Count, King and Robber (1st edition)

From Wikicarpedia
Jump to navigation Jump to search

General info and comments

CountKingRobber coverImage.png

Count, King, and Robber was the sixth major expansion for Carcassonne and was originally released by Hans im Glück in 2008.

This expansion represents a collection of (parts of) several smaller expansions which had been independently released at different times (2003-2008). The information for these smaller expansions is included here as a part of this large expansion, rather than individually with their own page. This is the most reasonable way to obtain each of the small expansions, although the individual small expansions may become available, from time-to-time, on the second-hand market. Because each part truly functions independently (and the publisher even recommends against playing with River II and Count of Carcassonne at the same time), each is described separately, and each Tile Distribution will be at the end of the respective subsection rather than at the end of the entire section.

Expansion watermark

Small Expansions included :-

  • King & Robber Baron (2003)
  • The Count of Carcassonne (2003)
  • River II (2005)
  • Heretics and Shrines (2008)

King and Robber Baron

Count KingCover.png

King and Robber Baron was originally released by Hans im Glück in 2003 (as part of King and Scout, which also featured 5 tiles for Hunters and Gatherers).

Contents

  • 5 new land tiles
  • 1 King tile
  • 1 Robber Baron tile

Rules

Preparation

The 5 new land tiles should be mixed with the rest of the tiles. This expansion has been developed for the Carcassonne basic game and can be used with any or all of the other expansions.

The King and The Robber Baron tiles should be set aside at the side of the playing area, as they will be used later.

Placing a tile

When you draw one of the King or Robber land tiles, place it according to the normal rules.

Count King C1-01.png Note: This tile has two separate city segments.
During the course of play they may nevertheless become connected, and then count as only one segment.

Deploying a follower

When you place one of the King and Robber land tiles, you may place a meeple on it according to the normal rules.

Scoring

When you complete one or more features (e.g. a monastery, a road etc.) by placing a King and Robber land tile, it is scored according to the normal rules.

A completed city
The King

As soon as a player completes the first city (in the game), he or she should take the King tile.

If, during the course of play, another player completes a larger city [1] — which means he or she places the final tile of this city — then he or she receives the King. [2]

A completed road
The Robber Baron

The Robber Baron functions in the same way as the King.

As soon as a player completes the first road, he or she should take the Robber Baron tile. If, during the course of play, another player completes a longer road he or she receives the Robber Baron tile.

End Scoring

At the end of the game, the player in possession of the King scores 1 point for every completed city. [3] [4]

At the end of the game, the player in possession of the Robber Baron scores 1 point for every completed road. [5]

House Rules

At game end, use a lot of dice, place them on the board as completed features are found. Then collect them in, counting as you go. (Thanks to viberunner)

Place unused pieces (or other objects) on the scoreboard to represent the size of the biggest city and the longest road. (Thanks to RationalLemming)

The player holding the King or Robber Baron at the end of the game receives a straight 10 points for each card. This matches the points awarded for trade goods, and avoids having to count the number of completed roads and cities. (Thanks to Joff)

The player holding the King or Robber Baron at the end of the game receives a straight 15 points for each card, or 40 points if both cards are held by one player. (Thanks to PreGy)

The player who completes the first road receives the Robber Baron and keeps it until another player completes a longer road. Until that time, the player receives 1 bonus point every time a road is completed. The same applies for the King and cities. (Thanks to dustyu)

Tile distribution

Total Tiles: 5+2

Count King C1-01.png x1
Count King C1-02.png x1
Count King C1-03.png x1
Count King C1-04.png x1
Count King C1-05.png x1
Count King C1.png x1
Count Robber C1.png x1

The Count of Carcassonne

File:Count CountCover.png

The Count of Carcassonne was originally released by Hans im Glück in 2003.

Contents

  • 12 new city tiles
  • 1 count

Rules

Preparation

At the beginning of the game, the twelve city tiles are placed on the table so that they form a single city. This city [6] - Carcassonne itself - serves as the starting point for the game. [7] [8] [9] As such, the normal starting tile is not used. [10] [11]

Count City C1 Areas.jpg

There are four quarters in the city:

  1. the castle
  2. the market
  3. the blacksmith
  4. the cathedral
The Count of Carcassonne

The wooden count figure should be placed on the castle quarter of Carcassonne, and then the game begins as usual.

Placing a tile

There are no land tiles associated with this specific expansion. Draw and place land tiles from the base game and other expansions being used according to the normal rules. Tiles may be placed against the City of Carcassonne starting block to build the landscape as normal.

Deploying a follower

If you place a tile to extend a landscape feature on The City of Carcassonne (road, city field), you may place a follower on it according to the normal rules.

Scoring

Official Variants

Even the aristocracy are subject to certain rules, and cannot simply do whatever they may want. The following variants take this into account and constrain the freedom of the Count. Using these variants will lend the mini-expansion even more tactical possibilities. In both variants, the Count may no longer be freely moved, but rather:

  1. whenever a new follower is deployed to the city of Carcassonne, the Count is moved clockwise to the next city quarter, or
  2. the Count is moved to whichever city quarter the new follower is deployed to.

