Carcassonne: the Castle
# 6 on my "Top Ten Games of 2003" List
Even though many “gamers” scoff at Carcassonne, I still find it the ultimate “portal” game for introducing new folks to the wonderful world of board games, even more than Settlers of Catan. One of the things I liked most about Carcassonne was that it made a fairly fun two-player game, and I often enjoyed those two-player games as much as, if not more than multiplayer games. When I heard that Reiner Knizia was making a two-player version of this classic, I was ecstatic. And when I found the game, Carcassonne: The Castle (Rio Grande Games, 2003 – Reiner Knizia) under my Christmas tree, I was overjoyed! How could a game like this go wrong?
But when I played the game, I found that it actually exceeded my expectations. It quickly went from a good Carcassonne variant to become one of my favorite two player games ever! Carcassonne: The Castle is similar to other Carcassonne games, but varies enough to make it probably the best version available. I will now only play regular Carcassonne as a multiplayer game, since this version is vastly superior. It certainly is one of the best games of 2003!
Ten puzzle pieces are put together to form the outer walls of a castle, to form an uneven shape that will hold seventy-six tiles. The walls also form a scoring track, onto which are placed one meeple each of the two different colors (black and tan). Thirteen of eighteen wall tiles are placed face down on the corners of the wall (because of the cities’ shape, there are many corners). Each player receives 6 meeples and 1 “keep” of their color. Sixty castle tiles are shuffled and placed face down into a pile. One player makes the first turn, with play alternating until all the tiles in the face down pile are gone.
On a player’s turn, they first draw a tile, then place it. Tiles are made up of three types of terrain: tower, house, and court. There are also roads traveling through certain tiles. The first player must place their tile in such a way that it connects to one of the start spaces on the castle wall (there are seven). After that, all tiles must either connect to a start space or to a tile that has already been played onto the board. Unlike other Carcassonne games, the rules for placing tiles are not much more restrictive than that. The only other rules are these: 1). Roads must always meet roads – although they can run into the castle wall. 2). Tiles must have one of their sides completely next to the side of another tile (you cannot stagger them when placing). Other than that, court can be placed next to house, house next to tower, etc.
After placing a tile, the player MAY place one of their meeples on the tile they just placed. They may place it on a road (making it a herald), on a tower (making it a knight), on a house (making it a squire), or on a field (making it a merchant.) As tiles are connected, the places where meeples are may grow larger – but only one meeple may be placed per each individual house, court, tower, or path. It is possible to have more than one meeple in each place, but only if a tile is placed to join two already connecting towers, houses, etc. When a road is finished – by having both ends run into walls, or a city square, the player removes their herald, and scores one point for each tile on which the road goes through. If there is a picture of one or more fountains next to the completed road, the points are doubled. When a tower is finished (by having every part of the tower surrounded by different terrain types), the knight is removed, and the player whose knight it was scores two points for tile that is part of the tower. When a house is completed, the player whose house it was (most squires) removes them, and scores one point for each house section. When a player scores their first house, they place their keep on it. The keep stays there the entire game unless the player builds a larger house – in which case the keep moves to the larger house. If, on a road, house, or tower, there are the same amount of meeples for both players – both are removed, and nobody scores any points.
Courts are scored a little differently. When a player places a merchant, they lay it on its side to show that the merchant cannot be moved for the remainder of the game. At the end of the game, merchants are scored – receiving three points for each market that is part of their court (little pictures on the tiles.) When the last tile is placed, markets are the only things scored – unfinished roads, towers, and houses are NOT scored. The keep, however, is scored. Whichever player has the largest keep scores points for the largest empty area of spaces on the board at the end of the game. For example, if there are a group of 12 spaces together at the end of the game, and my keep is bigger than my opponents, I would get twelve bonus points.
Whenever a player scores any points, their marker is moved along the scoring path immediately. The first player’s scoring marker to reach each wall tile gives that wall tile to the player, who reveals it and places it in front of them. There are nine different types of wall tiles, which do a variety of things, form doubling the scoring of certain areas, to giving bonus points, to allowing the player to take an extra turn. After the last tile is placed, and wall tiles, keeps, and courts are scored, the player with the most points is the winner!
Some comments on the game…
1.) Components: The components in the game are top notch, and extremely high quality. The castle pieces and the tiles are extremely good quality, and all fit together incredibly well. The wall tiles are small, and of good quality. There is no text on them, and so at first one might have to look up in the rules what each wall tile means – but I found them rather self-explanatory. The meeples and keeps are nice, although I would have preferred black and white instead of tan (this is a minor, minor quibble). I think the artwork on the original Carcassonne was better, and that the cities there looked better, instead of all blocky like this game, but this is a minor quibble. All of these good components come in a box of excellent quality, with nice artwork on the outside.
2.) Rules: For those who have played Carcassonne before, the rules for this game can be learned in less than five minutes. For those who haven’t, the game is still rather simple, and would be the first Carcassonne game I would teach a newcomer to the hobby (if we only had two players). The rules were printed on six colorful pages, with so many illustrations and examples that we had no questions, and the rules were understood quite easily.
3.) Comparisons to Carcassonne: Some of the things added in this version, like the wall tiles, are fantastic additions. I also really enjoyed having more freedom when placing tiles. I was a little leery at first about the restricted space in which to put tiles, but soon found that it made the game much more strategic and fun. The merchants are much easier to score than either the farmers in Carcassonne or those in Hunters and Gatherers. Overall, this game was more simple in some ways, but more complex in others, but taking the best of both worlds!
4.) Luck and strategy: There are always those who complain about the luck of Carcassonne, when drawing the tiles. In this game, we felt that this luck has been dramatically reduced, and that placement of one’s meeples is much more crucial to whether or not one wins the game or not. Deciding to get some quick points to obtain a wall tile is not a new, viable strategy, and keeps games close and exciting. The wall tiles ARE important, and cannot be ignored, as I have seen many games won by them alone.
5.) Theme and fun factor: This is a Knizia game, and you’re looking for theme? But the castle walls really help, and I though that the theme fit fairly well around the excellent mechanics. We had a lot of fun playing the game, as there was quite a bit of interaction between the players, and we were constantly racing to see who would get the next wall tile. Carcassonne: the Castle is strategic, sure, but is VERY fun.
So, in summary, I recommend this game highly. It’s certainly one of the best games of 2003, and without a doubt one of the best two-player games you can buy. It bears repeated playings and can be played casually or very competitively. There’s a lot to admire in this game, and therefore I think that it’s a must for gamers to add to their collections. Unless you hate Carcassonne, give this game a try, and even if you do – you may not dislike this one.
Tom Vasel
"Real men play board games"
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