River

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The river tiles are placed first, after that the game continues as normal. No meeple may be placed on the river so the scoring is the same as in the base game.

Other languages:
20AE River C2 Tile H.png You are reading the rules for this tile design. River I C2 Tile H.jpg
River I C1 Feature Chuch.jpgRead the following rules if your tiles look like this.
River River
If your tiles have a different design, then choose a game from Spin-offs.Rule selection by design Spin-offs.png


General info and comments

Expansion symbol for The River I (Big Box 6 version)
Expansion symbol for The River II

The River was originally released for the New Edition by Hans im Glück in 2014. The 1st. Edition of River River was released in 2001. [1]

The River II was released for the New Edition by Hans im Glück in 2017 as part of Count, King & Robber Count, King & Robber. The River II was originally released for the 1st. Edition in 2005, and later bundled in the major expansion Count, King & Robber Count, King & Robber in 2008.

The 20th Anniversary River was released by Hans im Glück in 2021 as part of the 20th Anniversary Edition 20th Anniversary Edition.

The River C3 was originally released by Hans im Glück in 2021. It is a variation of The River originally released for the New Edition.

CutCassonne CutCassonne, the cut-n-play 10-tile promo from 2014, included 3 river tiles that can added to any river expansion.

The river expansions modify the beginning of the game by having players place a set of specific river tiles before the normal tiles.

Copies of The River printed in the period 2014-2016 and CutCassonne CutCassonne have the darker city backgrounds. The 20th Anniversary River and The River C3 have cities with clipped buildings.

Changes to the 20th Anniversary Edition and Carcassonne C3

The rules for the 20th Anniversary Edition and Carcassonne C3 stay the same but the roles of some meeples have been updated:

  • Highwaymen become female travelers
  • Knights do not change
  • Monks are also referred to as nuns
  • Farmers become female farmers

Publishers have followed the new roles provided in the rules by HiG, although some of these changes are not noticeable in other languages.

Note: We stick to the classic role convention for the sake of consistency with all the exisiting rules for the time being. HiG may decide to update the rules in the future to follow this new naming convention for new releases and reprints.

20th Anniversary Edition Box.png

Box C3 ZMG.png

This expansion was originally released for the 1st Edition, known as C1 for short, in 2001.

Contents

  • 12 river tiles (The River): with a dark back and no symbol (original version) or a stream symbol (Big Box 6 Big Box 6 version).
  • 12 river tiles (The River II): with a dark back and a crown symbol.
  • 17 river tiles (The 20th Anniversary River): with a dark back and no symbol. One of the tiles is double-sized.
  • 12 river tiles (The River C3): with a dark back and no symbol (both the base game version and the Big Box 7 Big Box 7 version).
  • 3 cut-n-play river tiles (CutCassonne): with no symbol.

Rules

Preparation

The river expansions replace the start tile. [2] Select the river expansion you want and discard the others. However, you may combine The River and The River II as indicated below.

Preparation of The River (New Edition and C3)

Set aside the source and lake tiles. Shuffle the remaining river tiles and stack them facedown. Add the lake tile to the bottom of the stack, and place the source tile faceup as the starting tile.

The setup of The River requires to set aside the source (1), and the lake (2).

The same rules apply to The River C3, even if its source and lake tiles are slightly different:

The setup of The River C3 requires to set aside the source (1), and the lake (2).

Preparation of The River II

The river expansion added to Count, King & Robber Count, King & Robber includes a river fork tile. It should be set aside along with the source and lake tiles. The fork tile is to be placed first (after the source tile) by the first player. [3]

The setup of The River II requires to set aside the source (1), the fork (2), and the lake with a volcano (3).

Combining The River and The River II

You can combine The River from base game with The River II to make a very long river. Keep only one source and one lake.

Preparation of the 20th Anniversary River

Set aside the double-sized source and the two lake tiles. Shuffle the remaining river tiles and stack them facedown. Add the two lake tiles in random order to the bottom of the stack, and place the source tile faceup as the starting tile.

The setup of the 20th Anniversary River requires to set aside the source (1) and the two lakes (2 and 3).

