Posts tagged ‘settlers of catan’
New Catan Card Game Video Posted
If you like Settlers of Catan, Card Games, and portability, you should check this video out. Cory Duplantis provides you with an overview of how to play the game, as well as a bit of strategy and a review.
Enjoy!
Settlers of Catan: A Beginner’s Strategy Guide
Settlers of Catan is one of the first Euro-style games to come to America, and has won countless awards. If you’re looking for tips on how to improve your game, the most important place to focus is on your initial two settlement placements. These two decisions, often made in a minute or so, can have as much impact on your chances for victory as a half-hour’s worth of turns later in the game.
Initial Placement
Numbers
The most obvious thing to consider, and most important, the dots associated with each number. The dots on each number indicate how frequently it is likely to be rolled. Consequently, you should be sure to place both of your settlements at intersections with a high number of surrounding dots. The red numbers (6 and 8 ) have five dots each, so obviously, you’re much better off playing on an intersection of 6, 9, and 3, then of a 4, 5, and 11.
Another thing worth paying attention to isn’t just the total of dots, but the different sorts of numbers you have as well. If you place your initial settlements on two 4s, two 6s, and two 9s, then unless someone rolls a 9, 6, or 4, you aren’t going to get any resources, and can prepare for a long, boring defeat. Diversifying your initial settlement numbers increases the chance that you will get at least something from every roll. And that’s a good thing, because even if it’s not the resource you wanted, you can always trade it for one you do need.
Resource Types
Pay attention to the types of materials available in the game. There are more sheep tiles than any other resource, so sheep tend to be less valuable. The other resources have the same number of tiles – but not the same availability! If two of the three brick spaces have low-dot numbers (like 2 and 11), there will probably be an early brick shortage as players attempt to build roads. This makes a settlement on the single high-dot brick space (a 6 or 8 ) a strong opening placement.
Try to have settlements that gain you compatible pairs of resources, such as wood and brick, or ore and wheat. Wood and brick will allow you to quickly build roads in the early game, working towards more settlements. Ore and wheat will allow you to upgrade your settlements into cities, thus increasing resource production. Either can be very strong
Location
Try to avoid playing both of your initial settlements in the same corner of the map, unless you can guarantee that you won’t get boxed in. It may be tempting to connect your two settlements and get a head start on longest road, but more often than not this strategy won’t work.
Consider the ports. Starting on a port is probably a bad idea because you’ll want your initial settlements on 3-resource intersections. However, being close to a port is important, because building to one early in the game will give you more trading flexibility.
During the Game
Expansion
Move to a port early, if possible. The 2:1 ports are great if you have high production of the associated resource, otherwise not so much. You’ll want lots of room to play new settlements and possibly reach for longest road, so try to expand towards underpopulated areas. If you’re competing with someone else for the same area, move to block them if you can, but don’t sink roads into going towards somewhere you can be blocked out of too easily.
Development Cards
If you started with decent ore and wheat production, grab a few sheep and buy some development cards. At worst, these are a soldier, sometimes a victory point, and sometimes a special card that will allow you to swing the game in your favor later. Holding lots of soldiers leaves you in a good position to keep the robber off of your property, and sets you up to gain the largest army bonus later in the game.
Resource Cards
Try not to sit around with more than seven cards in your hand, because the robber will be rolled fairly frequently. This means that you should often build something when you can (cities, new settlements, development cards, or even roads). Don’t be afraid to use the ports if you have a large hand of cards; shipping three sheep for a brick may seem like a bad deal, but if it gets your hand back to reasonable size and gives you resources you need, go for it.
Trading
And don’t forget about trading with other players. Most people won’t trade with you unless they gain a boost to their position, so be sure that any time you trade, you are also gaining a boost to your position as well. Trade on your turn to get resources you can use immediately.
Settlers of Catan and Blokus Rank on Amazon.com Top 10 List
According to Amazon.com, board games are still a big hit at the holiday times.
Every year, they post a Top 10 list of Christmas Toys. This year, we wanted to point out two items on the list. The board game bookends!
The first is the #10 item. The premiere strategy game from Mayfair Games, Settlers of Catan. This game has reached mainstream status. It never gets old and can be expanded through three other expansion sets. The replayability is here and definiately worth checking out. If you have ever played civilization-building games on your PC, you will love this game. In Settlers, the process of resource gathering and strategic planning creates constant interaction with your opponents and every person’s turn can affect you – positively or negatively.
