| Game
Overview
This, the 3rd major expansion
for Carcassonne, takes the franchise in
a new direction. Unlike the other expansions
that offer alternate means of scoring, The
Princess & the Dragon puts the spotlight
firmly on survival. The Dragon is the major
innovation here and the wooden figure is
brought into play as soon as a Volcano tile
(6) is drawn. With the placing of this tile
the dragon is added to the board. From this
point on the dragon will move and menace
the land of Carcassonne whenever a player
draws a tile containing a dragon icon (12).
The player drawing the dragon tile must
complete their turn as per normal. Then
the dragon is moved 1 space for each player
in the game starting with the player who
drew the tile. The dragon can be moved in
a horizontal or vertical direction. The
only restriction is that the dragon cannot
move onto a tile where it has already been
in the current move. So in the early game
its movements may be limited indeed. The
crunch is that the dragon will eat every
follower it encounters on the board and
return those followers to their player's
supply. This tends to make large cities
a risky option and completing those cloisters
quickly has never been more important.
But there is some protection. A small white
figure takes on the role of fairy. If a
player places a tile and does not place
a follower, they can choose to take the
fairy (from its current location) and place
it on any 1 tile where they have a follower.
This tile is protected from the dragon,
which may not enter. Another benefit of
having the fairy is that it can earn you
bonus points. If you start your turn with
the fairy under your control, you will automatically
earn 1 bonus point. If you complete a feature
containing a tile where the fairy is present
then you will earn 3 bonus points. That
makes 3 reasons to take that pesky fairy
off your opponents.
The next addition on offer is the Princess
tiles (6). If a player adds a princess tile
to a feature containing 1 or more followers
they must remove 1 of those followers. This
can be a great way to remove rival followers
from your city or road and often it will
lead to a feature having no one in control.
Please read on…
The final addition is the tiles containing
a magic portal (6). If a player draws one
of these tiles they can choose to place
a follower on this or any previously placed
tile. The only restriction is they cannot
break the original rules for placement.
This tile can be used in conjunction with
the Princess tile to devastating effect.
A princess tile may render a large feature
with no controller and then drawing a magic
portal would allow you to take control of
it. The threat of the dragon can also result
in many cloisters or farm areas being left
unclaimed. The magic portal can be brutal
in these situations.
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