Note: In the game, a double-sized tile, such as this river source, counts as 2 single tiles (for example, for an adjacent monastery). [4]

Gameplay

Feature River Source C2.pngFeature River C2.pngFeature River Lake C2.png
1. Placing a tile

You must draw tiles from the River stack before drawing normal tiles. Place your river tile at the open end of the river. As always, tiles must be placed so that their edges match the edges of tiles already in play. You cannot make a river turn twice in a row in the same direction (an immediate U-turn), as this risks that the following tile will be impossible to place. You cannot place a river curve in a direction where there are already river tiles. Players must draw and place all river tiles before they can draw normal tiles.

Example 1: Forbidden placement with an immediate U-turn.

 Official clarification from the publisher Question: With the U-turn rule when making rivers, does that mean no U-turn ever, or just no immediate U-turns because it will complicate the placement of subsequent river tiles?

Answer: Only immediate U-turns are explicitly forbidden. Naturally, there can also be problems if a straight river tile lies between. Turning river the same way three times should also be considered prohibited.

When playing with The River II or the 20th Anniversary River, you may have up to two river branches to choose from when creating the river. You must always place a river tile on an open end of the river. So you must always extend the river until you have placed the lakes at the open ends. You cannot connect both river branches together.

2. Placing a meeple

Like any other tile, you may place a meeple on other features of a river tile you just placed. [5] Meeples cannot be placed on the river itself.

When playing with The River II, if you place the last river tile (the lake with the volcano), you cannot place a meeple on that tile. Immediately after placing it, [6] take another turn by drawing a normal tile.

Example 2: Lake with volcano from The River II
3. Scoring

The river feature itself cannot be scored. All other features on river tiles are scored as usual. [5]

Example 3: Completed rivers from expansions The River (A) and The River II (B)
Example 4: Possible layout of the 20th Anniversary River
Example 5: Possible layout of The River C3

The River II special features

The inn and the volcano on the river follow the rules from their expansions (Exp. 1 - Inns & Cathedrals Exp. 1 - Inns & Cathedrals and Exp. 3 - The Princess & the Dragon Exp. 3 - The Princess & the Dragon, respectively). The pig-herd [7] has the same effect as a pig in a field (from Exp. 2 - Traders & Builders Exp. 2 - Traders & Builders). If you are playing without any of these expansions, simply ignore their associated features.

Tile featuring an inn with a yellow roof (instead of red) in River II
Lake tile featuring a volcano in River II
Pig-herd in River II

Clarifications for new landscape tiles

When placing meeples and scoring fields bear in mind that river segments split fields. [5]

The following tiles do not split fields - there is one field on each tile [8]

River I C2 Tile A.jpg
River I

River II C2 Tile A.jpg
River II

River I C2 Tile L.jpg
River I

River II C2 Tile L.jpg
River II

20AE River C2 Tile A.png
20th Anniversary
River

River I C3 Tile L.png
River I C3

The following tile has three fields, separated by the river and the road:

River I C3 Tile A.png
River I C3

The following tile has four fields, separated by the river, the city and the road:

20AE River C2 Tile Q.png
20th Anniversary River

Fields do not go under small bridges - there are 4 separate fields here

River I C2 Tile B.jpg
River I

River I C2 Tile K.jpg
River I

River II C2 Tile D.jpg
River II

River II C2 Tile H.jpg
River II

20AE River C2 Tile B.png
20th Anniversary
River

20AE River C2 Tile K.png
20th Anniversary
River

20AE River C2 Tile N.png
20th Anniversary
River

River I C3 Tile B.png
River I C3

River I C3 Tile K.png
River I C3

CutCassonne C2 Tile 02.png
CutCassonne
CutCassonne C2 Tile 06.png
CutCassonne

and three fields here, one north and two south.

River I C2 Tile H.jpg
River I

20AE River C2 Tile H.png
20th Anniversary
River

River I C3 Tile H.png
River I C3

CutCassonne C2 Tile 09.png
CutCassonne

This large bridge does not separate fields. There are two fields here - one eastward and one westward. Additionally, there is only one city segment, going from left to right across the bridge. [9]

River II C2 Tile E.jpg
River II

The houses by this bridge do not end the road.

River I C2 Tile K.jpg
River I

20AE River C2 Tile K.png
20th Anniversary
River

River I C3 Tile K.png
River I C3

CutCassonne C2 Tile 02.png
CutCassonne

Other expansions

For the River II there are some clarifications when using it with other expansions:

Exp. 1 - Inns & CathedralsExp. 1 - Inns & Cathedrals

Interpretation from the Community One of the river tiles contains an inn that affects a road.

