There are enormous amounts of board games that make a quick splash onto the scene and then disappear quietly into the night, like an sulking beaver or any number of furry rodents. (I'll pause here for a brief moment of applause for that sweet metaphor. Thank you.)
A true board game classic comes by only once in a decade or so and has to contain some great, creative element, that keeps it accessible and re-playable. Monopoly is a fantastic classic because it contains chance, franchise building and a world that affects all participants. Risk is a classic because it involves strategy, chance and action turns. These board games have become legend because of their high replay value, their accessibility to any generation, and their depth in strategy options mixed together with a healthy amount of chance and good luck.
It takes a lot to become a great, certified classic board game these days. To most shoppers, the board game department has been looking mighty bleak for a dozen years now. With video games dominating the market and the attention of all spectrum's of the family, it's no surprise that board games have to work extra hard to earn any kind of play time. Especially when it comes to family time. However, where others have fallen, one game stands alone and proud, and that game is The Settlers of Cataan.
Everything about The Settlers of Cataan will have you reaching back into your bag of old strategy tricks, and then finding some new ones. It's simultaneously like everything you played, and yet unlike anything you've ever played. It has great accessibility for all ages, and is not geared for any specific gender. So how about some details then? What makes The Settlers of Cataan so darn great already?
Cataan is a game about cultivating resources and strategically growing the prosperity of your settlers. You are playing against other people, yet unlike Monopoly you don't have to grind them to dust to become victorious. It's interesting fun just watching people's communities grow according to their actions. There is lots of action involved among the players bartering for trades, and looking for good real estate. It's fun to see how valuable something is, according to who needs and wants it. Who's building armies, and who's building roads? It's seriously addictive fun. One thing that's great about Cataan is seeing someone step out of their typical board game comfort zone, and experience something new and fresh. Expect them to remark that they haven't had that much fun playing a board game in ages.
The Settlers of Cataan has become wildly successful, selling more than 15 million copies. To put that in perspective, that is more copies than the video game Halo 3, which nearly everybody knows about. It has been translated into over 30 languages. To put it mildly, its a big deal globally.
If you want to try something new on a Sunday night, you could do no better than The Settlers of Cataan. Give it a whirl, and don't be surprised when Sunday night becomes "Cataan" night. There are even several expansion packs that you can get, adding to the story and the world of Cataan. This truly is the best board game that you've never heard of. If you want to buy The Settlers of Cataan, you can do so here. We keep the best price on the internet for two reasons: we love this game, and we want to share how great it is with the world.
--- Radar Toys
Thursday, February 17, 2011
Thursday, February 3, 2011
About Settlers of Catan the Card Game
The Settlers of Catan card game contains 120 cards, 1 production die, 1 event die, 1 knight token, 1 windmill token and a rule book. The rule book is 32 pages so this is a very brief overview of the game which is very complex. The one advantage of the card game is that it is designed for two players, unlike the Settlers of Catan board game which requires at least three players. There is a variation of the board game in the Traders and Barbarians of Catan Expansion Pack that does allow for two players.
The initial setup for this game is quite complex and somewhat time consuming. Each player starts with nine cards, 2 settlement, 1 road and 6 regions cards. The road goes in the center of each player's set up with settlements on each side and the settlements are surrounded by the regions cards, which are placed diagonally at the four corners. The six regions cards produce resources, ore, grain, wool, brick, timber and gold.
When the initial setup is completed the cards are divided into 10 piles. The development cards are sorted into road, city, settlement and region. Event cards create a fifth pile. The expansion deck is divided into 5 piles. Each player looks through one of the 5 piles of the expansion deck and chooses 3 cards to start. Now you're ready to start playing.
Each player rolls the dice, takes the actions they choose and ends their turn. The event die is the first to be rolled. The event die has five icons representing Tournament, commerce, brigand, year of plenty and event. In the tournament, each player totals his knights tournament points and the winner gets a resource. Commerce allows the player with the most commerce to take a resource from his opponent. Brigand means that any player with more than 7 unprotected resources loses all his ore and wool. The year of plenty allows each player to choose one resource and event allow the top card from the event deck to be played.
The production die is numbered and is played in much the same way as it is in the Settlers of Catan board game.
The card game has a bank. When you take actions, you can trade either with your opponent or the bank. You can develop by trading resources for roads, settlement and cities and you can expand your cities. The expansion cards can increase the resources of some regions and can also earn victory points. You can build garrisons which protect your resources against brigands.
At the end of each players turn they replenish their deck cards to 3. If you didn't play any cards during your turn, you may exchange one of your expansion cards.
While the set up and rules of the game are somewhat complex, the game provides excellent entertainment and lots of ways to win. It depends heavily on strategy and very little on luck. The design of the game is attractive and high quality. You may have to play this a few times to get the hang of it and you'll need to keep the rule book handy for reference.
The initial setup for this game is quite complex and somewhat time consuming. Each player starts with nine cards, 2 settlement, 1 road and 6 regions cards. The road goes in the center of each player's set up with settlements on each side and the settlements are surrounded by the regions cards, which are placed diagonally at the four corners. The six regions cards produce resources, ore, grain, wool, brick, timber and gold.
When the initial setup is completed the cards are divided into 10 piles. The development cards are sorted into road, city, settlement and region. Event cards create a fifth pile. The expansion deck is divided into 5 piles. Each player looks through one of the 5 piles of the expansion deck and chooses 3 cards to start. Now you're ready to start playing.
Each player rolls the dice, takes the actions they choose and ends their turn. The event die is the first to be rolled. The event die has five icons representing Tournament, commerce, brigand, year of plenty and event. In the tournament, each player totals his knights tournament points and the winner gets a resource. Commerce allows the player with the most commerce to take a resource from his opponent. Brigand means that any player with more than 7 unprotected resources loses all his ore and wool. The year of plenty allows each player to choose one resource and event allow the top card from the event deck to be played.
The production die is numbered and is played in much the same way as it is in the Settlers of Catan board game.
The card game has a bank. When you take actions, you can trade either with your opponent or the bank. You can develop by trading resources for roads, settlement and cities and you can expand your cities. The expansion cards can increase the resources of some regions and can also earn victory points. You can build garrisons which protect your resources against brigands.
At the end of each players turn they replenish their deck cards to 3. If you didn't play any cards during your turn, you may exchange one of your expansion cards.
While the set up and rules of the game are somewhat complex, the game provides excellent entertainment and lots of ways to win. It depends heavily on strategy and very little on luck. The design of the game is attractive and high quality. You may have to play this a few times to get the hang of it and you'll need to keep the rule book handy for reference.
Review on Settlers of Catan Board Game
Settlers of Catan is one of the most popular games on the market, and I personally like this game due to the great amount of variance that the game offers. Unlike most games that have just a single board that can play on Settlers of Catan’s board can change every single time. This not only helps keep the attention of the game players but also changes of strategy with each game. They accomplish this variety by breaking up the board into several hexagon pieces that are put together at random. In addition to that the board game depends on dice numbers that are placed on each of these hex tiles and those are not fixed, but can change as well. In this manner the land of Catan changes, but also the strategy and rarity of the resources will change from game to game.
The Settlers of Catan board game is also a big win with families and new gamers as it is fairly simple to learn and play. The average time to play this game ranges from 45 to 90 minutes long. There are the rare times where I have played a game within 30 minutes and I have also played with players that drag out the game to 2 hours.
Game play is simple, the point of the game is to build settlements and cities, expand your domain and protect your cards from a robber. This game has a great balance between chance and strategy. The basis of the strategy play is to realize the economics in the game, which resources will be scarce and how to adapt your play. The chance comes into play as the only way to get resources is the roll of the dice. I have played many games where the new player has won just because they randomly picked the numbers (sometimes rare numbers) that were rolled the majority of the time.
Settlers of Catan also is one of my favorite games due to its ability to get people involved. I feel that board games are interactive social events that encourage us to think. Catan accomplishes the social aspect of games by allowing players to barter and trade resources one with another. Trading happens at each turn and spurs a lot of talk with everyone. Sometimes you are not even in a trade, but are trying to persuade for or against the trade. For example if you see that a player is trying to build a road in your way the only way to stop it might be to suggest that another player trade a better deal with you, or not trade at all because they are "winning". Hey if you are a good persuader you have a good chance a winning the game without anyone knowing until it is too late.
Another benefit to Settlers of Catan is the expansions. There are many expansions to the regular game that not only enhance the game play, but also allow more players to participate. If you are looking for a great recommendation I personally would recommend the expansion - Cities and Knights.
Settlers of Catan was the first real board game that I played that introduced me into a whole world of strategy and fun. Not only do I love this game, it has also won the hearts of many families across the world and is growing into one of the top selling non-traditional games of this decade. If you have not heard or played Settlers of Catan I suggest that you try it today!
