Picture this: it's late summer in Carcassonne. The creekbeds are all dry, the river has stopped flowing. There is a drought, so no trade goods are being handled, the princess is on holidays in the North country, and the dragon is on vacation in Puerto Rico.
Nat & I played Carc without the river expansions, and added the few GQ#11 tiles. We'd never played such a light version before. It still took 45 minutes though. We were more or less even on the cities and roads but 1 ended with 2 farmers to her 1 farmer. Final score, Gantry 119, Nat 112.