Image Courtesy of VerkistoThis review continues my series of detailed reviews. I have tried to cover every aspect of the game and as such you may prefer to skip to the sections of most interest.
Summary
Game Type – Euro Game
Play Time: 30-50 min
Number of Players: 2-5(6)
Mechanics – Tile Placement, Area Control & Influence
Difficulty – Pick-up & Play (Can be learned in under 20 minutes and takes only 1-2 plays to fully grasp)
Components – Excellent
Release - 2003
Designer - <PERSON> - (Bali, All things Carcassonne, The Downfall of Pompeii, Mesopotamia)
Overview
This review continues my detailed analysis of the Carcassonne series of titles and is the second of the expansions that I have looked at.
I have no plans to cover the basic play and strategy of the base game here. If you would like to know more about Carcassonne, I suggest a quick read of this review –
Carcassonne - A Detailed Review
Traders Builders was released 3 years after the original game and a year after the highly successful Inns Cathedrals. It comes in a nice smaller box format and it is regarded as one of the ‘better’ expansions for the franchise.
This expansion review will outline what new elements and strategy are generated when using Traders Builders and how that changes the feel of the play. It will also look at any interesting interplay that may arise if used in conjunction with Inns Cathedrals.
Components
Tiles – Traders Builders offers up an additional 24 tiles to add to the Carcassonne mix and many of these tiles feature icons that represent Trade Goods (more on those later). Tile distribution images like the one below are really handy if you mix a series of expansions together and want to separate them out again.
Image Courtesy of <PERSON>
Trade Goods - A series of tokens are provided that feature the icons of the Trade Goods located on many of the new tiles. The number of Goods is not exactly the same for each type.
Image Courtesy of <PERSON>
Meeple – In this expansion we also get some specialised Meeple in the form of the Builder and the Pig. All colours are represented including the grey 6th player that was made possible by Inns Cathedrals.
Image Courtesy of mpot
Cloth Bag – By now the designer and publisher probably realised that fans of the series would likely play with the base game and both the small box expansions, which meant a lot of tiles to mix and stack in piles. 581
So they included a really nice cloth bag, which allows all the tiles to be thrown in there and mixed up in a matter of seconds. It comes in Royal Blue (which matches the colour of the Carcassonne box, although some images on the Geek suggest other colours have been used) and it also features a nice Carcassonne transfer.
It is little touches like this that game fans appreciate. It also meant that each expansion to date had included a component that didn't affect the game play but did make the playing experience easier to manage.
Image Courtesy of <PERSON>
Rules – Like Inns Cathedrals, the rules are printed on a small double-sided sheet, which means you will be able to absorb the new additions and get into playing within 15-20 minutes.
All in all the components are up to the usual high standard of any Carcassonne title.
Image Courtesy of <PERSON>
New Elements
Traders Builders offers 3 new additions to change the play of the basic game. It also offered a couple of little extras.
New Tiles – Traders Builders adds 24 new tiles to the Carcassonne mix to make for a total of 96 tiles (using base game) or 114 tiles in play (if also using Inns Cathedrals) per game.
The Trade Goods – Justifying the ‘Traders’ part of the title, 20 of the new tiles feature a particular goods symbol. The goods include Wine (9), Grain (6) and Cloth (5). These goods are always located within a piece of City.
When a player places a tile that completes a City, they are allowed to take 1 matching Goods Token for each icon located in the City. This collection is done regardless of who owns the Meeple in the City and they are awarded even if the City contained no Meeple.
At the end of the game, 10 points are awarded to any player holding a majority of tokens in any one Trade Good. Thus a total of 30 points can be earned in this way at games end. In the event of a tie all players are entitled to the 10 points. 84