# Carcassonne: Hunters and Gatherers ## General Info - **Year Published**: 2002 - **BGG Rating**: 7.1 - **BGG Rank**: #691 - **Players**: 2-5 (Best with: 2) - **Duration**: 35-40 min - **Weight**: 1.92 / 5 - **Designers**: Bernd Brunnhofer, Klaus-Jürgen Wrede - **Artists**: Anne Pätzke, Chris Quilliams, Johann Rüttinger, Marcel Gröber - **Publishers**: Hans im Glück, 999 Games, Albi, asmodee, Devir, Giochi Uniti - **Categories**: Prehistoric, Territory Building - **Mechanics**: Area Majority / Influence, Enclosure, Kill Steal, Map Addition, Pattern Building, Square Grid ## Verdict If you enjoy Carcassonne but want a different, more interactive experience, Hunters and Gatherers is an excellent choice!Familiar mechanics, fresh themeMore direct interactionStrategic animal scoringBonus Menhir tilesVersatile fishing hutsCan be slightly more complexTigers add randomnessStill a tile-placement gameRECOMMENDED ## Description Get ready for a journey through time with Carcassonne: Hunters and Gatherers, a standalone version of the classic Carcassonne that takes you straight to the Stone Age! Here, the dynamic of building the map remains the same, but with a super cool prehistoric twist. Instead of medieval cities and roads, you'll be creating landscapes with dense forests, winding rivers, fish-filled lakes, and vast meadows. Your goal? To be the player with the most points at the end of the game, of course! Each turn, you draw and place a terrain tile, expanding the wild world before you. After positioning the tile, you can decide to place one of your meeples to represent a hunter in the meadows, a gatherer in the forests, or a fisherman on the rivers. But the novelty doesn't stop there: you also have fishing huts that can be strategically placed on rivers or lakes to ensure a good harvest of fish at the end of the game, scoring for the entire connected river system. This Carcassonne retains the essence of the mechanics we love but introduces fresh rules that add a special flavor. For example, completing a forest with gold nuggets gives you an immediate bonus: you get to draw and play one of the twelve special Menhir tiles. Meadows score for each wild animal present (beware of tigers, they can negate other animals!), and rivers are worth points for the tiles that compose them and the fish in connected lakes. The 2020 edition brought even more improvements, such as more Menhir tiles, detailed scoring for deer, aurochs, and mammoths in meadows, and more comprehensive scoring for rivers and fishing huts, which now also consider fish in river segments. And to top it off, each player receives three fishing huts instead of two, opening up more strategic possibilities. It's the Carcassonne you know and love, but with a wild makeover and full of new decisions! ## How to Play Game Objective: The Stone Age in Your Hands! Prepare for a journey millennia before the great city of Carcassonne! In Carcassonne: Hunters and Gatherers, you and your Stone Age tribe will have the mission to explore and dominate the wilderness. Your objective is simple, yet challenging: expand your territory, hunt animals, gather seeds and fruits, and fish to ensure your tribe's subsistence. Throughout the game, you will place land tiles to create lush meadows, dense forests, and winding rivers. In these environments, you will strategically position your tribe members and your huts to accumulate points. Scoring happens both during the game and at the end, so the excitement lasts until the very last moment! Who will be the chief of the most prosperous tribe? Setup: Setting Up Your Primitive Camp Let's set up the table and prepare the ground for your Stone Age adventure: Start by placing the starting tile (the one with the volcano!) face up, right in the center of the table. It will be the starting point of your world. Shuffle the remaining 78 land tiles and form several face-down stacks, distributing them around the table so everyone can easily reach them. The 12 bonus cards also need to be shuffled and placed in a separate face-down pile. Position the scoring track in a corner of the table and the scoring cards (marking 50 and 100 points) next to it. Each player chooses a color and takes their six tribe members and the two corresponding huts. Place one of your tribe members on the "zero" space of the scoring track. The remaining tribe members and huts stay in front of you, forming your personal supply. The youngest player has the honor of choosing who starts the game. From then on, the game order proceeds clockwise. The Game Turn: Building Your Territory Your turn in Carcassonne: Hunters and Gatherers is divided into three actions that you perform in this order: Draw and Place a Land Tile: You must draw a land tile from one of the stacks (not from the bonus cards!). Show the tile to everyone, so your friends can even give you some "advice" on where to place it! Then, place the tile face up on the playing area, following these rules: The new tile must be placed adjacent to one or more tiles already on the table, with one or more of its sides touching. No corner placement allowed! The segments of the new tile (meadows, rivers, forests) must match the segments of the tiles already in play. If, in a very rare case, you cannot find a good place to place the tile, discard it (return it to the box) and draw a new one. Place a Tribe Member or a Hut (Optional): After placing the tile, you may place a tribe member or a hut from your supply on the newly placed tile. Remember: only one per turn! The tribe member or hut must be clearly placed on the segment it is occupying (river, forest, meadow). You can place your tribe members as: Gatherer: in a forest segment. Fisherman: in a river or lake segment. Hunter: lying down on a meadow (to differentiate, as they do not return to the supply!). Important: You cannot place a tribe member or hut in a forest, river, or meadow that already has another tribe member (yours or an opponent's). This applies to the entire connected segment, no matter how far! If you run out of tribe members or huts in your supply, you continue playing normally, placing tiles and scoring, but without being able to add more figures. Score Completed Forests or Rivers: If the placement of your tile (or the bonus card, if applicable) completed a forest or a river, scoring happens immediately! Completed Rivers: A river is completed when it has a lake with fish or a waterfall at each end, or if it forms a complete circuit. The player with the only fisherman in the completed river