Dragon and Fairy
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You are reading the rules for this tile design. |
 | Read the following rules if your tiles look like this. The Princess & the Dragon |  |
 | Or read the following rules if your tiles look like this. The Princess & the Dragon |  |
| If your tiles have a different design, then choose a game from Spin-offs. |  |
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In this expansion for Carcassonne, a hungry dragon roams the countryside. Plan ahead to stay clear of the dragon’s path, summon the fairy for protection or use the magic portal to regain lost features.
General info and comments
Dragon & Fairy was released by HiG for the third edition, known as C3.1 for short, in 2025. This edition includes more detailed graphics than previous versions and cities with clipped buildings.
It includes 26 land tiles and 2 double-sized river tiles. All in all, this expansion introduces you to the world of fantasy, the land of fairy tales and where knights fight big dragons with the following new elements:
- The dragon, a neutral figure that moves along the playing area eating meeples and other figures.
- The fairy, a neutral figure that provides protection against the dragon and also grants additional points.
- Magic portals, which allow players to place meeples on any tile of the playing area.
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Expansion background
This expansion is a revised version of The Princess & the Dragon released for the second edition, known as C2 for short, in 2016. And it was originally released for the first edition, known as C1 for short, in 2005. These original versions included 30 land tiles and no river tiles. They also included a princess symbol, now discarded, that allowed players to remove knights from cities. The mechanics of the dragon and the fairy were somewhat different too. |
Contents
- 26 land tiles (marked with to help you separate and sort your tiles) including 6 with a dragon hoard, 10 with a dragon symbol and 6 with a magic portal.
Tile with a
dragon hoard
Tile with a
dragon symbol
Tile with a
magic portal
- 1 double river source tile and 1 double river lake tile with a dragon hoard (two-sided)
Double tile with river source
Double tile with river lake
- 1 dragon and 1 fairy neutral figures
Dragon figure
Fairy figure
Rules
Preparation
Additional preparation
If you are playing with the mini-expansion 
The River (recommended), replace the source tile with the double source tile. Lay aside the double lake tile. Shuffle the rest of the river tiles face down (including the lake tile from The River). They form the river tile stack. If you are playing without The River, ignore the previous setup and return all river tiles to the box.
Shuffle the rest of the new land tiles into the other land tiles. Return 5 random land tiles face-down to the box.
Place the dragon and the fairy next to the playing area.
Each new game element is explained in relation to the 3 actions:
- 1. Placing a tile
- 2. Placing a meeple
- 3. Scoring a feature
If an action is not explained in detail, the base rules apply.
The new river tiles
1. Placing a tile
The double source and double lake tile each counts as 2 adjacent land tiles.
Double river source tile
The double source tile is the new starting tile. If you place a river tile, you can decide at which of the two open river ends you want to place it.
If you draw the lake tile, you can place it at either end. After this, you can only place river tiles at the other end. Other than that, the usual placement rules apply.
Remember: River bends must not turn in the same direction twice in a row. This means that no immediate U-turns are allowed as usual.
Double river lake tile
The double lake tile is placed as the last river tile. You may flip it to any side beforehand. Note that you must place this tile according to the usual rules.
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| Two sides of the double river lake tile | ||
2. Placing a meeple
After placing the double lake tile, you may place a meeple on its river bend half as usual (e.g. abbot or farmer). Then place the dragon on the dragon hoard (see The Dragon Hoard).
The dragon hoard
2. Placing a meeple
 You may never place a meeple on (or move it onto) a tile with a dragon hoard. |
Orienting the dragon
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Choose a direction according to the following conditions:
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If several orientations are possible, you must choose one.
The dragon symbol
1. Placing a tile
 If you draw a tile with a dragon symbol and the dragon stands on a tile in the playing area, the game is briefly interrupted: The dragon is hungry! Before you place the tile, the dragon now performs exactly 2 dragon movements. |
Dragon movement:
You must move the dragon in the direction in which it is currently facing (you may not reorient it beforehand). Move it straight forward tile by tile until there is no more tiles directly in front of it. The dragon’s movement ends on that last tile.
You must remove all meeples from tiles that the dragon enters and return them to their respective supply.
At the end of the dragon’s movement, you must orient the dragon according to the usual rules.
