Interaction between Carcassonne: Bridges, Castles, and Bazaars and other expansions

Question

Last night we played with the Bridges, Castles, and Bazaars expansion for Carcassonne. We also played with a few other expansions, but ran into several situations where we weren't sure of the rules. Previously, for unfamiliar expansions, we have used the annotated rules by Matthew Harper, but they don't go as far as this expansion.

Does anyone know of a list of interaction rules for this expansion?

Edit to give examples: We weren't sure about the effect of builders in a bazaar round, from which tiles dragons can eat knights in castles (if at all), whether the castles can be used over two tile cities where the tiles aren't simple curves. Also whether the bazaar breaks the road and how to do bazaars near the end of the game when there's not enough tiles left (these last two aren't to do with interaction with other expansions).

Edit to give another example: Also do castles count as cities for the purposes of scoring the king?

Note: I'm fairly certain I've missed off lots of combinations here, but the annotated rules has cleared up all the questions we've had with previous expansions. I'm really after a reference like it for this expansion.

Answer 1

Some Ideas

Admittedly I haven't tried the expansion yet, but here is my take on the specific issues you mentioned:

Builders in bazaar round: Just as bazaars gotten during bazaar round don't count as bazaars because it's not normal tile placement, the builder shouldn't do anything special, either.

Dragon with castle: I would force the follower to stay on the tile where he was before the city was converted, but I look forward to a more authoritative answer.

Non-oval castles: The rules specify "consisting of only two semi-circular city segments".

Bazaar road: It looks to me like it breaks it just as much as the Cloister from I & C, which must break the road, unlike the other Cloister in the Bazaar pic.

Bazaar near end of game: No idea on this one.

Answer 2

What you are looking for is the Rules to the Big Box 3 set. I believe it answers all of your questions.

• Builders in a Bazaar round:

After all tiles have been bought, the players place their purchased tiles, place followers, etc. using the normal rules, beginning with the player to the left of the active player

Not exactly on point, but "using the normal rules" strongly indicates that the builder bonus is active.

• Does Bazaar break the road

Of course, just like anything else. The road needs to be continuous without breaks of any kind.

• Not enough tiles in a Bazaar round

Too few tiles: if a player places a bazaar and there are not enough face-down tiles for all players, no tile auction occurs. The players ignore the bazaar on the tile and the tile is played as normal.

Answer 3

This is my interpretation:

1) [e]ffect of builders in a bazaar round

• The bazaar is just like any other round, except you are bidding for your pieces. If a dragon tile comes up, the dragon moves. If you add to a city with a builder, you immediately get another piece, you may move the princess, if applicable, etc. You get all the perks except for the chain bazaar (because that could cause players to have multiple tiles to choose from).

2) [can] dragons can eat knights in castles

• Sure, why not? Dragons are hungry. Just make sure you keep note which tile the meeple belongs to.

3) [can]castles can be used over two tile cities where the tiles aren't simple curves?

• We have been allowing it. The rules say semi-circular, but I think that the intent is for any two tile city. YMMV

4) Also whether the bazaar breaks the road

• Yes, just like cloisters. Note that there are some cloisters that don't intersect the road too, so look closely.

5) how to do bazaars near the end of the game when there's not enough tiles left

• If there are not enough tiles left, then there is no Bazaar. Play continues as normal. [I thought that this was in the instructions, but I don't see it, so this might be a house rule]

6) Also do castles count as cities for the purposes of scoring the king?

• Depends. If the castle is incomplete (ie. there is still a follower on it) then no, but if it has been scored, then yes. This can get tricky to keep track of if a follower gets eaten off a castle or stolen from a tower, as the feature LOOKS complete, even though it really isn't.

Hope this helps!

-- Snow

Answer 4

Wow, there's a lot of questions in there. For starters, I agree with everything in Andrew's answer. As for the two questions not yet answered:

• The rules say that a football town can be converted to a castle, meaning it's not a town anymore. Also, the scoring rules state (emphasis mine): "a castle next to a field scores 4 points (instead of 3 like a city)." I think that means a castle is clearly different from a town. So you don't get the king tile if you convert the first town to a castle, and castles should not be counted when scoring the king.

• A bazaar round when there aren't enough tiles left is an opportunity for a player to buy an extra turn when he wouldn't otherwise get one. I'm totally in favor of that.

These are just my opinions - I don't have that expansion so I don't know how it plays out in practice. I too would like to see a more authoritative answer.