(https://metrouk2.files.wordpress.com/2014/10/136.png) VS (http://www.maybole.org/history/battles/Tantallon%20castle%20siege%201528%20Douglas%20%20attacks%20reteating%20besiegers.jpg)
Element Match-Ups is a new series of weekly challenges for all members of CarcassonneCentral. Each week, an element from a large expansion will be matched up with an element from a small expansion. Your job: try it out and let everybody know what you think about the pair. Consider this a quasi-scientific survey in that you are only playing with these two elements and the base game — nothing else! Otherwise the results will be skewed. You have a week to try the match-up from the time the match is announced until the next match is announced (which usually occurs sometime between Friday and Saturday, depending on time zone).
This week our elements are THE BUILDERS (from Traders & Builders (Expansion #2) and THE BESIEGERS (aka The Cathars, The Siege). The Builders allows players to continue to take an extra turn if they expand a City or a Road. Thus they disproportionately emphasise those two elements. Enter the Besiegers, a nice six-tile expansion that halves the point value of a City. The upside: Farms earn more points from besieged Cities at the end of the game. I can't see this going well...
The elements are set, the challenge is issued, and now it is for you to decide whether these elements work well together or are terrible companions. Summarise your experience below in however much detail you wish, and feel free to share any strategic advice you have for other players taking the challenge.