How to Play Carcassonne: The Wonders of Humanity Set II

Game Objective

The wonders of humanity have arrived in Carcassonne, and each of them offers individual advantages. The goal is to acquire the desired wonder quickly to benefit from it as much as possible during the game. Each player can only use one wonder per game.

Preparation (Setup)

This mini-expansion was developed for the Carcassonne base game and its rules still apply. It is recommended to play with at least 90 tiles and an additional meeple (e.g., base game + 1st expansion). Ignore any additional expansion rules.

1. Each player takes all 9 meeples of one color.
2. Place 2 meeples of each color next to space 10 of the scoring track. One of these two meeples is only used to mark your wonder. You can use the large meeple from the 1st expansion or any other token of that color.
3. Place a scoring meeple as usual on space 0 of the scoring track. You start the game with 6 meeples in your supply.
4. Choose 1 wonder tile per player. You can also combine wonders from different sets. Place them face up next to the scoring track (exception: Cothon, see manual for details). Discard the remaining tiles, you will not need them for this game. Alternatively, you can prepare as many wonders as you like. You will have a larger selection of wonders and can choose the right wonder for you, later in the game.

Game Flow

Refer to the manual for details on this section.

Actions and How to Play

Obtaining a Wonder Tile

There is one wonder for each player. You can only obtain a wonder tile once. When your scoring meeple reaches or exceeds the space with the meeple pairs (the first time the space is 10), you perform the following steps one after another:

• Choose one of the wonder tiles and place it in front of you. You do not yet place it on the game board.
• Take your two meeples that are next to the scoring track and place them in your supply.
• Move all remaining meeples next to the scoring track 5 spaces forward (i.e., the first time next to field 15, then 20, and then 25).

Attention: You should never move the meeple pairs beyond space 25, even if there are more than 4 players. The meeples remain on field 25 until they are reached by all other scoring meeples.

Special case: If several players reach the space with the meeple pairs in the same turn, the person whose turn it is chooses which of them will take a wonder tile. After that, the meeple pairs are moved 5 spaces forward as usual. If there are still scoring meeples from other players (who have not yet taken a wonder) on or behind the meeple pair space, the person whose turn it is decides again who will take the next wonder, and so on.

Placing a Wonder Tile

If there is a wonder tile in front of you, you do not draw a tile, but instead place your wonder according to the usual placement rules. Once you have placed it, you must mark your wonder with one of the 2 meeples you unlocked earlier, by placing it in the center of the wonder (not on a city, road, or field). The marker meeple remains there until the end of the game. For better distinction from other meeples, you can place the marker meeple upside down.

Note: In the very rare case that you cannot place the wonder correctly, you draw a tile which you must place immediately so that you can then place your wonder tile next to it. If this is also not possible, the normal tile is removed from the game and you draw another tile and place it, until you can place your wonder tile. You do not place a meeple on the additionally drawn tile.

Special case: If the game has already ended, but the wonder tile you just acquired in your previous turn is still in front of you, you can still place it (even if it is not your turn). After placing any meeples on the wonder tile, the game ends.

Placing Meeple on a Wonder Tile

After placing and marking your wonder, you can immediately place up to 2 meeples on different unoccupied features (city, road, monastery, or field) of this wonder. You can also place only one or no meeple. If you place 2 meeples, they can also be placed on the same square of the tile.

Scoring with your Wonder

Each wonder has its own function that can earn points. Some wonders give points during the game, while others give points at the end of the game.

