The Flying Machines (3rd edition)

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Humanity has always been fascinated with flight. Now, your meeples can take to the skies, though you never know where they'll land.

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Read the following rules if your tiles look like this.  The Flying Machines

Or read the following rules if your tiles look like this.  The Flying Machines

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Main Page > Carcassonne > The Flying Machines (3rd edition)

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Humanity has always been fascinated with flight. Now, your meeples can take to the skies, though you never know where they'll land.

General info and comments

Flying machine symbol

Expansion symbol

The Flying Machines (Mini #1) was released by HiG for the revised third edition, known as C3.1 for short, in 2025, bundled as part of  Big Box 8. It includes more detailed graphics, cities with clipped buildings.

It is quite similar to the previous versions. It was released for the second edition, known as C2 for short, in 2017, only available as part of  Big Box 6. A third edition, known as C3 for short, was released in 2021, only available as part of  Big Box 7 and the same graphics as the C3.1 version.

This expansion was originally released for the first edition, known as C1 for short, in 2012.

Contents

• 8 new land tiles with flying machines (identified with to help you separate and sort your tiles)

Tile with flying machine

• 1 flight die (with sides showing 1, 1, 2, 2, 3, and 3)

Rules

Preparation

Shuffle the new land tiles into the other land tiles. Keep the die ready for later use.

Gameplay

1. Placing a tile

When you draw a tile with an flying machine on it, you place it according to normal rules.

2. Placing a meeple

After placing a tile with a flying machine on it, you may choose to place a standard meeple or your large meeple (from  Inns & Cathedrals) as usual, or on the flying machine.

When placing the meeple on the flying machine, the meeple will move either straight or diagonally across the tiles, depending on the direction that flying machine faces. Roll the flight die and move your meeple a number of land tiles equal to the number of pips on the die (1 to 3 tiles). You must place your meeple on any incomplete road, city or monastery on the tile you land on, even if that feature is already occupied by other meeples. You may not a meeple on a field using a flying machine. A meeple placed with a flying machine becomes the appropriate type (traveler, knight or monk).

If you cannot place your meeple on the tile you land on, either because there are only completed features and fields, or because there is no tile in the indicated location, you return the meeple to your supply. You may not place another meeple instead.

Example 1: You place a tile with a flying machine, and decide to place a meeple on the flying machine, which is facing diagonally top-left. You roll a 3, but there is no tile in this location, so you cannot place a meeple there. You return your meeple to your supply.

If you had rolled a 2, you could place your meeple on the monastery even though there is a blue meeple there, or in the city, even though there is a yellow meeple there. Choosing one of these two options would be mandatory. You could not place a meeple on the road, because it is complete.

Example 2: You placed a tile with a flying machine, which is facing left, and you place a meeple on it.

You roll a 2. You must place your meeple in the city, next to the blue meeple, because you cannot place it in the field or on the completed road.

Additional clarifications

The following examples provide some additional clarifications on the available options to a meeple using a flying machine also known as a flier.

Example 3a: You just placed the tile with the red frame. You cannot place a meeple on the road, since it is occupied by Blue. You decide to use the flying machine, roll a 1, and then evaluate your options:

• Your flier cannot land on the road on the destination tile as it was just completed.
• Your flier can land on the unoccupied incomplete city. This is the only valid option in this case.

Example 3b: You just placed the tile with the red frame. You may place a meeple on the road by direct placement, since it is unoccupied. However, you decide to use the flying machine, roll a 1, and then evaluate your options:

• Your flier cannot land on the road on the destination tile as it was just completed.
• Your flier can land on the unoccupied incomplete city. This is the only valid option in this case.

Example 3c: You just placed the tile with the red frame. You cannot place a meeple on the road, since it is occupied by Blue. You decide to use the flying machine, roll a 1, and then evaluate your options:

• Your flier can land on the road occupied by Blue, since it is incomplete. It doesn't matter it is already occupied.
• Your flier can land on the unoccupied incomplete road on the destination tile too.

Therefore, your flier has two possible landing options in this case.

3. Scoring a feature

If the tile with the flying machine completes a feature after placing the tile, the feature is scored as usual.

  Question: With this expansion, you may find several meeples occupying a monastery. How do you score it?

Answer: A monastery with several meeples will be scored applying the majority rules as usual during or after the game.

Final Scoring

At the end of the game, normal scoring for incomplete features applies.

Other Expansions

This section contains additional information about the interactions with other Carcassonne expansions.