River II C2 Tile D.jpg

Exp. 2 - Traders & BuildersExp. 2 - Traders & Builders

Interpretation from the Community The pig-herd increases the value of its field by 1 point per completed city and castle. This bonus is in addition to the points given by the pig. [10]

River C2 pigsty.png

Exp. 3 - The Princess & the DragonExp. 3 - The Princess & the Dragon

Interpretation from the Community Immediately after placing the lake with volcano, place the dragon on it.

River II C2 Tile L.jpg

Exp. 5 - Abbey & MayorExp. 5 - Abbey & Mayor

Interpretation from the Community The pig-herd only affects field scoring for farmers during the game (due to the barn) and after the game. Barns do not score additional points from the pig-herd after the game. [11] [12]

 Official clarification from the publisher Question: Does the pig-herd tile still score an extra point when there is a barn on the field (barn = 4 points, barn+pig-herd = 5 points per city)?

Answer: The pig-herd tile only counts in connection with farmers, not the barn.

Exp. 6 - Count, King & RobberExp. 6 - Count, King & Robber

Interpretation from the Community We recommend not to use a river and The Count of Carcassonne. Combining the two can lead to situations where the river cannot be completed.

Note: If you decide to use The Count of Carcassonne and a river 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.[13]

Additional comments

The question of how to combine the various "starting" expansions of Carcassonne is a longstanding one, and HiG has changed its mind several times.

The original rules for The Count of Carcassonne The Count of Carcassonne included the following clarification: "If the river is being used, then the source tile should be placed next, and in such a way that the river leads away from the city." Yet the rules still said that it was probably better not to use the expansions together, and this was the only piece of advice to make it into the introductory paragraph of its rules in Exp. 6 - Count, King & Robber Exp. 6 - Count, King & Robber for Carcassonne I: “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."

The Carcassonne I rules by ZMG include the following paragraph: "The river source must begin at one of the corners of the City of Carcassonne. The players should place the river tiles so that the river flows away from the City of Carcassonne so as to avoid placement problems. Again, combining The Count of Carcassonne and The River I or The River II is not recommended."

As indicated above, this is no longer the recommended approach. Instead, one should always remember the rule from the basic game: "In the rare case that a tile cannot be placed anywhere, it is removed from the game, and the player draws another." If the river winds around the City of Carcassonne in such a way that you cannot place the next tile (river or otherwise), the tile should be placed to one side, and another drawn. An interesting corollary of this is that the river does not have to be finished: if it is impossible to do so, you do not have to place the final lake tile, and a permanent gap in the playing field might arise (which could, of course, subsequently be filled by an abbey from Exp. 5 - Abbey & Mayor Exp. 5 - Abbey & Mayor).

This clearly has consequences beyond combining the two expansions mentioned. Though the rules still say that U-turns are not allowed, resolving such issues is now much more straightforward—no more need to defenestrate players who insist on making awkward tile placements. And it helps considerably in establishing what a game of Mega-Carcassonne should look like.

Of course, some people will object that this rule destroys the aesthetics of the playing field. They might be right, and they are free to adopt a house rule which is more comfortable to them. But for the rules lawyers among us, this rule is an important development.

House rules

House rules for The River

  • You are not permitted to lay down any meeples until the entire river is down. (Thanks to metoth)
  • Once the river is complete, it may be moved to the center of the playing area. (Thanks to Joff)
  • Instead of starting with the spring and setting aside the lake, put all of the river pieces into the bag. In this way the river can be any size and there is usually more then one option for placing a river tile. (Thanks to DavidP)
  • Mix the original starting tile (without a river) in with the river tiles. If it is drawn then it acts like a 'bonus' tile that can be placed anywhere. (Thanks to RationalLemming)
  • Lay the river in reverse order, from lake to spring. No real advantage, but might be more desirable, when playing The Count of Carcassonne expansion, to have the lake near the City of Carcassonne for purely aesthetic reasons. (Thanks to Scott)

