Kevin's Watch

So what the hell is this game?

--A

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carcassonne_(board_game)




crap, for some reason the links not working

I was going to say Stratego.

I recently played this game (Carcassonne). It's very good, IMO with the most interesting kind of plays involving farmers. Most of the other guys (priests, knights and thieves) can be "cleared" from the board, and I feel like a fight for control over a castle, road etc would require a large concentration of tiles of a certain kind in the hands of the conflicting players. However, because nearly every piece in the game includes some grassland, the farmer is the piece where the conflicts spread over the widest reach of the board. Makes it pretty interesting.

I'm not sure that Kef Tanar is exactly the same, in that there's a system for gambling presumably based on points, and also for players "surrendering" to other players (in which the rules for dividing winnings seems to be based on negotiation, with the player in power having leverage). Additionally, it seems like the game can end before all the tiles are played (since seerdomin "topples his queen").

But it seems to operate around the same general idea of playing tiles which everyone can use, and also that units generally have to "retreat" (be cleared) to be scored.

I suppose the biggest hint is that "Kharkanas" sounds rather similar to "Carcassonne".

Are there any house rules or expansions that add in additional units and modes of play which more closely relate to the game Erikson describes? Or is there a possibility of another game being melded with Carcassonne.

Holsety wrote:I recently played this game (Carcassonne). It's very good, IMO with the most interesting kind of plays involving farmers. Most of the other guys (priests, knights and thieves) can be "cleared" from the board, and I feel like a fight for control over a castle, road etc would require a large concentration of tiles of a certain kind in the hands of the conflicting players. However, because nearly every piece in the game includes some grassland, the farmer is the piece where the conflicts spread over the widest reach of the board. Makes it pretty interesting.

I'm not sure that Kef Tanar is exactly the same, in that there's a system for gambling presumably based on points, and also for players "surrendering" to other players (in which the rules for dividing winnings seems to be based on negotiation, with the player in power having leverage). Additionally, it seems like the game can end before all the tiles are played (since seerdomin "topples his queen").

But it seems to operate around the same general idea of playing tiles which everyone can use, and also that units generally have to "retreat" (be cleared) to be scored.

I suppose the biggest hint is that "Kharkanas" sounds rather similar to "Carcassonne".

Are there any house rules or expansions that add in additional units and modes of play which more closely relate to the game Erikson describes? Or is there a possibility of another game being melded with Carcassonne.

yeah i think so Holse, i wish i could now remember what i was reading when i realized the similarities btwn what they were playing and carcassonne. might've been the game in DoD, or might've been the game in...what was it...bonehunters? up in some guy's room that Fid knew from way back? or was that in RG. arg. can't remember.
at any rate, it was sort of a lightbulb moment like "ohhh! it's carcassonne!" (it'll be a while before i get there again, i'm just having my second re-read of DG right now)

i think maybe you're right that erikson and esslemont have sort of morphed it for their own purposes or married it with several different gaming patterns so to speak. which is cool.

"Kharkanas" sounds rather similar to "Carcassonne".

i always wanna say car-KAN-sas or CAR-can-saw when i see Kharkanas. hee. which is sorta close to CAR-ca-sonnuh. (don't be laughin at my accent! )

The best "fantasy" board game is the one in Delaney's Fall of the Towers. Which may have similar elements to this, if I understand it. (Although, Bank's Player of Games is pretty incredible too.)

--A