Last Friday I was able to attend the UK Games Expo where I was fortunate enough to find the ‘
One Free Elephant’ booth and find out about ‘Carcosa’. Nigel Kennington, the game’s designer, was kind enough to demonstrate the game to me and on enquiring I was able to purchase a pre-production copy of the game.
I’ve been able to play quite a few games of Carcosa now, and thought I would share my experiences. I’m sure lots of you here will be interested in Carcosa because of the similarities it has with Carcassonne and not just because of their Kickstarter addictions! I have to say everyone I spoke to at the booth last Friday was very friendly. I wish them the best of luck during their
kickstarter campaign which ends on the 30th June!
I wasn’t sure of the best way to review Carcosa, I don’t usually get bogged down with describing the rules, but given the familiar nature, I think I’ll make an exception and begin by highlighting how they significantly differ from Carcassonne. During the process, I’ll share some of my thoughts and feelings about them. It would be great to hear what your thoughts are too!
The Rules & MechanicsThe GoalFirstly, the aim of the game is to perform an ancient ritual to raise a Great Old One (The King in Yellow) before any of your opponents do. This is done by: scoring 70-points then being the first to complete 3 features. This is probably the most significant change because the game is essentially a race rather than simply point scoring. Another way the game can end is by depleting 2 stacks of tiles. This hasn’t happened in any of my games, but it’s been quite close a few times.
Completing features in Carcosa means your cultist meeple perform some kind of sacrificial ritual and are driven insane. So they do not return straight to your hand. Instead your cultist is sent to the Asylum; I guess it’s tough work raising a nether-god, they’ll need a break before they can be used again. At the start of your turn before selecting a tile a meeple in the Asylum moves to the Recovery Room. Any Meeple in the Recovery Room move back to your supply. This mechanic alone changes the feel of the meeple management. Whatever you invest in is going to take a little longer to get your meeples back in hand. You start with 3 meeple (with an additional 2 in recovery) and it’s possible to recruit more during the game.
Having recruited a few meeple, I’ve rarely found not having enough in hand; this is probably because of my experience with Carcassonne, but also the clever drafting and tile-stability mechanics that I’ll explain now.
Tile Draft & PlacementThe remaining 84 tiles are randomized and stacked to build pillars inside the alter. There are always 2 more stacks of tiles than the number of players. On a turn a player takes a tile from an empty stack and then moves their prophet (a meeple) on top of it. It’s not possible to take a tile that sits underneath your prophet or another player’s, so you’re forced to rotate to empty stacks, which may result in leaving a tile open for another player. The drafting works incredibly well, if you’ve ever felt that you’re not drawing the right tiles while playing Carcassonne, wait until you have a choice of 2 or 3 tiles and you still can’t decide what to do! There are ways to manipulate the pillars, but we’ll come on to that.
The game starts by using 4 special tiles, which can be arranged in numerous ways. This presents the start-tile and landscape of the game. The rules recommend a particular starting pattern, but given the nature of the game; having variety is always a positive.
The tiles of Carcosa are double-sided, named: stable & unstable. They show the same features on both sides of the tile, but hidden on the stable-side are additional benefits or effects, which can drastically change their behaviour when they are flipped. Before placing the tile, the player may look at both sides; but when placed, only the unstable side is shown. This leaves other players wondering what’s on the other side of the tile. The tiles are only stabilized (flipped) once a connecting feature is completed. I like the risk reward element which has been added. It’s only a minor addition, which I can see being expanded upon in the future.
The double-sided tiles offer another ground-breaking mechanic. Unstable tiles without meeples can be replaced….You heard me! On your turn, If you can find a suitable tile you can take an unstable tile from the board and place another in its place! Initially, I thought this would cause the game to be unpredictable, but given the tile distribution, it doesn’t happen that often. In fact it can work very well to prevent the final ritual from being completed. There’s a lot going on with this simple idea. Firstly, it adds an interesting way of recovering from classical trapping. The replaced tile is added to the bottom of a deck, which once again helps with tile counting. Replacing tiles can also give players who are behind more time to catch up, offering opportunity to open up features which may have been easily closed. It’s a mind-blowing ability and adds to the horror-theme brilliantly!
Tile FeaturesI’ll just quickly summarize the features and their effects:
Districts (Cities)Districts score points towards the ritual, just like in Carcassonne (2-points per tile).
Some Districts contain ‘theatres’ which allow a player to recruit an additional meeple into their supply.
Ritual Sites (Cloisters)When a Ritual Site is turned over, usually when a ley-line is completed, it scores just like a Carcassonne Cloister. These are very powerful tiles, because they can score quite easily.
Some Ritual Sites contain a ‘Feaster’ which essentially eats your meeple. They score an additional 4-points, but your meeple is thrown back to the ritual mat and cannot be used by you until you invoke a theatre to recruit them again. Knowing when to unlock these tiles, score big points, but risk losing a cultist is core to the scoring and winning in Carcosa.
