Carcassonne is one of the most popular board games since it was first published in the year 2000 and is also famous for introducing meeples to the world of board games. Since then many expansions have been released and a World Championship has been established since 2006, held every year at SPIEL in Essen, Germany. Whether you’re preparing for a tournament or just want to improve your skills in Carcassonne, this strategy guide is for you, based on my own gaming 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 start to get out of hand and luck seems to take the lead. Or not? In the following guide, I will first go through some general aspects of the game and then give you some tips on 2 player games and 3-5 player games separately.

General strategy

Carcassonne consists of 72 land tiles that can include fields, cities, roads, and cloisters. The most important thing in the game and what you should do first if you want to improve your game is to learn exactly what these tiles are and more importantly how many tiles of each type exist. Knowing if a specific piece exists, and if it exists, how many copies there are of it, is the power you have to control the game and lessen 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 you to complete your city (because you will need a tile of a specific configuration and you know there aren’t many left) or even impossible (if there is no tile to matches your needs), then that is very valuable information to use.

followers

You only have seven followers. You should always be careful to have at least one follower free to place “instant” points, which are points earned by placing a follower, immediately earning some points, and getting it back. An example of that is cities with 2 tiles or roads already closed at one end. Instant Points may not seem very important, but you will be surprised when you calculate how many points you can earn in each match. If you place all of your followers with little chance of getting one back soon and there are still a lot of tiles left to place, you’ll be at a huge disadvantage as you won’t be able to gain instant points and generally react to anything your opponents do. Towards the end of the game, make sure to place the last follower in the best possible way, for example, in a farm with at least one city, or a city or free road already developed.

Fields: Invest early or not

Fields are a big problem in Carcassonne and can generate a huge amount of points late in the game. Some prefer to place followers on fields early in the game, even from turn one, but that carries a lot of risk, especially in games with more than 2 players where you don’t have much control over where new cities are created. When placing followers on fields, it’s a permanent option because you can’t get them back until late game, so if you invest too early in fields, you have to be sure it’s worth it. If you place farmers first, your opponents will surely try to lower their value by starting cities on other fields or building large cities. In a 2 player game, early farmers will be more valuable because you can make them profitable by building lots of small towns on your fields. With more players you won’t have much control over the development of your course and this strategy is not that good. In relation to the previous paragraph, the placement of farmers has to do with the good management of the followers. By placing a lot of farmers in the early or mid game, you only have a few left to score cities, roads and cloisters and if some of them get trapped then you have even fewer. On the other hand, placing farmers towards the end of the game is more difficult, especially with a lot of players because you may not have enough time to connect them to the larger fields, which is your goal. Knowing how many tiles there are of each type will go a long way in calculating what your chances are of connecting a field to a larger one.

Roads

In general, you shouldn’t invest too much in roads because they don’t score great. Having up to one follower on a path is the typical way to go, as well as aiming to earn instant points by placing followers on tiles with junctions with an already closed path at one end. If you see an opponent spread out a long way you should try to share it with him or even steal it if you get the chance.

But there is much more to the roads than just scoring points. In reality, its importance does not lie in marking but in these other uses. First of all, tiles with paths are your main weapon to make it difficult or even impossible for someone to complete their city/cloister. By placing your road tile next to a space your opponent needs to complete or grow a city, you force them to find a tile with a specific configuration to complete their city, which, especially in games with many players, will be difficult. . 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 that it does not grow large enough to include many cities.

Cities: big or small

Cities are your main way of scoring points.

When to go to small cities:

• If you plan to control a field, you should always try to build as many small cities as you can on it.
• In games with many opponents it is preferable to bet on small cities because the bigger ones will attract your opponents and try to share them with you, steal them or make sure they are not 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 to big cities:

When in a 2 player game, your opponent goes to the fields early. By investing in large 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 is easier to complete them (spaces with a lot of tiles around). It’s important that you try to finish your cloisters as soon as possible because if you don’t, your opponents may try to trap your follower. Towards the middle or late game, if you have one or two followers, it’s best that you don’t put them in cloisters unless they can be completed very quickly or you can get another follower back soon enough because you’ll probably have a better use for them. for example, trying to control a field or scoring instant points.

In general, when drawing a mosaic, you will need to ask yourself the following questions:

1. Can I use the tile to develop or close my town, road, or cloister?
2. Can I use the tile to earn instant points from a city/road?
3. Can I use the token to block an opponent’s city/road/cloister or make it harder for them to finish it?
4. Can I use the token to force an opponent to share their city/road?
5. If it’s a path tile, can I use it to surround an opponent’s field, mitigating their farmer’s value (especially early game)?

If more than one option is available, which is often the case, the correct choice depends on the particular situation. For example, if you have few followers, getting one back should be a priority; otherwise, catching an opponent’s follower, if you can, is going to be a great option and the number one priority.

Tips for 2 player games

A 2 player game is more strategic and less dependent on luck. Blocking plays a minor role because our opponent will draw a lot of 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 more easily trapped.

Strategy 1:

You can invest early in a field and then build many small cities on it. Small towns will give you easy and instant points and fields will give you a big score at the end. Your opponent will try to prevent your field from growing by surrounding it with paths, so you should route these paths appropriately and build cloisters with a path, if you have the chance (there are only 2), on the field to ensure further development. . By investing in farmers early, you will have fewer followers available, so you need to place them carefully and avoid getting trapped. You will also have a reduced ability to share or steal from your opponent, so you should only try to share their big cities and highways.

Strategy 2:

Another strategy is to bet on big cities and late farmers. Your opponent will try to share or steal your cities, so you have to be very careful while developing your city. Expand to the side with fewer tiles to avoid blocking and sharing.

Place the farmers in the middle of the game where you can clearly see the fields with many developing cities. If your opponent goes for the first farmers, he builds your cities on other fields and tries to surround his fields with roads. Trapping followers from a player with many farmers placed greatly reduced his options since he will have very few followers available.

Tips for games with 3 to 5 players

The more players there are in Carcassonne, the fewer chips each player will draw, and consequently luck will play a bigger role in the game. While in a 2 player game each player draws 35-36 tiles, in a 3 player game he draws 23-24, in a four player game 17-18 and in a 5 player game only 14-15. In games with many opponents you should preferentially bet on small cities and instant points, investing more in farmers as time goes by where you see fields with many developing cities. Big cities will eventually be blocked or you will be forced to share them. If you get the chance, try to get your opponents to share their roads/cities with you. Remember that the most important thing is not the absolute number of points you get but the relative one, compared to other players. So if, theoretically speaking, you share with all the players and they don’t, you’ll get more points than they do at the end of the game. Try to share with the player who has less points. If you can’t force an opponent to share their city, try to make the city never end and trap the followers inside it, especially targeting the player who is further along in score. The best tiles that can be used in this way are tiles with paths. In general, if someone is ahead in the score, try to make all the other players share with you and catch their followers, so that you earn more points relative to him. In my opinion, it’s better to try to trap your opponents’ followers in cities than to try to get them to 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 will If he doesn’t claim the city, he will try to make it endless and trap the followers of the 2 contending players. That’s pretty devastating if you’ve invested 2-3 supporters in the cause.

I hope this little guide helps you improve in Carcassonne. Feel free to share any other thoughts you may have on game strategy or comment on my ideas. This guide will be updated from time to time with any new ideas that come to mind in the future.

You can find a helpful list of all the tiles and their frequency in the game here.