No meeples left :-(

[raberjr]

okay, here's the scenario:  i'm out of meeples and i draw a cloister.   I can place this cloister and immediately have it surrounded on all sides by other tiles (remember, i'm out of meeples though  )  Interestingly enough, one of the tiles that would be surrounding this cloister (if I place it) is another cloister that will be completed if I place the tile that i just drew (and i have a meelple on this cloister).

So, if I place the tile that i just drew, i know that i get 9 points for finishing the cloister that i currently have a meeple on.  Can i also get another 9 points for removing the meeple from the completed cloister and placing it on the cloister that i just laid?  Do I get 18 points or just 9 points?

I suspect that a literal interpretation of the rules will tell the answer but I'm not quite sure:   1. draw tile, 2.  deploy follower, 3. score feature....etc...

for some reason i'm expecting that i can't get the extra 9 points...and since my 'meeple management' was apparantely bad (i ran out of them)....it almost seems right that i shouldn't get 18 points. 

what's the answer. 

raberjr.

[Gantry]

The answer to this lies in the rules themselves. If the placed tile completes a different cloister, then you get 9 for that.  However since you don't have a meeple to place, you would not score an additional 9 because the rules state a returned follower is only available "in later turns". Followers are returned after scoring, which also precludes this scenario.

9 points for bad meeple management!

[Hypnotoad]

Generally, the very last thing that happens in your turn is scoring.

This means that you can't first score 9 points for the completed cloister and then place the returned meeple afterwards. If you want to score both cloisters you need to have a reserve meeple, place it on the cloister you just put down, then score a total of 18 points and return the two meeples.

This is a nice thing to have in mind when trying to figure out rules for the expansions as well, since a lot of strategies are either ruled out or become possibilities when you account for scoring happening last.

So your instincts were correct