The second mini-expansion features the Abbots. Give one to each player in their colour. You’ll notice that square gardens sit on some of the tiles. They’re not a primary feature like a singular road or an entire monastery. However, you treat them like a monastery, for scoring purposes… It is a 2-5 player game. Gameplay is very different for the total amount of players involved. A two player is a totally different version of the game compared with playing against four other people and requires a different strategy. Carcassonne is one of the best-known modern board games in existence. Since its release in 2000, it has sold over 10 million copies! It’s an incredibly popular tile-placement game, for one reason above all others: it’s so simple to play. Anyone can learn how to play Carcassonne. And, thanks to this tutorial, you too will have no problem teaching it at your next games night…

Carcassonne | Waterstones Carcassonne | Waterstones

Carcassonne is a tile-placement and area control game designed by Klaus-Jürgen Wrede released in 2000. It was the Spiel des Jahres winner in 2001 and has been nominated for and won several other awards and accolades since being published. The other expansion in the box is the one that is specific for this box edition and is simply referred to as ‘The Anniversary Expansion’. In this expansion you will be able to use 3 new abilities based on the drawn tile: place a meeple next to another of your already placed meeples along the row/column the arrow is facing (making it act a little like the big meeple from Inns & Cathedrals); place a meeple in any unclaimed territory along the row/column (pretty sure there are elements of this in Princess & Dragon); or simply taking another turn (taking inspiration from Hunters & Gatherers). All in all, it is a simple little expansion that is easily learned and used or can simply be removed if wanted. Artwork & Components Many of the tiles have city walls on them. If you want, you could rotate and place this tile so that it connects to (or even completes) an earlier city segment. You cannot place this tile in a manner where it would intersect a road. Neither could you have it so the city walls don’t align with adjacent tiles. With that being said, even with its massive staying power, is there a need for Carcassonne 20 th Anniversary Edition? Let’s find out… What Is New? It is evident that the publishers are aware of this too, as there is plenty of space in the box for more tiles. The base tiles in the box do not even fill half of the space available. Final Thoughts

Gameplay

Transport yourself to the old, medieval, hilltop town of Carcassonne in this tile and worker placement game that has become an absolute staple of the board game world. Cities and roads keep being added to until they are finished. Cities are finished when the wall encircles the encampment and are scored at 2 points for every section of tile in the city. Therefore a city built with four tiles would be worth 8 points. Roads are completed when they end at a city, junction or monastery. This dilemma is had by all who play Carcassonne and it is what makes this game so fiendishly fun. While the artwork and the general theme may be quaint and friendly, it is you, the player, who can turn that image around and become rather militant in your tile placing antics!

Carcassonne Big Box | Board Games | Zatu Games UK Carcassonne Big Box | Board Games | Zatu Games UK

At the end of the game, there are no penalties for incomplete, meandering roads. Highwaymen still score one point per tile their road passes through, regardless. Cities & Knights – Wall-To-Wall ActionOn your turn you add one square tile into the expanding map. Terrain types have to match, like in regular Carcassonne. When you place a meeple on that tile, it represents different type of neanderthal. This is dependent according to the terrain. It’s a hunter when placed in the meadows, a gatherer if you put it in a forest, or a fisherman when in a river. Imagine if Carcassonne took place during the Stone Age. Pictured it? You’re thinking of Carcassonne: Hunters and Gatherers! This standalone game features the core Carcassonne mechanisms, but with its own twist. This is also a 2020 updated version of the original 2002 title, from Z-Man Games. You will be rightly warranted for wondering what is actually new in this box, considering Carcassonne as a whole is no stranger to new editions, big box editions, spin offs and expansions. Over the years we have seen a whole host of things added to the wider Carcassonne family, including (but certainly not limited to) a wooden catapult to fling pieces across the table, pig meeples, a primitive version, a children’s version, cultists, a damn dragon etc.

Carcassonne: 20th Anniversary Edition | Board Games | Zatu

Some tiles are monasteries, surrounded by fields and sometimes with a road leading out of it. Again, when placing a monastery, you must align it to fit in with the surrounding landscapes. If you place a meeple into this monastery, it becomes a ‘monk’. Monasteries are only ever one tile in size. For me, classic is a curious word. If you were to buy a classic car for example, you know you will be tinkering under the bonnet and fixing patches of rust more often than you would like to. You’ll be scared to take it on a journey in the rain, in fact you’ll generally be too scared for it to leave the garage in case of a breakdown!Did you know that the term ‘meeple’ originated in a game of Carcassonne? Shortly after Carcassonne’s release, player Alison Hansel created a portmanteau. When describing her wooden pawns, Alison blended ‘my’ and ‘people’ together –‘meeple’. The term grew in popularity and is now a worldwide term for wooden silhouette player pieces! Turns Are Easy As One, Two, Mee(ple) If your opponents are developing larger forests and rivers, it can be a great tactic to sneak in before they complete to share the points. If they have laid four or five tiles and you just laid one or two tiles to share the score you come out on top here as you haven’t used as many turns to achieve that score. This isn’t a mere reskin of French countryside Carcassonne, though. Completed a forest that has gold in it? That lets you draw and immediately place a second tile – and it’s one of twelve separate ‘bonus’ tiles. Completed meadows, meanwhile, score you points per wild animal in it. (This differs depending on animal type.) But careful if a tiger enters a meadow! Tigers are predators and cancel out any animals in that meadow…