Players wont be able to get it back unless they pay a ransom using the only form of currency recognized in Carcassonne: victory points. During their turns, players will also have the opportunity to place meeples on the Wheel of Fortune for bonus points. The Count, on the other hand, is a little trickier to grasp and add to other expansions, but it adds a lot of new strategy with its ability to move meeples around the board. During the players' turns, cities, cloisters, and roads (but not fields) are scored when they are completedcities and roads when they are completed (i.e. This is the first expansion that does not include tiles, and is also the first time meeples have been released in plastic. So if you want to play a huge (and long) game of Carcassonne with every expansion available, go for it. 12 new tiles, eight featuring bazaars which introduce a new auction element to the game and four miscellaneous tiles. (I always like games I can take with me.) Resulting in adjusted scoring when completed. When its scored, everyone who contributed to building the meeple will receive the five points for their meeple. Carcassonne The Ferries (Carcassonne Die Fhren), 4. These expansions are generally compatible with each other and may be played together. With so many playthroughs, the expansions help keep an amazing game fresh and exciting every time its pulled off the shelf. [35], Ralph Querfurth has been the World Champion in four editions. This effectively doubles the first completed feature in the fief. The actual game-changing mechanics are slight but completely change the feel of the game, especially in the 2-3 player range. The third edition removes these exceptions and brings field scoring in line with the scoring of other features. If two players are working on a city, and a Princess is placed, it gives players the opportunity to force out the competition and keep the city for themselves. Abbey tiles that can fill in holes in the board and complete features. Carcassonne The Robbers (Carcassonne Die Ruber), 7. If youve read this far and havent played the base game, you need to start there (or with the Big Box). The new edition of the original game with river and abbot expansions, Comprehensive set of rules for all Carcassonne editions and variants on, This page was last edited on 22 July 2022, at 18:07. Thats worth a measly four points. In a 2017 Ars Technica holiday buyer's guide, it was described as "one of the absolutely foundational games of the modern board gaming hobby".[8]. Players may place an included ferry piece to extend a road. This list will be in the ranking order. This expansion is really a compilation of different mini-expansions that were released for the base game. Here are the 3 components this expansion includes: The auction system turns most people off to this expansion since, like The Tower, it adds a source of player interaction that most people enjoyed Carcassonne for not having. There is really only one component this expansion brings to the table: The expansion adds a dexterity component that a lot of people really disliked. In a hurry? As of writing, this game is almost 20 years old and still going strong. First, well take a look at the Abbey tiles. They score and are placed like any other meeple (except they cannot be farmers). Carcassonne Mage & Witch (Carcassonne Magier & Hexe), 6. The 3 main components of this expansion are: The Acrobats mechanic isnt really great since it eats up meeple and it doesnt score enough to make it worthwhile.
Players who are looking for a more exciting or hectic version are going to have fun playing around with the Catapult. Its a simple game that I can get a lot of non-gamer friends into and with the added expansions, theres always a new way to play, making it one of the most often-played games during a meetup. On each turn a player draws a new terrain tile and places it adjacent to tiles that are already face up. I really like this expansion. If you built the pyramid yourself, thats a bonus of 15 points. 8 tiles which incorporate the included gold bar pieces, which allow for bonus points at the end of the game. Tiles are drawn equal to the number of players and the first player chooses which tile he wants and places a bid for it. The Cathedrals that are added are a full tile that needs to be completely surrounded by city tiles. Gameplay will continue as normal, but whenever a Fortune tile is placed, the Vanna White meeple (its actually a pig meeple) will move around the Wheel of Fortune and players will receive various bonuses (or penalties), depending upon where it lands. At the end of the game, when there are no tiles remaining, all incomplete features are scored. The game starts with a single terrain tile face up and 71 others shuffled face down for the players to draw from. Its an excellent expansion and is an excellent starting point if you want to give it a try. This is an expansion that requires Carcassonne to play, Fun addition to the Carcassonne family of games. The player who completes the first city will gain the King token. However, this isnt a terribly complex expansion and the other new features make it a great addition. Once there are three meeples on an Acrobat tile, the tile is complete and ready to be scored. Barns are placed on the corners of four tiles that meet and the corners are all green fields. (New edition also has 2 King and 2 Robber Baron tokens to mark the largest city and road scored so far.). With more meeples, the player count jumps up to six, and theres an additional BIG MEEPLE. Special tiles with Inns and Cathedrals can be placed as part of roads and cities to enhance their valueprovided they are completed by the end of the game. The last addition is more meeples. A Fairy figure also allows protection to a follower and its tile from the dragon. 8 tiles which allow placement of a Robber, resulting in stealing some of another player's points. Carcassonne (/krksn/) is a tile-based German-style board game for two to five players, designed by Klaus-Jrgen Wrede and published in 2000 by Hans im Glck in German and by Rio Grande Games (until 2012) and Z-Man Games (currently)[1] in English. [4] The new tile must be placed in a way that extends features on the tiles it touches: roads must connect to roads, fields to fields, and cities to cities. Gamecows.com is a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a means for sites to earn advertising fees by advertising and linking to Amazon.com. But purchasing that is so much more than the current big box 7. However, the other two mechanics make this expansion worth getting. An opaque cloth bag which players can use while drawing tiles. The Catapult itself is very simple, made of unadorned pieces of wood put together that does exactly what its designed to do: fling things across your room. Giving players the options to remove opponents meeples, drastically changes gameplay and how you approach the game. Players who control a tower will be able to kidnap another players meeple on the board that is nearest the Tower.
