Here are the rules as I've been able to translate. My questions are at the bottom


CONTENTS
18 land tiles with a tower base
30 wooden tower segments

Carcassonne: The Tower can only be played together
with the original Carcassonne. Of course you can also
with any of the other Extensions made so far.

All rules of the original Carcassonne remain the same!

SET-UP
Shuffle all original Carcassonne cards, Carcassonne: The Tower cards, and
any optional expansion cards you are playing with. Each player gets the same number
of tower segments depending on how many players are playing:
2 Players: 10 Segments 3 Players: 9 Segments
4 Players: 7 Segments 5 Players: 6 Segments
6 Players: 5 Segments

GAME PLAY
A Player draws a card and places it according to the well-known rules of the
original Carcassonne. This also applies to the new 18 cards with a tower base.
A player may now choose from one of the following options:
- Place a follower on a road, city, or farm according to the original rules.
Or one of three new options…
- Place a tower segment on the tower base of any one of the new 18 cards
already in play.
- Place a tower segment on top of an already existing tower in play.
- Place a follower on any existing tower and thereby locking the tower.

TOWERS AND CAPTURES
Once a player places a tower segment, he may be able to capture and
imprison one opponent’s follower by taking the opponent’s follower off the
board and placing it in front of themselves. The height and location of the
tower played upon determines which followers may be imprisoned.
A tower created by one tower segment
covers an area of 5 tiles, which the owner of
the tower may imprison from. The tiles are
the tower tile itself and the four adjacent
tiles.

If a second tower section is played
on an existing tower, a player now
has 9 possibilities to capture a
follower.

With each additional tower section, the range increases by 4 tiles, 1 in each
cardinal direction. There is no restriction to the height of a tower. Note:
Towers can “reach” over holes in the playing tiles.

FOLLOWERS ON TOWERS
If a follower is on a tower, no more tower segments can be played on that
tower. This is an important play if used to prevent the capture of a high value
follower.

PRISONERS
If there are two players who have imprisoned one another’s follower, those
two followers are immediately returned to their owners and are
able to be played again. In addition, during your turn you have
the option to “trade” 3 points for a follower captured by your opponent. That
opponent will gain 3 points and you will lose 3 points when this transaction
takes place. You may immediately place the follower that same turn.

NEW LAND CARDS
With the new land cards, no new elements are added except
the tower base. For the new bridge over the city card, all
meadows are separated and the city is connected.



So,

-Can followers on towers be captured? It's more fun that way, but it's purpose is defeated if two towers are next to eachother.

I have a graphic version of the instructions too, I wasn't able to upload them.

What about diagonals? What does 9 possibilities mean?

Each additional tower segment increases the field by one in each cardinal direction. No diaganals. For two tower segments, nine comes from two tiles in each of the four directions and the tower tile itself.

Is it possible that there's a follower on the same tile as a tower other than on top of it?

Yes, but you run the risk of continually being able to be captured. There is actually a tower tile with a monastery on it.

http://www.boardgamegeek.com/image/115594

GAME PLAY
A player may now choose from one of the following options:
- Place a follower on a road, city, or farm according to the original rules.
Or one of three new options…
- Place a tower segment on the tower base of any one of the new 18 cards
already in play.
- Place a tower segment on top of an already existing tower in play.
- Place a follower on any existing tower and thereby locking the tower.

TOWERS AND CAPTURES
Once a player places a tower segment, he may be able to capture and
imprison one opponent’s follower by taking the opponent’s follower off the
board and placing it in front of themselves. The height and location of the
tower played upon determines which followers may be imprisoned.
A tower created by one tower segment
covers an area of 5 tiles, which the owner of
the tower may imprison from. The tiles are
the tower tile itself and the four adjacent
tiles.

If a second tower section is played
on an existing tower, a player now
has 9 possibilities to capture a
follower.

With each additional tower section, the range increases by 4 tiles, 1 in each
cardinal direction. There is no restriction to the height of a tower. Note:
Towers can “reach” over holes in the playing tiles.

FOLLOWERS ON TOWERS
If a follower is on a tower, no more tower segments can be played on that
tower. This is an important play if used to prevent the capture of a high value
follower.

PRISONERS
If there are two players who have imprisoned one another’s follower, those
two followers are immediately returned to their owners and are
able to be played again. In addition, during your turn you have
the option to “trade” 3 points for a follower captured by your opponent. That
opponent will gain 3 points and you will lose 3 points when this transaction
takes place. You may immediately place the follower that same turn.





