Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #8078 in Toys & Games
• Brand: Rio Grande Games
• Model: 4099991
• Dimensions: 7.60" h x 2.70" w x 5.40" l, 1.90 pounds

Manufacturer's Description

Ever upwards in Carcassonne! In this Carcassonne expansion, players have the opportunity to build upwards! The lords of the region around Carcassonne erect towers to strengthen and promote their power and influence. They employ followers to stand guard on the towers, watching over the land so they can inform their lords of all who travel and move throughout the area. Players may capture opponents’ followers, holding them in prison. Later, the players may arrange a prisoner exchange, to the advantage of the players involved. Also, a player may arrange to pay ransom for the return of an imprisoned follower. Fans of Carcassonne will enjoy the new tactical opportunities offered by this expansion. The expansion also includes a special tower for storing the landscape tiles, giving players a convenient way to draw tiles during the game. 2-6 players, length: 60 minutes, author: Klaus-Jürgen Wrede

Customer Reviews

And it gets meaner
Please note that is an expansion to the original Carcassone and cannot be played as a game by itself!!!
While in Carcassone you can claim land, roads, cities and monasteries by placing your characters on the tiles, with the Tower you can claim even more: your opponents' characters. By building towers you can take your opponents' characters hostage and keep them until they take one of your own prisoner and arrange an exchange. The higher the tower the further your hands can wander to imprison your opponents' players.
This leads to changes in tactics and to higher risks in comparison to the original game:
* you will not want to place a character where it stands in danger of being captured. Therefore you will have to forego items to build.
* if you character is taken hostage you will make it your business to take one of your opponents' hostage so you can retrieve your own character
* items your are in the process of building are even less secure, eg. if your character is taken hostage from a piece of land you're building and expanding all can be lost if that particular character is taken hostage.

This makes the game meaner and calls for harsher tactics as the stakes go up. This makes it even more fun. I do feel that playing with the Tower is not so much fun if there are just two of you, as you might end up just going back and forth taking each other hostage. From 4 up the Tower will really have on effect on the course of the game, without focussing solely on hostage taking.