8 tiles featuring roads leading to lakes. Its also one of my favorites for on-the-go and as a warm-up for bigger games. Its just much more fun to pull tiles out of a bag instead of a pile or a coffee mug. Acrobat tiles look like they have a blank rectangle in the center of them. Some say that although it adds a lot of new depth for strategy, it also really slows down the game. These can be used to gain some bonus points at the end of the game (if you have the most), giving players another option to pursue throughout the game. Once its time to score, each meeple is worth five points. Carcassonne The Flying Machines (Carcassonne Die Fluggerte), 2. Here is the order they came out in: Of course, buying them in the order they were released can be fun but you can buy expansions that would work better for you based on what you and your group like. The same thing happens for a few Bridge tiles. I really enjoy fantasy and all things related, but Princess & Dragon seemed like a flimsy excuse to appeal to a wider audience. Along with the Count is a set of tiles that will make up a premade city of Carcassonne. Six additional followers, 1 for each color that represent phantoms and allow a second follower to be placed on a turn. It still feels like Carcassonne and doesnt alter anything too drastically. [a] This exception is removed from the third edition, in which there is no difference between two-tile cities and cities of larger size. The Mayors have strength in a city equal to the number of shield icons in that city. Princess tiles are a new type of city tile. The part of the rule involving pennants was redundant, as it is impossible to have a two-tile completed city with pennants. In the Catapult rounds, players will have one of four actions. {"@context":"https://schema.org","@id":"https://video.mediavine.com/videos/n5gqcxsaizopkedgh29i","@type":"VideoObject","contentUrl":"https://mediavine-res.cloudinary.com/video/upload/t_original/v1637143867/n5gqcxsaizopkedgh29i.mp4","description":"Best Strategy Board Games","duration":"PT1M51S","keywords":"strategy, strategy games, strategy games, strategy board games, strategy board game, board game, board games","name":"Best Strategy Board Games","thumbnailUrl":["https://mediavine-res.cloudinary.com/image/upload/s--543PXl-N--/ar_16:9,c_fill,f_auto,fl_lossy,q_auto/v1637143940/bvyrejfxa41b0mtx83ow.jpg","https://mediavine-res.cloudinary.com/image/upload/s--lQ-BJ3-Z--/ar_4:3,c_fill,f_auto,fl_lossy,q_auto/v1637143940/bvyrejfxa41b0mtx83ow.jpg","https://mediavine-res.cloudinary.com/image/upload/s--axS7w-FJ--/ar_1:1,c_fill,f_auto,fl_lossy,q_auto/v1637143940/bvyrejfxa41b0mtx83ow.jpg"],"uploadDate":"2021-11-17T00:00:00.000Z"}. My favorite expansions are 1, 2, and 10. My favorite ones tend to be ones that add slight rule changes or add additional scoring systems that alter how I would normally play. (Can both be combined for more Corn Circles. So if youre playing this with anyone 8 or younger, it might be worth it if you find it available somewhere. Think of them as your wildcards. There are some great parts of this expansion but its not an essential one to get. Many expansions work off the base games strength to improve that feeling. The gameplay is going to feel very similar, but you get some more advanced options for scoring that allows veteran players and newer players several new strategies to explore.
Twelve tiles depicting the city of Carcassonne itself. When the next Circus tile is placed, a new animal token is drawn and placed on the newly placed tile and the Circus piece moves to the new tile. By adding a road tile to the Inn, the road will basically double in points. The Circus mechanic in particular is fun to play with and is the primary reason to buy this expansion. In total there are 10 main expansions and 14 mini-expansions which is an absolutely massive amount of additional content for any game. A new edition, with updated artwork on the tiles and the box, was released in 2014. [38][39], For the video game based on the board game, see, World Team Carcassonne Online Championship. Its worth mentioning that only one of these expansions (Inns & Cathedrals) adds to the player count bringing the max player size up to 6. Carcassonne is considered to be an excellent "gateway game" by many board game players[7] as it is a game that can be used to introduce new players to board games. A cardboard tile tower for easy tile storage, also acting as a mechanism from which tiles are drawn. It allows players another way to place meeples on the board to pick up extra points, and it forces players to be aware of what everyone is doing, instead of just focusing on their own buildings.
I really enjoy Carcassonne. King and Robber Baron tiles used to keep track of who built the largest road and city.
