Carcassonne is one of the most popular board games since it was first published back in 2000 and is also famous for introducing meeples to the board game world. Since then many expansions have been published and a World Championship has been established since 2006, held every year at SPIEL in Essen, Germany. Whether you are preparing for a tournament or just want to improve your skills in Carcassonne, this strategy guide is for you, based on my own playing experience.
The game is played by 2 to 5 players and while with 2 players strategy plays a bigger role than luck, with more players, things begin to get out of control and luck seems to take the upper hand. Or not? In the following guide I will analyze some general aspects of the game first and then give you some advice about 2-player games and games with 3-5 players separately.
General Strategy
Carcassonne consists of 72 land tiles which may include fields, cities, roads and cloisters. The most important thing in the game and what you should first do if you want to improve your game is to learn exactly what these tiles are and more importantly how many tiles exist of each kind. Knowing whether a specific piece exists and if it does, how many copies of it there are, is the power you have of controlling the game and decreasing the element of luck. For example if you know you can place a tile near an opponent’s unfinished city that will make it difficult for him to complete his city (because he will need a tile of a specific configuration and you know there are not many of them left) or even impossible (if there is no tile that matches his needs) then that is a very valuable information which you must make use of.
Followers
You have only seven followers. You must always be careful to have at least one follower free to place for “instant” points, which is points gained by placing a follower, immediately gaining some points and taking him back. An example of that are 2-tile cities or roads already closed on one end. Instant points may not seem very important but you will be surprised when you calculate how many such points you can gain in each match. If you place all your followers with small possibility to get one back soon and there are still many tiles to be placed, you will have a big disadvantage as you will not be able to win instant points and react in general to anything your opponents do. Towards the end of the game, make sure to place that last follower in the best possible way, e.g in a farm with at least one city, or an already developed free city or road.
Fields: Investing early or not
Fields are a big deal in Carcassonne and can bring a huge amount of points at the end of the game. Some prefer to place followers in fields early on in the game, even from the first turn, but that entails a lot of risk especially in games with more than 2 players where you don’t have much control of where new cities are created. When placing followers in fields, it’s a permanent choice because you can’t take them back till the end of the game so if you invest too early on fields you must be sure it is worth it. If you place early farmers your opponents will surely try to reduce their value by starting cities in other fields or build big cities. In a 2-player game, early farmers will be more valuable because you can make them profitable by building many small cities in your fields. With more players you will not have much control on your field’s development and this strategy is not so good. In relation to the previous paragraph, placing farmers has all to do with good follower’s management. By placing many farmers in the early-middle game, you have only a few left for scoring cities, roads and cloisters and if some of them get trapped then you have even less. On the other hand, placing farmers towards the end of the game is harder, especially with many players because you may not have enough time to connect them to the bigger fields which is your goal. Having knowledge of how many tiles exist of each kind will help you a lot to calculate what your chances are to connect a field to a bigger one.
Roads
In general you shouldn’t invest too much in roads because they don’t score big. Having up to one follower on a road is the typical way to go as well as aiming to score instant points by placing followers in tiles with crossroads with a road already closed on one end. If you see that an opponent deploys a long road you should try to share it with him or even steal it if you get the chance.
But there is a lot more in roads than just scoring points. Actually their importance lies not in scoring but in these other uses. First of all, tiles with roads on them is your main weapon in order to make it difficult or even impossible for someone to complete his city/cloister. By placing your road tile adjacent to a space that your opponents needs to complete or grow a city, you force him to find a tile with a specific configuration in order to complete his city, which, especially in games with many players, will be hard. Take a look at the following example:
Another use of roads, especially in the early stages of the game, is to use them to encircle an opponent’s field so it doesn’t grow enough to include many cities.
Cities: Big or small
Cities is your main way of scoring points.
When to go for small cities:
- If you plan to control a field you should always try to build as many small cities as you can in it.
- In games with many opponents it’s preferrable to go for small cities because bigger ones will attract your opponents and they will try to share them with you, steal them or make sure they don’t get completed and trap your followers. Of course you should do the same if you see someone trying to score a big city.
