Mists over Carcassonne The Spell Circles
Mists over Carcassonne - The Spell Circles incorporates spell circles to the mist. They attract ghosts and keep them trapped in the mist. The ghosts will only be freed when the mist bank is completed, but the players may count on the help of cat Eloise.
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 Promotional image of The Spell Circles posted on CundCo |
In the mists over Carcassonne, magic spell circles have appeared that attract ghosts and keep them trapped in the mist. Only when the mist bank is completed, the ghosts will be freed. Luckily, cat Eloise is on hand to help the players.
General info and comments
The Spell Circles was released by Hans im Glück in 2023.
It is a mini expansion for Mists over Carcassonne that can also be used with the Carcassonne base game as a mini expansion to Exp. 11 - Ghosts, Castles & Cemeteries.
You can play The Spell Circles with all levels of Mists over Carcassonne.
This expansion has cities with clipped buildings.
Contents
- 9 new landscape tiles with mist and spell circles
- 1 standing cat named Eloise (to be assembled before the first game)
Tiles featuring mist and spell circles
The Eloise token once assembled
Rules
Preparation
As usual, place the starting tile in the center of the table and place 3 ghosts on it.
Place the cat at the edge of the play area. Then place 7 ghosts in front of the cat. The remaining ghosts (depending on the level) are placed in a separate supply next to the play area. Shuffle the 9 tiles with spell circles with the rest of the tiles. Then setup the game as usual, depending on which level you want to play.
Note: For levels 3-6, you must divide the tiles into 3 equal stacks of 23 tiles each.
Unless otherwise described here, the rules from Mists over Carcassonne still apply.
The spell circles
1. Placing a tile
If you draw a tile with a spell circle, you place it according to the usual rules.
2a. Placing ghosts
If you have placed a tile with one or more spell circles, you must place 1 ghost in each spell circle shown. Spell circles draw in ghosts that are nearby.
You must therefore move ghosts from other tiles are directly adjacent (8 tiles, orthogonally or diagonally) to the placed tile. Place them in the spell circles shown. If you cannot move enough ghosts, you must take the remaining ghosts from the supply until all the spell circles are occupied.
Important: You cannot move ghosts that are already in spell circles.
Level 2-4: You only have to place an extra ghost to an open cemetery if you place a ghost from the supply into a spell circle. If you only move ghosts that are already on the game board, you do not have to add a ghost to the cemetery. Ghosts from cemeteries can also be drawn into spell circles.
The spell circles have another special feature: Ghosts that are trapped in spell circles are held until the mist bank in which the spell circle is located is completed.
So you cannot remove these ghosts by foregoing a scoring. You will only get them back into your supply when you complete the mist bank.
From level 3: Even the hounds cannot remove ghosts from spell circles.
Note: If you limit a mist bank with spell circles in it, you can no longer remove the ghosts in these spell circles.
Special case: If you place a tile with spell circles in such a way that it completes a mist, you don't place additional ghosts in these spell circles. [1]
2b. Placing a meeple
If you placed a tile with spell circles, you may also place a meeple on the tile as usual. A meeple cannot be placed on a spell circle.
3. Scoring a feature
If you completed a feature with one or more tiles with spell circles, score it as usual. The spell circles do not affect the scoring.
The cat Eloise
2a. Placing ghosts
At the beginning of the game there are 7 ghosts in front of the cat Eloise. Whenever you have to take ghosts from the supply, you take them from the cat's supply. If you remove ghosts from the board, you also put them back into the cat’s supply.
As soon as there are no more ghosts in the cat’s supply (i.e. 10 or more ghosts on the board), you must place the cat. [2]
Immediately place the cat next to any unburied meeple of your choice on the board.
2b. Placing a meeple
After placing the cat Eloise, you may place a meeple according to the usual rules.
3. Scoring a feature
As soon as you score the meeple with the cat, you immediately get as many points as there are ghosts in spell circles at that time. [3]
Return the scored meeple to your supply as usual. After the scoring phase, move the cat to another meeple on the board.
If this meeple is scored, you again get points for ghosts in spell circles, then move the cat, etc. So the cat stays in the game until you win or lose.
You still have the usual number of ghosts available. When the supply in front of Eloise is empty, you take the other ghosts from the separate supply. Once the cat is in play, you have 1 ghost supply as usual.
Special case: If you don't have a meeple on the game board and you have to place Eloise, you place her next to the game board. You then place her again together with the next meeple.
Tile distribution
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×1 ×1Footnotes
For Icons explanation and licensing please visit Icons page.
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This clarification was added in a revised version of the rules. (12/2023)
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The rules mention 10 ghosts because, you already placed 3 ghosts on the start tile.
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You score the completed feature first and you may choose to forgo its points in order to remove ghosts from a tile as usual (except from spell circles). Then you score the cat, but you may never choose to forego its points to remove ghosts instead, the same as with the hounds (these points do not correspond to a feature).