Post originally by Yore at 2003-10-02 15:16:07
Converted from Phorums BB System

Good review. I am a big fan of Carcassonne. There is a lot of strategy, but it is fairly simple to learn. One thing I've noticed is that most people need 1 or 2 practice games before they realize how to score points with fields and that an unfinished road is just as good as a finished road (except in the expansions - but I won't get into that).

Anyway, I think the cloister is not as powerful as it seems. Usually I see people playing a cloister and then plunking down other tiles around the cloister to get their meeple back. Those other tiles can often give players at least 1 point in other locations too.

Also, finishing off a cloister gets pretty hard in a competitive game. Your meeple can be stuck there for the rest of the game.

I think the best pieces to draw are the city "elbow/pipe" tiles with pennants. They give you +4 points if the city gets finished and they usually don't make it harder to complete the city either.