Die Eroberer - A Carcassonne extension
Carcassonne - Die Eroberer. The Siege. Copyright by Dieter Rausch, www.carcassonne-welt.de. Used with permission.
Dieter Rausch has put up a great Carcassonne fan page called Carcassonne Welt. This page features an inofficial, fan-produced Carcassonne extension called Die Eroberer (The Conquerors). To download the extension you will have to register. Apparently, this extension was so popular that people sold plenty of copies on ebay and this caused a lot of trouble. So, what is the content in this extension?
The Farm Track
The farm track connects two streets but does not separate the willows in between. A very cool idea, since this card makes connecting willows easier and can decide a game if drawn during the endgame.
The Möbius intersection (aka the infinite intersection)
The Möbius intersection is a 4-way intersecition which does not end the incoming streets. Instead there is a small roundabout in the middle. This card concept is similar to the bridge tile which was later introduced in Carcassonne: Traders & Builders. However, it also allows players to claim both streets if his follower is put directly onto the ronudabout. This part did not make it into the official extension. Still, I believe it speaks for Die Eroberer that game designers thought the tile concept would make a nice addition to an offical add-on.
The Oracle
The Oracle is an extension to a willow which offers a powerful mechanism to exchange a tile. The player with the most farmers on the same willow as the oracle is permitted to redraw a card if he does not like the one he drew.
The Siege
The Siege is a regular city tile at first which fits against a regular city. However, if placed against an opponent's city, the player may populate a military camp with two soldiers. The siege ends once the city is completed. During the siege, the siege commander scores one point during each of his turns. I definitely love this card. It adds an extremely interesting new game mechanism that fits great into the Carcassonne theme. I presume this tile was the role model for the official extensions Carcassonne: Die Katharer (The Cathars).
The Watchtower
Watchtowers protect cities from siege in a 3x3 region around them. Any siege currently running in that area ends immediately. But that's not it: The watchtower counts as a regular city tile with two additional shields, thus scoring additional points and adds an additional two knights for the owner of the tower. But these towers are even more powerful: Only the owner may add cards adjacent to the tower itself. This allows for some powerful blocking mechanisms and I believe could harm game-balance (even considering the Siege cards), but there is yet another counter-mechanism: ruins.
The Ruin
The owner may destroy one building until a city is complete, e.g. a Cathedral or a Watchtower of any city, even if owned by himself. The destroyed building is taken out of the game and replaced by the ruin. The ruin counts as a regular city tile and scores points normally.
Let's put it in a nutshell: this extension is truly marvelous and a true gem. One of the best fan-produced extensions I have ever seen! The design is great but the new game mechanism is maybe even better.
Die Eroberer is copyrighted by Dieter Rausch, Berlin
Carcassonne is copyrighted by Klaus-Jürgen Wrede, Hans-im-Glück Verlag, München