Carcassonne - The Castle, from 2003, is a standalone variant of Carcassonne and was made specially for two players. The Master of board game design, Reiner Knizia, blew some magic dust over the vanilla Carcassonne and cooperated with original creator Klaus-Jürgen Wrede to develop this masterpiece!

The Strategy Guide was written to show how amazing the tactical level of this game really is. Every single match of Carcassonne - The Castle is unique due to the shuffling of the 60 tiles and the random system for the nine different bonus types!

• Read about the main differences between C-TC and vanilla Carcassonne here
• The best, and only?, internet sites for playing this game online: www.yourturnmyturn.com, www.jijbent.nl and www.brettspielnetz.de

The author of the this strategy guide has been ranked no.1 at all three sites! He has won 19 tournaments at two of the sites, and most likely still got the reigning winstreak record of wooping 52.

Negative aspects about the game?

Some will maybe argue that The Castle got a 'runaway leader' problem. The random 'luck' of acquiring the most optimal tiles to launch a head start can be further enhanced by getting the first bonuses on the scoring track. Yes, a snowball effect can sometimes occur and decide the game. However this is pretty rare and the best players can usually catch up with smart play. I still strongly recommend that a full match should always be played best of two games (with alternate starts).

One alternative to make the game even more competitive is to drop the bonus tiles and just give points at the end for each player's longest unfinished road (1 p per road part), largest unfinished tower & largest unfinished house. Thus, all other unfinished projects will not score.

Some Info

• A total of 60 tiles are drawn at random during the game and placed inside the castle walls
• So each player places between 28-32 tiles, depending on the bonuses (double turns)
• A total of 13 bonuses can be achieved during the game. Two of each type exist, 18 total, but 5 are put out at random (must stay hidden) before the match starts
• Each player get 6 Meeples at the start of the game
• Two games with alternate start are recommended. The highest victory point difference decides a draw!

Strategical Breakdown

In essence, strategy is about the long term and tactics is about short term gain or preventing the same for your opponent!

Primary objectives

• To win = Achieve the highest total score = Prevent the opponent from getting equal or more points than you

Strategies to achieve this?

• Adapt play to get a lot of bonuses, this usually requires of the winner to stay ahead in the victory point race on the castle wall
• Prevent the opponent from getting bonus tiles
• Build the largest keep
• Prevent the opponent from building the largest keep
• Secured the largest keep? Try to leave a large as possible area open inside the castle to maximise the keep bonus
• Opponent gets the largest keep? Try to fill or split the open areas if possible to reduce the keep bonus
• Contest, block, lock and/or finish projects controlled by the opponent
• Score a lot of victory points yourself through smart and intuitive play
• Optimize the potential of your own bonuses and reduce the effects of the opponents

Tactical Breakdown

List of options you must consider with each of your tiles

<PRO YOU

• Starting a NEW project by adding a Meeple (tower, house or road). Starting a new project close to the opponent's project can sometimes force him/her to complete the project for you!
• Adding a tile to connect a Meeple to one or more markets, or placing a 'Market tile' along with the Meeple
• Expanding one or more projects by adding a tile to your own project/s that already got a meeple attached
• Adding a tile to complete one, or more, of your projects. Thus scoring VP and freeing meeple/s. Consider the possiblities/importance of getting bonuses on the scoring track. Consider the usage of bonus/es already acquired
• Increasing the protection of your project/s by making them harder to contest or lock. This can also be done by adding a possible 'supporter meeple' along with a tile close to your project with the goal to connect and/or scare off the opponent from trying to contest the project