With the best price online I would check out: http://www.Radartoys.com
The Settlers of Catan board game is also a big win with families and new gamers as it is fairly simple to learn and play. The average time to play this game ranges from 45 to 90 minutes long. There are the rare times where I have played a game within 30 minutes and I have also played with players that drag out the game to 2 hours.
Game play is simple, the point of the game is to build settlements and cities, expand your domain and protect your cards from a robber. This game has a great balance between chance and strategy. The basis of the strategy play is to realize the economics in the game, which resources will be scarce and how to adapt your play. The chance comes into play as the only way to get resources is the roll of the dice. I have played many games where the new player has won just because they randomly picked the numbers (sometimes rare numbers) that were rolled the majority of the time.
Settlers of Catan also is one of my favorite games due to its ability to get people involved. I feel that board games are interactive social events that encourage us to think. Catan accomplishes the social aspect of games by allowing players to barter and trade resources one with another. Trading happens at each turn and spurs a lot of talk with everyone. Sometimes you are not even in a trade, but are trying to persuade for or against the trade. For example if you see that a player is trying to build a road in your way the only way to stop it might be to suggest that another player trade a better deal with you, or not trade at all because they are "winning". Hey if you are a good persuader you have a good chance a winning the game without anyone knowing until it is too late.
Another benefit to Settlers of Catan is the expansions. There are many expansions to the regular game that not only enhance the game play, but also allow more players to participate. If you are looking for a great recommendation I personally would recommend the expansion - Cities and Knights.
Settlers of Catan was the first real board game that I played that introduced me into a whole world of strategy and fun. Not only do I love this game, it has also won the hearts of many families across the world and is growing into one of the top selling non-traditional games of this decade. If you have not heard or played Settlers of Catan I suggest that you try it today!
With the best price online I would check out: http://www.Radartoys.com
Strategies for Settlers of Catan the Board Game
Like most games, a successful strategy is required to win at Settlers of Catan. On this page I will discuss many strategies I have seen/employed, starting with the basics and then moving onto more advanced topics. You should have played Settlers of Catan at least once before reading this page as I will be assuming you have a firm grasp on all the rules. Without further adieu, here are six basic tactics which will greatly improve your game.
1.) Expand early - In Settlers the earlier you build a settlement, the more resources it will provide overall. So, focus first on building more settlements before you start going for longest road or buying development cards. Also, you should make sure to expand into areas where you are contending with other opponents over a spot for a settlement first, if you think you have a good chance of getting that settlement before they do. Finally, though building cities is a form of expansion because it increases your resource production, it is generally better to build a settlement in the early game since settlements increase the variety of resources you generate and also take away the opportunity for your opponents to generate those resources.
2.) Brick for the win - In a game of Settlers of Catan which does not include any major expansions (Seafarers or Cities and Knights), brick is the most valuable resource. There are only 3 brick and 3 ore tiles while there are 4 of every other type. While ore is necessary for cities (which you need at least one of to win), brick is necessary for roads and settlements, both of which are the cornerstone of early expansion, which is absolutely necessary to win. So, since there are less brick tiles, and it has a larger demand than rock, it is the most valuable resource on average and you should remember this while trading. Towards the end of the game, however, it loses some of its value. But early on you should recognize its importance and use in trading and your placement of the first settlements. Keep in mind that wood is also extremely important in the early game, though not as important as brick since there will generally be more wood around. Finally, while this advice is good for most games, ignore it if you are playing a game in which there is a huge surplus of brick. Just remember that overall brick is the most useful resource out of the five.
3.) Trading for fun and profit - Being a shrewd trader in Settlers of Catan is a big part of winning. To do this you should trade "intelligently" and trade "aggressively". Trading "intelligently" means making sure that in every trade you make, you are progressing further than your opponents. So, it's fine to do pretty much any trade with a player 3 or more victory points behing you, though a trade with a player who has more victory points that you should be regarded carefully because you don't want to help them more than you help yourself. Trading "intelligently" also requires that you watch all your opponents and keep track of what resources they have (to the best of your ability) and what resources you think they are looking for. Trading "aggressively" means that you trade as often as you can, without enabling your opponents. Every time you trade you should be helping yourself. When two of your opponents trade with each other, that is two people you are competing with who have just been given advantages. If you are part of a trade only one opponent is being helped, so you should always try to be part of a trade before an opponent (as long as the trade is an "intelligent" one). Trading in general also requires that you evaluate the board and see which resources are going to be rare, and which will be abundant. Then make sure to treat the rare resources as more valuable in order to get a greater deal for them. Don't be afraid to ask for 2, or even sometimes 3 resources in return for a single rare one. Trading well is a skill you will learn over time, but remember to be "intelligent" and "aggressive" and your progress will be much quicker.
4.) The robber: how to lose friends in five seconds or less - Ah the robber, that pesky unit which you hate to see next to your city on that 6 brick, but love to see stealing from your opponents. The robber is a means for players to keep one another from getting too far ahead of the pack. However, many times when you roll a 7 there won't be a runaway leader and you will need to decide where to place it. Here is some advice for these cases. First, you should be placing a robber on a tile with a 5,6,8, or 9 since it will deprive your opponents of more resources that way. Second, if an opponent is currently competing directly with you for a spot to build a settlement, try to target them with the robber. Third, try to place the robber on someone you know has a rare resource, or a high amount of a certain resource you are in need of at the time. Fourth, try to hurt as many opponents as possible when placing the robber by placing it on a tile which 2 or three opponents have cities/settlements on. Fifth, and finally, target cities over settlements with the robber since it will stop more resources from being produced that way.
Where, oh where, should my settlement be? - In my opinion the most important decisions you will make in Settlers of Catan are the placements of your two starting settlements. It's so important that I have created a guide on this sole topic for your viewing. At the end of placing the settlements, some players have already lost the game because their settlements are on poor production tiles and/or they have little room for expansion. So, no pressure, but you better not drop the ball on that initial placement. How to place your settlements is very dependent on which place you are in for the order of placement. If you are first or second, then you should pick the best available spot on the board. The best spot on the board is the one which has three different resources on it (hopefully one of which is brick or wood, though if two are wheat and ore that is nice as well) and a total number of dots on the three tiles next to the spot equal to 12 or 13. If you haven't noticed already, each number which you place on a tile has some dots below the number. The more dots on a number, the more likely it will be rolled. So, something like a spot next to wood, brick, and sheep with a 6, 9, and 5 is an amazing spot, possibly the best you will ever see. There should only be one or two of those on the whole board. The first two placements should follow this advice fairly strictly. The third and fourth players' placements are where things get interesting. At this point all the obvious best placements should have been taken up. Now you are left with some locations that have a 6 or an 8 next to it and then things like 10, 4, 3, and 11's. So, the actual resources on the tiles becomes more important in your selection. Now put a little more value on the resources which will be rare in the game and place accordingly. Also, look for high-producing tiles of a resource close to a 2:1 port of that same resource. The fourth player should especially look for a good way to take advantage of a 2:1 port since they will know exactly where both of their settlements are going. All placements before this one should not put much emphasis on a nearby port.
As settlement placement comes back around continue to try to maximize the amount of dots you get with your settlement. However, try to not place a second settlement on the same numbers your first is already on. This causes your resources to come in large bursts which will more easily be lost due to a seven being rolled. Also, try to add some variety to the resources your settlements are next to, or try to get a lot of a single resource if you are near a port for that type. Finally, try to place your settlement somewhere near a couple decent spots to build new settlements on. The right decision for settlement placement differs each game, and most often must be evaluated on a situation-by-situation basis. However, following these tips will help, and always remember that it is usually better to put a settlement on a spot with more dots than base the placement on the type of resources it provides.
6.) Three roads to victory - After playing a couple of games of Settlers of Catan you will notice that there are 2 distinct paths to victory, and a possible third which walks the line between the two. The first way to victory is one where you build a lot of settlements and get the longest road. This one relies heavily on brick and wood and needs very little wheat or rock. To win using this strategy place your initial settlements such that you get a lot of brick or wood and some access to the other. Also, make sure you have plenty of space nearby to expand to. Then, start building settlements as fast as possible, pausing at some point in the middle to build one or two cities. Once you are at 6-7 victory points start making a real push for the longest road if you don't already have it. If either brick or wood are very rare in this game and you aren't on the largest supply of them, this strategy will probably not work for you. However, I have found it to be the most effective when it is possible to use.
The next major strategy is to build a lot of cities and get the largest army. This requires that your initial two settlements are placed on good supplies of ore and wheat, ore being the more important of the two. To begin you should try to build a quick settlement either on a nearby port, or on a good spot ore/wheat/sheep nearby. Then, focus on building cities, and buy one development card almost every time you get the chance. Since getting largest army is much harder than largest road (due largely to the fact you can only play one soldier card per turn), you need to start building your army in the early game. After building one or two cities you should focus on building one more settlement. Then, stay put and focus on getting all four of your cities built and keeping largest army. If you're lucky you might even get a couple of victory points from development cards along the way. Remember, never show these until the turn on which you declare victory. This strategy will fail if you do not have good initial placement which gives you plenty of ore. Some people argue this strategy is hurt more easily by the robber. While this is true, you will have plenty of soldier cards which you can use to move it off your cities. Remember that you can play a soldier card on your turn before rolling the dice.
