Carcassonne

[John]

Anyone got this game? Recently acquired a copy of this in Hobbes since I know this got good reviews and won awards. An icon of eurogames they say. At first  I was a bit disappointed coz the components are just 72 tiles, a scoreboard, and a bunch of "meeples" (follower tokens). I read the folded 1 piece sheet inside thinking it was the quickstart rules; apparently it was the whole rulebook! A guy unaccustomed to eurogames would say, "What?! No dice?!"  :p Box says a game for 2-5 players, but especially good for 2 players... now this is what really convinced me to buy, since I mostly play games with my girl one-on-one, but sometimes we have the occassional cousin or brother that drops by to hang out and play with us

The rules: players alternately draw tiles at random and put tiles to complete the map features. They may or may not put meeples at the tile they placed. Once they have a feature complete (i.e., a city enclosed by walls, a road ends in a junction or city, a monastery surrounded by 8 tiles), the meeple is returned to them and points are scored. Farmer meeples, followers placed lying down in fields, only score at the end of the game and are never returned to their owners. That's pretty much it. Simple, isn't it?

After a couple of games, I finally see how deep this game really is. The oh-so-simple rules belie the fact that one can win by strategically placing meeples and tiles. Tiles can be used to block other players from completing map features and trapping their meeples on incomplete features (remember, meeples only get returned to you if you complete a feature, and note that one only has 7 meeples for the whole game). Meeples can also be placed as farmers early instead of late in the game in the big central farm that encompass several cities to score end game points and prevent other players from scoring. Farms can also be stolen or co-owned by merging tiles with already owned farms (i.e., one can only place meeples on map features which are unoccupied by other meeples, including your own, but by cleverly placing tiles one can connect to other features so that your meeples end up co-owning, thus scoring also for that feature!). Mind you, I also discovered a strategy involving "walnut cities" (i.e., 2 tile cities) and farms! Since farms are scored for each city they have, regardless of size, one sure way of scoring lots of points by the end game is to ensure that one has farmers in the farm which has these walnuts (ugly looking cities they might be...).

Yesterday I got the chance to play 3 player Carcassone. It was a slightly different experience from playing 2 player. For one thing, features get complete less: there were more meeples trapped in uncomplete features as more players were trying to complete their own cities, roads, monasteries. Consequently, each was scoring less. Though still quite fun, I dread to think how random and low-scoring 4-5 player Carcassone will be!

Oh, if you're buying this game, you might consider downloading a copy of the 3rd edition rules. The first edition rules, included in the game I bought,  score "walnuts" as just 2 points, while the 3rd and current edition rules state that they score 4 points (for simplicity's sake). Farms are also scored 3 points instead of 4 in the latest rules, though scoring involves counting cities in farms, instead of the more confusing "cities which have farms" point system of the 1st edition.  

Overall, I rate this game a 5 out of 5. Simple, fun, but can have enough depth and cutthroat element for serious gamers. Truly a representative of eurogames. Can't wait to try the expansions!

[Justin]

Carcassone is a popular game in the open meets.

[John]

Ahh, then I don't have to bring my copy should I happen to attend the subsequent meets.... Does anyone know where the expansions Inns and Cathedrals and Traders and Builders are available?

[Brel]

I think I saw some expansions at Hobbes & Landes Promenade.  I am interested in Carcassonne: The Discovery as some say it's an improved version.  The game is currently available locally.

[John]

Went to Hobbes and Landes Serendra and saw the following expansions available:

Mini expansions:
- King and Scout
- Count of Carcassonne
- Rivers II

Large expansions:
- The Tower
- The Princess and the Dragon

[John]

Finally managed to find the expansion Inns and Cathedrals! :'D Cheap too! Only Php 520 (I initially thought it would costs at least 1k :p). And yeah, it was available in Landes Promenade in Greenhills. Can't wait to try it out!

[Brel]

If only I had a copy of Carcassonne game I would've bought several expansions already.  I bought this game for my cousin before as a gift... so I can only play the expansions if he gets them  for himself.  yaiks! ehehe...

Hope you can post e feedback Yamasaki after you have tried playing with an expansion.  

[John]

First expansion review: Inns and Cathedrals

This expansion contains 18 new tiles (6 inn tiles, 2 cathedral tiles, and 10 normal tiles) to add to your existing game. It also includes 6 50/100 scoring tiles to help players keep track of score. Additionally, a sixth set of meeples is included (gray colored) so the game can be played up to six players, and 6 big meeples that counts as 2 meeples when determining ownership of features (good for competitive games!).

Now, you'd think that 18 tiles and 1 additional follower per player is a bad expansion, investment wise, but the original set of Carcassonne only contains 72 tiles, and for only Php520, this expansion is very cheap. I played once and the 18 additional tiles already lengthened the game time noticeably (I should know, I played the base set lots of times ). One can add the new tiles to the base set without incorporating the new rules that came with the expansion, mind you, so for those who are worried about additional rules "muddling up" an otherwise simple game, take note! You can just add the new tiles without worrying about incorporating the new rules that came with them, since they're optional. I suspect that this is also the case with the other expansions, but will see The new scoring tiles is also a big help in keeping track of score since the original score board of the base set only counts up to 50.

