The City

[canada steve]

Well my prize arrived yesterday, a nice new copy of The City complete in its wooden box. All looks very good with 75 tiles and loads a wooden pieces. The meeple look like "attack of the coneheads".

So last night me and a freind set out to play a few games. First game made one mistake when placing towers but apart from that it went well. After that we got it right as the rules are nice and straightforward, just have to remember to call them markets not farms 

The mechanics of the game is much like Carc in the tile laying process and then add the walls each time someone scores, but only when using the 2nd and 3rd tile stacks !!! Confused, trust me it makes sense when you play it.

It s a quick game, only lasting around 45 minutes so dont plana whole evening around one game.

One thing we noticed in each game we played was that once you are able to put guards on the walls everyones staregy changes and scoring becomes almost non-existant until the end scores as each player attempts to have their guards controlling even longer and longer rows of the city without the walls shutting them off.

I'll write and post up a game synopsis so that you all get an idea of how the whole games goes, then maybe it can be added to the game overviews section.

It was good fun and I enjoyed playing it and will keep playing it probably when a long game doesnt seem like a good idea.

Thanks to Fun Game Cafe and the guys here for the prize, funny I used to live a couple of miles away from the store and never knew it existed !

[Gantry]

Sounds very intriguing!  It's on my want list

[Tobias]

Steve: Have you played this some more, and do you want to add something to your initial impression?

I will buy this anyway, but could use some incentives (well, not I, but Sara .. you know the drift)

Any information is good!

[canada steve]

Tobias, I find flowers etc work with the good lady 

Yes have played this a fair few time now, ranging from two to four player games. The four player being more enjoyable as there are more people to mess with and the game changes direction more. Its a great game though, especially if you want to introduce someone to the mechanics of Crac without playing it, after all this only lasts 1 hour max.

The fact that the city gets surrounded by walls as the game continues is a great slant as you are effectively struggling to lay pieces towards teh later parts of the game..

It is a nice addition to your Carc set and well worth the price so would definitely suggest buying it.

[Gantry]

if you want to introduce someone to the mechanics of Crac without playing it

I guess this would make you a Crac Dealer.... 

[EcoGuy]

I have to echo steve comments on the City. It was actually how I was introduced to Carcassone originally. It has most of the same mechanics with some additions and make for fun game play especially with more then 2 players. My younger nephew likes it better than the original carcassonne.  The Box it comes in is nice to and I use to to carry all of my carcassone components so I arrive anywhere I go fully prepared however its getting cramped now with all the expansions.

The games are quick and differ greatly game to game because you never know where the walls are going to start and the more scoring that occurs in those rounds the more walls go up. Plus its a good fall back if no one can agree on what expansions to play with in the original.

I had a really crazy thought of a marathon Carcassonne game beginning with the original and when a city was split between two players the tie would be decided by a game of The City. I was laughed at and called all kinds of names ... but for the hard core Carcassonneites like me I can still dream 

All in all a good addition to the Carcassonne Family with nice additions to the mechanics that make it fun, a little change of pace and require different startegies.

[EcoGuy]

Oh yeah one additional point.  The City has differently shaped meeples so that they in turn can be used in the original game for play of some of the variants.  In case anyone is interested