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Topics - cicerunner
16
« on: April 11, 2020, 04:47:11 PM »
Hi people, I have a feeling that mostly this subforum gets used for higher value/rarer items, but I don't have or want any of those. (If that means this doesn't really work here, then I guess I'll soon find out!) Essentially in building up my collection, I have acquired a few things I don't need. They are: _______ offer3 orange meeples - shepherd, robber and messenger 3 white meeples - shepherd, robber and messenger (Both these left over from cundco sets of 19 and are new and unused.) 6 C1 score tiles (These sent to me in error by cundco, 50/100 Wertungsplättchen - again, new and unused and still in the card surround and little red bag that cundco use.) 1 C1 labyrinth tile (This left over from the cundco pair of tiles and again unused.) _______ wantYou might be able to guess from this last item what I'd like - some C2 labyrinth tiles in similarly new/excellent condition. (Or perhaps other C2 single tiles, but I can't imagine that there any others that fall into the 'low value' category.) _______ I'd be happy if everything went to one person or I could split, but I don't want to mount up the postage cost* too much - Carcassonne has had its share of my boardgame budget! In the spirit of supporting the community (which has already supported me a good deal) I don't want anyone to worry that they have to pay "full value" (whatever that is) for the items I'm offering in C2 labyrinths. I'll be happy to know that all my bits and pieces have found a good home. Quite happy to run an auction here in the thread (currency C2 labyrinths  ) or you can PM me if you prefer. * On the subject of postage I'm in the UK. If successful bidders were too (and Coronavirus was no longer an issue), we could even meet up to exchange, play and have coffee ... That seems a little sad now, because it can't happen in the near future  . But, we'll see ... cicerunner / Stuart
17
« on: April 04, 2020, 11:16:38 PM »
It sometimes happens that a player doesn't notice a feature being completed on a turn. As a consequence there are sometimes meeples on tiles that should have been scored and returned to their owners.
Is there an official ruling on when/how these meeples should be scored and retrieved?
If the forgotten meeple is not noticed until game end it would seem there is no choice, but to score it then, but if it is noticed while there are still tiles remaining, there seem to be two or three possible practices. Should the forgotten meeple be scored and returned:
1) Immediately, as soon as it is noticed,
2) In the next scoring phase of any player's turn
or
3) in the next scoring phase of the meeple owner's turn?
We have tended to play 3), but I'm now doubtful this is correct or even desirable.
In the absence of an official ruling what practice would seem to be most consistent with the rules? Or perhaps there is a rule covering this for tournament play?
18
« on: March 16, 2020, 03:47:30 AM »
What are the House Rules that you use that you'd recommend to others? I am particularly interested in those you use most often, because they improve or fix something compared with the written rules.
I'm still new to Carcassonne and so I'm still experimenting and things are changing often, but these are my current ideas.
• When using the Festival I prefer to use it just for tiles, but if I'm playing with children I often allow (only) them to exercise the retrieve meeple option.
• I don't have the expansion yet, but think I will use Abbeys in a similar way, not taking one myself, but distributing them to rebalance any difference in ability.
• I've yet to actually decide on or use this, but I'm thinking of addressing the overpowered scoring in the Circus by reducing Ringmaster points to 1 per adjacent feature and removing the flea and elephant to reduce luck. (For a strategic game. Probably leaving them in when playing with children again I guess.)
But enough of my ramblings, what do you use that's actually stood the test of time?
19
« on: March 02, 2020, 03:21:28 AM »
I'm sure this will have been discussed, probably way more thoroughly, elsewhere in the forum. But I'm curious, so excuse my little question ...
I've been stacking up my tiles as I begin to plan a foamcore insert for the original Carcassonne box. While doing so I noticed that some tiles seemed to be thicker than others. This lead me to do a quick survey of all my content as shown below. Is there any predictability to the thickness of tiles?
