Carcassonne is a tile based board game made now by Zman Games but in the past was published by Rio Grande. Carcassonne is one of the best board games I have ever played and I feel it still is one of the best board games out there despite being around now for seventeen years. It won the Spiel des Jahres and the Deutscher Spiele Preis awards back in 2001 and since its release has gained many expansions.
In Carcassonne, players take turn to place tiles creating roads, castles and monasteries to then place followers on them gaining points. Other than that there isn't much more to say, but the beauty of Carcassonne is that its simple to understand and almost impossible to master.
Getting Started and game play:
Each player chooses a colour and takes all the followers of that colour, there should be eight of each.
To start with, there is one start tile placed face up in the middle of the table with 71 other tiles shuffled and placed face down. Players then take it in turn taking a tile from the face down pile and connecting it to already placed tiles; you must find a place to connect the tile you have drawn correctly for example, a road can only be attack to another road, castle piece to a castle and grassland to other grassland. If you don't think a tile can be placed, all players have to agree to this and then the tile is put back and another is drawn. This element of the game ensures that no two games of Carcassonne will ever look the same resulting in variety and constantly changing game play challenges.
When players place the tile they have drawn, they then have the option of placing a follower on that tile (followers can only be placed on the most recent tile that player laid). There are four forms of placing your followers:
Standing on a road; This means that the follower you have placed is now a thief. Once the road is complete, meaning once it has two ends, any thieves on the completed road are removed and points are scored.
Standing in a castle; These followers are knights. Once the castle that they have been placed in is complete, the knights are removed and points are scored.
Standing on a monastery; The followers placed on a monastery tile are called monks. Once a monastery has been surrounded by a 3x3 grid of tiles, the monks are removed and points are scored.
Laying down in a field or on grassland; These followers are called farmers. Once you play a farmer they don't get removed until the end of the game when points are scored.
Scoring Points:
Points score differently for different followers and the number of tiles as seen below:
(Banners are represented by a little shield on some of the tiles)
In Carcassonne, players take turn to place tiles creating roads, castles and monasteries to then place followers on them gaining points. Other than that there isn't much more to say, but the beauty of Carcassonne is that its simple to understand and almost impossible to master.
Getting Started and game play:
Each player chooses a colour and takes all the followers of that colour, there should be eight of each.
To start with, there is one start tile placed face up in the middle of the table with 71 other tiles shuffled and placed face down. Players then take it in turn taking a tile from the face down pile and connecting it to already placed tiles; you must find a place to connect the tile you have drawn correctly for example, a road can only be attack to another road, castle piece to a castle and grassland to other grassland. If you don't think a tile can be placed, all players have to agree to this and then the tile is put back and another is drawn. This element of the game ensures that no two games of Carcassonne will ever look the same resulting in variety and constantly changing game play challenges.
When players place the tile they have drawn, they then have the option of placing a follower on that tile (followers can only be placed on the most recent tile that player laid). There are four forms of placing your followers:
Standing on a road; This means that the follower you have placed is now a thief. Once the road is complete, meaning once it has two ends, any thieves on the completed road are removed and points are scored.
Standing in a castle; These followers are knights. Once the castle that they have been placed in is complete, the knights are removed and points are scored.
Standing on a monastery; The followers placed on a monastery tile are called monks. Once a monastery has been surrounded by a 3x3 grid of tiles, the monks are removed and points are scored.
Laying down in a field or on grassland; These followers are called farmers. Once you play a farmer they don't get removed until the end of the game when points are scored.
Scoring Points:
Points score differently for different followers and the number of tiles as seen below:
(Banners are represented by a little shield on some of the tiles)
Completed during play points:
Castle: 2 points per tile + 2 points per banner.
Road: 1 point per tile.
Monastery: 1 point + 1 point for each surrounding tile.
Fields: Not scored.
Game End points:
Castle: 1 point per tile + 1 point per banner.
Road: 1 point per tile.
Monastery: 1 point per tile.
Fields: 3 points for each completed castle bordering the field.
If more than one coloured follower occupies a castle, the player with the most of their coloured followers occupying that castle gets the points. If players are tied for the number of followers occupying the castle, the castle is contested and the points are split.
Similarly for thieves. Most of the time there cannot be more than one thief per road, however if a player places a tile and then a thief upon it and another player places a tile that is unconnected also with a thief on it, if the two pieces road become one road it is then contested and the points split.
Thoughts:
As I said, I feel that Carcassonne is one of the best board games you will ever come across and stands up as one of the greats of all time. Its simplicity and aesthetic is very engaging and the game itself is very rewarding, being able to find the perfect place to put your tile for maximum points and even playing a longer game with your farmers to give yourself a massive points boost at the end of the game. I have played many a game of Carcassonne and still go back for more and with the many expansions, ranging from a more basic Inns and Cathedrals to Abbey and Mayor to Princess and Dragon to Under The Big Top, there is so much to keep the game fresh with each expansion adding more followers, tiles and some, like Under The Big Top, adding new elements like animal pieces and a circus tent. I can almost guarantee that you will have a lot of fun with Carcassonne and the replayability is fantastic as, like I said, no two games of it are the same, with different branching roads, vast fields for your farmers to lazily lie in or weirdly shaped castles for your knights to wonder around. I would urge lovers of board games that haven't already picked it up to go and get Carcassonne, you wont regret it.
I hope this look at Carcassonne has given you some insight into the game if you haven't had much experience with it before and maybe the need to try it out for yourself. If so head down to your local games and hobbies store and I'm sure they will be more than happy to give you a demo of the game, but until then, keep checking back to Game Changers for more gaming news and updates.
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