There is a substantial luck component to the game; however, good tactics greatly improve one's chances of winning. 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. A "pig" follower which increases the value of a field it is placed in. Under the Big Top is a solid expansion. On top of that, the expansion fits easily into the others, making it one of my favorites. If, however, you want a serious board game, do not get this expansion. 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. The expansion adds some flavor into the mix with the Robber and King. Followers that allow a sixth player to play (grey 2002)(pink 2015). Six 50/100 point tiles to help keep score. In the base game, when you place a road going to a city it stops the road completely. They can be placed anywhere another meeple could except for the acrobat square. Tiles are drawn equal to the number of players and the first player chooses which tile he wants and places a bid for it. Bazaars add an auction round into the game. With a Bridge, you can place any grass tile, even if it doesnt have a road. Once a castle is built and a fief has been established, the first feature completed in the fief is scored like normal but the meeple in the Castle is also scored for the same amount of points.
Six stand-alone mini expansions, with each containing a tile for a seventh mini expansion. The Catapult expansion is an example of an expansion changing the dynamic of a game to appeal to a broader audience. There is a Dice Tower review that is excellent, if you want to look more into this expansion.
The added rule change doesnt throw any serious monkey wrenches into the core rules and its often viewed as a rule-fix expansion. Thats worth a measly four points.
18 new tiles, 8 featuring hills, 8 featuring vineyards and 2 featuring cloisters. There are 3 major components to this expansion: Of course, theres a little more to it than that but that is a basic rundown. My favorite part of this expansion is THE TOWER.
The rules are simple, no one is ever eliminated, and the play is fast.
It adds enough depth to make the game interesting, especially if youve played the original to death. 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.
The second expansion, Traders & Builders, is highly regarded as the best expansion along with the first expansion. 8 tiles featuring roads leading to lakes. With so many expansions out there for Carcassonne, there are some great ones but there are also some absolutely terrible ones. The King works in much the same way, but with cities. Its absolutely not necessary to have, but its a very nice addition to the game as aesthetics are an important part of board games. 5 additional tiles, with combinations that were previously missing. 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.
This list will be in the ranking order. 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.
[33] An annual world championship has been held at SPIEL every year since 2006 with the exceptions of the fifth championship, which was held on 24 October 2010 during SPIEL but at an alternate location in Herne, Germany; and the 2020 edition which was canceled due to the COVID-19 pandemic. When its scored, everyone who contributed to building the meeple will receive the five points for their meeple. 72 tiles with some new/different tiles as compared to the original base game.
It also comes with 9 other smaller expansions that add smaller changes to the core rules of the game.
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. The first player to build a road will get the Robber token. 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.
As of writing, this game is almost 20 years old and still going strong. If all else fails, it does make for an incredible drinking game.
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.
Its just a little difficult to explain without showing somebody in-person on the board. 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. Its a small change but it makes the Monasteries much stronger. Your email address will not be published. A new start-tile which depicts the Wheel of Fortune. The base game even comes with 2 mini-expansions (The River and The Abbot). "The best beginner board games for adults", "There seem to be several different scoring systems for fields/cities in Carcassonne which is correct? 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. Any player that places a tile adjacent to the Acrobat tile can add a meeple to the pyramid. Required fields are marked *. In the Catapult expansion, there are several new tiles that will force a Catapult round.
When its activated players will be able to choose where it goes, but the dragon cannot return to tiles its already been on, which stops players from having it bounce back and forth in the corner of the board. This expansion is really a compilation of different mini-expansions that were released for the base game. I also just think the sheep are cute so I may be a little biased. (New edition also has 2 King and 2 Robber Baron tokens to mark the largest city and road scored so far.).
