Laborer and Mendicant - inofficial Carcassonne expansion
The Laborer- tile from the unofficial expansion Carcassonne: Laborer and Mendicant. (c) by Christoph Berger
Christoph Berger has created an unofficial expansion to Carcassonne, called Carcassone - Knecht und Bettelmönch (Carcassonne - Laborer and Mendicant) . His idea is based on the official mini-expansion Carassonne: King and Scout (Carcassonne: König und Späher).
Gameplay
Laborer and Mendicant contains two new special "character cards" which are placed next to the board. The farm laborer is given to the player with the most farmers in play. Players can steal the Laborer from each other, so little battles might start during the game. The player who holds the card at the end of the game scores additional points for the little farmyards of the largest farm. This is an interesting tweak since the farmyards have so far been totally irrelevant in any of the official Carcassonne games.
The Mendicant - (c) by Christoph Berger
The Mendicant character tile is given to the player who recently completed a cloister with any player's monk inside (cloisters without a monk are marked with a special Mendicant Scoring Counter, also included in this expansion). As with the Laborer, the Mendicant may wander between players. But only the lucky fellow who holds the character at the end of the game scores big: two points for every completed cloister and one for every incomplete one.
The Mendicant is conceptually similar to a novelty introduced in Carcassonne: Die Jäger und Sammler (Carcassonne: Hunters and Gatherers): an incentive to help other players finish their stuff while bringing a nice advantage for yourself. The card certainly makes cloisters more attractive and helps completing them faster.
Design and Theme
As you can see above, the two cards are nicely designed and look "carcassonnish". The charcters and their added gameplay mechanics fit nicely with the medieval game theme. I'd like to call it an atmospheric fit.
Overall, I would rate Laborer and Mendicant as a well-designed add-on with interesting new elements, especially if combined with King and Scout. It is not a must-have super-expansion that totally changes Carcassonne into something different. But not even the official extensions have done this. I would like to recommend it for fans or frequent players who want to try something new and get another gradual improvement.
Download
The expansion is available from the Carcassone homepage here (the link "Bettelmönch" at the very bottom).
An English translation of the rules is available on CarcassonneFAQ blog.