Author Topic: old Spielbox Expansion - "The Plague" (Read 5542 times)

Gerry · « **on:** October 10, 2014, 05:29:29 PM »

Having expressed my lack of enthusiasm for the new Spielbox Half and Half I took a look at one of their earlier releases “The Plague”

“The Plague” certainly seems to be a much more substantial effort with new concepts and rules.

I was wondering how it played and what were the good and bad points. Does it actually get played a lot?

It was rumoured to be a part of a possible official expansion (you can even find the box cover artwork on google) along with the tunnels and corn circles but it seems that it was cancelled.

Linkback: https://www.carcassonnecentral.com/community/index.php?topic=1123.0

Tacita · « **Reply #1 on:** October 10, 2014, 05:45:39 PM »

The Plague is a rather dynamic and surprisingly good expansion.

I have no pros and cons to give you really, since it plays so differently from everything else, but I would recommend you not to use any other expansion when playing it. I could settle for including GQ11, but that would be it.

Whaleyland · « **Reply #2 on:** October 10, 2014, 06:00:07 PM »

The Plague was never going to be an "official" expansion, at least not official by Hans im Glück standards. Kettlefish has even stated that they didn't especially like that expansion. Rio Grande Games separately negotiated a contract with Spielbox to release Plague and Tunnel (alongside Corn Circles I, which that already had rights for). But the expansion died after Rio Grande lost its rights to Z-Man Games.

Regarding the expansion, I like it quite a lot, but it can be vicious, especially in 2-3 player games. I agree with Tobias that it doesn't play well with others. In fact, in a game of mega Carc, the Plague would probably end up migrating all over the board, which could be fun to watch but would make the game especially difficult. Not all the FAQs for the expansion have really been resolved, either, since HiG won't comment on it. It doesn't get played much, but when we feel like an especially odd and aggressive game of Carc, we'll usually do Plague before we do Towers. And yes, I stick the two in the same category: both are fun, but both can be very challenging too.

Whaleyland · « **Reply #3 on:** September 24, 2015, 03:40:27 PM »

This is now available again on Spielbox. Pretty cheap, too! http://www.nostheide.de/webshop3/product_info.php?products_id=418

ARabidMeerkat · « **Reply #4 on:** February 16, 2016, 02:18:51 PM »

I would definitely agree with whaleyland in that this expansion doesn't play well with others. We tried and ended up hating the expansion (my wife acts as if it doesn't exist in our collection!) so can only give you cons here.

To echo whaleyland again, it is fun watching it destroy everything (almost like seeing a zombie apocalypse happen in Carcassonne) but it just doesn't add anything good to the game (in my opinion) and so doesn't really feel like a decent, tactical-shifting expansion. We use the tiles now simply as extra pieces.

Quote from: Gerry on October 10, 2014, 05:29:29 PM

Having expressed my lack of enthusiasm for the new Spielbox Half and Half I took a look at one of their earlier releases “The Plague”

I'm confused as to why you have a lack of enthusiasm for Halflings? What makes this expansion bad in your eyes?

danisthirty · « **Reply #5 on:** February 16, 2016, 03:24:06 PM »

Quote from: ARabidMeerkat on February 16, 2016, 02:18:51 PM

Quote from: Gerry on October 10, 2014, 05:29:29 PM
Having expressed my lack of enthusiasm for the new Spielbox Half and Half I took a look at one of their earlier releases “The Plague”

I'm confused as to why you have a lack of enthusiasm for Halflings? What makes this expansion bad in your eyes?

This is a pretty old post. Gerry left the forums a while ago so I wouldn't expect a reply to this...