Ark of the Covenant expansion/variant ideas

[Joff]

I am starting this thread to collect together ideas relating to AotC, as the CAR thread (in Rules) is getting messy. Any ideas that you might have for expanding AotC, post them here.

[Joff]

Possible names for expansions:
* Walls of Jericho
* Crossing the Red Sea
* Pillar of Cloud and Fire
* Quail and Manna
* Mount Sinai

Here are the ideas I have thought about so far:

The Walls of Jericho ... this one will probably be similar to the Siege/Cathar tiles. We have both thought of the same Biblical event here

The Angel of the Lord... this is easy. It is simply the Princess and the Dragon (without the princess). The 'fairy' piece is the Angel of the Lord, offering bonus points to the Israelite followers and of course protection from 'the dragon', or Satan (Rev 20:2).

I saw an idea mentioned on BGG called 'Moses and the Golden Calf'. I did not like the mechanics (that was fairy and dragon) but the idea would be better as the Ark in reverse. The Golden Calf deducts points from the followers it passes. However, the Golden Calf cannot occupy the tile that the Ark is currently residing upon; neither can the Golden Calf occupy the scoring area of a temple (an orthogonal cross with the temple in the middle). The Golden Calf is seen as idolatry among the Israelites as they worship the Golden Calf instead of God.

The Judge of Jerusalem (judge being the only 'j' word that fit ). A Count of Carcassonne rip-off. 12 tiles depicting Jerusalem... same mechanics as Count.

The above will be my January expansion projects after The Leper and The King are finalised for regular Carc.

I envisage Crossing of the Red Sea, being the River 1 expansion, with Crossing the Jordan as River 2
Mount Sinai could be just a new landscape feature, aka mountains.  Let's hope it doesn't end up as a 150 tile expansion like Forests.

That is interesting... crossing the Jordan river could well be when the Ark comes into play. Biblically when Joshua entered the Promised Land with the Israelites, they crossed the river Jordan, the Ark being carried across with them... the Ark could be moved freely once the crossing of the river had been accomplished. This could be a way to get the Ark in play early on, without awaiting the completion of the first city, in a similar way that the Volcano/Lake tile works for the Dragon.

This got me thinking... the crossing of the red sea (very loosely interpreted of course) could entail a river crossing that allows connecting of farms. Could either be via a new special river tile, or else a when the ark comes into play. Or something like that... clearly needs work hehe

I know you were going for alliteration, but Judge of Jerusalem doesn't really make sense. Judge makes me think of the book of Judges. How about the "Count" equivalent being the High Priest?

For King and Robber Baron, you could do something about Saul and David, though that's a few hundreds years after the time period of the game.

For Walls of Jericho, don't forget Rahab's scarlet cord!

I know you were going for alliteration, but Judge of Jerusalem doesn't really make sense. Judge makes me think of the book of Judges. How about the "Count" equivalent being the High Priest?

I know, it did not really fit well... but sounded good

For King and Robber Baron, you could do something about Saul and David, though that's a few hundreds years after the time period of the game.

I don't think the time period is too much of an issue. The idea would be to implement Biblical events from the OT. Players who have this game will no doubt be mainly religious folk and keeping to that theme would serve to remind players of the events depicted. Moses and the Golden Calf is an idea that, although in the OT, predates Joshua's entering into the Promised Land, in fact, Moses was dead when Joshua entered into the Land... but the reminder of the event could be in the game.

For King and Robber Baron, you could do something about Saul and David, though that's a few hundreds years after the time period of the game.

Again, timing is a non-issue.

For Walls of Jericho, don't forget Rahab's scarlet cord!

How to implement? If a player held the 'scarlet cord' card, if they find that they are in the city of Jericho when the walls come down, they would be allowed to score for the city... others occupying at the time do not score... something like that!

[Joff]

This got me thinking... the crossing of the red sea (very loosely interpreted of course) could entail a river crossing that allows connecting of farms. Could either be via a new special river tile, or else a when the ark comes into play. Or something like that... clearly needs work hehe

It would be loosely interpreted. But better still, which uses this idea, is that when Joshua crossed the Jordan to enter into the Promised Land, a similar event occurred (Josh. 3:13-17).

[Scott]

Jeroboam built two golden calves after he took over the northern tribes, one in Dan and the other in Bethel.

Regarding the scarlet cord, I was merely thinking it should be depicted on the tile artwork. Wasn't suggesting any game mechanics around it.

For a shrine equivalent, you could have a "high place" with an altar to Baal.

From a geography point of view, I think stuff like the crossing of the Red Sea, Mount Sinai, and wandering around in the desert are a little too far away. The back story of the game is occupying the land of Canaan. The Jordan River is still an obvious inclusion, starting with the Sea of Galilee and ending in the Dead Sea.

For the Count/Jerusalem expansion, remember that Jerusalem is built on a plateau; there should be cliff faces all around the edges.

