Carcassonne is a sophisticated tactic-game which on the first look reminded me a bit of the first version of Entdecker. However, as far as gameplay and tactical options are concerned, Carcassonne goes much further and thus demands of the players a higher degree of advance planning and strategic thinking. An element of luck is also kept since the Landscape-tiles are randomly drawn, and this feature effectively counter-balances the otherwise strong tactical design of the game. The author has found a quite entertaining set of rules, and to my mind Carcassonne deservingly did win the Spiel des Jahres awards in 2001.

Some new ideas and variations were brought into Carcassonne through the release of the new expansion set Händler & Baumeister (=Merchants and Builders) in spring 2003. This set features 24 new landscape-tiles, 2 new vasals for each player (Architect and Pig) and 20 goods-markers representing 3 different trading commodities (grain, wine, clothes).

The goods-markers may be collected by use of the new landscape-tiles included in this expansion. Some of these new tiles now show goods-symbols in the cities, and whenever a player completes a city by adding the last missing tile he will be considered as being the Main Trader of the city, allowing him to collect one goods-marker for each goods-symbol included in this city.

When the game is over the players will be allowed to turn their goods-markers into additional victory points. Each of the three commodities now will be evaluated separately, and the player who has collected most goods-markers of a commodity will receive 10 additional victory points. If there is a draw, all drawing players will receive 10 victory points.

The Architect and the Pig can be placed like normal vasals. The Pig is placed onto farmlands and once placed it stays until the end of the game. If the player who has placed the pig also possesses most vasals (Farmers) on that stretch of Farmland at the end of the game, the Pig will increase the value of adjacent cities. Thus, the player now will get 4 victory points for each completed neighbouring city instead of the usual 3 victory points. However, if the player should not have the majority of Farmers there, the Pig is wasted.

The Architect on the other hand can be placed either on a Road or a City, and by placing him there the player will be allowed to take a double-turn. Thus, if a player adds a tile which continues a Road or City on which he has an Architect, he will directly be allowed to draw and play one additional tile. Once the Road or City is completed the player gets back his Architect and can use him again somewhere else.

The new tiles and rules definately increase the depth of the gameplay, and furthermore I would say that at least the Architect has some major impact on the players' strategy. The game now gets faster, and making clever use of the Architect as often as possible becomes a very important factor, because otherwise a player may quickly get into a large lead. However, Carcassonne-Fans should like the expansion because it adds variation to the game.