There are several confusing things here I think....

Does the "capture" happen immediately when you place a tower piece? Seems really powerful...everytime I place a tower piece I capture one of my opponent's pieces in range?


Regarding other expansions....

Can the dragon enter a tower space?

Does a fairy protect you from capture?

GAME PLAY
A player may now choose from one of the following options:
- Place a follower on a road, city, or farm according to the original rules.
Or one of three new options…
- Place a tower segment on the tower base of any one of the new 18 cards
already in play.
- Place a tower segment on top of an already existing tower in play.
- Place a follower on any existing tower and thereby locking the tower.

TOWERS AND CAPTURES
Once a player places a tower segment, he may be able to capture and
imprison one opponent’s follower by taking the opponent’s follower off the
board and placing it in front of themselves. The height and location of the
tower played upon determines which followers may be imprisoned.
A tower created by one tower segment
covers an area of 5 tiles, which the owner of
the tower may imprison from. The tiles are
the tower tile itself and the four adjacent
tiles.

If a second tower section is played
on an existing tower, a player now
has 9 possibilities to capture a
follower.

With each additional tower section, the range increases by 4 tiles, 1 in each
cardinal direction. There is no restriction to the height of a tower. Note:
Towers can “reach” over holes in the playing tiles.

FOLLOWERS ON TOWERS
If a follower is on a tower, no more tower segments can be played on that
tower. This is an important play if used to prevent the capture of a high value
follower.

PRISONERS
If there are two players who have imprisoned one another’s follower, those
two followers are immediately returned to their owners and are
able to be played again. In addition, during your turn you have
the option to “trade” 3 points for a follower captured by your opponent. That
opponent will gain 3 points and you will lose 3 points when this transaction
takes place. You may immediately place the follower that same turn.





There are several confusing things here I think....

Does the "capture" happen immediately when you place a tower piece? Seems really powerful...everytime I place a tower piece I capture one of my opponent's pieces in range?


Regarding other expansions....

Can the dragon enter a tower space?

Does a fairy protect you from capture?

I try to answer your questions the best I can and based on the experience I got from a wekkend of gaming:

1) Can followers on towers be captured? It's more fun that way, but it's purpose is defeated if two towers are next to each other.

No. The rules state clearly on page two that a meeple stays on the tower 'til the END OF THE GAME and does not come back to his owner. If you could capture a meeple from a "closed" tower you would get it back in either paying a ransom or getting it back in an exchange.

But I have to admit that the housrule: close towers can be opened again by the way it is described in the question has a nice factor.

2) Does the "capture" happen immediately when you place a tower piece? Seems really powerful...everytime I place a tower piece I capture one of my opponent's pieces in range?

Yes due to the fact that the next player can also add a piece to the tower or close the tower. That's what the tower is for. Page 1 of the rules: In adding a tower-piece you instantly / at once are allowed to capture an enemy meeple.

3) Can the dragon enter a tower space?

Yes. There is no rule againt it and the Tower - rules clearly state that all the other rules stay the same. Therefore the dragon can enter a tower space. There might be a conflict to what I stated under 1) but IMHO it is not a conflict at all. Due to the fact that not everyone owns the dragon those that do should play the following way:
All the rules (as stated on the Tower - rules sheet) stay the same. Therefore the dragon can enter a tower - space and eat the meeple on top of it. This is the only way to open up a closed tower - adding therefore more strategy to the game. You now have to make sure, that the dragon does not strike you twice (so to say) in eating your closed tower and giving the next player the opportunity to capture your protected meeple. An evil twist indeed. This solution is IMHO close to the rules as intented.

4) Does a fairy protect you from capture?

Nope, only from the dragon. That's what let you sweat more. Close the tower, avoid the dragon or get the fairy as protection from the dragon.


One last addition from me (to make another player really angry...): If he has a farmer and a pig on the same farm, build a tower, capture his farmer and hope, that he never gets the "free placement - tile" so his pig stays on the board forever, scoring nothing. Oh, that's so evil

Hope my replies helped.

The Alphawolf

The Rules in Dutch:

Carcassonne De Toren.

Inhoud
• 18 landschaptegels met een torenplaats
• 30 torendeeltjes in hout, in 1 kleur
• 1 toren als kaartenverdeler

Carcassonne De Toren kan enkel met Carcassonne gespeeld worden. Natuurlijk kan het ook met de andere uitbreidingen gespeeld worden.

