The Tunnels – Element of the Week #39

[Whaleyland]

ELEMENT OF THE WEEK: THE TUNNELS

Each week, a specific element from an expansion is chosen for deeper discussion. This is an opportunity for you, Carcassonne's biggest English-language fans, to discuss strategies and problems you have encountered through the years regarding specific expansion elements. All forms of critique – from the most joyous to the most scathing – are encouraged.

This week's element is THE TUNNELS. Spielbox had not released a custom expansion since The Cathars (The Cult notwithstanding) when this little beauty was released and, like its illustrious predecessor, The Tunnels is now the most difficult and expensive expansion to obtain on the second-hand market. The premise is that a road can enter a tunnel, which is marked with a colored chit, and can later exit from a different tunnel, marked with the same colored chit. Those tunnels may be on the same tile or completely different tiles—there's four to choose from! And just to slightly complicate things, the tunnel tile in Princess & Dragon is also now a "tunnel" because: why not? In other words, the expansion is very basic and straightforward but it does have some interesting traits.

The Tunnels allow players to bypass especially congested areas, which can be quite nice. They also can allow players to extend their roads out of these areas into much more open spaces. This is especially nice if a road is accompanied by an Inn from Inns & Cathedrals. They can also be used offensively by a player placing a tunnel on another player's road but not claiming the tunnel itself OR claiming it with their own chit. This essentially will block that road permanently unless the attacked player places their own chits or the attacking player decides later to place their second chit. In this way, roads can also be stolen by a player connecting to a tunnel and then placing their colored chit, connecting the two roads via the tunnel. Thus, like Cathars and Plague, Spielbox has a produced a deceptively aggressive expansion with The Tunnels. Discuss your relationship with The Tunnels and how you optimise your use of this strategic element.

Next Week: Mage & Witch   

Linkback: https://www.carcassonnecentral.com/community/index.php?topic=1835.0

[Paul]

Me want at least four copies for my carcArt. Currently do not own a single copy.

It's been reprinted hasn't it? I better heck Where to find it... thread. 

[Whaleyland]

Me want at least four copies for my carcArt. Currently do not own a single copy.

It's been reprinted hasn't it? I better heck Where to find it... thread. 

It has not been reprinted. Spielbox only released it once and never did so again and Rio Grande was planning to release but lost its contract with Hans im Glück before they had a chance.

[kettlefish]

I like the graphics for the tunnel.
I remember that we had many problems with the original rules. Then HiG did some clarifications how to use the tunnels.

I use the tunnels seldom.

[jungleboy]

I finally acquired the Tunnels a few months ago and played with them last night as part of an all-new game featuring other first-time elements for both players: the Wheel of Fortune and the Goldmines.

The Tunnels had basically no impact at all though; only two tunnel tokens were placed in the whole game (we had six each). It just seems like the mechanics are too fiddly, the tiles too few and the reward too small to even bother paying much attention to it. The next time we play, we might use some combination of inns, ferries, mage & witch and German castles to boost the value of roads and perhaps make the tunnels more useful in the game.

[Christopher]

I really like the Tunnels! I like anything which makes road more dynamic (ferries in one of my favourite expansions). Being able to move a road to another spot to escape trapping or blocking, another player muscling in or just for more space to build is a great idea. Unfortunately, I think it was terribly implemented. Just four tiles simply isn't enough to have any effect on a game. In games with several players, each player gets just one tunnel, and so you'd just as well not bother. If Tunnels had been part of a large expansion with twelve tiles or so, with players having several tunnel tokens, I think this would be a great expansion, akin to Bridges in its road building. If it weren't so hard to get hold of, I might have got a few copies in order to increase its effect, but given it's rare, Spielbox nature, that seems unlikely. I'd love to see this mechanism implemented again, even in CII. That would sway me!



Favourite is spelt with a 'u!' Darn you Whaleyland, darn you America!

[Whaleyland]

Favourite is spelt with a 'u!' Darn you Whaleyland, darn you America!

1) It doesn't appear I wrote either version of that word in this thread; and 2) I write favourite with a 'u'! In fact I have been using British spelling on most things since I studied abroad way back in 2004. Granted I am not 100% consistent, but I try! Where did you find this accidental 'favorite'?

[Christopher]

Favourite is spelt with a 'u!' Darn you Whaleyland, darn you America!

1) It doesn't appear I wrote either version of that word in this thread; and 2) I write favourite with a 'u'! In fact I have been using British spelling on most things since I studied abroad way back in 2004. Granted I am not 100% consistent, but I try! Where did you find this accidental 'favorite'?

No no! I apologise, Whaleyland, I hadn't spotted you misspelling favourite, but the spellcheck is trying to correct me again and the last time I expressed my feelings towards spellcheck, you were the first to comment, so I thought I'd include you  I don't mind how anyone else spells things, I just object to the computer trying to tell me how to write