[36], As a result of the cancelation of World Championship in 2020, the community of Carcassonne Catalonia decided to create an online world championship for teams, to be played online for several weeks on the online platform Board Game Arena. Its just a little difficult to explain without showing somebody in-person on the board. 1 "shepherd" follower in each of the six colors (one for each player). However, it is possible for terrain features claimed by opposing players to become "shared" by the subsequent placement of tiles connecting them. Players are free to place meeples on any feature in the tile and dont need to place anything on the Circus. If you build a Castle you dont get any points from the city, but can get bonus points for things completed in the fief. The added rule change doesnt throw any serious monkey wrenches into the core rules and its often viewed as a rule-fix expansion. The fief will extend two tiles on either side of the Castle. There are 3 major components to this expansion: Of course, theres a little more to it than that but that is a basic rundown. A count figure, which can block paratrooping. However, this expansion seems like it was made for kids. When it gets activated players will begin to direct it around the board, destroying and eating meeples in its wake. Carcassonne, at its core, is a sleeper strategy game where the subtleties of placing a few tiles and workers have turned it into a classic strategy game that most gamers have on their shelves. Carcassonne has a silly amount of expansions, including a PC version on Steam. The Catapult expansion (if you can still find it) is generally considered the worst expansion for Carcassonne ever made. Vineyards tiles are new to Expansion 9 as well. Multiple meeples mean multiple scores. The greatest divergence in scoring rules between the editions of Carcassonne is in scoring for fields. There are some mechanics that the base game doesnt do well, so by adding in the new tiles, theres added risk and incentive to finish roads and cities. I also just think the sheep are cute so I may be a little biased. The Wheel of Fortune expansion isnt necessarily an expansion, but more of an alternative starting point for your first game of Carcassonne. Volcano and Dragon tiles that place and move the dragon. With a Castle, players can instead build a Castle and place a meeple on a two-tile city to create a fief. If, however, you want a serious board game, do not get this expansion. We couldnt end this list without including the original Carcassonne. In my eyes, Carcassonne isnt really a combative or high conflict game. Following the success of Carcassonne, a number of games have been spun off from the main game, all sharing similar mechanics. They can be placed anywhere another meeple could except for the acrobat square. Here are the 3 things this expansion adds: This is a solid expansion that adds a lot to the base game but doesnt overpower it. Check out our video below. Not compatible with the 10th anniversary edition of the base game (10th edition replaced all of the wooden meeples with the same plastic meeples used in the phantom expansion, which makes it impossible to tell them apart even though they would use new rules). There is a Dice Tower review that is excellent, if you want to look more into this expansion. Youll get increased methods of scoring, new tiles and meeples, and many helpful rule updates. Since it came out as the second expansion, many people have played and reviewed this expansion. A large pink pig animeeple that moves along the rim of the wheel. It adds depth and strategy without throwing too many monkey wrenches into the rules. Some cities will have a Bridge that will jump a space, expanding the city out even further. Bazaars add an auction round into the game. The Hill situation does come up, but its not going to break the game if you dont go after them. The mechanics are a little complicated to explain, but once you get them down its not so bad. A typical game, without any expansions, takes about 45 minutes to play. (New Edition has 2 large (2x3) tiles that form the city.). Traders & Builders adds an adorable piggy meeple and a new builder meeple. There is a substantial luck component to the game; however, good tactics greatly improve one's chances of winning. When the new Circus tiles are placed a random animal token is taken and placed face down underneath the Circus tent piece. The big meeple is placed like any other meeple, but for scoring purposes, it counts as two meeples instead of one. Six 50/100 point tiles to help keep score. Followers that allow a sixth player to play (grey 2002)(pink 2015). This expansion adds three new options for the players to choose from while playing the game. When placed, an Abbey tile completes everything around it that it is touching. The Vineyard tiles are worth three bonus points if they are scored as part of a Monastery. They kidnap other meeples and hold them for ransom, of course. For example, if someones trying to snatch control of one of your cities from you, then you can drop your Big Meeple in the city that will count as two meeples that will help you to keep control long enough to score it. Unlike some of the other ones, I think its one of the purest examples of an expansion.
Thus, followers from different fields contributed to the scoring for a city, and followers on a field may contribute to the scoring for multiple cities. The extra rules also do it in a way that is faithful to the base game and doesnt change the overall feeling of the game. If you draw a Wolf token, you lose all of your Sheep, score zero points, and the Shepherd returns to the supply. This is a great expansion to get to make the game better without adding much complexity. It does well both as a standalone expansion to the base game or in conjunction with pretty much any expansion but Id recommend playing it with Inns & Cathedrals. 12 River tiles that replace the single initial tile. For comparison, the Inns & Cathedrals expansion has almost 40,000 plays. Whoever has the King token at the end will receive bonus points for their city tiles. The second expansion, Traders & Builders, is highly regarded as the best expansion along with the first expansion. I havent played most of the expansions in 7, so am concerned it wont be as great an experience as the other big box Im used to! Traders & Builders does add several new scoring mechanics and abilities. I really like this expansion. Carcassonne has 10 main expansions. Then as players complete more roads, whoever builds the longest road will take control of the Robber token. Six stand-alone mini expansions, with each containing a tile for a seventh mini expansion. In the Catapult expansion, there are several new tiles that will force a Catapult round. The token is placed next to the Shepherd on the board, and any time you add to that field you can continue to draw tokens or score your Sheep and take back your Shepherd. 16 sheep tokens, featuring either one, two, three or four sheep each.