The last strategy is a mix between the above two. I find that I use the first strategy the most, and this one the next most often. The trick to this one is making sure you are always on a wide variety of resources which produce well. It grants you greater flexibility to the changing winds of the game, but its greatest weakness is it is harder to get largest army or longest road using it. It is almost necessary for you to have one of these two bonuses in order to win. So, at some point early in the game while using this strategy, you need to pick which of these two bonuses you will strive for and hold back from pouring resources into the other. This strategy works well when neither of the above two is available, but requires better skills at trading.
I guess I will leave you with a good luck!
1.) Expand early - In Settlers the earlier you build a settlement, the more resources it will provide overall. So, focus first on building more settlements before you start going for longest road or buying development cards. Also, you should make sure to expand into areas where you are contending with other opponents over a spot for a settlement first, if you think you have a good chance of getting that settlement before they do. Finally, though building cities is a form of expansion because it increases your resource production, it is generally better to build a settlement in the early game since settlements increase the variety of resources you generate and also take away the opportunity for your opponents to generate those resources.
2.) Brick for the win - In a game of Settlers of Catan which does not include any major expansions (Seafarers or Cities and Knights), brick is the most valuable resource. There are only 3 brick and 3 ore tiles while there are 4 of every other type. While ore is necessary for cities (which you need at least one of to win), brick is necessary for roads and settlements, both of which are the cornerstone of early expansion, which is absolutely necessary to win. So, since there are less brick tiles, and it has a larger demand than rock, it is the most valuable resource on average and you should remember this while trading. Towards the end of the game, however, it loses some of its value. But early on you should recognize its importance and use in trading and your placement of the first settlements. Keep in mind that wood is also extremely important in the early game, though not as important as brick since there will generally be more wood around. Finally, while this advice is good for most games, ignore it if you are playing a game in which there is a huge surplus of brick. Just remember that overall brick is the most useful resource out of the five.
3.) Trading for fun and profit - Being a shrewd trader in Settlers of Catan is a big part of winning. To do this you should trade "intelligently" and trade "aggressively". Trading "intelligently" means making sure that in every trade you make, you are progressing further than your opponents. So, it's fine to do pretty much any trade with a player 3 or more victory points behing you, though a trade with a player who has more victory points that you should be regarded carefully because you don't want to help them more than you help yourself. Trading "intelligently" also requires that you watch all your opponents and keep track of what resources they have (to the best of your ability) and what resources you think they are looking for. Trading "aggressively" means that you trade as often as you can, without enabling your opponents. Every time you trade you should be helping yourself. When two of your opponents trade with each other, that is two people you are competing with who have just been given advantages. If you are part of a trade only one opponent is being helped, so you should always try to be part of a trade before an opponent (as long as the trade is an "intelligent" one). Trading in general also requires that you evaluate the board and see which resources are going to be rare, and which will be abundant. Then make sure to treat the rare resources as more valuable in order to get a greater deal for them. Don't be afraid to ask for 2, or even sometimes 3 resources in return for a single rare one. Trading well is a skill you will learn over time, but remember to be "intelligent" and "aggressive" and your progress will be much quicker.
4.) The robber: how to lose friends in five seconds or less - Ah the robber, that pesky unit which you hate to see next to your city on that 6 brick, but love to see stealing from your opponents. The robber is a means for players to keep one another from getting too far ahead of the pack. However, many times when you roll a 7 there won't be a runaway leader and you will need to decide where to place it. Here is some advice for these cases. First, you should be placing a robber on a tile with a 5,6,8, or 9 since it will deprive your opponents of more resources that way. Second, if an opponent is currently competing directly with you for a spot to build a settlement, try to target them with the robber. Third, try to place the robber on someone you know has a rare resource, or a high amount of a certain resource you are in need of at the time. Fourth, try to hurt as many opponents as possible when placing the robber by placing it on a tile which 2 or three opponents have cities/settlements on. Fifth, and finally, target cities over settlements with the robber since it will stop more resources from being produced that way.
Where, oh where, should my settlement be? - In my opinion the most important decisions you will make in Settlers of Catan are the placements of your two starting settlements. It's so important that I have created a guide on this sole topic for your viewing. At the end of placing the settlements, some players have already lost the game because their settlements are on poor production tiles and/or they have little room for expansion. So, no pressure, but you better not drop the ball on that initial placement. How to place your settlements is very dependent on which place you are in for the order of placement. If you are first or second, then you should pick the best available spot on the board. The best spot on the board is the one which has three different resources on it (hopefully one of which is brick or wood, though if two are wheat and ore that is nice as well) and a total number of dots on the three tiles next to the spot equal to 12 or 13. If you haven't noticed already, each number which you place on a tile has some dots below the number. The more dots on a number, the more likely it will be rolled. So, something like a spot next to wood, brick, and sheep with a 6, 9, and 5 is an amazing spot, possibly the best you will ever see. There should only be one or two of those on the whole board. The first two placements should follow this advice fairly strictly. The third and fourth players' placements are where things get interesting. At this point all the obvious best placements should have been taken up. Now you are left with some locations that have a 6 or an 8 next to it and then things like 10, 4, 3, and 11's. So, the actual resources on the tiles becomes more important in your selection. Now put a little more value on the resources which will be rare in the game and place accordingly. Also, look for high-producing tiles of a resource close to a 2:1 port of that same resource. The fourth player should especially look for a good way to take advantage of a 2:1 port since they will know exactly where both of their settlements are going. All placements before this one should not put much emphasis on a nearby port.
As settlement placement comes back around continue to try to maximize the amount of dots you get with your settlement. However, try to not place a second settlement on the same numbers your first is already on. This causes your resources to come in large bursts which will more easily be lost due to a seven being rolled. Also, try to add some variety to the resources your settlements are next to, or try to get a lot of a single resource if you are near a port for that type. Finally, try to place your settlement somewhere near a couple decent spots to build new settlements on. The right decision for settlement placement differs each game, and most often must be evaluated on a situation-by-situation basis. However, following these tips will help, and always remember that it is usually better to put a settlement on a spot with more dots than base the placement on the type of resources it provides.
6.) Three roads to victory - After playing a couple of games of Settlers of Catan you will notice that there are 2 distinct paths to victory, and a possible third which walks the line between the two. The first way to victory is one where you build a lot of settlements and get the longest road. This one relies heavily on brick and wood and needs very little wheat or rock. To win using this strategy place your initial settlements such that you get a lot of brick or wood and some access to the other. Also, make sure you have plenty of space nearby to expand to. Then, start building settlements as fast as possible, pausing at some point in the middle to build one or two cities. Once you are at 6-7 victory points start making a real push for the longest road if you don't already have it. If either brick or wood are very rare in this game and you aren't on the largest supply of them, this strategy will probably not work for you. However, I have found it to be the most effective when it is possible to use.
The next major strategy is to build a lot of cities and get the largest army. This requires that your initial two settlements are placed on good supplies of ore and wheat, ore being the more important of the two. To begin you should try to build a quick settlement either on a nearby port, or on a good spot ore/wheat/sheep nearby. Then, focus on building cities, and buy one development card almost every time you get the chance. Since getting largest army is much harder than largest road (due largely to the fact you can only play one soldier card per turn), you need to start building your army in the early game. After building one or two cities you should focus on building one more settlement. Then, stay put and focus on getting all four of your cities built and keeping largest army. If you're lucky you might even get a couple of victory points from development cards along the way. Remember, never show these until the turn on which you declare victory. This strategy will fail if you do not have good initial placement which gives you plenty of ore. Some people argue this strategy is hurt more easily by the robber. While this is true, you will have plenty of soldier cards which you can use to move it off your cities. Remember that you can play a soldier card on your turn before rolling the dice.
The last strategy is a mix between the above two. I find that I use the first strategy the most, and this one the next most often. The trick to this one is making sure you are always on a wide variety of resources which produce well. It grants you greater flexibility to the changing winds of the game, but its greatest weakness is it is harder to get largest army or longest road using it. It is almost necessary for you to have one of these two bonuses in order to win. So, at some point early in the game while using this strategy, you need to pick which of these two bonuses you will strive for and hold back from pouring resources into the other. This strategy works well when neither of the above two is available, but requires better skills at trading.
I guess I will leave you with a good luck!
How I Would Play Settlers of Catan the Board Game With 2 Players
I’ve found a couple of adapted rule set so that you can play it with two players, but none of them felt completely right. What we’re playing with now is mainly based on the rules from this website, with a small change.
1. No Trading: Players may only trade with the bank. It’s rare that both players will agree to a trade anyway, so we just scrap that away completely.
