Crop Circle Rules

[Kanomike]

Ok, made a quick summary of crop circle rules, would appreciate it if someone could check if this complies with the German rules, as I have used Google translator to put it together.  I have got this in a word document so images etc are missing from this quick copy and paste.  Let me know if you want the word version and I will link it up.

Crop Circles

Game Material
•   6 new landscape maps "crop circles"

Game Preparation
Mix the 6 "crop circles" landscape maps tiles into the rest area map tiles prior to play starting.

Game Rules
If a player draws a "crop circle" tile it is placed according to the normal rules, once played the player then finishes his turn.  At the end of the players turn the following sequence is played out:

Starting with the player next to him, either:

a.   Can place a follower at a location that another follower exists.

b.   Remove a follower from the map back to their stock pile.

It should be noted:
•   The active player must choose “a” or “b”, all other players follow this choice.
•   What kind of follower is involved is determined by the type of crop circle on the card drawn.


"Pitchfork" crop circle - Farmers.
"Club" crop circle - Thieves.
"Shield" crop circle - Knights.

•   If “a” is selected, they can place a follower on the same tile where a follower of this type already exists; farmer by a farmer, thief by a thief, and knight by a knight.
•   If a player does not have follower of the type in question then play moves on to the next player.
•   The active player takes his turn last so that normal play then continues with the next player.

 
Example for Scenario “a”
 
1.   Red places the card with the “shield” crop circle and then places a follower on it as part of their normal turn.  Red chooses option A. Each player is allowed a knight on a tile where one of their knights already exists.
2.   Green places a knight next to their existing knight.
3.   Blue has no knights in play, and therefore cannot add a follower to the board.
4.   Red is now able to place another knight.  There are two choices; on the tile with the knight placed this turn, or by the knight in the top left.  They cannot place the knight though, on the city at the top of the tile placed this turn, as there is no knight here.
5.   Play continues.

Example for Scenario “b”

1.   Green places the tile with the "pitchfork" crop circle a follower in the city segment. The city is finished, Green gets 6 points and removed his knight.  They then select Option “b” and each player must remove a farmer ("pitchfork" symbol refers to farmers).
2.   Blue removes his farmer.
3.   Red removes his farmer.
4.   Green has no farmers and therefore does not need to remove anything.
5.   Play continues.

[Whaleyland]

The translation is pretty good (yay Google Translate! finally...) but it does need to be cleaned up quite a bit. In English, they are just called "landscape tiles" or "tiles" not "maps. There also is no such follower function called "highwayman". I'd suggest reading a short expansion's entry in the CAR (perhaps the Cult?) to get a feel for the language used, and straighten this up to match it better, without removing too many words since it is suppose to be a direct translation from the German. Otherwise, looks good and it does match the rules as I understand them. Still can't wait to see Rio Grande's (probably crappy) translation to verify.

[vagabondriot]

Perhaps just as we received incorrect and inconsistent spellings of "Bazaars", we will receive something along the lines of "Tunnels and Krop Cirkles"

[Kanomike]

Sorry have not replied to this earlier.  I was unable to do anything on the site for a while, but all appears fixed now   I have removed the highwayman reference from the text above; was a mistake on my part as I had already added thief, but forgot to remove the translated text.  Hope this clears that issue up.  Does anyone else have any comments on this or even played it?

[McJazz]

Previously, I posted the following on BGG and, so far, I have only received one response. So I though I would try here since this is where the experts are:

I know there won't be anything official on this, but I'm looking for a consensus on how the Crop Circles will interact with other expansions.
Which followers can be added/removed with crop circles? Based on nothing, this is what I was thinking:

Any of the following can be added or removed:
meeple
large meeple (this could have an interesting impact)
Mayor (when the "shield" is drawn only)
Wagon (obviously not for the pitchfork/field tile)

But none of these:
builder
pig
barn

Or am I interpreting the term 'follower' too generically and Crop Circles should indeed only apply to basic meeples?

[Whaleyland]

Sad to say but there really is no "official" answer to that question. Your suggestion is certainly one interpretation and the one I would probably use. But it's just as possible that Hans im Glück is regarding only the basic follower. Pig, builder, and barn are definitely off limits, though. They aren't followers.

