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I was introduced to the classic Settlers of Catan board game last year and was instantly hooked. There was one problem though; I mostly play one on one board and card games and don't have an XBox 360 in order to play online yet. I decided to buy the Settlers of Catan card game, and see if it recreated the fun of the board game version.
After one game, I was hooked and all thought of the board game had passed.
The gameplay itself is simple, but where things truly shine is strategy.
Since the game is based around building your own region, there is huge room for different set-ups and strategy.
Each turn, players receive resources based on the roll of the production die, and just like in the board game, these resources are used to build roads, settlements, and cities.
However, things go one step further and improvements can be built. They can range from trading ports to ego (and victory point) boosting statues.
Yes, victory points still determine the winner.
What I like about the card game so much though, is the previous mentioned room for variety.
In one game I can keep my settlement/city numbers low and try to win with improvements that have large victory point values.
In another game, I can build a moderate sized region and try to keep control of the victory points associated with knights and commerce icons. (I've played a few games where control of these two pieces have determined the winner).
Or, if I'm feeling devious, I can try and build a huge region just to hurt my opponent.
While the game is loads of fun, I must point out the few problems I've noticed.
Firstly, as I mentioned above, having a huge region can hurt your opponent since there are a limited number of settlements and production fields. If one player gets an advantage on production fields, they will be able to build improvements with ease, while their opponent will have to rely on trading.
This leads me to the second negative aspect: trading. There's no real advantage for a player with a large number of production fields and/or trade fleets to trade with their opponent. Fortunately, for myself, games are never so cutthroat that a game goes by with little or no trading.
In closing, I offer a high recommendation of this game to any fans of the board game as well as gamers in general. The production quality is very high, the learning curve is low, but strategy is very high. There is also a large box set of expansion cards that, from what I've heard add a lot of life into the game.
RATING: 9/10
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If you like the card game, try the expansions. They add some new variety. Also, although much longer, Cities and Knights to the board game adds event driven cards much like the card game.
I also enjoy the two player Starfarer settlers game as well.
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Ditto to what Ted said... if you like the card game, go for the expansions..., they add alot of replay value and fun to the game, likewise for trying Cities and Knights.
I'm not sure if it's just my wife and I, but I found in playing the expansions that one expansion favors the Commerce player, while the next favors the Knight player. It doesn't hit our table as often as it should, mostly due to our tendency to get mad with one another when playing(we get a little to attachedl), but we're currently trying to find a combination of expansions that makes things more balanced. My first instinct is to go for the Knight token, hers for the Commerce token, and until we began mixing expansions, we could pretty much predict which strategy would win that expansion best. Blending two usually makes for a more challenging(and rewarding), game, keeping the games closer and, well, more fun.
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To contrast:
From what I've observed about the card game, it is inferior in almost every way to the boardgame.
Most importantly, it is more complicated, much harder to teach and learn, is longer to play, and only allows for 2 players.
Different strokes, I guess.
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reapersaurus wrote: To contrast:
From what I've observed about the card game, it is inferior in almost every way to the boardgame.
Most importantly, it is more complicated, much harder to teach and learn, is longer to play, and only allows for 2 players.
Different strokes, I guess. Whereas Settlers of Catan is Yspahan-dice light, easy to learn, shorter to play, and unfortunately plays with only 3 or 4 players. Yeah, I'd rather play a game where it's not humanly impossible to find enough players. Luckily, the card game actually has strategy and tactics, while Settlers of Catan hardly has any.
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Quote: "Yeah, I'd rather play a game where it's not humanly impossible to find enough players. Luckily, the card game actually has strategy and tactics, while Settlers of Catan hardly has any. Looooove it, great stuff. Nothing like when a card game works! I would also chime in for the purchasing of the expansions- not variety for variety's sake, but deepens the strategy along with creating different game experiences. Super recommended. Cheers! Bruce
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I agree. This card version just works for me.
There's a nice blend of strategy and luck so I don't have to tax my melon. There's more than enough choices per turn to keep me interested, and not too many that I can't get a cup of joe during my opponent's turn.
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Posted Thu Mar 6,2008 07:43 am