If you have performed 1 dragon movement with the dragon, repeat all steps, moving and orienting the dragon so that it performs 2 movements in total.
- Move the dragon straight ahead according to its orientation until there is no more tiles in front of it. Then you orient it towards the meeple (the farmer).
- Move the dragon again according to its orientation. As it enters the tile with your farmer, you remove the farmer. On the tile where the dragon’s movement ends, orient the dragon again. You decide to orient the dragon towards the blue meeple.
- The dragon does not move any further.
After you have performed 2 movements with the dragon, you place the tile with the dragon symbol according to the base rules and proceed as usual.
Note: If someone draws a tile with a dragon symbol without the dragon being on a tile, the symbol is ignored.
The fairy
3. Scoring a feature
 If scoring has been triggered, you first score points as usual. After that: If you have completed at least 1 road or city this turn which did not score you any points, you may now place the fairy. It does not matter if someone else has scored points for the road or city. Take the fairy from its current location (initially from next to the playing area) and assign it to one of your meeples on the playing area. Place it close to your meeple. |
Scoring the fairy
If a feature is scored in which the fairy is assigned to one of your meeples, you score 3 points, even if you do not score any points for the feature itself.
The fairy must never stand alone. Whenever the meeple with the fairy is moved or removed (e.g. by scoring points), you remove the fairy and place it next to the playing area.
Final Scoring
You score 3 points for the fairy in the final scoring.
1. Placing a tile
Protection from the dragon
The fairy can chase the dragon away!
If the dragon enters the tile with the fairy during one of its movements, the dragon is immediately removed from the playing area. The fairy itself and the meeple it is assigned to are not removed.
However, all other meeples on this tile are removed. The owner of the protected meeple places the dragon in front of them (it comes back into play later). Thus the dragon movement ends prematurely and the game proceeds as usual.
Thanks to the fairy, the yellow meeple is not removed, but instead the dragon is. Since a yellow meeple was protected, Yellow places the dragon in front of them.
Bringing the dragon back into play
If the dragon is in front of you at the start of your turn, you must place it on a dragon hoard of your choice and orient it according to the usual rules.
After that, you draw a land tile as usual.
Note: If you draw a tile with a dragon hoard, you place the dragon on it accordingly, even if it is in front of a player at that time.
The magic portal
2. Placing a meeple
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Special land tiles
 The bottom field is not separated by the road. |
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Quick overview
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Dragon Hoard |
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Dragon Symbol |
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Magic Portal |
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Fairy |
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Dragon |
Other Expansions
This section contains additional information about the interactions with other Carcassonne expansions.
When orienting the dragon, the dragon must face in the direction of a meeple even if the fairy is assigned to it. When you place a meeple in a straight line in front, behind, to the left or right of the dragon, you do not reorient the dragon as a reaction to that.
Each half of the double-sized tile acts as an individual tile, so you may place a meeple on one half without being affected by the dragon placed on the other (e.g. on the double-sized river lake). Likewise, a meeple with the fairy could be placed on one half without affecting the dragon on the other. (10/2025)
The fairy points are not part of the scoring for a completed feature. Scoring fairy points does not prevent you from moving the fairy if the conditions required for it are met. (1/2026)
Question: A city is occupied by 2 red meeples, and 1 blue meeple next to the fairy. Blue completes the city. Only Red scores for the city, and Blue scores the 3 points for the fairy. Can Blue assign the fairy to another of their meeples since the player did not score points for the city?
Answer: Yes, Blue can move the fairy. (1/2026)
When orienting the dragon, it must face in the direction of a meeple, including large meeple. The dragon removes meeple of any type. This includes large meeple as well.
You may place your large meeple via the magic portal.
The dragon may remove meeple that have a pig or builder assigned to them. In this case you return your pig/builder as well. You may assign the fairy to a meeple that has already a pig or builder assigned to it.
You may assign a pig or builder to a traveler, knight or farmer that you placed via the magic portal.
The pig scoring does not trigger the fairy bonus. (10/2025)
The dragon may remove watchmen on towers but not the towers themselves. When orienting the dragon, consider watchmen as standing on the tile of their tower.
You may assign the fairy to a watchman. Place it close to that watchman's tower. When that watchman is moved or removed, you remove the fairy as usual.
