Archive for May, 2009
Mayfair the Settlers of Catan Board Game
When I first read about Mayfair the settlers of Catan board game on the Penny Arcade blog, they appeared to like it very much, so I figured I’d try it out one day, and now I finally bought it (along with the Cities and Knights and Seafarer’s expansions) and played it with a friend of mine.
It appears a bit simple at first (a 20 or so grid board with wooden play pieces) and the rules seem perplexed but once you master it, the game becomes a lot of fun.
You’ve a grid of plots that each have different terrain. That terrain interprets to a resource (i.e. a Forest gives you Wood, a Field gives you Grain, etc.). You place numbered disks on each plot which represent to numbers on a 2d6 roll (2-12, except for 7).
When that number comes up, any player with a settlement on the edge of the plot that has the number rolled gets a resource (in the form of cards in a deck). You can then take resources to build more settlements, cities and roads. You can also buy a card from the Development deck which is slanted towards one type of card unfortunately (the Knight) but some of the cards let you do stuff like buy something for less, steal resources from other players and the like.
There’s this robber concept where a robber sits on a desert plot and, when 7 is rolled, is moved by the player who rolled that 7. The robber cleans out anyone with more than 7 resource cards (you ditch half back to the deck) and then the player who rolled the 7 gets to take a card from a player adjacent to the plot where the robber is now located. Also, resources cannot be drawn from the plot the robber is on. It creates an interesting dynamic in the game and throws a nice curve into game play.
The ultimate destination is to get 10 victory points which you get by accepting settlements (1 VP), cities (2 VP), and any bonuses from the Development deck or by having the largest army (most knight cards above 3) or the longest contiguous road on the map.
You are able to make the game a bit better (in my opinion) by getting the Catan: Cities & Knights Expansion – New 4th Edition! Expansion which evolves the game play a bit more.
Even though the wooden pieces are a little bit of retro, they’re still nicely made, the cards are so solid and not flimsy, and the game board is made of solid cardboard which is very good in terms of the contents of the box.
Mik’s Minis: Cities and Knights!
I had to put an exclamation in the title because Cities and Knights is such a good game! The … Read more…
Catan: Cities & Knights Completely Annotated Rules & Almanac …
These completely annotated rules and almanac are derived from the original Mayfair Games 4th editio… Read more…
[Video Review] Cities and Knights of Catan | Catan: Cities …
Count me among those that love Cities and Knights. I think it is the best expansion, but I … Read more…
Catan.de – “Catan – Cities and Knights” for the PC
Play the Basic Game, Seafarers, and of course Cities & Knights against strong computer… Read more…
Author: Sammy IJ
Sam runs a blog that will help buyers and hobbyist to make the right buying decision with his cutting edge game reviews and toys reviews
Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Sammy_IJ
Related Blogs
- Bootcamp with Karl: April 21-May 31 | SRC
- Sony AK Knowledge Center » Create Simple Data Paging using PHP and …
- itunes bonjour vista | New On iTunes
- Schedule Watch | An NFL Nut.
- » Fourth Person Detained in Zazi Plot | 5280 Magazine
- Gears of War 3 to Have 4 Player Co-op? I Think So. | Loot Ninja
- YuCatan Settlers of Catan Game Board Review | Gibberish Is My …
- Get src and element from render object in dump tree of webkit …
- Game 7: Yankees vs. Angels | The Lohud Yankees Blog
- ZagsBlog.com – Knight's Coach Uncertain of Destination; Pitt Still …
- 6 lesser known features in Flash Player 10.1 | Serge Jespers
- VG247 » Blog Archive » Silicon Knights given $4 million boost for …
- Mayfair Games Catan Barbarians and Traders Expansion
- Guess The Bigheaded Spurs Player
- Zac Posen Designs Swimwear for Target – The Lingerie Post
- HTML – using the link href tag with an html page? « TagFocus.com
- Give a little bit | ASU News | The State Press | Arizona State …
- When (Not) To Use Target=”_Blank” Link Attribute | Search Engine …
- Acyclovir href | ScrapTherapy.ca
- Comodo Commits to 64 Bit Version of Browser | Revelations From An …
Mayfair the Settlers of Catan- Building a winning foundation
The first step in any Mayfair the Settlers of Catan game is to build your first two settlements. Your actions here can lead to brilliant success or horrible disaster. This is no exaggeration. A misplaced settlement can leave you blocked from essential resources and deadlocked for the entirety of the game. With the random set-up of the board this isn’t common, but you still need to build wisely. In-depth strategies abound, but here are some basic hints to get started:
· Diversify- Try and build near many different resources. Don’t be so focused on brick and wood that you neglect to prepare for later in the game when you (and everyone else) will want wheat and ore.
