Back to the Board - Carcassonne

Heartless Gamer writes to mention a feature on Grimwell online looking at the great board game of Carcassonne. Yet another terrific title from Rio Grande, the article takes a look at a possible introductory title for someone who might not have played a more serious board game. From the article: "Once you place a farmer, you can't get that follower back. The question thus becomes, do you play it now while the field is empty or do you wait, hoping your opponent won't claim the field the following turn? Farms can mean big points at the end of the game but could also mean missed points during the game if you run out of followers to play. The game plays smoothly once the players are briefed on the rules. Turns fly by and games complete relatively quickly. The only trick area of gameplay is ensuring players placing farmers are not overlapping other farmers. There can be a lot of land tiles between farmers, so a keen eye is required to ensure the rules are followed. Fortunately, the rule book has plenty of examples to help the players out."

Comments

The scoring is too complicated...

[happy_place]

I love this game, but honestly haven't played it for a long time, because I have to look at the rules everytime I play it (after a break). I had the original RIO game, plus an expansion, but now... I can't remember the rules that well. Further, not only is it bad that I don't entirely remember the rules, but it just got so difficult to explain to folks how to score it, and friends come and go, and well... I was never quite sure I was scoring it right by the end... when we want to play a quick game, games with difficult scoring, tend to take a backseat to the easier-to-explain variety. --Ray

Re:Carcassone

[Anonymous Coward]

There's almost no strategy involved.

Bullshit.

When you draw a tile, you often only have a single place to put it (either because you're forced to as the only move,

Bullshit. Almost never happens.

or because it's the only option that'll help your people)

Only if you're a beginner. Once you get into it, there are generally a great many ways you can play to your advantage, even with a seemingly useless tile. You can impede your opponents, set up a later tile, or simply make it easier to complete things you have claimed later.