Which fan expansions do you regularly play?

[Rosco]

Hi all,

When I started playing Carcassonne and then heard about Carcassonne central fan expansions, I went a little crazy and downloaded and printed most of them. I haven't even used 90% of them. What is your favourite fan expansion? Do you have any which you haven't published?

Linkback: https://www.carcassonnecentral.com/community/index.php?topic=1137.0

[Paul]

I haven't printed out and tested a single expansion yet. But I have dabbled with some digitally testing them when I code etc.
  Today I have no means of printing out any tiles, but rest assure, next year I will make this happen. Just lacking blank tiles.

As to what expansion I like in general, it's usually those that have extra tiles. I like less wooden figures, or extra rules that takes time to learn.
  One good example is the nature disaster idea, which could open up a whole lotta fun and crazyness. Sort of an amped version of the Dragon. 

The lake. Also one I like very much.
  Come to think of it, maybe I like fan expansions that have a visual concept art to  make beautiful scenery rather than playing the games. 

[Gerry]

The main roadblock with using fan expansions is getting the spare tiles to stick them on.  I prefer expansions that have new concepts for reusing the existing tile sets.  Problem here is coming up with game play ideas that are different and  interesting without getting too complex.

For me the official mini expansions are mostly too convoluted and more trouble than they are worth.  I was really disappointed with messengers because I could not even reuse the tiles as they have different backs. The ferries was about the best of them, different twist on the game play that was easily understood.

I keep meaning to print and mount the wells expansion but have never gotten around to it.

Of my own stuff the ones I have enjoyed playing are the reeve and quartermaster as it reuses all parts of the the Tower and one called Chatelaines which reuse the Princess tiles along with the trade goods from Traders.

Biggest problem is getting enough game play to ensure that the scoring is right,  too easy to under or over score the points, getting a balance that adds enough points incentive to use the expansion without swamping the other features of the game.

[frankdux]

King's Gate - a simple 2 tile expansion that connects two cities with a portal and makes them count as a single city.
Mills and Bakeries - a new scoring feature with an interesting gameplay mechanic that works well in a decently sized game.
Wells - similar to banners in cities, but applies towards roads.
Friar - similar to King and Baron, but for monasteries.

[Gerry]

Mills and Bakeries - a new scoring feature with an interesting gameplay mechanic that works well in a decently sized game.

I took a look at the Mills and Bakeries  - definitely a quality expansion, very nice artwork.  My only quibble would be with the 3 X 3 cross scoring layout as the 8 surrounding tiles used for priories would have been more consistent. 

The bread tokens are consistent with Trader good tokens which is nice. Consistency with the existing game framework works well for avoiding a steep learning curve. 

Of course it is difficult to be consistent and innovative at the same time.

It is a shame there is quality work like this lying overlooked in the download section.

[Guesclin]

The metropole. ITS not on The list but iTS about 10 years old. Instant war. Excellent

[frankdux]

The metropole. ITS not on The list but iTS about 10 years old. Instant war. Excellent

link?

[frankdux]

Mills and Bakeries - a new scoring feature with an interesting gameplay mechanic that works well in a decently sized game.

I took a look at the Mills and Bakeries  - definitely a quality expansion, very nice artwork.  My only quibble would be with the 3 X 3 cross scoring layout as the 8 surrounding tiles used for priories would have been more consistent. 

More consistent? That would have made it just a boring ripoff of the monastery mechanic. What would be the point? Part of the appeal of the mills and bakeries expansion is its brand new scoring mechanic that still fits well with the normal gameplay of carcassonne.

[ARabidMeerkat]

The main roadblock with using fan expansions is getting the spare tiles to stick them on.  I prefer expansions that have new concepts for reusing the existing tile sets.  Problem here is coming up with game play ideas that are different and  interesting without getting too complex.

For me the official mini expansions are mostly too convoluted and more trouble than they are worth.  I was really disappointed with messengers because I could not even reuse the tiles as they have different backs. The ferries was about the best of them, different twist on the game play that was easily understood.

I keep meaning to print and mount the wells expansion but have never gotten around to it.

Of my own stuff the ones I have enjoyed playing are the reeve and quartermaster as it reuses all parts of the the Tower and one called Chatelaines which reuse the Princess tiles along with the trade goods from Traders.

Biggest problem is getting enough game play to ensure that the scoring is right,  too easy to under or over score the points, getting a balance that adds enough points incentive to use the expansion without swamping the other features of the game.

What about ordering blank tiles from cundco? I get what you are saying but these tiles are very easy and cheap to pick up!