Author Topic: Family Game in Oban! (Read 6070 times)

kothmann · « **on:** June 06, 2022, 10:24:40 AM »

In late May, my family travelled to the highlands of Scotland. It was the first time the four of us were together in 2022 and our first time in this lovely part of the world. While we were in Oban, we made time for one game of Carcassonne, with 73 tiles and some variation of my old city rules. Lots of fun, and not just because of the wonderful local whisky.

Linkback: https://www.carcassonnecentral.com/community/index.php?topic=5962.0

Meepledrone · « **Reply #1 on:** June 06, 2022, 10:53:23 AM »

Nice game!

Did you replace some base game tiles for others from The Festival?

kothmann · « **Reply #2 on:** June 06, 2022, 01:46:52 PM »

Yes. Remove: 4xRFRF, 4xRRFF, and 1xFFFF (base game has a few too many roads). This leaves 73 tiles, and the only edge patterns that are not represented are RCFC, RFCC, RCCF: all combinations of one road and two cities, so it is easier for casual players to remember. The monopoly houses are “Inns” which are placed on any road with two open edges, and the player who completes a city gets a coin for each pennant in that city, so pennants act like trade goods.

Meepledrone · « **Reply #3 on:** June 07, 2022, 12:14:25 AM »

Nice variant!

I like the idea of adding inns and the coins. The former makes a dull road so much interesting.

I understand that the player with more coins at the end of the game gets 10 extra points, right?

Besides the local whiskey

, didn't you add any other Scottish treats to the games?

kothmann · « **Reply #4 on:** June 07, 2022, 03:23:12 PM »

Quote from: Meepledrone on June 07, 2022, 12:14:25 AM

I like the idea of adding inns…

Yes, these “guesthouses” make drawing a road tile with no endings more exciting and interesting. And removes most of the luck associated with drawing an Inn, and with no additional tiles.

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I understand that the player with more coins at the end of the game gets 10 extra points, right?

You could certainly do it that way. We don’t like the “player with the most” rule, because once any player has a majority, that part of the game is over. So, we award 2 points for each coin except the player with the most coins gets 3 per coin. If you only ever close your own cities, this makes the coins equivalent to the base rules for pennants. But now players have some incentive to close opponents’ cities. Once one player has a majority of coins, the point differential between that player getting a coin (+3) and opponent getting a coin (+2) becomes an important consideration (net 5 point difference).

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Besides the local whiskey , didn't you add any other Scottish treats to the games?

Sheep would certainly have been quite apropos! Is there a wind expansion?! I’m not sure how a haggis expansion might work…

Ker42 · « **Reply #5 on:** June 08, 2022, 09:20:46 AM »

Looks like a great time! I just read your rules for Old City, and it sounds like a lot of fun. It may be just the thing to try with my kids, who sometimes don't want to play Carcassonne because they say it's too long. The proportional scoring is a great idea too. And it's a great way to use some extra wooden pieces or excuse to buy more.

Thanks for the great variant and continued contributions to Carc'dom!

Decar · « **Reply #6 on:** June 17, 2022, 02:16:45 AM »

Wonderful post! I hope you enjoyed your time in the UK! How long were you staying in Oban?

kothmann · « **Reply #7 on:** June 17, 2022, 11:06:30 AM »

Oban for 2 nights, 1 full day. Our boat trip to Fingal’s cave was cancelled by high winds, but that gave us the chance to walk to Dunollie Castle, which was wonderful:

(I also really loved Urquhart Castle on Loch Ness: would love to see some sort of “Castle Ruins” expansion…)

We also did 3 nights on Skye, 3 in Pitlochry, and 4 in Edinburgh. It was all amazing.

wallaceprime · « **Reply #8 on:** June 18, 2022, 08:03:49 AM »

That brings back great memories, @kothmann
We love north-west Scotland, too. Last year we spent a week just outside Oban followed by a week in Morar; the only time I've ever needed to put on sun-screen to play Carcassonne (the view is looking out towards the islands of Eigg and Rum):

The view across the Morar Estuary from the bedroom balcony was superb. I loved taking these time-lapse videos, first of the different cloud layers moving in different directions...

...and this sunset

Photography is another of my hobbies. You can set some of my images here (I've started you off in the Scottish Highlands section):
https://wallaceprime.com/gallery/scottish-highlands/

Decar · « **Reply #9 on:** June 18, 2022, 10:53:59 AM »

I'm glad you had a wonderful time here in the UK Kothmann! It sounds like you crammed a lot in to only a few days. And that's a great photo, I suspect you'll be coming up with an appropriate expansion soon!