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- BGG #1,590
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- 7.5
Carcassonne: Winter Edition
- 2–5 players
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- 2012
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- 7.4
Rules assistance for Carcassonne: Sheep & Shepherds
Plain-language explanations of turns, card effects and disputed situations, with official source references and saved question history.
- 2–6 players
- 40 min
- 8+
- Complexity 1.9/5
Rules assistant for Carcassonne: Sheep & Shepherds
What would you like to know?
Answers come from the official rulebook, with the page to check.
Carcassonne: Sheep & Shepherds is an expansion for Carcassonne released in 2014 for 2–6 players, 40 minutes per game, and ages 8 and up. It was designed by Klaus-Jürgen Wrede and Manfred Keller and its main mechanics are Area Majority / Influence and Tile Placement.
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About the game
Carcassonne: Hills & Sheep is the ninth numbered expansion for the Carcassonne base game, and now players get to be shepherds on the hills in addition to the usual thieves, knights, monks and farmers. By placing the tiles in this expansion, players build hills and vineyards, trying to plan ahead to claim the sweetest meadows for points — bringing sheep and shepherds while keeping watch for the wolf that waits to be drawn among the tiles... Whenever a tile featuring a hill icon is added to the playing area, it is placed on top of another randomly drawn tile, elevating it above the playing surface and creating a hill. Hill tiles act as tie-breakers: if two or more players occupy the same feature equally (a "shared majority"), but one of the tied players has a follower standing on a hill tile, that player will have an advantage over the others, and will score all the points for that feature. Vineyards are designed to increase the importance of monasteries. Each vineyard tile placed around a monastery adds three points to that monastery's score. However, these bonus points only count if the monastery is completed, so players are more likely to sabotage their opponents' monasteries in order to prevent them from being finished. Shepherds are new pieces that can only be placed in fields. Each time a player expands the field occupied by his or her shepherd, that player has two options: 1. Draw a sheep token out of a bag, placing it near their shepherd; or 2. Trade in all their accumulated sheep for points. Each sheep token is worth 1-4 points, depending on the number of sheep depicted. However, hidden among the sheep tokens are two wolf tokens, and if a player draws one of these, all of their sheep are lost and placed back into the bag. This introduces a push-your-luck aspect to Carcassonne, as players can choose to either "cash-in" the sheep they have, or try to add more sheep and risk losing them all. The goal of Hills & Sheep remains the same as in basic Carcassonne: claim the most points to win the game. Part of the Carcassonne series.
Designers
Publishers
- Devir
- Enigma (Bergsala Enigma)
- Hobby World
- Schmidt Spiele
- Piatnik
- Swan Panasia Co., Ltd.
- Giochi Uniti
- 999 Games
- MINDOK
- Lautapelit.fi
- Feelindigo
- Stupor Mundi
- Filosofia Éditions
- Z-Man Games
- Hans im Glück
- Oxygame
- Fantasmagoria
- Bard Centrum Gier
Questions and answers
Carcassonne: Sheep & Shepherds supports 2–6 players according to the catalogue. This range comes from the publisher’s listed player count, so the game can be set up for any group size within it. Some setups, rules and scoring details may still vary by player count, so check your edition’s rulebook for the exact configuration.
The listed playing time for Carcassonne: Sheep & Shepherds is 40 minutes. This is the publisher’s estimate for a full game. The actual duration depends on the group, the player count and familiarity with the rules: first sessions usually run longer, while experienced groups often finish faster. Setup and teaching time are not included in this estimate.
The catalogue lists Carcassonne: Sheep & Shepherds for ages 8 and up. This is the publisher’s recommendation and reflects reading demands, rule complexity and small components rather than theme alone. Younger players can often join with help from an adult, so check the age guidance on your edition and consider your group’s experience with board games.
Carcassonne: Sheep & Shepherds has a complexity rating of 1.9 out of 5 from BoardGameGeek players, which makes it a light game. The rating reflects how much rules knowledge, planning and decision-making a typical game demands. Expect a longer first teach for heavier games, and use a preparation guide before game night.
Carcassonne: Sheep & Shepherds belongs to these categories: Territory Building, Medieval, and Expansion for Base-game. Its main mechanics are Area Majority / Influence and Tile Placement. Categories describe the theme and setting of a game, while mechanics describe what players actually do on their turns. Each mechanic links to a catalogue hub with similar games, which helps when you want something comparable.
The credited designers of Carcassonne: Sheep & Shepherds are: Klaus-Jürgen Wrede and Manfred Keller. These credits come from the published game data and name the people responsible for the game’s design, not its illustrators or publishers. Designer pages on MeepleRules collect other titles by the same designers, which helps when you enjoy a game and want to find similar ones.
The catalogue lists Carcassonne: Sheep & Shepherds as an expansion for Carcassonne. Expansions add new content, rules or scenarios to the base game and usually cannot be played on their own, so you need Carcassonne to use it. Check that your edition of Carcassonne is compatible, as some expansions were revised between editions.