20
« on: February 29, 2020, 12:41:00 PM »
I came to the forum to make a straightforward post of my own first thoughts and impressions of Under The Big Top, but found the existing Carcassonne: Expansion N°10 Under the Big Top / Manege frei thread which was started when the community was still anticipating the release of the expansion and concludes just after it was released. Having read all 16 pages, I'm not sure I've got much new to say, so I'll (mostly) use your words instead ... Expansion nameFritz_Spinne helpfully answers a specific question I was going to ask about my German copy ... In Germany the director of a circus welcomes his guests and ends it shouting "Manege frei!", something like "Let the show begin!" But, until reading the following, I hadn't really considered the stylistic naming of the expansion ... the Dutch box "Het Circus" translates in English to "The Circus", so I would bet $5 that is what the Expansion will be called in English. Indeed the Finnish name is my favourite, because it follows the tradition of naming the expansions in the format "A & B" or "A, B & C" according to what it contains. Likewise, it hadn't occurred to me to reflect on the ... Medieval themingI'd have preferred something like "Troubadour & Jester". Circuses are just so NOT medieval. I don't think they had big tops back in the Middle Ages, so there's that fairly standard complaint, too. ... the so-called ringmaster ... doesn't seem to live in medieval times ... But now that you've gotten me thinking about it, I find I do have quite strong feelings! The Ringmaster and Big Top are particularly jarring in terms of (lack of) medieval theme and it seems a shame that the name of the expansion overall, in English at least, breaks the stylistic naming convention. It'd have been much better if the ringmaster was named and modelled as a troubadour since he doesn't actually combine directly with the Big Top anyway and It would make sense that a troubadour would perform in the vicinity of other acts. (Plus a troubadour was specifically French.) So "The Troubadour, Acrobats and ... The Fair?" The Big Top is a fun mechanic, bit it's hard to think of a medieval equivalent. Gameplay Three different expansion elements that can be used together or separately ... The pedant in me needs to point out that the ringmaster can't really be played in isolation can he? He just becomes an extra meeple? But yes, there is lots of strategic interest ... The 10th expansion is a feast for strategists since it requires strategy to obtain the maximum bonus points. I could also see players trapping pyramid meeples on their tile Hope that you like it as much as I do. It goes very well with the watchtowers too, as the game mechanic is similar. I have the Watchtowers and it was partly my experience of that, which made me think I'd like Under The BigTop. Everyone knows the real game within the game of Carcassonne is stacking your meeples, so the human pyramids are a fun idea Which brings me to my primary impressions of the expansion ... ScoringJust played a 2 player game. The scoring potential of Expansion 10 is amazing!
... it wouldn't be difficult to score 21+ points on the 7 point elephant! (I experienced exactly this in my first game.) It's definitely not something where you can just ignore the newly introduced bits and bobs and hope to win just by generating points in the classic way. I don't mind high-scoring games but it is important that everything is balanced, otherwise newly introduced concepts can easily negate the usefulness of, or interest in some of the more traditional features while players concentrate purely on building pyramids or placing their meeples near to the next circus tent in anticipation of a huge points payout. I do think this expansion is a little unbalanced in this respect. I too find the expansion a little overwhelming in terms of its influence on the scoring (and hence on what features I spend my energy pursuing). Just how many other expansions do you have to add for Under The Big Top to feel 'bedded in' rather than 'dominant'? (Personally, I quite like seeing the Acrobat and Big Top pitches in the landscape, but their frequency can be overwhelming visually too.) OverallPresetM thinks this will become one of the best expansions.
What has the community decided after some experience and reflection?
21
« on: February 17, 2020, 04:40:41 AM »
I've just got my copy of the Labyrinth(s) and I've read the WICA rules article. Just a simple question on the advanced variant. When scoring a completed labyrinth, do all the meeples on the connected road network attract a score of 2 points each for the majority player(s) or just those within the classic Carcassonne 3x3, 9 tile square? I think the rules say all, but the illustrative image suggests (to me anyway) that it could just be the 9 tile square ... (This post title chosen to distinguish this thread from the brain-hurting Questions about the Labyrinth tiles !)
22
« on: February 12, 2020, 07:31:10 AM »
So I just received my third major expansion. Having received the base game at Christmas, I bought Traders & Builders [2] in January from Amazon UK as it was the only one (of the two I was sure I wanted at that time) that they had in English. Later in January my impatience for Inns & Cathedrals [1] resulted in me buying it, from the same source, in French. By the time February began I'd decided that Under The Big Top [10] was the third and final major expansion I wanted. For similar reasons I ended up buying it in German. By then of course I had found the fabulous Wikicarpedia and so the English rules weren't going to be necessary anyway. In fact I ended up embracing the idea of buying it in German. I'm not going to be a Carcassonne completist, but I do understand the appeal of all these beautiful boxes, tiles and figures and the links between them in terms of theme, game mechanic and artwork. By adding a third language with my third expansion I've added another link. How many other, European, languages is the game available in I wonder? If ever I change my mind about the other major expansions, other languages will help me justify them to myself. Also of course I could justify a post titled "European Union", sadly the only EU that the UK is still a part of. (@moderators, I won't touch on politics again, promise!]