Who will put on the best show and draw the biggest crowd? They are the most faithful to the original game without adding too many extras and are generally the most well-received and easiest to get into out of all of the expansions. If two players have meeples for a completed feature, but one player has theirs on a Hill, the player with the hill will receive the points, and the other player gets nothing. The second edition considered different fields separately for each field, the players with the greatest number of followers in a field scored three points for each city adjacent to the field, although points were only scored once for any given city. 72 tiles with some new/different tiles as compared to the original base game. The Catapult expansion is an example of an expansion changing the dynamic of a game to appeal to a broader audience. Six new tiles depicting plague zones allowing players to remove followers from tiles. This expansion doesnt add much complexity to the game but it does make the base game better. Thats pretty much it. [32], The first official Carcassonne World Championship was held at SPIEL in Essen, Germany, in 2006. The push-your-luck aspect comes in when drawing new Sheep tokens. With a Bridge, you can place any grass tile, even if it doesnt have a road. The dragon adds a mini combat system in which players move the dragon meeple around the board to destroy other players' meeples. After placing each new tile, the placing player may opt to station a piece (called a "follower" or "meeple") on a feature of that newly placed tile.
This expansion fixes elements that some people disliked in the original game.
The Towers have a groove so that meeples can stand on them and not fall off which is a nice way to keep everything sturdy. Ten additional tiles (1 for each year since the game's release represent the festival) which allows players to either place a follower as normal, or take one back from any tile. Points are awarded to the players with the most followers in a feature. 6 tiles making a new Corn Circles expansion composed of each of the bonus tiles from the 6 minis. Ringmaster meeples work exactly like every other meeple. Each expansion adds something that I like and one of the best parts of the Carcassonne expansions is that for the most part, you can pick and choose which aspects you want to add to your game. When the symbol tile is completed, youll receive a token that matches the symbol. contain no unfinished edges from which they may be expanded), and cloisters when surrounded by eight tiles. 18 new tiles, 8 featuring hills, 8 featuring vineyards and 2 featuring cloisters.
You may notice that theres still no coin or currency in the game. Several official expansions for Carcassonne have been published, which add numerous additional rules, tiles and new kinds of figures. Were going to go through the expansions in the chronological order they were released since that affects their current availability, but also can give you some idea of the history of the game. The difference is when it comes to scoring. Who doesnt want to add a Catapult to their Carcassonne game? Its always nice having a set goal to look forward to when playing a game, but some players may find themselves so focused on the bonus points that the entire game becomes the pursuit of the Robber and King. When this happens, a Bridge is placed on top of that tile, indicating that the road continues up and over that tile and extends the road to the next connecting tile. What do the Towers do?, you might ask. This premade city is used as an alternative starting point. Whenever a Bazaar tile is placed the game stops and an auction round occurs. It brings a lot of fun elements that can be used with the game and if you dont like using all of them, theyre designed to be quickly removed or added to future games. Once placed, whenever a surrounding tile is built, players will be able to put a meeple on the Acrobat tile. Every time a player places a tile and completes an opponents feature, the player can move a meeple into Carcassonne. Check out the best Carcassonne expansions below. Carcassonne Inns & Cathedrals Board Game EXPANSION 1 | Family Board Game | Board Game for Adults and Carcassonne Traders & Builders Board Game EXPANSION 2 | Family Board Game | Board Game for Adults #6: Carcassonne: The Princess & The Dragon, #9: Carcassonne: Bridges, Castles and Bazaars. Count meeple to be placed in the city of Carcassonne.
40 followers (in 5 colors) and a scoreboard. There are 4 main things this expansion adds to the game: Of all of these mechanics, The Barn is the most complex since scoring changes based on whether there is a Pig or Castle present. However, if the city or road is not completed, it has zero value. This is a big bonus over the course of the game, but if you dont score your Sheep by the end of the game you wont receive any points for Sheep leftover on the board. The Wheel of Fortune a new mechanic based on icons on 16 tiles allowing an element of "fate" into the game. It is named after the medieval fortified town of Carcassonne in southern France, famed for its city walls.
Each player will start with an Abbey tile. If nothing is completed in the fief, then you get no points so youll have to balance risk and reward, depending on where you are at in the game. Examples of tactical considerations include: The game has been used in education to teach geographical concepts.[9]. What first attracted me to Carcassonne was the simplicity of placing a tile and looking for scoring options. Jonathan | December 24, 2020November 6, 2020 | Buying Guides. 12 fairground tiles that initiate a round using the catapult. Together, they can more than double the length of the game. Things start to get fantastical with Princess & The Dragon. The circus comes to Carcassonne with new meeple types and tiles. Your email address will not be published. Lets take a look. After they are scored, the meeples stay where they are and are removed as normal whenever the feature they are sitting on is completed. The Circus mechanics are interesting without breaking the scoring system and is overall just a solid addition to the Carcassonne world. By having the Big Box, you get to start with Inns & Cathedrals and you also have the extra meeples to extend the game to six players right out of the box. Its never that easy, of course, but its an example of how a simple mechanic thats done well creates a classic game. Anything touching an abbey can use it to complete its section. In the first and second editions of the game, completed cities covering just two tiles scored two points (one per tile) and one extra point for every pennant that resides in the city. I enjoy conflict, but it just feels wrong in Carcassonne. 6 new Messenger Meeple for the scorecard which allow for possible bonus points by drawing from a new stack of action tiles. You cant go wrong with this simple, yet strategic, multi-award-winning, tile-placement, city-builder. Hidden in the Sheep bag are two hungry Wolf tokens. Thats where he makes his fortune and thats where youll get your bonus points. Inns & Cathedrals, as you might guess, adds new scoring options for roads. There is also a travel-sized version of the original game, Travel Carcassonne (Reise-Carcassonne), released in 2007. International Carcassonne tournaments were held in Germany in 20032005. A lot of players really enjoy the new element added to the game, especially players who have played the base game to death. The Big Box comes with the first two large expansions: Inns & Cathedrals and Traders & Builders. Players can get some serious points when combined with some of the other expansions that focus on road building, like the Count, King & Robber expansion.
