Counting Tiles
This page is here to share the Art of blocking the ability for
another player to complete a feature, blocking that player's meeple and
builder for the rest of the game.
There is a post on
Carcassonne Central from 2014 that goes into great detail on counting
Tiles.
There are only 24 different combinations of the City,
Road, and Field tile sides that can each be rotated
into 4 different orientations.
For a total of 24 x 4 = 96 different edge/rotation combinations,
minus 15 duplicates, so there are only 81 unique 4 sided combinations!
The first row of this table illustrates that
there are 10 four sided City tiles in the Basic Game and the six listed
expansions. The CCCC designation only defines the sides of each tile while
the center of each tile can be completely different and this page only
includes the expansions that our group normally plays with or are currently
talking about.
| Tiles | Basic
Game |
Inns
Cathedrals | Traders
Builders |
Princess
Dragon | Abbey
Mayor |
Bridges
Bazaars | Mage
Witch |
|---|
| 10 | CCCC |  | 1 |
3 | 2 | | 2 | 2 | |
|---|
| 14 | CCCF |  | 4 |
2 | 3 | 4 | 1 | | |
|---|
| 9 | CCCR |  | 3 |
| 3 | | | 1 | 2 |
|---|
| 12 | CCFF |  | 7 |
| 2 | 3 | | | |
|---|
| 4 | CCFR |  | |
1 | 3 | | | | |
|---|
| 2 | CCRF |  | |
1 | 1 | | | | |
|---|
| 13 | CCRR |  | 5 |
1 | 2 | 2 | 1 | | 2 |
|---|
| 11 | CFCF |  | 6 |
| 1 | 1 | | 2 | 1 |
|---|
| 2 | CFCR |  | |
| 2 | | | | |
|---|
| 9 | CFFF |  | 5 |
1 | | 2 | 1 | | |
|---|
| 1 | CFFR |  | |
| | | 1 | | |
|---|
| 3 | CFRF |  | |
1 | | | | 2 | |
|---|
| 8 | CFRR |  | 3 |
1 | 1 | 2 | 1 | | |
|---|
| 6 | CRCR |  | |
2 | 1 | 1 | 1 | | 1 |
|---|
| 1 | CRFF |  | |
| 1 | | | | |
|---|
| 4 | CRFR |  | 4 |
| | | | | |
|---|
| 6 | CRRF |  | 3 |
| | 2 | 1 | | |
|---|
| 7 | CRRR |  | 3 |
| | 2 | | | 2 |
|---|
| 6 | FFFF |  | 4 |
| | 1 | | 1 | |
|---|
| 5 | FFFR |  | 2 |
| | 1 | 1 | 1 | |
|---|
| 13 | FFRR |  | 9 |
1 | | 3 | | | |
|---|
| 15 | FRFR |  | 8 |
2 | | 2 | | 3 | |
|---|
| 10 | FRRR |  | 4 |
1 | 1 | 3 | 1 | | |
|---|
| 5 | RRRR |  | 1 |
1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | | |
|---|
| Total Tiles | 72 |
18 | 24 | 30 | 12 | 12 | 8 |
|---|
To make the game even more complex, there are also Minor Expansions that include 24 different Halfling tiles. When a Halfling is placed in an empty space, it only has to match 2 sides. If it is filling in the other half of a previously placed Halfling, it has to match 3 sides.
Blocking the completion of a City
Looking at this table, if you want to hinder someone‘s ability to complete a city, surround their last city completion tile with two fields and a road. Ignoring the Bazaar tiles, there is only one tile they could use to complete their city, AND only if the expansion they need is part of the game you are playing.
Blocking the completion of a feature is far more difficult when you can create the impossible 4 sided hole and the other player uses a Halfling that only has to match 2 of the sides!
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