Carcassonne is a little -known board game, in any case not as much as the Casino games, but who has nothing to envy them in terms of suspense, except perhaps the bonus offerts Online ... discover it in this new review of our Encyclopedia section.
Translated and adapted to a Jay Tummelson review by Karin Liber, 2019
Strategy game, 2-5 players, 10 years and over.
The city of Carcassonne in the south of USA is famous for its unique Roman and medieval fortifications. The players develop the surroundings of Carcassonne and deploy their supporters on the roads, in the cities, in the cloisters and in the fields. The skills of the players to develop the area using their thieves, their knights, their monks and their farmers will determine the winner.
Game composition
- 72 landscape tiles (one of which is initial with a dark back), representing the segments of the road, the cloister of the city and the field
- 40 partisan pawns of 5 colors. Each pawn can be used as a thief, knight, monk or farmer. One of the pawns of each player in the player's score marker
- 1 score table, used to follow players' scores
- 1 rules booklet
Overview
The players place tiles in turn. In doing so, the roads, the cities, the fields and the cloisters emerge and develop. On these, players can deploy their pawns to earn points. The players score points during the game and at the end. The player with the most points after the final score is the winner.
Preparation
Place the starting tile opposite in the middle of the table. Mix the remaining hidden face tiles and stack them in several hidden face batteries so that all players have easily access. Place the scoreboard near an edge of the table to leave the players the opportunity to place tiles in the middle of the table.
Each player takes the 8 pawns of its color and in place one as a score marker in the large space at the bottom left of the score track. Each player places his other 7 pawns before him on the table as a refueling.
The youngest player decides who will be the first player.
The game
The players play in turn in the direction of the needles of a watch starting with the first player. When a player's round arrives, he must perform the following actions in the order indicated:
- The player must draw and place a new tile
- The player can deploy one of the supporters of his reserve on the tile he has just placed.
- If, thanks to the placement of the tile, roads, cities or cloisters are finished, they are now marked.
Tile
First, the player must use a tile of one of the hidden face batteries. He looks at her, the watch to his comrades players (so that they can advise him on the "best" placement of the tile), and place it on the table by applying the following rules:
- The new tile (with red borders in the examples) must be placed with at least one side leading a previously placed tile. The new tile cannot just be placed in an isolated corner if there is a previous one.
- The new tile must be placed so that all segments of road, city and land of the new tile correspond to segments of road, city or land of all adjacent tiles (the cloisters are always complete with tiles simple).
- Pose of tiles: the segments of road and ground correspond
- Tile spacing: city segments correspond
- Mosaic installation: on one edge, the city corresponds and on the other, the field corresponds.
- Placement of tiles: this is an unlikely placement because the side of the road and the city do not correspond.
In the rare cases where a drawn tile has no legal placement (and all the players agree), the player discusses the game tile (in the box) and draws another.
Deployment of Pions-Partisers
Once the player has placed a tile, he can deploy one of his pawns by applying the following rules:
- The player can only play one pawn per turn
- The player must take him from his reserve
- The player can only deploy it on the tile he has just posed
- The player must choose where to deploy the pawn on the tile:
- a thief on a road
- A knight in a city
- A monk in a cloister
- a farmer in a field - in one of the positions indicated
The player cannot deploy a pawn on a segment of road, city or field if this segment is connected to a segment of another tile (whatever their distance) on which a pawn (from any player ) is already. See the following examples:
- You can only deploy a farmer, if there is already a knight in a connected city segment.
- You can only deploy your pawn as a thief, knight or farmer in the small field, but not as an agriculture in the large field because there is already a farmer in a connected field segment.
When a player has deployed all his pawns, he continues to play tiles each turn. Although a pawn cannot be recalled, the pawns are returned to the players when the roads, the cities and the cloisters are marked.
Score for roads, cities and cloisters completed
Road finished
A road is completed when the road segments connect to both ends at a crossroads in the city of a cloister. A road is also complete if it meets in a loop. There can be a lot of segments along the road.
The player who finds a thief on a finished road marks a point for each road tile (count the number of tiles). The player puts forward his score marker on the score table of a number of spaces equal to the number of points won.
Completed city
A city is complete when the city is completely surrounded by a wall and there is no passage. There may be several segments in a city.
The player who has a knight in the completed city scores two points for each segment of the city (count the number of tiles). Each shield on a city segment brings two bonus points to the player. Exception: when a finished city has only two segments, the player scores two points (and not four).
What happens when a road or a completed city has more than one partisan pawn?
It is possible, thanks to a judicious placement of the tiles, that there is more than one thief on a road or more of a knight in a city. When this happens on a finished road or city, the player with the most thieves (on a road) or the most knights (in a city) scores all the points.
When two or more players are tied with the greatest number of thieves or knights, they each mark the total of the points on the road or the city.
Cloister finished
A cloister is finished when the tile on which it is found is completely surrounded by tiles. A player with a monk in the cloister scores nine points.
Return of pawns to players
After a road, a city or a cloister was completed (and only after), the pawns involved are returned to the appropriate players. The partisan pawns rendered can be used by players like all possible supporters (thief, knight, monk, farmer) during the following rounds.
It is possible for a player to deploy a pawn, to mark a road, a city or a cloister and to bring it back in the same tour.
- Finish a road or a city by placing the new tile
- Deploy a thief or a knight
- Mark the road or the finished city
- Turn the thief or the knight
Score: for a road, 3 points, for a 2 -point city.
The farms
Connected fields are called farms. Farms are not counted during the match. They only exist as the deployment places of peasants who are counted only in the final rating. The peasants remain in the field segment where they are deployed for the duration of the game and are never returned to the players! The farms are lined with roads, cities and borders of the areas where the tiles have been played.
END OF GAME
At the end of the last round of the player when the last tile is placed, the game ends. The final note can finally be calculated.
Score final
First, all the incomplete roads, cities and cloister are counted. For each road and incomplete city, the player who has a thief on the road or a knight in the city marks a point for each road or segment of the road or incomplete city. The shields earn one point each. For incomplete roads and cities with more than one partisan pawn, the rules of roads and finished cities apply to determine who obtains the points. For each incomplete cloister, a player with a monk in a cloister scores a point for the cloister tile and a point for each tile around him.
Peasants score points for supplier cities
The peasants score points according to the below:
- Only the completed cities are provided and are therefore used for noted peasants.
- The farmer's farm must border a completed city to provide it. The distance between the farmer and the city does not matter.
- For each city provided by a farmer, the player who deployed it scores four points, regardless of the size of the city or the farm
- A farmer can supply (and mark 8 points) several cities adjacent to his farm
- Several farms can supply a single city. In such a case, the player who has the largest number of farmers on farms providing the city scores the points. If two or more players are tied with the greatest number of farmers, each of these equals for the greatest number of points reports four points
The winner is the player who counts the greatest number of points at the end of the game.
Alternative peasants score
The peasants' rating method indicated above is the original method. The American editions of the game of October 2001 note the peasants differently. This calculation method has not been introduced into the English version of the game for many years, although this is now the standard rule. Before starting a game, make sure the choice of the peasants' rating method.
Farms score points for the cities they provide
For each completed city adjacent to a farm, the peasant scores three points.
More than one peasant can be present on a farm. In such a case, the player with the greatest number of farmers on the farms scores the points. If two or more players are tied with the greatest number of peasants, each of these is equalized for the most points.
Most examples of peasants' rating presented above work in the same way, except that the reduced points are counted.
Original article published on the fwtwr.com website