The Count of Carcassonne Game

Reviews are all about personal opinion, and so I'll come clean and say that I didn't really enjoy this expansion very much - but I can see why other people might.

I will assume that you already know how to play 'normal' Carcassonne. Like most expansions, this can't be played on its own. It contains 12 tiles that form the city of Carcassonne itself - these are laid out at the beginning of the game, effectively replacing the normal starting tile. This is the main reason I gave the expansion more than 1 star, as it is perfectly possible to use these tiles without the Count - they form a beautiful centrepiece to the play area, and provide a ready-made completed city to tempt you to lay down a farmer early on.

But the expansion is called 'The Count' - so where does he come in? The city is split into 4 areas, the castle, the cathedral, the market and the blacksmith's. The Count (a large purple figure, clearly meant to represent Dracula, for some unexplained reason) is placed on one of these areas, which represent the 4 main features of the game: cities, cloisters, farms and roads, respectively.

If a player finishes someone else's feature, without scoring anything for themselves, they are allowed to put a follower in one of the areas within the city. Suppose they put the follower in the castle, which represents 'cities'. At the same time, they can choose to move the Count into another area of the city, if they wish. This can be important, as no follower can be moved out of the area that the Count is 'visiting'.

Sooner or later, another player will complete a city. Assuming that the Count has NOT been moved into the castle area, then any player who has one or more followers in the castle can move as many of them as they like directly to the completed city. This may mean that they share the points awarded with the supposed 'owner' of the city, or may even win it outright.

This is my main objection to this expansion. I tend to play Carcassonne as a 'fun' game, rather than a 'win-at-any-cost' game. This expansion allows players to sweep in at the last moment and profit from someone else's hard work - not exactly the best way to make friends! As a direct consequence, it also feels as if it is taking away part of the skill that you acquire by repeated playing, and makes the game far more open to luck. I always feel that Carcassonne is one of those wonderful games where luck and skill are very finely balanced, so that it is always possible for a less experienced player to win because of lucky draws of the tiles - after all, who wants to play a game where you know who's going to win? But this expansion just seems to throw away the skill part completely, which is just as dissatisfying.

But, as the title of this review says, if you like to play Carcassonne as a cut-throat experience, then this expansion could be right up your street. And, for the rest of us, given that it is so cheap, it is well worth getting simply for the beautiful tiles that make up the city itself. But if you want my opinion, just leave the Count in his box!

I bought this on the back on the brillance of the other expansion packs for carcassonneCarcassonne Expansion 1: Inns & Cathedrals and Carcassonne Expansion 2: Traders & Builders to name but my favourite two.
As soon as i recieved the item i was rather dissappointed a small little box (see product dimensions)(Don't trust the picture) and it doesn't add much to the game as other expansions that i have.

It will be played of course but i feel it is not my favourite expansion and feel rather ripped off. Its a great expansion if your playing a competitive game, but were not highly competitive when playing this game as we are with others but i suppose its who you play with.

Don't let my review put you off if your looking for an expansion which adds another level of competitiveness to an already brillant game this is for you. but if your expecting something alone the lines of the first 2 expansions i'd steer clear and consider other expansions first before taking the plunge.

This is an expansion for the game of Carcassonne. It adds to the game with a Castle and the Count thus allowing more strategy into the game.
Once you have played the basic game invest in the expansions such as River 2, Inns and Cathedrals, traders and Builders and the King and Scout. All add to game, personally The Count is my least favorite expansion but it is a must for games players.