Stone Walls

[Carcking]

I've been working on an idea - taken from the solazy proto tiles. I call it Stone Walls.
It is different than the Barriers and City Walls expansion developed by Gwommy, but can be complimentary. I addressed the possible combination in the rules.

There are stone wall features on the tiles which can meander across the countryside. They divide up farms and can connect cities. Roads can pass through them without dividing the wall feature. I introduce the Stone Mason (someone please tell me if this has been taken, I couldn't find it in any of the expansions). The Stone Mason can earn points for completed walls, much like the Thief on roads. I made the wall tiles worth 5 points each for a few reasons. First, there may not be that many tiles relative to the lot you are playing with, they could be scarce. Second, the cities could break them up quite well. Third, to promote the building (linking) of stone wall tiles.

I believe this could be a quite natural way to limit the size of farms.

Anyway, take a look and let me know what you think. I would love to hear some feedback and rules suggestions.

You can get to the rules through my Mediafire page.
http://www.mediafire.com/?rfsh5y45i2eii

[Dave]

I like the way it breaks farms.

here is a question

you have a wall like D in example "a" in the rules, and you have just completed it and scored 10 points and retrieved your stone mason. the next turn someone places a similar tile making wall D now a Y shape lets say it conveniently terminates at another city so a mason can be deployed and retrieved in the same turn for 15 points, and the next tile could be another making wall D now be an X shape and that mason could earn 20 points.

is this a possible sequence of events?

it isnt as if it would be the first time a tile feature had multiple scoring opportunities, "barns" for instance.

[Cappy]

I've been thinking about this one and I like it: it adds a new feature and meeple without a bunch of new rules, with the added bonus of splitting farms.

Some thoughts on the write-up:

Deploying the Mason: not sure what the standard is, but should it be reiterated that a follower can't be placed on a wall that already has one? You do cover that by saying "normal placement rules", but extra clarity never hurts. Along that same line, should you spell out that wagons can be Masons, but not builders, pigs, etc?

Scoring: "Note that a complete or incomplete city section will terminate a wall, however, a cloister “building” terminates a wall even if the nine-tile feature is not completed." (italics mine)
I don't think this is a "however" situation, since in either case the wall is completed despite the terminating feature being incomplete. I had to read the sentence a couple of times because the "however" was throwing me.
Suggested rewording: Note that city sections and cloisters will terminate a wall, even if the city or cloister is still incomplete.

Graphics: Admittedly, I haven't used the tiles in a game yet, but looking at the examples and the Tile Layout page -- things get a little busy around cities. Consider making the stone wall rooftops a different color so they stand out -- yellow or blue?

Most of the tile graphics seem way too dark.

Thanks for presenting this excellent mini-expansion, Carcking, I'm looking forward to the end result.

[Carcking]

you have a wall like D in example "a" in the rules, and you have just completed it and scored 10 points and retrieved your stone mason. the next turn someone places a similar tile making wall D now a Y shape lets say it conveniently terminates at another city so a mason can be deployed and retrieved in the same turn for 15 points, and the next tile could be another making wall D now be an X shape and that mason could earn 20 points.

is this a possible sequence of events?

it isnt as if it would be the first time a tile feature had multiple scoring opportunities, "barns" for instance.

This is a good question Dave. It's a scenario I had not considered but I like it.

I'm inclined to give the player who owns the stone mason the option of scoring the wall D for 10 points or, because the wall is still expandable, giving the player the option of maintaining the stone mason on the wall and defer scoring until it is later completed and perhaps extended. But yes, if he decides to take the points and retrieve his follower, and leave the wall "open", the wall may be claimed again later only if added to.

I like the idea of multiple scoring opportunities. It needs play testing before it can be finalized. I'm actually making up the tiles so I can do that.

Keep the ideas coming!

[Carcking]

Thanks for the feedback Cappy. This good stuff.