[meepleater]

For a shrine equivalent, you could have a "high place" with an altar to Baal.

The book 2 Kings mention some 'ashera poles' that don't sound quite as imposing and more common than a high place...

but remember, in order to have shrines/cults, you first need cloisters or an equivalent... in AotC temples score very different, and so first you might need to make something that works like cloisters... how about a levite camp... that could function like a cloister possibly...

just a few thoughts...

[meepleater]

another idea is that in the MTW stage, if all of your meeples are in play, instead of moving the ark you can move it upside-down. Any follower on the same tile as the upside-down ark have 'touched the ark' and are killed.
(oh, prophets are exempt )
After that turn the ark is put back the right way up.

mind you, a player with no followers can use a combination of moving the ark and then the next go flipping it to remove a follower every second turn, so it may not work so well...

[Scott]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Asherah_pole

AFAIK, altars on high places were more common because they were used for many different gods.

For the Walls of Jericho rules, a siege tile cannot be played on a city containing the Ark of the Covenant.

A good equivalent to a dragon-type mechanic could be roving band of Philistines?

/mod: link fixed

[Novelty]

Can we add the Leper to this list?
I'd also like to see a trade goods version - wheat (as T&B), olive oil & wine

[CKorfmann]

Here are several ideas my wife and I had:

Trade goods - Gold, Frankinsence, & Myrrh (sp?), figs, olives, fish.
David and Goliath (a travel meeple and a large "Kinder" meeple).
The ten plauges of Egypt (all different tiles).
Joseph and the Coat of Many Colors (A neutral meeple painted all different colors).
Zacheus (the "wee little man") (New Test., but could be fun with a travel meeple).  Like a single tax collector?
Loaves & fishes (again, NT) - trade goods or Kettle of Fish.
The Prophet of the Lord (Elijah, Elisha, or Samuel) like House of Valois?
The Judges (like the bishops).
The High Priest (like the Pope).
The King, Robber Baron, Cleric, Serf, and Outlaw (adapted).
The Jordan River (I think I saw this one mentioned somewhere).
The Temple - Like the Abbey or Lord of the Manor.
Shepherds and Sheep.
Apoth and tithe (adapted).
The 12 Tribes of Isreal (Family Feud, maybe not twelve).
The Wells
The Prophet of Baal - Like the Shrines.
The Wilderness - Forest (or Dessert might be more appropriate).
The Dead Sea - Lake or Ocean tiles.

Is AotC a RGG?

[Joff]

I was thinking of 'David and Goliath' using exactly the same meeples... that would be fun to do

AotC is not RGG. It is Uberplay/Inspiration Games (which has now, since April 2008, ceased trading). It is difficult to get hold of now, so if you get the chance, grab a copy

[meepleater]

Here are several ideas my wife and I had:

Trade goods - Gold, Frankinsence, & Myrrh (sp?), figs, olives, fish.
David and Goliath (a travel meeple and a large "Kinder" meeple).
The ten plauges of Egypt (all different tiles).
Joseph and the Coat of Many Colors (A neutral meeple painted all different colors).
Zacheus (the "wee little man") (New Test., but could be fun with a travel meeple).  Like a single tax collector?
Loaves & fishes (again, NT) - trade goods or Kettle of Fish.
The Prophet of the Lord (Elijah, Elisha, or Samuel) like House of Valois?
The Judges (like the bishops).
The High Priest (like the Pope).
The King, Robber Baron, Cleric, Serf, and Outlaw (adapted).
The Jordan River (I think I saw this one mentioned somewhere).
The Temple - Like the Abbey or Lord of the Manor.
Shepherds and Sheep.
Apoth and tithe (adapted).
The 12 Tribes of Isreal (Family Feud, maybe not twelve).
The Wells
The Prophet of Baal - Like the Shrines.
The Wilderness - Forest (or Dessert might be more appropriate).
The Dead Sea - Lake or Ocean tiles.

Is AotC a RGG?

a 'Wells' equivalent is already included in the base game, they're called oases...

If you're going to make 'The Prophet of Baal', remeber Temples in Aotc function completly differently to cloisters so you would need a cloister equivalent as well...

An 'apothecaries and tithes' equivalent would be unusual... I based tithe barns upon temples and so a game with both would seem strange...

[CKorfmann]

You make some good points.  The reason I included the Apoth & Tithes on the list is because I was thinking mostly about the tithe aspect and how they paid tithes at the temple in the OT.

[Scott]

The Dead Sea should be part of the Jordan River. The Jordan River runs between the Sea of Galilee and the Dead Sea, which would be the equivalents of the spring and lake respectively (because that's the direction the water runs for real).

[CKorfmann]

True, good point.  But I was thinking something larger than just one tile.  More along the lines of the lake tiles. 

[CKorfmann]

Has anyone done any work on these?