Sometimes modern classic boardgames, especially the gateway ones, get a bit of a bad rep from more experienced gamers. Usually they have played the game to death when they first had it, got burned out on it.

Somehow I’ve avoided that with the classics like Catan, Ticket to Ride and Carcassonne. It was easy I didn’t play them to death.

Recently a Dice Tower review by Tom Vasel made me aware of a new unofficial way to play one of those classics that breathes new life into the game.

The game in question is Carcassonne.

I like Carcassonne, particularly with the River, Inns and Cathedrals, Traders and Builders, the Princess and Dragon expansions. And until now I had a couple of mini expansions/promos The School, an alternative River starting tile, and large Carcassonne map tile to spice things up a little if need be. I’d add in the Plague mini expansion but until the other day I had forgotten I’d had it (it’s been on a shelf for years unloved!)

Now despite my main way of playing Carcassonne in recent years being the iOS app version of the game. I’ve not burned out on the game.

Anyway this new way to play Carcassonne is using maps of various countries. There are currently five maps to choose from, Great Britain, France, Germany, Peninsula Iberia and Benelux.

In the review by Tom he said his favourite map was the GB one, which was convenient because that was the one I was going to go for considering where I live.

So after watching the review I googled the maps expecting to have to order from a store in the EU. But was pleasantly surprised to find that Boardgame Extras was selling them along with the tokens they use as well. Which both found their way into the shopping cart. I also got tempted by the large Carcassonne starting tile.

As always the service from Boardgame Extras was pretty swift and good. My only complaint is how the map was rolled in the tube it was packaged in. It was rolled with the plain side on the out side, so when you unroll it you need to weight the ends down to play because the won’t flatten out. That was the first thing I did for storage using the tube it arrived in, I rerolled it so that didn’t happen.

The map itself is A1 size (which puts it as 23.4 x 33.1 inch I believe according to a quick google) “high-quality, linen-print map“. So it’s large.

I now have a duplicate Carcassonne starting tile, because I had forgotten I already had it! That will be given away at some point. I’m happy with the quality of the paper used.

I know I won’t get this to the table for a while. But I’m glad I got this. Especially after seeing that it has sold out (at time of writing and getting link) on the Boardgame Extras website since. The Vasel effect?!

You can buy the Carcassonne maps and tokens on the Boardgame Extras website in the UK.