House rules for The River II

  • Play the fork of the river first, and lay the spring last. The lakes are mixed in with the other river tiles. (Thanks to Joff)
  • Pig-herd tiles do not score a bonus. (Thanks to Joff)
  • Play both rivers backwards starting with the city/lake. This is more realistic because you then get two springs producing rivers that join and flow ‘down’ to a lake. Discard two lakes—the plain one from River I and the volcano. To set up, place the lake tile, put one spring tile aside as a final ending tile, and then split the balance of the river tiles into two stacks. The junction tile is shuffled into stack 1 and the other spring into stack 2. Then the stack 1 is placed on stack 2—so that the junction will be drawn sometime before the spring. If playing with The Count of Carcassonne, place the city/lake so that it completes one of the small cities around Carcassonne. (Thanks to dwhitworth)
  • Select only one lake tile and use two spring tiles. Lay the river in reverse order. The fork can be placed randomly, or at some predetermined point. The end result is two rivers flowing into one which then flows into a lake. (Thanks to Scott)
  • Start from the fork, playing tiles on all three branches. Play the spring and lake tiles at the end, or mix two of the three with the rest of the river before play to have two of the three branches end randomly. (Thanks to Scott)

Tile distribution

The River I C3

Total tiles: 12
River I C3 Tile A.png ×1
River I C3 Tile B.png ×1
River I C3 Tile C.png ×1
River I C3 Tile D.png ×1
(D)
River I C3 Tile E.png ×1
(W)
River I C3 Tile F.png ×1
River I C3 Tile G.png ×1
(F)
River I C3 Tile H.png ×1
River I C3 Tile I.png ×1
(H)
River I C3 Tile J.png ×1
(G)
River I C3 Tile L.png ×1
Several tiles have a small illustration on them. The letters in brackets show which illustration is on each tile:
Feature Garden C3.png 
G | Garden
Feature Farmhouse C3.png 
Feature WaterTower C3.png 
Feature Highwaymen C3.png 
Note: The small illustrations of a cowshed, a pigsty and a donkey stable are collectively referred to as sheds or stables.

20th Anniversary River

Total tiles: 17
20AE River C2 Tile A.png ×1
20AE River C2 Tile B.png ×1
20AE River C2 Tile C.png ×1
20AE River C2 Tile D.png ×1
(D)
20AE River C2 Tile E.png ×1
(W)
20AE River C2 Tile F.png ×1
20AE River C2 Tile G.png ×1
(F)
20AE River C2 Tile H.png ×1
20AE River C2 Tile I.png ×1
(H)
20AE River C2 Tile J.png ×1
(G)
20AE River C2 Tile L.png ×1
20AE River C2 Tile M.png ×1
(F)
20AE River C2 Tile N.png ×1
(G)
20AE River C2 Tile O.png ×1
20AE River C2 Tile P.png ×1
20AE River C2 Tile Q.png ×1
Several tiles have a small illustration on them. The letters in brackets show which illustration is on each tile:
Feature Garden C3.png 
G | Garden
Feature Farmhouse C3.png 
Feature WaterTower C3.png 
Feature Highwaymen C3.png 
Note: The small illustrations of a cowshed, a pigsty and a donkey stable are collectively referred to as sheds or stables.

The River I C2 (Base game version)

Total tiles: 12
River I C2 Tile A.jpg ×1
River I C2 Tile B.jpg ×1
River I C2 Tile C.jpg ×1
River I C2 Tile D.jpg ×1
(D)
River I C2 Tile E.jpg ×1
(W)
River I C2 Tile F.jpg ×1
River I C2 Tile G.jpg ×1
(F)
River I C2 Tile H.jpg ×1
River I C2 Tile I.jpg ×1
(H)
River I C2 Tile J.jpg ×1
(G)
River I C2 Tile L.jpg ×1
Several tiles have a small illustration on them. The letters in brackets show which illustration is on each tile:
Feature Garden C2.png 
G | Garden
Feature Farmhouse C2.png 
Feature WaterTower C2.png 
Feature Highwayman C2.png 
Note: The small illustrations of a cowshed, a pigsty and a donkey stable are collectively referred to as sheds or stables.