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. This is the first actual expansion released for Carcassonne. 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. The Wheel of Fortune a new mechanic based on icons on 16 tiles allowing an element of "fate" into the game. [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. The main components of this expansion are: If you enjoy set collection games, this is a fantastic expansion to go for. Another new element are Barns. The third edition removes these exceptions and brings field scoring in line with the scoring of other features. The roads are the Robbers domain. Multiple meeples mean multiple scores. Normally when placing a tile that has a road youll need to place a tile that matches the road tile. The Cathedrals that are added are a full tile that needs to be completely surrounded by city tiles. You can pay your opponent 3 points to release your meeple. This expansion takes a happy tile-laying game and lights it on fire dragon fire. As players make bigger and bigger cities, control of the token will pass between the largest landowner. Meeples can also be placed on the Abbey to score as a Monastery. So if you want to play a huge (and long) game of Carcassonne with every expansion available, go for it. Together, they can more than double the length of the game. During their turns, players will also have the opportunity to place meeples on the Wheel of Fortune for bonus points.
12 new tiles to create a larger, forked river, A new spring with a road, which separates a field, thereby preventing some very large fields as allowed by the original, Six tiles depicting heretical shrines that can be used in rivalries with cloisters and abbeys, Four new tiles and twelve chips to create tunnels, Six new tiles depicting three pairs of symbols allowing players to add or remove followers from other tiles. 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. The Tunnels on the new tiles will sometimes continue on the other side allowing some really cool roads to be built and to continue on for more points. 16 sheep tokens, featuring either one, two, three or four sheep each. 8 tiles which allow placement of a Robber, resulting in stealing some of another player's points. The Circus mechanics are interesting without breaking the scoring system and is overall just a solid addition to the Carcassonne world.
For such a cutesy theme, the Princess & The Dragon is a little bit cutthroat.
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.
There are 5 pieces of this expansion: Of course, The River mini-expansion comes with every new version of Carcassonne so The River II isnt super exciting. Inns & CathedralsTraders & BuildersThe AbbotThe River IThe Flying MachinesThe FerriesThe MessengersThe Gold MinesMage & WitchThe RobbersThe Crop Circles. This one adds a lot of new elements that really change up Carcassonne gameplay.
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. The first place to start when delving into the expansions is most likely going to be with the first and second large expansions. 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. Its worth mentioning that only one of these expansions (Inns & Cathedrals) adds to the player count bringing the max player size up to 6. For example, two separate field tiles (each with a follower) can become connected into a single field by another terrain tile. Players will be bidding with the only recognized form of currency in Carcassonne: victory points. [37] It is called the World Team Carcassonne Online Championship (WTCOC) and the Japanese team won the first edition. The difference is when it comes to scoring. You cant go wrong with this simple, yet strategic, multi-award-winning, tile-placement, city-builder.
The Circus mechanic in particular is fun to play with and is the primary reason to buy this expansion. Once there are three meeples on an Acrobat tile, the tile is complete and ready to be scored. The same thing happens for a few Bridge tiles. This expansion allows players to become shepherds on the hills in addition to the usual thieves, knights, monks, and farmers. If you have a favorite Carcassonne expansion that I didnt mention, or just want to talk board games, wed love to hear from you. With more meeples, the player count jumps up to six, and theres an additional BIG MEEPLE. Its also one of my favorites for on-the-go and as a warm-up for bigger games. 5 tiles with Shrines from the Cult mini expansion. As an extra bonus, if you look at some of the new tiles added to the expansion youll notice some Tunnels and Bridges. If you build a Castle you dont get any points from the city, but can get bonus points for things completed in the fief. Great article! My favorite ones tend to be ones that add slight rule changes or add additional scoring systems that alter how I would normally play. In total there are 10 main expansions and 14 mini-expansions which is an absolutely massive amount of additional content for any game. This allows them to rapidly score and redeploy as they move across the board and helps players pick up some easy points.