When to go for big cities:
When in a 2-player game your opponent goes early for fields. By investing in big cities you will decrease the value of your opponent’s farmers.
Cloisters
Cloisters is another way to score points. You should try to place them where it will be easier for them to be completed (spaces with many tiles already around them). It’s important that you try to finish your cloisters as soon as you can because if you don’t, your opponents may try to trap your follower. Towards the middle/late game if you have one or two followers it’s preferrable that you don’t place them on cloisters unless they can be completed very quickly or you can take another follower back soon enough because you will probably have a better use for them e.g. trying to control a field or score instant points.
In general upon drawing a tile you will have to ask yourself the following questions:
- Can I use the tile to develop or close my city, road or cloister?
- Can I use the tile to gain instant points from a city/road?
- Can I use the tile to block an opponent’s city/road/cloister or make it difficult for him to finish it?
- Can I use the tile to force an opponent to share his city/road?
- If it’s a road tile, can I use it to surround an opponent’s field, mitigating his farmer’s value (especially early in the game)?
If more than one choice is available, which will usually be the case, the right choice depends on the particular situation. For example if you are short in followers, taking one back must be a priority otherwise trapping an opponent’s follower, if you can, will be an excellent choice and number one priority.
Tips for 2-player games
A 2-player game is more strategic and doesn’t rely so much in luck. Blocking plays a smaller role because our opponent will draw many tiles and eventually find the tile he is looking for, however it can slow him down. Towards the end of the game when there are few tiles to draw, blocking can become more effective and followers can be trapped more easily.
Strategy 1:
You can invest early on a field and then build many small cities in it. Small cities will give you easy,instant points and fields will score you big at the end. Your opponent will try to prevent your field from growing by encircling it with roads so you must direct these roads appropriately and build cloisters with a road, if you get the chance (there are only 2), in the field so that further development is secured. By investing early on farmers you will have less available followers so you must place them carefully and avoid getting trapped. You will also have a reduced ability of sharing or stealing from your opponent so you should only try to share their big cities and roads.
Strategy 2:
Another strategy is to go for big cities and late farmers. Your opponent will try to share or steal your cities and so you must be very careful when developing your city. Expand towards the side with the least tiles to avoid blocking and sharing.
Place farmers in the middle of the game where you clearly see fields with many cities being developed. If your opponent goes for early farmers build your cities in other fields and try to try to encircle their fields with roads. Trapping followers of a player with many farmers placed, reduced his options a lot as he will have very few followers available.
Tips for 3-5 player games
The more the players of Carcassonne, the less tiles each player draws and consequently the bigger role luck plays in the game. While in a 2-player game each player draws 35-36 tiles, in a 3-player they draw 23-24, in a four player 17-18 and in a 5 player only 14-15. In games with many opponents you should preferably go for small cities and instant points, investing as time goes by more in farmers where you see fields with many cities being developed. Big cities will eventually be blocked or you will be forced to share them. If you have the chance, try to make your opponents share their roads/cities with you. Remember that what matters the most is not the absolute amount of points you score but the relative one, comparing to other players. So if, theoritically speaking, you share with all players and they don’t you will get more points than them by the end of the game. Try to share with the player that has the fewest points. If you cannot force an opponent to share his city, try to make sure that the city never gets finished and trap the followers inside it, aiming especially to the player who is more advanced in the score track. Best tiles that can be used this way are tiles with roads. In general, if someone is ahead in the score track, try to make all other players share with you as well as trap his followers, so that you gain more points relative to him. In my opinion it is better to try to trap your opponents’ followers in cities rather than try to make them share because this way they will lose their follower and if you manage to share there is a chance, especially in a multiplayer game, that a third player who doesn’t claim the city, will try to make it unfinishable and trap the 2 contending players’ followers. That is pretty devastating in the case you have invested 2 or 3 followers to the cause.
I hope that this small guide will help you get better in Carcassonne. Feel free to share any other ideas you may have about the game’s strategy or comment my ideas. This guide will be updated from time to time with any new thoughts that I may come up with in the future.
A helpful list of all tiles and their frequency in the game can be found here.
https://youtu.be/fruClSwvSWY