House Rules

Place the river first, then fit the city of Carcassonne next to it so that the most tiles are touched. Most likely this will seem to make the river flow around the city.

Tile distribution

Total Tiles: 12 (as 1 starting block)

Count City C1.jpg

Back side of tiles:

Count CityBack C1.png

The River II

Count River2Cover.png

Details of The River II have been incorporated on the main River page.

Heretics and Shrines

Heretics and Shrines (or Shrines and Heretics) was originally released by Hans im Glück in 2008 in this major expansion.

The tiles were also reprinted in Spielbox in 2008 but with different logos (a pentagon rather than a crown) along with some pieces for another HiG game, Stone Age. The rules for this version of the expansion are the same as the initial version.

Finally, it was released by Rio Grande Games (2008) as part of Cult, Siege and Creativity along with one extra landscape tile (crfr), 4x Siege tiles and 2x blank tiles to allow the purchaser to create their own tile layouts. RGG chose to call the tiles “cult places”, although the rules for their use are again identical.

Contents

  • Count, King and Robber: 5 new land tiles (crown watermark)
  • Cult, Siege and Creativity: 6 new land tiles (no watermark)
  • Spielbox: 5 new land tiles (pentagon watermark)

Rules

Preparation

The new land tiles should be mixed in with the other tiles. This expansion has been developed for the Carcassonne basic game.

Placing a tile

Shrines are placed and scored in the same way as a cloister. [12] However, a shrine may not be placed in such a way that it adjoins several cloisters. [13] Similarly, a cloister may not be placed so that it neighbors several shrines. [14] [15] [16]

Deploying a follower

A follower deployed to a shrine is called a heretic. If a player places a shrine directly (horizontally, vertically, or diagonally) next to the cloister [17] of another player [18] and deploys a heretic to it, a challenge is laid down to the monk. [19] The same is true when a monk is deployed to a cloister directly next to a heretic. [20] Challenging your own monk or heretic is also possible. [21]

When a player places a shrine tile, he or she may, as usual, choose to deploy a follower to the farm, road, or city segment of the tile, instead of to the shrine itself. [22]

Scoring

When you complete one or more features (e.g. a monastery, a road etc.) by placing a Shrine land tile, it is scored according to the normal rules.

The challenge

The challenge is about who can finish his or her building first. [23] [24]

The player who finishes his or her feature first scores 9 points, [25] while the other player scores nothing. [26] [27] Both followers are then returned to their owners. [28]

Final Scoring

If a challenge has not been resolved by the end of the game, both players receive the usual points awarded for incomplete cloisters.

House Rules

To raise the stakes of a challenge between shrines and cloisters, and to make it more worthwhile to risk the chance of getting no points, the winning challenger receives the points for both structures while the loser still receives nothing. If promoting more aggressive play, the challenger could be the only one playing for the reward. (Thanks to youtch and others; thanks to RationalLemming, and to avt104981 for pointing out that this can’t result in 18 points)

Tile distribution

Total Tiles: 5 (Count, King and Robber Edition)

Count Cult C1-01.png x1
Count Cult C1-02.png x1
Count Cult C1-03.png x1
Count Cult C1-04.png x1
Count Cult C1-05.png x1

Total Tiles: 6 (Cult, Siege and Creativity Edition)

As above plus :

Count Cult C1-06.png x1

Total Tiles: 5 (Spielbox Edition)

Count CultSB C1-01.png x1
Count CultSB C1-02.png x1
Count CultSB C1-03.png x1
Count CultSB C1-04.png x1
Count CultSB C1-05.png x1

Footnotes

For Icons explanation and licensing please visit Icons page.