When placed, an Abbey tile completes everything around it that it is touching. It can also be used as a draw bag to pull tiles from. When a Barn is placed, the farmers on fields connected to the barn can be scored immediately and returned to the supply pile to be used elsewhere. Six new tiles depicting plague zones allowing players to remove followers from tiles. The Shepherd meeple and Sheep tiles add a push-your-luck mechanic to the game. Twelve tiles depicting the city of Carcassonne itself. The last addition is more meeples. 8 tiles which incorporate the included gold bar pieces, which allow for bonus points at the end of the game. With a Castle, players can instead build a Castle and place a meeple on a two-tile city to create a fief. This expansion has one central mechanic (The Circus) that is added, with two side mechanics that add only a little interest to the game. 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. ), Two blank white tiles for use in making custom expansions. The Vineyards and the Hills are a little weak in my opinion.
A large figure that counts as two followers, when calculating who scores points for the completed feature. My favorite expansions are 1, 2, and 10. The game is fun and if you enjoy Carcassonne but dont own a copy, this would be a good choice. Needing to recruit some other players to get addicted. Carcassonne The Gold Mines (Carcassonne Die Goldminen), 5. Otherwise, just get it if youre trying to complete the collection. 1 cloth bag for the sheep and wolf tokens. First, well take a look at the Abbey tiles. Whenever you build a field you can place your Shephard meeple on a field. Each Catapult round has a different goal so other players wont always be trying to catch the missiles as you shoot at their meeples. The changes are subtle and give players more options to score while keeping the original feel of Carcassonne that so many of us have fallen in love with.
Giving players the options to remove opponents meeples, drastically changes gameplay and how you approach the game. It can be all one player, or a mix of three players meeples to complete the pyramid. 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. I really enjoy fantasy and all things related, but Princess & Dragon seemed like a flimsy excuse to appeal to a wider audience. Each player will start with an Abbey tile. They kidnap other meeples and hold them for ransom, of course. 12 River tiles that replace the single initial tile. Being taller always has its advantages.
However, this game does bring some good stuff to the table and many players are big fans of this expansion. Inns & Cathedrals adds more of the good stuff to Carcassonne. 6 tiles making a new Corn Circles expansion composed of each of the bonus tiles from the 6 minis. In general (see table), points are awarded for the number of tiles covered by a feature; cloisters score for neighboring tiles; and fields score based on the number of connected completed cities. The Count starts in the castle space in Carcassonne and will move throughout the city during the course of the game. Traders & Builders sits as many players favorite expansion for Carcassonne. Things start to get fantastical with Princess & The Dragon. The most complicated portion of this expansion is the Count: a big purple meeple that reminds me of a mashup between the Hamburglar and a vampire. When a Princess city tile is placed on a city, one meeple is forced to leave. 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.
Six stand-alone mini expansions, with each containing a tile for a seventh mini expansion. The Catapult expansion is an example of an expansion changing the dynamic of a game to appeal to a broader audience. There is a Dice Tower review that is excellent, if you want to look more into this expansion.
The added rule change doesnt throw any serious monkey wrenches into the core rules and its often viewed as a rule-fix expansion. Thats worth a measly four points.
18 new tiles, 8 featuring hills, 8 featuring vineyards and 2 featuring cloisters. There are 3 major components to this expansion: Of course, theres a little more to it than that but that is a basic rundown. My favorite part of this expansion is THE TOWER. The rules are simple, no one is ever eliminated, and the play is fast.
It adds enough depth to make the game interesting, especially if youve played the original to death. 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.
The second expansion, Traders & Builders, is highly regarded as the best expansion along with the first expansion. 8 tiles featuring roads leading to lakes. With so many expansions out there for Carcassonne, there are some great ones but there are also some absolutely terrible ones. The King works in much the same way, but with cities. Its absolutely not necessary to have, but its a very nice addition to the game as aesthetics are an important part of board games. 5 additional tiles, with combinations that were previously missing. 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.
This list will be in the ranking order. 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.
[33] An annual world championship has been held at SPIEL every year since 2006 with the exceptions of the fifth championship, which was held on 24 October 2010 during SPIEL but at an alternate location in Herne, Germany; and the 2020 edition which was canceled due to the COVID-19 pandemic. When its scored, everyone who contributed to building the meeple will receive the five points for their meeple. 72 tiles with some new/different tiles as compared to the original base game.
