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As all seasoned fans of the game know, there isn’t a bad Carcassonne expansion out there, and The Princess and The Dragon is certainly no exception! With its release all the way back in the golden age of 2005, it brought something to the game that lots of players were yearning for; the opportunity for more aggressive gameplay in the form of removing other people’s meeples. This really brings a new side to Carcassonne’s gameplay, and while it isn’t everyone’s cup of tea (myself included… at first), I’m a firm believer that you ‘shouldn’t knock it till you try it’, and that this expansion provides equally to those looking for more aggressive gameplay, and those who want to keep things more traditional.
The fact that The Princess and The Dragon is so often sold out here on Zatu tells you just about everything you need to know. If you’re still not convinced, however, allow me to take you through the expansion’s five (five!) new elements, and explain why you will love each one.
New Tiles
A relatively minor, but equally important feature to begin is the introduction of some new tiles, and this expansion brings a lot; a myriad of thirty, old favourites and new designs, to spice up and lengthen your game. You will find many of the tiles are adorned with special symbols (more on this later!), but they all have the same basic function as tiles in the base game.
Personally, I love most of the new additions. My favourites include the monastery in a city which allows players to benefit from each other’s cities less aggressively, and the tunnel under a city which is perfect for those tight spots. Perfectionists such as myself might struggle with one of the new road pieces which depicts a road junction shrouded by a bush – I am still yet to figure out if this is the end of three roads, or a piece that turns one road into two, but perhaps this is just me!
Magic Portals
On your shiny new tiles, you may notice small portals. When these are placed, you can place a meeple anywhere in Carcassonne (following all the normal placement rules).
There’s not an awful lot to say about the magic portals – they are a relatively small edition to Princess and the Dragon, but I do like the opportunities for clever takeovers which they provide. They are easy to miss on land tiles due to their small size, however, which I can see being an issue for some groups.
The Dragon (and the volcanos)
Actually a two-for-one here, the game’s namesake mythical antagonist is supported by six volcano tiles and twelve dragon tiles. While I won’t go into specifics about the rules, I will say that the dragon and its counterparts are the best part of this expansion (though all are good contenders!). The dragon introduces an element of risk and reward to the game – players take turns moving the dragon figure from tile to tile when a dragon piece is drawn, attempting to ‘eat’ other people’s meeples whilst keeping their own workers out of the dragon’s path. Volcano tiles (which teleport the dragon from its current position) can help to achieve this; strategic players can place them such that the dragon is far from their meeples, but close to their opponents’.
As I said before, The Dragon really is my favourite part of this expansion – I love the refreshing change in tone that it brings to the game (this change is balanced, however, so the feel of the game remains the same). If I was being picky, I would say that I could perhaps do with a few more volcano tiles, though maybe this is a sign that I just need to get better at playing the game!
The Fairy
The Fairy brings this idea of balance which I spoke about earlier. Klaus Jürgen-Wrede did a really good job creating an element that complements the rest of the expansion very well, whilst also being engaging and intuitive in its own right. The fairy serves three main purposes; it protects you and any other meeples on your tile from the dragon’s wrath, it earns you three points if a feature you are placed on with it is completed, and for each turn you begin with the fairy in your possession, you earn a point.
I find the latter of these three benefits happens more in games with lower player counts, as fewer opponents are vying to gain possession of the fairy (note you can only take the fairy on a turn where you haven’t placed any meeples). Similarly, you might find that games played with smaller groups turn out more fairy-related points in general – the fairy is an interesting mechanic in that the strategies related to it change and adapt based on the player count. All in all, I love the extra depth that it brings, but I have found that it is often quite easy to forget to add a point for possession of the fairy, which can lead to guesses being made, so keep your wits about you!
The Princess
What would the fabled city of Carcassonne be without the Princess? As if our appetite for fierce competition had not already been satiated, this expansion delights us with a new way to take over your friends’ cities – by stealing their knights with princess tiles! These tiles can be added to cities, either as normal city tiles or to remove a meeple of your choice from that city (including one of your own). Players who choose to remove meeples from a city can’t then place one of their own, however, so using the princess requires a little more thought than just taking someone from a city and then claiming it as your own.
There’s not an awful lot else to say about the princess, however all of it is good. I think it is a well-balanced mechanic that is as much about aggressive gameplay as it is about well-planned strategy. Like the volcano tiles, you only receive six princesses, however in this case I think that is the correct amount, as having any more could render gameplay slightly tedious and frustrating.
Final Thoughts
If there is one takeaway from this review, it is that you should go and buy this expansion right away (if not only because it simply flies off the shelves!). All parts of Princess and the Dragon are very well-designed and super engaging, and equally, they play together really well and create an experience you will definitely want to keep coming back to! For avid Carcassonne fans and newbies alike, Princess and the Dragon is a must-have!