You may not place a meeple as a watchman via the magic portal.
You may also place a watchman on top of a tower if you placed a tile with a dragon hoard within that tower's range.
The watchman scoring does not trigger the fairy bonus. (10/2025)
During a dragon movement, the dragon may move past town hall tiles. The dragon may remove mayors, messengers and scarecrows (also scarecrows that turned into a farmer).
You may assign the fairy to your mayor, messenger or scarecrow.
You can activate the ability of a mayor immediately if you place it with a magic portal in a city on a land tile so that there is an adjacent tile on all 4 sides of it. (10/2025)
You can activate an ability of a scarecrow immediately if you place it with a magic portal in a field on a land tile so that there is an adjacent tile on all 4 sides of it. (10/2025)
The dragon may not remove the crown, although it is made of gold. The dragon may not remove emblems on statues.
When the dragon removes your nominated meeple, you return the corresponding emblem to your supply.
You may place meeple on tiles with a statue on it (prize tiles) via the magic portal.
If you won a prize and have a prize tile in front of you, you draw a land tile as usual. If that land tile depicts a dragon symbol, you resolve it even before you place your prize tile.
During a dragon movement, the dragon may move over the fortress (the two fortress tiles). However, the dragon may not remove meeple, nor catapults from defense posts. When orienting the dragon, the dragon does not have to face in the direction of any meeple at defense posts.
You may not place a meeple at a defense post via the magic portal.
You may not assign the fairy to a meeple at a defense post.
If you placed a meeple with a magic portal, you can also add a meeple to the corresponding defense post. (10/2025)
During a dragon movement, the dragon may move past bridges and remove meeple on bridges but it does not remove bridges.
You may place a bridge on a tile with a dragon hoard if the usual rules apply.
You may place a meeple onto a bridge via the magic portal according to the usual rules. However, you may not place a meeple onto a bridge if that bridge stands on a tile with a dragon hoard.
You may assign the fairy to a meeple on a bridge.
>> Castles
During a dragon movement, the dragon may move past castles but may not remove maidens on castles, nor castles. The dragon protects the maiden from knightly admirers.
You may build a castle (and place a maiden accordingly) even if it overlaps a tile with a dragon hoard.
When you build a castle and a standard meeple with an assigned fairy is already in the corresponding city, you remove the fairy and place it next to the playing area. Move the meeple onto the newly placed castle as usual.
You may not assign the fairy to a maiden.
You may not place a meeple onto a castle via the magic portal.
The maiden scoring does not trigger the fairy bonus. (10/2025)
>> Barns
During a dragon movement, the dragon may move past barns but may not remove farmers on barns,
nor barns. The farmer is hiding in the barn.
You may build a barn (and move a farmer onto it accordingly) even if it overlaps a tile with a dragon hoard.
When you build a barn and move a farmer with an assigned fairy onto it, you remove the fairy and place it next to the playing area.
You may not assign the fairy to a farmer on a barn.
You may not place a meeple onto a barn via the magic portal.
The barn scoring does not trigger the fairy bonus. (10/2025)
The dragon may remove shepherds. If your shepherd is removed, you must return all flock tokens that were placed next to him to the bag. Note: This does not affect any other flock tokens on that field if present.
You may assign the fairy to your shepherd.
You may place your shepherd via the magic portal according to the usual rules (you must grow his flock immediately after).
The scoring of shepherds and their flock does not trigger the fairy bonus. (10/2025)
The dragon may remove ringmistresses but may not remove the Big Top or performance tokens. You may assign the fairy to an acrobat even if it stands on top of an acrobat pyramid. In order to assign the fairy to your acrobat you might have to rearrange the pyramid so your meeple stands on the bottom. Then, place the fairy next to it.
During a dragon movement, if the dragon enters a tile with several acrobats, one of which is protected by the fairy, the fairy itself and the corresponding acrobat are not removed. However, all other acrobats on this tile are removed.
You may place a standard meeple on any acrobat site via the magic portal.
You may place your ringmistress via the magic portal according to the usual rules.
The scoring of acrobats does not trigger the fairy bonus. (10/2025)
Removing the abbot does not trigger the fairy bonus. (10/2025)
Tile distribution
Normal tiles
River tiles
Footnotes
For Icons explanation and licensing please visit Icons page.