Joseph Jobes IV
United States
Emmaus
PA
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Hey everyone. I made a goal this year to start contributing more to BGG, and one way in which I'd like to do that is by posting comprehensive reviews for every game that I own. While I realize that all of these games already have a ton of reviews for them, I figure it never hurts to have a second opinion. I started with The Lord of the Rings: The Card Game by FFG and now I'm going to move on to the first game that was ever in my collection: Carcassonne.
Let's get started!
Price:
Carcassonne is one of the cheapest games I've seen on the market, and right now you can buy a copy from CoolStuffInc.com for $19. Under twenty dollars is a really good price for a board game, especially if it's a good one. Carcassonne also has a lot of expansions offered, which range from $4-$12. Again, these prices are pretty darn good.
Set-Up Time:
Setting up this game is incredibly easy. First, find the “starting tile”. This is the tile that will begin the game face up, every game. It is marked differently on the back so that it's easier for players to find. Next, everyone picks a color that they want to represent them throughout the game. You take all the pieces of your color, laying them out in front of you. Third, players put the scoring track on the table, and each player puts on of his pieces (from here on referred to as Meeples, as that is what the game calls them) on the scoring track, to show how many points that player has. Finally, the players make sure all of the tiles are face down or in some sort of bag where they cannot be seen (Crown Royal bags work exceptionally well for this) and then decide on a first player, and begin.
All in all set up will take about 2-3 minutes if it isn't your first time playing, and no more than 5 minutes if it is.
Play Time:
The entry for this game on BoardGameGeek says that a game will take around 45 minutes, which sounds about right to me. However, let me talk a little bit about why this might change (which will actually reveal one of the problems with this game, and one of the things I adore).
First off, Carcassonne has a ton of expansions. If you like and play the game, you will probably pick one or two up. Every expansion that you add will change the play time, and they all (as far as I can tell) state in the rules how many minutes will be added to the game if you're using that expansion.
This game has a ton of options, even without the expansions. Because of that, you may see some players taking a really long turn while they consider all their possible moves and which one would be the absolute best. This is really a killer, ups the time by a lot, and makes the game kind of a drag. Just make sure that everyone fully understands the rules, and that you can politely hurry someone up if they are taking a while, and it shouldn't be a problem.
Component Quality:
The components to Carcassonne are pretty good, in my opinion. Your Meeples are small, wooden, and cute. The art on the tiles is also pretty cute, and gives the game a very friendly, family look. This can be really good when trying to teach people how to play, as it shows that it is not intimidating. Many players have talked about Carcassonne's use as a gateway game, and it is one I've had a lot of success with.
The only other thing to note when it comes to component quality is how sturdy the tiles are. I have played this game a pretty healthy amount of times and I do not see any sort of wear and tear on the tiles at all, so that is definitely a plus.
Theme:
You and the other players are controlling different colored teams of workers who are racing to build the biggest and greatest roads, cities, cloisters, and farms around the great city of Carcassonne. Whoever builds the most and the greatest once you run out of space is declared the Master Builder and wins the key to the city!
Wait, what? Sorry, that was a bit of a typo. The theme to Carcassonne - you and your friends are playing a tile-placement game with a name that lends itself to people attempting a really horrible French accent. There is little to no theme to be found here at all, sadly. So, if theme is a big deal for you, you may want to look at a different family game.
Victory Conditions:
Carcassonne's victory condition is simple – be the person to have the most points when the game ends. The end of the game is triggered by running out of tiles to place on the board. When this happens players score any incomplete projects they currently have, and their “farmers” - pieces worth points only at the end of the game – and a winner is declared.
Rules:
Carcassonne is a very simple game to understand. In order to start the game, players will lay out the starting tile face up. On it is a picture of some grass, a road, and a piece of a city. On someone's turn they simply:
1.) Pick a random face down tile from the supply.
2.) Place it anywhere legal on the board
Legality in Carcassonne is easy. Your tile must connect to another tile. The parts that connect must match. So, a road cannot run into grass, a city can't run into a road, etc. You basically just match them up.