General comments:

You may use a flying machine to place these meeples:

• Normal meeple ( Base Game)
• Large meeple ( Exp. 1 - Inns & Cathedrals)
  

You may also use a flying machine to place these meeples if adopting C3.1 rules, but it is not fully official (02/2026):

• Guard meeple ( Ghosts, Castles & Cemeteries)
• Phantom ( The Phantom)
  

You may not use a flying machine to place these meeples:

• Abbot (Base Game -  The Abbot)
• Mayor ( Exp. 5 - Messengers & Mayors)
• Messenger ( Exp. 5 - Messengers & Mayors)
• Scarecrow ( Exp. 5 - Messengers & Mayors)
• Shepherd ( Exp. 9 - Sheep & Shepherds)
• Ringmistress ( Exp. 10 - Circus & Artists)
  

You may not use a flying machine to place these meeples if adopting C3.1 rules:

• Mayor ( Exp. 5 - Abbey & Mayor)
• Wagon ( Exp. 5 - Abbey & Mayor)
  

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Using a flying machine:

You may use a flying machine to land on any incomplete claimable feature on the destination tile except a field. It is irrelevant if the feature is occupied or not.
You may not use a flying machine to land on a feature completed by the flying machine tile just placed.
You may not use a flying machine to land a meeple on another flying machine.
You may use a flying machine to land a meeple on features outside some special areas (but not inside):

• C3.1:
  • Outside the Tournament tile ( Exp. 6 - Jousts & Crests)
  • Outside the Fortress tiles, but not at defense posts or meeple spaces ( Exp. 7 - Siege & Defense)
• C2/C3:
  • Outside the city of Carcassonne, but not in the city itself ( Exp. 6 - Count, King & Robber)
  • Outside the city of Leipzig, but not in the city itself ( The Markets of Leipzig)
• C1:
  • Outside the Wheel of Fortune, but not on the Wheel itself ( The Wheel of Fortune)
  • The roads on the school tiles ( The School)
    

You may not use a flying machine to land on any of these special areas:

• C3:
  • A tower, as a watchman ( Exp. 4 - Towers & Thieves)
  • A castle token ( Exp. 8 - Castles & Bridges)
  • A barn token ( Exp. 8 - Castles & Bridges)
• C1/C2:
  • A tower ( Exp. 4 - The Tower)
  • A castle token ( Exp. 8 - Bridges, Castles & Bazaars), since it is not placed on a particular tile.
    

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Notes on scoring:

Flying machines allow several meeples to share features normally occupied by only one meeple. If so, the players with the majority will score the feature. This may happen with:

• C3.1:
  • Monastery (Base Game)
  • Dutch Church ( Dutch Churches)
• C3:
  • Cemetery ( Ghosts, Castles & Cemeteries)
  • Haunted Castle ( Ghosts, Castles & Cemeteries)
• C1/C2:
  • Abbey ( Exp. 5 - Abbey & Mayor)
  • Shrine ( Exp. 6 - Count, King & Robber)
  • Darmstadt Church ( Darmstadt Promo)
  • German monastery ( Monasteries in Germany): meeples placed as monks and meeples placed as abbots/claustral priors are scored separately
  • Dutch & Belgian monastery ( Monasteries in the Netherlands & Belgium): meeples placed as monks and meeples placed as abbots/claustral priors are scored separately
  • Japanese Building ( Japanese Buildings): meeples placed as monks and meeples placed as abbots/claustral priors are scored separately
  • German Castle ( Castles in Germany)
  • German Cathedral ( German Cathedrals)
    

Exp. 1 - Inns & Cathedrals

You may place your large meeple using a flying machine.

Exp. 2 - Traders & Builders

You may assign a pig or builder to a traveler, knight or farmer that you placed using a flying machine.

Exp. 3 - Dragon & Fairy

You may not use a flying machine to land a meeple on a dragon hoard tile.
You may not use a flying machine to land a meeple on a magic portal. (2/2013)

Exp. 4 - Towers & Thieves

You may not place a meeple as a watchman using a flying machine.

Exp. 5 - Messengers & Mayors

You may not place a mayor using a flying machine.

You may not place a messenger using a flying machine.
You may not place a scarecrow using a flying machine.

You may not place a meeple on a town hall tile using a flying machine.

Exp. 6 - Jousts & Crests

You may place a meeple on tiles with a statue on it (prize tiles) using a flying machine.
You may place a meeple on the features outside the Tournament tile using a flying machine.

Exp. 7 - Siege & Defense

You may place a meeple on the features outside the Fortress tiles using a flying machine.

You may not place a meeple at a defense post using a flying machine.

If you placed a meeple with a flying machine, you can also add a meeple to the corresponding defense post.

Exp. 8 - Castles & Bridges

>> Bridges

You may place a meeple onto a bridge using a flying machine 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.

>> Castles

You may not place a meeple onto a castle using a flying machine.

>> Barns

You may not place a meeple onto a barn using a flying machine.

Exp. 9 - Sheep & Shepherds

You may not place your shepherd using a flying machine.

Exp. 10 - Circus & Artists

You may place a standard meeple on any acrobat site using a flying machine.
You may not place your ringmistress using a flying machine.

The Abbot

You may not place your abbot using a flying machine.

Tile distribution

Total tiles: 8

 ×1

 ×1

 ×1

(P)

 ×1

 ×1

 ×1

(H)

 ×1

(F)

 ×1

(G)

Several tiles have a small illustration on them. The letters in brackets show which illustration is on each tile:

 

G | Garden

 

F | Farmhouse

 

H | Highwaymen

 

P | Pigsty

Note: The small illustrations of a cowshed, a pigsty and a donkey stable are collectively referred to as sheds or stables.

Footnotes

For Icons explanation and licensing please visit Icons page.