# Carcassonne: Little Buildings ## General Info - **Year Published**: 2012 - **BGG Rating**: 6.4 - **BGG Rank**: — - **Players**: 2-6 (Best with: 2) - **Duration**: — - **Weight**: 1.83 / 5 - **Designers**: Klaus-Jürgen Wrede - **Artists**: Christof Tisch - **Publishers**: Hans im Glück, W. Nostheide Verlag GmbH - **Categories**: Expansion for Base-game, Medieval, Territory Building - **Mechanics**: Area Majority / Influence, Tile Placement ## Verdict If you're a Carcassonne fan who loves collecting those little expansions that add extra flavor, this one's for you! It adds a new way to score without complicating the game.Subtly boosts scoringEasy to integrateAdds light tactical layerGreat for collectorsSmall expansion, few piecesRequires base gameMay not drastically change gameFOR GENRE FANS ## Description Hey there, meeple masters! Ready to give your Carcassonne a little boost? The "Little Buildings" expansion is that kind of treat we all love: a promotional addition that came with SpielBox magazine issue 5/2012, bringing some extra charm to the base game. The pack comes with 18 cool tokens, equally divided among houses, sheds, and towers. The idea is simple: at the start of the game, each player gets a share of these adorable markers. Instead of using a traditional meeple to score on a road, city, cloister, or field, you can use one of these building tokens. And what's the magic? Whenever one of these areas scores and has a neighboring building token, it gets an extra point! It's a subtle but effective way to boost your score without complicating things too much. For those who enjoy optimizing every move and are looking for that extra point that can make a difference, this expansion is a perfect fit. It doesn't radically change the Carcassonne experience but adds an interesting tactical layer, encouraging strategic placement of your meeples and, now, your buildings. Think carefully about where to place your little houses, sheds, and towers to maximize bonuses. There's even a neat variant that differentiates the scoring for each building type (sheds worth 1, houses 2, and towers 3 extra points), adding even more depth for those who want to explore all the possibilities. If you're already a Carcassonne fan and enjoy collecting those small expansions that add a special touch, "Little Buildings" is a super welcome addition to your collection. It's easy to integrate, doesn't drastically increase complexity, and offers a new way to interact with the board and your opponents. Let's get building and scoring! ## How to Play 1. Game Objective The objective of Carcassonne: Little Buildings is to build and expand the Carcassonne landscape, scoring points by completing roads, cities, cloisters, and fields. With this mini-expansion, players can use buildings to gain additional points, affecting the scoring of the landscape tiles where they are placed. The buildings remain on the tiles until the end of the game, potentially generating points for multiple structures and fields. 2. Setup Separate the 18 new building tiles: 6 houses, 6 towers, and 6 sheds. Distribute the 18 new building tiles equally among all players. In games with four or five players, place any excess buildings back in the box. For the variant, ensure each player receives the same number of each building type (towers, houses, sheds) during distribution. 3. Game Flow Refer to the manual for details on this section. 4. Actions and How to Play On your turn, you perform your normal Carcassonne base game actions. If you cannot, or do not wish to, place a follower on the landscape tile you just placed, you may instead place one of the new buildings on it. Place this building on the tile so that no information is covered, if possible. The building is not associated with a structure or a field on the tile; instead, it affects the entire landscape tile. Building Types (Variant) In the variant, the building types have different values: Towers: +3 points Houses: +2 points Sheds: +1 point 5. End of Game and Scoring When a road, city, cloister, or field is scored, each of the new buildings located on a landscape tile of the structure or field scores 1 additional point. These points are added during scoring, after all others. When cloisters are scored, all buildings on adjacent tiles (within the "cloister area") are included in the count. A building remains on the placed tile until the end of the game and can earn you points for multiple structures and fields. Points for buildings are also awarded in the final scoring. Scoring Example: A player adds a tile and places a shed on it. With this action, they complete a city and a road. The player scores 7 points for the road (5 tiles and 2 buildings). The player scores 10 points for the city (3 city segments and 1 banner for 2 points each, plus 2 buildings). 6. Tips for Winning Consider placing a building on a tile that can be part of multiple structures or fields to maximize your points throughout the game. Prioritize placing buildings on tiles that are adjacent to cloisters, as they score for buildings on adjacent tiles. In the variant, use higher-value buildings (towers and houses) on strategic tiles that are likely to be scored multiple times or that will complete valuable structures. ## FAQ ### Do I need the base Carcassonne game to play with this expansion? Yes, absolutely! "Little Buildings" is an expansion and only works in conjunction with the base Carcassonne game. ### How many players does this expansion support? It supports the same player count as the base game, so it can be used in games for 2 to 6 players. ### Does the "Little Buildings" expansion make the game more complicated? No, it's very simple to integrate. The main mechanic is adding an extra point to scored areas adjacent to a building, which doesn't significantly increase complexity. ### How many pieces come in this expansion? There are 18 tokens in total: 6 houses, 6 sheds, and 6 towers. ### What's the main benefit of using these building tokens? They offer an additional way to score, giving an extra point to roads, cities, cloisters, or fields that are adjacent to one of these tokens. It helps optimize your score. ### Is this expansion hard to find? As a promotional expansion linked to a magazine, it might be a bit harder to find in regular stores. It's usually found in the second-hand market or among collectors. ### Is it worth it for someone looking for more strategy in Carcassonne? It adds a small tactical layer by encouraging strategic placement of buildings to maximize bonuses. If you enjoy optimizing every point, then yes, it's worth it!