Carcassonne: Hunters and Gatherers

[Novelty]

I was at my FLGS a couple of weeks ago and bought H&G on impulse (I was there to get Small World) and I had a game of it with my regular group a week later.  I was pleasantly surprised at how streamlined the game is and so much more easier to play.  Explaining the rules to another Carc player was a breeze, even easier than getting used to the Cities or Castle rules.  I can't put my finger on it, but I think it plays better than the original carc.  I know there are a number of H&G fans here, what is the one thing (please limit it to one) that you think was improved by H&G?

[Joff]

The way farms are scored.

BTW, I still think that AotC is easily the best version of vanilla Carc.

[scotty13]

Bonus Tiles when you complete a forrest with gold nugget.

[Scott]

Definitely the farm scoring.

[Tobias]

Definitely the farm scoring.

I concur.

What I do not like with H&G is the rivers (and the huts). It took me a little while to figure out how they worked. The Scout expansion does add nice things, but is a tad unbalanced.

BTW, I still think that AotC is easily the best version of vanilla Carc.

Yes, AotC is the version I prefer to play when I introduce non gamers to board games. The one thing I do not like with it is the temples. They do not follow the way any other feature works and is frankly counter intuitive. But it is still easiest.

[metoth]

We are big H&G fans around here.  It's hard to limit what we like about it to just one thing, but I guess the bonus tiles would slightly edge out the other things.  I like the fact that the bonus tiles keep the game moving along better than Carc with the builder expansion in place.  We can each draw our titles in H&G in anticipation of our next turn without stepping on anyone's toes.  My hubby gets really ticked if someone draws from the bag during his turn while his builder is out.   He takes forever to take his turn anyway, so it slows everything down. 

When we play H&G, hubby is still slow, but at least the rest of us can contemplate our next move while he's "thinking."