Spring and Summer 2017 Predictions and Wishes from Cundco

[Ry4Christ]

Cundco said while there wasn't an Easter special, there would be smaller specials in this Spring and Summer. The first day of Summer is in lest than a month so perhaps we will be getting something in the next couple weeks. What are your predictions and/or hopes (regardless of likelihood) for what these upcoming specials could be?

- The 4 Russian Promo Tiles being made available.

- The Besiegers being made available again - I know it's unlikely, but it's one of just a few things I still need to complete my old artwork collection to my liking.

- An official release of the Fortune Tellers expansion on tiles in both artwork styles. This is one of the coolest mini-expansions in my opinion and you can't even purchase it!

- An Abbott expansion with abbott meeples and garden tiles (the next best thing would be garden stickers to put on our own tiles).

Linkback: https://www.carcassonnecentral.com/community/index.php?topic=3361.0

[Halfling]

The Russian Monasteries

Castles of the United Kingdom (Double sized tiles)

The Quarterlings

The Spanish Cathedrals

Joseph 'Rainbow Meeples' for use with the Ark of the Covenant

Winter Edition Inns & Cathedrals.......followed by......

[Decar]

A four tile mini expansion  with no rules.

[txema25]

i wish... Old expansions being made available again.

All the new expansions are in new and old art.

[ooh_jim]

Castles/Cathedrals/Monasteries of the UK would be nice to see.

Wasn't there some chatter about cundco doing some alt-coloured phantoms a while back? I'd love to see those.

Abbott/Garden tiles in original artwork would be sweet, too.

[Leven]

Ringmaster meeples in special colours?

[dirk2112]

Predictions:

Mini expansion for Carcassonne Amazonas.
Besiegers in the new art

[Just a Bill]

- The Besiegers being made available again - I know it's unlikely, but it's one of just a few things I still need to complete my old artwork collection to my liking.

That would be a fantastic surprise if it happened. The Besiegers and Crop Circles I are still missing from my collection.

- An Abbott expansion with abbott meeples and garden tiles (the next best thing would be garden stickers to put on our own tiles).

Abbott/Garden tiles in original artwork would be sweet, too.

This would seem pretty unlikely to me. Abbots and gardens are the only components/mechanics in the Carcassonne II base game that an old-art collector does not already have (assuming he has the River, which has been available in multiple products). Releasing a mini expansion with abbots would weaken the only hook the new base game has for enticing players like me who have zero intention of mixing the artwork styles. I doubt HiG wants to have even less incentive for us dinosaurs to buy the new product line.

The Quarterlings

If I'd been drinking, you might've made me snort soda out my nose.

Besiegers in the new art

Now that would just be cruel.

[Just a Bill]

[Abbots and gardens] would seem pretty unlikely to me.

Actually, I'm going to retract that statement, or at least amend it. There might be a way that a gardens mini-expansion could be good for us dinosaur classic-art players and also make sense for HiG's (presumed) goals. Let's call this "Gardens in the Old World" and start with the following assumptions:

• HiG might be willing to do limited special sets in the old artwork, if their purpose was to help sales of the new artwork and nudge more old-Carc players toward new-Carc.
• The set would have to have minimal production overhead (use the most common cutting die, no new artwork to be commissioned, minimize production and packaging costs, etc.)
• It would need to be attractive to a good number of classic-art collectors/players.

Based on those assumptions, if I were on staff at HiG, I would propose a mini expansion that

• Encourages players who've been dragging their feet on the Abbots to buy Carc II in order to acquire them.
• Uses the same production dies and shrink-wrapping as the castles/cathedrals/monasteries/etc. (and maybe doesn't even require a rulesheet; see below).
• Brings Carc II gameplay into Carc I (but in a way that encourages you to own both).

I would attempt to achieve this with a six-tile set that provides Gardens, but not Abbots. It would be explained as a "conversion set" so that new-Carcassonne players can fully use their Abbots when playing exclusively with their classic-art tile collection. (Of course it would also have the perhaps-unstated purpose of strongly encouraging those who don't have Abbots to get off their butts and buy the new edition of the base game.)

I would start by identifying which two of the eight gardens in the Carc II base game are least interesting/most redundant with the other six. I think it's these two:



Then I'd render the other six, feature-for-feature, in the classic art style:


(Sorry, this artwork is low-res to avoid making HiG unhappy.)

The cundco page would explain that this is a conversion set for using your Abbots from Carcassonne II in those occasional games where you'd like to use only your Carcassonne I artwork tiles. It would have a statement that the Abbot and Garden rules from your Carcassonne II game would all apply. Thus, they could get away with not having to print a rulesheet with the Gardens in the Old World tile sheet. One component, 4.99 Euro on cundco, voila.

That's what I'd pitch as a member of the design team, anyway. (And as a customer, I'd probably buy two of these to use in my Carc games.) It's not a perfect set for us classic-art players, but it does have some potential to sell more Carc II boxes and thus I could see it working as a compromise with benefits for both players and the publisher.

[flipshot]

1. The Festival in new art available separately.
2. Minis #1-6 in new art
3. German Castles in the new art.

[What If?]

Wish 1:  This will never happen, but but. The official mini-mega carcassonne!

It means scrapping all old tile layout distribution within expansions and instead choose them out of what is most playable within, say, 128 tiles. Every tile should have at least one (1) feature from all, yes ALL, previous expansions distributed among them in a suitable manner.

Wish 2: Cundco finally starts a print-on-demand service.

Prediction 1 (and I have it from a very trustworthy source): Next mini-expansion will be "German Spacemonkeys"!

