Carcassonne Board Game

Product Information

If you get the majority of these tiles, you will have had more turns with the prospect of higher scores. The double sized starting tile for the river is a great touch, and the new detailed artwork on the tiles are perfect. It’s legal to place a meeple on your tile when you place it, providing it’s not encroaching on a pre-claimed feature.

Carcassonne | Waterstones Carcassonne | Waterstones

Since players place only one tile and have the option to place one meeple on it, turns proceed quickly even if it is a game full of options and possibilities.

That lets you draw and immediately place a second tile – and it’s one of twelve separate ‘bonus’ tiles. Do you build up that city you’ve been working on, or do you work on capping off that mist bank with its ever-expanding number of ghoulish inhabitance. Without farmers, 5 year old Max can play to win, he often won’t as he will get caught up in a meeple-sapping battle over a huge town, but he can be a stubborn whatsit! The tile might feature a city, a road, a cloister, grassland or some combination thereof, and it must be placed adjacent to tiles that have already been played, in such a way that cities are connected to cities, roads to roads, etcetera. Come Saturday evening things calmed down and I got an incredible introduction to Hunters and Gatherers.

Games, Carcassonne Under the Big Top, Board Game Z-Man Games, Carcassonne Under the Big Top, Board Game

In addition, there are expansions that add additional tiles and new meeples to the original Carcassonne game. Personally, I don’t usually go in for spooky, but in this case it very much fits the theme of the game. When playing with my children and new players I don’t include the farmers as these add further complexity that isn’t missed.

The only difference is that I can see that ‘game completion’ at the end of level 6 won’t feel like a finished game never to see the light of day again. Over the years we have seen a whole host of things added to the wider Carcassonne family, including (but certainly not limited to) a wooden catapult to fling pieces across the table, pig meeples, a primitive version, a children’s version, cultists, a damn dragon etc. You may see that a player is about to complete a castle feature and score a respectable eight points. Our family and a few close friends have set up a private Facebook group titled “Greatest moments from Board Gaming” used for the highly banter filled moments in board games. For people new to the game, the significance of farmers might be lost if they are not fully explained.

Carcassonne (2015) | Board Games | Zatu Games UK

My experience, particularly in 2 player games, is that whoever gets the majority of the bonus tiles usually (but not always) comes out on top. Once the last tile gets placed, there’s some end-game scoring, and the player with the most points wins! When I’m looking to place a hut, start a river network, I’m also looking for the potential to create a hunting field along side this. The competition of farmers can be serious as some big points can be gained by having the most farmers in the field, especially if the field is connected to many castles.

After playing the tile you play your meeple, either on a river, a forest or permanently laying down on his side for a hunting field. Equally, you don’t want to play loads of Hunters early on in the game because you completely limit your opportunity for quick river and forest scoring and you need that scoreboard to be ticking over regularly. Upon first glance, everything looks very similar to any other Carcassonne game, right down the art style.

Carcassonne Big Box | Board Games | Zatu Games UK Carcassonne Big Box | Board Games | Zatu Games UK

Working together, you place tiles and score points while trying to stop the spread of ghosts, contain haunted ground in cemeteries, and use haunted castles to your advantage. The game can pick up a gear if you choose to share cities, and ramps up again as you can also attempt to steal them from other players.Each player adds to the same growing map, and only one meeple can be added to any section of the landscape at one time. This also means that neither you nor anyone else will ever get a chance to place a meeple on this tile later. These bonus tiles are extra turns and usually have a better than average points value attached with them.