Sheep & Hills - question regarding Hills

[Carcking]

This was touched on in another thread, but I'm looking for deeper consideration here so I made a new thread.

Here's the question: Do the Hills have a stacking power? Or does their power not stack and it's the case that occupying one is the same as occupying many?

Scenario A:
Red has a Follower in a City as well as a Follower on a Hill in the same City. Through clever use of the Flier Blue has managed to get two Followers in the City on the same Hill tile occupied by Red. Who owns the tie-breaker?

Scenario B:
Red has a Follower in a City as well as a Follower on a Hill in the same City. Blue has his Big Follower on a Hill in the same City. Who owns the tie-breaker?

Scenario C:
Red has a Follower in a City as well as a Follower on a Hill in the same City. Blue has a Follower on a Hill in the same City, as well as a Follower on another Hill in the same City. Who owns the tie-breaker?

We've only played one game using this expansion so far and we didn't know the answer to this question. We ruled that the power of the Hills stack, so if you have two hills (or a power 2 hill) vs your opponent's one hill, you win the tie-breaker. We reasoned that if Red has a Hill and Blue has a Hill they cancel each other, so by extension if Blue gets another Hill he regains control of the tie-breaker.

This really came into play in the last third of the game because there was a battle over a big farm. So we were all hoping to draw Hill tiles to try to get into the farm with that extra power.

My Daughter (bless her heart that she finally started to figure out how to farm) and I were tied on the big farm, each with a Follower on a Hill. She drew what would be the last Hill and was able, via clever tile placement, to get it glommed in. Now she had control of the tie-breaker. Effectively, I needed to get two more Followers in to eliminate the tie. A much taller order late in the game. That became very challenging and I didn't overcome it (I was so proud of her. It was an emotional moment). So it turns out the Hill can have the power to really turn the tables on Farms because Farms are relatively easier to get into than certain Cities or Roads.

Unless they don't stack.

Thoughts?

(blue dog)

Linkback: https://www.carcassonnecentral.com/community/index.php?topic=742.0

[Fritz_Spinne]

I will play hills stacking, but yet there is no offical answer.

[obervet]

I'm with Fritz_Spinne. My interpretation is that they should stack. After all, it's just another way of counting followers. The things that don't stack in the game tend to be landscape features (inns, cathedrals, sieges, etc.). However, the CAR is still waiting for HiG to get back to us on that one.

[kettlefish]

I've sent today some questions to HiG...

[Scott]

Until we get an official answer, I recommend that hills should stack. Even if HiG decides otherwise, that will help to resolve some arguments for the time being.

In all three scenarios, blue has a higher follower strength on the hills and wins the tie.