Carcassonne: Traders & Builders Expansion 2

Categories: Expansion for Base-game, City Building, Medieval, Territory Building

Mechanics: Area Majority/Influence, Kill Steal, Set Collection, Tile Placement

Players: 2–6

Ages: 13+

Playtime: 60 Min

The second major expansion for the original Carcassonne game, Traders & Builders, introduces 24 new tiles featuring Bridges and Cities. Some tiles also display symbols for the goods Wine, Cloth, and Wheat. When scoring the feature on a tile with these goods, players collect the corresponding good. At the end of the game, players with the most of each type of good earn bonus points. A popular house rule allows players to trade goods with each other in exchange for other goods or to choose where a tile is placed. This expansion also includes two new wooden pieces: the Builder and the Pig.

The Builder functions similarly to a meeple, acting as a supervisor placed in a city or road. When a tile extending the feature the Builder is in is placed, the player gets an additional tile placement. Farmers can also use the Pig pawn in their fields to earn extra points at the end of the game.

Additionally, Traders & Builders comes with a large cloth bag, which helps in managing the tiles and addresses the issue of non-identical backsides.

Carcassonne: Traders & Builders Expansion Play Summary:

Traders: New city tiles feature goods like wine, grain, and cloth. Completing a city with these goods earns matching tokens. At the end of the game, the player with the most of each good receives an extra 10 points.

Builders: Each player gets a builder meeple to add to any city or road they are working on. This allows them to take an extra turn each time they add a tile to that city or road. The builder does not count as a follower for control purposes.

Pig: Players can place a pig on one of their farms, increasing its value to 4 points per completed city served instead of the usual 3.

Traders & Builders can be used with or without the first expansion. Some versions, like the HiG Scandinavian release in the blue box, include The River I expansion.