Date Posted: 2017-11-02
Carcassonne is a board game classic that's easy to learn and difficult to master. After playing hundreds of games with my friends, I tried several strategies that I found online to start mastering the game. Here are those tried-and-proven high-level strategies:
From: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e-EMilsWxgI
Build small cities, preferably 2-3 tiles to score almost immediately and before other players hijack those points. The key is to build them in the same farming area so that you can place your farmer(s) to score later on. Also, build roads that are as far away as possible, turning them away from the cities to ensure that the farm area is as big as possible.
Abandon farming and attempt to hijack other players' large cities, completing the city with them to score huge points. Players that are not on the city are severely disadvantaged. However, they might try to hijack those points so try not to push your luck too far.
With the base game, players have these number of turns each:
2 Players:
35.5 turns per player
Player 1 has 1 more turn than others
3 Players:
23.67 turns per player
Player 1,2 has 1 more turn than others
4 Players:
17.75 turns per player
Player 1,2,3 has 1 more turn than others
5 Players:
14.2 turns per player
Player 1 has 1 more turn than others
Defensive: Build a monastery and try to complete features around it to score both feature points plus the monastery's.
Offensive: Build a monastery at the region where other players' have invested in so you get points when they inevitably build features around it.
Roads are most effective as a defensive tool. Roads give low scores and they might get your meeple stuck. Instead, use them to place near features that your opponents are building or build roads to reduce their farm sizes.
For larger player counts such as 4 or 5, place farms early as other features are less likely to be completed and smaller cities are common.
If players are tending to large cities, try to hijack the points by joining your city with them. If players are building small ones, place farmers so you can score with them.
From: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e-EMilsWxgI
Small Cities Strategy
Build small cities, preferably 2-3 tiles to score almost immediately and before other players hijack those points. The key is to build them in the same farming area so that you can place your farmer(s) to score later on. Also, build roads that are as far away as possible, turning them away from the cities to ensure that the farm area is as big as possible.
Big Cities Strategy
Abandon farming and attempt to hijack other players' large cities, completing the city with them to score huge points. Players that are not on the city are severely disadvantaged. However, they might try to hijack those points so try not to push your luck too far.
Tile Counting
With the base game, players have these number of turns each:
2 Players:
35.5 turns per player
Player 1 has 1 more turn than others
3 Players:
23.67 turns per player
Player 1,2 has 1 more turn than others
4 Players:
17.75 turns per player
Player 1,2,3 has 1 more turn than others
5 Players:
14.2 turns per player
Player 1 has 1 more turn than others
Feature-related Strategies
Monastery
Defensive: Build a monastery and try to complete features around it to score both feature points plus the monastery's.
Offensive: Build a monastery at the region where other players' have invested in so you get points when they inevitably build features around it.
Roads
Roads are most effective as a defensive tool. Roads give low scores and they might get your meeple stuck. Instead, use them to place near features that your opponents are building or build roads to reduce their farm sizes.
Farm
For larger player counts such as 4 or 5, place farms early as other features are less likely to be completed and smaller cities are common.
Cities
If players are tending to large cities, try to hijack the points by joining your city with them. If players are building small ones, place farmers so you can score with them.