"New" Board Games

[Tim><]

Originally Posted by 3.14

Yes, that would be my biggest complaint about cooperative games. What I do like about Pandemic is that my wife and kids are hooked, and I'm trying my best to sit back and let them direct things. But if you read the longest Pandemic review thread on boardgamegeek (linked above), you'll see that the biggest complaint is that it does reduce to a complicated puzzle of sorts, rather than an interactive/competitive game.

That is why the mechanic of the traitor adds to much to Shadows. It's also why the game feels less fun once the traitor has been identified - this is somewhat mitigated by the fact that the game is usually pretty tense at that point.

[Entropy]

Does anyone play carcassonne and if so, do you recommend any expansions? I was thinking of getting the traders and builders one (I think that's the combo). I think it's the one that has pieces for an extra player and a sweet bag to put them in.

[Werewolf]

Currently, I play Carcassonne with the following expansions:
Inns and Cathedrals
Traders and Builders
King and Scout
Abbey and Mayor
The River II
I still use the first edition scoring of fields (four points per city, given to the person with the most farmers supporting the city).

I play most often head-to-head, and some of the other expansions (Princess and Dragon, The Count of Carcassonne, Cult, Siege, and Creativity) may be better suited for games with four to six players.

Inns and Cathedrals is the expansion with the pieces for the sixth player. It makes little change to the basic game play, enabling larger-scoring roads and especially cities, but that's about it. The large meeple is good for stealing other people's features.

Traders and Builders introduces commodities, which are collected by the person completing a city, not the person scoring it. The impact on scoring in a two-player game is minimal (ten points for each of three commodities, with final scores that can get into the 300s), but could be more important in games with more players. This feature alters game play, in that you now have reason to finish other people's cities. The pig adds to your field scoring, with minimal impact on play, but the builder has a big impact on play, enabling the creation of much larger cities.

King and Scout is just used for the King and Robber scoring bonuses (the person who finishes the largest city scores one point per completed city at game end, same for roads). It could have a bigger impact in a multiplayer game.

Abbey and Mayor introduces the barn, which really changes the game. Without it, the game normally hinges on who claims the largest field, with a lot of late-game maneuvering to bring the greatest number of farmers into the field. With the barn, you can claim a field much earlier, which can't be taken, and then you can work to build this field. It helps preserve meeples for their other uses, and bringing farmers into the barn field is another way to score points. The wagon is another bonus meeple, good for roads. You also get another big meeple (the mayor, nicknamed "Hammerpants") which is especially good at stealing other cities. There are also wild tiles, which can be used to complete otherwise unfinishable features.

[Entropy]

Thanks for the reply. The base game I bought came with river tiles, and I would imagine it is River I. What does River II add to that and is it worth it?

[Werewolf]

I like the River 2, even though it adds little; it plays well with the expansions. There's a fork in the river, a city that crosses the river, a road with an inn, a field with pigs (same function as the pig meeple), and a tile that activates the dragon.

[Entropy]

I'm thinking about ordering a couple of these, probably from Amazon. Do you know of a place I can get better deals?

[Person Man]

Try Fair Play Games.

[strategygamer]

or Boulder games. Thought hammer also gives you good deals, and free shipping if you order a lot.

[Entropy]

Thanks for the suggestions.

[otley]

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