Game: Settlers of Catan, The - Travel Edition

Thread: Re: a wonderful adaptation of a classic game

LadyPlayer — 2008-08-24T23:45:20+00:00

Keep the spots from the centre of the hexes when you first get the game, write numbers on the back and you can use them to make random numbers to put over the ones printed on the board. Also punch a hole in the desert and you can put it anywhere as well or just leave a blank space instead of the desert piece. This is a great size game to take anywhere and introduce your friends and family to Settlers.

Thread: Re: Initial Impressions, and Two Player

Ponton — 2008-07-09T11:00:05+00:00

Try Klaus Teuber's official 2p variant:

In this variant the desert has to be in the center. Also, you use the other two colors as well to block off each other. Place one settlement of each of the remaning colors (that you didn't choose) one crossing away from the desert on opposite sides of it. Check the picture on page 5 of this document: http://www.catan.com/de/download/?Catan-News-2006.pdf

You need 20 counters (glass beads, Catan chits from Seafarers, or whatever) - the trade chits. Give both players 5 at the beginning. For each settlement at the desert receive 2, for each one at the coast 1 additional trade chit. If you play a knight/soldier card you may decide to immediately discard it (after you used its ability) to receive 2 additional trade chits.

You roll twice on your turn, both numbers have to be different. Re-roll the 2nd roll until you get a different number.

During your turn you may perform one special action that you pay with your trade chits for. This action costs you 1 trade chit if you have equal to or fewer vp than your opponent, otherwise it costs 2 trade chits. The available actions are:

a) Place the robber back to the desert.

OR

b) Take two cards from your opponent (or one if he has only one) and give him exactly two cards back (regardless of the fact that you got only one in case he had only one). This is concidered as a "forced trade".

Whenever you build a road, you also build one road for one of the neutral players. If you build a settlement, check if a neutral player is able to build one. If he is, you must build one settlement for that neutral player. If neither of the neutral players could build a settlement, simply place another road for one of them.

This is it. Play to 10 vp as usual.

Thread: Initial Impressions, and Two Player

DjFIL — 2008-07-09T06:03:16+00:00

First post on BGG... me and my girlfriend love playing games of all sorts (cards, board, xbox, wii...) and I absolutly loved playing boardgames all the time when I was young, had a big collection then. Been surfing around BGG for a while, and really brings back some memories of great games I used to own.

I love Catan. I have the Xbox Live Arcade version and that's where I first fell in love with it, but you can only play against the AI and people online. I played it with friends at their house, and enjoyed playing it in person too. I wanted to get a copy of my own, but couldn't get my self to pony up $45(CND) for the full version (especially after paying a meare $12(CND) for the Xbox version). My other consern was most the time it was just going to be the two of us playing, other then when we have friends/family over. We first looked at the card version, it seamed too complex. We looked at the dice version, and we have a copy of that in the mail currently (we love dice games, monopoly express dice game is great). But then...

We then saw this cute travel version, I really like the idea of having the tray for holding pieces/cards. I was first conserned about the locked possition of the desert, and the locked number values for each tile. But getting this was only $26(CDN) after shipping, and that allowed me to get this plus the dice game, at the same price as a full version of Catan from my local retail store... to me it was a no brainer.

We've only played one game so far (two player variation, more notes about that below) and it worked great. Everything about this "travel" version is just fine with us. Yes the lacking variables (locked desert and tile values) may make the game have "less longevity", but I don't think it will bother us. At the value of the purchase, I highly suggest the Catan Travel Version.

Next, as mentioned we mostly will play this in a 2-player variation. We first tried the one found on MayFair Games listed as "Standard Rules", where you play to 15 points, only trade with the ports/bank, and it's two rolls per turn. We really enjoyed this when we tried it today, an exciting 15-13 finish (15-14 if you include my victory point card which I couldn't count yet). Anyone else have suggestions about good 2-player variations, but using the standard board setup (since the travel board layout is locked down)?

Thread: Re: Two-person variant (Borko)

yamasaki — 2008-05-28T12:01:44+00:00

Well, I finally figured the layout for the two player variant using the above. Been playing with the wife and I can say that this variant works! Trading between players should be allowed, though, to speed up the game.

Thread: Re: Two-person variant (Borko)

yamasaki — 2008-05-24T14:10:43+00:00

Hi,

I only have the travel edition of settlers and I've never seen the original one. So I don't understand the letters (i.e., C, M, O...) when trying to set the board up for the 2 player variant. Anyone care to explain?

