The Drawbridges
 |
You are reading the rules for this tile design. |
| If your tiles have a different design, then choose a game from Spin-offs. |  |
The Drawbridges mini expansion contains 12 tiles featuring city gates with drawbridges. Any meeple on road connected to a city via drawbridges are invited to become part of that city upon the completion of the road. Secure the majority presence in the city by incorporating new arrivals through the drawbridge.
 Promotional image of The Drawbridges |
In this mini expansion, timing is everything. When the drawbridge is down, you can move from the road into the city to score additional points.
General info and comments
 Expansion symbol |
The Drawbridges was released in the 3rd edition (C3 for short) in November 2023 by HiG.
This expansion doesn't exist for the 1st edition (C1 for short) or the 2nd edition (C2 for short).
This expansion has cities with clipped buildings.
Contents
- 12 land tiles with a drawbridge at each city gate.
Rules
Preparation
Shuffle the 12 new land tiles with the rest of the land tiles.
Gameplay
1. Placing a tile
If you draw a land tile with a drawbridge, place it according to the usual rules.
2. Placing a meeple
After placing a land tile with a drawbridge, you may place one of your meeples according to the usual rules.
3. Scoring a feature
If you close a road that leads to a drawbridge, you first score the road as usual. Then you have to check whether the drawbridge is up or down.
- Once the city with the drawbridge is completed, the drawbridge is up and nothing else happens.
- If the city is still incomplete, then the drawbridge is down, and you may use it:
- If you have the majority on the road leading to the drawbridge, you may move your meeple from that road into the city. It doesn’t matter who completed the road or if there are already meeple (yours or someone else's) in the city or not.
Example 1: You place this tile and complete the road that leads to the drawbridge and score 2 points for this. After that you move your meeple from the road to this incomplete city.
- Special case: If there are several drawbridges on the road, you may decide in which of the incomplete cities you place your meeple. If you have more than one meeple on the road, you may decide, for each one, whether you want to move it to one of the incomplete cities, or take it back. If you move several meeples, you may place them all in one or in different incomplete cities.
Example 2: With your tile, you complete the road, which has drawbridges on both ends leading to incomplete cities. You score 6 points for the road, because you have the majority.
Blue scores no points and takes their meeple back.
You have 2 meeple on this road. You decide to move one of them to the bigger city and return the other one back to your supply.
If you complete the road and also the city with the drawbridge at the same time, then the city is completed, the drawbridge is up.
If no single player has the majority on the road, no player can move their meeple to the city. [1]
Who can send meeples from a road to a city with its drawbridge down?
Only one player can move meeples to a city: the player with the single majority on the road. It is irrelevant who completed the road.
If several players share the majority, none of them will be allowed to move meeples.
New land tiles
This road leads to a drawbridge but it doesn't end there. Both ends of the road must be closed in order to be able to score.
Note: Ditches or moats do not represent a boundary. The fields extend right up to the cities.
Other expansions
This section contains additional information about the interactions with other Carcassonne expansions.
Meeples on a road that can be moved into a city by using a drawbridge that is down:
- Normal meeple (
Base Game) - Large meeple (
Exp. 1 - Inns & Cathedrals) - Wagon (
Exp. 5 - Abbey & Mayor) - Ringmaster (
Exp. 10 - Under the Big Top) - Guard meeple (
Exp. 11 - Ghosts, Castles & Cemeteries) - Phantom (
The Phantom)
Figures on a road that cannot be moved into a city by using a drawbridge that is down:
- Builder (
Exp. 2 - Traders & Builders) - Fairy (
Exp. 3 - The Princess & the Dragon) - Ghost added to meeple ( Exp. 11 - Ghosts, Castles & Cemeteries)
- Mage (
Mini #5 - Mage & Witch) - Witch ( Mini #5 - Mage & Witch)
The meeple on a road -to be moved into a city- can be on any tile of the road or its bridges (
Exp. 8 - Bridges, Castles & Bazaars), and even on roads connected by tunnels (
The Tunnel), ferries (
Mini #3 - The Ferries), roundabouts ( Exp. 5 - Abbey & Mayor, 
Exp. 7 - The Catapult, 
The Signposts, 
Spiel Promo 2018) or labyrinths (
The Labyrinth).
The meeple moved into the city can be placed on any tile of the city. This may be relevant when playing with the dragon ( Exp. 3 - The Princess & the Dragon), towers (
Exp. 4 - The Tower), the plague ( The Plague), or the Change Position gift card (
The Gifts), and so on.
- Note: The meeple can only be placed on city segments. Any monasteries within the city cannot be occupied ( Exp. 3 - The Princess & the Dragon, Exp. 8 - Bridges, Castles & Bazaars).
A road sending a meeple into a city can be completed by the placement of a tile (including abbeys from Exp. 5 - Abbey & Mayor), by the movement of a ferry ( Mini #3 - The Ferries) or by the placement of a tunnel token ( The Tunnel).
The movement of a meeple into a city cannot trigger actions such as:
- Harvesting or selling fruits (
The Fruit-Bearing Trees). - Scoring the Notre-Dame bonus when the meeple is placed adjacent to a monastery (
The Wonders of Humanity) [2]
The movement of a meeple into a city can trigger actions such as:
- Trapping the meeple by Vodyanoy (
Russian Promos).
After scoring, a player with a wagon placed on a road ending at a drawbridge which is down can choose only one of the following actions:
- Remove their wagon.
- Move the wagon to an adjacent tile as stated in the rules of Exp. 5 - Abbey & Mayor.
- Move the wagon into the incomplete city, no matter its distance to the city.
The wagon can perform only one of these actions and cannot combine the two possible movements.
Any meeples deployed on a road from the city of Carcassonne may also be moved into an incomplete city if the drawbridge conditions are met.
The movement of meeple into cities takes place before the scoring of the big top.
Exp. 11 - Ghosts, Castles & Cemeteries
Any ghosts assigned to a meeple on a road will return to the general supply before moving the meeple into a city.
A meeple protected from peasant revolts will be stay protected if moved into a city.
When moving a meeple into a city you may pay 4 points to place it protected.
Tile distribution
Footnotes
For Icons explanation and licensing please visit Icons page.
- ↑
Sharing the majority on a road will not allow any of the tied players to send a meeple to a city with its drawbridge down. A player needs to have the majority alone on the road to be able to send a meeple to a city.
- ↑
Unless Hans im Glück approve this bonus outside 2. Placing a meeple.