Part two of the Carcassonne boardgame review
Carcassonne boardgame review, part two
Click here to read part one of this review
The gameplay
For such a simple game, there's surprising
complexity to Carcassonne. Players can choose many styles:
co-operative, aggressive, expansive, short-termist or long-termist and
others.
As with all great game designs, many different approaches can be successful and no one way is guaranteed to triumph.
Tiles are finite resources. Tiles that share cities and roads, for example, are rarer, so placing a road in such a way that it runs towards an unfinished city can create an impossible tile to find. This is a nasty tactic: be warned, you can fall out with other players if you're too destructive for the sake of denying others, rather than improving your own score.
One
important aspect of the strategy is often
overlooked by new players. Farmers can decide the outcome of the game,
especially when there are many complete cities, so a crucial
element is long-term planning for the fields.
A player who neglects the farms will end up being overtaken more often than not. The benefit of a farmer has to be balanced against the fact that the follower is tied up for the entire game and can never be released.
Expansion packs add other scoring options, but we'll cover those in separate reviews.
Pros and cons
Tile laying is a really pleasant change from more standard boardgame designs. Carcassonne the boardgame is always different, as you'd expect for a randomly-generated playing field.
It's a lot of fun, too. Initially you'll be
climbing a learning curve, as some of the rules take some time to fully
grasp.
The design was designed in Germany and some of the English rules seem a little cumbersomely translated. There is room for misunderstanding and misinterpretation, which doesn't help, for sure.
The components are very well-designed and made, though even thick card tiles will gradually wear out in time (and take our advice, keep hot drinks well clear of the game! Coffee really accelerates the ageing process of card tiles).
Depending on who you play with, Carcassonne can be a very frustrating experience. A purely destructive player is annoying at best. Some of the finest games are played in a kind of harmonious spirit of competition, which suits Carcassonne best in my opinion.
While we have listed it as a family game, it's still a little complex for kids under the age of ten.
Carcassonne receives the Boardgame Beast loveheart logo for being a great, fun experience for two players, as well as a larger group.
The verdict
The Carcassonne boardgame is a fine design and is bound to appeal to a wide range of game players. Chance plays only a small part in the outcome and it can be a longish game, depending on your familiarity with the rules. Needs a large table to allow for its full expansion capacity to be enjoyed. Thoroughly recommended.
Boardgame
Reviews
Site Stuff
Join
BEASTMAIL
Now 47% crappier!