Inns add one point per road tile, while Cathedrals add one point per tile or pennant in a city. The rules are simple, no one is ever eliminated, and the play is fast. Princess tiles and Dragon figure allow for followers to be removed. Under the Big Top is a solid expansion. On the following turn, instead of placing a meeple, a player can instead choose to score the pyramid. The King works in much the same way, but with cities. You can pay your opponent 3 points to release your meeple. There are 2 parts to this expansion: I would recommend this expansion if you already have some other expansions for the base game and are just looking for something fun to spice the game up.
Players who are looking for a more exciting or hectic version are going to have fun playing around with the Catapult. Its a simple game that I can get a lot of non-gamer friends into and with the added expansions, theres always a new way to play, making it one of the most often-played games during a meetup. On each turn a player draws a new terrain tile and places it adjacent to tiles that are already face up. I really like this expansion. If you built the pyramid yourself, thats a bonus of 15 points. 8 tiles which incorporate the included gold bar pieces, which allow for bonus points at the end of the game. Tiles are drawn equal to the number of players and the first player chooses which tile he wants and places a bid for it. The Cathedrals that are added are a full tile that needs to be completely surrounded by city tiles. Gameplay will continue as normal, but whenever a Fortune tile is placed, the Vanna White meeple (its actually a pig meeple) will move around the Wheel of Fortune and players will receive various bonuses (or penalties), depending upon where it lands. At the end of the game, when there are no tiles remaining, all incomplete features are scored. The game starts with a single terrain tile face up and 71 others shuffled face down for the players to draw from. Its an excellent expansion and is an excellent starting point if you want to give it a try. This is an expansion that requires Carcassonne to play, Fun addition to the Carcassonne family of games. The player who completes the first city will gain the King token. However, this isnt a terribly complex expansion and the other new features make it a great addition. Once there are three meeples on an Acrobat tile, the tile is complete and ready to be scored. Barns are placed on the corners of four tiles that meet and the corners are all green fields. (New edition also has 2 King and 2 Robber Baron tokens to mark the largest city and road scored so far.). With more meeples, the player count jumps up to six, and theres an additional BIG MEEPLE. Special tiles with Inns and Cathedrals can be placed as part of roads and cities to enhance their valueprovided they are completed by the end of the game. The last addition is more meeples. A Fairy figure also allows protection to a follower and its tile from the dragon. 8 tiles which allow placement of a Robber, resulting in stealing some of another player's points. Carcassonne (/krksn/) is a tile-based German-style board game for two to five players, designed by Klaus-Jrgen Wrede and published in 2000 by Hans im Glck in German and by Rio Grande Games (until 2012) and Z-Man Games (currently)[1] in English. [4] The new tile must be placed in a way that extends features on the tiles it touches: roads must connect to roads, fields to fields, and cities to cities. Gamecows.com is a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a means for sites to earn advertising fees by advertising and linking to Amazon.com. But purchasing that is so much more than the current big box 7. However, the other two mechanics make this expansion worth getting. An opaque cloth bag which players can use while drawing tiles. The Catapult itself is very simple, made of unadorned pieces of wood put together that does exactly what its designed to do: fling things across your room. Giving players the options to remove opponents meeples, drastically changes gameplay and how you approach the game. Players who control a tower will be able to kidnap another players meeple on the board that is nearest the Tower.
