Carcassonne Central

I finally got my Abbey and Mayors.  I was just wondering what was everyone elses experience with it?  Did you introduce the entire expansion to your game group?  I'm not sure if I want to introduce the whole expansion all at once... I think it's going to be confusing, but I can't decide how to break it up into progressive chunks... suggestions, anyone?

We always introduce new expansions with only the basic game (ie: Basic with A&M). For the first few plays we did not use the Abbey or the Barn mechanic, just using the Mayor and Wagon to begin with. Then we added the Abbey and Barn when we were comfortable with the other two. Once familiar with the whole we played a mega game. :)

We haven't added it yet, but I'd be inclined to introduce the expansion as a whole. If it seems like a lot, then go with Joff's suggestion of basic + A&M rather than adding A&M along with the other expansions you normally play.

We introduced the whole expansion, just ensure that you have read and understood the rules and how they interact with the rest. We noticed after playing it a few times that the barn can be placed anywhere, it doesnt have to be on a farm with your own farmer on it.

The game mechanics for this one are good and not difficult to really incorporate.

The points made above are all very good ones. I would add that when you first play A&M then avoid playing Princess and Dragons at the same time for a while. Very many of the tricky rules conflicts that appear elsewhere on this forum come as a result of ambiguities and confusions between these two expansions.

We bought it about a month ago, and it's been collecting dust on the shelf because of my crazy work schedule as of late...  :(8

i got it in the mail yesterday but probably wont play it until Friday or Saturday

Why avoid playing the P&D with A&M ? We play with both all the time and as long as you get it clear as to what the Dragon can eat then I dont see any issue with them.

Well I just booked Fri & Sat nite as a nice little romantic getaway for Nat's birthday (which I missed last week because I was out of town on business)

So guess what I'll be packing along right alongside the champagne!  ;D

We played A&M last night for the first time and the abbey piece and mayor really never came into play. I do like the wagon and barn piece. Although we only played with the basic set and A&M and the barns ended up canceling each other out as the farms they were on eventually were connected. The Abbey piece was not used by either of us as we never had the proper situation come up. Come to think about it we very rarely have that situation come up. The Mayor I can see how it would be useful but the wife and I never have that situation come up either. Only once during a game with I&C did we have a town connect with the big guy over anothers smaller follower.

I guess the wife and I play a little more timid than A&M needs to be a really great addition. It was fun but we most of the time dont find ourselves in the situations the abbey and mayor need to be useful scoring options.

Yes A&M does, in my opinion, lend itself to a more attacking style of play, where you can steal away cities fromothe rplayers by using the mayor. The Abbey tile is extremely useful I feel if you need to close a city down before someone else scores it, or in reverse if you want to shut another players city down it is useful.

We have the barnes cancelling each other out quite often too by them connecting up and yep that roll on to the next feature wagon is sure handy sometimes.

We find that the Mayor comes into its own when playing with 3 or more players.

What do you all think about the rule in A&M where once the barn is down you can keep playing farmers then connect them upto the barn farm and instantly score (and keep doing it). My main opponent keeps doing this, it is difficult to stop them scoring and he always manages to score about an extra 100 points this way. I feel that, while it isnt an illeagal move, it is wrong. Yes I could do it too but I think it is a cheap shot way of scoring with no skill or tactics involved.

Well, it is legal and I guess the use of that "tactic" is allowed. But we find that to spend the time doing it and waiting for the necessary tiles to be drawn is a waste of time and other opportunities with those tiles - just for one point per city on the connected farm. I suppose that if you have a farm with a lot of cities it might be worth doing. Five connections to a 20 city farm would get the 100 points you mention, but that rarely occurs in our games.

I suppose you could create a house rule that says you only score the connecting one point for each city when the barn is connected to a pre-existing farmer - one that was on the board when the barn was deployed. But then you need a way of keeping track of that . . .

One thing I thought about, what happens if both barns are on the same farm can he still do this and score ?

Should be able to score.  I don't see why multiple barns will impact scoring for farmers connected up to barns.

I believe that multiple barns are allowed, as long as the barn is already in a farm that is then adjoined into a farm that already contains another barn. They are both scored at the end of the game in the usual way.

heres another question for A&M..

check out this scenario

If I play the Abbey piece as shown does the abbey close off each city or does it connect the 2 cities into 1? as you can maybe tell I have my large red follower vs small grey follower. if it connects the cities then I get 12 points vs if it seperates the cities I get 8 and grey gets 8

(http://i84.photobucket.com/albums/k31/djwurm/161-1.jpg)

The orange border around the abbey signifies that it cannot connect anything to anything. It is technically not a city piece, despite the resemblance. This is why the wagon may not traverse it, and why your two cities are not joined in that picture.

I agree with Scott.  There are 2 cities in that picture.  Both grey and red get points for the city - red gets 6 for the city (3 tiles) and grey gets 6 as well (2 tiles, 1 pennant).  The abbey tile's orange border is not considered as part of the city for scoring purpose and that's why the 2 cities are not connected and you only get 6 points (instead of the 8 you suggested).

Guys both barns connected sort of cancel each other out for end scoring, unless one player has a pig on the farm as well. Now what I was questioning was if both players have barns on the same famr and one player manages to introduce a meeple farmer onto the farm again by tile placement would the fact that both players now own the farm make a difference to the scoring (1 point per city) or not ? I think it should make a difference as no-one actually controls the farm so no extra scoring should be allowed.

I don't think it should make a difference if a farmer was extended onto a farm with more than one barn.  The farmer will still score 1 point per city and get removed.  Note that the rules doesn't differentiate between who owns the barn.  I could extend a meeple farmer onto a farm with one or more of my opponents barns and still score 1 point per city, eventhough I don't own a barn on the newly created large farm.

Oh, the other thing to note is that farmers that get connected to barns only score 1 point per completed city... I presume you do know that...

You can however play with your house rule variant that no scoring is allowed if there are more than one barn on a farm if that's how you and your opponents wish to play.

that makes sense.. the rules that come in the box are not real clear I think. this helps alot thanks

An example of scoring theAbbey tile can be found here: http://www.john-warren.co.uk/carcassonne/abbey_tile.htm (http://www.john-warren.co.uk/carcassonne/abbey_tile.htm) :)

yes that does help clarify the playing and scoring of the Abbey.

@Canada Steve
The multiple Barns still score for their players at the end of the game - see this in the CAR.

"If several barns lie on a single farm through the placement of connecting tiles, each player receives the full score."

So they only "cancel out" when playing a two player game. I don't think this is the same as saying the farm is not controlled by anyone. IMHO it is controlled by those who have their Barns there, and they share the control.

Also, in the case of city scoring where there are two equal competing meeples and one of those has the Fairy standing with it, the meeple with the fairy gets the three point bonus even thought the city is contested. This is the closest similar situation I can think of to the Barn issue you raise.

Yes sorry was alluding to a two player game. When both are on the same farm then the scoring doesnt really count, unless as I said one has the pig in there.