Can you translate from German?

[horsethiefbandit]

Anyone here proficient at German to English translation? I found a very cool little expansion involving windmills and garrisons, but I can't read German to figure out the rules and Google Translate just ain't cutting it.

Here's the link to the rules and tiles: http://www.carcassonne-welt.de/user/muehle_wehrturm.pdf

[Gantry]

nice find, hopefully someone will step up

[Tobias]

I can read (most of) it, but not translate it :/ It seems like an interesting add-on though.

[likie]

Not me - I suspect that mjharper will be the one to ask

[horsethiefbandit]

Here what I can deduce from Google translate: Essentially there are two game mechanics added with this expansion -- A) a 1 point bonus for windmills/watermills when scoring farmland (much like pigs or pig herds) and B) a protective quality for the garrisons which shield meeples from attack when playing with the Tower rules (and possibly some other expansions/varients).

To me, this makes for an attractive small-scale expansion -- it adds a few interesting tiles that I can combine with my main deck, as well as adding a few simple additions without radically changing the game dynamic. Plus the artwork is really nice. I'm pretty happy with this find and am looking forward to playing with this addition.

(I'd still love to get a good translation, however, if anyone is up to the task.)

[mjharper]

I'll look into it when I get back home...  :

[horsethiefbandit]

Did you ever get a chance to check this out, Matt?

[mjharper]

No, not yet, sorry… Will try to make time over the weekend

[canada steve]

I tried, badly  and came up with this

Mills and military towers the two additions are to bring into Carcassonne® play a little more color. Mills who a mill in the world of Carcassonne® is no poor man possesses. And this wealth will settle the more largely, the more farmer in the sphere of influence of the mill. It is insignificant whether the mill with water or wind force is operated. For the play this means: Mills always are in the center of the map. Their sphere of influence concerns all meadow/fields, which are shown on the map. Players can set a Gefolgsmann into the mill, which then the role of Mueller takes over. Mills are only rated during the conclusion valuation. Each farmer with its meadow to a mill is enough keeps one point additional. If it is enough with its meadow to several different mills, then it receives one point per mill ever. Mueller receive per adjacent meadow one point. If the meadow is managed by its own or strange farmer, then Mueller for each farmer receives 3 points. Military towers of military towers are armed donjons, in which the farmers, monk and Mueller can flee themselves, if danger threatens them. Even if the safety plants are guarded still by armed soldiers, to laugh then to have Wegelagerer nothing. For the siel this means: Military towers are always in the center of crossings or directly on ways. If one of these ways is connected in the course of the play with a way, which is occupied by a Wegelagerer, then the Wegelagerer is imprisoned taken and eliminated. Military towers apply opposite all players. Into military towers no play figures may be set. Military towers do not have influence on farmers or monks.

Can anyone tidy this up to make more sense of it ??

[Gantry]

hehe computer translation is funny 

hopefully Matt will have some more accurate resources to draw on

[canada steve]

From what I can make out the mills give a point to each city they supply and if a farmer is in the same area they get three points. The watch towers Im not so sure about as it appears that you can lose a piece for good.

Has anyone actually asked Hans if this is one of his modules as the artwork looks exact ?

[Allan]

Here is a slightly different translation of the last part of the towers.

For the floodgate(I think this word is supposed to be play, there appears to be a spelling mistake in the document) this signifies:
Military towers are always in the middle of crossroads or directly
on ways.
If one of these ways is connected in the course of the play with a way,
that is taken by a highwayman, becomes the highwayman
caught taken and removed.
Military towers count towards all players.
In military towers no play figures may be put.
Military towers have no influence on farmers or monks.

I think it is a way to get another players(or your own) meeple off of a road. I would assume the meeple is returned to the player, but no points are scored for the road.

And for the windmill

For the play this signifies:
Mills are always in the middle of the map.
Their sphere of influence concerns all meadows / fields, on the map illustrated
are.
Players can put a follower in the mill, then them
Role of the miller takes over.
Mills are evaluated only by the final evaluation.
Every farmer with his meadow to a mill reaches receives, in addition
a point. If he reaches with his meadow to several different ones
Mills, so he receives per mill a point.
Müllers receive a point per adjoining meadow. If the meadow is by
own or foreign farmers manages, the miller ever receives
Farmer 3 points.

So it seems like the farmers get an extra point per windmill they touch. It also looks like a player who puts a meeple in the windmill gets points for adjacent farms. One point if there are no farmers in the farm, 3 if there is a farmer on the farm. The windmill with the four crossroads would then score from 4 - 12 points?

Allan

[mjharper]

MILLS AND FORTS
The two two expansions show bring a little more colour into the game of Carcassonne.

Mills
A player who owns a mill in Carcassonne will not be poor. And these riches will become greater still as more farmers settle in the mill's area of influence. Whether windmill or water mill makes no difference.

Features and Rules:
 - Mills are always in the middle of the tile.
 - Their area of influence covers every farm which is connected to the tile.
 - Players may deploy a follower to a mill, where it assumes the role of a miller.
 - Mills are only scored during final scoring.
 - Every farmer on a farm which falls under the area of influence a mill receives an additional point. If the farm falls under the area of influence of several mills, the farmer receives 1 point for each mill.
- Millers receive 1 points for every neighbouring farm. The miller also receives 3 points for every farmer which constitutes the monopoly on each given farm.¹

Forts
Forts are defensive outposts to which farmers, monks and millers can find safety if they come under threat.² If a fort is also manned by soldiers, thieves will find themselves without much to laugh about.³

Features and Rules:
 - Forts are always located in the middle of a crossing or road.
 - If, during the course of play, the road with the fort connects to a road containing thieves, the thieves are arrested and removed.
 - Forts affect all players.
 - No follower may be deployed in the fort.
 - Forts have no affect on monks or farmers.

Footnotes (by Matt)
1 I don't get this at all. The original says, literally translated, "If the farm is owned by one of the players own farmers, or by farmers of an opposing player (lit: an own or foreign farmers), the miller scores 3 points for every farmer." What doesn't make sense is that the condition (the if-clause) seems so wide as to be utterly redundant: after all, a farm can only be owned by your own farmers, or by someone else's. So it makes no sense to say that your miller scores 3 points for each farmer, if the farm is owned by you or another player. You might just as well say that the miller scores 3 points for every farmer. Unless you go the way I have suggested: that only farmers in the majority are counted. That would mean that, say, if yellow and red have three farmers on a farm, and black has four, only black's farmers would be counted by the miller. This method would also stick to the 'winner-takes-all' scoring of Carcassonne. True, that's a wide interpretation, but I can't for the life of me think of what else the author could be trying to say… Any other suggestions?

2 Note that, despite this sentence, the rules state that forts have no affect on farmers or monks (and, we can assume, on millers).

3 Another dodgy if-clause. According to the rules, no follower can be deployed in a fort, but thieves will always be arrested - so it makes no sense to write "If the fort is also manned…", because it seems that they always are.

[mjharper]

Well, now we've got several translations of the rules; that should be enough to go on.

What do I think of the expansion? The tiles are nice, but the rules are clumsy. I think the forts will be most useful, giving a balance to the princess, for example, or the crippling effects of the Cathars. But I'm not keen on the mills - farmers are already over-powered, and another scoring feature which relates to farms is unnecessary in my book.