2. Throw Dice Twice: At the start of each players turn, the player throws the dice twice and resources are collected for both throws. If a 7 is thrown on the first roll, the robber is controlled by the player with the least victory points (if victory points are tied, the player who rolled the dice controls the robber). If a 7 is thrown during the second roll, the control of the robber stays with the player who threw the dice.
3. #Victory Points is 12-15: This depends on how fast a game you want. If you want a reasonably fast game, go for 12 points. If you want a more difficult longer game, go to 15. With 15 points it’s really about making smart investments; you can’t win with only settlements/cities, you need the longest road or the largest army to collect that many victory points.
4. Card Limit is 9: Instead of holding a limit of 7 cards in your hand when the robber is thrown, you can hold now 9. This is because there is no trade opportunity anymore with other players, so you need more cards to obtain your goals.
5. Open Victory Points from Development Cards: Whenever you draw a Development Card giving you victory points, you must play it right away. This is because otherwise the first roll robber rule doesn’t make sense, giving control of the robber sometimes to the stronger player only because his victory points are “hidden” (besides most of the time you know that when a development card is lying for ages in front of a person, it’s a victory point).
For the rest the rules are all the same; you play with the same type of board and setup of the resources. There’s no difference there. I still prefer playing the game with 3 players (with 4 there is just no room to maneuver properly on the board), but sometimes we’re only with the two of us and still want to play.
1. No Trading: Players may only trade with the bank. It’s rare that both players will agree to a trade anyway, so we just scrap that away completely.
2. Throw Dice Twice: At the start of each players turn, the player throws the dice twice and resources are collected for both throws. If a 7 is thrown on the first roll, the robber is controlled by the player with the least victory points (if victory points are tied, the player who rolled the dice controls the robber). If a 7 is thrown during the second roll, the control of the robber stays with the player who threw the dice.
3. #Victory Points is 12-15: This depends on how fast a game you want. If you want a reasonably fast game, go for 12 points. If you want a more difficult longer game, go to 15. With 15 points it’s really about making smart investments; you can’t win with only settlements/cities, you need the longest road or the largest army to collect that many victory points.
4. Card Limit is 9: Instead of holding a limit of 7 cards in your hand when the robber is thrown, you can hold now 9. This is because there is no trade opportunity anymore with other players, so you need more cards to obtain your goals.
5. Open Victory Points from Development Cards: Whenever you draw a Development Card giving you victory points, you must play it right away. This is because otherwise the first roll robber rule doesn’t make sense, giving control of the robber sometimes to the stronger player only because his victory points are “hidden” (besides most of the time you know that when a development card is lying for ages in front of a person, it’s a victory point).
For the rest the rules are all the same; you play with the same type of board and setup of the resources. There’s no difference there. I still prefer playing the game with 3 players (with 4 there is just no room to maneuver properly on the board), but sometimes we’re only with the two of us and still want to play.
What and Why to Play Settlers of Catan Board Game
Settlers of Catan was first published Germany in 1995, and since that time this board game has developed a huge following around the world. The game is suitable for anyone above ten years of age, and it has become a real family favorite as well as claiming many devoted serious gamers. The rules are simple enough to pick up but the game play is engaging enough to keep people entertained every time they play. This is an award winning game that has managed to become the German game of the year in 1995 and the US game of the year in 1996. It had grown way beyond the board and you can now play it in different formats such as video game, card game, as well as online.
The idea behind the game-play is quite straight forward. Up to four players can participate, and the aim is to colonize the island of Catan. In order to do this you will need to rely on strategy as well as a bit of luck. The players don't directly compete against one another, and nobody gets knocked out of the game; this makes it especially fun for families and other groups of people. Your goal is to manage scarce resources in such a way that you gain victory points; when you have collected ten victory points you have won the game. Along the way you will build settlements, cities, roads, and create an army.
The really fabulous thing about Settlers of Catan is that every time you play the game you will be facing a different board; this means that players can play the game for a long time without boredom becoming an issue.
I personally know people who have played the game many dozens of times and they just keep coming back for more.
The randomness of the layout is one of the real unique features of the game, and is a definite part of the reason for its popularity.
The game board is made up of an island surrounded by the sea. The island itself is made up of hexagon shaped tiles. When you set up the Settlers of Catan board you randomly distribute tiles; these represent different types of land. Once you begin the game you have two settlements and two roads, and you can place these on any corner of the board. There are resource cards distributed to each player that let you know what resources are touching your settlements. These resources include; wood, grain, ore, brick, and lumber. The players can spend their resource cards by matching them with the appropriate land tile. Throughout the game two dice are used to determine how successful the resources are doing, and to give players the opportunity to win more resource cards. They need to avoid getting a seven though, because this will mean that a hex can't produce resources for a while.
Settlers of Catan is a great for those who have been away from this type of game for a while or who have never played anything remotely like this previously. This is definitely the type of game that will reinvigorate your interest, or turn you into a fan if it is your first time and possibly even and addict.
The idea behind the game-play is quite straight forward. Up to four players can participate, and the aim is to colonize the island of Catan. In order to do this you will need to rely on strategy as well as a bit of luck. The players don't directly compete against one another, and nobody gets knocked out of the game; this makes it especially fun for families and other groups of people. Your goal is to manage scarce resources in such a way that you gain victory points; when you have collected ten victory points you have won the game. Along the way you will build settlements, cities, roads, and create an army.
The really fabulous thing about Settlers of Catan is that every time you play the game you will be facing a different board; this means that players can play the game for a long time without boredom becoming an issue.
I personally know people who have played the game many dozens of times and they just keep coming back for more.
The randomness of the layout is one of the real unique features of the game, and is a definite part of the reason for its popularity.
The game board is made up of an island surrounded by the sea. The island itself is made up of hexagon shaped tiles. When you set up the Settlers of Catan board you randomly distribute tiles; these represent different types of land. Once you begin the game you have two settlements and two roads, and you can place these on any corner of the board. There are resource cards distributed to each player that let you know what resources are touching your settlements. These resources include; wood, grain, ore, brick, and lumber. The players can spend their resource cards by matching them with the appropriate land tile. Throughout the game two dice are used to determine how successful the resources are doing, and to give players the opportunity to win more resource cards. They need to avoid getting a seven though, because this will mean that a hex can't produce resources for a while.
Settlers of Catan is a great for those who have been away from this type of game for a while or who have never played anything remotely like this previously. This is definitely the type of game that will reinvigorate your interest, or turn you into a fan if it is your first time and possibly even and addict.
How to Play Settlers of Catan
The first thing to do is set some things up. Normally, you'd make a different board for each time you play, but for your first few games, just flip this rule book to its backside. There you'll see a lovely diagram. Your goal is to recreate this diagram in the comfort and safety of your own home. Make sure to put the blue hexes with lines and numbers (these are port hexes) in the correct places AND facing the correct way. You will be graded.
After a few moments of respectfully admiring your beautiful Settlers board, everybody rolls the dice. Whoever rolls highest will get to go first and gets first pick of colors. Everybody should take one color of little wooden pieces and claim them as their own. When it's not your turn, you can arrange them into neat little geometric patterns and try to balance the houses on the roads.
What do we do with beautiful, pristine, undeveloped land? Build things on it, of course! There are two ways to start this, and one is easier than the other, but I'll tell you both ways anyway. The easy way is to just duplicate the arrangement of little wooden houses (AKA settlements) and little wooden roads that you see on the back of the rule book. Then pick one of the settlements of your color and take a resource card for each hex around it. If you're playing with 3 players, you'll have to remove one color. Pages 5-6 in the rules tells you which hexes produce which resources. Once you've done that, you can skip the next few paragraphs (up to the "OK" on the next page), and start playing. But that's the easy way out and it gets repetitive if you try it too many times (especially since red always wins), so I'd recommend the more detailed start-up rules.
The first player takes one of his little wooden houses and one of his little wooden roads and places them on the board. Houses go on the intersection of three hexes; roads go on the edge between two hexes. See the back of the rule book if this isn't clear. Make sure your road is right next to your settlement (it's a rule). There's all sorts of complex strategy to consider here, but ignore that for now. Just toss them anywhere you want.
Go around clockwise and let each player place a settlement and a road. The only new rule to worry about is all settlements must be at least two intersections away from any other settlement. Other than that, just have fun.
Once all players have placed one settlement and one road, the player who went last gets to place another settlement and another road. Yep, that player gets two in a row. Then go back around counter-clockwise until all players have two settlements and two roads on the board. And as an added bonus, when you place your second settlement, you get free stuff. Free stuff means one resource card from each hex which that settlement touches.
OK, now you're ready to start playing. When it's your turn, roll the dice. Find all the hexes which have that number on them. Everybody gets one resource card for each settlement they have that touches that hex. After you roll the dice, you can trade resource cards with any other player. You can also trade in 4 of any one resource to the bank for 1 of the resource of your choice. And what do you do with all these lovely resource cards? Buy things. The exchange rates are shown on the handy Building Cost cards. Pull one out and look at it.
