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1

Official Rules / Messenger - Score a follower and remove it from the board - 2 farmers

« on: January 30, 2017, 07:50:09 PM »

From CAR pg.161

Description of the Messenger - Score a followed and remove it from the board.
Score a follower and remove it from the board: The player chooses one of his or her followers in play. If the player has the majority in the feature where the selected follower stands, he or she scores that feature (only for himself or herself) as if it were the end of the game. The player then puts the chosen follower back in his or her supply.

THE SITUATION
There are two players.
Through the course of the game my opponent - my lovely wife - ends up with two farmers (not big man, but two "small?" men) on the same farm. I am not on the farm.
My opponent gets the Message - score a follower and remove it from the board.
It is a big farm - 10 cities and she has her pig on it - 40 points.
So naturally a discussion unfolds as to the outcome.
This is what we decided in following rules.

The player chooses one of his or her followers in play.

Wife chooses one farmer

If the player has the majority in the feature where the selected follower stands, he or she scores that feature (only for himself or herself) as if it were the end of the game.

Wife has majority so scoring takes place ... end of game means pig is included ... so 40 points

The player then puts the chosen follower back in his or her supply.

Wife puts chosen follower (singular) back into supply along with pig.

The outcome was that the wife still has a farmer on the farm to score again later.

HAVE WE INTERPRETED THIS RULE CORRECTLY?

THE GAME OUTCOME
We had a pretty lengthy game so went through the messengers 4 times.
In the second round of messengers the wife pulled the same message ... by this time she had gotten the pig back on and added a city. The shape of the farm was such that it was impossible to join onto.
So 44 points.
The farm is now free, but I can't get the right tile, so wife reclaims the same farm.

In the third round of messengers SHE GOT THE TILE AGAIN. No pig this time ... but 11 cities ... 33 points.
Thankfully, after 5 rounds of tile pulling, I could get onto the farm.

In the fourth round of messengers ... YES SHE GOT THE TILE AGAIN.
She had an enclosed 5 city farm with one farmer so pulled the follower from there ... 15 points.

That one message tile gave my opponent 77 extra points in the game.
Yes she won.
But only just!

A good game was enjoyed by all!

2

Official Rules / Two Castle Questions

« on: March 23, 2015, 11:07:15 PM »

Can a castle have a road leading into it ... or does it have to be completely isolated.

The rules state that the castle is made only by two semi-circular city segments.
We have determined that tiles such as FCFC and RCRC can be used for castles ... maybe even two!
But what about tiles such as FFCC ... or RCCC (like the tile in Bridges Castles ans Bazaars) ... can these half cities also be used for castles.  Or does the semi circle city segment have to be isolated?

Hope these questions makes sense.

3

Official Rules / End of Game Scoring for Besiegers/Cathers

« on: January 26, 2015, 02:26:35 PM »

This is photo of part of our game last night.
If you can't see it tile under the flash area is a besieger tile.
So in terms of end-of-game scoring.
Black gets 6 - 3 for the city and 3 for the besiegers.

Red is in a different farm and the siege is set up on the other side of the city.
I'm pretty sure Red scores 9 - 3 for city and 3 for besieger and 3 for the other small city.
But since the siege is on the opposite side is it only 6 points - 3 for each city?

So the question really is - do farmers score 6 points for every farm that has a besieged city.
Or does the "siege" need to be in your farm area to get the 6 points.

I looked at CAR and the answer is probably there, but I couldn't find it.
Thanks in advance for your combined wisdom.

4

General / Table Talk - how does this happen at your game?

« on: January 09, 2015, 06:24:01 PM »

Carcassonne is one of few games that encourages "Table Talk" - discussing places for tiles, making suggestions which can be both helpful and misleading, initiating alliances.
Since we are still learning there is a lot of discussion at our games (we play as a family of four, sometimes 5 - less often 2-3 players).
But now we are getting to the point where we don't want as much discussion because one player is revealing a strategy or a moves that the one placing the tile has not seen.
So effectively each turn becomes trying to outwit the combined thoughts of 2 or 3 others.
Is there a time when you decide not to have discussions?
Are there any "unwritten rules"?
Perhaps the number of people in the game - 4-5 players - is the cause?
I'd be really interested to hear how others treat the rule that "Discussion is Encouraged".