>ANTI OPPONENT

• Trying to make the opponent's project/s harder to complete, and the ultimate goal is of course to make them impossible to complete (a 'lock'). This can be achieved by adding a tile close to the opponent's projects or by adding a tile TO(!) the opponent's project/s
• Completing one or more of the opponent's projects. The possible benefits: a) Limit the VP's b) Prevent the opponent from connecting a 'Contester Meeple' c) Stop him/her from getting the largest keep d) Make the opponent miss the chance to use, get benefit from, a bonus and/or d) Jump past a bonus on the track
• Placing a tile to limit the size of the opponents project
• Adding a potential 'neturalizer/contester Meeple' along with a tile close to the opponent's project
• Adding a tile as a 'filler'/'splitter' after the opponent, or mostly likely, will get the largest keep
• Placing a tile just to reduce the overall, and potential, options for the opponent

General Advice during the course of a Match

• I advice you to memorize all the tiles so you know which unturned tiles are left at all time (the internet sites listed helps you by showing these tiles - just hover the mouse over the remaining tiles number)
• Try to 'always' keep at least ONE meeple free, and 'only' engage this meeple in projects that can be directly finished. The two exceptions to this are of course in the end game or when your chances for completion of one or more projects are 99% sure in your next 1-2 moves (freeing worker/s). The important 'free worker' is used to complete things directly - giving a steady flow of points
• 'The Stuck Meeples risk/benefit': Try to tempt/force the opponent to use 'all' of his/her meeples on unfinished projects, thereby reducing his/her chances on collecting 'quick points' and/or contesting your projects. With only 1-2 meeples left the opponent will be afraid to 'use' them
• Try to develop your projects in such a way that it gets harder for your opponent to contest or hamper them. Building roads around your building projects is one way to do this. Consider adding a second meeple to large project as a 'supporter'
• Always look for singel tile and meeple placements that accomplishes several goals at the same time! 'Hitting two birds with one stone!'

Optimal Optimizing of Play is the Key!

Part 1/3 of the Match

The castle walls, with 6 starting areas, gives both of the players good options to making 'quick points' very early in the game (image above). Quick points are usually 2-6 points that can be finished with 1-2 tiles. Quick points are usually important if you want to stay ahead in the race and get the most bonuses. It's possible to win a lot of games just by opting to score 2-6 quick points as much as you can. Getting a head start vs your opponent creates alot of pressure on him/her and this is always good! The best players usually chooses the 'Quick point strategy' in the first part of a match and then switches to a 'Combination strategy', opting for both larger projects and quick points, later in the game.

Due to the +1 bonus, the road to the left with the fountain should usually be taken as fast as possible if you start with a road tile. Also to prevent the opponent from getting it.

Part 2/3 of the Match

Before every tile and meeple placement I recommend using the following 'checklist':

a) First check if the opponent got any "important" projects you have to contest, limit, complete(!) or lock down. Look for potential threats that must be stopped early

b) Next check if the opponent is trying, or has the potential, to contest, lock down or complete(!) one or more of your larger projects

c) Next look for ways to increase your largest 'keep-project', or start building a new one if the keep is too small compared to the opponent (Have you, or the opponent, gotten any +2 keep bonuses?). Still... getting the largest keep is usually not crucial, and a tie is also good sometimes. Paying attention to a) and b) is usually more important

d) The last step of the thought process is to search for the best ways to optimize the benefit from the tile in your hand. Taking a)-c) into account, try to place every new tile so you get a double, or triple, benefit from it; like continuing your own road and adding to your building and/or market collection at the same time. Keep a close watch of the bonus markers on the wall when you are able to finish buildings or roads. It's sometimes possible to get two, and even three(!), bonuses in one single tile placement since the points are counted in your favor when completing two or more projects at the same time. When you complete projects you control and got one or more matching bonuses, make a choice if it's the correct time to use it

Contest, block or even close the opponent's most important projects when you see fit... but try not to risk leaving too many Meeples on unfinished projects (unless you have a rewarding bonus ready to justify the risk). Always take a look at the opponent's bonuses in front of him and decide if you must try to close his projects down in your own turn, to deny him the use of the bonus/es. The bonuses are split into two groups: Usable and passive. The usable bonuses are the ones you can 'counter' by closing his projects.

