How different do the WoF tiles make the game?

[Boondocker]

I've been thinking about gifting my base game and replacing it with Wheel of Fortune. I've reviewed the differences between the tilesets, which seem to amount to: another cloister, another RRRR tile, different slanty city tiles, and large CCCF or CCCR tiles traded in for tiles that separate cities.

My question is, in the experience of those who've played the WoF version, does the change in the base tiles make any difference at all in playing? What about when you start adding expansions?

[CKorfmann]

Before I offered my opinion, I'd ask what expansions you currently own and if you think you'd ever be interested in making some of the fan-made expansions.

[Lardarse]

The tile mix itself isn't strongly different. Yes, there's an extra cloister, a couple more shapes exist (CRFF and CFFR, possibly also CFRF if I'm not imagining things) meaning that there are a few less gaps that are unfillable. But I don't think it's a major difference.

What does make a difference is the starting tile. It's a large open space that spreads things out quite a lot, as opposed to the cramped openings that the original version has.

The wheel mechanic also makes a difference, one that's far more noticable than anything else, I think. The extra points that can be gained don't feel like they make a huge difference. But the plague outcome does. For one, "killed" meeples (those in features that cannot complete, or in features where they will score nothing if it completes) are no longer permanently lost. You also have to think about having a "throwaway" on the board, that can be picked up (and if you don't have one, you will have to remove one from something hotly contested). In the three games that I played recently (two 3 player, one 2 player), hardly any points came from cloisters, as those were frequently picked up.

It's also interesting to see that completely different playing styles can be close in the end. My father likes to play his meeples early, on most things that he plays. He's also known for placing farmers on the first turn. I, on the other hand, go for quick scores, the occasional large thing, and enter the farm battle when there's something worth going for.

As for expansions, most of the ones that I've tried with it work fairly well. One combination that was played in at least two of the recent games, was WoF + T&B + King (101 tiles). Gives a good mix of things to go for, without drowning out either the wheel or the goods. More expansions would deeply lessen the effect of the wheel, and make it much more sporadic (remember, only 19 tiles will move the wheel). And the effect of larger games drowning out T&B has been well documented...

[Boondocker]

Thanks, Lardarse. I hadn't thought about the wheel mechanic being affected by putting more tiles in, but of course it would be. I'm already at the point where I've started to try and manage game length by only playing with one or two expansions at a time.

CKorfmann, I have I&C, T&B, A&M, the 2 rivers, and the GQ11 tiles. I'd like to get K&S, BC&B, and CS&C. Although a lot of the fan-made expansions are very well-done and look neat, chances are slim I will ever (or maybe just soon) create my own tiles. I'm more interested in rules variants that make the game more balanced, more fun, or fix poorly thought-out mechanics.

[CKorfmann]

Typically, I encourage people to get the Big Box when they just have the base set, but you've already got most of what comes with it anyway.  In my opinion, if you ever plan, or can motivate yourself to make the fan-made stuff, it's never a bad thing to have the extra tiles. 

Often times, what I do when I play with the wheel is to just seperate the 19 wheel tiles and add them to whatever I'm playing with.  I just leave the rest in the box.  I'd probably play with them with megacarc, but until then, I may not.  Occasionally, if I'm teaching the game to someone brand new, I'll just play with WoF by itself.  The wheel component makes in interesting enough but not too much for beginners.  Hope that helps.

[Boondocker]

Thanks, CK.

To be clear, are you saying that I could, if I did want to make my own tiles, use the 'extra' tiles I had (if I got WoF) to make my own? That makes sense, if so. I guess it's just as easy to stick a label onto an existing tile as it is to stick it on a blank one (or however you make them).

I'll keep that in mind. Eventually, once Ive got all of the official expansions, I'll probably get tempted to dabble in fan-made ones.

[CKorfmann]

To be clear, are you saying that I could, if I did want to make my own tiles, use the 'extra' tiles I had (if I got WoF) to make my own? That makes sense, if so. I guess it's just as easy to stick a label onto an existing tile as it is to stick it on a blank one (or however you make them).

You got it.  Here is what I did.  I played for the first couple times with a set that belonged to my sister-in-law.  When I saw the game at the FLGS, I noticed that there were expansions available.  I hadn't seen them before and had no idea that they existed.  It made total sense to me though realizing that all it took was a few tiles to bring something new to the game.  I started researching expansions and got hooked fast.  I bought the base game (with River 1), P&D, K&S, and Count from the FLGS.  Shortly after, I got the GQ11 and the Big Box 2.  My rationalization was that I'd give the duplicate stuff to my nephew and save money on the Big Box.  I filled in the rest of the pieces here and there (all I have left at this point is the Crop Circles). 

Somewhere in there I found CC and got very interested in the fan-made stuff and decided to keep my base set to make tiles.  They are perfect to do so.  I bought my nephew a new base set for Christmas and threw in my extra P&D and Count. 

This is definitely the long version of the story, but I always suggest that people who start with the base set and look to expand should buy the Big Box simply for the savings and they can gift the base set or use it for customs.  I used the tiles from my extra base set and have made about 40 fan-mades at this point.