River (1st edition)

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General info and comments

Expansion watermark for 2014 version

The River (commonly known as River I) was originally released by Hans im Glück in 2001

Contents

  • 12 new land tiles (showing river segments as well as familiar features such as cities, cloisters, roads, and fields)[1]

Rules

Preparation

Remove the original start tile from the game.[2] [3]

Features found in river tiles:
A. A cloister
B. A city segment
C. The lake
D. The spring
E. A farm segment
F. A road segment

Separate the spring tile[4] and the lake tile[5] from the others.[6] Place the spring tile in the middle of the table. The other ten tiles are shuffled and placed facedown into a stack.[7] The game now begins. As usual, the players take turns placing tiles[8] and can deploy their followers to the river tiles as knights, thieves, monks, or farmers.[9] When the river is finished, the lake tile is placed, and the game continues with the remaining tiles. Followers may not be deployed to the river itself.

Important: A U-turn with the river tiles is not possible. This means that a 180° turn is not allowed, as it may lead to difficulties in placing all the tiles.[10]

House Rules

  • Ban all river U-turns to prevent problems with subsequent placement.
  • 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 expansion, to have the lake near the City of Carcassonne for purely aesthetic reasons. (Thanks to Scott.)

2014 Version

The version of The River (sometimes referred to as River III) that first appeared in Big Box 5 has the same layout of river and claimable features as earlier versions, thus it is considered the same expansion. However, this version of The River also adds features to mesh with the Hills & Sheep expansion – there are 2 tiles with a sheep and 2 tiles with a vineyard. Additionally, the backs of the river tiles in this version are the light gray of standard tiles rather than the dark gray of starting tiles, and there is a new watermark on the front.

The River and the Wheel of Fortune

The River and The Wheel of Fortune expansions may be used together. In this case, the Wheel of Fortune board is first placed in the middle of the table. Then, the river source is placed so that the river will flow away from the Wheel of Fortune board. Place the river tiles and lake (mouth) according to the normal River rules. Once the lake (river mouth) has been placed, play proceeds according to normal Carcassonne rules.

Special Land tiles

The sheep depicted on the river tiles are used with the Hills & Sheep expansion. When a player performs a Gather the Flock action, the sheep depicted on the fields of these river tiles are to be counted and scored along with the Sheep tokens. These depicted sheep are permanent and may be scored multiple times during a game.

The vineyards depicted on the river tiles are used with the Hills & Sheep expansion and add to cloister scoring according to the normal vineyard rules.

When playing without the Hills & Sheep expansion, the depicted sheep and vineyards have no function.

Tile Distribution

Original 2001 Version

Total Tiles: 12

River_I_C1_Tile_01.jpgx1
River_I_C1_Tile_02.jpgx1
River_I_C1_Tile_03.jpgx1
River_I_C1_Tile_04.jpgx1
River_I_C1_Tile_05.jpgx1
River_I_C1_Tile_06.jpgx1
River_I_C1_Tile_07.jpgx1
River_I_C1_Tile_08.jpgx1
River_I_C1_Tile_09.jpgx1
River_I_C1_Tile_10.jpgx1
River_I_C1_Tile_11.jpgx1
River_I_C1_Tile_12.jpgx1

2014 Version (River III)

Total Tiles: 12

River_III_C1_Tile_01.jpgx1
River_III_C1_Tile_02.jpgx1
River_III_C1_Tile_03.jpgx1
River_III_C1_Tile_04.jpgx1
River_III_C1_Tile_05.jpgx1
River_III_C1_Tile_06.jpgx1
River_III_C1_Tile_07.jpgx1
River_III_C1_Tile_08.jpgx1
River_III_C1_Tile_09.jpgx1
River_III_C1_Tile_10.jpgx1
River_III_C1_Tile_11.jpgx1
River_III_C1_Tile_12.jpgx1

Footnotes

For Icons explanation and licensing please visit Icons page.

  1. Icon Open Book.png When the two River sets are combined, discard one spring and one lake and make just one river (instead of making two rivers using the two springs).
  2. Icon Double Arrow Black.png Earlier versions of the 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. Icon House Black.png The original start tile can be played as per the original rule in the previous footnote. Alternatively, if drawing from a bag where the tile backs cannot be seen, the start tile can be mixed in with the standard tiles. (3/2015)
  4. Icon Double Arrow Black.png In the ZMG rules, this is referred to as the river source. (12/2014)
  5. Icon Double Arrow Black.png In the ZMG rules, this is referred to as the river mouth, although in New Carcassonne this has gone back to being the lake. (12/2014)
  6. Icon Open Book.png Officially, the field goes around the spring, creating a connected farm.
    Icon Double Arrow Black.png This was incorporated in to the RGG edition of the Big Box 1, which included River (the HiG edition did not), stating that “The field space on the lake and spring tiles wraps around those features.”
  7. Icon Double Arrow Black.png In the New Edition rules, the players are instructed to place the lake tile at the bottom of this stack. (12/2014)
  8. Icon Double Arrow Black.png The rules from Big Box 5 and the New Edition rules explicitly state that players are to draw River tiles until none are left and that newly-placed tiles must continue the illustration of the river itself. (12/2014)
  9. Icon Open Book.png Note that river segments separate farms. (08/2014)
  10. Icon Open Book.png 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.