Inn on the Lake Variant

[14cross]

This may have been mentioned before but is something my kids and I thought of and have played with success.

The variant is as follows: for every inn on the lake you add to your road, you get one extra point per road tile. So if I have a completed road that totals nine tiles and I have one Inn on the Lake on it then I score 1 points (2 points X 9 tiles). If I have two Inns on the Lake on it then I score 27 points (3 points X nine tiles).

We like this variant because of the strategy involved. Do I finish the road and take the points now or hold on and try to get one more Inn on it to score more points before we run out of tiles? Obviously, if you don't complete the road then you score 0 points.

[koolkat]

Will there be an expansion with the same scoring idea for cathedrals?

[14cross]

Will there be an expansion with the same scoring idea for cathedrals?

We talked about this too but, since there are only two Cathedrals in the game, nobody wanted to risk waiting for the second cathedral before finishing off their city. Roads are easy to finish but cities with cathedrals can be difficult.

[Novelty]

I agree with 14cross about the Cathedrals.  However, I'm wondering, does this makes the roads a lot more valuable than cities?  Do you guys even use the cloister if you draw one with a road since roads are now so much more valuable than the cloister?

[14cross]

We always use the cloisters in our games. I read here often that many people don't use them but we have always liked and used them.

Only a few of the roads end up being more valuable because only the roads that get an Inn on the Lake earlier in the game ever get built up and completed by adding more inns. It really ends up adding only around 10-15 points to someone's final score, which often helps to offset someone elses huge city (which I never seem to be able to build).

[Novelty]

That's good to know.  How many expansions do you play with?  What are they?

[koolkat]

How about creating an expansions with some more cathedrals? That would do, I guess. The thing is: How?

[Novelty]

koolkat, I think 14cross was only posting about his variant idea about the inns, and I think this thread should really be about that.  If you want to talk about an expansion with more cathedrals and since 14cross doesn't seem willing to go for it, then I think you should start your own thread since that is a different topic on its own.  (That's OK with you I hope, 14cross)  You can always refer back to this thread to say that the idea originated here.

Back on topic: 14cross, the reason why I ask how many expansions and which expansions are those is because of the wagon.  I wonder will it help or hinder the inns and what strategy should you take with the wagon when playing with this variant.

[14cross]

koolkat, I think 14cross was only posting about his variant idea about the inns, and I think this thread should really be about that.  If you want to talk about an expansion with more cathedrals and since 14cross doesn't seem willing to go for it, then I think you should start your own thread since that is a different topic on its own.  (That's OK with you I hope, 14cross)  You can always refer back to this thread to say that the idea originated here.

Back on topic: 14cross, the reason why I ask how many expansions and which expansions are those is because of the wagon.  I wonder will it help or hinder the inns and what strategy should you take with the wagon when playing with this variant.

We have the Princess & Dragon, Inns & Cathedrals, Traders and Builders, King & Scout, and River 1. Though my birthday is in a couple of weeks and already know I am getting the Abby & Mayor expansion. I will report how this rule affects this expansion. By the way, we played last night and used the multiple Inns variant and it worked really well. I was able to get a second Inn on a road but the road was only three tiles long so I scored six points. But another person got three inns on an eight tile road near the end of the game and scored 24 points. It was enough to give her the win too.

[14cross]

Back on topic: 14cross, the reason why I ask how many expansions and which expansions are those is because of the wagon.  I wonder will it help or hinder the inns and what strategy should you take with the wagon when playing with this variant.

Well, I got the Abbys and Mayors expansion and played it this evening with the Inn variant and didn't encounter any problems with the wagon. To tell the truth though, the wagon didn't get used a lot.  We'll try it again but I just didn't see a lot of real use for it.

The mayor and the barns were used extensively however. The mayor worked out especially well as two people battled over a huge 25+ tile city (with a cathedral) that both people occupied with their mayors. I kept adding pieces to the city so that they could not complete it and my strategy worked. They never completed the city and, since it had a cathedral, neither person scored any points and I won.

[Novelty]

Did you complete any long roads with multiple inns in the game with barns and mayors?  I like the way A&M shakes things up a bit, but I'm still curious how this variant will play together with A&M.

[14cross]

Did you complete any long roads with multiple inns in the game with barns and mayors?  I like the way A&M shakes things up a bit, but I'm still curious how this variant will play together with A&M.

There were a couple of longer roads (7-8 tiles) completed with two Inns on it but not more than two this time. I saw no problems with using this variant. We also used my variant of scoring a cloister immediately when you first place it by scoring one point for every tile that surrounds the cloister and then scoring the completed cloister (9 points) when finished.