Moving in to the realm of fantasy with the Princess & the Dragon expansion for the Carcassonne board game. This is the 3rd major expansion that brings a bit of fun by adding fantasy elements to the gameplay whilst increasing the competitiveness! The Carcassonne lands are being visited by a dragon, making life tricky for those living there. Only good luck and the aid of Fairies can assist. Whilst in the city, the princess seeks help from the knights and farmers build secret passages to move about undetected by the dragon. There are 30 new additional tiles to play with during the game, where within this there are Princess, Dragon, Volcano and Magic Portal tiles. There are also new meeples – the Dragon and the Fairy.
When the Princess tile is drawn by a player it’s placed as it normally would be, however they give extra rights over castles, roads, fields etc. For example if you had a castle tile with the princess shown on it, you could place it to continue a city where there are one or more knights. You then have the right to remove a knight and give it back to the owner. Although you then cannot place your own meeple down as knight to the castle tile just placed. If there was no one on it in the first place, then you can place a meeple down as per the normal rules.
When the Dragon tile is drawn by a player it’s placed as it normally would be, along with being able to place a meeple on it. Prior to scoring, the Dragon meeple is placed on a tile horizontally or vertically to the Dragon tile by the person that originally placed it. Then each player moves it in either direction, where it’s moved up to 6 times (regardless the number of players). It cannot be placed back on the same tile and if there are no new tiles to go on to then it’s a dead end and normal gameplay resumes. When the Dragon lands on a tile with a meeple on it, that meeple is returned to the owner. Here’s where it can get quite competitive and sometimes annoying when a fellow player causes this to happen!
The Dragon meeple is only in play when the Volcano tile is drawn and placed. If not yet in play then when a Dragon tile is drawn it’s not counted and a new tile is drawn. Only the Dragon meeple can be placed on a Volcano tile, no other meeples.
Lastly the Magic Portal tiles adds warping ability for meeples, where they can be placed on the Magic Portal tile or any other tile that is already in play. The exceptions are if already occupied or the feature has been completed.
The Fairy meeple comes into play when a player doesn’t place a meeple and can instead place the Fairy onto a tile he/she occupies already. It acts as a protector for your meeples to the Dragon, where it cannot be placed on a tile that has the Fairy on it. Thus allowing you to keep your meeple on that tile. As well as being able to score extra points!
This will require the original board game to be able to use this expansion pack and it can be combined with any other expansion.
Ready to take on the Dragon over Carcassonne? Available to buy here
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