The River I C2 (Big Box 6 version)

Total tiles: 12
River III C2 Tile A.png ×1
River III C2 Tile B.png ×1
River III C2 Tile C.png ×1
River III C2 Tile D.png ×1
(D)
River III C2 Tile E.png ×1
(W)
River III C2 Tile F.png ×1
River III C2 Tile G.png ×1
(F)
River III C2 Tile H.png ×1
River III C2 Tile I.png ×1
(H)
River III C2 Tile J.png ×1
(G)
River III C2 Tile L.png ×1
Several tiles have a small illustration on them. The letters in brackets show which illustration is on each tile:
Feature Garden C2.png 
G | Garden
Feature Farmhouse C2.png 
Feature WaterTower C2.png 
Feature Highwayman C2.png 
Note: The small illustrations of a cowshed, a pigsty and a donkey stable are collectively referred to as sheds or stables.

The River II C2


Total tiles: 12
River II C2 Tile A.jpg ×1
River II C2 Tile B.jpg ×1
(G)
River II C2 Tile C.jpg ×1
River II C2 Tile D.jpg ×1
River II C2 Tile F.jpg ×1
River II C2 Tile G.jpg ×1
(H)
River II C2 Tile H.jpg ×1
River II C2 Tile I.jpg ×1
Fork + (F)
River II C2 Tile J.jpg ×1
River II C2 Tile K.jpg ×1
River II C2 Tile L.jpg ×1
Several tiles have a small illustration on them. The letters in brackets show which illustration is on each tile:
Feature Garden C2.png 
G | Garden
Feature Farmhouse C2.png 
Feature Highwayman C2.png 


CutCassonne C2

Total tiles: 3
CutCassonne C2 Tile 06.png ×1
CutCassonne C2 Tile 09.png ×1

Footnotes

For Icons explanation and licensing please visit Icons page.

  1. ↑ Official clarification from the publisher The idea was based on a design by game designer Rudolf Ross.
  2. ↑ Notorious rule difference among editions or publishers Earlier versions of the C1 rules stated: “The original starting tile can either be mixed into the stack of river tiles, or placed as soon as the river has been completed, and is treated like a normal tile.” (3/2015)
  3. ↑ Notorious rule difference among editions or publishers The HiG rules indicate that the youngest player places the river fork.
  4. ↑ Notorious rule difference among editions or publishers This clarification is included in the HiG rules but omitted by ZMG.
  5. ↑ 5.0 5.1 5.2 Official clarification from the publisher Note that river segments separate fields. (08/2014)
  6. ↑ Interpretation from the Community This is not standard procedure for placing a volcano tile, according to the rules for The Princess & the Dragon The Princess & the Dragon. Under those rules placing a volcano tile does not allow the player to draw a second tile; instead, the player may only perform actions not connected with meeple deployment.
  7. ↑ Interpretation from the Community The English rules called this feature "pigsty." We use pig-herd for consistency with Carcassonne I and also in order to avoid the confusion with the pigsty feature introduced in Carcassonne II, scored by some expansions such as The Markets of Leipzig The Markets of Leipzig or The Tollkeepers The Tollkeepers.
    Pigsty feature
  8. ↑ Official clarification from the publisher Officially, the field goes around the source, creating a connected field.
    Notorious rule difference among editions or publishers This was incorporated in the RGG edition of the Big Box 1 Big Box 1, which includes The River (the HiG edition does not) and states that "The field space on the lake and source tiles wraps around those features."
  9. ↑ Official clarification from the publisher The city bridge does not separate field segments. Only the river separates the field segments on this tile. Thus, there are 2 field segments on this tile. [This is logical, as similar city bridges in other expansions such as Exp. 5 - Abbey & Mayor Exp. 5 - Abbey & Mayor do not divide the city underneath. – Chris O.] (1/2013)
  10. ↑ Official clarification from the publisher You do receive the bonus from the pig-herd tile even if you don't have a pig on the field. The pig-herd is a neutral pig, so to speak.
  11. ↑ Common house rule or variant The pig-herd tile can still score an extra point per city when there is a barn on the field.
  12. ↑ Interpretation from the Community There are no official rules for using two pig-herd tiles, as there are no rules for using two copies of The River II, and the similar GQ11 tile is not officially a pig-herd tile (Games Quarterly #11 Games Quarterly #11). However, if one field has multiple pig-herd tiles, it seems that they should not stack; in other words, the bonus should only be awarded once, in keeping with other landscape bonuses such as inns and cathedrals.
  13. ↑ Notorious rule difference among editions or publishers This is a general version of a paragraph new in the HiG and RGG editions of Big Box 2 Big Box 2, and is rather suggestive for a game of Mega-Carcassonne.
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