· Watch the numbers- Consider the probability of rolling certain numbers. Building on all 3’s and 11’s can leave you in a world of pain. The number tiles have dots that indicate probability. The more dots, the higher the chance of rolling that number. Try to pick good numbers and diversify.
· Watch your placement and that of other players- After your initial setup all building has to come from roads you’ve already laid. Leave enough room for expansion, but not so much that you get cut off. Also, watch the other players to try and anticipate if their building will interfere with your plans.
· Pay attention to ports- In Mayfair the Settlers of Catan, ports can make a great deal of difference when seeking resources. See if you can build near a port for a resource you anticipate having in abundance.
Settlers of Catan not enough? Try these Expansions
If you feel that you’ve sufficiently conquered the terrain of Catan and are itching for more exploration, never fear. The makers of Settlers of Catan have created various expansions to satisfy your need for adventure. The principle expansions are listed below. All are for 3-4 players with a possible expansion for up to 6 players.
Seafarers of Catan (Catan: Seafarers)
Seafarers extends the building area to the sea. Players are able to build shipping routes in addition to their roads on land. The robber from the original Settlers remains and an added pirate roams the sea. One major difference between Settlers and Seafarers is the introduction of scenarios. In Settlers the placement of tiles and play is random. Seafarers, on the other hand, includes scenarios that determine the board layout, number of victory points needed, and other factors.
Cities and Knights (Catan: Cities and Knights)
Cities and Knights changes the Settlers game even further. Not only do the building options for settlements increase, but players also build and maintain armies. Another major change is the introduction of commodities: special resources needed in improving cities and providing armies. New components affecting game play include barbarians that attack the island and a merchant that improves trading.
Traders and Barbarians
is in essence a collection of scenarios and special rules that can be combined to change game play. It is named for its flagship scenario which introduces the use of wagons to trade between settlements and barbarians who seek to disrupt trade.
Barbarian Invasion: Rolling the dice to "land the barbarians …
If you roll the dice for the first time (first time in this round, not in the whole game – there are… Read more…
Development cards list? | Catan: Traders & Barbarians | BoardGameGeek
Traders & Barbarians: Knight…………..x 16. Road Building….x 3. Swift Journey…… Read more…
Catan: Traders & Barbarians – 5-6 Player Extension:: General …
by tedhkim. What’s the card manifest for the extra development cards for the Traders and Barbar… Read more…
Settlers of Catan
Settlers of Catan is a board game. It is designed to be played by 3 or 4 players (in the standard game), or up to 5 or 6 players with various expansion modules. The game, which was originally designed by Klaus Teuber, is well suited to family play, since no player gets eliminated from the game, setting up the game is quite simple, yet game play is dynamic and can be exciting. To date, the game has been translated into 25 different languages, and has sold more than 11 million copies.
The object of the game is to setup a colony on a previously uninhabited island known as Catan. The island itself is presented using a number of hexagonal tiles which are laid out randomly at the start of the game so as to form a map.
The players turns involve resource management, and trading and interacting with other players. Each player’s turn involves a combination of luck and strategy, and the goal is accumulate victory points by building settlements and upgrading them to cities. There is no combat between the players, however players can harm each other’s progress by refusing to trade, blocking access to resources, or use of a robber character than is involved in the game.
As already mentioned, in addition to the main game, there are various expansion modules and scenarios available. These includes additions for adding more players, exploring an archipelago ("Seafarers of Catan"), and historical scenarios such as building the pyramids of Egypt, building the Great Wall of China, or expanding Alexander the Great’s empire.
Author: Sunil Tanna
By S. Tanna. Discover more about Settlers of Catan at http://www.brainchallenges.com/settlers_of_catan.php
Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Sunil_Tanna
Winning at Settlers of Catan
Settlers of Catan is a great board game to play with a large group of people. There are many tips and strategies that you can use to put the odds of winning in your favor.
1.Expand
As soon as you are playing the game you want to expand it by building more roads and cities. When you build a ton of settlements and cities you will be able to get a ton of resources. Remember the more you have the more likely it will be that you get some resource every turn, which is always helpful.
By building roads as well as cities you can also create the longest road and which will give you a couple of victory points.
2.Don’t be a jerk, unless you are about to win
There are a couple ways to be a jerk to people in this game, most notably the infamous Robber and the Monopoly card. This is a game where you depend on other people, or other civilizations to help you trade with and to not turn against you. If you stab them in the back they will definitely remember it next time they have the robber.
