Carcassonne

Carcassonne is the popular medieval tile laying game that grew quickly to be an international phenomenon. Certainly the most successful game of its genre, Carcassonne is easy to learn, entertaining and yet provides continuing depth and interest.

Carcassonne won both the Spiel des Jahres and the Deutscher Spiele Preis game awards upon its initial release in 2001. The board game is named after the medieval walled city of Carcassonne in France

The expansion packs provide Carcassonne with a large part of its appeal. People generally use all the extra tiles but the additional rules are optional so players choose which extra rules to use each time they play. Some are considered almost essential whereas you might find you prefer not to use others every time. To save you time and money, we've done the research and made available the Carcassonne expansion packs that are generally known to work best.

 

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Carcassonne

Carcassonne is the enormously popular tile laying game for two to five players.

This is the basic Carcassonne set although a variety of expansion packs are available. The game board is a medieval landscape which grows as the game continues. On each turn a player draws a new terrain tile and places it adjacent to an laid tile and then has the option of placing one of player's follower people (meeple) on a feature shown on the tile. Points are scored in Carcassonne for owning and completing roads, cities, cloisters and, at the end of the game, for any farms owned by a player that are adjacent to cities.

Carcassonne usually has several areas being vied for at any one time providing good strategic interest but is not too complicated for children - indeed it's one of those games that is great for both children and adults.

 

Carcassonne Expansion 1 - Inns & Cathedrals

Inns and Cathedrals is the first and most popular expansion pack for Carcassonne, the award winning and continuingly successful tile laying game.

In Carcassonne players to gain points by completing roads, cities and cloisters that they own and by holding farms adjacent to cities at the end of the game. Inns and Cathedrals expansion pack 1 extends the basic gameplay in a contiguous and elegant way providing more options and intrigue during the game:

• extends the game so that 6 can play
• adds a larger meeple (follower piece ) for each player that counts double
• road tiles with inns that count for extra points if completed but zero points if incomplete at the end of the game!
• cathedral tiles that count for extra points if added to cities but beware - a city with a cathedral will score nothing if incomplete at the end of the game
• 20 new landscape tiles (including those that incorporate inns & cathedrals)

Inns and Cathedrals does not alter the game-play or objectives in a significant way - merely enhancing them for more interest.

Some people feel that Abbey and Mayor expansion goes nicely with Inns and Cathedrals because it reduces the difficulty in completing a city when it contains a Cathedral.

 

Carcassonne Expansion Pack 2 - Builders & Traders

The second major expansion of Carcassonne, Builders & Traders featuring enhancements to the rules for cities and farms plus a new builder rule that gives the bonus of an extra turn...

Unlike some of the other expansions, Builders and Traders does not alter the game-play or objectives in a significant way - merely enhancing it for more interest.

• 20 goods tokens that can appear within cities - points for which are awarded to the player that completes the city (even though they may not be the player that scores for the city itself).
• There is a charming new playing piece in the form of a pig - this increases the value of any farm into which it is introduced.
• The addition of a builder piece. Add this to any road, city or cloister and the player can then take another turn whenever a tile is added to that feature
• 20 extra landscape tiles

As with all expansions, the extra rules are optional. Maybe you love the pigs so you usually use them but consider that the builder rule is only good fun when there are more than 3 players...

 

Carcassonne Expansion Pack 5 - Abbey & Mayor

We've included Carcassonne Abbey and Mayor in our recommended expansions because it gets good reviews and has rules that enables those annoying gaps in the tile layout to be filled in more easily - giving an aesthetically fulfilling result.

Abbey and Mayor expansion pack features:

• 6 Extra abbey tiles that act like a 'Joker' helping to complete adjacent features
• A new playing piece called a 'Mayor' that can be added to a city for extra points
• 6 barn pieces - these allow you claim a farm on any corner where 4 green fields connect
• 6 wagon pieces that allow you to move a meeple from a road just completed to a city without needing an extra turn.
• 12 extra landscape tiles

Some people feel that Abbey and Mayor expansion goes nicely with Inns and Cathedrals because it reduces the difficulty in completing a city when it contains a Cathedral.