ROADS: You've already seen how to place them. Just give a wood card and a brick card to the bank and it's yours. Small rule: any new roads you build must connect to something you've already built.
SETTLEMENTS: You've seen these, too. Like roads, any new settlements you build must touch a road you already have.
CITIES: Settlements not good enough for you? Then get ready for the big time. When you build a city, remove a settlement you already have and replace it with one of the big wooden houses. From now on, whenever any of the hexes that it touches are rolled, you get 2 resource cards instead of 1.
CARDS: If you like randomness, development cards are for you. They do all sorts of stuff; the text on the card should give you the basic idea. More detail is available on pages 8-9 of the long rules.
If you roll a "7" at the start of your turn, nothing produces, anyone with more than 7 cards must discard half of their cards (round down), and the robber moves to a new hex. The robber halts production on that hex until he is moved again and allows the player who moved him to steal a random resource card from one player who has a settlement or city touching that hex.
If you build on a port hex (remember those? no? They're the water hexes with numbers and lines), you can make special trades. If it says "3:1," you can trade 3 of the same resource for 1 of any resource. If it says "2:1," you can trade 2 of the resource printed on the hex for 1 of any resource.
That's basically how you play the game. The only important thing I haven't mentioned is how to win. To win, you must have 10 Victory Points (VPs)at the end of your turn. Settlements are each worth 1 VP, cities are each worth 2 VPs, some Development cards give you extra VPs, and having the longest contiguous road of at least 5 roads or the largest army of at least 3 Knights (which are one kind of Development card) is worth 2 VPs. That's all you need to know for now.
Once you're familiar with this stuff, I strongly recommend you read the long rules. They have all sorts of useful information: random setup rules for when you get bored of the board on the back of the rule book, advanced strategy so you can always win, and all those nit-picky rules that will help you avoid getting into fist fights over whether or not Art can play his Knight card before he rolls the dice (he can). Thanks for playing. Have fun.
OVERVIEW
In Settlers of Catan, each player represents a group of settlers who have landed on the remote island of Catan. The goal of the game is to become the dominant group on the island by acquiring Victory Points. Victory Points are earned by building settlements and cities, by having the longest road or the largest army, or by purchasing certain cards.
Building requires resources. Each settlement or city receives resources based on the nearby terrain. Forests produce wood, mountains produce ore, hills produce bricks, plains produce grain, and pastures produce sheep. Players can use these resources to build settlements, roads, and cities. Resources can also be exchanged for development cards that contain knights or other advantages.
The game is played in turns. Going clockwise, each player starts their turn by rolling two dice. The number rolled determines which terrain produces resources. All players who have settlements or cities adjacent to those areas gain the corresponding resources. After rolling, a player can trade resources with other players or with the bank, and can buy settlements, roads, cities or cards from the bank with these resources. The winner is the first player to have 10 Victory Points on their turn.
SETUP
1. Lay hexes
2. Lay numbers
3. Distribute stuff
4. Roll for first
5. Place starting cities
Lay Hexes
The hexes are used to create the game board. First, separate the land hexes from the water hexes. Take the land hexes and shuffle them (face down). Once they have been thoroughly mixed up, arrange them into a hexagon. Any method that keeps the placement random will work, but the method shown in Figure 1 is recommended: start by laying five hexes in a straight line. Then add four hexes on the right of the five, four on the left, three on the right and finally three on the left.
Now take all the water hexes and separate them into port hexes (with lines, numbers and symbols on them) and plain water hexes. Shuffle the port hexes face down and place them around the edge of the island. Starting with the far edge of one of the corners of the board (preferably the closest one), place a port hex in every other available spot (Fig. 2). Rotate the hexes so they face toward the center of the board (Fig. 3). The sets of ports that touch two land hexes (i.e., 2&3, 5&6, 8&9) should be parallel to each other, each facing a row of 4 land hexes. Once all the port hexes have been placed, fill in the remaining spots with plain water hexes, as in Figure 3.
Lay Numbers
The number counters have a letter on one side and a number on the other. The size of the number correlates to the probability of rolling that number on 2 6-sided dice (see Probabilities). This number is used to determine when the hex produces resources.
Flip all the counters over so only the letters are visible. Start by placing the "A" counter on a corner hex (preferrably the closest one). Place the rest in alphabetical order on all land hexes skipping over the desert hex (Fig. 4), progressing counter-clockwise around the entire outer circle. Once the outer circle is complete, continue counter-clockwise into the middle circle, starting with the hex just inside of the first hex (marked "A"). Finally, place the last letter on the middle hex (unless it is the desert). The completed arrangement is shown in Figure 4. Once all the letters have been placed, flip them all over so the numbers are visible.
Distribute stuff
Each player selects a color and takes the 5 settlements, 4 cities and 15 roads of that color. Each player also receives a Building Cost card, which shows the cost of all the items that can be built or purchased.
Sort the resource cards into five piles and set them aside, face up.
Shuffle the development cards and set them aside face down.
Roll for first
Each player rolls two dice. The player who rolls the highest number goes first. If two players tie for the highest number, they re-roll.
Place starting settlements
Each player starts the game with two settlements and two roads. Each player places one settlement and one road at a time, starting with the player who rolled highest.
How to place settlements:
Settlements are placed on the intersection of three hexes (see capital letters in the diagram on the next page). Settlements can be placed on any intersection that includes a land hex, including intersections that touch water hexes. All settlements must be placed at least two intersections away from any other settlement.
Each settlement touches three different hexes. These hexes determine the resources that the settlement can produce. The number on each hex is the number that must be rolled for that hex to produce its resource.
How to place roads:
Roads are placed on the edge between two hexes (see lower case letters in diagram on the next page). One of these hexes must be a land hex. Each road connects two corners. When a player places a road during setup, it must connect to the settlement that he places with it.
Example:
This example shows the first round of setup building in a three player game. Arne places settlement A and road a. Since settlement A touches a pasture, a hill, and a mountain, it can produce sheep, bricks, or ore depending on which number is rolled. Amy places settlement B and road b. Since settlement B touches a port hex, she will be able to make special trades, as explained below. Since her settlement only touches two land hexes, this settlement can only produce two different resources. Chuck tries to place settlement X. Since this is only one corner away from settlement A, this is an illegal play. He reconsiders and places Settlement C and road c.
Continue clockwise until the last player places a first settlement and road. That player then places a second settlement and road, and placing continues counter-clockwise from that player.
When a player places his second settlement, he receives one resource from each hex touching that settlement. These (up to three) resources are that player's starting resource hand. Once all players have placed two settlements and two roads, regular turns begin. The player who rolled the highest goes first, and play continues clockwise.
Example (continued):
Since Chuck placed the last settlement in the first round of building, he places the first settlement in the second round. He places settlement D and road d. Since settlement D touches a forest, plain and pasture, he collects a wood, a grain, and a sheep as his starting resources. Amy places settlement E and collects two grain and one brick. She tries to place a road on edge X, but realizes that this does not touch the settlement she is playing, so she plays road e instead. Arne places settlement F and road f and collects his resources. He will now take his first turn, and play will continue with Amy.
HEXES
There are eight types of hex: plain, pasture, hill, mountain, forest, desert, port, and water. Five of the six land hexes produce specific resources:
TURN SUMMARY
During a player's turn, he rolls the dice to determine which hexes produce resources, then he can trade resources with other players and build settlements, roads. or cities. A player can trade and buy in any order, even going back and forth from one to the other and can trade and buy as many times as he wants during one turn. If a player has 10 Victory Points at any time during his turn, he wins.
HOW TO PLAY
A player begins his turn by rolling two dice and adding them together. The number he rolls indicates which hexes produce resources. All hexes whose number equals the roll produce their resource. All players (even if it's not their turn) gain one resource card for each settlement touching any of those hexes and two resources for each city that touches the hex. If there aren't enough cards of one resource to give every player all that they deserve, no players receive any of that resource this turn. If a player rolls a "7," no hexes produce resources and the robber moves, as explained below.
After rolling, a player can trade resources with other players. All trades must involve the player whose turn it is; other players may not trade amongst themselves. Players need not offer an equal number of resource cards. Players are allowed to discuss what they have in their hand with other players to facilitate trading. Once a trade is agreed upon, both players exchange the stated resource card(s); they cannot cheat the other player by giving anything other than what was offered. Each trade must contain at least one resource card from each player. Trades can never include Development cards.
In addition to trading with other players, a player can trade resources with the bank. On his turn, a player can trade four of any one resource to the bank in exchange for one of any resource. This is the only type of trade that can be made with the bank unless a player has a settlement or city touching a port hex, as explained below.