Sacrifice (Farmers)Meeple can be added to the waters surrounding Carcosa, instead of scoring for districts they can be devoured if a Feaster is revealed, scoring 4-points towards the ritual. It’s worth noting that player’s cultists can be sacrificed to the waters without first checking for any other controlling cultists. Without this restriction is is much easier to score points when a feasters is revealed, but cost of your cultist being devoured can be an incredibly expensive one!
Ley Lines (Roads)When a ley line is completed, instead of scoring points you are able to claim a ritual-stone equivalent to the length of the ley-line.
Ritual Stones allow a player to cast spells during their turn to do some special actions.
If a junction contains an ‘empowered conflux’ as well as taking the equivalent ritual-stone, the meeple scores points towards their ritual.
Ritual StonesThese stones are probably the most unfamiliar component of the game. Short ley-lines allow you to recover your meeple; while longer ley-lines allow you to claim an unclaimed feature, or re-order an entire stack of tiles. These stones add a hefty amount of strategy while not increasing the complexity too much. In my first few games I had no idea how to use them effectively, but each stone has been carefully constructed to perform some necessary functions.
One of the subtle rules is that once a Ritual Stone has been played a player’s prophet must be returned to their ready pool. If any Ritual Stone is played at the start of a player’s turn it means the Prophet can be used to select the stack they were just on. This is significantly important, especially near the end game where you may need to reorder tiles to find the one you need. Most turns players get a choice of 2 tiles, but using a ritual stone allows you one more choice. This does come at a cost however, if you play a ritual stone later in a turn your prophet must vacate its stack, meaning your opponents now have additional choices!
Before I discuss some of the games I’ve played, I’ll briefly cover the components:
Components The rulebook on the kickstarter page are pretty clear. I’d like to see a few more pictures or examples to help clarify things; however once you understand the types of feature, it is straightforward to follow.
I’m reviewing a pre-production copy so it’s hard to know precisely what will be different. The artwork on the game box is very thematic and sets the scene well. Likewise the scrawls found within the rulebook set a tone without distracting from the rules.
The meeple do a great job of setting the theme too. They look like little cultists - I particularly like the prophet, who looks busy performing some kind of ritual, especially when they are standing on top of a pillar of tiles. Thankfully this stretch goal has been met, so everyone will be getting them.
The Chapterhouse cards are a great way to organize your insane/recovering meeple; I particularly like the artwork on them, even though it’s a simple addition, it functions perfectly. I did notice that there are no doors to the outside of the building...I hope that’s a deliberate choice adding to the thematic psychosis.
I sometimes find the Cult Mat a little cluttered. The pillars of tiles work really well, but I find the scoretrack small. 5s and 10s have been marked, and it takes a little bit of getting used to. The design is ergonomic and efficient. Once the final-ritual begins (after scoring 70), players place their meeple standing up on the central altar; this makes sense thematically because it feels like they’re busy joining the ritual the prophet is performing. However, I’m not convinced by the need to store potential or devoured cultists on the board lying down; while initiated one are left standing. It’s quite busy in a 3 or 4-player game. I think it’s easily resolved by moving the potentials somewhere else, possibly near your chapterhouse or next to the Cult Mat. To put it another way: thematically, I’m not sure I understand why people are lying down on the Cult Mat; overall it’s a trivial complaint.
Let’s talk about the tiles. They’re hexagonal in design, leaving corners missing on the landscape. The tiles are thick, but smooth. They’re great quality, but I do worry that the smooth tiles will show dings & dents more than Carcassonne tiles. Having said this, there is no bag to jumble them in, so I think the tiles are suitable. The artwork serves it’s purpose because the features are clear, but they are certainly nowhere near as colourful as the fields of southern France. Considering the parallel-world psychosis the game is portraying, it does it’s job well. I would say the embellishments on the ‘effect-tiles’ pop-out extremely well. Nigel told me that one or two of the features on the unstable side are being cleaned up before production (such as the ley-line and district splitter tiles); hopefully this will be resolved.
We should address the theme now: Victorian Horror (such as Cthulhu, Elder-Gods..etc) is not for everyone. I should also note, that I’m by no means an expert in this field. I don’t know my Cthulhu from my Nyarlathotep; though I recall that Shub-Niggurath did appear in the video-game Quake of my youth. Most of you know that I love abstract games and thankfully it means I can look past the nature of Carcosa and immerse myself in the solid mechanics. It’s very safe to say that Carcosa is much more than a Cthulhu themed Carcassonne. I have to say that one thing I do like is that there is no embodiment of the King in Yellow. One of the powerful things about this type of horror is that these other-earthly-beings don’t actually exist in a physical form; they only manifest in the psychosis of those involved. I can see some players being uncomfortable with the theme of insanity; however I feel the core game and rule books don’t dwell too heavily on these topics. Those of you who do dislike it, I’d question what on earth is going on during a game of Carcassonne; a city infamous for a medieval genocide!
