Our first two sessions.

[ErikRuud]

Hi, I'm new here and new to Carcassonne.

I got a Carcassonne set with the included rivers expansion for Christmas.

My daughter and I sat down to try it out last night and played two games.

The first game was just the base game and wound up in a score of about 150 to 70, mainly because I wound up with a farm that touched almost all of the completed cities.

For the second game we added in the river pieces.  My daughter placed a farmer on the first river tile she put down. She didn't want to come up short on farm points again.  As the game progressed I had one farmer that was totally isolated by roads and the river.  She had one that only connected to one city and isolated from anything else.  We each had a large farm growing.  Eventually we wound up with our large farms merging so that we were tied for ownership.  This combined mega-farm actually touched every completed city.  It was a much closer game this time, until the very last piece was placed. I was ahead in points, and the farm points weren't going to affect the outcome because of the tie.  The very last piece enabled me to connect one more farm into the mega-farm and claim all the farm points from it.  I was going to winner anyway, and my daughter understood that, but I made the last play to show her how one tile can sometimes make a huge difference in the game.

We both really enjoyed the game and are already planning to get I&C and T&B.  She also wants to get a set of purple meeples.

[Novelty]

Wow, welcome to Carcassonne Central!  It's nice to hear that you and your daughters enjoyed the game.

There's a new river source tile in the Game Quarterly 11 expansion that would separate the farms on either side of the source.  There's also an alternate lake tile from River 2 expansion that will separate the farms on either sides of the lake.  You might want to check those expansions out as well.

[ErikRuud]

I have seen the extra river pieces that you mention. I'll will probably get Rivers II as well.  How do you get the GQ11 set?  Is it available for download or do I have to find a copy of that issue?

[Novelty]

GQ11 is an "official" set of 12 tiles that was inserted in the Games Quarterly magazine (issue #11) and published by Rio Grande Games.  You can buy the magazine (and the tiles) online.  The site I use is Funagain, but I would strongly suggest you shop around to get the best price for you.

If your local game store carries the German edition of "Graf, König und Konsorten", I would suggest that you get that instead of Rivers II, as the German edition also contains a copy of Rivers 2 as well as a previously published expansion, Count of Carcassonne (Graf), the carcassonne half of the King and Scout expansion (König), and 5 shrine tiles (also published separately as Shrines and Heretics as a magazine insert - in a German magazine, but you can also get those 5 tiles in Cult, Shrines and Creativity published by Rio Grande Games).  The advantage of the german edition is that the tiles have a "watermark" on them so as to allow you to be able to sort your tiles by expansion easily.

Also, before you purchase your copies of I&C and T&B, you might want to ask if there are watermarks on those expansions as well (which will help you sort them out after the game).

Urgh, sorry, I'm babbling... but if you do have any further questions, please do feel free to ask here

[ErikRuud]

Thanks for the advice. 

At the moment, I'm not even sure where my local game store is.  The one in the local mall closed a while ago.  There is a "Games Workshop" near by, but based on the website they specialize in miniatures gaming. 

Oddly enough the website for Meijers, lists both I&C and T&B, but not the basic game.

I did see a listing on ebay for GQ11, but it is actually #12.

[Joff]

I did see a listing on ebay for GQ11, but it is actually #12.

I saw that eBay one too. Listed as 11, but picture is of 12.

This is what you are looking for:

[Joff]

Current Link on eBay (2 Available at $4.99 +shipping each):

http://cgi.ebay.com/Carcassonne-board-game-expansion-Rio-Grande-Games-NEW_W0QQitemZ110331417137QQcmdZViewItemQQptZLH_DefaultDomain_0?hash=item110331417137&_trksid=p3286.c0.m14&_trkparms=72%3A1205%7C66%3A2%7C65%3A12%7C39%3A1%7C240%3A1318%7C301%3A1%7C293%3A1%7C294%3A50

[ErikRuud]

Thanks Joff.  I have ordered one of them.

Funagain states that it is out of stock.

[meepleater]

I had to pay AU$28 for the magazine and postage from America... 

[Novelty]

Oddly enough the website for Meijers, lists both I&C and T&B, but not the basic game.

I didn't realise you could get these at Meijers.  Another reason to like Meijers.  Sadly, I don't live near one.

GQ12 is the next issue from GQ11.  I think it has a Catan expansion, not a Carcassonne one.  Anyways, the one that Joff has provided a link from ebay is good.  I hope you enjoy the 12 tiles from GQ11.

[Embri]

The one in the local mall closed a while ago.  There is a "Games Workshop" near by, but based on the website they specialize in miniatures gaming.

That would be correct, GW only carries Citadel Miniatures (small scale models for tabletop gaming) for their own game ranges, including Warhammer Fantasy, Warhammer 40k, Lord of the Rings, and a few other smaller games.  They don't carry anyone else's games or any board/tile games what so ever.