Meeples for Mega Carcassonne

[Nebus]

My friends and I have started to play Mega Carcassonne having put a couple of standard sets together as well as all the expanions packs.

How many Meeples would you recommend we play with?  I'm finding that when we play with the standard amount plus the Large meeple that the dynamic of the game has shifted quite a lot and no one really plays farmers until late in the game. Also without even play testing it I know that doubling the amount of Meeples just because we have doubled the number of land tiles wouldn't be right!

Any suggestions and advice would be greatly appreciated!

 



Linkback: https://www.carcassonnecentral.com/community/index.php?topic=759.0

[Rosco]

My opinion is that the standard 8, mega, mayor, wagon, builder, pig, barn are sufficient if you are using only official tiles. However if you are also using fan expansions such as fishermen, forests etc then maybe a few more is wise. We add our own meeples - child, hooker, super thief, sheriff, boats, tavern, dwarf.

[Paul]

I know the feeling. It's hard investing in a farm early on with limited followers when doing a megaCarc game.

It's all relative. In a base game one can invest in a farm early on, with fifty tiles left. In a megaCarc of 200 or more, you could start investing when it's about fifty tiles left as well.
  Boxed in areas is the question of worth it or not. I might consider a farm of four cities or more but no less.

 

[danisthirty]

Hi Nebus, welcome to the forums!

This is a great question, and I feel that there are probably going to be a lot of different answers to it depending on how people like to play. Personally I agree with Rosco, that if you're playing with the full set of expansions then you should have enough pieces (i.e. 7 regular meeples, 1 large, 1 mayor, 1 wagon, 1 phantom) without needing any extras.

If anybody decides to place a farmer early on then that's up to them, but it's worth remembering that there are almost always opportunities to steal/ "glom" onto that farm later on after you've had the benefit of one meeple more than the other player for the majority of the game. Remember also that even if you do farm early you can still get those farmers back by placing your barn. Your farmers may also be returned to you by any of the corn circles, plague, dragon, tower, festival and possibly other expansions either by you or another player.

At the end of the day, Carcassonne is about a lot of things and one of the most important factors is being able to manage your meeples effectively. If you can do this then I think the standard set is enough for any game regardless of how many expansions you include. But as I said earlier, this is just my view and I stand to be corrected by some of the other guys here who have far more experience and wisdom than I do!

[Fritz_Spinne]

From my experience I'd say it's a bit boring if you use more figures if you only play with official expansions. If you use fan expansions like rivers and woods you may take one or two followers more for every new feature.

[coyote]

I'd have to agree with just about everyone..

We play with all the expansion's tiles (even if we may not use all the rules), and we kept our figure collection to 8 meeples. We use the robber meeple for the scoring board, though, so we actually have 8 meeples to use on the map. Then with the big meeple, pig, and builder. And now the shepard.

[Bixby]

We often play Mega-Carcassonne and here is our Meeple Manifest:

1 Mega Meeple
1 Mayor Meeple
5 Meeples
1 Meeple for score track
1 Builder
1 Pig
1 Wagon
1 Phantom

We really like this mix. We did not want too many Meeples as that seems to remove some of the decision tension. "Do I really play another Meeple now? I may not get it back soon and I do not want to run out? Hmmmm"

[CKorfmann]

I'm pretty much with the consensus that the standard meeples provided are enough, especially the extra ones with the various expansions.  The only one I add is the Missionary (disk).  I have played in games with around 400 tiles where we've added the eighth standard meeple and used something else for the scoreboard, but with the addition of the phantom since then, I don't think I'd recommend it.  If you play with the old Sheep & Shepherds fan expansion, you will feel like you have a big pile of meeples to work with.

[Nebus]

Great comments everyone...

Sorted! I totally agree about Meeple management. One of the many things I love about Carcassonne is having to make simple choices that can mean so much!


Thanks for your time and kindness!