It also comes with 9 other smaller expansions that add smaller changes to the core rules of the game.
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. The first player to build a road will get the Robber token. 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.
As of writing, this game is almost 20 years old and still going strong. If all else fails, it does make for an incredible drinking game.
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.
Its just a little difficult to explain without showing somebody in-person on the board. 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. Its a small change but it makes the Monasteries much stronger. Your email address will not be published. A new start-tile which depicts the Wheel of Fortune. The base game even comes with 2 mini-expansions (The River and The Abbot). "The best beginner board games for adults", "There seem to be several different scoring systems for fields/cities in Carcassonne which is correct? 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. Any player that places a tile adjacent to the Acrobat tile can add a meeple to the pyramid. Required fields are marked *. In the Catapult expansion, there are several new tiles that will force a Catapult round.
When its activated players will be able to choose where it goes, but the dragon cannot return to tiles its already been on, which stops players from having it bounce back and forth in the corner of the board. This expansion is really a compilation of different mini-expansions that were released for the base game. I also just think the sheep are cute so I may be a little biased. (New edition also has 2 King and 2 Robber Baron tokens to mark the largest city and road scored so far.).
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. This is the first actual expansion released for Carcassonne. 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. The Wheel of Fortune a new mechanic based on icons on 16 tiles allowing an element of "fate" into the game. [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. The main components of this expansion are: If you enjoy set collection games, this is a fantastic expansion to go for. Another new element are Barns. The third edition removes these exceptions and brings field scoring in line with the scoring of other features. The roads are the Robbers domain. Multiple meeples mean multiple scores. Normally when placing a tile that has a road youll need to place a tile that matches the road tile. The Cathedrals that are added are a full tile that needs to be completely surrounded by city tiles. You can pay your opponent 3 points to release your meeple. This expansion takes a happy tile-laying game and lights it on fire dragon fire. As players make bigger and bigger cities, control of the token will pass between the largest landowner. Meeples can also be placed on the Abbey to score as a Monastery. So if you want to play a huge (and long) game of Carcassonne with every expansion available, go for it. Together, they can more than double the length of the game. During their turns, players will also have the opportunity to place meeples on the Wheel of Fortune for bonus points.
12 new tiles to create a larger, forked river, A new spring with a road, which separates a field, thereby preventing some very large fields as allowed by the original, Six tiles depicting heretical shrines that can be used in rivalries with cloisters and abbeys, Four new tiles and twelve chips to create tunnels, Six new tiles depicting three pairs of symbols allowing players to add or remove followers from other tiles. 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. The Tunnels on the new tiles will sometimes continue on the other side allowing some really cool roads to be built and to continue on for more points. 16 sheep tokens, featuring either one, two, three or four sheep each. 8 tiles which allow placement of a Robber, resulting in stealing some of another player's points. The Circus mechanics are interesting without breaking the scoring system and is overall just a solid addition to the Carcassonne world.
For such a cutesy theme, the Princess & The Dragon is a little bit cutthroat.
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.
There are 5 pieces of this expansion: Of course, The River mini-expansion comes with every new version of Carcassonne so The River II isnt super exciting. Inns & CathedralsTraders & BuildersThe AbbotThe River IThe Flying MachinesThe FerriesThe MessengersThe Gold MinesMage & WitchThe RobbersThe Crop Circles. This one adds a lot of new elements that really change up Carcassonne gameplay.
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. The first place to start when delving into the expansions is most likely going to be with the first and second large expansions. 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. Its worth mentioning that only one of these expansions (Inns & Cathedrals) adds to the player count bringing the max player size up to 6. For example, two separate field tiles (each with a follower) can become connected into a single field by another terrain tile. Players will be bidding with the only recognized form of currency in Carcassonne: victory points. [37] It is called the World Team Carcassonne Online Championship (WTCOC) and the Japanese team won the first edition. The difference is when it comes to scoring. You cant go wrong with this simple, yet strategic, multi-award-winning, tile-placement, city-builder.
