King & Baron visit Xbox Live Arcade

[crasher]

This morning new content was added for the Xbox Live Arcade version of Carcassonne. I must admit that I haven't really played much since the River 2 came out but I was still excited to see what expansion they added. I was a little dissapointed to find it was an interpretation of the "double" small expansion King & Scout, renamed King & Baron, for 300 points. However, for completeness and review I purchased the expansion.

K&B is activated from the game menu just like previous expansions. It's adds the five tiles from the physical expansion and the rules for the King and the Robber Baron. When a player completes the largest city/road they become the King/Robber just as in the original. When you become the King/Robber a message is displayed that you are the new King/Robber and an icon is placed in the lower left or right corner of your GamerPic.

Unfortunately there is no reference to how many tiles the city or road that made that person the King/Robber was so you are left to your own devices to estimate.

Another let down was that there were no new achievements. I suppose they're saving these for larger expansions.

K&B is another small expansion that is only required for Carcassonne completists. The rules for the K/R are great and add another dimension to the game but are not as exciting with just the tiles we have available at present. I reccommend waiting for Inns & Cathedrals before splurging on this unless you're a hardcore fan.

[mjharper]

Unfortunately there is no reference to how many points the city or road that made that person the King/Robber scored so you are left to your own devices to estimate.

That's lame. We use a spare marker - pigs and builders, or figures from Caylus - to mark the exact size. Apart from anything else, it's important to know that both King and 'Baron' should be awarded according to tiles used, not score. How are you ever going to compete if you don't know what the largest road and city were?
 

[Gantry]

yes, very lame, hard to believe that feature could be missing

with all the disappointing stuff lately (travel Carc) sometimes it makes me think the community could do it better!