Back to the Board - Carcassonne 68
Heartless Gamer writes to mention a feature on Grimwell online looking at the great board game of Carcassonne. Yet another terrific title from Rio Grande, the article takes a look at a possible introductory title for someone who might not have played a more serious board game. From the article: "Once you place a farmer, you can't get that follower back. The question thus becomes, do you play it now while the field is empty or do you wait, hoping your opponent won't claim the field the following turn? Farms can mean big points at the end of the game but could also mean missed points during the game if you run out of followers to play. The game plays smoothly once the players are briefed on the rules. Turns fly by and games complete relatively quickly. The only trick area of gameplay is ensuring players placing farmers are not overlapping other farmers. There can be a lot of land tiles between farmers, so a keen eye is required to ensure the rules are followed. Fortunately, the rule book has plenty of examples to help the players out."
Excellent Game (Score:5, Informative)
Re:Excellent Game (Score:2)
But I agree. Settles of Catan is the best. I prefer it with C&K and Seafarers, as well as with the 5-6 player expansions on it. I just wish my 3D version had come with both expansions.
You can get Settlers and Starfarers (computer versions in German) from Ravensburger. If you are familiar with Settlers, the base game will be easy enough to play. The S
Re:Excellent Game (Score:1)
http://www.fairplaygames.com/games.asp?filter=Blo
Re:Excellent Game (Score:2)
Play Zombies instead, it's a much better game that won't make you regret playing it.
Puerto Rico (Score:3, Informative)
Comment removed (Score:5, Interesting)
Re:Those German Boardgames (Score:2, Informative)
Re:Those German Boardgames (Score:2)
Re:Those German Boardgames (Score:2)
I wouldn't say Americans haven't created great games (balderdash & stratego come to mind), but more so Americans haven't in
Re:Those German Boardgames (Score:2)
German Originality? (Score:1)
The original was the best version. And all the expansions to the original base game do help with its longevity, but at some point it beca
Re:German Originality? (Score:2)
And now that German board games are booming, successful publishers are cashing in. You see stuff like that in any industry.
Re:Those German Boardgames (Score:1)
Re:Those German Boardgames (Score:2)
Non random.
Multiple simultaneous strategies (longest route, oasis capturing, territory capturing).
Every game plays differently.
It plays very fast (30 mins for average game).
And it looks like boardgamegeek has been
Carcassonne: The Discovery (Score:2, Interesting)
The group I play with prefers Carcassonne: The Discovery [boardgamegeek.com]. Is has a different spin on managing your meeples [wikipedia.org], and is a shorter but more strategic game. The other Carcassonne games are good too, though.
Check out http://www.meeplepeople.com/ [meeplepeople.com]. I'll also team up with the previous posters regarding Settlers, Puerto Rico and especially Power Grid. PG is our group's favorite right now, and we often talk about how the various aspects of the game could be modelled in code.
We also like
Ticket to
Re:Puerto Rico (Score:1)
Carcassone is a great game that I've used for new players when there isn't enough time for a game of Catan. I've probably taught 15 people to play Catan, and about another 10 to play Carcassone.
These quality gam
But the important question is... (Score:2)
Re:But the important question is... (Score:1)
Re:But the important question is... (Score:2)
The scoring is too complicated... (Score:2, Insightful)
Re:The scoring is too complicated... (Score:2)
Score each field separately. Whoever has the most farmers on each field gets 3 points per city adjacent to the field.
The scores are very similar to what they would be with the scoring system in the English rules, and it's much simpler and quicker.
You could also play one of the many carcassonne variants with simpler scoring systems, like Carcasson
Re:The scoring is too complicated... (Score:1)
Go directly to Snakes(Chutes) and Ladders. Do not play Go. Go not pay $200 for a set of (cheap) stones.
KFG
Re:The scoring is too complicated... (Score:2)
Spoonheads !??!?! (Score:5, Funny)
Great game (Score:4, Informative)
The best thing is that it can be played 2 player. It's best with 3-5, but it's still enjoyable with 2.