Sometimes you have to put the robber somewhere and you aren’t going to hurt yourself so there are always exceptions to this rule. Likewise you don’t want to play the monopoly card unless you are going to win, or get very close to winning because of it.
3.Look for ports
Ports are always fun. They allow you to trade resources without having to rely on other people. At some point in the game it is probably your best interest to head over to a port, especially if it is a port that allows you to trade a resource you have a lot of.
Settlers of Catan Essay – Downtown Comics
Here is an essay I wrote for my english class last semester over my favorite board game. If any of y… Read more…
Settlers of Catan Board Game – General Tips | Drigged.com
This multiplayer board game designed by Klaus Teuber will bring endless hours of enjoyment. Be the d… Read more…
The Settlers of Catan Board Game
One of the best toys 2009 is the board game The Settlers of Catan. This game, featured as one… Read more…
Game Review: Settlers of Catan
Settlers of Catan is a played on a board of hexagonal tiles, that represent the island of … Read more…
Author: John Rosenberg
For more on settlers of catan visit http://www.best-family-games.com/Settlers_of_Catan.html
For more games visit http://www.best-family-games.com
Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=John_Rosenberg
Settlers of Catan Board Game- The Next Generation
When settling obscure islands on Terra is no longer enough, where do you look for adventure? In the stars, of course! From the makers of the Settlers of Catan board game comes Starfarers of Catan.
The basic idea of settling and trading better than your opponents is the same, but the only other resemblance between Settlers and Starfarers is the inclusion of ore among the resources. Rather than the wheat and wood we know so well, starfarers are looking to produce and trade ore, food, carbon, fuel and trade goods. Instead of plots of land there are planets. Roads become spaceships, and beyond trading with other players, a starfarer seeks to trade with alien races.
Also new to those familiar with Settlers is the addition of encounter cards. These add random events to the game that require decisions. In Settlers the resources tied to a plot of land are establish from the beginning. Starfarers do not know what resources a planet holds until they’ve landed on it. For all they know, a pirate could be lurking. Then they can only hope that their star fleet has the strength or speed to get away. If their spaceship is not strong enough to withstand attack, their only option is to trade with the pirate and risk being swindled or worse—losing honor, another new component to winning. In addition to colonizing and trade, Starfarers must also protect their good name.
The Mayfair settlers of catan board game
The Mayfair Settlers of Catan Board Game is Now for Kids
The Mayfair Settlers of Catan board game is suggested for players ages 10 and up. But what do you do with your children under 10 who want to play with the grown-ups? What about the 10 year-old child whose attention span doesn’t last for long periods of building and trading? The creators of Settlers have solved this problem by releasing several Settlers games made just for kids.
Kids from Catan is an extremely simplified version of Settlers. Game play lasts less than 20 minutes and players are more involved throughout the game as anyone can build at anytime if they hold the right cards. Game intended for ages 4 and up.
Catan Dice is Settlers played Yahtzee-style. Rather than using a board, players build on score cards with resources that they receive by rolling dice. A game can be completed in 15-30 minutes and a single player option is available. Game intended for ages 7 and up.
Catan Junior bridges the gap between Kids from Catan and Settlers of Catan. The main purpose is very similar – the goal is to earn the most victory points by building routes and settlements. Some rules are simplified to accommodate younger players. The biggest change made to appeal to children is the theme. Rather than settle the land, players are adventurous pirates who seek resources such as wood, wool, and rum. Game time is shorter, set at 60 minutes as opposed to the 90 minutes listed for traditional mayfair the settlers of catan game. Game intended for ages 6 and up.
Settlers of Catan Strategy – Part 5 – Four More Strategies
The Settlers of Catan has been the flagship for German Style Designer Games for many reasons, some of the main ones being its elegant simplicity and its depth of strategy. Your choice of strategies will influence your initial setup and overall game play. The separation of strategies that are outlined in this series is a bit artificial, but it is useful to understand the concepts behind them. In practice, players will use a combination of these strategies during gameplay. This article, the fifth in this series, will discuss four more commonly used Settlers of Catan Strategies.
The Card Builder Strategy
This strategy is similar to the Ore/Grain Strategy, as it involves getting Ore/Grain hexes and building two cities fast. Then, cranking out development cards. This player will get an inordinate number of Knight cards, allowing them to keep the robber off their hexes and get other resources by stealing from other players. Often, victory point cards will come up. At some point in the game, try for a third settlement or city. The largest army is practically guaranteed. Note that this strategy may not work very well in higher victory point games, or those Seafarers scenarios where extra victory points are awarded for getting to islands.