scores 1 point for each river segment and 1 point for each fish in the lakes at its ends. If there is a tie in the number of fishermen, all tied players score the total points of the river. After scoring, the fishermen in the completed river return to their owners' supply. Completed Forests: A forest is completed when it is completely surrounded by meadows, has no open sides, and no open spaces within it. The player with the only gatherer in the completed forest scores 2 points for each forest segment. If there is a tie in the number of gatherers, all tied players score the total points of the forest. After scoring, the gatherers in the completed forest return to their owners' supply. Beware of Gold Nuggets! If the completed forest has one or more gold nuggets, the player who placed the tile that completed the forest draws and plays a bonus card immediately. They can place a tribe member or hut on this bonus card, following the normal rules. If this bonus card completes another river or forest, they are scored, but do not generate a new bonus card (no chain reaction!). Regardless of the number of gold nuggets, only one bonus card is drawn and played. If the bonus card pile runs out, no more are drawn! Marking Points on the Track: Move your marker on the scoring track. If you pass the 0 space, take a 50-point scoring card. If you pass again, flip it to 100! After scoring (or if nothing was completed), your turn ends and the next player takes over! Huts: Dominating the Rivers Huts are always placed on a river or lake segment. A hut controls the entire connected river system where it is located. You cannot place a hut in a river system that already has another hut (yours or an opponent's). Huts remain in play until the end and are scored only at game end. Huts and fishermen do not affect each other in placement. The Meadow: Where Hunters Reign A meadow is formed by several connected meadow segments, surrounded by forests, rivers, and the edge of the playing area. Meadows and their segments are not scored during the game. They serve exclusively for hunters. Hunters, once placed, never return to the supply. Therefore, they are placed lying down on the meadows, to differentiate them from gatherers and fishermen. Hunters are scored only at game end. Special Abilities of Bonus Cards Bonus cards are played as land tiles and can have special effects: Fire: Scares away all tigers from a meadow, ensuring that all deer there are scored. Mushrooms: Each card with mushrooms adds 2 points to the score of a completed forest. Sacred Circle: If you place a hunter in a sacred circle, only you score points for the animals in that meadow, even if other players have more hunters there! Aurochs: Each aurochs adds 2 points to the hunt count. Game End and Scoring: Who Dominates the Stone Age? The game ends when the player places the last land tile (bonus cards do not count for this!). At this point: All incomplete forests and rivers are worth nothing, and their gatherers and fishermen are removed from the playing area. Huts in rivers and hunters in meadows remain on the table for final scoring! Final Scoring: The Great Count! Scoring Huts The player who has the only hut in a river system scores 1 point for each fish in that system. If several players tie with the most huts in a river system, everyone scores the total points given by the system. It does not matter if the river system is complete or not. All river systems with huts are scored. Scoring Hunters in Meadows The player who has the only hunter in a meadow scores the following points: 2 points for each deer, mammoth, and aurochs. Beware of Saber-toothed Tigers! For each tiger in the meadow, one deer is "hunted" and not scored. To make it easier, you can use the green wooden discs to cover the tigers and deer in pairs. The remaining deer, mammoths, and aurochs are worth 2 points each. If there are more tigers than deer, the extra tigers do not generate negative points. If several players tie with the most hunters in a meadow, each scores the total points for the meadow. If one player has more hunters, they score alone. It does not matter if the meadows are complete. All meadows with hunters are scored. The player with the highest total score is the grand winner and leader of the most successful tribe! Tips for Winning: Stone Age Strategies Keep an Eye on Others' Rivers and Forests: Remember that you can score a river or forest that another player completed, as long as you have the only tribe member there. Always be on the lookout to "steal" those points! Manage Your Tribe Member Supply: Your tribe members are valuable resources. Try to complete them and bring them back to your supply as quickly as possible, especially gatherers and fishermen, to be able to use them in new areas. Plan Your Hunters Wisely: Hunters stay in the meadow until the end of the game, so each placement is crucial. Try to place them in meadows with many animals and few tigers, or use the fire bonus cards to protect your deer! ## FAQ ### What is the average playtime for Carcassonne: Hunters and Gatherers? A game of Carcassonne: Hunters and Gatherers typically lasts between 35 and 40 minutes, making it ideal for quick and engaging sessions. ### How many players can participate? The game is designed for 2 to 5 players, making it flexible for different group sizes, from a duel to a livelier table. ### Is it a complex game for beginners? With a complexity weight of 1.922/5 on BGG, it's considered a light to medium game. The basic rules are easy to learn, but it offers strategic depth for those seeking more. ### What are the main differences compared to the original Carcassonne? The main differences are the prehistoric theme (forests, rivers, meadows instead of cities and roads), new scoring methods with animals and river/lake systems, and the introduction of Menhir tiles and fishing huts. ### Are the components of good quality? Yes, as is standard for the Carcassonne series, the components are of high quality, with sturdy terrain tiles and colorful meeples that ensure a good tactile experience. ### Who is this game most recommended for? It's highly recommended for Carcassonne fans looking for a variation with more interaction and strategic decisions, or for anyone who enjoys tile-placement games with an engaging theme and accessible mechanics. ### Can I play Carcassonne: Hunters and Gatherers with the base Carcassonne game? No, Carcassonne: Hunters and Gatherers is a standalone game. 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