3.) A player may take a Meeple from his supply, and place it on the tile he just placed. That Meeple is now working on some aspect of that tile.
This is where the bulk of the rules are. You place your Meeples to claim a section of the tile as your own, by placing it on a specific part of an image. For example, if you place your Meeple on the road he is working the road, and when the road is finished (it has two end points) then you score points for that road. You cannot place your Meeple on anything someone else controls. So, if you place a tile down connected to a road, and the tile you connected to had a black Meeple on the road, you could not place your blue Meeple on the road part of your tile.
There are four different types of jobs your Meeples can perform. They can, as I already described, work on building a road. The road is completed when it reaches two end points on tiles.
They can work on cities, which are completed when the city is entirely enclosed by walls.
They can work on “cloisters”, which are completed when the tile the cloister is on is completely surrounded. So, imagine the cloister as the middle of a 3x3 square. Once that square is filled in, the cloister is done.
They can lay down in the grass, and then they are farmers. Farms are never complete and are scored at the end of the game.
4.) The player must score any completed “projects” that his Meeples were building and takes that Meeple which is no longer working, placing it back into his/her supply.
So, each of the four jobs is scored differently. When a road is completed the player controlling that road gets 1 point per tile that the road is made up of. If your road is five tiles long, you score five points.
A city is worth two points per tile that makes it up. If your city took five tiles to complete, it would be worth ten points. Some cities have small pennants on them. These are an additional two points when completed.
A cloister is worth one point per tile. A completed cloister will always be worth nine points, since it's a 3x3 square.
Farms do not score points during the game.
5.) Play proceeds to the next player.
This continues going until there is not a tile for the player to draw. At this point, it is time to count up “endgame” points and determine the winner. Roads, cities, and cloisters are worth one point per tile (and pennant, in the case of a city) that currently makes them up. If your road was three tiles long, but it wasn't finished by the end of the game, that's three points. If you only had five tiles in the 3x3 grid of your cloister, five points.
Farms are where a lot of people get tripped up, so make sure to pay attention to this in the rules. Farms are scored on the grass, and they score for each completed city they are touching. If you can draw a line from your Meeple to a completed city without going through anything but grass (no roads or cities in the way) then you get three points. This is “stackable” so to say. A well placed farmer could be touching five completed cities, and would get your fifteen points.
There are a few other minor rules, but nothing bad at all, just ones I don't feel I have to explain here (they are better explained in the illustrations in the rule book and these rules are the major ones you need to understand to get a feel for the game).
Mechanics:
Carcassonne has two main mechanics to it, both of which are obvious by reading the rules. The first of these is tile placement, which is, really, the way that the game feels original and fun. The seventy two different tiles being completely randomized each game, plus the different things that the players will try, will ensure that you NEVER play the same game of Carcassonne more than once. The second mechanic is area control, which comes into play when placing your Meeples. If there is a large city that no one has claimed yet, and you can add your tile to it, claim it! The key to winning Carcassonne is to constantly be in control of large, lucrative cities/roads/cloisters/farms.
Basic Strategy:
There are a few strategy tips that one can remember in order to make themselves better Carcassonne players. The first of these is to be (somewhat) conservative with their Meeple placement. If a player simply places Meeples out every turn, and doesn't try to finish the projects he's already claimed, then he will have a very hard time getting points. Also, he may run out of Meeples and pull a tile that he'd really like to claim, but not be able to. The reason I say somewhat is that you also need to play your Meeples, or else you'll never be able to get any points at all! The key is a balance of starting working on new parts on the board, and finishing the ones you've already claimed.
The next tip I would give would be to claim a cloister any time that one can. The nine points can be a really nice swing, and even an incomplete cloister can get a decent amount of points. Try to put your cloister near where other players have Meeples, that way they will be more likely to put their tile down in part of your cloister's 3x3 grid.