In addition to trading, a player can use his resource cards to build settlements, roads, or cities, or to buy cards. The exchange rates are shown on the building cost cards. To build something, a player must discard the appropriate resource cards and take his purchase. When a settlement, road, or city is built, it is immediately placed on the board, as explained below. Each player can only build as many settlements, roads, or cities as he has tokens of that type. Each player has five settlements, four cities and fifteen roads.
PLACING SETTLEMENTS
Settlements cost one brick, one wood, one grain and one sheep to build. They are placed at an intersection where three hexes meet. Settlements can be placed on any intersection of any land hex, including intersections that touch water hexes. All settlements must be placed at least two intersections away from any other settlement or city.
After setup, a player can only place settlements on intersections that connect to his roads. If none of that player's roads touch the intersection he wishes to build on, he must first build roads to that intersection. A player can build at any point along his roads, not just at the ends. Other player's roads do not influence where a player can build settlements.
PLACING ROADS
A road costs one wood and one brick. Roads are placed on the edge between two hexes, connecting two intersections. At least one of these hexes must be a land hex. Once a player has built on that edge, no other player can build there; there can only be one road on each edge.
Every road that a player builds must connect to one of his existing roads, settlements, or cities. If a player builds a settlement or city at the end of one of another player's roads, the second player cannot build from that intersection. If a player builds a settlement or city in the middle of a chain of another player's roads, the second player can still build roads connecting to the roads on either side of that settlement or city.
PLACING CITIES
Cities cost three grain and two ore. They replace settlements. When a player purchases a city, he removes one of his settlements from the board and places a city on that intersection. A city produces two resources instead of one from all adjacent hexes. Note that a player can build a settlement on an intersection and immediately upgrade it to a city if that player has sufficient resources.
Example:
Amy has been saving up her resources for a while. She decides to splurge and build one of everything. She gives three grain and two ore to the bank and buys a city. To place it, she removes the settlement she had at spot A and replaces it with a city. Then she considers building a city at spot B. Unfortunately, she does not have roads connecting her to this spot, so she cannot build a settlement there. Instead, she pays one wood and one brick to the bank and builds a road on spot c. She then pays one wood, one brick, one grain and one sheep to build a settlement at spot B.
ROBBER
If any player rolls a "7" at the beginning of his turn, strange things happen. No hexes produce resources that turn, players with too many cards must discard the excess, and the robber moves.
All players with more than seven resource cards must discard half of their resource cards (rounded down). The player who is discarding chooses which of their resource cards to discard. For example, a player with nine resource cards when a "7" is rolled must choose four of them to discard.
Moving the robber does two things: he blocks production in the new hex, and he steals a resource card on the behalf of the player who moved him.
The player who caused the robber to move takes the robber token and places it on any land hex on the board. The robber must be moved; it cannot stay on the same hex. The robber can be moved to a hex that no players touch. While the robber remains there, that hex cannot produce any resource, even when its number is rolled. The only way to revitalize the hex is to move the robber token again.
The player who placed the robber token can steal one resource from one player who has a settlement or city touching the hex (i.e., adjacent to) where the robber was placed. This resource card is taken at random from the player's hand.
The robber can also be moved by playing a Knight card. See "Development Cards" below for details.
PORTS
Ports are indicated by semi-circles on the corners of some water hexes. If a player has a settlement or city built on an intersection that contains a port, that player can make special trades with the bank. These trades may be made immediately upon building the port, even during the same turn. Note that not all corners of port hexes have ports; only those with semi-circles are actually ports. There are two types of ports: generic ports and specific ports.
Generic ports have a question mark in the center of the hex. They allow a player to trade three of any one resource for one of any resource, instead of the normal four for one rate.
Specific ports have a resource pictured in the center of the hex. They allow a player to trade two of that specific resource for one of any resource. The resource that can be traded at that port is indicated by the icon shown on the port hex. No other resources can be traded at specific ports, but the player can still make normal four for one trades involving other resources.
DEVELOPMENT CARDS
By paying one sheep, one grain, and one ore, a player can draw a card from the top of the development deck. There are three types of cards in the development deck: Progress cards, Knights, and Victory Point cards. All players should keep their development cards hidden from other players until they choose to play them. Development cards can be used at any time during a player's turn, but not on the turn that they are drawn (except VP cards). Since a player's turn officially begins before he rolls the dice, a player can play a card before rolling the dice. For example, you could play a Knight card before rolling to move the robber from one of your hexes. A player can play only one development card (except for Victory Point cards) each turn.
Progress Cards
These cards are played once and then discarded.
Road Building:
When a player plays this card, he can immediately place two road segments onto the board, as if he had just built them.
Discovery:
When a player plays this card, he can immediately take any two resource cards from the bank and add them to his hand. These can be two different resources or two of the same resource. They may immediately be used to build.
Monopoly:
When a player plays this card, he must announce one type of resource. All other players must give the player who played this card all of their resource cards of that type.
Knight Cards
When a player plays a Knight card, he must move the robber. The hex where the robber rests does not produce resources until the robber moves off that hex. See Robber for more details. Also, the player who played the Knight card can steal one random resource card from any player with a settlement or city touching that hex. Unlike rolling a "7," no one has to discard cards after a Knight.
Once a player finishes resolving the robber, he adds the Knight to his army by placing it face-up in front of him. The card no longer has any effect, but the number of face-up Knight cards a player has is used to determine who gets the Largest Army bonus.
Victory Point Cards
VP cards provide an extra Victory Point towards winning. They are played differently from other development cards. VP cards are kept hidden from the other players until their owner has 10 Victory Points, including the cards. The owner then plays all his VP cards at once to achieve victory. A player can play as many VP cards as he wants (even if he has already played another Development card), and can even play them on the turn that they are drawn.
Special Bonuses
There are two other ways to gain victory points. Players who build impressive armed forces or monumental roads can gain extra points for their achievements. The player with the longest road of at least five road segments and the player with the largest army of at least three knights each gain two extra points. When a player achieves one of these goals, he receives the appropriate card, which represents the two bonus VPs.
As these rewards are only for the largest and longest on the board, there can only be one player with each award at any point. If a player already has the card and another player exceeds (not just equals) that player's total, then the new player takes the card (and the points) away from the old player.
Notes on the longest road:
If a road forks into separate branches, only the longest branch counts. If a player has a city or settlement on another player's road, it disrupts the second player's road when counting for the longest; a player can only count the road segments on one side or the other of any other player's settlement. A player's settlements or cities do not interrupt his own roads.
VARIANTS
If a player wants a change of pace, try some of these alternate rules:
1. Victory Point cards are played like all other Development cards. Only one can be played each turn, and they cannot be played immediately upon drawing.
2. All players must play with their hand of Resource cards face up (useful for beginners).
3. Instead of playing Development cards at any time, a player cannot play them until after he rolls the dice on his turn.
4. In the first two complete turns, any roll of "7" is ignored and rolled again.
5. Any time a player rolls a "7", he can choose to ignore it and not move the robber. That player forfeits his right to steal a resource card.
6. Once a player starts building, he cannot make any more trades.
7. At the end of a player's turn, he must have at least one settlement on the board.
8. Knight cards may be used to interrupt immediately after any player moves the robber. The player who plays the Knight card places the robber where he desires and gets to steal a card from another player. The player who used to be moving the robber gets nothing. A Knight card can be played to interrupt another player's Knight card, leading to a chain of Knights.
PROBABILITY
When rolling two dice, the probability of rolling certain numbers is greater than others. Since there are 6 ways to roll a "7" (1+6, 6+1, 2+5, 5+2, 4+3, 3+4) and only 1 way to roll a "12" (6+6) or a "2" (1+1), 7 comes up much more often than 12 or 2. The size of the number on the counters in the game represents this probability; the larger numbers are more likely to be rolled. The probabilities are listed here:
"2" & "12" 3%
"3" & "11" 6%
"4" & "10" 8%
"5" & "9" 11%
"6" & "8" 14%
"7" 17%
After a few moments of respectfully admiring your beautiful Settlers board, everybody rolls the dice. Whoever rolls highest will get to go first and gets first pick of colors. Everybody should take one color of little wooden pieces and claim them as their own. When it's not your turn, you can arrange them into neat little geometric patterns and try to balance the houses on the roads.
What do we do with beautiful, pristine, undeveloped land? Build things on it, of course! There are two ways to start this, and one is easier than the other, but I'll tell you both ways anyway. The easy way is to just duplicate the arrangement of little wooden houses (AKA settlements) and little wooden roads that you see on the back of the rule book. Then pick one of the settlements of your color and take a resource card for each hex around it. If you're playing with 3 players, you'll have to remove one color. Pages 5-6 in the rules tells you which hexes produce which resources. Once you've done that, you can skip the next few paragraphs (up to the "OK" on the next page), and start playing. But that's the easy way out and it gets repetitive if you try it too many times (especially since red always wins), so I'd recommend the more detailed start-up rules.