Alle spelregels van Carcassonne blijven hetzelfde! Hieronder worden de extra spelregels van De Toren uitgelegd. Vragen – vooral als je meerder uitbreidingen samen speelt – worden op www.carcassonne.de en www.carcassonne.nl beantwoord.

Wij raden aan om de kaartentoren niet uit elkaar te halen. De tegels kunnen zowel van boven als van onder getrokken worden. Indien u de tegels langs onder trekt, bestaat er echter een kans dat er meerder tegels meekomen.

Voorbereiding
De 18 nieuwe tegels worden met de andere tegels gemengd. Dan word de kaartentoren gevuld, het maakt daarbij niet uit of de kaarten links en/of rechts gestapeld worden. De kaartentoren wordt zo op tafel gezet dat alle spelers er makkelijk bij kunnen.

Elke speler krijgt evenveel torendelen die hij in zijn voorraad bewaart. Het aantal is afhankelijk van het aantal spelers:
2 spelers – 10 torendelen
3 spelers – 9 torendelen
4 spelers – 7 torendelen
5 spelers – 6 torendelen
6 spelers – 5 torendelen (enkel mogelijk in combinatie met de uitbreiding)

Het spelverloop
Eerst trekt een speler een tegel uit de kaartentoren en legt deze volgens de regels van Carcassonne aan. Dit geldt ook voor de 18 nieuwe tegels. Dan mag de speler één van de volgende 4 acties doen:
1. Hij zet een horige op de net aangelegde tegel volgens de bekende regels OF
2. Hij zet een torendeel op een willekeurige tegels met een torenplaats OF
3. Hij zet een torendeel op een eerder geplaatst torendeel OF
4. Hij zet een horige op een eerder geplaatste toren en sluit daarmee de toren af

Een torendeel zetten en een horige gevangen nemen
Altijd als een speler een torendeel zet, mag deze speler één horige van een medespeler gevangen nemen. Deze wordt voor hem neergelegd. Van welke tegel een horige gevangen genomen mag worden hangt af van de hoogte van de toren.
Bij het zetten van het eerste torendeel, mag er een horige gevangen genomen worden van de tegel waarop de toren staat of van één van de aangrenzende tegels (niet diagonaal). Zie tekening.


Bij het zetten van een tweede torendeel op een tegel word dit uitgebreid tot twee tegels aangrenzend aan de torentegel. Enzovoorts. De tekening verduidelijkt dit.


Deze regel geldt ook als er een open plaats tussen tegels is en als er andere torens staan, ongeacht de grootte; een torenwachter kan echter niet gevangen genomen worden. Een toren kan onbeperkt hoog gebouwd worden.

Een horige op een toren zetten
Als een speler een horige op een toren plaatst is deze toren afgebouwd en kan hij niet meer verhoogd worden. De horige blijft er staan tot het einde van het spel. Deze actie is zinvol als men daardoor een andere horige veilig kan stellen.

De gevangenen
Van zodra twee spelers een horige van elkaar gevangen genomen hebben, worden deze aan elkaar uitgeleverd.

Ja kan ook een horige terug kopen. Hiervoor moet je 3 punten inleveren. De speler van wie jij je horige terug koopt, krijgt er dan 3 punten bij. Deze horige kan in deze beurt nog ingezet worden.

Nieuwe tegel
Bij de nieuwe tegels is er behalve de torenplaatsen maar 1 volledig nieuwe tegel.

Bij deze tegel loopt er een brug over een stad. De weg deelt ook de weide aan beide kanten. Er zijn dus 4 stukken wei. (zie tekening)

Uitgegeven door Hans im Glück Verlag GmbH
Ontwerp avn de torens: Christof Tisch
www.hans-im-glueck.de
www.carcassonne.de
www.carcassonne.nl
www.syroit.tk
vrij vertaald door Pieter Syroit
syroit@carcassonne.nl

More questions:

1.Can the dragon eat a Meeple from the tower?

2.If there are 2 meeple on 1 tile (tower and city) does the dragon eat them both?

3.Can the builder, the pig and the big meeple also been taken captured by using the tower?

4.If they can be captured, do you need to exchange against an pig, … of the opponents colour?

5.If they can be captured, what do they cost to get them back?

6.If a farmer get captured, what happens with the pig?

7.If a meeple from a city/road get captured, what happens with the Builder?

Good questions Pieter. This is IMHO a problem if someone produces a game and add various additions over time to it. The rules seem to "hung themselves up". While there is in my knowledge no rules compilation that answers all your questions I try to answer them based on my knowledge of the game. I really like the game and play it with various additions (even added a second Starter (Carcassonne) to it so that I have enough tiles for my big table).