[mjharper]

I'd be tempted to think that only small followers, and arguably the big follower, are affected. The rules are pretty clear about specifying that knights, thieves and farmers are affected, rather than just followers in cities, on roads and on farms. There's no need for the rules to include all of the other followers for the sake of completion, as they don't affect monks anyway...

[Carcking]

We consider the Mayor, Wagon and Big Follower as followers. Period. We haven't come accross an instance where this doesn't work. They are not less than followers (although I can see how you could argue that in the case of the Mayor), but in fact they are followers with bonus powers. We allow the three of them to be placed on any feature, however the Mayor has no standing anywhere outside of a city without pennants.

The Mayor is the one that we have struggled with the most to categorize. We've had to decide that in order for a follower to collect points for a feature he must have a "quantum" in the feature. The Mayor only has a quantum value when coupled with a pennant. All other followers carry their quantum with them. The Mayor is not able to score in any other feature but does provide a presence, and establishes ownership. For example, you cannot enter a city directly if a Mayor is already there. So there is difference between ownership and quantum. We allow the Mayor to cap a tower for example. On a Tower you don't need a quantum, just the presence of a follower - and the Mayor is a follower. He could be placed on a cloister, for example, but since he provides no quantum he would not be able to collect the points. He would block any other follower from being placed there though. The same could be said for a farm.

So when any rule says do one thing or another with a follower, for us, the Mayor, Wagon and Big Follower are included.

[McJazz]

We consider the Mayor, Wagon and Big Follower as followers. Period. We haven't come accross an instance where this doesn't work. They are not less than followers (although I can see how you could argue that in the case of the Mayor), but in fact they are followers with bonus powers. We allow the three of them to be placed on any feature, however the Mayor has no standing anywhere outside of a city without pennants.

The Mayor is the one that we have struggled with the most to categorize. We've had to decide that in order for a follower to collect points for a feature he must have a "quantum" in the feature. The Mayor only has a quantum value when coupled with a pennant. All other followers carry their quantum with them. The Mayor is not able to score in any other feature but does provide a presence, and establishes ownership. For example, you cannot enter a city directly if a Mayor is already there. So there is difference between ownership and quantum. We allow the Mayor to cap a tower for example. On a Tower you don't need a quantum, just the presence of a follower - and the Mayor is a follower. He could be placed on a cloister, for example, but since he provides no quantum he would not be able to collect the points. He would block any other follower from being placed there though. The same could be said for a farm.

So when any rule says do one thing or another with a follower, for us, the Mayor, Wagon and Big Follower are included.

This was pretty much the way I was approaching it, but Matt also makes a good point. Ultimately, I'm just going to go with whatever ends up in the CAR. It cannot be overstated how helpful that document is. Once again, thank you Matt!

[McJazz]

I can see how adding a Mayor to a city with pennants or adding a large follower to anything could be pretty significant, but not game-breaking. Conversely, having to remove one of those same pieces could be potentially devastating. But, if I draw the knight tile and choose to remove a follower, I don't think a player should be exempt from this simply because the Mayor is their only follower in a city.

The game revolves largely on "meeple management". The large follower often ends up in the market quarter (for fields) of the Carcassonne City when playing with the Count. I don't see why Mayors and Wagons should be any different. (recent Big Box 2 Rules discoveries notwithstanding) I think it would be fun to add a wagon to a city where a Mayor already sits.

Lastly, the Princess can be used to remove a follower (large, small, whatever) from a city. I don't see why Crop Circles would be any different.

These are just my two cents. I will certainly go along with whatever consensus is derived.

[CKorfmann]

The way I read it is the pitchfork effects farmers, the club thieves, and the shield knights.  The wording makes the difference.  A mayor is always a mayor, never a knight.  If you are to remove and/or deploy a knight, than the mayor should not count.  I suppose it could be argued that the cart is eligible because it is essentially the same as any other regular follower, it just looks different and has a movement bonus.  It might be easier to understand if we had a meeple on rollerskates rather than a cart, but the cart looks cool.