Re:Great game (Score:2, Interesting)
Re:Great game (Score:2)
The reason many players like Settlers over Carcassonne is because it has significantly more player interaction. In many ways, it feels like a better, shorter monopoly. I personally find Settler's trading rather unfulfilling when compared to real trading games, so I'd r
Re:Great game (Score:1)
Great game! (Score:2, Informative)
Some others in a similar style, and not... (Score:3, Informative)
Titan is quite possibly the worst boardgame ever (Score:2)
I suppose if there were some kind of payoff to be had after all that investment, it'd be one thing, but the climactic final battle between ar
Re:Titan is quite possibly the worst boardgame eve (Score:2)
Colossus is not Titan (Score:2)
1. The computer players in Colossus are pretty dumb.
2. Dice rolling and counting is immensely faster with the computer doing it.
3. Same thing for setting up the battle maps.
4. Perhaps most importantly, you can play very agressively when you're the only human player. If you lose, you don't have to wait 5 hours for the game
Carcassonne is great for children (Score:2, Informative)
Carcassone (Score:1, Flamebait)
If you had more control over tile placement, the game would be a hell of a lot more interesting.
Re:Carcassone (Score:2, Informative)
I agree there's not the depth of Settlers, but this is a great game.
Re:Carcassone (Score:2, Informative)
Re:Carcassone (Score:5, Informative)
Re:Carcassone (Score:1, Insightful)
There's almost no strategy involved.
Bullshit.
When you draw a tile, you often only have a single place to put it (either because you're forced to as the only move,
Bullshit. Almost never happens.
or because it's the only option that'll help your people)
Only if you're a beginner. Once you get into it, there are generally a great many ways you can play to your advantage, even with a seemingly useless tile. You can impede your opponents, set up a later tile, or simply make it easier to complete th
Re:Carcassone (Score:2)
Re:Carcassone (Score:2)
Re:Carcassone (Score:1)
- Each player initially draws a pool of tiles. 3 seems to be a good number, but you can adjust as needed to suit your tastes.
- Play continues as normal, with a player drawing a tile at the beginning of each turn, but that tile is placed into their pool of tiles.
- The player then plays any tile from their existing pool.
- At the end of the game, players just
Re:Carcassone (Score:2)
As to the rest of you, it's not that there's only one valid move, but usually only one optimal move, with way too much randomness for my taste, never getting the right tiles you need.
german games (Score:2, Interesting)
Re:german games (Score:2, Interesting)
I like the forced order of the play as well (FIFO from the cards drawn). It means that your trades and played cards have to be woven together very neatly to keep
Re:german games (Score:5, Interesting)
Re:german games (Score:2)
As far as Board & Card games go, a quick pick from my personnal favorites would be (in no particular order):
- Ticket to Ride [boardgamegeek.com] my favorite point to point movement game
Re:german games (Score:2)
carcassonne? (Score:2, Interesting)
Free online multiplayer ports of Rio Grande games. (Score:3, Informative)
Brettspielwelt (BoardGameWorld in German) has been online for a really long time and has around 40-50 various Rio Grande games which one can play multiplayer via some java applet and standalone client.
Check the Wikipedia entry on them: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/BrettspielWelt [wikipedia.org] and here is the English portal: http://www.brettspielwelt.info/ [brettspielwelt.info]
My favorites are Carcassonne(of course!), Peurto Rico(games can be VERY LONG though), and Tichu.
Zombies! (Score:1)
Re:Zombies! (Score:2)
Quick Play (Score:2)
One of the great advantages of Carcassonne, IMHO, is that a complete game takes only about an hour (if all players have played before). So few of our favorite board games can produce a satisfying, complete experience in that short a time. A round of Carcassonne takes about the same time as some games of cards.
Re:Quick Play (Score:1)
Needless to say, we'll be culling a few expansions out of the list to get back to speedy game play - City
We haven't had the towers long enough to make a permanent call yet, but it's on the edge.
Re:Quick Play (Score:1)
True. Usually just base + one.
An excellent "gateway" game (Score:3, Informative)
Junta ! (Score:2)
Basically, the players take on the roles of president and ministers of a banana republic. Each round consists of splitting the country's "foreign aid", voting on the budget, and (attempted or succesful) assasinations of other players.
Players can also declare a coup (if they have a coup excuse), at which point there is a military phase, followed by either the ex-president or a traitor being sent to the
Cosmic Encounter!, Re:Junta ! (Score:1)
For elegant but simple and fast, Cosmic Encounter simply can not be beat. Unfortunately it's not available at retail