Cleveland Indians reportedly in market for upgrade at closer
January 16, 2015Cleveland Cavaliers vs. Los Angeles Clippers: Behind the Box Score
January 17, 2015Carcassonne is an award-winning new classic. It is the game that introduced the world to the meeple, a wooden figure that has become an industry standard. The game was first published in 2000, but is just as strong a seller today. Named after a city in France, Carcassonne is a Euro-game that is simple but fun and can be challenging.
I will be reviewing the new edition, reprinted by Z-Man games in 2014. The new edition includes new artwork and two expansions included in the base box.
Theme: Kingdom building
Number of Players: 2-5
Game Time: 30-45 minutes
Age Appropriateness: 7 and up
Game Type: Tile laying, area control
In Carcassonne, players work together to build the kingdom (laying tiles) while using their own workers to score points individually to win the game.
Game Play: Players take turn drawing a tile and placing it on the map. After placing their tile, the player may choose to place a worker on that area or not. Points are scored depending on the type of worker that is placed and the completion of their task.
The rules regarding tile placement are simple- a tile must be placed bordering at least one existing tile with the features of any touching edge matching. Roads must be matched to roads, cities with cities and fields with fields.
A worker (meeple) can be placed on features to score points. A meeple can be a farmer if placed in a field, a knight if placed in a city, a highwayman (or robber) if placed on a road and a monk if placed on a monastery. Each scores points when the feature is completed and are placed back in the players hand to be reused. Farmers score at the end of the game and stay on the board. The game ends when the last tie has been played.
Component Quality: The artwork was updated for the new edition and is very nice, though not a lot different than the original. The tiles have always been high quality, thick cardboard. The meeples are wooden and brightly painted. Simple components but very well made.
My Take: I am a big fan of this game. My family likes to play it. My wife likes to play it, even with just the two of us. It is a great mix of strategy and luck. Each player starts with 7 meeples, so you have to be somewhat selective on where you decide to play them. Farmers can score you big points, but they stay on the board limiting the number of workers you have to use for other features. Do you play them early and risk that the fields they work don’t end up serving enough cities to make them worthwhile? Monks can also take some time to get back as you have to surround the monastery with tiles. Is it worth the nine points?
This is a game that takes very little time to explain. Play it once and understand all the different ways to score, then you are ready to go. I highly recommend this one.
Affordability: The base game goes for between $25-35.
Expansions and Replay-ability: Are there any expansions for Carcassonne? Ha. Yes, there may be a few. The new edition comes with The River and The Abbot expansions included. The majority of expansions for Carcassonne add tiles and/or a few components that add ways to score.
Let me first say that the base game gives you a ton of replay-ability. Since you are creating the map as you randomly draw tiles, the board never looks the same twice. The small expansions like The Abbot add just enough to change up the game. There are so many of these small expansions you can get.
Additionally, there are other versions of Carcassonne that are stand-alone games. Recently, Carcassonne Gold Rush was released, which gives the game a wild-west feel with cowboys and prospectors. Carcassonne South Seas was also released with an islands theme.
You can purchase a Carcassonne big box, which comes with eight expansions included. This will run you over $100. I would most certainly recommend that you play the base game before making this kind of purchase.
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Board Game News and Notes:
– Where the world of sports and board games collide. The Wall Street Journal published a piece on the newest obsession of the Green Bay Packers—Settlers of Catan.
– Fans of Pandemic may find this tweet by Z-Man games interesting.
Can your team make it through the year; face month after month of set backs and fleeting victories to save humanity? pic.twitter.com/Vnh6UeDLz2
— Z-Man Games (@Zmangames_) January 13, 2015
– Asmodee is releasing a new party game called Act Too which looks interesting. I will have my eye on it.
– The Malted Meeple is getting close to opening in Hudson. The last I saw was they were hoping for an early February open.
– Still no word on an opening date for the TableTop Café in Ohio City. They sent out some kickstarter rewards lately, but do not have everything in place to announce a grand opening.
– I have several new games to review, but I need to get enough plays in to give them a thorough review.