23
« on: February 06, 2020, 12:01:30 AM »
Reading the English cundco site, it's clear that they don't want buyers abusing the 'Spare Parts' section to get around buying expansions etc in the normal way. For example, under 'Wooden/plastic pieces', they say, "We do not offer full sets of abbots. However it is possible to buy some abbots." Also, under 'Tiles', they say "This article is only for REPLACEMENTS which you have lost, etc."Which is completely fair. I understand. So, here's my situation. I'd like to buy 2 standard meeples of each colour (5 base C2 colours + pink, orange and white). I'd also like a second set of 6 score tiles. Those of you with experience, are you confident cundco will accept such an order placed throught the 'Spare Parts' section? (I've just found the 'Map Meeple Set' under 'Accessories' so I'd just have to get the orange and white meeples and the score tiles through spares.) If not, how is one supposed to acquire such things? (I've scoured the site and, as far as I can see, there are no opportunities to buy the standard score tiles elsewhere.) If the context makes any difference, I would also buy copies of Under The Big Top, The Labyrinth(s) and The Festival in the same order. Thanks for your help people.
24
« on: February 04, 2020, 02:15:42 AM »
"Do your BIG meeples roam free?" By which I mean, when do you use the big meeples?
Love them? Hate them? Never heard of them? Let your poll vote do the talking!
But not all your talking! Whatever your response, please do share your thoughts on the big meeples in the comments. If I've missed an obvious poll option, do let me know.
25
« on: February 04, 2020, 01:54:58 AM »
So, I've recently discovered the 'merit' feature on the forum. I have one two merits! Yay!!
And, now that I've found it I've given out a couple too, to the people who first welcomed and helped me here.
Q1 Is it possible for a user to give another user merit repeatedly?
Q2 If the answer to Q1 is, "Yes", are there any systems in place to prevent 'abuse'? (eg one user giving another user 1000 merits or whatever)
Q3 Is it possible for a user to take back a merit previously given?
Q4 There's probably a page which answers all this (and more) isn't there?
26
« on: February 03, 2020, 02:06:04 AM »
Looking at the Spiel Promo tiles - http://wikicarpedia.com/index.php/Spiel_Promos - with an inexperienced eye, I'm not quite sure what art style is being used. Is it C2 throughout the series? Some of the city artwork definitely looks C2 ... But I'm not sure. Perhaps different years are using different styles? Or even some years there were two tiles, one for each style? Any help, much appreciated.
27
« on: January 31, 2020, 09:25:42 AM »
Some scoretack thoughts ...
I like the regular (C2) scoretack (50 points). It's fine. It works well up to 149 points - first 49 standing up, up to 99 lying down and then breakdancing headspin to 149 ...
I'm pretty new (C2 base + I&C + T&B + Watchtowers) and am still thinking about the game at least as much as playing it ...
I think I'm looking for the 'ultimate solution' to scoretracking and I'm not quite sure what that is yet.
I liked the idea of the I&C score tiles, but now I actually have them, they seem a bit 'clunky' and if they are handed out to players it means the scoring isn't all in one place ... Plus of course, there are only six (I now have 8 meeple sets, but more for colour choice than because I'm genuinely considering playing with that many people) but I'm guessing that the more players there are the less need there is to record scores over 149 anyway ...
My 'ultimate solution' ? I'm not sure. I find myself thinking it'd be nice to be able to get small wooden cubes (in colours which exactly match my meeples) and adding one of those to the 'zero' on the scoretack for each circuit ... Does such a thing exist?
Pencil and paper and apps are too fussy. I'd like something aesthetically pleasing and elegant. Something that looks like it might have been in the original box ...
What should I do? What do you do?
28
« on: January 24, 2020, 07:27:47 AM »
cundco.de sell the C2 tile storage tower separately ( https://cundco.de/en/accessories/90/tower-out-of-the-4th-expansion-new-edition) and I'm thinking of getting one, or two, for both use in play and potentially as in box storage ... Can you tell me: The capacity of the tower in terms of the number of tiles held when full The overall dimensions of the tower when constructed (h x w x d in mm preferred) The weight of the tower (grams preferred - for postage purposes) Thank you 
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