Best Carcassonne Expansion

[greenkingwashere]

Hello! I am participating in an online gift exchange and my person likes Carcassonne. What would you say is the best expansion to buy for her? She doesn't currently have any and the money limit is 20$.
Thanks in advance

Linkback: https://www.carcassonnecentral.com/community/index.php?topic=2199.0

[Halfling]

Inns and Cathedrals   or    Traders and Builders    both are must have expansions.

[jungleboy]

What would you say is the best expansion to buy for her?

We did a poll about this once (link here). The winner was Traders and Builders, followed closely by Inns and Cathedrals, and no other expansion was even close.

[danisthirty]

Inns and Cathedrals   or    Traders and Builders    both are must have expansions.

Welcome to the forums!

+1 for either of these

[Whaleyland]

Traders & Builders is overrated. Just sayin'. Builders themselves are nice, but the trading mechanic is fiddly and rarely improves your score that much and almost every time the Pig is in play, people forget or don't bother to use it.

Inns & Cathedrals, though, is core. If you are getting one expansion, that's the one. Besides adding the sixth player pieces (pink, now, I think) it includes the 50/100 scoring tiles, the Big Follower, and a bunch of tiles that help improve features that otherwise are pretty predictable in their scoring. (Does this expansion come with the bag, too? I never can remember.)

If you are looking for something more modular, I'd recommend either Abbey & Mayor or Hills & Sheep. Neither of those have released in the newer art style, though.

[SRBO]

Traders & Builders is overrated. Just sayin'. Builders themselves are nice, but the trading mechanic is fiddly and rarely improves your score that much and almost every time the Pig is in play, people forget or don't bother to use it.

Inns & Cathedrals, though, is core. If you are getting one expansion, that's the one. Besides adding the sixth player pieces (pink, now, I think) it includes the 50/100 scoring tiles, the Big Follower, and a bunch of tiles that help improve features that otherwise are pretty predictable in their scoring. (Does this expansion come with the bag, too? I never can remember.)

If you are looking for something more modular, I'd recommend either Abbey & Mayor or Hills & Sheep. Neither of those have released in the newer art style, though.

Also it has some nice tiles that can fill possible gaps! due to their unique configuration

[danisthirty]

Also it has some nice tiles that can fill possible gaps! due to their unique configuration

Not sure if SRBO was talking about T & B specifically here, but if he was I was going to say the same thing. T & B has some great tiles that add a lot of interest to the game. I suppose you could say this about most expansions, but the fact that the T & B tiles are so city-heavy is what makes them more interesting for me.

Other than these though, I don't think T & B is over-rated at all. The trade tokens, and how they range in value in terms of how many are available (5, 6 or 9 - I think) can lead to some awkward decisions over whether to close cities that don't belong to you, and what needs to be done in order to maintain (or overcome) a majority in terms of the various trade goods is often a key factor in many of my games. The builder is an excellent addition to the game too, and can really change things in games where one player needs a certain tile and wants to improve their chances of getting it. I agree that the pig can be easily forgotten, but so can many things such as wagons, bridges, castles... The pig is still a worthwhile addition to the game and I think it compliments this expansion nicely.

[CKorfmann]

I'd have to give my vote to Inns and Cathedrals as well.  The builder and pig the best parts of Traders and Builders.  You might be able to find those separately from Meeple Source, or somewhere else, but then if they ever buy the expansion, they'll have doubles. 

[Decar]

Just a word of warning - if you're buying a gift for your Carcassonne-liking exchangee, you had best work out which versions of Carcassonne they have.  There are now two art styles and it would be a shame if they conflicted.

[jungleboy]

Just a word of warning - if you're buying a gift for your Carcassonne-liking exchangee, you had best work out which versions of Carcassonne they have.  There are now two art styles and it would be a shame if they conflicted.

They're compatible! The backs are the same!

<joke>

[Hounk]

I would go for "Traders & Builders", too. In the graphic style, she owns the base game. It is true, that the lack of 50/100 score tiles is annoying, but T&B is IMHO still the more interesting expansion than "Inns & Cathedrals". I&C is a little "more of the same" (although you won't want to skip it in the long run), while T&B adds some really interesting new ideas (the builder and the trade goods), similar "Abbey & Mayor".

If she owns the old version, you might consider adding The Besiegers as something "special".

[ny1050220]

If I have to choose between I&C and T&B, I'd go with Inns & Cathedrals.
The inns and cathedrals award you more points for roads and cities, respectively, but worthless if unfinished at the end of the game. So this expansion makes the dynamic of the game more challenging, and requires constant attention and rough estimates all the time.
Builders in T&B will expand your point difference dramatically and constantly if you use your builder correctly and tactfully, or if you opponent trap your builder in a figure that cannot be finished. This expansion also give you the big follower, which is also so much fun and calls for more tactics. And this one adds a sixth player and the 50/100 points tiles, which are very convenient.
When I first played with traders, I thought it was fun, but soon I lost interest in chasing the tokens, as I play mega-carcassonne (with all expansions that I have). You can fight over a token that ultimately awards you 10 points by finishing an 8-point city claimed by your opponent, and it may be beneficial in a 2-player game. In a mega-carcassonne game and a multiple-player game, this usually means more loss.
After all, I prefer Abbeys & Mayors to I&C and T&B. Your abbey tile allows you to finish anything that cannot be finished otherwise. And the mayor is really powerful in a competition on a city.

[Whaleyland]

Your abbey tile allows you to finish anything that cannot be finished otherwise.

Technically an Abbey can only be used to "fill a hole", as in it needs to go in a space that's already surrounded on all sides. It can't just be used anywhere you want.

[ny1050220]

Your abbey tile allows you to finish anything that cannot be finished otherwise.

Technically an Abbey can only be used to "fill a hole", as in it needs to go in a space that's already surrounded on all sides. It can't just be used anywhere you want.

Thank you for clarifying that. I'm just saying that the abbey finishes everything on its four sides, so technically it can be used to finish anything so long as you can use it.

[Hounk]

Can be used for that. And quite a few other things as well.