Chris Sjoholm
United States
Lynnwood
Washington
Nothing to see here, please move along.
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The rules state:
"If a player has an advisor on an emblem on the cloister side, he doubles his count of cloisters in the region that matches the emblem."
Does this doubling apply to determining majority, or scoring points, or both?
Say Chris has 3 cloisters, Nedra has 2 cloisters and Josie has 1 cloister in a country and Nedra has an advisor for that country in the Vatican. The way I understand this is that Nedra now has four cloisters, Chris 3, and Josie 1, so that Nedra gets 8 points, Chris gets 4 and Josie gets 1. Is this correct?
-- Chris
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Gary Pressler
United States
West Lafayette
Indiana
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That is also how I understand it to play out, including the 2nd place scoring in your example. It specifically says the "count of cloisters", as you quoted. This makes for a great way to steal a larger region away from another player. If one only doubled their normal score for the region, it would be a much less interesting choice, and the rules would simply refer to doubling "score" and not "cloisters".
Also, note that this doubling only counts towards the final scoring round, and not the mid-game scoring. (Nor does it affect chain scoring.)
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Gary Pressler
United States
West Lafayette
Indiana
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Thanks for the tip. However, I just noticed this thread in the general articles section:
http://www.boardgamegeek.com/geekforum.php3?action=viewthrea...
I don't know who Mik Svellov is. I'm guessing just someone with access to the original German, and not necessisarily a Goldsieber representative. There may be some babelfishing going on, as "emblem" twice gets translated to "weapon", and the word order is might strange in one case.
At any rate, both Mik's and and Pitt Crandlemire's translation (in the Files section) oppose my interpretation of the Rio Grande rules. Personally, I think I'll stick with how I've been playing, as I think it makes for much more interesting choices. Doubling the score would greatly help whomever has the majority; doubling the majority player's cloisters would give them less points, but would prevent the second (or third) place player from seizing that region. However, this is at the cost of a turn and a pair. I like the idea of being able to go to the Vatican and usurp control of the Church within a region, and I feel it makes for a better game.
Oddly, I missed that the Rio Grande version allows only a single player to place an advisor in each column. The example is clear, however this makes the last statment meaningless: "Only one advisor may be placed on each emblem." I believe Crandlemire's translation is correct on this point, but I don't have the original German to prove it. I think it makes the most sense and plays correctly with EACH player allowed one advisor per column.
As for the last point of whether or not the joker-pair used to place in the Vatican may match the color of the chosen region, I could be pursuaded either way. I seem to recall that this is descrepancy exists also in the base game; the German rules require a joker-pair to be different from the chosen region, but the Rio Grande rules make no distinction. (My memory may be wrong, so I'll try to check this weekend.) The benefit of allowing same-color jokers is that you can clear out a hand of three cards of all the same color. However, I can see the counter-argument that if you're going to take three of the same, you should know that it will take two turns to use them all, and be willing to face the risk that that color may fill up between turns. I'll probably continue with the non-specific Rio Grande rules, since that's what my group is used to.
Sorry, to ramble, but I wanted to point out that I may very well be wrong in my interpretation. Perhaps someone fluent in German and English can chime in. Either way, I'm happy to dissent and play the way that provides the best game! Enjoy!
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