[ooh_jim]

[Abbots and gardens] would seem pretty unlikely to me.

Actually, I'm going to retract that statement, or at least amend it. There might be a way that a gardens mini-expansion could be good for us dinosaur classic-art players and also make sense for HiG's (presumed) goals. Let's call this "Gardens in the Old World" and start with the following assumptions:

• HiG might be willing to do limited special sets in the old artwork, if their purpose was to help sales of the new artwork and nudge more old-Carc players toward new-Carc.
• The set would have to have minimal production overhead (use the most common cutting die, no new artwork to be commissioned, minimize production and packaging costs, etc.)
• It would need to be attractive to a good number of classic-art collectors/players.

Based on those assumptions, if I were on staff at HiG, I would propose a mini expansion that

• Encourages players who've been dragging their feet on the Abbots to buy Carc II in order to acquire them.
• Uses the same production dies and shrink-wrapping as the castles/cathedrals/monasteries/etc. (and maybe doesn't even require a rulesheet; see below).
• Brings Carc II gameplay into Carc I (but in a way that encourages you to own both).

I would attempt to achieve this with a six-tile set that provides Gardens, but not Abbots. It would be explained as a "conversion set" so that new-Carcassonne players can fully use their Abbots when playing exclusively with their classic-art tile collection. (Of course it would also have the perhaps-unstated purpose of strongly encouraging those who don't have Abbots to get off their butts and buy the new edition of the base game.)

I would start by identifying which two of the eight gardens in the Carc II base game are least interesting/most redundant with the other six. I think it's these two:



Then I'd render the other six, feature-for-feature, in the classic art style:


(Sorry, this artwork is low-res to avoid making HiG unhappy.)

The cundco page would explain that this is a conversion set for using your Abbots from Carcassonne II in those occasional games where you'd like to use only your Carcassonne I artwork tiles. It would have a statement that the Abbot and Garden rules from your Carcassonne II game would all apply. Thus, they could get away with not having to print a rulesheet with the Gardens in the Old World tile sheet. One component, 4.99 Euro on cundco, voila.

That's what I'd pitch as a member of the design team, anyway. (And as a customer, I'd probably buy two of these to use in my Carc games.) It's not a perfect set for us classic-art players, but it does have some potential to sell more Carc II boxes and thus I could see it working as a compromise with benefits for both players and the publisher.

This sounds like a well thought out solution, good work.

[Ry4Christ]

[Abbots and gardens] would seem pretty unlikely to me.

Actually, I'm going to retract that statement, or at least amend it. There might be a way that a gardens mini-expansion could be good for us dinosaur classic-art players and also make sense for HiG's (presumed) goals. Let's call this "Gardens in the Old World" and start with the following assumptions:

• HiG might be willing to do limited special sets in the old artwork, if their purpose was to help sales of the new artwork and nudge more old-Carc players toward new-Carc.
• The set would have to have minimal production overhead (use the most common cutting die, no new artwork to be commissioned, minimize production and packaging costs, etc.)
• It would need to be attractive to a good number of classic-art collectors/players.

Based on those assumptions, if I were on staff at HiG, I would propose a mini expansion that

• Encourages players who've been dragging their feet on the Abbots to buy Carc II in order to acquire them.
• Uses the same production dies and shrink-wrapping as the castles/cathedrals/monasteries/etc. (and maybe doesn't even require a rulesheet; see below).
• Brings Carc II gameplay into Carc I (but in a way that encourages you to own both).

I would attempt to achieve this with a six-tile set that provides Gardens, but not Abbots. It would be explained as a "conversion set" so that new-Carcassonne players can fully use their Abbots when playing exclusively with their classic-art tile collection. (Of course it would also have the perhaps-unstated purpose of strongly encouraging those who don't have Abbots to get off their butts and buy the new edition of the base game.)

I would start by identifying which two of the eight gardens in the Carc II base game are least interesting/most redundant with the other six. I think it's these two:



Then I'd render the other six, feature-for-feature, in the classic art style:


(Sorry, this artwork is low-res to avoid making HiG unhappy.)

The cundco page would explain that this is a conversion set for using your Abbots from Carcassonne II in those occasional games where you'd like to use only your Carcassonne I artwork tiles. It would have a statement that the Abbot and Garden rules from your Carcassonne II game would all apply. Thus, they could get away with not having to print a rulesheet with the Gardens in the Old World tile sheet. One component, 4.99 Euro on cundco, voila.

That's what I'd pitch as a member of the design team, anyway. (And as a customer, I'd probably buy two of these to use in my Carc games.) It's not a perfect set for us classic-art players, but it does have some potential to sell more Carc II boxes and thus I could see it working as a compromise with benefits for both players and the publisher.

I love this idea.

Wish 2: Cundco finally starts a print-on-demand service.

This would be amazing. I would definitely use it to get Fortune Tellers assuming that was allowed.

[txema25]

I love your fantastic work "Just a Bill ".

When is Spring for Cundco? In  September ? 

[thodekey]

Hate to put my foot in it because I'm not a fan of the new artwork but i don't think the expected specials will be in the old artwork.  I think that door has been closed for good. 

What concerns the Garden in the Old World: i don't think 6 tiles is enough to convince me to step in the Abbot story.  If i'm not mistaken, those gardens occur in the new expansions as well.
I like the efforts of "Just a Bill" - your expansion including references to all the previous expansions was really great - but to be honest: in this case, the gardens with flowers in different bright colours just don't match for me with the old artwork.  I think it would be better to use just 1 type of flower in a less bright colour, for example sunflowers or lavender flowers. (if i'm not mistaken, someone already made a fan expansion with that theme).