Maybe the most important question to ask yourself is this one: When is a project big enough to finish/close? I personally think a project usually should be built in such a way that it can be completed in two, max three moves. The placement of the tiles should also:

1) Make it possible to complete the project/s before game over... or to NOT complete the project/s due to your bonus/es

2) Make the project harder to contest, block or close (ex. placing tiles with roads around a building can often make it harder for the opponent)

Let me point out that getting the largest keep is not crucial for winning. Still I advice to go for it in the start/mid part of the game. But remember that the largest keep usually don't give more than 5-13 bonus points... and if you use too much energy building the 'perfect keep' you will often lose... When all the 60 tiles are placed inside the walls of the castle there are a total of 15 free spaces left, and these open areas can be split or filled to reduce the bonus.

To ensure you don't lose an important building it's sometimes wise to try to get a second worker (a supporter) connected to the project. Still, connecting extra supporters before a project is contested by the opponent is much more common to do in the vanilla version of Carcassonne. However, I sometimes add one extra supporter to extra large unfinished projects when I got the matching passive bonus. Better safe than sorry!

Try to keep getting bonuses, and this is best achieved by staying ahead! Grabbing the intiative is always good in Carcassonne - The Castle. Sometimes it's best to get the next bonus rather than to max out the points for the single tile you are holding... and... finishing off the opponent's project so his/her score tracker jumps over bonus tiles is sometimes smart ;-) If you get your hands on a double turn bonus (only one can be used in a single turn)... it's often wise to save this until you really need to contest, block or complete an important task! It's sometimes a hard call to get the optimal effect of bonuses that doubles the VP for buildings. If you feel sure that you get a pretty large building complete before the game ends... consider saving the 2x tile... but... staying ahead of the opponent for more bonuses is also important...

It's quite common to place a "market collector" (either in the start or middle part of the game). This merchant is best to place in such a way that the player can add more markets to the area around the him without the need of adding more supporters.

Also remember: In both the middle and end game it's possible to force the opponent to perform actions that can/will benefit you later!

Part 3/3 of the Match

Keep a record in your memory of the tiles that are left unturned, this can decide the end game vs very good players. A good memory makes it of course easier to create devestating locks towards the end game, and overall reducing the chances for the opponent to score enough points to win. The three websites listed helps the players by showing the remaining tiles at all time - just hover the mouse pointer over the remaining number of tiles.

If the battle of for the largest keep has ended, and the opponent got the largest keep, you can reduce the opponent's bonus by filling/splitting up the largest open area. If you control the largest keep it's wise to instead just fill up the smaller open spaces inside the castle -> thus increasing your bonus.

Always remember! If you are in the lead by 13 points... you will win if you can stop the opponent from getting those last 13 points to tie the score... try to control and keep the lead by scoring your own points and/or by spoiling the opponent's play. Thus, it's important to calculate the total scores; take into account both your and the opponents bonuses (this includes the current largest keep bonus too). Keep a watchful eye of your own and the opponent's bonuses, and try to spoil or reduce the benefit of the opponent's ones.

Claim, or contest for, the markets during the whole game if needed. With a total of 13 markets, there is a lot of points around: 13x3 = 39p, with one bonus 13x4 = 52p, and with two bonuses 13x5 = 65p!

Important Tile Info

60 tiles at the start of the game, each player places about 28-32 tiles each match (depending on the bonus tiles)

There are a total of 22 tiles without roads

6 tiles where the road ends into a building

6 tiles with a fountain on them (+1 fountain is built into the left starting road)

5 tiles with a straight road through them

12 (13) tiles with road bends

Only 2 tiles that can solve a crossroad (a crossroad + a 'two bend split' tile)

5 open three-way tiles

8 closed three-way tiles

10 tiles with markets on them (3 more markets are built into starting areas)

4 tiles with just a little corner building (1/4 tile)

1 open tile with just a market on it

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