Carcassonne Central

I am so new to this game, I haven't even played it yet. I own the base game (just received it yesterday with the River expansion) and today I'm going out to purchase Inns & Cathedrals and Traders & Builders from a local game and comic shop. I plan to start playing tonight with my family and then I plan to bring it to family gatherings for the upcoming holidays.

I have some questions:

1. It sounds like I have a good start with the base game and the expansions I mentioned above. What are the next two best expansions to add to the game? Is River 2 a good choice? And what's better for gameplay, Abbey and Mayors or King and Scout?

2. Ultimately, I'd like to play long games (those 4 hour games people talk about). Do you recommend that I purchase another Carcassonne base game so that we play with two sets? If so, can someone describe how the game works with more than one base set? For example, do you also need two river expansions? Similarly, would I also need two Inns & Cathedrals, etc.?

Thanks.

A couple big ones are princess and dragon, and the tower.  Yes, Abbey mayor is big too.  If you buy all the expansions you will have long, 3-4 hour games.  My group usually plays with all expansions.  Catapult is fun if you like dexterity based gameplay.  The Count is not for everyone, but I would recommend trying it once.  The River is a staple for most peoples games.  Have fun!

A second base game works just like any other expansion: mix in the pieces and play on. Players don't get any additional followers and you are not required to duplicate any expansions. The only problem that occurs in mega-games is that you sometimes loop the scoreboard too many times and run out of counters, but that is not a huge problem, just find some other way to mark its circuits.

I recommend buying the Wheel of Fortune expansion/spin-off if you want a second copy of Carcassonne. It includes all the components for a second game but some of the tiles are different and there is an additional element (the WHEEL OF FORTUNE) that adds a new feature to the game. That way, you can have two base games but not have two identical base games, which is nice if you want to play a quicker/smaller game every once in a while. Wheel just came out about two weeks ago so you may have to order it online (it's known in our forums as Wheel of Fate, Wheel of Fortune, and Das Schicksalsrad in case you search for it here).

I'll just give you some of my opinions:

I personally don't like playing with the river.

I like the Count, but I rarely ever use it while playing it.

I really think the Princess and Dragon and the Tower are fun expansions, but I find the light gamers get frusterated because it removes your followers off of the board.

I think that Abbey and Mayor is alright.  It does add some interesting things to the game, but there's also a lot more complexity with explaining the rules and it doesn't really add anything to the overall fun factor of the game.

The King and Scout are basically just extra tiles.  You also have to hassle with counting the number of cities and roads at the end of the game which just makes the final scoring take longer.

I really like the Wheel of Fortune.  It can be played all by itself, and gives you something to do when you play a tile that you can't add a follower to. 

Thanks to everyone for their responses. This is a great forum!!

Here is my two cents...

If I were you, unless you need them right away, I would not buy the two individual expansions.  I would buy the Big Box 2.  It comes with the base set (will give you your 2nd) and four large (Inns & Cathedrals, Traders & Builders, Princess & Dragon, Abbey & Mayor) and four small expansions (The River 2, The Count of Carcassonne, Cult Places, King).  The King expansion is only 5 playable tiles.  If you buy the King & Scout expansion, it includes an expansion for Hunters & Gatherers whish is a spin-off and not playable with the regular game.  I've heard some people say it's quite fun though itself, so you still might be interested.  The Cult Places is 5 tiles and is the same as the Cult, Siege & Creativity, but that one comes with 6 cult tiles.

The Big Box 2 can be found online for less than $60.  It's quite a bargain.  You can then supliment it with the expansions you are missing.  The one I'd most highly recommend is the Games Quarterly 11 expansion which contains 12 mostly unique tiles and can be found most easily on ebay.  Buying the BB2 leaves you with only the Tower, the Catapult, Cult, Siege & Creativity, Wheel of Fortune, and the brand new Tunnel (http://www.carcassonnecentral.com/forum/index.php?topic=1101.0) from Spielbox, and the River 1 (http://www.carcassonnecentral.com/forum/index.php?topic=1102.0) which is now available.  

Unless you can find everything you want real cheap on ebay, Fairplay Games (http://www.fairplaygames.com/gamedisplay.asp?gameid=117) has great prices and a really good deal, free shipping on orders over $125 which you can get very close to with all the expansions at one time.  HERE (http://www.boardgamegeek.com/wiki/page/Carcassonne_series) is a comprehensive list of all the official expansions and information on them.  Hope this helps.  

Don't forget to check out our fan-made expansions HERE (http://www.carcassonnecentral.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=49&Itemid=62).