Carcassonne: The Wall (A Carcassonne: City Adaptation)

[Whaleyland]

This is an early development idea but, as with many of my expansions, I have based it off Carcassonne: The City, which I just received as a wedding gift two weeks ago. I have yet to play the game but just finished reading the rules and thought of a few cool features that could be added to the main game. Here is my idea:

The Wall – Using the wooden wall and tower pieces from The City, players will build a wall along three sides of the playing area. This varies quite a bit already from The City rules, but that is because the County of Carcassonne would never be walled as the city could be. However, being inherently a Crusader state, the county could certainly feature a southern wall to protect the county from Moorish invaders.

Setup: Play using the Count of Carcassonne expansion (even if not using the rules for that expansion). Divide the 72 (or more) tiles into three equal piles. Combine the second and third piles and set them aside with the wall pieces. Divide the watchtowers evenly between the players setting any extra pieces aside.

Play: Once the first pile of tiles is used up, the walls enter play. The first player to complete a feature (not necessarily score for it) must place a wall piece along one side of the board. They may also choose to place a Sentry (see below) or a watchtower. When the next player completes a feature, they place another wall piece beside the first. Subsequent wall pieces grow outward from the initial pieces though no pieces can be placed on the opposite side of the board from the initial wall piece. Thus the County of Carcassonne can always continue to grow in at least one direction. Tiles may not be placed on the opposite side of a wall piece, though pieces can wrap around wall pieces.

Completed Features: The wall ends all features adjacent to it except farms. After each wall segment is placed, score for any completed features. In this way, cloisters may be completed before achieving 9 points. Score for the number of tiles in the cloister's radius (as per the end of the game). Farmers remain in play until the end of the game and score at that time.

Sentries: Whenever a player places a wall piece, they may place a Sentry on that wall. If there is already a Sentry on the wall opposite, a player may not place a Sentry on that wall piece unless there are gaps on the board between those two wall pieces. A Sentry remains on the wall until the end of the game. During final scoring, the sentry scores 2 points for every cloister or shield in the row or column beside it. If there is a gap in the row or column, the Sentry only scores for points until that gap. If there is not a gap and there is a Sentry on the opposing wall, both players score for the row or column (unless one of the Sentries is a Big Follower, in which case that player scores). Sentries placed along the initial wall side of the board are at an advantage because they have no enemies to worry about behind them.

Watchtowers: Instead of placing a Sentry, a player may choose to place a watchtower after placing a wall piece. A wall piece scores 1 point for every wall piece between the watchtower and the closest adjacent watchtower (or the end of the wall).

Farms: Farms score 3 points if a wall is on one side for supplying the Sentries with food. A farm can only score 3 points for the wall.

The City of Carcassonne: If playing with the Count of Carcassonne expansion rules, followers may now be placed on the city wall in the bottom-left corner. These followers may be placed on a just-placed wall piece with another follower. In that case, during final scoring the points are either shared or go to the player with the majority.

Game End: The game ends in the usual manner. Unlike The City, all features are scored. There is no limit to the number of wall pieces that can be used, but there should be fewer pieces used than in The City.

So what do you fine people think? Any additions? Subtractions? FAQs to note? It adapts the rules for more varied play while also retaining the general theme of the spin-off.