Let’s start talking about the mechanics in more details and some of the games I’ve played:
Player InteractionMost of the games I’ve played have been 2-player, and Carcosa doesn’t disappoint. One of the advantages of all tile-laying games is their ability to support variable player counts.
It’s very clear that this game is intended to hit people wanting more weight from Carcassonne. The interaction in Carcassonne comes from tile placement. None of this has been lost and the ability to shift unstable tiles while managing the Prophets adds even more tactics. During my game at the Expo, I was unable to claim numerous tiles I needed, because my opponents were able to keep their Prophets on the same station. Preventing me from snatching the tiles I needed to win the game. This was a wholly new experience for me, it usually is only found in worker placement games.
The ritual stones also allow you to manipulate the stacks, which can greatly affect what tiles come up. Given a few more plays I’ve come to realize that each of the ritual-stones can be used to subtle (and some what devious ways). It transpired in my first game that all of the ley-line and district caps I needed to complete my final feature had been conveniently shuffled to the bottom of the deck. In other games I was able to count the number of feasters in a particular pile to know whether additional points were up for grabs. One of the stones allows you to shift the other players Prophets giving you access to stacks you might need.
My initial thoughts on this deck manipulation was that it would be game breaking, but instead I find myself reconsidering tile-counting even more drastically. The effects are subtle, because there are multiple decks in play and the manipulation is limited to a single deck. Acquiring the stones can be difficult, and I find the power can only be used for short term goals, like I need this particular tile. Or sometimes a long term effect, like I can hide this tile Bob needs at the bottom of the deck. But managing the mid-term strategy is simply mind boggling.
The catch-up mechanics are another feature with breaths fresh-air over Carcassonne. Due to the distribution of the tiles and the manipulation described, it’s quite easy to get stuck completing the final ritual. This gives time for other players to continue scoring points. It’s unlikely (with 2 and 3 players), but possible, for the end of the game to come early, by completing 2-pillars of tiles. As a result end-game scoring occurs, however any points scored, past the initial 70-points will have been lost. So it’s entirely possible for a player who is behind to trigger the end game, while they have cultists on the board, so they can catch-up and over take. I’ve not seen this happen yet, but it’s been a consideration.
The duration of the game can be tweaked too. The game comes with a 50-point score track and it’s possible to start with an additional meeple in hand too, rather than employ them through a theatre..
Summary For those of you who think there are already enough Carcassonne spin-offs in the world, I’d like to say this: Carcosa offers more than just a Cthulhu-skin to Carcassonne. Carcosa adds several new mechanics which have been carefully considered and intertwined to accelerate tension towards the end-game. Of the games I’ve played, all players have ended very close to one another. Mechanically Carcosa offers more than any single Carcassonne spin-off does. The management of drafting tiles and use of ritual-stones offer players more interaction and strategic choice found in most games of the Carcassonne series. Having played a few games now, I don’t consider Carcosa significantly more difficult to play, even with the additional weight thrown into the mix. Undoubtable Carcosa is not Carcassonne. Carcassonne is a point-scoring, tile-counting game which allows players to make difficult decisions against certain probabilities. On the other hand, Carcosa is a steeplechase with opportunities to manipulate tiles allowing players to manage the upcoming hurdles.
The more I play Carcosa, the more subtleties I uncover, just writing this article has made me question some of the decisions and timing I’ve been using during games. In some of the first few plays I’d misunderstood when the best time to use ritual stones were. I also wasn’t checking how best to use unstable tiles. In one game, I realized I needed to replace a ley-line with a ritual site on it, just to increase my chances of drawing it allowing me to complete a feature and end the game. Discovering these avenues is rewarding. I find the layering of complexity satisfying, if the beauty of Carcassonne is its simplicity, the beauty of Carcosa is its streamlined approach to adding more weight. What I mean is the game isn’t simply bogged down by more rules; they are already there, waiting to be unlocked.
I’ve already got my copy of Carcosa, but I’ll be making sure I
back the kickstarter which is scheduled to end on the 30th June. Well done to Nigel Kennington and ‘One Free Elephant’ for creating something grounded boardgaming traditions, but still bold enough to explore enough fresh mechanics to allow Carcosa to be unique.
For those still thinking about it - Carcosa is available on Tabletop Simulator, I’ve conducted a few games with it and it works extremely well (for a PC). If anyone would like to have a game one evening please let me know, I can talk you through the rules.
Link to Kickstarter:
https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1707132801/carcosa-a-lovecraftian-board-game-of-cults-and-mad?ref=CarcCLink to BGG:
https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/216224/carcosaLink to Tabletop Simulator:
http://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=922312349Link to Carcosa Home Page:
http://www.onefreeelephant.co.uk/CarcosaSub/carcosa.htmlLinkback: https://www.carcassonnecentral.com/community/index.php?topic=3385.0