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Tabletop Night: The Settlers of Catan
10 years ago
The Settlers of Catan ranks high on my list of favorite board games. When I was introduced to it, the first thing I thought was “This is Sid Meier's Civilization's simplified cousin. No doubt.” The Settlers of Catan is a settlement building and economics game where you and a few others settle on an island rich in resources. Strategic settlement placement, trading, and building helps you collect resources that can in turn be spent of further development and trade opportunities. The goal is to become the most successful empire on the island through those means.
How it plays:
The game board consists of 19 hexagonal tiles that represent various aspects of the landscape. They can be arranged in any order within the island region, leading to different strategies required each time you play. Each type of hex tile produces a specific resource, except for the desert, which produces nothing.
When the board is set up, resource frequency tokens are distributed to each production tile. When the number indicated on that tile is rolled on 2d6, any player with a settlement touching that tile can collect one of that resource. If they have more settlements on that resource, (or a settlement that has been upgraded to a city) they can collect more.
Because the rolling of two dice produces a natural bell-curve of numerical results, certain resources will produce more than others. To make things simple, the game points this out in the form of dots or pips under the number token. The more there are, the more likely that resource tile will produce. (6 and 8 being the most common rolled, they are also in red so they are easily noticed.)
Resources:
Resources are the primary currency in this game. There are five of them: Bricks, Wheat, Stone, Sheep, and Wood. Resources are required to build roads that allow you to expand your empire, and they allow you to develop (purchase Development Cards and upgrade settlements to cities). The game board setup encourages trade, especially when certain resources are monopolized by other players. This can give rise to alliances, under the table deals, or hermit play styles.
The Wild Card:
The game has an unpredictability element to it. Any time a player rolls a 7 or chooses to play a Knight Card, that player may place the Robber Token on any hex in the game. This token not only destroys collected resources from all rich (8+ resource cards) players with a settlement on that hex, but it also locks that resource hex down. It won't produce resources until the robber is moved again. This adds more strategy to the game, giving people the ability to engage in simple warfare.
Winning the game:
In order to win the game, you must have 10 Victory Points on your turn. Victory points are accrued through purchase of Development Cards and earning achievements, i.e. having the Longest Road, and /or the Largest Army. Actual gameplay takes about one to two hours.
Further Expansion:
This game is modular in that there have been a number of expansions released for the game that add on further gameplay and strategy. They can also change the way the game is played with the additions of scenarios and missions. These are as follows:
Catan Seafarers:
Radically changes the game board layout, adding the ability to create multiple islands and build trade routes between them.
Catan Cities & Knights:
Adds additional tactics by expanding the usefulness of cities and knights, as well as adding three new resources and a rogue barbarian element to the game.
Catan Traders & Barbarians:
A compilation pack composed of smaller expansions, this pack adds new tokens, resources and tiles, and of course, additional rules that allows for barbarian invasions. Also introduces castles.
Catan Explorers & Pirates:
Expands the game to three different islands and adds ship tokens. While the main island is visible, the other two island layouts are not revealed until they are explored. Adds pirates to the equation, too, which can demand tribute, or can be captured for vast rewards.
Note: While Traders & Barbarians will combine well with the other expansion packs, it's not advisable to combine any of the others, as the rules for each pack radically tailors the game to a specific ruleset. Combining them will only make the game confusing and slow play down.
Hope you enjoyed!
fluffygryphon
How it plays:
The game board consists of 19 hexagonal tiles that represent various aspects of the landscape. They can be arranged in any order within the island region, leading to different strategies required each time you play. Each type of hex tile produces a specific resource, except for the desert, which produces nothing.
When the board is set up, resource frequency tokens are distributed to each production tile. When the number indicated on that tile is rolled on 2d6, any player with a settlement touching that tile can collect one of that resource. If they have more settlements on that resource, (or a settlement that has been upgraded to a city) they can collect more.
Because the rolling of two dice produces a natural bell-curve of numerical results, certain resources will produce more than others. To make things simple, the game points this out in the form of dots or pips under the number token. The more there are, the more likely that resource tile will produce. (6 and 8 being the most common rolled, they are also in red so they are easily noticed.)
Resources:
Resources are the primary currency in this game. There are five of them: Bricks, Wheat, Stone, Sheep, and Wood. Resources are required to build roads that allow you to expand your empire, and they allow you to develop (purchase Development Cards and upgrade settlements to cities). The game board setup encourages trade, especially when certain resources are monopolized by other players. This can give rise to alliances, under the table deals, or hermit play styles.
The Wild Card:
The game has an unpredictability element to it. Any time a player rolls a 7 or chooses to play a Knight Card, that player may place the Robber Token on any hex in the game. This token not only destroys collected resources from all rich (8+ resource cards) players with a settlement on that hex, but it also locks that resource hex down. It won't produce resources until the robber is moved again. This adds more strategy to the game, giving people the ability to engage in simple warfare.
Winning the game:
In order to win the game, you must have 10 Victory Points on your turn. Victory points are accrued through purchase of Development Cards and earning achievements, i.e. having the Longest Road, and /or the Largest Army. Actual gameplay takes about one to two hours.
Further Expansion:
This game is modular in that there have been a number of expansions released for the game that add on further gameplay and strategy. They can also change the way the game is played with the additions of scenarios and missions. These are as follows:
Catan Seafarers:
Radically changes the game board layout, adding the ability to create multiple islands and build trade routes between them.
Catan Cities & Knights:
Adds additional tactics by expanding the usefulness of cities and knights, as well as adding three new resources and a rogue barbarian element to the game.
Catan Traders & Barbarians:
A compilation pack composed of smaller expansions, this pack adds new tokens, resources and tiles, and of course, additional rules that allows for barbarian invasions. Also introduces castles.
Catan Explorers & Pirates:
Expands the game to three different islands and adds ship tokens. While the main island is visible, the other two island layouts are not revealed until they are explored. Adds pirates to the equation, too, which can demand tribute, or can be captured for vast rewards.
Note: While Traders & Barbarians will combine well with the other expansion packs, it's not advisable to combine any of the others, as the rules for each pack radically tailors the game to a specific ruleset. Combining them will only make the game confusing and slow play down.
Hope you enjoyed!
fluffygryphon
Oh well... I'll just watch Wil Wheaton play it on Tabletop.