The Watchtowers
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The Watchtowers mini expansion contains 12 tiles featuring watchtowers that you can build in and around Carcassonne. Each tower watches over different things and is more valuable the more it watches over.
 Promotional image of The Watchtowers in C3 |
This mini expansion features watchtowers that you can build in and around Carcassonne. Each tower watches over different things and is more valuable the more it watches over.
General info and comments
 Expansion symbol |
The Watchtowers was released in C2 (the 2nd edition) by Hans im Glück in 2016. A C3 (the third edition) version was released in 2024, which has cities with clipped buildings. This expansion was never officially released for C1 (the 1st edition).
Contents
- 12 new land tiles showing watchtowers
Tile with a watchtower in C3
Tile with a watchtower in C2
Rules
Preparation
Shuffle the 12 land tiles showing the watchtowers together with those from the base game.
Gameplay
1. Placing a tile
When you draw a land tile showing a watchtower, place it according to the known rules.
2. Placing a meeple
After placing a land tile showing a watchtower, you may place one of your meeples on the tile according to the normal rules. You may place it on a city or a road, or in a field as a farmer. You may not place it on the watchtower itself.
3. Scoring a feature
When a completed road or a city contains a tile which features a watchtower, and there is a meeple on the feature (city, road) on that tile, the watchtower is scored first. The completed road or city is scored afterwards. [1] [2] [3] [4]
This does not apply to farmers. Farmers do not trigger scoring for watchtowers. [5]
For scoring the watchtowers, the 8 directly adjacent tiles and the tile with the watchtower itself are considered, as in a monastery scoring. You can see on each watchtower what scores you points:
| C3 | C2 | Action |
|---|---|---|
 |  | 2 points for each meeple [6] [7] |
 |  | 2 points for each coat of arms |
 |  | 1 point for each tile showing at least one road segment [8] |
 |  | 3 points for each monastery [9] |
 |  | 1 point for each tile showing at least one city segment [10] |
The following examples show how watchtowers are scored:
Final Scoring
Watchtowers do not provide points after the game. [11]
Clarifications for new landscape tiles
There are some differences between C2 and C3 in the field configuration of a few tiles. The watchtowers in C3 are thinner, and the bushes next to them do not separate fields -they are just decorations. This change affects 4 tiles: [12]
| C3 | C2 |
|---|---|
2 fields |
3 fields, one of |
| C3 | C2 |
|---|---|
1 field |
3 fields |
| C3 | C2 |
|---|---|
1 field |
2 fields |
| C3 | C2 |
|---|---|
1 field |
2 fields |
Tile distribution
C3 Edition
×1
×1
×1
×1 ×1 ×1 ×1
×1
×1
×1 ×1
×1C2 Edition
×1
×1
×1
×1 ×1 ×1 ×1
×1
×1
×1 ×1
×1Footnotes
For Icons explanation and licensing please visit Icons page.
- ↑
This means watchtowers are scored independently from cities or roads, so the resulting score is not part of the feature. Therefore watchtowers score first as an event triggered by the completion of the neighboring city or road but it is actually a scoring associated to the meeple placed on the watchtower tile. Note that the meeple on the watchtower tile may belong to a player who doesn't have the majority in the feature being scored, so:
- The player with the meeple on the watchtower will score their meeple first.
- The player with the majority will score the feature afterwards.
Mini #2 - The Messengers) and it should not trigger the evaluation of a castle (see 
Exp. 8 - Bridges, Castles & Bazaars) either, since it is not associated to the completed feature itself. Thus, on the other hand, the scoring of the completed city or road would trigger the scoring of a castle.
- ↑
The rules describe the simplest case (one completed feature with one watchtower). However, if several watchtowers are triggered by the same tile placement, it is necessary to score all these watchtowers before removing any meeples from those features to be scored. This is especially important when the scoring involves watchtowers scoring points for neighboring meeples. This way, the players will avoid scorings leading to different results depending on the order the features (and their watchtowers) are scored and their meeples removed.
- ↑
Note that several meeples may end up on the same watchtower tile when playing with phantoms, magic portals, flying machines, crop circles, wagons or the Count of Carcassonne. Also remember that watchtower tiles may have several segments connected to the same completed feature. So a completed road or city may contain a tile contributing with several segments to the same feature, each of them with zero, one or more meeples.
In these cases, since majority is not applied to this scoring bonus, each meeple on the watchtower tile contributing to the feature being scored will receive the watchtower points. These meeples may belong to the same or to different players.
- ↑
A meeple on a bridge placed on a watchtower tile can also trigger the scoring of a watchtower if the bridge is part of a road just completed.
- ↑
Monks placed on completed monasteries on adjacent tiles would not trigger the scoring for watchtowers either, as indicated in the rules for the Carcassonne I conversion of this expansion approved by HiG.
This would be applicable to meeples on any monastic building or any other feature, other than roads or cities, completed on tiles adjacent to the watchtower. By monastic building, we mean monasteries, abbeys, shrines, German monasteries, Dutch & Belgian monasteries, Japanese buildings and Darmstadt churches.
- ↑
This watchtower type only takes meeples into consideration, that is, normal meeples, large meeples, mayors, wagons, ringmasters, guard meeples, abbots and phantoms. Special figures (builders, pigs, barns and shepherds) and neutral figures (Dragon, Fairy, tower pieces, Count, bridges, Big Top, ferries, gold ingots, Mage, Witch or Gingerbread Man) are not considered.
- ↑
When scoring a watchtower bonus for neighboring meeples you will also count any neighboring castle lords. This would be similar to how the big top considers castles in its vicinity. See 
Exp. 10 - Under the Big Top.
- ↑
Wooden bridges from Exp. 8 - Bridges, Castles & Bazaars should be taken into consideration for this watchtower as wooden bridges are considered the same as printed road segments.
- ↑
This watchtower bonus will be applicable to all monastic buildings: monasteries, abbeys, shrines, German monasteries, Dutch & Belgian monasteries, Japanese buildings and Darmstadt churches. German cathedrals or gardens are not considered.
Moreover, the position of a meeple placed on a special monastery (German monasteries, Dutch & Belgian monasteries, Japanese buildings) is also irrelevant. - ↑
Castles are not placed on a particular tile and they are not cities but a different feature type, so this watchtower type would not consider castles for scoring.
- ↑
This statement, not included in the original rules, is inferred from the rules, since watchtower scoring can only be triggered by completed roads or cities.
- ↑
The difference in design of the watchtowers featured in C2 and C3 is not merely aesthetic. It directly affects the configuration of 4 tiles, where the number of fields changes. The thinner watchtowers in C3 have some bushes next to them that do not separate fields, so they are not completely equivalent to their C2 counterparts.
Question: Do watchtowers in C3 separate the fields in the same way as their predecessors in C2? In C3, the towers are thinner but they have some bushes next to their bases that should split the field to provide the same effect. Is this correct? Is there any exception?
Answer: There is an intentional change because the previous watchtowers separated the fields too much. The fields are different on 4 tiles now, since the bushes next to the watchtowers do not separate fields. (7/2024)