The other item is all the way up the list, at #1. The abstract game, Blokus, is one of the most accessable and intrigueing games in a long time. If you like games like Tetris, this is definately a game for you to try. It is extremely addictive. One of the cool aspects of this game is you can play it by yourself. Each player has a series of plastick tiles in different shapes. The simple goal is to put as many of the tiles on the board as you can. However, you must follow a single rule – Each of your tiles must only touch a corner of another of your tiles (the same color). After a while, it becomes very hard to place any tiles because each other player is doing the same thing. Talk about a mind bender…
So, do away with the electronics and isolation this holiday season. Save yourself some money. For about $50, you can get two games that will have tons of replayability, the entire family will enjoy, and you might actually have a smarter child in the end.
For the record, we run the online board game store, Best Dang Games. Our sales pattern has shown that Blokus hits at #8, and Settlers of Catan hits at #10. But, we offer a strategy game bundle that includes Settlers of Catan, and it is ranked #2.
Get Settlers of Catan or Blokus.
New Board Game Bundle of the Month! Settlers, Carcassonne, and Puerto Rico
We wanted to let everyone know that we have decided to move towards a Board Game Bundle of the Month, rather than a single board game/card game.
This month, we are spotlighting the three core strategy board games that every gamer should own: Settlers of Catan, Carcassonne, and Puerto Rico.
Typically, this game bundle would be $70.00. But, because of the holiday season, and we know this would make someone an AWESOME gift, we are leaving it on sale through Dec. 31. The sale price is: $52.50. That averages less than $18.00 per game. If there ever was a time to get these three games, now is the time!
You can check out the bundle for yourself at www.bestdanggames.com. Here is the bundle.
Happy Holidays!
World of Warcraft Adventure Game and Power Grid Videos Posted
We created two new videos for you this month.
I was so excited this month! I am a huge fan of the Warcraft PC games. I have never played World of Warcraft. I know what happens if I do – my life gets sucked away and nothing gets done. Therefore I avoid it. I saw the World of Warcraft board game and thought “Wow, that would be great to play”. I never did. I learned that it was a five-seven hour event. Again, stayed away because I would not have anyone willing to devote that amount of time.
But, this month, Fantasy Flight Games answered my request for a shorter version of the game. I give you World of Warcraft: The Adventure Game.
As with our other product videos, we show you all the details of the parts, pieces, and basically how the game is set up. The goal is to help you determine if you want to add this game to your collection.
By the way, this video has been viewed over 5,000 times on YouTube. Holy Cow!
The second video is about a game I have been curious about. So, we picked up a demo copy and opened it for you to see and for us to learn how to play. This game is Power Grid from Rio Grande Games. It is a very interesting game.
The goal is to buy the most efficient power plants you can through an auction system. Then, you need to buy resources to supply power. At that point, you need to connect your power plants to cities. You get points for the cities. The interesting thing about the game is that it gets more expensive as you go and resources become harder to get. Also, there are not any die rolls or card plays in this game. It is all you! Either you can win or not. It is all on the table for you to see what the other people are doing. If you get behind, it becomes very hard to come back.
This game ships with a double-sided board, so you can play in the US or in Germany. There are also some expansion boards that offer other countries. This allows you to change up your game experiences.
As always, enjoy the videos.
I think next month, we will venture to the land of Catan and look at Settlers of Catan and Traders & Barbarians – the new expansion. We will probably also look at 1960: The Making of the President.
North Orlando Family Board Game Club Update
We had our first game day at the DeBary Library. We will be holding the club here for at least the next three months.
We had a large selection of games and one new visitor who wanted to check it out and see what we were doing. Unfortunately, there were a couple of folks who contacted me and were unable to make it. Maybe next month.
So, my friend John and I had a great day of playing games and looking at how we can enhance www.bestdanggames.com for all of you.
We played one old game, Settlers of Catan. I introduced John to three other games, as well. We played Memoir 44 and it went over alright. He liked it, but in the end, John seems to be a eurogame lover, like myself.
We continued the party back at my place and included my wife and daughter. We learned how to play Puerto Rico and played two rounds of Shadows Over Camelot.
The first game of Shadows was without the traitor. We played a tense game with everyone trying to remember and understand how to play. When we won, we immediately said “Let’s do that again!” So, we did.
We all thought my daughter was the traitor, but she would keep doing stuff to prove she wasn’t. In the end, John ended up revealing himself as the trator just so he could taunt us. In the end, we got SPANKED and evil ran us over like a steamroller. I expect this will be a game we play again.
Regarding the next event, we invite you to come out and play some games if you are in the North Orlando area. To learn more about our events, check out this posting about the North Orlando Family Board Game Club.