  1. Icon Open Book.png The player who completes the biggest city during the game, that is, the city which consists of the most land tiles, receives the King. Thus, the highest scoring city may not always win the king, such as a smaller city earning more points through pennants or the cathedral. The same is true of roads and the Robber Baron.
  2. Icon House Black.png It is often difficult during the course of play to keep in mind the size of the city or road which is currently the largest. To avoid having to constantly recount, you could mark the size of the largest city and road on the scoring track using a neutral figure for the King and a different one for the Robber Baron.
  3. Icon Open Book.png Castles (from Bridges, Castles and Bazaars) do not count as cities for the purposes of scoring for the King.
  4. Icon Open Book.png The City of Carcassonne (from The Count of Carcassonne) does count as a city when scoring points for the King tile. (11/2013)
  5. With the three-way tile in Abbey and the Mayor, the length of the road is the total number of tiles in the road, not simply the longest distance between two ends. The road has three ends which have to be closed, but the result is that it’s likely to be bigger.
  6. Icon Open Book.png The city of Carcassonne does count when scoring farms at the end of the game and also counts when scoring points for the King tile. (11/2013)
  7. Icon Open Book.png Followers can be deployed on features on City of Carcassonne tiles outside the City of Carcassonne itself, for example through use of a magic portal or as a flier. (1/2013)
  8. Icon Open Book.png The dragon can fly around the outside of Carcassonne, treating the landscape areas as normal tiles and eating any figures on those tiles. Followers and the Count inside Carcassonne are unaffected. This represents a notable change from previous FAQs. (10/2012)
  9. Icon World Black.png Given new interpretations regarding placement of the dragon and followers on features outside the City of Carcassonne, it seems that the plague should also be allowed on the outside portion of these tiles. However, this is unofficial. (1/2013)
  10. Icon Open Book.png The latest rules for The River II state that “if you decide to use The Count of Carcassonne and The River II as starting tiles for a game, it is possible that one will not be able to use all of the river tiles if they are placed too close to the City of Carcassonne. River tiles which cannot be placed should be removed from the game, in accordance with the basic rules. Even if the river cannot be placed in its entirety, the game should proceed in the usual way.” See the Comments in The River II for more information.
  11. Icon Double Arrow Black.png The original rules added the following sentence clarification: “If the river is being used, then the spring tile should be placed next, and in such a way that the river leads away from the city.” Compare this with the introductory paragraph of the rules for Count, King and Consort: “It is not recommended to combine The Count of Carcassonne and The River II, as situations may arise in which it is impossible to place tiles properly.” In other words, the official position has changed over the years.
  12. Icon Open Book.png A knight in a besieged city from the Cathars can escape via a shrine, as with a cloister. The shrines are, for the most part, identical to cloisters. That goes for escape as well.
  13. Icon World Black.png In other words, a shrine cannot adjoin more than one cloister, and vice versa.
  14. Icon Open Book.png Question: Can I place a shrine in such a way that it forces a cloister to neighbor several shrines? What effect does that have? Answer: It leads to enormous problems when multiple cloisters and shrines neighbor each other. [In other words, no, you can’t place a shrine in that way—ed.]
  15. Icon Open Book.png The rules that restrict the placement of cloisters next to already placed shrines also restrict the placement of abbeys.
  16. Icon House Black.png Because the problems arise when there are multiple simultaneous challenges, one could allow placement of further shrines or cloisters into the area as long as no followers are placed on those cloisters/shrines (i.e. there are no further challenges).
  17. Icon Open Book.png A shrine can challenge an abbey, and vice versa, because the abbey is also a cloister.
  18. Icon Double Arrow Black.png The RGG edition of Count, King & Robber changes this to “When a heretic is placed on a shrine adjacent (orthogonally or diagonally) to an occupied monastery, a challenge occurs.” Because the part about “another player,” was removed, the final sentence in this paragraph regarding one’s own monk/heretic became unnecessary and was also removed. (12/2013)
  19. Icon World Black.png When playing with German/Dutch Monasteries, an abbot cannot be involved in a challenge with a heretic on a shrine/cult place, as the two scoring mechanisms are entirely different (the abbot’s monastery is never completed, so the heretic would always win). (5/2014)
  20. Icon Double Arrow Black.png The RGG edition of Big Box 2 adds, ‘That is, the monk must challenge the heretic.’
  21. Icon Double Arrow Black.png This sentence is omitted in the RGG version.
  22. Icon Double Arrow Black.png The RGG version adds that a player may also “choose to place no follower at all on the tile.”
  23. Icon Open Book.png If the tile placed completes both the shrine and the cloister, no one completed the building first, and both receive the points.
  24. Icon Open Book.png Question: Imagine I have an unoccupied cloister next to an occupied shrine. I place a tile with a magic portal which completes both buildings, and choose to use the magic portal to deploy a monk to the cloister. Does this declare a challenge, and if so, who wins? Answer: This is actually an invalid placement of the follower – the magic portal cannot be used to place a follower on a completed feature (and the cloister is considered completed before the move wood phase). Thus, there can be no challenge, and the heretic gets 9 points. (updated 7/2014)
  25. Icon Double Arrow Black.png The RGG edition adds a clarification here: “Once a challenge has been declared, the player (of those two involved in the challenge) who first completes his cult place or cloister scores 9 points as normal.”
  26. Icon Open Book.png Question: If the fairy is on the same tile as the losing heretic or monk in a challenge, does the player still score the bonus 3 points? Answer: When a challenge is resolved (that is, when someone has won), both followers are returned to the player, so no one stands next to the fairy.[At the point that a challenge is resolved and one participant “scores” zero, the building that participant is in will be incomplete. Therefore, strictly speaking, that participant does not actually take part in “scoring”—say, in the way that a player without the majority in a city does—and so does not score the bonus points —ed.]
  27. Icon Open Book.png Question: Say I have a heretic engaged in a challenge with a monk, and I place the tile which completes the monk's cloister, so that the monk scores 9 points and I score 0. Can I still move a follower to Carcassonne in this case? Answer: Yes, triggered scoring, received no points: conditions fulfilled.
  28. Icon Open Book.png When a challenge is resolved, both the monk and heretic are removed from play. If that leaves one of the buildings incomplete, it can be reoccupied by using a magic portal or a follower from Carcassonne.