Carcassonne has become one of my household's favorite games. We enjoy it so well that we have since purchased a couple of the expansions and have taught quite a few people how to play. If you're on the fence, this is a great way to get into Carcassonne without jumping into it's 10 or so expansions. You get the base game, two mini-expansions, and great meeples.
The Good: Artwork on the tiles is great. It looks good, and is easily understood. The included meeples are all painted wood and look fantastic. I'm pretty sure Carcassonne's meeples are actually credited with the now hallmark shape of a "meeple". The game has great table presence, like building an empire on your dinner table! Setup is relatively quick, I feel it plays equally well at 2 players as it does at higher player counts. This version of the game also includes the Abbot & River mini-expansions which I now include every time we play.
The Bad: While the cardboard tiles & score track look great, take care when separating them from their cards. Several of mine didn't appear to be pre-cut well enough, and if you're not careful you can tear some of the printing.
The Indifferent: Meeple placement & scoring rules can be a bit overwhelming for new players, especially if they are relatively new to modern board games. I recommend, and I believe the instructions do as well, limiting the scoring options for the first couple plays. For instance, we left out the two mini-expansions as well as the "farmer" for the first playthrough.
Overall, my wife and I and our 10 year old son love this game, and we have had nothing but great reactions from others we've introduced to it. Now we play with all base rules, the two mini-expansions, and two additional expansions. That is a testament to the playability of this game once you learn how it works.
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