The final tip I would give would be – use farmers! It is very hard to win a game with anyone who's played at least a few times without using a farmer. However, you don't want to just slap one down as soon as you can. Wait until you see a section of the board where a lot of completed cities are connected by grass, and try to get a farmer in there. Again, the key is moderation. You only want one or two farms, not a ton.
What I Loved:
1.) Tile Placing: This is a really awesome mechanic. The game does feel very unique every time I play it, and that make it exciting and easy to come back to.
2.) Family Friendly Nature: Everyone in my family understands this game, and for a while it was their game of choice. I have also been able to successfully introduce it on a family game night with other families, in addition to standard family/party games (Monopoly, Taboo, Scattegories, etc.)
3.) The Two Player Game: There are no different rules with playing with two players, it just gets a lot more tight. While the two player game has a little more “take that!” to it – because you can easily mess with your opponent in it – it has also given me my favorite memories with this game.
4.) The Expandable Nature: Carcassonne has a TON of expansions, which is something I really like. They are all available for really cheap and each have their own flare and rules they add to the game. All the expansions can be combined with the other ones, allowing one to create – if they wanted to – a super long, complex game of Carcassonne.
What I Hated:
1.) Analysis Paralysis Prone : There are a ton of options in this game, all the time. If you play with someone who really likes to consider every possibility available to them, Carcassonne will turn into a really long, boring experience.
2.) Downtime: Though this could technically be counted in the first category, there is nothing to do when it isn't your turn. This leads to some very dull table time every once in a while.
3.) The Four or Five Player Game: It's too many players if it's over three. Unless everyone agrees to play very quickly, which probably wouldn't be that fun either, there is just too much downtime with 4-5 players to like it. Well, four is bearable, and can still be a lot of fun with the family or something. However, with five it is just going to feel really slow.
Similar Games:
Hmm... This isn't too easy of a category. I'm going to have to throw out the tons of Carcassonne expansions and spin-offs here, but really Carcassonne is pretty unique. There are other tile placing games out there, like the Dungeons and Dragons games, but they don't really play the same as Carcassonne besides sharing a mechanic.
Replay Value:
Pretty huge. With all the different combinations available in just the base game alone, there is already a lot of variability. Start throwing in some expansions, and you've got what seems like a never ending pool of variability. I will recommend, however, that you do some research on the different expansions before you pick any up. Some are amazing (for instance I really love Inns & Cathedrals and Traders & Builders) but some really change the feel of the game (such as Princess & Dragon, which adds a little too much chaos for me).
Final Thoughts:
Carcassonne is certainly a fun game, there's no doubting that. The expandable options are huge, and add a lot. Currently the game is available in a “Big Box” format that has a bunch of expansions included, which is how I would recommend picking up the game if you are pretty sure you will like it. You can find those online for around the price of a standard box game (aka around $50).
However, I really don't like playing the game with more than three people. Also, while there are a ton of different options and expansions, the strategy stays the same from game to game, only the tactics change. I like Carcassonne, I just am normally in the mood for a little more. However, for a light/family game it is definitely a lot more fun than the standard Hasbro options.
I'm going to give Carcassonne a final score of 7 out of 10, meaning I do like it and won't turn down games of it most of the time, but it isn't a game I consider the best of the best.
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Jonathan Harrison
United States
Fisher
Illinois
South Quarter Independent Games
Firp! ding! blast!
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jobes2007 wrote: Currently the game is available in a “Big Box” format that has a bunch of expansions included, which is how I would recommend picking up the game if you are pretty sure you will like it.
IMO the best Carcassonne big box was Big Box 2. It's a shame it's still not available. It had all the expansions I wanted most—in order of essence:
• Abbey & Mayor
• King & Robber Baron
• River
• Traders & Builders
• Inns & Cathedrals
• Cult
We don't ever play with Princess & Dragon, and we only use the city from Count, not the rules or pieces.
I would never play without A&M, K&RB, and R. For what it is, it's a great game. It was the first euro I discovered myself, and the game that got me into all this.
