farm they all score the same.
Oh! Do they both get the scores for ALL the sheep on the 'field', or only the sheep their thair player pulled for them?
Title: Re: Hills & Sheep question
Post by: Fritz_Spinne on November 24, 2014, 08:35:05 AM
if one player decides to score, all shepherds get points for all sheep on the common field.
Title: Re: Hills & Sheep question
Post by: Carcking on November 24, 2014, 11:00:26 AM
I didn't realize that shepherds 'combat' against each other?

Well, really they don't because there is no way to break ties. Once there is more than on Shepherd on the Farm they all score the same.
Oh! Do they both get the scores for ALL the sheep on the 'field', or only the sheep their thair player pulled for them?

Yes, all Sheep. They become communal Sheep.

Also, if one Shepherd draws a Wolf then all Shepherds on that Farm lose their Sheep and come off the Farm.
Title: Re: Hills & Sheep question
Post by: coyote on November 25, 2014, 07:24:59 AM
Thanks guys. Amazing, I read the rules, but apparently misunderstood - been playing it wrong.  :-[ ;D
Title: Re: Hills & Sheep question
Post by: Khonnor on November 26, 2014, 06:12:27 AM
The reason for my confusion if you're able to place a shepherd on a hill is because of the following in the Dutch rules:

On page 2 it says "A shepherd is not a follower/meeple."

On page 3, in the Hills section it says: "After drawing a hills-tile, immediately draw another tile face down and place it under the hill-tile. Place it according the usual rules. You may now place a follower on that tile."

Because they first make clear the shepherd is not a regular follower and then the next page with the hills tiles they only say you may place a follower.
This led our group to interpret this as it's not allowed to place a shepherd on a hills tile.

To me, it doesn't make sense and you should be allowed to place it on a hill, but an official ruling would be very welcome. Or, how is it described in the official German or English rules?
Title: Re: Hills & Sheep question
Post by: Carcking on November 26, 2014, 11:44:37 AM
...You may now place a follower on that tile."...

A more accurate statement would be "You may now make your wood move as normal." I believe that would be the spirit of the statement you cite. The statement does not mention any other wood move option - would those also be excluded? - clearly it was not the intent to limit the play of the Hill tile in such a broad way with such a casual statement as you may now place a follower.