8 tiles featuring roads leading to lakes. Its also one of my favorites for on-the-go and as a warm-up for bigger games. Its just much more fun to pull tiles out of a bag instead of a pile or a coffee mug. Acrobat tiles look like they have a blank rectangle in the center of them. Some say that although it adds a lot of new depth for strategy, it also really slows down the game. These can be used to gain some bonus points at the end of the game (if you have the most), giving players another option to pursue throughout the game. Once its time to score, each meeple is worth five points. Carcassonne The Flying Machines (Carcassonne Die Fluggerte), 2. Here is the order they came out in: Of course, buying them in the order they were released can be fun but you can buy expansions that would work better for you based on what you and your group like. The same thing happens for a few Bridge tiles. I really enjoy fantasy and all things related, but Princess & Dragon seemed like a flimsy excuse to appeal to a wider audience. Along with the Count is a set of tiles that will make up a premade city of Carcassonne. Six additional followers, 1 for each color that represent phantoms and allow a second follower to be placed on a turn. It still feels like Carcassonne and doesnt alter anything too drastically. [a] This exception is removed from the third edition, in which there is no difference between two-tile cities and cities of larger size. The Mayors have strength in a city equal to the number of shield icons in that city. Princess tiles are a new type of city tile. The part of the rule involving pennants was redundant, as it is impossible to have a two-tile completed city with pennants. In the Catapult rounds, players will have one of four actions. {"@context":"https://schema.org","@id":"https://video.mediavine.com/videos/n5gqcxsaizopkedgh29i","@type":"VideoObject","contentUrl":"https://mediavine-res.cloudinary.com/video/upload/t_original/v1637143867/n5gqcxsaizopkedgh29i.mp4","description":"Best Strategy Board Games","duration":"PT1M51S","keywords":"strategy, strategy games, strategy games, strategy board games, strategy board game, board game, board games","name":"Best Strategy Board Games","thumbnailUrl":["https://mediavine-res.cloudinary.com/image/upload/s--543PXl-N--/ar_16:9,c_fill,f_auto,fl_lossy,q_auto/v1637143940/bvyrejfxa41b0mtx83ow.jpg","https://mediavine-res.cloudinary.com/image/upload/s--lQ-BJ3-Z--/ar_4:3,c_fill,f_auto,fl_lossy,q_auto/v1637143940/bvyrejfxa41b0mtx83ow.jpg","https://mediavine-res.cloudinary.com/image/upload/s--axS7w-FJ--/ar_1:1,c_fill,f_auto,fl_lossy,q_auto/v1637143940/bvyrejfxa41b0mtx83ow.jpg"],"uploadDate":"2021-11-17T00:00:00.000Z"}. My favorite expansions are 1, 2, and 10. My favorite ones tend to be ones that add slight rule changes or add additional scoring systems that alter how I would normally play. (Can both be combined for more Corn Circles. So if youre playing this with anyone 8 or younger, it might be worth it if you find it available somewhere. Think of them as your wildcards. There are some great parts of this expansion but its not an essential one to get. Many expansions work off the base games strength to improve that feeling. The gameplay is going to feel very similar, but you get some more advanced options for scoring that allows veteran players and newer players several new strategies to explore.
Twelve tiles depicting the city of Carcassonne itself. When the next Circus tile is placed, a new animal token is drawn and placed on the newly placed tile and the Circus piece moves to the new tile. By adding a road tile to the Inn, the road will basically double in points. The Circus mechanic in particular is fun to play with and is the primary reason to buy this expansion. In total there are 10 main expansions and 14 mini-expansions which is an absolutely massive amount of additional content for any game. A new edition, with updated artwork on the tiles and the box, was released in 2014. [38][39], For the video game based on the board game, see, World Team Carcassonne Online Championship. Its worth mentioning that only one of these expansions (Inns & Cathedrals) adds to the player count bringing the max player size up to 6. Carcassonne is considered to be an excellent "gateway game" by many board game players[7] as it is a game that can be used to introduce new players to board games. A cardboard tile tower for easy tile storage, also acting as a mechanism from which tiles are drawn. It allows players another way to place meeples on the board to pick up extra points, and it forces players to be aware of what everyone is doing, instead of just focusing on their own buildings.
I really enjoy Carcassonne. King and Robber Baron tiles used to keep track of who built the largest road and city.
[36], As a result of the cancelation of World Championship in 2020, the community of Carcassonne Catalonia decided to create an online world championship for teams, to be played online for several weeks on the online platform Board Game Arena. Its just a little difficult to explain without showing somebody in-person on the board. 1 "shepherd" follower in each of the six colors (one for each player). However, it is possible for terrain features claimed by opposing players to become "shared" by the subsequent placement of tiles connecting them. Players are free to place meeples on any feature in the tile and dont need to place anything on the Circus. If you build a Castle you dont get any points from the city, but can get bonus points for things completed in the fief. The added rule change doesnt throw any serious monkey wrenches into the core rules and its often viewed as a rule-fix expansion. The fief will extend two tiles on either side of the Castle. There are 3 major components to this expansion: Of course, theres a little more to it than that but that is a basic rundown. A count figure, which can block paratrooping. However, this expansion seems like it was made for kids. When it gets activated players will begin to direct it around the board, destroying and eating meeples in its wake. Carcassonne, at its core, is a sleeper strategy game where the subtleties of placing a few tiles and workers have turned it into a classic strategy game that most gamers have on their shelves. Carcassonne has a silly amount of expansions, including a PC version on Steam. The Catapult expansion (if you can still find it) is generally considered the worst expansion for Carcassonne ever made. Vineyards tiles are new to Expansion 9 as well. Multiple meeples mean multiple scores. The greatest divergence in scoring rules between the editions of Carcassonne is in scoring for fields. There are some mechanics that the base game doesnt do well, so by