 

Carcassonne Expansion - The Tower

The main feature of the Carcassonne Tower expansion is that instead of placing a meeple on their turn, a player may place a special tower piece that gives the ability to capture the meeples of other players that are nearby. Players can get their meeple back if they are willing to pay a ransom. This is a fairly significant change to the rules resulting in a different, more competitive feel to the game. As a result this expansion can be controversial - many people love it and it's certainly popular but it's not for everyone.

Included in Carcassonne: The Tower expansion are:

• 18 landscape tiles
• 30 tower pieces (they stack on top of each other)

 

Carcassonne Bundle - Basic set with Inns and Cathedrals expansion

Carcassonne is the enormously popular tile laying game that won critical and general acclaim upon its release in 2001.

Here we provide a bundle of the Basic Carcassonne Game together with the most popular and recommended expansion pack - Inns and Cathedrals.

The default Carcassonne game allows players to gain points by owning roads, cities and cloisters and by holding farms adjacent to cities at the end of the game. Inns and Cathedrals expansion pack extends the game to 6 players, adds a larger meeple for each player and extends the basic gameplay in an elegant and intriguing way.

 

Carcassonne Bundle - Basic set with Expansions 1 & 2

Carcassonne is the enormously popular tile laying game that won critical and general acclaim upon its release in 2001.

Here we provide the Basic Carcassonne Game bundled together with the 2 consistently most popular expansion packs - Inns & Cathedrals and Builders & Traders.

Both of these expansion packs smoothly add to the basic game in ways that enhance the existing rules without fundamentally changing the game-play.

The default Carcassonne game allows players to gain points by owning roads, cities and cloisters and by holding farms adjacent to cities at the end of the game.

Inns and Cathedrals expansion pack in addition to providing bonus points for Inns on a road or Cathedrals in a city extends the game to 6 players and includes a larger bonus meeple for each player

Builders & Traders allow players to gain extra points by putting goods into a city or a pig into a farm and adds the concept of an extra turn through the use of a special builder piece.

 

Carcassonne Bundle - Basic set with Expansions 1 & 5

Carcassonne is the fantastically successful and acclaimed tile game.

Here we provide the Basic Carcassonne Game bundled together with 2 expansion packs that complement each other brilliantly - Inns & Cathedrals and Abbey and Mayor.

Both of these expansion packs smoothly add to the basic game in ways that don't fundamentally change the game-play.

Inns and Cathedrals expansion pack in addition to providing bonus points for Inns on a road or Cathedrals in a city extends the game to 6 players and includes a larger bonus meeple for each player

The Abbey tiles act like jokers allowing players to complete areas around features in play that otherwise would be left empty. Apart from being satisfying from an aesthetic point of view, this also reduces the difficulty in finishing those tricky cities that have had a cathedral tile added to them.

Abbey and Mayor packs also include 3 new piece types with special rules - wagons, barns and mayors.

 

Carcassonne Big Box 4 (2012)

This is a massive Carcassonne bundle featuring the main game, 2 of the most popular expansion packs and no less than 7 mini-expansions and . The expansions included with Carcassonne Big Box 2012 are:

• Inns & Cathedrals
• Traders and Builders

plus mini-expansion packs:

• The Flier
• The Messages
• The Ferries
• The Gold Mines
• Mage & Witch
• The Robbers
• The Crop Circles

Inns & Cathedrals - Cathedral triples the value of a city, and the Inn doubles the value of a road - but only when they are completed. Increases the number of Carcassonne players to 6 and adds a new large follower (meeple) which counts double.

Traders and Builders - Traders can earn players extra points. Builders enable players to place extra tiles, allowing the cities and roads to grow faster. Pigs increase the value of a farm.

72 Land tiles
6 50/100-point tiles
48 wooden followers
in 6 colours
18 Inns & Cathedral Land Tiles
6 large followers
24 Traders & Builders Land tiles
6 pigs
6 builders
20 Goods tokens
8 Land tiles featuring
a flying machine
1 special die
8 Message tiles
6 messengers
8 Land tiles with a gold ingot
16 wooden gold ingots
8 Magic Land tiles
1 Mage pawn
1 Witch pawn
8 Land tiles with a bag
6 robbers
6 Land tiles with a crop circle
1 scoreboard

An amazing Carcassonne starter pack for any family or enthusiast. As a bundle it is naturally much more cost-effective than buying all the expansions separately. There is no need to use all of the expansions every time you play - you can start with just the basic set and just play around and see which expansions give you the most enjoyable Carcassonne experience.