The Balance Strategy
This strategy strives for a balance in all five resources. Settlements can be built relatively quickly, and the player is less likely to be boxed in. Also, this strategy leads people to become more self-sufficient, and less likely to require trading. A 3:1 port could be very useful here.
This strategy is what a lot of players strive for in the initial setup. This is a powerful way to begin the game if you can do it, as it is easy to be flexible and change to another strategy later on.
The Common Resource Strategy
Every game usually has a very common resource, that no one in particular wants. This is usually wool, as it is often the odd man out. The Wood-Brick players and Ore-Grain players (the two most popular strategies) will only be trying for wool if it is convenient. A friend of mine sometimes likes to go after wool hexes, and calls it the "Sheep-O-Matic" strategy. Since both Ore-Grain and Wood-Brick strategies need wool, he can often trade somewhat easily. He goes for a wool port (the Sheep-O-Matic) to get cards he can’t trade for. He does best by combining this strategy with the Card Builder strategy. This would probably work well in Seafarers, where everyone needs wool for sails. This strategy doesn’t necessarily require wool, just any common resource that no one seems to want. You really need the port though, or you can kiss the game goodbye. This is similar to the Cartel strategy, which is discussed in Part 4 of this series.
The Straight Numerical Advantage Strategy
This strategy really tries to maximize production, without concentrating on any particular resource. Just get as much of anything. You may need to trade a lot, because you could end up with a strange mix. This works better in games with more people (more people to trade with). A 3:1 port is probably essential, if you have a varied mix of resources.
I put this in because some people use it, but this is not really a strategy. A good strategy is a plan to let you get the particular combination of resources you need to get certain victory points, which this does not do. This could be good in the initial setup as a short-term plan, before you figure out what other strategy you will need to win.
For more information about the game, please visit the author’s Settlers of Catan fansite. This series is based upon the Settlers of Catan Strategy and Tactics Guide, which is located at http://settlersofcatan.blogspot.com
A Multi-agent player for Settlers of Catan
Settlers of catan, project directory structure, implementation details, artificial intelligen… Read more…
Game Review: Settlers of Catan
Settlers of Catan is a played on a board of hexagonal tiles, that represent the island of … Read more…
Settlers of Catan Geographies: Germany Reviewed at BGN | Critical …
There’s a nice review with some great pictures posted over at BoardGameNews.com of Catan … Read more…
background of card | The Settlers of Catan Card Game | BoardGameGeek
I already had the basic card game of Catan. I live in Belgium. Since they do not sell some o… Read more…
Author: Dan Kozarchuk
Dan Kozarchuk is a self admitted board game junkie who has an obsession with designer board games, particularly the Settlers of Catan.
Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Dan_Kozarchuk
The Wood-Brick Strategy -for Catan Board Game
Settlers of Catan Strategy – Part 2 – The Wood-Brick Strategy
by: Dan Kozarchuk 6bc
The Settlers of Catan has been the flagship for German Style Designer Games for many reasons, some of the main ones being its elegant simplicity and its depth of strategy. Your choice of strategies will influence your initial setup and overall game play. The separation of strategies that are outlined in this series is a bit artificial, but it is useful to understand the concepts behind them. In practice, players will use a combination of these strategies during gameplay. This article, the second in this series, will discuss the Wood-Brick Strategy.
The Wood-Brick Strategy is a strategy to get a lot of wood and brick early in the game, in order to build settlements and roads fast.
A wood/brick port is very useful in this strategy, as finding a way to get ore/grain will be important to build cities for the middle to end game.
Lots of people think this strategy is less effective on a small or congested board, as you need room to grow. Actually, it can be more effective, as your increased road building capability gives you the advantage in reaching those limited number of expansion spots first. An ore-grain player’s worst nightmare is playing on a congested board with one or two wood-brick players.
This strategy naturally lends itself to getting the longest road.
For this strategy, it is very important that you build new settlements around open grain and ore hexes, or you will have a very difficult time trying to build cities later on in the game (which can be crucial for a win).
Optionally, with your increased settlement production, you can build on a number of ports to get ore and wheat.
With your increased road building capability, you should build your roads to cut off other player’s expansion. This can help in denying Ore/Grain players from acquiring enough building sites they need to win the game. This leads into the next variant, which takes this to more of an extreme:
The "Road Boy" variant works to build roads fast in order to block off other players’ expansion. This strategy concentrates on building roads first, rather than on production. Only when you are done blocking people off do you work on getting enough victory points to win the game. This requires a lot of wood and brick, so your first cities should be on these, rather than ore. Trade aggressively for wood and brick, before it’s obvious you might be a threat. This is an interesting variant in that it violates my general philosophy of building up production first. It could work better on smaller boards with less people, so you don’t miss blocking anyone. In addition, it might not work well in many Seafarers scenarios, as people could just build to islands.