adding in the new tiles, theres added risk and incentive to finish roads and cities. I also just think the sheep are cute so I may be a little biased. The Wheel of Fortune expansion isnt necessarily an expansion, but more of an alternative starting point for your first game of Carcassonne. Volcano and Dragon tiles that place and move the dragon. With a Castle, players can instead build a Castle and place a meeple on a two-tile city to create a fief. If, however, you want a serious board game, do not get this expansion. We couldnt end this list without including the original Carcassonne. In my eyes, Carcassonne isnt really a combative or high conflict game. Following the success of Carcassonne, a number of games have been spun off from the main game, all sharing similar mechanics. They can be placed anywhere another meeple could except for the acrobat square. Here are the 3 things this expansion adds: This is a solid expansion that adds a lot to the base game but doesnt overpower it. Check out our video below. Not compatible with the 10th anniversary edition of the base game (10th edition replaced all of the wooden meeples with the same plastic meeples used in the phantom expansion, which makes it impossible to tell them apart even though they would use new rules). There is a Dice Tower review that is excellent, if you want to look more into this expansion. Youll get increased methods of scoring, new tiles and meeples, and many helpful rule updates. Since it came out as the second expansion, many people have played and reviewed this expansion. A large pink pig animeeple that moves along the rim of the wheel. It adds depth and strategy without throwing too many monkey wrenches into the rules. Some cities will have a Bridge that will jump a space, expanding the city out even further. Bazaars add an auction round into the game. The Hill situation does come up, but its not going to break the game if you dont go after them. The mechanics are a little complicated to explain, but once you get them down its not so bad. A typical game, without any expansions, takes about 45 minutes to play. (New Edition has 2 large (2x3) tiles that form the city.). Traders & Builders adds an adorable piggy meeple and a new builder meeple. There is a substantial luck component to the game; however, good tactics greatly improve one's chances of winning. When the new Circus tiles are placed a random animal token is taken and placed face down underneath the Circus tent piece. The big meeple is placed like any other meeple, but for scoring purposes, it counts as two meeples instead of one. Six 50/100 point tiles to help keep score. Followers that allow a sixth player to play (grey 2002)(pink 2015). This expansion adds three new options for the players to choose from while playing the game. When placed, an Abbey tile completes everything around it that it is touching. The Vineyard tiles are worth three bonus points if they are scored as part of a Monastery. They kidnap other meeples and hold them for ransom, of course. For example, if someones trying to snatch control of one of your cities from you, then you can drop your Big Meeple in the city that will count as two meeples that will help you to keep control long enough to score it. Unlike some of the other ones, I think its one of the purest examples of an expansion.
Thus, followers from different fields contributed to the scoring for a city, and followers on a field may contribute to the scoring for multiple cities. The extra rules also do it in a way that is faithful to the base game and doesnt change the overall feeling of the game. If you draw a Wolf token, you lose all of your Sheep, score zero points, and the Shepherd returns to the supply. This is a great expansion to get to make the game better without adding much complexity. It does well both as a standalone expansion to the base game or in conjunction with pretty much any expansion but Id recommend playing it with Inns & Cathedrals. 12 River tiles that replace the single initial tile. For comparison, the Inns & Cathedrals expansion has almost 40,000 plays. Whoever has the King token at the end will receive bonus points for their city tiles. The second expansion, Traders & Builders, is highly regarded as the best expansion along with the first expansion. I havent played most of the expansions in 7, so am concerned it wont be as great an experience as the other big box Im used to! Traders & Builders does add several new scoring mechanics and abilities. I really like this expansion. Carcassonne has 10 main expansions. Then as players complete more roads, whoever builds the longest road will take control of the Robber token. Six stand-alone mini expansions, with each containing a tile for a seventh mini expansion. In the Catapult expansion, there are several new tiles that will force a Catapult round. The token is placed next to the Shepherd on the board, and any time you add to that field you can continue to draw tokens or score your Sheep and take back your Shepherd. 16 sheep tokens, featuring either one, two, three or four sheep each.
Who will put on the best show and draw the biggest crowd? They are the most faithful to the original game without adding too many extras and are generally the most well-received and easiest to get into out of all of the expansions. If two players have meeples for a completed feature, but one player has theirs on a Hill, the player with the hill will receive the points, and the other player gets nothing. The second edition considered different fields separately for each field, the players with the greatest number of followers in a field scored three points for each city adjacent to the field, although points were only scored once for any given city. 72 tiles with some new/different tiles as compared to the original base game. The Catapult expansion is an example of an expansion changing the dynamic of a game to appeal to a broader audience. Six new tiles depicting plague zones allowing players to remove followers from tiles. This expansion doesnt add much complexity to the game but it does make the base game better. Thats pretty much it. [32], The first official Carcassonne World Championship was held at SPIEL in Essen, Germany, in 2006. The push-your-luck aspect comes in when drawing new Sheep tokens. With a Bridge, you can place any grass tile, even if it doesnt have a road. The dragon adds a mini combat system in which players move the dragon meeple around the board to destroy other players' meeples. After placing each new tile, the placing player may opt to station a piece (called a "follower" or "meeple") on a feature of that newly placed tile.
This expansion fixes elements that some people disliked in the original game.