I am well aware that some might disagree with my answers (and having good reasons for it) but here is the way we play it:

1.Can the dragon eat a Meeple from the tower?

See my earlier posting above. For more strategy: Yes, let him eat the meeple and therefore open the tower again. No if you want to avoid the "let the dragon eat the meeple and I catch his farmer before he can react". IMHO is based on the level of "competition" you like to have in the game. The fairy will become a stratetic goal in the game, sometimes be the only way to protect your valuable farmer / city etc.

Due to the rules: A meeple on a Tower can NOT come back to his owner, so the dragon can't eat it (otherwise it would come back).

2.If there are 2 meeple on 1 tile (tower and city) does the dragon eat them both?

This problem might arise even without the Tower. F. ex. a monastery in a city. Our play is (even this situation never happened due to the fact, that both players try to "protect" the tile in moving the dragon in other directions) that the dragon then really has a feast (eating both meeples). This avoids the "whom do you like more... eat his meeple not mine".

3.Can the builder, the pig and the big meeple also been taken captured by using the tower?

A rules lawyer might say: "It says: Meeple captured..." Therefore it makes more sense in capturing the farmer (and leaving the pig alone or the builder) then capturing the pig. If you play with the Dragon expansion you still have the possibility to bring back one of your Meeples to the farm / city. Therefore try to get the meeple and see to it, that the other player never brings a meeple back. The Big Meeple is a meeple that scores double - so nothing special - capture it as a normal meeple.

This will even force the other player (because he hopes that he can bring back a farmer) to close the tower in adding one of his meeples therefore reducing his Meeple - pool.

4.If they can be captured, do you need to exchange against an pig, … of the opponents colour?

Due to the fact that the rules say: "Meeple capture", I would not allow to capture a pig or a builder.

5.If they can be captured, what do they cost to get them back?

No pig, no builder. Big meeple with big meeple OR meeple + 3 VP or 6 VP.

6.If a farmer get captured, what happens with the pig?

Leave it where it is and hope that you can bring your farmer back (possible with the Dragon expansion).

7.If a meeple from a city/road get captured, what happens with the Builder?

Leave him where he is and hope that you can bring your Meeple back (possible with the Dragon expansion).


As I said, this is the way we play it and I think it is as close to the rules as you can get, adding to the complexity of the various expansions. If I play with newbies I might even agree before what to do if one of the situations you describe arises.

It is a bit "house - ruling" but unless the "Lord of Rules" will create an official 4th edition of the rules I can live with it quite easily.

By the way: Add the Count to it and it will increase your problems, not decrease it.

Hope this helps.

The Alphawolf

I don't know about 1 or 3 (along with 4 and 5); we'll have to wait for rulings from HiG to know for sure. But 2, 6, and 7 have been asked and answered before (they aren't specific to The Tower):

- The dragon eats all followers "on the tile" (2).

- Pigs and builders stay behind when farmers and knights are removed (6, 7).

Whether the first answer implies that it eats a meeple on the tower is up for grabs.

Technically there's another question one might ask:

(8) Can one use the Magic Gate to place a meeple on an existing tower?

Not that it would matter, with current expansions (since you can place on any tower anyway), but you never know what the future holds.

And another:

(9) Does a meeple on a tower count for fairy movement?

And yet another:

(10) When, exactly, does prisoner buy-back occur? How often does it occur in a "double turn" (e.g. just once, like fairy scoring, or twice, as part of a repeated step)?

Should I add to this dilema and point out that tower pieces are things.

Could it be possible that in the process of eating the meeple on top of the tower that the dragon trashes it at the same time.

Corrected above: the dragon eats all followers on the tile (though, again, it's not clear if this means it eats a meeple on a tower -- or, for that matter, whether it destroys the tower as well).

My 5 cents:

Rules in the Tower state clearly, that a meeple on a tower will NOT return to his owner for the rest of the game.

If the dragon eats a meeple it will, as the rules state, be returned to his owner.

IMHO the later rules of the tower overrule the Dragon - therefore: If a meeple is on a tower it will NOT be eaten by the dragon due to the fact that it would otherwise be returned to his owner.

The reason for it is, that the dragon can't digest the tower...

As I said, just my 5 cent.

Found some info from HiG on a German site and translated it at http://www.boardgamegeek.com/article/858445#858445. Hope you don't mind jumping threads!