Week 2: The Settlers of Catan

Today, I’m going to introduce “The Settlers of Catan”! This game is the first board game I played in my high school life and it is very popular around the world. It’s a game of exploring and construct the island Catan for 3 or 4 players. To win the game, the settlers have to get 10 victory points by building settlements and cities, buying victory point cards or get the special cards.

 

Before starting the game, assemble the 6 sea frame pieces. Place the 19 terrain hexes randomly( there is also a suggested set-up for beginners) to create Catan. Then place the 18 circular number tokens on the hexes (except the desert) according to the letters on the reverse side (you can also place them randomly, but the original set-up is fairer). Place the robber on the desert.

 

To begin, each player rolls both dice. The player rolls highest place a settlement and a road adjacent to it. The other players follow clockwise. The last player then place his second settlement (need not connect to the first one) and second road (must attach to the second settlement). The other players follow counterclockwise. The settlements can be placed on intersections, and the roads can be placed on paths. Any two settlements cannot be adjacent. A road and a settlement must connect to at least one of his own roads. Then all players take the resource cards according to the hexes adjacent to their second settlement as starting resources. Hills, pasture, mountains, fields, forest, and desert produce brick, wool, ore, grain, lumber, and nothing respectively.

Then the first player rolls two dice for resource production. The terrains indicated by the roll give each adjacent settlement 1 resource card and each adjacent city 2. The player can trade resources with other players in any ratio. He can also trade 4 same resources for another resource with the supply. If the player has any settlement or city at a generic harbor, he pay only 3 same resources. If it is at a special harbor, he can trade 2 assigned resources for another.

Then the player may build roads, settlements, or cities and buy development cards. Every act cost different resources. A city can only be established by upgrading a settlement. A settlement gives you 1 victory point and a city gives you 2. A player can play only 1 development card at any time during his turn. The card you buy cannot be used during the same turn.

Development cards include knight cards, progress cards, and victory point cards. If one plays a knight card, he moves the robber to the number token of any other terrain. Any player with 8 or more resource cards must choose and discard half of them. The hex with the robber cannot produce resources until the robber is moved to another hex. If one uses a progress card, he follows its instructions and removes the card from the game. The instruction may let you build 2 free roads immediately, take any 2 resource cards immediately, or take all of one type of resource you designate from all the other players. A victory point card gives you 1 victory point directly and should keep hidden until the end of the game.

The special cards include “Largest Army” and “Longest Road”. The first player plays 3 knight cards and builds 5 roads in one branch can respectively takes the “Largest Army” and the “Longest Road”. Another player can take away them by playing more knight cards and building more roads in one branch than the owner. Each special card is worth 2 victory points.

Once a player roll a "7", all of the players count and discard their resource cards like someone plays a knight card. After moving the robber, the player can take away 1 resource card from one of the owners of the settlements and cities around the robber. There are no resource produced in the turn.

Then all of the players repeat rolling dice, trading, building, and buying development cards until the first player with 10 victory points during his turn. The game ends and he is the winner!

The fun of the game is on trading with others in many ways, block others' roads by building roads, buying development cards for "Largest Army" crazily, and building road for "Longest Road" crazily!

There are many expansion edition, but they are too hard to introduce=P Here is a picture I found when searching. It looks quite tastyXDD

the source of the pictures:

http://blahgames.com/The-Settlers-of-Catan-id-349182.html

http://nexus365.wordpress.com/category/sue/

http://www.instructables.com/id/Draw-and-play-your-own-Settlers-of-Catan-game-from/
http://saveyourforkcakes.com/2012/12/13/settlers-of-catan-cake/img_1643/
http://thesixsides.blogspot.tw/2011/07/rivers-of-catan.html
http://plasticossewa.wordpress.com/2012/10/09/the-settlers-of-catan/
http://www.starlitcitadel.com/games/articles/strategy-settlers-of-catan.html
http://www.webpagefx.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2012/02/
http://boardgamegeek.com/thread/957671/there-much-luck-50mm-review