The Towers have a groove so that meeples can stand on them and not fall off which is a nice way to keep everything sturdy. Ten additional tiles (1 for each year since the game's release represent the festival) which allows players to either place a follower as normal, or take one back from any tile. Points are awarded to the players with the most followers in a feature. 6 tiles making a new Corn Circles expansion composed of each of the bonus tiles from the 6 minis. Ringmaster meeples work exactly like every other meeple. Each expansion adds something that I like and one of the best parts of the Carcassonne expansions is that for the most part, you can pick and choose which aspects you want to add to your game. When the symbol tile is completed, youll receive a token that matches the symbol. contain no unfinished edges from which they may be expanded), and cloisters when surrounded by eight tiles. 18 new tiles, 8 featuring hills, 8 featuring vineyards and 2 featuring cloisters.
You may notice that theres still no coin or currency in the game. Several official expansions for Carcassonne have been published, which add numerous additional rules, tiles and new kinds of figures. Were going to go through the expansions in the chronological order they were released since that affects their current availability, but also can give you some idea of the history of the game. The difference is when it comes to scoring. Who doesnt want to add a Catapult to their Carcassonne game? Its always nice having a set goal to look forward to when playing a game, but some players may find themselves so focused on the bonus points that the entire game becomes the pursuit of the Robber and King. When this happens, a Bridge is placed on top of that tile, indicating that the road continues up and over that tile and extends the road to the next connecting tile. What do the Towers do?, you might ask. This premade city is used as an alternative starting point. Whenever a Bazaar tile is placed the game stops and an auction round occurs. It brings a lot of fun elements that can be used with the game and if you dont like using all of them, theyre designed to be quickly removed or added to future games. Once placed, whenever a surrounding tile is built, players will be able to put a meeple on the Acrobat tile. Every time a player places a tile and completes an opponents feature, the player can move a meeple into Carcassonne. Check out the best Carcassonne expansions below. Carcassonne Inns & Cathedrals Board Game EXPANSION 1 | Family Board Game | Board Game for Adults and Carcassonne Traders & Builders Board Game EXPANSION 2 | Family Board Game | Board Game for Adults #6: Carcassonne: The Princess & The Dragon, #9: Carcassonne: Bridges, Castles and Bazaars. Count meeple to be placed in the city of Carcassonne.
40 followers (in 5 colors) and a scoreboard. There are 4 main things this expansion adds to the game: Of all of these mechanics, The Barn is the most complex since scoring changes based on whether there is a Pig or Castle present. However, if the city or road is not completed, it has zero value. This is a big bonus over the course of the game, but if you dont score your Sheep by the end of the game you wont receive any points for Sheep leftover on the board. The Wheel of Fortune a new mechanic based on icons on 16 tiles allowing an element of "fate" into the game. It is named after the medieval fortified town of Carcassonne in southern France, famed for its city walls.
Each player will start with an Abbey tile. If nothing is completed in the fief, then you get no points so youll have to balance risk and reward, depending on where you are at in the game. Examples of tactical considerations include: The game has been used in education to teach geographical concepts.[9]. What first attracted me to Carcassonne was the simplicity of placing a tile and looking for scoring options. Jonathan | December 24, 2020November 6, 2020 | Buying Guides. 12 fairground tiles that initiate a round using the catapult. Together, they can more than double the length of the game. Things start to get fantastical with Princess & The Dragon. The circus comes to Carcassonne with new meeple types and tiles. Your email address will not be published. Lets take a look. After they are scored, the meeples stay where they are and are removed as normal whenever the feature they are sitting on is completed. The Circus mechanics are interesting without breaking the scoring system and is overall just a solid addition to the Carcassonne world. By having the Big Box, you get to start with Inns & Cathedrals and you also have the extra meeples to extend the game to six players right out of the box. Its never that easy, of course, but its an example of how a simple mechanic thats done well creates a classic game. Anything touching an abbey can use it to complete its section. In the first and second editions of the game, completed cities covering just two tiles scored two points (one per tile) and one extra point for every pennant that resides in the city. I enjoy conflict, but it just feels wrong in Carcassonne. 6 new Messenger Meeple for the scorecard which allow for possible bonus points by drawing from a new stack of action tiles. You cant go wrong with this simple, yet strategic, multi-award-winning, tile-placement, city-builder. Hidden in the Sheep bag are two hungry Wolf tokens. Thats where he makes his fortune and thats where youll get your bonus points. Inns & Cathedrals, as you might guess, adds new scoring options for roads. There is also a travel-sized version of the original game, Travel Carcassonne (Reise-Carcassonne), released in 2007. International Carcassonne tournaments were held in Germany in 20032005. A lot of players really enjoy the new element added to the game, especially players who have played the base game to death. The Big Box comes with the first two large expansions: Inns & Cathedrals and Traders & Builders. Players can get some serious points when combined with some of the other expansions that focus on road building, like the Count, King & Robber expansion.
Inns add one point per road tile, while Cathedrals add one point per tile or pennant in a city. The rules are simple, no one is ever eliminated, and the play is fast. Princess tiles and Dragon figure allow for followers to be removed. Under the Big Top is a solid expansion. On the following turn, instead of placing a meeple, a player can instead choose to score the pyramid. The King works in much the same way, but with cities. You can pay your opponent 3 points to release your meeple. There are 2 parts to this expansion: I would recommend this expansion if you already have some other expansions for the base game and are just looking for something fun to spice the game up.