Big Gamer
United States
San Diego
California
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I have played Carcassonne by itself many time and I have loved it. But now I feel it is time for "something more". The only problem is that there are SO MANY expansions to choose from. Looking back, I should have just bought the big box, but at the time I was not sure it would be a game that my wife and I would like. Well, we love it and now would like 1-2 of the expansions. I was wondering who out there has used them, and what 2 expansions people think add the most to the game. Some look more interesting than others based on the video reviews, but I like to have more than one persons take on a game before I go out and buy it! Thanks for the input in advance!!
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Rodrigo Tjäder
Brazil
Santa Maria
Rio Grande do Sul
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Inns & Cathedrals and Traders & Builders are generally considered the best ones.
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brian
United States
Cedar Lake
Indiana
Mourning the end of the Manning era.
Welcome baby brother Toby James, 03/24, 8 lb. 15 oz.
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Depends what you want. If you think you will like them all, not a bad idea to get them in the order they were published as that is how most people who kept up with them have gotten them.
Inns & Cathedrals is a must have. It adds the 6th player and the big meeple. It also "completes" the base game in giving roads and cities more flavor by making them potentially worth more for completing but worthless if incomplete.
Traders & builders is another must have. It adds the pig and builder. the Builder allows placing a 2nd tile if conditions are met and pigs make the farm more valuable. Plus they have the whole trade goods going on which encourages completion of towns even if they aren't yours.
Abbey & Mayor is the final must have. Adds even more goodness - the wagon which makes for an interesting claiming mechanic, the barn which makes farms awesome, and the mayor which also gives the claiming of towns an interesting mechanic. There is also the abbey which is a wild card tile.
After that, the bigger expansions are hit or miss. Princess & the Dragon is good but it can be aggressive. Same with the Tower. So these depend on your level of tolerance for taking Carc up a notch on the "screw your neighbor" factor.
King & Scout seems best with 2 players; each of the "titles" can score some good points that can give 2 people an advantage that really hurts with more than 2 players. Count is blah. It just gives a bigger start space and another claiming aspect. River 2 is good, especially with the other expansions listed above since there is some crossover.
I am not even sure what else is out there with the minis - Pestilence, War, Corn Crops, Cult. Get what looks interesting to you.
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I would agree completely. I&C and T&B are always mixed in with the base game whenever we play. You won't go wrong with those two.
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Geert Vinaskov
Belgium
Rijkevorsel
Antwerpen
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I would only get the first expansion (inns and cathedrals). I'd buy another game, or another game in the carcassonne series instead.
But if you must get a second expansion: then traders and builders.
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Big Gamer
United States
San Diego
California
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I am thinking about King and scouts/The River 2, just because they are so small and inexpensive! For the larger expansions, I am going to go with one of the following 3:
Inns and Cathedrals
Princess and Dragon
Traders and Builders
I am thinking of Inns as #1
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Having River I & II is a great help--especially if you are playing 2-3 players as it gets the "board" out more.
I would add the expansions like this (echoing some previous folks):
Inns & Cathedrals
Traders & Builders
Then it sort of depends on your mood.
Abbeys & Mayors
Princess & Dragon (this one is fun with more players)
The Tower
Cults, Sieges, Creativity
Bridges, Castles, Bazaars (not much good with only 2--I like the bridges and castles components, Bazaars tends to work with a larger group.
The last two work best with more players.
Depending on your need for anarchy, Catapult can be quite an interesting addition!
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L H
United States
Lehi
Utah
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I will just add a list of the expansions that me and my son play frequently in many different combinations.
I&C -- nearly every game
T&B -- 80 % of the time. I love this. My son doesn't mind it...
A&M -- Nearly 80% of games.
Cult -- 50% of the time
Seige -- 70% of the time
River 2 -- We play a river about 3 in 20 games, usually both rivers.
Count -- never or very rarely
P&D -- I don't mind this but my son hates it, so rarely.
Tower -- I hate it and my son loves it, so rarely.
Catapult -- never
King -- 75% of games
Plague -- really messes with the basic game mechanics, so rarely.
Phantom -- LOVE it!!! 100% of the time.
Wheel of Fortune -- Not to bad 20% of the time.
B,C & B -- We both like the bridges and castles, but not the bazaars. So we play it without the bazaars. 50% of the time.
EDIT: Creativity -- I came up with a set of rules for these two tiles that we both like. I call it the "Wild Tile." 10% of the time.
I think that about rounds out the expansions I own. Hope this helps. 
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Alexander McKinney
The Bahamas
Nassau
na
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Definitely mix in Phantoms, it can play well with all of the other expansions, plus you get an extra meeple and game scores tend to be higher which is fun for just about everyone.
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Scott Dye
United States
Murfreesboro
Tennessee
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Phantom & Inns & Cathedrals.
Get those and don't worry about what to get after that, or you won't enjoy the new ones enough...you'll always be thinking about the next instead of truly learning the ones you are playing with at the moment (I speak from my experience).
