The Hills & Wheel of Fortune – Element Match-Ups #17

[Whaleyland]

It's a new year, and I'm blowing the lid off of the former match-up rules. Now ANY element from ANY expansion can be paired to really test the limits and compatibilities of Carcassonne. As before, Element Match-Ups remains a new series of weekly challenges for all members of CarcassonneCentral. These threads are intended for members to test these combinations without the interference of other elements or expansions. We want to know what you think about the pairing. Consider this a quasi-scientific survey in that you are only playing with these two elements and the base game — nothing else! New match-ups are released every Friday-Saturday (depending on time zone), but the old pairings will always be there so never hesitate to add your two cents worth to the discussion (even if the thread is over 180 days old!).

This week our elements are THE HILLS (from Hills & Sheep [Expansion #9]) and WHEEL OF FORTUNE. This strange pairing actually has some strategic value, at least it could potentially. The purpose of the eight Hills tiles is that they can hide up to eight other tiles beneath them, sight unseen. In Wheel of Fortune, there are nineteen tiles with the numbers 1-3 printed on them, and any skilled player of that expansion will have those numbers memorized to know the odds of betting on the Wheel. But what if that aspect is taken away? Suddenly the Wheel becomes much more luck-based and all strategic planning goes out the door! Or not...

The elements are set, the challenge is issued, and now it is for you to decide whether these elements work well together or are terrible companions. Summarise your experience below in however much detail you wish, and feel free to share any strategic advice you have for other players taking the challenge.

Linkback: https://www.carcassonnecentral.com/community/index.php?topic=2329.0

[jungleboy]

I read this late last night after a couple of glasses of wine (and four games of Carcassonne) and completely forgot about it. But it somehow penetrated my subconscious this morning because I was thinking that next week we might play with some major expansions we don't often play with, specifically Wheel of Fortune and Hills and Sheep. Then I came back here and saw that this combination is exactly the element match-up of the week. So hopefully I'll have something to report by the end of next week.

[ARabidMeerkat]

We are awaiting our arrival of WOF but it would be great to have someone properly play the Hills rule (we either forget to or use blank tiles instead).

I think that, in a MegaCarc game, it wouldn't make too much of a difference (since odds are one of the 19 possibly won't be drawn, or if so, then it may be the only one unavailable from WOF), but if you are only playing Sheep & Hills, WOF and a few others, then it would have a detrimental effect and could easily make the WOF rulings quite obsolete or become extremely limited in its power to change the game play

[Halfling]

I Like the Hills because of the masking/loss of up to 8 tiles - amazing how often a Hills tile ends up under a hill!
The reason I like the loss of the tiles is exactly as Whaleyland described.  All us experienced players know which tiles are in which expansion.  So removing some tiles throws in an unknown....will that last numbered tile be in the bag or is it obscured?

My favourite combination through playing so far has been the Princess and the Dragon and the Hills.  We were not sure how many volcano or Dragon tiles were going to be played when usually we are counting off 6 and 12 respectively.

Finally the outmanning opportunities in fields with the Hills tiles are awesome whatever expansions are added.

[jungleboy]

I Like the Hills because of the masking/loss of up to 8 tiles - amazing how often a Hills tile ends up under a hill!
The reason I like the loss of the tiles is exactly as Whaleyland described.  All us experienced players know which tiles are in which expansion.  So removing some tiles throws in an unknown....will that last numbered tile be in the bag or is it obscured?

I completely agree. The effect of hills hiding tiles makes hills an interesting match with many expansions; this effect is not heightened in any way by playing with WoF in particular, in my view. Actually it was the opposite; I played with hills and the wheel today but neither player was counting the wheel tiles, so it had no real impact. But if I was playing with an expansion I know better, the hidden tiles might have made more of an impact.

[Hounk]

I Like the Hills because of the masking/loss of up to 8 tiles - amazing how often a Hills tile ends up under a hill!

Till now I played H&S only once, and that was exactly what happened. The regular hill landed below the halfling one, though.