For more information about the game, please visit the author’s Settlers of Catan fansite. This series is based upon the Settlers of Catan Strategy and Tactics Guide, which is located at http://settlersofcatan.blogspot.com/.
The Settlers of Catan | Image | BoardGameGeek
Being a woodworker I decided to try my hand on building my own. I built this box with maple and rede… Read more…
Game Review: Settlers of Catan
Settlers of Catan is a fun board game, which requires logical thinking, smooth talking… Read more…
Unofficial Catan Expansion- Plantations | The Settlers of Catan …
Descent: Journeys in the Dark ; Last Night on Earth: The Zombie Game ; Age of Conan: The Stra… Read more…
About The Author
Dan Kozarchuk is a self admitted board game junkie who has an obsession with designer board games, particularly the Settlers of Catan.
This article was posted on April 14, 2006
The Ore-Grain Strategy for Catan Board Game
Settlers of Catan Strategy – Part 1 – The Ore-Grain Strategy
by: Dan Kozarchuk 6bc
The Settlers of Catan has been the flagship for German Style Designer Games for many reasons, some of the main ones being its elegant simplicity and its depth of strategy. Your choice of strategies will influence your initial setup and overall game play. The separation of strategies that are outlined in this series is a bit artificial, but it is useful to understand the concepts behind them. In practice, players will use a combination of these strategies during gameplay. This article, the first in this series, will discuss the Ore-Grain Strategy.
The Ore-Grain Strategy seems to be the most popular strategy, at least in the basic game. This strategy attempts to get a lot of ore and grain early in the game, in order to produce cities as quickly as possible. You should focus more on ore than grain, as you will need three ores to build a city, versus two grains (and in the basic game, there is usually less ore available then grain, as there are only three ore hexes compared to four grain hexes).
This strategy is often so powerful because the first cities you produce will probably be on your initial settlements, which should have high production values. Other people going for settlements right off will probably be left with lower production-value intersections.
This strategy lends itself to getting the largest army, as after you build your cities you will have lots of ore and grain left over to buy cards, of which the majority will be knights. For a game that needs ten victory points (like the basic game), four cities and the largest army means a win.
In general, the more congested the board, the harder this strategy becomes. Other players (especially wood-brick players, as described below) will have a greater expansion potential as they can pump out roads and settlements faster, thereby blocking off your expansion. All too often a player at the endgame will find themselves with the maximum of four cities and zero settlements for eight victory points, and not being able to get another two settlements (and corresponding victory points) because they are boxed in. In the basic game this is not as much as a dilemma as you can get another two points with the largest army or by victory point cards; in games where you need more victory points this can be more problematic. When playing with (or against) this strategy, you must keep in mind its greatest weakness is this lack of expansion potential.
The Ore-Grain Strategy can be good for Seafarers, as it is harder to get boxed in (simply build to an island). Getting an ore or grain port is great for this strategy, as after you build four cities you won’t have as much a need for these resources, and it can make the endgame a lot easier.
Remember that by building cities, you are concentrating production in fewer locations. As you are putting more of your eggs in fewer baskets, make sure you don’t leave any vulnerable. Make sure that you don’t place your cities at an intersection with one good number and two bad numbers, or the robber can make your very expensive city worthless. This will be much less of a problem to players who are concentrating on (many) settlements rather than on (fewer) cities. For this same reason, those variants that use multiple robbers/pirates can hurt people who concentrate on cities more.
Near the end of the game you will be the constant target of the robber, as ore and grain become valuable to the other players. You need to have been saving knights so that you can get the robber off your production units. Also, since you have cities, your production spaces will naturally look like better places for the others to put the robber.
For more information about the game, please visit the author’s Settlers of Catan fansite. This series is based upon the Settlers of Catan Strategy and Tactics Guide, which is located at http://settlersofcatan.blogspot.com/
mango_use – The Settlers of Catan
One of the most successful games of all time, Settlers of Catan is a trading and building gam… Read more…
Game Review: Settlers of Catan
Settlers of Catan is a played on a board of hexagonal tiles, that represent the island of … Read more…
The Settlers of Catan 5-6 Player Extension « Cheap Toys & Games …
Now five to six players can explore and settle Catan! The 5-6 Player Expansion for The Set… Read more…
About The Author
Dan Kozarchuk is a self admitted board game junkie who has an obsession with designer board games, particularly the Settlers of Catan.
This article was posted on April 03, 2006