Carcassonne Princess & Dragon

Customer Reviews

Adds Danger and Competition Review by Jacques

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This expansion can certainly put a whole new twist on your Carcassonne games. It seems meant specifically to intensify competition and to get every player's mean side out. If you like that sort of game you'll love this. If you don't like that, then buy a different expansion.

I agree with Lane above; playing this one with two players is not as much fun. You really end up pitted up against each other in a two player game and chances are you'll lose a lot of little followers. If you play with more people you can spread the mayhem out.

I prefer some of the other expansions, but this one can still be a lot of fun. (Posted on 6/22/11)

Beware of the Surly Dragon and the somewhat Manly Princess Review by Fong Chun

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This was the first expansion for Carcassonne that I tried and it added a great deal of variation and the strategy to the game. There are several major additions to this expansion. The surly dragon adds the greatest twist to the expansion. No longer is the case where placing down a meeple on a feature (ie. city, farm, etc) guaranteed you points (aside from tactical stealing). When a player draws a "dragon tile", this awakes the dragon from its slumber and causes it to wreak havoc on the land of carcassonne. Players take turns moving the dragon and any tiles the dragon reaches, the meeples on this tile are killed. To counter the dragon, there is a fairy which can be placed onto a tile which inhibits the dragon from reaching this tile; However, there is only one fairy between all players and thus vying for control of the fairy results in a critical strategic element in the game.

And if killing meeples with the wicked dragon wasn't enough for you, the expansion also includes a princess (albeit her visual manliness on the game box and tiles) who can charm knights and cause them to mysterious disappear from their stationed cities adding a whole unique way to city stealing.

Some other minor additions such as the additional of a "magic portal" tile allowing players to place meeples on any other previously placed tile helps offset meeple losses by the dragon and princess or could be used to steal previously owned features from other players.

All in all, this Carcassonne: Princess & Dragon adds a significant amount of features to the game that greatly alters the strategy of the base game. It is definitely a highly recommended expansion for fans of Carcassonne. (Posted on 1/9/11)

I eat thee knight thee thief and thee farmer Review by Brian

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An expansion that takes points away? Sounds like a good expansion if you like mayhem.

There is a princess that wooes away other peoples knights taking followers from the city. It has the dragon which all players control to eat unlucky followers. But it also has a fairy that protects your followers from the dragon.

There are also transporter tiles that let you go to any non-finished feature that is un-owned. So there are many new options to this expansion set, it is probably the most different of any of the expansions to date. The best part of this expansion is the use of the dragon and the fact it eats meeples.
(Posted on 9/28/10)

Great expansion, but consider leaving it out of 2-player games Review by Lane

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This is one of my favourite expansions. There are a lot of new pieces, some new and great rules, and lots of sheer chaos.

The destruction part is best played with 3 or more players as it adds some politics and backstabbing to the game, and all good games have that right? :)

Tile-wise, there are lots of good tiles that will finally fit in those hard-to-complete places. So even if you don't want to use the expansion rules, consider adding the tiles themselves to your core game and just ignore all the other symbols.

This is probably on par with The Tower in terms of a fun, competitive expansion (Posted on 9/21/10)

Amazing Addition Review by David

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If you own Carcassonne this is a must have expansion. I already enjoyed Carcassonne for the strategy of when to put followers where, and to try to link pieces together and all the fun that goes along with the original, but this expansion really takes the game to another level.

As soon as the dragon piece is on the board, the tension mounts and game takes on an entirely new dimension. The strategy of placing followers is completely thrown off by the need to keep the fairy with your players to keep them safe from the dragon. Also, there is nothing more satisfying than placing the dragon directly beside a giant city of your opponent that is just missing that one piece and having them wiped out by the dragon.

This added a lot of fun to the base game and I can't imagine ever playing again without this expansion. If you have Carcassonne, you MUST get this expansion. (Posted on 10/24/09)

A must have expansion that adds interaction and entertainment through destruction! Review by DV

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The Princess and Dragon expansion for Carcassonne is one of my favourites. It offers 30 new tiles (the most of any expansion), a large cool looking dragon meeple and a fairy. I always felt the base game needed some more interaction and confrontation between players and this expansion definitely delivers in that aspect.

The new tiles are a great addition and offer several new and interesting play options. The volcano tiles determine the position of the dragon as he will immediately fly there once the tile is placed (great for placing next to a group of enemy followers you’d like removed). The dragon tiles (normal tiles but with a dragon icon) will start the movement of the dragon. Once this tile is placed players will take clockwise turns to orthogonally move the dragon 6 spaces, returning any follower he happens to land on. What’s great is that it involves every player and they can help control the movement to kill opposing followers or protect their own. There is also a fairy now, a small white meeple, which can be placed next to one of your followers but only if you have not placed a follower on your turn. The dragon can never touch a tile with the fairy and so it a form of protection. In addition, the fairy offers an extra 3 points if she is in a feature that gets completed. Players also receive 1 point if they start their turn with the fairy (a rule that I find a bit annoying simply because it gets overlooked and forgotten too often).

There are also new city tiles with a princess icon. These, when placed on to an occupied city, will kick off a follower. This adds even more tension to the game as you may suddenly be removed from that large city you’ve been working on and perhaps have it taken over by another player. The new magic portal tiles are also a great addition. If you chose not to place a follower on these tiles you may then place a follower anywhere on the board (following the rules of course). This is perfect for teleporting into an unfinished cloister, road or city where the follower has just been eaten by the dragon. It also offers strategic placement of farmers, as you can teleport to any empty field.

This expansion definitely works better with 3 or more players, as there are more followers to eat. I find with 2 players the dragon sometimes ends up being useless. I would also recommend obtaining the River 2 expansion since it has a volcano as one of the river’s end tiles, thus placing the dragon immediately at the start of the game. If all this destruction is not to your liking then perhaps one of the more tame expansions would be more suitable. However, I personally love this expansion and would highly recommend it to anyone looking to expand their base game.
(Posted on 9/6/09)