www.cool-christmas-gifts.net The Settlers of Catan is a board game, but not like Monopoly or Candy Land. At its heart, the The Settlers of Catan is about cooperation and discovery, and players are not eliminated as the game progresses. Settlers is one of the hot games of 2009, but it was first introduced in Germany in 1995. That same year it won the prestigious Spiel des Jahres (Game of the Year). Since that time many expansion packs and variations have been released, including electronic versions. The timelessness of the game is one reason why it is a hit for this holiday season. The action takes place on the island of Catan. Players explore the terrain, build settlements and compete for resources. However, this is all done in a non-violent manner and players are not eliminated. You don’t win through destroying your neighbor’s resources or attacking them. Bargaining with fellow players by planning ahead and striking deals is the key to coming out ahead. The Settlers of Catan is in a constant state of flux at every turn, because the island is discovered during play. Sometimes this is good for you, other times it is not. That is why the spirit of cooperation is so important. In simple terms, each player can benefit from the deals they make and is likely to do poorly if they try to go it alone. Unlike other board games, the Settlers of Catan is a different experience every time it’s played. It is easy to learn but has a depth that makes it endearing. Plus, there are plenty …

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www.cool-christmas-gifts.net The Settlers of Catan is a board game, but not like Monopoly or Candy Land. At its heart, the The Settlers of Catan is about cooperation and discovery, and players are not eliminated as the game progresses. Settlers is one of the hot games of 2009, but it was first introduced in Germany in 1995. That same year it won the prestigious Spiel des Jahres (Game of the Year). Since that time many expansion packs and variations have been released, including electronic versions. The timelessness of the game is one reason why it is a hit for this holiday season. The action takes place on the island of Catan. Players explore the terrain, build settlements and compete for resources. However, Swift Code First National Bank Of Pana this is all done in a non-violent manner and players are not eliminated. You don’t win through destroying your neighbor’s resources or attacking them. Bargaining with fellow players by planning ahead and striking deals is the key to coming out ahead. The Settlers of Catan is in a constant state of flux at every turn, because the island is discovered during play. Sometimes this is good for you, other times it is not. That is why the spirit of cooperation is so important. In simple terms, each player can benefit from the deals they make and is likely to do poorly if they try to go it alone. Unlike other board games, the Settlers of Catan is a different experience every time it’s played. It is easy to learn but has a depth that makes it endearing. Plus, there are plenty …

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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. 

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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.

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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

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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

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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

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Settlers of Catan Strategy – Part 2 – The Wood-Brick Strategy
 by: Dan Kozarchuk 6bc

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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/.

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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

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Settlers of Catan Strategy – Part 1 – The Ore-Grain Strategy
 by: Dan Kozarchuk 6bc

1208

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/

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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

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Settlers of Catan features an all sea interlocking board Frame, printed on both sides. Settlers of Catan features 19 tiles, all with different art and back printed in sea.

Resources are used to purchase new settlements, pieces of road, action cards or you may upgrade an existing settlement to a town. Resources are produced for both rolls. If a 7 is rolled on the first roll, then the player with fewer victory points controls the robber The catan game is one of the most widely popular hobby games of the past twenty years.

It’s introduction to this country helped introduce the new wave of German games that have changed the way people think about board games.

It’s a must have for anyone who enjoys playing board games. Winning the game requires negotiating with other players, assessing resource supply and demand, and mapping out a plan to get those last few victory points.

Trade wool, lumber, bricks and grain for a settlement, bricks and wood for a road, or try to complete other combinations for more advanced buildings, services and specials. Trade to win, consider the number of cards they have. And after you trade with them, consider what they wanted, what they must be trying to build (and thus what else they have in hand), and what they’re likely to generate from the roll.

The settlers of catan game play continues until one player reaches 10 or until all development cards are used and no more settlements can be built, longest road and largest army are secured. At that point, player with the most points overall wins.

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Author: Robert Fernicola

I have been an affiliate marketer for 3 years and enjoy reviewing products and writing articles about them.

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