Deploying the Mason: not sure what the standard is, but should it be reiterated that a follower can't be placed on a wall that already has one? You do cover that by saying "normal placement rules", but extra clarity never hurts.

I did mentally cover this in the "normal placement rules" statement, but it won't hurt to fit it in  the text.

Along that same line, should you spell out that wagons can be Masons, but not builders, pigs, etc?

The wagon is a follower, so can be placed anywhere a follower can be placed. It is spelled out more clearly in the paragraph #4 on Scoring. The builder and pig are not followers, but I did mention the use of the builder in the Notes section.

Scoring: "Note that a complete or incomplete city section will terminate a wall, however, a cloister “building” terminates a wall even if the nine-tile feature is not completed." (italics mine)
I don't think this is a "however" situation, since in either case the wall is completed despite the terminating feature being incomplete. I had to read the sentence a couple of times because the "however" was throwing me.
Suggested rewording: Note that city sections and cloisters will terminate a wall, even if the city or cloister is still incomplete.

I agree that the "however" is awkward. I like the wording on your suggested sentence. Thanks for this.

Graphics: Admittedly, I haven't used the tiles in a game yet, but looking at the examples and the Tile Layout page -- things get a little busy around cities. Consider making the stone wall rooftops a different color so they stand out -- yellow or blue?

This is interesting - I hadn't considered different colors. We need to play test it to really get a feel for it.

Most of the tile graphics seem way too dark.

I haven't put up the tiles on mediafire yet. I can brighten them before I do though.

[Amorpheus]

Nice work on this expansion.  I imagine you've already tried this, but is there any way to bridge the roads over the wall, or have the wall arch over the road, to strengthen the point that the road does not break up the wall?  

[Cappy]

You know what I'd like to see, is a couple of your tiles with one of Gwommy's City Walls along one edge, then a Stone Wall going off diagonal. Just a thought.

[Carcking]

You know what I'd like to see, is a couple of your tiles with one of Gwommy's City Walls along one edge, then a Stone Wall going off diagonal. Just a thought.

How's this?

[Cappy]

Exactly! People can use this tile without knowing about Gwommy's expansion -- they'll just see it as a stone wall.

And the addition of the gate where a road passes through a wall, looks great.

[Amorpheus]

And the addition of the gate where a road passes through a wall, looks great.

Agreed.  Nicely done.

[Trebuchet]

just a small encouragement post: i really like where this is going, looking forward to completion! 

[Carcking]

just a small encouragement post: i really like where this is going, looking forward to completion! 

I will have it up very soon...

[Carcking]

Notice: I am working on a re-write for this expansion before we finalize it.

More to come...

[Carcking]

I have finalized REV 0_3 and loaded it to MediaFire.

We have play tested this several times with various size groups and it works. Check out some of the play sessions I posted on the Sessions portion of the forum. We really enjoy playing it. It is a new scoring feature and couples with cities, roads, cloisters and farms.

I consider it a major expansion. I've included 36 tiles borrowed with permission from Solazy and Gwommy. You could reprint as many as you like and make your own as well. I recommend that you monitor the number of city walls that you include in your set in order to maintain scoring balance.

The basic concept of the mechanic is a collaborative effort from the forum. There is a borrowed concept from the Barn in that there is opportunity to score a stone wall multiple times but I believe it is properly balanced as the number of city wall tiles is limited.

Anyway I would love for you to take a look at this and give me your feedback. I can't wait to get it up on the download section but I would like to have it vetted here first.

Thanks! Happy Carcking!

http://www.mediafire.com/?i4hyyhjw99r4vbl

Here are the tile sheets:

Sheet A:
http://www.mediafire.com/i/?4vzq4ox56h95xdu

Sheet B:
http://www.mediafire.com/i/?938yj4stat9vda9

Sheet C:
http://www.mediafire.com/i/?ekxi0ya1i2ij3fd

[Carcking]

I put the rules up on the download section but I do not know how to also add the tile sheets. Can someone help me with that?

Thanks.
Carcking