Clarification of rules (acrobats & phantoms, Leipzig) - with HiG - 21-25 06 2021

[Meepledrone]

In recent days we got the following clarification from Johannes (HiG) on the HiG Discord server.

New clarifications are here to surprise you!

Following Kettlefish's tradition...

Question in BLUE

Answer in GREEN

Still open in RED

My own comments in  MAROON


Linkback: https://www.carcassonnecentral.com/community/index.php?topic=5368.0

[Meepledrone]

Acrobats & phantoms

[Q1.1] The phantom is considered like a normal meeple and has the same size but translucent. The Exp. 10 rules  state that only a normal meeple is allowed to be an acrobat. Is it allowed to place a phantom in an acrobat pyramid?

[A1.1] It is not allowed to place a phantom as an acrobat in a pyramid. As stated in the rules, only the standard normal meeples are allowed.


[Q1.2] The Phantom rules state that (see highlighted sentence in the German rules and the equivalent English rules below): "The Phantom can also be used alone and always counts as a normal follower." So using an phatom as an acrobat seems to break this rule then. Is this correct?

[A1.2] Even though the phantom is considered as a normal meeple, it's still a phantom. The Exp. 10 rules state precisely that no other meeple can be put there, no exceptions.

[Meepledrone]

Sending a meeple to Leipzig

[Q2] A meeple is on a road connected to Leipzig through several crossroads with a village (see image below). Can this meeple be sent to Leipzig?

[A2] The English rules state "a village", but it should be villages. So, you can send the meeple
to Leipzig in this case. The German version of the rules is more precise in the wording.

[DIN0]

The Phantom clarification is quite shocking. Definately goes against rational gaming intuition. It would seem that the acrobat pyramids have extra specific requirements, and go above any other feature in terms of strictness.

[Meepledrone]

Yep... I think nobody will like it, but it is their prerrogative to do things like this.

They did something similar with the ringmaster: you can only get the ringmaster bonus if it is placed on a road, in a city, on a monastery or in a field... You place it on an abbey: no ringmaster bonus, you place it on a German cathedral: no ringmaster bonus... Our response at the moment was "Whaaat?". More or less they told us they decided to do so to spare themselves from thinking about all the special cases (Exp. 8 castles, German castles, you name it...). A bit sad.

At a certain point they said, they may rethink some of their decisions... I am waiting around the corner to ask them what happens when your ringmaster is on a city segment or a road on double-sized tile... You are a regular feature but the geometry of the tile does not match the one expected in the Exp. 10 rules... Mwahahahah! 

[DIN0]

I actually recently thought about some new questions which I believe have never been answered. I will make a new topic for it.

[Meepledrone]

Shoot! That is an interesting subject! 

[DIN0]

Well thanks 

[corinthiens13]

Thanks for those clarifications.

Well... Should this phantom restriction also apply to the WoF's crown, towers, fliers, magic portals, and 20 anniversary arrow meeple placement?

[Meepledrone]

So far, the only limitation is placing it as an acrobat... The general rules for the phantom should apply elsewhere fo the time being.