Scoring During the Game

• Notre Dame: During the game (not on the turn you place the Notre Dame), if you place a meeple on one of the 8 tiles around a monastery, you immediately score 3 points. Whether there is a monk in this monastery or not is irrelevant. Even if several monasteries are adjacent to the tile, you will "only" receive 3 points.
• Great Wall of China: Each time a city in which you are already represented is expanded with a city wall (by placing a corresponding city tile, regardless of who does it), you immediately receive 3 points.
• Stonehenge: If you complete one or more occupied roads during your turn (not when playing the Stonehenge tile itself), you immediately score 3 points for each road you complete (even if you do not have a meeple on the road). After that, you score the road as usual.
• Abu Simbel: When it is your turn, you can choose between 2 tiles. The first time, you draw 2 tiles. You choose one and place it as usual. Place the other face down in front of you for a later turn. When it is your turn again, you draw another tile and choose between 2 tiles again, and so on. If there are no more tiles for you to draw at the end of the game, place the one in front of you. If your unchosen tile is the last one in the game, it goes to the next player for the last turn.
• Tikal: If a city is scored that has at least 3 tiles and you have at least one meeple in it, you receive 2 points for each of your own meeples in a city on the game board. The following applies:
  • You do not need to have the majority in the scored city.
  • The meeple in the scored city also scores 2 points.
• Taj Mahal: In the Taj Mahal, you can use standard meeples to receive bonuses during scoring. With the 'marker meeple' you already receive the first bonus: Place the meeple upside down on the canal intersection next to the "Road +2" symbol, and from now on, you will receive 2 additional points for each road scoring you are involved in. The 1-2 meeples that you can place on the wonder tile when building the wonder, you can place them on the wonder itself. Whenever it is your turn and you do not place a meeple on the tile you just played, you can instead place 1 standard meeple on the Taj Mahal or retrieve it from there to your supply.
  • Placing a meeple on the Taj Mahal: You place the meeple on the next available space away from the canal. Each space occupied by one of your meeples gives you an additional or improved bonus when you participate in the corresponding scoring.
    • Field 1 "Canal Crossing" = +2 points for road scorings
    • Field 2 = +3 points for city scorings
    • Field 3 = +4 points for monastery scorings
    • Field 4 = (from now on) +5 points for road scorings
    • Field 5 = (from now on) +6 points for city scorings
  • Retrieving Meeple: When you take a meeple from the Taj Mahal to your supply, you always take the last placed meeple (in reverse order). Exception: The 'marker meeple' remains upside down on the canal intersection. Its bonus always applies.
• Cothon of Carthage (playable only with river): Unlike all previous wonders, the Cothon is used as a starting tile and is therefore integrated into the game board from the beginning. The river is created from here. If you choose the Cothon as your wonder, mark it as your wonder and immediately place up to 2 meeples in different areas on the wonder tile and/or in the harbor there.
  • Placing meeples in the harbor: From now on, you can also place your own standard meeples in the harbor of your wonder instead of returning them to the supply after scoring.
  • Sending meeples from the harbor: Whenever it is your turn and you do not place a meeple on the tile you just placed, you can place a standard meeple from the harbor of your wonder on a feature along the river. The following applies:
    • This area must start directly on a river tile (directly adjacent to the river).
    • No meeple belonging to YOU may be placed in this area yet.
    • Foreign meeples may already be in this area.
    • You can still place the meeple in an area (action 2) if you complete it with the tile you just placed (action 1), thereby triggering another scoring (action 3) during this turn.

    Note: Possible areas along the river can be completed relatively early in the game. This ends the advantage of the wonder, which usually occurs before the end of the game.

• Nazca Lines: If you draw a tile that only has road and field areas on it, you may take another turn (graphic elements such as farm, garden, bandit, lake, walls, etc. are irrelevant).

  Note: If you play with the abbot, a Garden is no longer a graphic element, but a feature. If you draw another tile that only shows road and fields, you may take another turn, and so on.

End of Game and Scoring

At the end of the game, you first score the wonders that score at the end of the game. After that, you continue with the normal final scoring. Each wonder tile counts as 5 individual normal tiles. Consequently, roads and cities can consist of more than one tile. You must take this into account during scoring.

• Circus Maximus: At the end of the game, depending on the number of players, you will receive points for each meeple of another color in still open cities:
  • 2 players: 4 points
  • 3-4 players: 3 points
  • 5+ players: 2 points
• Alhambra: At the end of the game, you score 5 points for each of your farmers, regardless of how many points that farmer scores. If you play with at least 120 tiles, you gain 6 points. It is not relevant whether it is your own farmer, the field itself scores the points.
• Angkor Wat: For each road (open or closed) that is at least 5 tiles long, you receive 5 points at the end of the game. It does not matter whether the roads have already been scored or are still open, whether there are meeples on them or not.
• Terracotta Army: You receive 2 points for every at least 7 tiles that are in a row or column on the board at the end of the game. The following applies:
  • You can score identical tiles for both the column and the row.
  • Each column and row is scored only once.

Set I: Stonehenge and Notre Dame each have a road that extends over 2 tiles. The Alhambra has a city that extends over 3 tiles, and the Circus Maximus has a city that extends over 4 tiles.

Set II: Each wonder, except Tikal, has a road that extends over 2 tiles. Tikal has a road that counts 3 tiles.

Tips for Winning

• Acquire the wonder you want quickly to benefit from it as much as possible during the game.
• When choosing the Cothon of Carthage, consider that the areas along the river can be completed early in the game, ending the advantage of the wonder.
• With the Taj Mahal, plan the placement and retrieval of meeples to maximize scoring bonuses throughout the game.