Review 2: Carcassonne

Review 2: Carcassonne

Time for a second review and this time I decided to go for a really popular game.  Many of my friends who have played it now own copies themselves and as there are a number of expansions available the game had lots of scope for growth and change in game play:

Name: Carcassonne

Players: 2-5

Playing Time: 30 - 90 minutes

Suggested Ages: 8 and up

Awards: Numerous – most notably 2001 Spiel des Jahres Winner

Game Setting:

The game is based on the French medieval town, Carcassonne.  The game is played on an ever growing landscape created by laying tiles.  Each player is using their ‘meeples’ (playing pieces) to take on a different role to score points throughout the game.

Game Play:

Each player chooses a colour and takes the ‘meeples’ that match that colour.   On their turn the player selects a tile from the pile and choose where best to place it adjacent to the existing tiles.  Each tile depicts a feature that will provide scoring opportunities.   The player then chooses whether to place a meeple on the tile that they have just laid.

There are four ways to score.  The first is placing a Meeple on a road (acting as a thief on the road).  Once the road has been completed at both ends the player immediately scores 1 point for each tile that the road goes through.  Once scored, the Meeple returns to the player’s available stock.

The second is placing a Meeple on a castle segment (acting as a knight in the castle).  Once the castle is completed the player immediately scores 2 points for each tile the castle goes through and a bonus two points for each pennant the castle has.  Once scored, the Meeple returns to the player’s available stock.

The third is placing a Meeple on a Cloister (acting as a monk).  Once there are 8 tiles surrounding the Cloister the player immediately scores 9 points.  Once scored, the Meeple returns to the player’s available stock.

The final way of scoring is laying a meeple down on the green space on the tile (acting as a farmer).  These Meeple never return to the player’s available stock. At the end of the game the player scores 3 points for each completed castle that the farmer green space touches.

There are a couple of other scoring criteria and points are scored a little differently at the end of the game but the scoring is easy to pick up.

My Score:

Game Play:  4/4
Components: 2/2

Replayability: 2/2

Theme: 2/2

Total: 10/10

My Comments:

Carcassonne is an easy game to play and a great game to introduce people to different games to the ones that we all know and love.  The scoring is easy to understand albeit that the farmers always pose the greatest challenge for first time players. 

The art work looks great and supports the feel of the game.  The ‘Meeples’ are fantastic being wooden, and keep with the quality of the tiles. 

As the players gain a better understanding of the game play the game itself gets better as players start to use tactics to ensure they score the most amount of points possible.   For me this is when the game is at its best. 

It works wells as a two player game as well as a five player game but the number of players does change the type of choices that a player makes when they are deciding whether or not to place one of their meeples.

I would say that this is a challenging game to play on a small table, but works well most dinner tables, or even on the floor.

The expansions make a great game even better and I would recommend you to have a look at what’s available after you’ve given the base game a try.  I’ll do reviews on the expansions in later weeks.   

Enjoy and let me know if you give it a go!