What Kinds of Games Will I Like?
This is a common question we hear out there. It is especially relevant in the world of hobby gaming. Everyone tends to like the old standards…Monopoly, Life, Sorry, Trivial Pursuit, etc. That’s how they are designed. You are supposed to like them.
But I have found over the last seven months or so, that is not actually the case when it comes to hobby games. They are so different in styles and themes that you kind of need to know what you like to know what new games are worth your hard earned gaming money.
As the owner of a gaming retail site, I am in a unique positon. I have access to games I would not normally see, and I have to play them to see what they are like…otherwise I can not accurately reccomend games to you…the gaming public. Oh, how life is hard! So, I have to play games I would not typically like, and get my friends and family to do the same – games don’t just play themselves.
I have a friend who helped me create the video you see on the front page of our store, http://www.bestdanggames.com. Before we shot that video, we spent a couple hours doing research about game videos and such, just trying to see what types of videos to start developing for the site. As a teen, he used to always keep a game of Risk in his trunk. His mantra was “Will stop for Risk!” While talking through different games, we started talking about HIS gaming style and we had some interesting revelations.
- Gaming Publishers really seem to have their own personality. Just like people and music, if you like a few of the company’s games, it is probably a good bet that you will like others of theirs. Rio Grande tends to consistantly put out great Eurogames. Their track record shows many Spiel Des Jahres award winners. Fantasy Flight Games, on the other hand, tends to consistantly put out LARGE games that take many hours to learn and play – but the games are high quality games and a little on the more expensive side. Days of Wonder puts out game systems, such as Memoir ’44 and BattleLore, as well as accessible games like Ticket to Ride, Shadows Over Camelot, and Pirate’s Cove. Once you find your gaming personality, you can probably pick a publisher and run with it.
- Your age and lifestyle may affect your gaming style – I am a 38 year old gamer. I have a wife and two kids. Most of my friends have a spouse and at least one child (under the age of 10). Most of my friends are at a high career point in their lives. This leaves little time for gaming…unfortunately. Therefore, whenever I say “can we try this game I opened from Fantasy Flight?” they tend to groan and say alright…”but you need to read the rules before you come over”. The games that seem to go over REAL well with my friends are the shorter games by Rio Grande Games and Settlers of Catan. I happen to really like the Warcraft series of video games, so I can’t wait for the short World Of Warcraft Adventures games. I can not think of subjecting my family and friends to the five-hour event that the World of Warcraft board game is.
- Just because you like the video game, don’t expect to like the board game – I have another friend who used to game on the PC with me. His game of choice for quite a while was Starcraft. Trust me when I say “I used to have my butt handed to me many times from his strategic playing”. So, when I got my hands on the Starcraft board game, you can bet I called him. I went over with two games to try out on him – at different extremes. We played Starcraft and Settlers of Catan. He had a real hard time getting into Starcraft, but we played Catan twice. This was curious to me. His reasoning was that it was more complicated and involved than the PC version. He identified that he did not like games with “phases”. The kind where there is a Planning Phase, Action Phase, Resolution Phase, and so on. He liked Settlers because it was ” I do these three things, then it is your turn” and we repeat that over and over.
- Themes can determine what you like – Theme does not seem to bother me so much. But, back to my video buddy…it was wildly erratic, with not much pattern (immediately identifyable). Here is what he liked and did not like from what I showed him. 1) Settlers of Catan – Yes, 2) Carcassone – No, 3) Puerto Rico – Maybe, 4) Arkham Horror – Not really (He is a fan of HP Lovecraft – game was too big), 5) Shadows Over Camelot – Probably, 6) Ticket to Ride -Yes, 7) Starcraft – No, 8 ) Memoir ’44 – Maybe, BattleLore – Probably, 9) Zombies!!! – Yes, and 10) Pirate’s Cove – Maybe. Do you see a pattern? I was scratching my head – remember, this person used to live for Risk, a famously long game where two players battle it out in the end. We narrowed it down to a historical or period-piece kind of game – Setttlers, Puerto Rico, Ticket To Ride, Shadows, Memoir, BattleLore, Pirates, and Zombies (he is a movie buff, and everyone loves zombies!).
- Dice rolling and card-picking strategy games are different – There will be a more full review of some of the Rio Grande games coming soon, but I got to play three of them, so far. I was again surprised by the result. I had a friend over to try Key Harvest with me and my wife. The game was a roaring success and she said “I bet my husband will like this more than Settlers” (her husband is the video guy). I did not expect to like a game about farming – but it was a deeper game than the theme seemed. I took Oregon and Airships to my friend’s place (the one that played Starcraft). Oregon was a huge success – so much so that we played twice. Airships, on the other hand was kind of tedious for us. We did not really enjoy the extra math and dice structuring it required – neither of us were fans of games like Yahtzee and the like.