That said, I was a bit disappointed with the tiles that came with the new set. There are at least two tiles that contain four halves of cities on each side! This makes for a really weird clump of cities. There is also a unique city tile that has an odd shape for a city that they needed to print rules for it to clarify where the city really ends! Now, if such a tile has to have special mention in a rule book, doesn't that mean it's that bad and confusing a design?! And as mentioned before, there are only 2 tiles for the cathedrals! I suppose they don't want to give cathedrals much impact in the game, but still.

As for the new rules: there are three optional rules that came with the new tiles, which can be incorporated in whole, part, or not at all (hence optional heheheh): (1) inns double the value of roads, but incomplete roads with inns don't gain any points at game end, (2) cathedrals triple the value of cities (each complete city now earns 3 points per tile and pennant), but incomplete cities, like incomplete roads with inns, don't gain any points at the end, and (3) big meeples count as 2 followers when determining ownership of feature.

For a light-hearted game, the additional features just add more points per player . For a cuthroat game, the new tiles and meeples add a bit of strategy as they can be used as tools to screw other players up! One can put inns in opponents' roads late game so that they don't earn points for the incomplete road (same with the cities and cathedrals!), but remember, they can screw you back as well! The big meeple is just a bully and a big meanie, but it takes a lot more strategizing and "thinking ahead" to fully utilize his powers.

So yeah, this is a pretty good expansion for Carcassonne: it adds more tiles, it adds more rules and strategy to the base game, it makes scoring less of a hassle (via new scoring tiles), and adds more players to the game (if you're willing to play with 5 other players, though I don't recommend this...) . I recommend it to players who are tired of playing with just the original. Not recommended for people who are just beginning to enjoy the original Carcassonne ;p

[John]

Hmm, sorry to resurrect this thread, but I'm just curious: to those who play this game, which scoring system do you use? The german 3rd edition or the one printed with the english rules and expansions?

[Brel]

Been a while since I played Carcassonne.  We use the original english rules.

Hey man, hows the Traders & Builders expansion?

[John]

Haven't had the chance to play it yet @_@ So many games, so little time...

[Brel]

Haven't had the chance to play it yet @_@ So many games, so little time...

Yeah I know what you feel.  hehe  Hey man see you tomorrow. 

[Brel]

Jeremy Chambers is one of the most productive designers of inofficial Carcassonne expansions. In addition to Storehouses and Paths and The Horse, he has also created The Well and the Donkey.

This expansion is related to the legend of the devil and the well:

The Legend of the Devil and the Well (Carcassonne, France):

One night, a long time ago, seven archers were singing and making noise in the streets, swearing against the apostles and Saint Gimer. These non-believers met a donkey which was covered with a very rich cloth. They seized it, and one after the other rose on the back of the donkey. The animal lengthened as they took place on it, so that they all could sit down on its back! Suddenly the beautiful cloth changed into a funeral pall, and the donkey began to run in the streets. It stopped first at the cemetery, where graves opened, leaving passage to the died, who intoned a funeral lament. Then the donkey, which was in reality Satan, went to the Big Well and dived into the depth with the seven archers. They still belong to him.

This unofficial expansion contains:

• 2 Donkey tiles
• 3 Wheat Field tiles
• 5 Vineyard Field tiles

Donkey Tile
When the Donkey Tile is played every player that has a meeple in the city loses one of their meeples. If someone has more than one meeple they only loose one meeple. Lost meeples are removed from the game. (The tile pictures the donkey and “The Big Well” from the medieval Cité in Carcassonne.)



Wheat Field Tile
If a player has a farmer in a field that contains a Wheat Field Tile and touches a city that contains a wheat token, when the city is complete the majority farm owner takes the wheat token even if they were not the one to complete the city. The farm does not have to be complete for this effect.



Vineyard Field Tile
The Vineyard Field Tile works the same way as the Wheat Filed Tile. The Vineyard Field Tile works with the barrel tokens.

Carcassonne: The Well and The Donkey requires Carcassonne to play and also highly recommends Carcassonne: Traders and Builders for optimal enjoyment. If you don’t have Carcassonne: Traders and Builders just use the Wheat and Vineyard Field tiles as normal field tiles.

To download the files from BoardGameGeek, click here.

Source: naturalich.com

[Talismanic (Mark)]

The big box for this is available at NG- all the expansions are included, one fell buy to swoop them all  Played it recently, and I was a little underwhelmed, mainly due to the randomness of the tile draw. Still and all, it would be fun as a family game, and I don't recommend playing with more than 3. 

[dyeyk2000]

I'm entertaining thoughts of getting a Carcassonne game. Recently I've been looking for "gateway" type games that can still give experienced gamers some challenge. I got TTR: Nordic Countries recently and I've been fairly satisfied with it. So I've turned my attention here.

1. Should I go for the Big Box? Hunters and Gatherers or The City? I've been leaning on The City.
2. Or should I look elsewhere? I'm thinking about Glen More as a tile-laying substitute, but I'm scared it would be too complicated to introduce to non-gamers. Anything else?
3. Anybody selling/trading a copy?