Troubadours

[Ailurus]

I prefer to see the troubadour earning a player points by allowing that player to place tokens on vacant city (or road) tiles once a troubadour tile is part of a city (or road). Each one token is one point.

Ok, so the Troubadour would earn 1 point for each Token he/she places on the city or road? I was thinking of the Tokens like the Grain/Wine/Cloth Tokens, same rules (the one who finishes the city or road gets the points).

#2: up until all tokens are out of players’supply

Hmm indeed, if the player must place a Token each turn (for each Troubadour he/she has on the board, that is), that would be a good alternative for my original "3 turns and then get out". I like it, that way you can't have much Troubadours at the same time.

Sounds good. Q. Can a player lay a token in that same turn?

Yes, even more if we say the player must place a Token each turn.

That’s ok i suppose, but you might want to keep that simpler. Have the player who draws a troubadour tile always move there if he/she has a troubadour active already, regardless the number of tokens left.

Q: what happens to the tokens that were placed already?  Are they left behind to become available for anyone completing city (or road)? eg. once someone is out of tokens he can get some back only by completing (another players’) city. Or you can leave them till the end of the game where they are, or the player can take them off when finishing road/city and lay them aside until the game is over earning points for the most tokens taken. Many posibilities here to choose from.

I think the Troubadour should take back his/her Tokens as soon as it moves (that's the main reason for the strict rules for the placement of these tokens).

About the placement of a new Troubadour tile, I changed my mind. I think the Troubadour with the most Note Tokens should move to the new tile (if and only if the current player doesn't deploy a Troubadour himself ofcourse).

---

Ok, I hope some other people will share their thoughts on this expansion!

[Trebuchet]

Ok, so the Troubadour would earn 1 point for each Token he/she places on the city or road? I was thinking of the Tokens like the Grain/Wine/Cloth Tokens, same rules (the one who finishes the city or road gets the points).

Okay that's fine ofcourse    I wasn't aware of you wanting it that way. Certainly if the player must place a token, that's actually quite exciting, he wouldn't barge out of placing a tile to a big city once he outnumbers other players and still has to finish the city / road to get his points earned. I like it.

However, if it would perfectly match with this rule

I think the Troubadour should take back his/her Tokens as soon as it moves (that's the main reason for the strict rules for the placement of these tokens).

and this

About the placement of a new Troubadour tile, I changed my mind. I think the Troubadour with the most Note Tokens should move to the new tile (if and only if the current player doesn't deploy a Troubadour himself ofcourse).

leaves me wondering still .

[Dave]

The aspect of this I find most intriguing is the short term gamble the troubadour gives to taking over or sharing in a feature.

My two pennies worth is that anything that emphasizes this would be positive.

"I can get in on a feature and if I can still be there when it closes my gamble has paid off."

so on that note:) I'd say that the thing about being played out after 3 turns was good.

as an example aside can I put my builder in to the city I have only my troubadour in then when it is mover to the next feature my builder gets evicted and can then re-join the troubadour on his road?

what is your thinking about returning to a feature

placing notes is free doesn't cost a wood move, like plague fleas. I'd stick to only one and I'd say only regular followers with no duets or phantom backup vocalists would limit the power of muscling in (although alternatively you might put the "phantom troubadour" on the city and the real on the road?)

If I could do this or if I had multiple troubadours how then do I distribute the note tokens unless each troubadour plays to their own tune, rather than me being able to ignore some of my troubadours and just concentrate on the tactically best placed one?




what about if I can get . . . say . . . 3 note tokens down before the feature closes, I qualify for an encore?
or
maybe I need to get my troubadour in and it is like a mayor and only worth as many notes as I can place in the feature?


and    how can you tell your note tokens from mine, are mine in my colour?


just some thoughts

[Dave]

alternatively you could introduce a random element like a 6 on a die or some such to evict the troubadour, then you could have a varying increase in tokens.

[Ailurus]

as an example aside can I put my builder in to the city I have only my troubadour in then when it is mover to the next feature my builder gets evicted and can then re-join the troubadour on his road?

Yep, the builder may join the Troubadour in a city or on a road.

what is your thinking about returning to a feature

Perhaps the possibility to move whenever you like it, isn't a good idea after all. As you already point out, the Troubadour can then go back to his old place in one turn, so other players only have a very short time to prevent this from happening (by deploying (one of) their own Troubadour(s) there).

I'd stick to only one and I'd say only regular followers with no duets or phantom backup vocalists would limit the power of muscling in (although alternatively you might put the "phantom troubadour" on the city and the real on the road?)

Indeed, maybe the large followers are too powerful, but I like the phantom Troubadour, the last part of that sentence is exactly what I had in mind .

and  how can you tell your note tokens from mine, are mine in my colour?

Since the tokens are all adjacent to each other, starting with the Troubadour tile. Also since you know with what number of Tokens you start (10, or perhaps 8 is better to shorten the stay of the Troubadour).

[Dave]

troubadours move for free, builders are a support unit, so the power play mechanic, for builder turns, that you get with the wagon, can also be implemented with the troubadour, I don't think this is a bad thing, just a thing

by encore I was thinking about earning the chance to stay on the board after scoring a feature, but I can see how that might be too much.

and when two troubadours are in the same feature and their tokens start to mingle is when you will need to be able to differentiate between them.

have you thought about the pied piper?
maybe a follow on expansion, where the troubadour can lead other meeples out of a feature:)