So, the big question asked in the title is not as clear as you might think, but once you find your groove, you can go with it and feel strong in your choice. I suggest you try games once or twice before you decide to give it a thumbs up or down. Trying to learn a game greatly influences your ability to enjoy it. My wife won’t go near Starcraft after we spent several hours trying to learn it.
I have one more story, before I close. The same day I took Oregon and Airships to my friend’s house, I also made a daring move and opened a copy of War of the Ring – the large Fantasy Flight game based on Lord of the Rings. I am a big fan of the movies, as is my friend. But, after my experiences with Starcraft and Arkham Horror, I was a bit frightened at the complexity it was going to have. Thankfully there was an introductory version of the rules – but they played very similar to Risk. We liked the game and want to take it further and get into the more advanced rules, but when it was done, we both said “How about another game of Oregon?”. We had been at it all day, so the answer was no…but we kept going back to the simplicity.
So, what kind of gamer am I? I will write another post about that…later.
The New Breed of Gamer
I think I am considered a new breed of gamer. I have not always been a fan of strategy board games. As a matter of fact, for most of my 38 years of life I was not even aware they existed.
Like many of you, I was raised on Risk, Monopoly, Sorry, Life, Clue, and Trivial Pursuit. I played Dungeons and Dragons as a kid and was aware of Magic, the card game while I was in college (but never played).
But, I do have a healthy love for PC games. My favorite, by far are strategy games. We are talking about games like Age of Empires, Warcraft, Starcraft, Rise of Empires, Civilization, Rollercoaster Tycoon, Sim City, Sid Meyer’s Pirates, etc. Does this sound familar to anyone? I knew the game companies, I knew who the developers were, and I read the magazines. I would snap up the next ones as they came out. I still find myself wandering those isles at Best Buy and WalMart.
However, there is a problem with this addiction…it is very time consuming. It is very hard to have any kind of family life and actually finish a game. It becomes even harder when you have a family (I have two children). So, I needed to find something new.
My daughter is 10 years old and fairly bright. I figured I would try to get her into some board games. Where do you think I started? With the standards…Clue, Monopoly Jr., and Disney Trivial Pursuit. She got the hang of them and it was great. We had something to do, and I had games to play.
I thought about pushing the envelope and while I was at Toys ‘R Us, I saw a few games by Avalon Hill that looked interesting, but had never heard of them. One was about monsters that take over America (could be interesting), another was about a constantly changing house that was haunted (again promising – but for a 10 year old?), and a third was a pirate adventure (now you are talking my game). So, before I bought it, I went home and researched it on Amazon – they have great reviews. While doing that, I kept seeing a game called Settlers of Catan. What was this game that had everyone so enthralled? I had never heard of it – but I seemed to be the only one. It was in everyone’s Favorite Family Board Game list.
I figured I would come back to it, and ended up buying the Pirate game (Sword & Skull). It was alright, but not the big hit I had hoped it would be.
Now, about a year or so later, I get around to checking out Settlers of Catan and find that it completely feeds the strategy game addiction I have and we can play it in about 1-2 hours. HOME RUN!
Now I am hooked on this genre of gaming, so much so that I started an online store hoping to introduce everyone I can to these great games. They are currently in an underground sort of state (at least they seem to be in the US), but I believe they are going to become extremely popular. If you have not checked out these games, you owe it to yourself and your friends to give them a shot.
Two funny and related stories…
My manager at my last job is a big gaming fan. He was not in the day that I announced to our graphic artist that I was going to sell strategy board games online. My manager came to me and said I needed to sell a game called Siedler. I said “OK, but what is that in English?” He says “Settlers”. I gave him a blank stare and said “…of Catan?” It was the same game. He said his family had been playing it for years and they had all the expansions and versions.
Shortly after that, I went to lunch with several old friends…one of which had recently gone to Germany. When I mentioned that I was selling games online, she asked which ones. I said “Designer board games like Ticket to Ride, Carcassonne, and Settlers of Catan”. She screamed in the restaurant and said “Oh my god! We played that when I was in Germany! I LOVE THAT GAME!”
This leads me to believe that you need to try these games out for yourself. If you don’t you are missing some of the best games around.
By the way, we had a hit. My daughter totally loves Ticket to Ride, Carcassonne, and Settlers of Catan…
Talkin' About Board Games 