The first player takes one of his little wooden houses and one of his little wooden roads and places them on the board. Houses go on the intersection of three hexes; roads go on the edge between two hexes. See the back of the rule book if this isn't clear. Make sure your road is right next to your settlement (it's a rule). There's all sorts of complex strategy to consider here, but ignore that for now. Just toss them anywhere you want.
Go around clockwise and let each player place a settlement and a road. The only new rule to worry about is all settlements must be at least two intersections away from any other settlement. Other than that, just have fun.
Once all players have placed one settlement and one road, the player who went last gets to place another settlement and another road. Yep, that player gets two in a row. Then go back around counter-clockwise until all players have two settlements and two roads on the board. And as an added bonus, when you place your second settlement, you get free stuff. Free stuff means one resource card from each hex which that settlement touches.
OK, now you're ready to start playing. When it's your turn, roll the dice. Find all the hexes which have that number on them. Everybody gets one resource card for each settlement they have that touches that hex. After you roll the dice, you can trade resource cards with any other player. You can also trade in 4 of any one resource to the bank for 1 of the resource of your choice. And what do you do with all these lovely resource cards? Buy things. The exchange rates are shown on the handy Building Cost cards. Pull one out and look at it.
ROADS: You've already seen how to place them. Just give a wood card and a brick card to the bank and it's yours. Small rule: any new roads you build must connect to something you've already built.
SETTLEMENTS: You've seen these, too. Like roads, any new settlements you build must touch a road you already have.
CITIES: Settlements not good enough for you? Then get ready for the big time. When you build a city, remove a settlement you already have and replace it with one of the big wooden houses. From now on, whenever any of the hexes that it touches are rolled, you get 2 resource cards instead of 1.
CARDS: If you like randomness, development cards are for you. They do all sorts of stuff; the text on the card should give you the basic idea. More detail is available on pages 8-9 of the long rules.
If you roll a "7" at the start of your turn, nothing produces, anyone with more than 7 cards must discard half of their cards (round down), and the robber moves to a new hex. The robber halts production on that hex until he is moved again and allows the player who moved him to steal a random resource card from one player who has a settlement or city touching that hex.
If you build on a port hex (remember those? no? They're the water hexes with numbers and lines), you can make special trades. If it says "3:1," you can trade 3 of the same resource for 1 of any resource. If it says "2:1," you can trade 2 of the resource printed on the hex for 1 of any resource.
That's basically how you play the game. The only important thing I haven't mentioned is how to win. To win, you must have 10 Victory Points (VPs)at the end of your turn. Settlements are each worth 1 VP, cities are each worth 2 VPs, some Development cards give you extra VPs, and having the longest contiguous road of at least 5 roads or the largest army of at least 3 Knights (which are one kind of Development card) is worth 2 VPs. That's all you need to know for now.
Once you're familiar with this stuff, I strongly recommend you read the long rules. They have all sorts of useful information: random setup rules for when you get bored of the board on the back of the rule book, advanced strategy so you can always win, and all those nit-picky rules that will help you avoid getting into fist fights over whether or not Art can play his Knight card before he rolls the dice (he can). Thanks for playing. Have fun.
OVERVIEW
In Settlers of Catan, each player represents a group of settlers who have landed on the remote island of Catan. The goal of the game is to become the dominant group on the island by acquiring Victory Points. Victory Points are earned by building settlements and cities, by having the longest road or the largest army, or by purchasing certain cards.
Building requires resources. Each settlement or city receives resources based on the nearby terrain. Forests produce wood, mountains produce ore, hills produce bricks, plains produce grain, and pastures produce sheep. Players can use these resources to build settlements, roads, and cities. Resources can also be exchanged for development cards that contain knights or other advantages.
The game is played in turns. Going clockwise, each player starts their turn by rolling two dice. The number rolled determines which terrain produces resources. All players who have settlements or cities adjacent to those areas gain the corresponding resources. After rolling, a player can trade resources with other players or with the bank, and can buy settlements, roads, cities or cards from the bank with these resources. The winner is the first player to have 10 Victory Points on their turn.
SETUP
1. Lay hexes
2. Lay numbers
3. Distribute stuff
4. Roll for first
5. Place starting cities
Lay Hexes
The hexes are used to create the game board. First, separate the land hexes from the water hexes. Take the land hexes and shuffle them (face down). Once they have been thoroughly mixed up, arrange them into a hexagon. Any method that keeps the placement random will work, but the method shown in Figure 1 is recommended: start by laying five hexes in a straight line. Then add four hexes on the right of the five, four on the left, three on the right and finally three on the left.
Now take all the water hexes and separate them into port hexes (with lines, numbers and symbols on them) and plain water hexes. Shuffle the port hexes face down and place them around the edge of the island. Starting with the far edge of one of the corners of the board (preferably the closest one), place a port hex in every other available spot (Fig. 2). Rotate the hexes so they face toward the center of the board (Fig. 3). The sets of ports that touch two land hexes (i.e., 2&3, 5&6, 8&9) should be parallel to each other, each facing a row of 4 land hexes. Once all the port hexes have been placed, fill in the remaining spots with plain water hexes, as in Figure 3.
Lay Numbers
The number counters have a letter on one side and a number on the other. The size of the number correlates to the probability of rolling that number on 2 6-sided dice (see Probabilities). This number is used to determine when the hex produces resources.
Flip all the counters over so only the letters are visible. Start by placing the "A" counter on a corner hex (preferrably the closest one). Place the rest in alphabetical order on all land hexes skipping over the desert hex (Fig. 4), progressing counter-clockwise around the entire outer circle. Once the outer circle is complete, continue counter-clockwise into the middle circle, starting with the hex just inside of the first hex (marked "A"). Finally, place the last letter on the middle hex (unless it is the desert). The completed arrangement is shown in Figure 4. Once all the letters have been placed, flip them all over so the numbers are visible.
Distribute stuff
Each player selects a color and takes the 5 settlements, 4 cities and 15 roads of that color. Each player also receives a Building Cost card, which shows the cost of all the items that can be built or purchased.
Sort the resource cards into five piles and set them aside, face up.
Shuffle the development cards and set them aside face down.
Roll for first
Each player rolls two dice. The player who rolls the highest number goes first. If two players tie for the highest number, they re-roll.
Place starting settlements
Each player starts the game with two settlements and two roads. Each player places one settlement and one road at a time, starting with the player who rolled highest.
How to place settlements:
Settlements are placed on the intersection of three hexes (see capital letters in the diagram on the next page). Settlements can be placed on any intersection that includes a land hex, including intersections that touch water hexes. All settlements must be placed at least two intersections away from any other settlement.
Each settlement touches three different hexes. These hexes determine the resources that the settlement can produce. The number on each hex is the number that must be rolled for that hex to produce its resource.
How to place roads:
Roads are placed on the edge between two hexes (see lower case letters in diagram on the next page). One of these hexes must be a land hex. Each road connects two corners. When a player places a road during setup, it must connect to the settlement that he places with it.
Example:
This example shows the first round of setup building in a three player game. Arne places settlement A and road a. Since settlement A touches a pasture, a hill, and a mountain, it can produce sheep, bricks, or ore depending on which number is rolled. Amy places settlement B and road b. Since settlement B touches a port hex, she will be able to make special trades, as explained below. Since her settlement only touches two land hexes, this settlement can only produce two different resources. Chuck tries to place settlement X. Since this is only one corner away from settlement A, this is an illegal play. He reconsiders and places Settlement C and road c.
Continue clockwise until the last player places a first settlement and road. That player then places a second settlement and road, and placing continues counter-clockwise from that player.
When a player places his second settlement, he receives one resource from each hex touching that settlement. These (up to three) resources are that player's starting resource hand. Once all players have placed two settlements and two roads, regular turns begin. The player who rolled the highest goes first, and play continues clockwise.
Example (continued):
Since Chuck placed the last settlement in the first round of building, he places the first settlement in the second round. He places settlement D and road d. Since settlement D touches a forest, plain and pasture, he collects a wood, a grain, and a sheep as his starting resources. Amy places settlement E and collects two grain and one brick. She tries to place a road on edge X, but realizes that this does not touch the settlement she is playing, so she plays road e instead. Arne places settlement F and road f and collects his resources. He will now take his first turn, and play will continue with Amy.
HEXES
There are eight types of hex: plain, pasture, hill, mountain, forest, desert, port, and water. Five of the six land hexes produce specific resources:
TURN SUMMARY
During a player's turn, he rolls the dice to determine which hexes produce resources, then he can trade resources with other players and build settlements, roads. or cities. A player can trade and buy in any order, even going back and forth from one to the other and can trade and buy as many times as he wants during one turn. If a player has 10 Victory Points at any time during his turn, he wins.