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Joseph Jobes IV
United States
Emmaus
PA
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HuginnGreiling wrote: jobes2007 wrote: Currently the game is available in a “Big Box” format that has a bunch of expansions included, which is how I would recommend picking up the game if you are pretty sure you will like it. IMO the best Carcassonne big box was Big Box 2. It's a shame it's still not available. It had all the expansions I wanted most—in order of essence: • Abbey & Mayor • King & Robber Baron • River • Traders & Builders • Inns & Cathedrals • Cult We don't ever play with Princess & Dragon, and we only use the city from Count, not the rules or pieces. I would never play without A&M, K&RB, and R. For what it is, it's a great game. It was the first euro I discovered myself, and the game that got me into all this.
I'd love to get a copy of River, but I can never find it anymore.
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Jonathan Harrison
United States
Fisher
Illinois
South Quarter Independent Games
Firp! ding! blast!
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jobes2007 wrote: HuginnGreiling wrote: jobes2007 wrote: Currently the game is available in a “Big Box” format that has a bunch of expansions included, which is how I would recommend picking up the game if you are pretty sure you will like it. IMO the best Carcassonne big box was Big Box 2. It's a shame it's still not available. It had all the expansions I wanted most—in order of essence: • Abbey & Mayor • King & Robber Baron • River • Traders & Builders • Inns & Cathedrals • Cult We don't ever play with Princess & Dragon, and we only use the city from Count, not the rules or pieces. I would never play without A&M, K&RB, and R. For what it is, it's a great game. It was the first euro I discovered myself, and the game that got me into all this. I'd love to get a copy of River, but I can never find it anymore.
Seriously? If River II is acceptable, Amazon has it for $4–6: http://www.amazon.com/dp/B000H67EAQ.
Or, if you're seriously looking for River I, Amazon has it, too—for $33: http://www.amazon.com/dp/B004HF83XK. 
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I love Carcassonne! Thanks for the review.
My family developed a mantra about Carcassonne when we first got into it: "Farmers are like ninjas. They sneak up on you." Many of ours games devolved into farm wars.
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Jonathan Harrison
United States
Fisher
Illinois
South Quarter Independent Games
Firp! ding! blast!
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kurthl33t wrote: Many of our games devolved into farm wars.
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Nice review!
I found a copy of the river in the Inns & Cathedrals expansion, that was about a year ago. So it may be worth checking whether your local publisher does that too.
What's your next review going to be about?
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'The Completist'
United States
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Are you drawing a tile immediately after placing one? This helps move the game along. It curbs your downtime and analysis paralysis that can come with the game.
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Joseph Jobes IV
United States
Emmaus
PA
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Hockey Mask wrote: Are you drawing a tile immediately after placing one? This helps move the game along. It curbs your downtime and analysis paralysis that can come with the game.
We actually have been doing something like that, and I still find the game just a little too draggy with 5 people. However, once we started playing like that and putting all the tiles in a Crown Royal bag to shuffle them, four player got better.
radicalizard wrote: Nice review!
I found a copy of the river in the Inns & Cathedrals expansion, that was about a year ago. So it may be worth checking whether your local publisher does that too.
What's your next review going to be about?
I don't think that the place near me has that, but I could always check. My next review will be either about Cosmic Encounter or Small World, I haven't decided yet. I'm leaning more towards Small World at this point though.
HuginnGreiling wrote:
I always forget about The River II! Do you know if people like it as much as The River I? Thanks for the links either way.
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'The Completist'
United States
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If you can only get one of the River expansions get River II because it is compatible with some later expansions. I have both Rivers and sometimes combine them for one larger river.
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Jonathan Harrison
United States
Fisher
Illinois
South Quarter Independent Games
Firp! ding! blast!
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Hockey Mask wrote: If you can only get one of the River expansions get River II because it is compatible with some later expansions. I have both Rivers and sometimes combine them for one larger river.
Same here, on both counts. River II is just an improved version of River I.