The Circus mechanic in particular is fun to play with and is the primary reason to buy this expansion. Once there are three meeples on an Acrobat tile, the tile is complete and ready to be scored. The same thing happens for a few Bridge tiles. This expansion allows players to become shepherds on the hills in addition to the usual thieves, knights, monks, and farmers. If you have a favorite Carcassonne expansion that I didnt mention, or just want to talk board games, wed love to hear from you. With more meeples, the player count jumps up to six, and theres an additional BIG MEEPLE. Its also one of my favorites for on-the-go and as a warm-up for bigger games. 5 tiles with Shrines from the Cult mini expansion. As an extra bonus, if you look at some of the new tiles added to the expansion youll notice some Tunnels and Bridges. If you build a Castle you dont get any points from the city, but can get bonus points for things completed in the fief. Great article! My favorite ones tend to be ones that add slight rule changes or add additional scoring systems that alter how I would normally play. In total there are 10 main expansions and 14 mini-expansions which is an absolutely massive amount of additional content for any game. This allows them to rapidly score and redeploy as they move across the board and helps players pick up some easy points.
When placed, an Abbey tile completes everything around it that it is touching. It can also be used as a draw bag to pull tiles from. When a Barn is placed, the farmers on fields connected to the barn can be scored immediately and returned to the supply pile to be used elsewhere. Six new tiles depicting plague zones allowing players to remove followers from tiles. The Shepherd meeple and Sheep tiles add a push-your-luck mechanic to the game. Twelve tiles depicting the city of Carcassonne itself. The last addition is more meeples. 8 tiles which incorporate the included gold bar pieces, which allow for bonus points at the end of the game. With a Castle, players can instead build a Castle and place a meeple on a two-tile city to create a fief. This expansion has one central mechanic (The Circus) that is added, with two side mechanics that add only a little interest to the game. 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. ), Two blank white tiles for use in making custom expansions. The Vineyards and the Hills are a little weak in my opinion.
A large figure that counts as two followers, when calculating who scores points for the completed feature. My favorite expansions are 1, 2, and 10. The game is fun and if you enjoy Carcassonne but dont own a copy, this would be a good choice. Needing to recruit some other players to get addicted. Carcassonne The Gold Mines (Carcassonne Die Goldminen), 5. Otherwise, just get it if youre trying to complete the collection. 1 cloth bag for the sheep and wolf tokens. First, well take a look at the Abbey tiles. Whenever you build a field you can place your Shephard meeple on a field. Each Catapult round has a different goal so other players wont always be trying to catch the missiles as you shoot at their meeples. The changes are subtle and give players more options to score while keeping the original feel of Carcassonne that so many of us have fallen in love with.
Giving players the options to remove opponents meeples, drastically changes gameplay and how you approach the game. It can be all one player, or a mix of three players meeples to complete the pyramid. 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. I really enjoy fantasy and all things related, but Princess & Dragon seemed like a flimsy excuse to appeal to a wider audience. Each player will start with an Abbey tile. They kidnap other meeples and hold them for ransom, of course. 12 River tiles that replace the single initial tile. Being taller always has its advantages.
However, this game does bring some good stuff to the table and many players are big fans of this expansion. Inns & Cathedrals adds more of the good stuff to Carcassonne. 6 tiles making a new Corn Circles expansion composed of each of the bonus tiles from the 6 minis. In general (see table), points are awarded for the number of tiles covered by a feature; cloisters score for neighboring tiles; and fields score based on the number of connected completed cities. The Count starts in the castle space in Carcassonne and will move throughout the city during the course of the game. Traders & Builders sits as many players favorite expansion for Carcassonne. Things start to get fantastical with Princess & The Dragon. The most complicated portion of this expansion is the Count: a big purple meeple that reminds me of a mashup between the Hamburglar and a vampire. When a Princess city tile is placed on a city, one meeple is forced to leave. 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.