Carcassonne is one of the most popular board games since it was first published in 2000 and is also famous for introducing meeples to the world of board games. 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 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 spiral out of control and luck seems to take the lead. Or not? In the following guide, I will go through some general aspects of the game first and then give you some tips on 2 player games and 3-5 player games separately.

General strategy

Carcassonne consists of 72 tiles of land that can include fields, cities, roads, and cloisters. The most important thing in the game and what you need to 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 there are. Knowing if a specific piece exists and if it exists, how many copies of it there are, is the power you have to control the game and diminish the element of luck. For example, if you know that you can place a token near an opponent’s unfinished city that will make it difficult for him to complete his city (because he will need a token of a specific configuration and you know there are not many left) or even impossible (if there is no tile to fits your needs), then that is very valuable information to use.

Followers

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

Campos: invest early or not

The fields are a big problem in Carcassonne and can bring in a lot of points late in the game. Some prefer to place followers on the fields early in the game, even from the first turn, but that carries a lot of risk, especially in games with more than 2 players where you don’t have much control over where the new cities are created. Placing followers in the fields is a permanent choice because you can’t get them back until the end of the game, so if you invest too early in the fields, you have to be sure it’s worth it. If you place the first farmers, your opponents will surely try to reduce their value by starting cities in other fields or by building large cities. In a 2 player game, the first farmers will be more valuable because you can make them profitable by building many small towns in your fields. With more players you will not have much control over the development of your field and this strategy is not so good. In relation to the previous paragraph, the location of the farmers has to do with a good management of the followers. By placing a lot of farmers in the early mid-game, there are only a few left to mark cities, roads, and cloisters and if some of them get caught, then you have even fewer. On the other hand, placing farmers towards the end of the game is more difficult, especially with many 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 toward calculating your chances of connecting a field to a larger one.

Roads

In general, you shouldn’t invest too much in roads because they don’t get great results. Having up to a follower on a road is the typical way to go, as well as aiming to score instant points by placing followers in mosaics with crossroads with a road already closed at one end. If you see that an opponent unfolds a long way, you should try to share it with him or even steal it if you have the opportunity.

But there is much more to the roads than just scoring points. In reality, its importance does not lie in the punctuation, but in these other uses. First of all, road tiles are your main weapon to make it difficult or even impossible for someone to complete their city / cloister. By placing your path token next to a space your opponents need to complete or grow a city, you force them to find a token with a specific configuration to complete their city, which, especially in multiplayer games, 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 surround an opponent’s field so that it does not grow large enough to include many cities.

Cities: big or small

Cities is your main way to score points.

When to go to small towns:

• If you plan to control a field, you should always try to build as many small towns as you can on it.

• In games with many opponents it is preferable to go for small cities because the larger ones will attract your opponents and they will try to share them with you, steal them or make sure that they do not fill up and trap your followers. Of course, you should do the same if you see someone trying to flag a big city.

When to go to the big cities:

When in a 2 player game, your opponent goes to the fields early. By investing in big cities, you will decrease the value of your opponent’s farmers.

Cloisters

Cloisters is another way to earn points. You should try to place them where it is easier to complete them (spaces with many tiles around them). It is important that you try to finish your cloisters as soon as possible because if you don’t, your opponents may try to catch your follower. Towards the middle / end of the game, if you have one or two followers, it is preferable that you do not place them in the cloisters unless they can be completed very quickly or you can get another follower back soon enough because you will probably have a better use for them. for example, trying to control a field or add instantaneous 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 city, highway or cloister?

2. Can I use the tile to earn instant city / road points?

3. Can I use the tile to block an opponent’s city / path / cloister or make it difficult for him to finish it?

4. Can I use the tile to force an opponent to share their city / path?

5. If it’s a road tile, can I use it to go around an opponent’s field, mitigating his farmer’s courage (especially early in the game)?

If there is more than one option 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, will be an excellent 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 less of a role because our opponent will draw a lot of tiles and eventually find the tile they are looking for, however it can slow them down. Towards the end of the game, when there are few tiles left to draw, blocking can become more effective and followers can be more easily trapped.

Strategy 1:

You can invest in one field early on and then build many small towns on it. The small towns will give you easy and instant points and the fields will give you a big score in the end. Your opponent will try to prevent your field from growing by surrounding it with paths, so you must direct these paths appropriately and build cloisters with a path, if you have the opportunity (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 position them carefully and avoid getting caught. You will also have a reduced ability to share or rob your opponent, so you should only try to share their big cities and roads.

Strategy 2:

Another strategy is to bet on big cities and late farmers. Your opponent will try to share or steal your cities and that is why you must be very careful when developing your city. Expand to the side with the fewest tiles to avoid blocking and sharing.

Put 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, build your cities in other fields and try to surround their fields with roads. Catching followers of a player with many farmers placed greatly reduced his options as he will have very few followers available.

Tips for 3-5 player games

The more Carcassonne players, the fewer tiles each player draws and consequently the more important role luck plays in the game. While in a 2 player game each player steals 35-36 chips, in a 3 player game they draw 23-24, in a 4 player game 17-18 and in a 5 player only 14-15. In games with many opponents, you should preferably go for small towns and instant points, investing as time goes on more farmers 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 a chance, try to get your opponents to share their roads / cities with you. Remember that what matters most is not the absolute number of points you get, but the relative amount, compared to other players. So if, theoretically speaking, you share with all the players and they don’t, you will get more points than them at the end of the game. Try to share with the player who has the fewest points. If you can’t force an opponent to share their city, try to make sure the city is never finished and trap followers within it, especially targeting the player who is further along the scoring track. The best tiles to use in this way are tiles with roads. In general, if someone is ahead on the scoring track, try to get all the other players to share with you and catch their followers, so that you earn more points relative to them. In my opinion, it is better to try to catch the followers of your opponents in the cities than to try to make them share because in this way they will lose their follower and if you manage to share there is the possibility, especially in a multiplayer game, that a third player who do not claim the city, you will try to make it endless and catch the supporters of the 2 contending players. That is pretty devastating if you have invested 2 or 3 followers in the cause.

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

You can find a useful list of all tokens and their frequency in the game here.