Thread: Re: I can make a better Travel Edition of SoC

MitchellW — 2007-11-30T16:52:45+00:00

or you could order the Japanese travel version of the game and most of what he's talking about :-D

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sklar — 2007-11-21T02:59:16+00:00

Japanese travel edition, published by Capcom. Size comparison between the Capcom hexes and a Mayfair sea hex.

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sklar — 2007-11-21T02:58:26+00:00

Japanese travel edition, published by Capcom. The cards don't fit in the case when closed.

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sklar — 2007-11-21T02:57:44+00:00

Japanese travel edition, published by Capcom. Resource and devlopement cards. The developement cards' titles are in English.

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sklar — 2007-11-21T02:55:12+00:00

Japanese travel edition, published by Capcom. The hexes are magnetic, and the buildings are paramagnetic.

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sklar — 2007-11-21T02:52:09+00:00

Japanese travel edition, published by Capcom. Box back.

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sklar — 2007-11-21T02:51:45+00:00

Japanese travel edition, published by Capcom. box front.

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garea37 — 2007-10-22T11:11:38+00:00

Playing Settlers of Catan - Travel Edition at airplane while coming back from Essen SPIEL '07

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Aetesaki — 2007-09-14T18:56:37+00:00

Scan of cards, hexes and harbors

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Aetesaki — 2007-09-14T18:46:48+00:00

Scan of the back of the german version

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Aetesaki — 2007-09-08T14:30:24+00:00

Scan of the front of the german version

Thread: Re: Travel with Catan

nitromob — 2007-08-26T00:36:51+00:00

This isn't a review really. More like explaining game modifications. They sound good but this seems like it's definently in the wrong section.

Thread: Travel with Catan

HoosierCamper — 2007-08-25T01:30:02+00:00

Our first Eurogame we played was the Simply Catan version of Settlers of Catan. We have recently purchased the travelers addition to take on our camping trips and, as always for Eurogames, the quality is excellent: the pegs slide in/out of the board easily, the compartments on the plastic insert tray are deep so the pieces stay in place—-ready to use with no extra set-up, and the dice are small which are easy to roll in the box lid.

We made a few modifications to help with the small pictures since we both wear glasses:

The pictures on the docks were hard for us to distinguish, so I added words under each picture by typing them on white paper, cutting out the words, and gluing them to each dock (i.e. wool, wood, etc.).

I made small Building Cost Reference word cards to match the picture cards in the game.

For colored-blindness, all I had to do was put the green wool cards on the opposite end of the box as the green wood cards—-the pictures help to distinguish Resource Cards also.

The Settlers of Catan do not come with score keepers (can buy score cards with add-ons)—I used 10 pony beads strung on a cord—-each one can be slid to the opposite side as points are earned (and the cord fills the opening on the beads, so they stay in place).

Very few changes, which didn’t take long to create. We keep the game pieces, including the playing board, all set-up inside the box and ready to start a game-—a great asset for traveling.

Thread: Catan Lite Delivers

El Hidalgo — 2007-07-08T07:30:09+00:00

We have played the full bore version of Settlers of Catan, the Settlers Card Game, and tonight we whipped out the travel edition. With each of the games we have noticed certain features and trade offs, but there is still that great sense of the game.

Tonight was no different. The travel edition gives you limited options in set up features. The numbers for region rolls are fixed, as are the locations for ports. Region placement can vary on those numbers, and ports placement can vary. We went through the set up phase a lot quicker because of the way the travel edition is set up.

Game play started off in a standard manner though miniaturized. Having my two villages next to regions producing road resources gave me a good start. However, after the inital rush of road building, I realized I had no access to wheat, and limited access to ore. Building settlements was going to be tough...building cities would be near impossible. Greg had a corner on the ore market, and Michelle had it going with sheep production. Michelle was the first to build out all her settlements. Greg was the first one to get cities going...I had roads.

It became apparent to me, even after I got to a 2:1 Brick Port, that I was not going to win because of my ability to build settlements much less cities. The nice thing is that the travel edition keeps the multiple options to reach the Victory Point goal through development cards. I started going for the development cards everytime I could get the resources together. Eventually Michelle outbuilt me on roads taking the card that goes with that, but with the development cards I had a Library, Chapel, and University. The tide turned when I also got three soldiers and took the soldier card. Ten points!

This was a great play! Last week we played Settlers in the Card Game Version. That was nice, but multiplayer is always better. I liked that this little brother to Settlers kept all the main features of the full game and so there was little to miss and more to enjoy. While I believe we will all get back to the full version, the travel edition will see more time on the table.

Thread: Re: I can make a better Travel Edition of SoC

MasterBlue — 2007-06-23T04:07:09+00:00

baba44713 wrote:
So, where can we order it and at what price?

