How to play Carcassonne with both old and new versions

[oosie]

Hello fellow fans of Carcassonne,

I'm fairly new here as a forum user, but I was wondering if anyone played Carcassonne with both the old and new versions together and how they go about doing that?

For an initial try, I was thinking of playing with both the base games of Carcassonne, The Rivers and the Abbot. (Gradually adding other expansions in future plays.) Starting with the 2 River spring tiles next to each other mixing the remaining tiles of both (with the exception of the 2 River lake tiles). When drawing a new River tile you can only place it extending the matching River tile. Once finished, randomly play the River lake tiles following the same rules. Then mix all base Carcassonne tiles of both copies into the bag and play as follows: when drawing a tile you have to place it with at least one side to a matching tile of the same copy. This way you can still can get the tiles of the different copies next to each other and helping out finishing your cities, roads and such. But hopefully playing it this way turns out to be more aesthetically pleasing 

What are your thoughts/experiences?

Thanks,
oosie...

Linkback: https://www.carcassonnecentral.com/community/index.php?topic=3398.0

[Decar]

Hi oosie,

Welcome to the forum, I don't think I've said hello yet!

Given that the artwork is entirely compatible, I don't see any issues with what you've suggested, all the tiles can be mixed it.  I suspect you will have some issues playing with both Rivers, because it will create a very long river.  The issue will be the same as those who play with the River, River 2 and any mix of River tiles.  What you propose can't be too terrible; but you may end up with an enormous farm.

[Dragonlord]

Mixing everything, it's the way I'm playing... 

[oosie]

Hi oosie,

Welcome to the forum, I don't think I've said hello yet!

Given that the artwork is entirely compatible, I don't see any issues with what you've suggested, all the tiles can be mixed it.  I suspect you will have some issues playing with both Rivers, because it will create a very long river.  The issue will be the same as those who play with the River, River 2 and any mix of River tiles.  What you propose can't be too terrible; but you may end up with an enormous farm.

Hi Decar,

Thanks for the warm welcome and thanks for pointing out the potential gigantic farm issue. I'll give it a try though and pay attention to this. I guess using more expansions might lessen the issue of lob-sided farms as other enormous farms might get created then?

[oosie]

Mixing everything, it's the way I'm playing... 

I'll try both approaches and try to ignore my OCD

[danisthirty]

Welcome to the forums from me too oosie!

I wouldn't try to overthink it if I were you - just ignore the fact that you're using the two different artwork versions and chuck everything in together. The aesthetic appeal may be lessened somewhat depending on your tastes but the gameplay won't be affected.

[oosie]

Welcome to the forums from me too oosie!

I wouldn't try to overthink it if I were you - just ignore the fact that you're using the two different artwork versions and chuck everything in together. The aesthetic appeal may be lessened somewhat depending on your tastes but the gameplay won't be affected.

Hi danisthirty,

Thank you for the warm welcome as well. As mentioned I will give both approaches a shot and I'll do my best to keep my OCD alarm snoozed. )

[oosie]

I just tried a game according to my original idea. Though it was fun I think using this approach is going to be more fun with more expansions as now there were only a few tiles of each copy touching each other. The biggest field contained 8 finished cities, which I thought wasn't that bad. The end result was aesthetically pleasing though... 

Next I'll try mixing them altogether.

[Decar]

Great to hear your results,  hope your future games provide you with the evidence you need