How to Play Carcassonne: The Watchtowers

Game Objective

In Carcassonne: Watchtowers, players build and expand the landscape around Carcassonne, adding new Watchtowers. The objective is to score points by completing roads and cities that contain a Watchtower, and also for the Watchtower itself, which becomes more valuable the more elements it "watches."

Preparation (Setup)

1. Shuffle the six new land tiles showing Watchtowers together with the base game's land tiles.
2. The base game rules remain the same.

Gameplay Flow

The game progresses following the rules of the base Carcassonne game. When you draw a land tile showing a Watchtower, you place it according to the known rules.

Actions and How to Play

The flow of a turn is as follows:

1. Place a land tile: You draw a land tile and place it on the board. If the drawn tile is a Watchtower, it is placed like any other tile.
2. Place a meeple: After placing a land tile showing a Watchtower, you may place one of your meeples on it according to the known rules. You can place it in a city, on a road, or in a field as a farmer. You may not place the meeple on the Watchtower itself.
3. Score:
   • When a road or city is completed and your meeple is on the land tile with the Watchtower, you score the Watchtower first.
   • The completed road or city is scored afterward.
   • This does not apply to farmers. Farmers do not trigger scoring for Watchtowers.
   • To score Watchtowers, the 8 directly adjacent land tiles and the land tile with the Watchtower itself are considered.
   • Each Watchtower has specific scoring criteria:
     • 2 points for each meeple.
     • 1 point for each land tile showing at least 1 road.
     • 1 point for each land tile showing at least 1 part of a city.
     • 2 points for each coat of arms.
     • 3 points for each monastery.

End of Game and Scoring

Refer to the manual for details on this section.

Tips for Winning

• Try to complete roads or cities that contain a Watchtower to trigger its scoring.
• Observe the scoring criteria of each Watchtower to maximize your points by positioning it near meeples, roads, cities, coats of arms, or monasteries.