Preliminary impressions
Before everyone jumps on this expansion and complains that it's a pointless collection with five new tiles to entice you into buying 31 tiles you've already got, I'd like to remind you that not everyone has all those expansions, and some of them are rather hard to get hold of now. The fact that we're all obsessive geeks does not mean the expansion is bad simply because it is a compilation.

That said, this isn't the best possible compilation, and not only because it doesn't include the much sought-after Cathar set (it was never really likely to, as that set is owned by Spielbox. not HiG). It's a mixed bag, in the end: King and Scout is impossible to find, while The Count is still readily available in shops (at least in Germany). Also, while the duplicate tiles from K&S are fine, since they can just be mixed in with the usual tiles—as can those of The River II—the tiles from The Count are utterly useless if you've already got that expansion. There is no logical way to combine two copies of that set, while two having River II sets is hardly likely to be an issue for most people.

My verdict
A good expansion for newcomers, it would be fourth of the 'large' expansions that I'd recommend buying (after Inns, Traders, and Abbey, but before Princess and Tower), simply because I think the extra tiles—the river, the pig-herd, the King and the Robber Baron, and so on—are pretty fine game elements. If you're already got most of the expansions contained in here, then it's obviously one to get for the sake of completion.

For more info about the rules, I started a thread here: http://www.boardgamegeek.com/article/2034495#2034495

This review originally appeared at www.carcassonnecentral.com