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Have a Logical Day
United States
Corunna
Michigan
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jobes2007 wrote: Hockey Mask wrote: Are you drawing a tile immediately after placing one? This helps move the game along. It curbs your downtime and analysis paralysis that can come with the game. We actually have been doing something like that, and I still find the game just a little too draggy with 5 people. However, once we started playing like that and putting all the tiles in a Crown Royal bag to shuffle them, four player got better.
The best answer we have found for A.P. is drawing a hand of 3 tiles. After laying down a tile, immediately draw another one. Then you are planning on a location for your next move and you have at least 3 options to choose from. Downtime with multiple players doesn't seem very long if you're scanning the board the entire time.
If someone is still struggling with A.P. at that point, then you should stop playing Carcassonne with them. 
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'The Completist'
United States
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I agree. This is my preferred way but I have someone in my group who is prone to AP and when she gets three tiles she takes three times longer. Not quite what I hoped for. Not sure if others have seen this as well.
I really like a hand of tiles. It seems to give the player more of a long-term strategy.
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Dredry Toenail wrote: jobes2007 wrote: Hockey Mask wrote: Are you drawing a tile immediately after placing one? This helps move the game along. It curbs your downtime and analysis paralysis that can come with the game. We actually have been doing something like that, and I still find the game just a little too draggy with 5 people. However, once we started playing like that and putting all the tiles in a Crown Royal bag to shuffle them, four player got better. The best answer we have found for A.P. is drawing a hand of 3 tiles. After laying down a tile, immediately draw another one. Then you are planning on a location for your next move and you have at least 3 options to choose from. Downtime with multiple players doesn't seem very long if you're scanning the board the entire time. If someone is still struggling with A.P. at that point, then you should stop playing Carcassonne with them.
It just occurs strange to me that adding more options can be a cure for analysis paralysis. Drawing your new tile directly after your turn has worked perfectly fine with the people I played with. Turns are generally played in under 30 seconds. Longer turns happen occasionally, especially when the end of the game is nearing.
If you want to know what a game with down time is, play Tikal.
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Ludere Cum Dignitate
United States
Carrollton
Texas
"[hyperbole], it's pretty much the best and most exceptional and effective way of expressing oneself all the time ever." ~MScrivner
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I think that Kingdom Builder is the only game I have come across which I would describe as "like Carcassonne."
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Joseph Jobes IV
United States
Emmaus
PA
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Redward wrote: I think that Kingdom Builder is the only game I have come across which I would describe as "like Carcassonne."
I haven't had a chance to play that yet. How similar is it?
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Ludere Cum Dignitate
United States
Carrollton
Texas
"[hyperbole], it's pretty much the best and most exceptional and effective way of expressing oneself all the time ever." ~MScrivner
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jobes2007 wrote: Redward wrote: I think that Kingdom Builder is the only game I have come across which I would describe as "like Carcassonne." I haven't had a chance to play that yet. How similar is it?
Only enough to say that they are a bit similar.
KB would be like Carcassonne if:
1. All the Carcassonne tiles where placed at the beginning of the game.
2. Each game you randomly selected 3 cards which state how you gain VP's that game.
3. Each you drew a card that told you in what type of space you were allowed to place a meeple that turn.
4. You had to place meeples adjacent if you could do so.
5. There where ways to get "special abilities" that allowed you to place extra meeples in special ways for the remainder of the game.
That is probably too much detail. In sum: I can't say that playing KB feels the same as playing Carcassonne but they do have some things in common and it feels more like Carc to me then any other game i have personally played...
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Connor Cranston
Netherlands
Nebraska
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Most of the times we also play that you can draw the next tile immediately after placing one, so you can have a bit of time to look at the newly drawn tile and the board.
HOWEVER...when we play Traders & Builders, I always get annoyed when people do that, because the builder gives you an extra turn and I should have all tiles available to draw from.
I'm terrible at explaining things, but hopefully you guys understand what I mean.
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