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Messages - Whaleyland
1486
« on: February 11, 2013, 09:26:24 AM »
What will that leave for 2014? River I is included in the base game...though it could also release separately. We are still unclear if Z-Man can/will produce Cult, Siege & Creativity (or a similar product). I think that will only leave Corn Circles I, The School, and Wind Rose as official (albeit harder-to-obtain) expansions. I completely agree with your prediction, Scott.
1487
« on: February 10, 2013, 11:22:58 PM »
I'd buy an affordable (i.e., same as Carcassonne base set) copy of Winter-Edition in German. The rules are the same as the base game and it's not like "Winter Edition" and "Winter-Edition" are different languages or anything.
1488
« on: February 10, 2013, 11:20:56 PM »
So that means:
HiG Mini 6, HiG Big Box 4, and RGG Mini 6 all say that the Robber only is placed for the current player and next player, in turn order, that hasn't placed their Robber.
ZMG Big Box 4 says that the Robber is placed for all players, in turn order, that hasn't placed their Robber.
Very weird, though the ZMG version is clearly in the wrong here. Another footnote for the CAR...
1489
« on: February 10, 2013, 09:15:08 AM »
I didn't actually use the CAR when I played that expansion, but that is rather unfortunate and tarnishes my like for this expansion. If only the next player gets to play their Robber, then that means luck is once again the primary factor. I like my house rule better. In any case, in a two-player game, all players get to place Robbers if a Robber tile is drawn since there only is one other person in turn order.
1490
« on: February 09, 2013, 10:47:09 PM »
With The Robbers, the Carcassonne Minis series is technically over, though the bonus tiles constitute an additional expansion in themselves. Regardless, the Robbers add an interesting element to the game that is both revolutionary and rather simplistic.
Fat Little Meeples Waiting For Some Gold
* A Wealth of Bad Icons - I find it funny that I'm complaining about the same thing in the same spot as my previous expansion review, but the point still stands: stop adding strange and overlarge icons to my Carcassonne landscape. There are better ways to implement mechanics that basing it off of tiles that decrease in importance as more tiles/expansions are added. The new icons look terrible and a bit creepy, depicting a Robber's head on a bag of gold. Ugh. Furthermore, linking abilities to tiles means that sometimes the ability cannot be used. In a 2-player game, we drew four robber tiles while both are Robbers were already out. In a 3+ player game, that means a player could move their Robber to a different meeple, but not so in a 2-player game. Wasted opportunities, all because the ability is linked to a specific tile.
* Fields Galore - I'm not really pleased with the tiles in this little box. Of the eight new tiles, two are straight roads and two are curved. Another is an intersection, and the remaining three are cities (one with a road). All of these tiles are vanilla tiles. Give us something new like with the previous expansions! Adding more vanilla tiles to the mix just makes the game more homogeneous.
* Robbing Does Not Begat More Robbing - It seems obvious that robbery does not initiate further robbery. That would just be confusing. But having new meeples on the scoring track, stalking opponent's meeples and "stealing" from them whenever they gain points is made significantly more confusing by having to remember that points earned from robbing do not earn another robber points. For two people, this isn't too difficult to track. For six people, nightmares abound.
Creeping Up to a Victory
* Sharing is Caring - Despite the name "robber", the little meeples don't actually "rob" anything. They simply share half the points of the player who earned them. Honestly, I think robbing may have been a better way to go, but that also would have made the game much more aggressive. In any case, the mechanic is fairly sound (see above for exception) and players can even switch which meeple they are following if another one ends up on the same space as the one they are stalking.
* Universal Suffrage - Also unlike previous expansions, when a robber tile is drawn and placed, ALL players get to place their Robbers in turn order. No one is left out in the cold, waiting for their lucky draw from the bag. This is especially important for large games with many players. It also means that someone usually will be able to benefit from the robber tile, even if not the player placing the tile.
* Underwhelming Odds - A feature I find good with this little expansion is that, while player can basically sift off other players' points, its pretty difficult to win that way. In fact, it's impossible in a 2-player game. One player will still get the majority of points so the other player will move up, but not as much. This makes the mechanic helpful for stragglers, but not game winning. Normal strategy and lucky draws will still be required for victory.
Inconclusion
Despite my reservations, I actually liked this expansion quite a bit. It surprised me by its relative simplicity, its easy of use, and its universality with other expansions. Indeed, most of the Carcassonne Minis can be played with other expansions without any real conflicts, which is a great thing that some expansions are not so good at. If you do not plan to purchase all the Minis (which you should), I'd recommend this as one of the items to choose. It doesn't clutter the board (except the score board) and adds a simple little mechanic to the game. Play with The Messages and you can double the amount of meeples you can stalk and "steal" from.
Playability: A-
Affordability: A
Compatibility (with other expansions): A
Aethetics: C
Learning Curve: A-
FINAL GRADE: B+
1491
« on: February 08, 2013, 11:56:17 AM »
I personally would love it because the umlaut is in the name of Hans im Glueck (Glück).
Edit: Oh yay! It worked!
1492
« on: February 08, 2013, 09:49:08 AM »
I think Stinky-ing the old board is probably the best option. Are we going to just keep the current (old) boards or are you going to/able to revert to the board from a few months back?
1493
« on: February 08, 2013, 09:48:08 AM »
Sounds good to me. I'd include all four Big Boxes as a separate section separated by a line break. I'd also separate out the stand-alone games. Also, you forgot to include Carcassonne Dice and Carcassonne: Wind Rose. For the Hans im Glück Almanac, you may want to add a small comment beneath it stating Spielbox Cult expansion just so people know why that's on the list. Otherwise, the site looks great and I think the expansion list is fine.
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