Nowhere yet, and I don't know yet.

For one, all this is in theory.

For another, I'm pretty sure that I can't get away with selling a homemade portable version of a copyrighted game.

And even if I could get the right to do so, to mass produce enough to fulfill orders. And I would need to find a more regular place to acquire products besides the local pharmacy.

I mean, there would be R&D. What materials would be the most substantial? What methods of manufacturing would work? How much materials would I have to order at a time?

It would just be too much work. That's why I'd just do a how-to on the internet. So anyone who wants one can just do their own.

Thread: Re: I can make a better Travel Edition of SoC

shawn_low — 2007-06-20T08:12:46+00:00

May I suggest you do a travel edition of Roads and Boats?

Check out someone's magnetic Carcassonne too!

Thread: Re: I can make a better Travel Edition of SoC

baba44713 — 2007-06-20T07:23:58+00:00

So, where can we order it and at what price?

Thread: I can make a better Travel Edition of SoC

MasterBlue — 2007-06-19T22:12:24+00:00

Essentially, all the tiles, number chips, roads, settlements, and cities would be made out of magnetic sheets. And The Robber would be a magnetic disc.

The surface would be a thin, laminated metal sheet.

The dice would be inside a little plastic bubble, like the ones found in a gumball machine.

Instead of Resource Cards, I might use Resource Chips instead.

Shrink the Development Cards. Make them myself.

Thread: Re: Quick Comments

blindspot — 2007-01-17T15:21:11+00:00

spreadsheet wrote:
Because the numbers on the board are set, I saved the punchouts from each hex and wrote a corresponding number on each. I also punched a hole in the desert. I can now completely randomize the playing board.
This occurred to me too when I first bought the game and was punching the pieces. Good thing I saved them. Great suggestion!

Thread: Re: two player version for travel edition

scattered — 2006-07-24T08:37:04+00:00

Here are a few suggestions for consideration. Some are untested. Caveat emptor.

Before You Go:
Blue Construction Paper, Improvise 5 commodity ports on hex shapes, with a generic 3:1 port on reverse which is also blue.
Other Construction Paper, for Land Hex conversions.

To take with you:
Hockey Tape
Black Marker, or any pen that works.

At Game Setup:
Decide which 5 spaces to omit.
Apply Hockey Tape to change necessary numbers and cover the numbers out of play.

Use Land construction paper for needed conversions.
Select the ports and insert them, using a combination of original and replacement pieces.

Then Play.

Yes, it can cost over $2 for this conversion, or you can devise your own.

If you don't have hockey tape (doesn't everyone), masking tape might work. I have not tested that.

Thread: Re: a wonderful adaptation of a classic game

millsyboy — 2005-09-14T12:59:48+00:00

RandomGraham wrote:
I've never come across a two volume set of rules before. What version is that, and what's in the second volume?

I'm not sure about other editions, but the current Mayfair edition has the 'game rules' with a basic overview of the rules and a separate 'Almanac' that is a more complete rule book. The Almanac is supposed to make it easier to look up rules as you go, but I find it annoying because it has the rules in alphabetical order. Much better to have the rules set out logically and maybe have an index.

Thread: Re: a wonderful adaptation of a classic game

RandomGraham — 2005-09-08T15:59:22+00:00

I've never come across a two volume set of rules before. What version is that, and what's in the second volume?

Thread: a wonderful adaptation of a classic game

Gnomekin — 2005-09-08T00:00:25+00:00

Most of my gaming takes place away from my own home. While I own some large, cumbersome games, portability is definitely something I look for in a game and I own a number of travel versions of different games. With that in mind, my first copy of Settlers of Catan was the travel edition.

I had already been exposed to Settlers and loved the game. However, at that time, I didn’t want to make too large an investment in board gaming and I was concerned about storage space. Since then, I have amassed a reasonably sized collection and I have learned that my fears about storage were entirely valid, as my closets run out of space.

The travel edition comes in a box that is the same size as a Kosmos two-player game, small, square and sturdy. Inside is an actually board, along with nineteen land tiles, ten ports, two different decks of cards, four sets of player pieces with player aides, a couple of dice, and one of the niftiest box trays that I have ever seen.

The rules, which are the same as the full-sized version of Settlers, come in one book, which I prefer to the two volume method of the original game. I won’t go over the rules to Settlers, since I have covered those under the original game’s entry.

The board is one of the two things that make this game so travel-worthy. While the regular game doesn’t even have a board per se, the travel edition has one that works wonders. It is made out of hard plastic and has slots for all of the tiles and the ports. Along the edge of each hex-slot are three holes. The player’s pieces are pegged and they can be fitted into the holes.