5

Official Rules / The Count ... the farm ... and footnote 91.

« on: January 05, 2015, 01:30:37 PM »

We played THE COUNT last night for the first time (With I&C and T&B). It took us 30 minutes to work out what we were supposed to do (I see from other posts this is an experience of some).
Over the course of the game we started to realise the value of the COUNT and some better strategies.
The biggest confusion was deploying from the market to the farm, which we realised happened at the end of the game (or could happen during the game if we were using barns)

In the process of all this we read footnote 91 in CAR 7.3:46. 

91  Followers in Carcassonne can be redeployed to empty roads, cities, cloisters, or farms. When an empty road, city, or cloister is completed, followers in the appropriate quarter of the city [followers in the castle can only be deployed to cities, and so on] may be redeployed and then scored immediately. In general, unoccupied cities, roads, cloisters do not earn very many points, and so this option in mostly useful for returning followers from Carcassonne to a player's supply.

The footnote raised these questions:-
1) We assumed that "Followers in Carcassonne can be redeployed to empty roads, cities, cloisters, or farms" meant - only when these features are finished (or with the farm, at the end of the game).
2) Does this mean the follower can be redepolyed to an empty city/road/cloister that has previously been scored in an earlier turn?
3) We didn't understand the comment that "unoccupied cities, roads, cloisters do not earn very many points" - does this mean they are scored as if the game had finished?
I tried to find the answers in other posts but it doesn't seem to have come up.

Maybe I am missing something fundamental to the expansion.

6

General / Randomise Expansion Combinations - Where Is It?

« on: December 30, 2014, 02:33:06 AM »

Still a newbie ... sorry.
I remember seeing a post about someone who had made cards? which matched the various elements of Carcassonne.
They would mix these cards, choose a certain number, then this would be the next Carcassonne game.
I'm also reasonably sure there was a PDF template involved.
I didn't think too much about it at the time but our family got 4 expansions for Christmas so now this seems like something that will add a new dimension to our game (once we learn all the expansions!)
I tried a search but couldn't come up with a narrow enough search string.
I did find "The Order of the King" link (which are on their way - I can call it a Valentine's Day present!) - but that isn't the cards I have in mind.
Can one of the seasoned CC posters point me in the right direction - or shoot me down in flames if I'm completely mistaken.
Happy New Year All

7

General / Tiles Changing With Age?

« on: December 26, 2014, 08:59:23 PM »

Loving Carcassonne! Our household got four expansions for Christmas so we were very excited.
Just doing some rule clarification searching and noticed that some tiles perhaps have changed design over time.
I don't know how to attach photos etc but it is relation to the Inns and Cathedrals tile EI (according to spare parts catalogue).
Previous it was an unobstructed cross junction, now it is a divided road.
Which raised a few questions.
1) Are there any other tiles which have changed with age?
2) Why were these changes made?
3) Has this changed any rules, or playing functions.
Cheers from the land Down-Under.

8

Official Rules / Rule Clarification - Gold Mine

« on: November 24, 2014, 01:13:10 PM »

Hello to you all from Brisbane - Home of the G20 2014.
I have read the CAR did a search on this forum but I couldn't find the answer to this situation for Gold Mines which we have only played twice.

Last night the tile with the Gold Bar was placed and the tile itself completed the feature (it was a road).
In referring to the CAR the rules stated:-

When placing a tile and distributing gold pieces, proceed in the following order:
1. Place (gold) tile
2. Place gold pieces
3. Place follower
4. Score
5. Award gold pieces

Since the process was place tile, then gold, then award - we determined that you could finish a feature (place tile) put down gold and then pick it up straight away.
Obviously the person who place the tile put the gold onto the adjacent tile with the finish feature (in this case it was the road). So an instant pick-up of two gold bars.
Have we done the correct thing?  Or must the gold mine tile be placed in such a way as to not finish features.