August222 wrote:
So are most Carcassonne fans owners and players of multiple expansions?
I can't speak for most gamers but I can speak, with some certainty of their opinions, on behalf of the people I have played with.
We have not played with all of the expansions, but we have played with many of them and we had a lot of plays long before I started actually recording them on BGG.
Carc + I&C + T&B + Spielbox Mini Expansion is our most common set-up
Carc + I&C + T&B + Spielbox Mini Expansion + Princess and Dragon + River 2 - 2nd most common
Carc + I&C + T&B + Spielbox Mini Expansion + Princess and Dragon + River 2 + The Tower - 3rd most common
No one in the groups I have played this with (40+ different players) has a complaint about using figures other than the original little meeples. Most, if not all, like the diversity of figures and abilities offered by the expansions and they find plain vanilla carc to be a bit dull.
We also always play a variant where each player has a hand of 3 tiles.
Of course, other players preferences are different, but this is the way we enjoy playing.
Edit: a few minor fixes