HOW TO PLAY
A player begins his turn by rolling two dice and adding them together. The number he rolls indicates which hexes produce resources. All hexes whose number equals the roll produce their resource. All players (even if it's not their turn) gain one resource card for each settlement touching any of those hexes and two resources for each city that touches the hex. If there aren't enough cards of one resource to give every player all that they deserve, no players receive any of that resource this turn. If a player rolls a "7," no hexes produce resources and the robber moves, as explained below.
After rolling, a player can trade resources with other players. All trades must involve the player whose turn it is; other players may not trade amongst themselves. Players need not offer an equal number of resource cards. Players are allowed to discuss what they have in their hand with other players to facilitate trading. Once a trade is agreed upon, both players exchange the stated resource card(s); they cannot cheat the other player by giving anything other than what was offered. Each trade must contain at least one resource card from each player. Trades can never include Development cards.
In addition to trading with other players, a player can trade resources with the bank. On his turn, a player can trade four of any one resource to the bank in exchange for one of any resource. This is the only type of trade that can be made with the bank unless a player has a settlement or city touching a port hex, as explained below.
In addition to trading, a player can use his resource cards to build settlements, roads, or cities, or to buy cards. The exchange rates are shown on the building cost cards. To build something, a player must discard the appropriate resource cards and take his purchase. When a settlement, road, or city is built, it is immediately placed on the board, as explained below. Each player can only build as many settlements, roads, or cities as he has tokens of that type. Each player has five settlements, four cities and fifteen roads.
PLACING SETTLEMENTS
Settlements cost one brick, one wood, one grain and one sheep to build. They are placed at an intersection where three hexes meet. Settlements can be placed on any intersection of any land hex, including intersections that touch water hexes. All settlements must be placed at least two intersections away from any other settlement or city.
After setup, a player can only place settlements on intersections that connect to his roads. If none of that player's roads touch the intersection he wishes to build on, he must first build roads to that intersection. A player can build at any point along his roads, not just at the ends. Other player's roads do not influence where a player can build settlements.
PLACING ROADS
A road costs one wood and one brick. Roads are placed on the edge between two hexes, connecting two intersections. At least one of these hexes must be a land hex. Once a player has built on that edge, no other player can build there; there can only be one road on each edge.
Every road that a player builds must connect to one of his existing roads, settlements, or cities. If a player builds a settlement or city at the end of one of another player's roads, the second player cannot build from that intersection. If a player builds a settlement or city in the middle of a chain of another player's roads, the second player can still build roads connecting to the roads on either side of that settlement or city.
PLACING CITIES
Cities cost three grain and two ore. They replace settlements. When a player purchases a city, he removes one of his settlements from the board and places a city on that intersection. A city produces two resources instead of one from all adjacent hexes. Note that a player can build a settlement on an intersection and immediately upgrade it to a city if that player has sufficient resources.
Example:
Amy has been saving up her resources for a while. She decides to splurge and build one of everything. She gives three grain and two ore to the bank and buys a city. To place it, she removes the settlement she had at spot A and replaces it with a city. Then she considers building a city at spot B. Unfortunately, she does not have roads connecting her to this spot, so she cannot build a settlement there. Instead, she pays one wood and one brick to the bank and builds a road on spot c. She then pays one wood, one brick, one grain and one sheep to build a settlement at spot B.
ROBBER
If any player rolls a "7" at the beginning of his turn, strange things happen. No hexes produce resources that turn, players with too many cards must discard the excess, and the robber moves.
All players with more than seven resource cards must discard half of their resource cards (rounded down). The player who is discarding chooses which of their resource cards to discard. For example, a player with nine resource cards when a "7" is rolled must choose four of them to discard.
Moving the robber does two things: he blocks production in the new hex, and he steals a resource card on the behalf of the player who moved him.
The player who caused the robber to move takes the robber token and places it on any land hex on the board. The robber must be moved; it cannot stay on the same hex. The robber can be moved to a hex that no players touch. While the robber remains there, that hex cannot produce any resource, even when its number is rolled. The only way to revitalize the hex is to move the robber token again.
The player who placed the robber token can steal one resource from one player who has a settlement or city touching the hex (i.e., adjacent to) where the robber was placed. This resource card is taken at random from the player's hand.
The robber can also be moved by playing a Knight card. See "Development Cards" below for details.
PORTS
Ports are indicated by semi-circles on the corners of some water hexes. If a player has a settlement or city built on an intersection that contains a port, that player can make special trades with the bank. These trades may be made immediately upon building the port, even during the same turn. Note that not all corners of port hexes have ports; only those with semi-circles are actually ports. There are two types of ports: generic ports and specific ports.
Generic ports have a question mark in the center of the hex. They allow a player to trade three of any one resource for one of any resource, instead of the normal four for one rate.
Specific ports have a resource pictured in the center of the hex. They allow a player to trade two of that specific resource for one of any resource. The resource that can be traded at that port is indicated by the icon shown on the port hex. No other resources can be traded at specific ports, but the player can still make normal four for one trades involving other resources.
DEVELOPMENT CARDS
By paying one sheep, one grain, and one ore, a player can draw a card from the top of the development deck. There are three types of cards in the development deck: Progress cards, Knights, and Victory Point cards. All players should keep their development cards hidden from other players until they choose to play them. Development cards can be used at any time during a player's turn, but not on the turn that they are drawn (except VP cards). Since a player's turn officially begins before he rolls the dice, a player can play a card before rolling the dice. For example, you could play a Knight card before rolling to move the robber from one of your hexes. A player can play only one development card (except for Victory Point cards) each turn.
Progress Cards
These cards are played once and then discarded.
Road Building:
When a player plays this card, he can immediately place two road segments onto the board, as if he had just built them.
Discovery:
When a player plays this card, he can immediately take any two resource cards from the bank and add them to his hand. These can be two different resources or two of the same resource. They may immediately be used to build.
Monopoly:
When a player plays this card, he must announce one type of resource. All other players must give the player who played this card all of their resource cards of that type.
Knight Cards
When a player plays a Knight card, he must move the robber. The hex where the robber rests does not produce resources until the robber moves off that hex. See Robber for more details. Also, the player who played the Knight card can steal one random resource card from any player with a settlement or city touching that hex. Unlike rolling a "7," no one has to discard cards after a Knight.
Once a player finishes resolving the robber, he adds the Knight to his army by placing it face-up in front of him. The card no longer has any effect, but the number of face-up Knight cards a player has is used to determine who gets the Largest Army bonus.
Victory Point Cards
VP cards provide an extra Victory Point towards winning. They are played differently from other development cards. VP cards are kept hidden from the other players until their owner has 10 Victory Points, including the cards. The owner then plays all his VP cards at once to achieve victory. A player can play as many VP cards as he wants (even if he has already played another Development card), and can even play them on the turn that they are drawn.
Special Bonuses
There are two other ways to gain victory points. Players who build impressive armed forces or monumental roads can gain extra points for their achievements. The player with the longest road of at least five road segments and the player with the largest army of at least three knights each gain two extra points. When a player achieves one of these goals, he receives the appropriate card, which represents the two bonus VPs.
As these rewards are only for the largest and longest on the board, there can only be one player with each award at any point. If a player already has the card and another player exceeds (not just equals) that player's total, then the new player takes the card (and the points) away from the old player.
Notes on the longest road:
If a road forks into separate branches, only the longest branch counts. If a player has a city or settlement on another player's road, it disrupts the second player's road when counting for the longest; a player can only count the road segments on one side or the other of any other player's settlement. A player's settlements or cities do not interrupt his own roads.
VARIANTS
If a player wants a change of pace, try some of these alternate rules:
1. Victory Point cards are played like all other Development cards. Only one can be played each turn, and they cannot be played immediately upon drawing.
2. All players must play with their hand of Resource cards face up (useful for beginners).
3. Instead of playing Development cards at any time, a player cannot play them until after he rolls the dice on his turn.
4. In the first two complete turns, any roll of "7" is ignored and rolled again.
5. Any time a player rolls a "7", he can choose to ignore it and not move the robber. That player forfeits his right to steal a resource card.
6. Once a player starts building, he cannot make any more trades.
7. At the end of a player's turn, he must have at least one settlement on the board.
8. Knight cards may be used to interrupt immediately after any player moves the robber. The player who plays the Knight card places the robber where he desires and gets to steal a card from another player. The player who used to be moving the robber gets nothing. A Knight card can be played to interrupt another player's Knight card, leading to a chain of Knights.
PROBABILITY
When rolling two dice, the probability of rolling certain numbers is greater than others. Since there are 6 ways to roll a "7" (1+6, 6+1, 2+5, 5+2, 4+3, 3+4) and only 1 way to roll a "12" (6+6) or a "2" (1+1), 7 comes up much more often than 12 or 2. The size of the number on the counters in the game represents this probability; the larger numbers are more likely to be rolled. The probabilities are listed here:
"2" & "12" 3%
"3" & "11" 6%
"4" & "10" 8%
"5" & "9" 11%
"6" & "8" 14%
"7" 17%
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