Carcassonne: The Princess and the Dragon - Tips & Strategies

* * * The Princess the Dragon and … No Faeries * * *

* Rulings variant for Carcassonne – The Princess and The Dragon *

*** General rulings

** This variant is targeted towards players who find the original rules regarding the Faerie movement too troublesome and taking too much time. It also changes the Magic Path rules. So if you think those rules are fine, this variant is not for you… The rulings below preserve the highly competitive nature of the add-on.

** General game rules apply unless stated otherwise.

** Rules of “The Princess and The Dragon” add-on do NOT apply unless stated otherwise.

** There is no faerie. The white figurine represents the princess!

*** Setup

** Using the starting town from “Te Count of Carcassonne” and the river from “The River II” expansion is strongly recommended but not necessary.

** This variant combines very well with “The Count on the Tower” variant described in “The Count” entry.

** Dragon placement:
* If you use “The River II” place the dragon on the volcano ending the river.
* Otherwise if you use the starting town place the dragon on any of its 10 outer tiles.
* Otherwise place the dragon on the starting tile. The dragon is onboard from the very beginning of the game.

** Princess placement:
* If you use the starting town place the princess on any of its 2 inner tiles.
* Otherwise the player who draws the first tile with a town fragment instead of placing his own follower puts the princess figurine in that town.

* Starting setup *

*** The Dragon

** The standard expansion rules regarding the dragon apply (the dragon jumps to volcanoes, moves 6 squares when a dragon tile is drawn etc.). There are only few differences:
* As there is no faerie there is no moving obstacle to the dragon movement.
* The dragon cannot walk onto two inner tiles of the starting town.
* The princess may be chased away by the dragon (see below).

*** The Princess

** When a princess tile is drawn the player may not put his follower on it. He takes the princess figurine and puts it on a princess symbol instead.

* Placing the princess. *

** When a town with the princess (the figurine, not the symbol!) is scored every town tile is worth only 1 point (2 if there is a cathedral in, 0 if it is the endgame scoring of an unfinished town).

** If at any time the princess is in a besieged town (containing a siege tile from “The Cathars” expansion) she flees to the starting town (if it is not used she can be moved to any unowned town (finished or not), if there is none she leaves the board temporarily and returns when an unoccupied town appears).

** Whenever the dragon walks onto the tile with the princess she flees to any of the 2 inner tiles of the starting town (see above if you don’t use it).

** Whenever the magic path tile is placed it is played as any normal tile (the active player can put a follower on it), but at the end of the current player turn the princess tries to move:
The active players checks if there are roads connecting the town the princess is in with any other town. There may be crossroads and cloisters in between – they do not count. The starting town is treated as any other town. Both finished and unfinished town are considered.
* If no connection is found (a common situation) the princess may be moved by the active player to any fragment of the town she is currently in (it may be important to align or dis-align her with the dragon).
*If one connection is found the active player moves the princess along the road – to the tile the road the princess travels approaches the second town.
*If more connections are found the active player decides which one to use and acts as above.
*Note that the princess cannot move through that second town and go to the next one. She stops as soon as she arrives to the second town. She also cannot be displaced within the same town if a connection to the other town is found.

* Moving the princess after placing a tile denoted by the triangle. She may move to any X-marked tile. *

*** Additional rulings that apply if you use the “Abbey and Mayor” expansion:

** The dragon can’t destroy barns (as it can not do under in the basic rules).

** The dragon cannot walk onto abbey tiles (they are protected by walls and their aura of holiness).

** Wagons may escape: when the dragon walks onto a tile with a wagon, the owner of the wagon may either remove it from the board or move it to the neighboring unoccupied, unfinished structure (as if the current structure was finished).

* THE FRIENDLY DRAGON *

Rules variant for “Carcassonne: The Princess and the Dragon”

This variant can well be used by players who find the original “The Princess and the Dragon” rules too harsh. It is also much easier than the original rules so it’s recommended to play with children.

1) All tiles and figures from the expansion are being used. The dragon figurine represents the dragon while the fairy figurine represents the princess. At the beginning of the game they are both aside.

2) Placing and moving the princess and the dragon does not prevent players from placing their followers according to the rules.

3) When a volcano tile is placed the active player removes the dragon from the board if it is on.He may then put his follower there if he wishes (and if he is allowed to do so by the general rules).

4) When a tile with a dragon symbol is drawn the active player puts or moves the dragon onto that tile. He may then put his follower there if he wishes (and if he is allowed to do so by the general rules).

5) The friendly dragon adds some fame to almost every object. Whenever a town or a road is finished if on any of its tiles there is a dragon on its symbol the player who owns that structure earns 5 extra points. For cloisters the dragon (still on its symbol) could be on any of the 9 tiles to contribute to the score. The dragon however never contributes to the farm scoring!

6) When a mystical road tile is placed the active player removes the princess from the board if she is on. He may then put his follower there if he wishes (and if he is allowed to do so by the general rules).

7) When a town tile with the princess is placed the active player puts or moves the princess onto that symbol. He may then put his follower on that tile if he wishes (and if he is allowed to do so by the general rules).

8) When a town with the princess inside (on her symbol) is finished the player who finished the town (not necessarily the owner) gets 1 point per every tile and every shield in that town.

9) General rules and rules of other add-ons apply normally.

We got tired of people arguing about whether they got the point for having the fairy at the start of their turn, so we made the rule that if you play your tile before you claim the point, you don’t get it.