If you must, use the river, but the only reason to "spread out" is if you don't want to actually compete for the same areas, which is what makes the game fun. The rivers just seem to be a slow way to get the game rolling, and usually leads to a lot of the pockets formed by the river to end up unfinishable quickly. I personally think the rivers are highly overrated and only give the illusion they are doing anything useful. But they are pretty.
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Big Gamer
United States
San Diego
California
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I do have a few questions when using all these expansions!
How do you keep each one separate? It seems with all the different tiles being added it might be confusing!
Another thing- do you actually TRY to keep them separate, or do you just play with all your expansions all the time? It might get tedious trying to sort tiles based on the inventory sheet that came with the game!
Is it possible to play with all the tiles, and just not use all the rules? (play with the princess and dragon tiles, but omit the actual dragon....)
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brian
United States
Cedar Lake
Indiana
Mourning the end of the Manning era.
Welcome baby brother Toby James, 03/24, 8 lb. 15 oz.
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brdk18 wrote: I do have a few questions when using all these expansions!
How do you keep each one separate? It seems with all the different tiles being added it might be confusing!
Most of the rules are "independent" from each other. Trade goods only work on trade tiles so it doesn't matter what else you add in to the mix. Only when expansions affect the same things doe sit get a bit wonky. But if you add in a single expansion at a time, it isn't too hard to keep track of.
Quote: Another thing- do you actually TRY to keep them separate, or do you just play with all your expansions all the time? It might get tedious trying to sort tiles based on the inventory sheet that came with the game!
I do. There aren't too many tiles that lack a distinguishing feature. Like the Tower: each tile has a tower printed on it. With Inns and Cathedrals, either it has an inn or a cathedral on it, only a handful are less distinct. Most of the recent expansions and I believe recent reprints have an actual icon symbol.
Quote: Is it possible to play with all the tiles, and just not use all the rules? (play with the princess and dragon tiles, but omit the actual dragon....)
Of course. We usually mix in quite a few of the tiles and then decide what rules to use. Just ignore that aspect of the game (like the trade icons) and use them for their standard road/city/field/cloister art.
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Big Gamer
United States
San Diego
California
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That is helpful information! I did not know that there are little symbols on the expansion tiles. I was starting to think that if I had to sort all the tiles after playing with an expansion, it would become somewhat of a headache!
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brian
United States
Cedar Lake
Indiana
Mourning the end of the Manning era.
Welcome baby brother Toby James, 03/24, 8 lb. 15 oz.
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brdk18 wrote: That is helpful information! I did not know that there are little symbols on the expansion tiles. I was starting to think that if I had to sort all the tiles after playing with an expansion, it would become somewhat of a headache!
It depends when you purchased them. My original Carc and most of my expansions don't have them. It wasn't until the Big Box came out, and Abbey & Mayor, when the icon was implemented.
But even in the absence of icons, most expansions are distinct because of the artwork, which is what I meant with Tower, Inns, etc.
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Big Gamer
United States
San Diego
California
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ColtsFan76 wrote: It depends when you purchased them. My original Carc and most of my expansions don't have them. It wasn't until the Big Box came out, and Abbey & Mayor, when the icon was implemented.
But even in the absence of icons, most expansions are distinct because of the artwork, which is what I meant with Tower, Inns, etc.
Thanks for the clarifications. I will be adding 1-2 expansions soon, and wanted to see how much work I was getting myself into!
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brian
United States
Cedar Lake
Indiana
Mourning the end of the Manning era.
Welcome baby brother Toby James, 03/24, 8 lb. 15 oz.
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brdk18 wrote: I will be adding 1-2 expansions soon, and wanted to see how much work I was getting myself into!
If you get more of them, go get yourself a Plano tackle box - 3700 series I think. They perfectly fit the tiles and the dividers are adjustable and nearly at the right spots for each and every expansion. Much easier to sort and carry around then the base box with all the tiles thrown in.
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Big Gamer
United States
San Diego
California
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Thanks for the tip! I was thinking about keeping each expansion in its own box, but that might take up too much valuable shelf space!
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Todd
United States
Warren
Michigan
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Everyone agrees with the vots for I&C and T&B as they should, one thing to consider about the 3rd place vote which is A&M is that the 3 mini expansions in this set can be played one at a time making it 3 different expansions in one and I love that about A&M
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Big Gamer
United States
San Diego
California
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I have made my choices:
Inns and Cathedrals
Traders and Builders
Phantom
River 2
I was only going to get 2, but the phantom and river were so cheap I thought I could not go wrong!
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'The Completist'
United States
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brdk18 wrote: I have made my choices:
Inns and Cathedrals
Traders and Builders
Phantom
River 2
I was only going to get 2, but the phantom and river were so cheap I thought I could not go wrong!
Those were the perfect choices.
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Matt L
United Kingdom
London
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If looking for vgm/cheap worth tracking down Plague as a giveaway on the relevant back issue of spielbox from somewhere like Boardgameextras, as get a major expansion for just £5/€5. As said before totally screws with the game to the extent that it becomes a whole new game for a fiver. Bargain really!
But can't fault your choices, or disagree with the general wisdom above that earlier expansions mostly better than later ones, when the designers
imaginations (and the stretch ability of the game mechanic) started to wear appallingly thin. I&c definitely the only absolute must have.
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