The numbers for the tiles are actually already on the board. The numbers are on raised circles in the middle of the hex-slots. All of the resource-producing tiles have a hole in the middle, which actually helps keep them in place. Not only does this make setting up the game simpler, it also cuts down on the number of moving pieces. The only downside to this is that the desert has to always be in the center.

The tiles are made out of sturdy cardboard and, as mentioned earlier, have a hole in the center that allows them to fit over the numbers on the slots.

The resource cards and the development cards are extremely small, just a little larger than a postage stamp. I would normally not like cards this small but only the development cards need to be shuffled and the tray accommodates their size very well.

The player’s pieces, which come in white, red, blue and orange, are all made of hard plastic. They are very plain and, as mentioned before, they have pegs on the bottom so that they can be fitted onto the board. One thing I personally like is that the color contrast is very high, which helps me out since I am color blind. The player’s aides, along with the largest army and longest road, are small and cute.

The box tray, along with the board, is what makes this game a real winner for me. The tray is set up with six slots for cards, so there is a slot for every kind of resource card and the development cards. The slots also come with a little finger space to make it easier to get the cards out. There are also four bins for each of the players’ pieces. The box tray, in short, serves perfectly as the bank for the game. You could even use the space where the other parts are stored to roll the dice.

Between the small size of the board and the fact that the tray, which is the same size, holds everything else, the Settlers travel board is one of the most space conserving set ups I have ever seen. You can easily play in a car (although potholes may shake of the tiles) and it will fit on plane or train trays. I have a regular-sized board now but my travel board still gets plenty of use.

There are only two arguable weaknesses in the travel board. First, it will only accommodate up to four players. There is no way you can have a five or six player game on it. Second, the desert always being in the middle makes the travel board somewhat more limited than the regular game. Considering that this is a travel version of the game, I don’t have a problem with either of those limitations.

If you are looking for a travel version of Settlers of Catan or if you want to dangle your toe in the water before buying the regular-game, the travel edition of Settlers will make you happy either way.

Thread: Two-person variant (Borko)

HaoleBoy — 2005-06-03T05:43:20+00:00

We used the Borko two-person variant from the full Settlers version.

http://boardgamegeek.com/geekforum.php3?action=viewthread&th...

Our differences included:

* Using the 3-5-blank-12 as the C-M-O-I tiles.
* Keep the desert and remove one of each type tile.
* Place six harbor tiles in the slots, leaving out the unfilled 6, 9 and 3 harbors.
* Alternate turns placing intial settlements (e.g. first person goes first and third).

Play the rest as written.

Enjoy!

Greg

Thread: Desert not in the middle variant

junesen — 2005-05-12T20:25:56+00:00

Pick a hex (not the middle hex). Don't put a terrain in that hex, instead put a terrain in the middle hex. Leave the chosen hex blank--it is now the desert. When the number for this blank hex is throw, the tile in the middle produces. For balance purposes, you might want to only choose lower probability numbers (2,12,3,11 or maybe 4,10).

Thread: two player version for travel edition

chadm — 2005-03-16T23:04:48+00:00

Here's a challenge: can anyone come up with a 2 player version using the travel edition? It looks like 2 player versions of the full game require a small island or rearranging the numbers which won't work with this.

Thread: Quick Comments

spreadsheet — 2005-03-03T03:37:29+00:00

Because the numbers on the board are set, I saved the punchouts from each hex and wrote a corresponding number on each. I also punched a hole in the desert. I can now completely randomize the playing board.

Addressing portability: I use capped test tubes to carry the pieces. I have tiny plastic ziplock baggies to carry the cards, which I then stuff into the appropriate spots on the black, plastic box. I use an empty 35 mm film canister to carry the dice, robber, and my punch-outs. Having kept the original cardboard backing, I can reinsert the cheat sheets and placards for the largest army and longest road. The hexes are the only loose items.

Thread: Re:

steveoliverc — 2004-12-28T22:34:34+00:00

There's no hope of stopping a game in the middle and hoping you can pack it up, and resume it later -- as you say, the pieces will go all over the place even if you can manage to keep the box flat.

What has worked well in between playings is to place a few paper towels on top of the board and bits, which keeps things from moving around, then put on the cover, and put a rubber band around the whole thing. Kinda silly for a game that travels to be a travel version, but the reduced size has meant we've taken this game on trips where we didn't have room for the full-size version.

Thread: "Travel Box"... sort of

yacullo — 2004-07-08T14:06:16+00:00

It is small, yes, but any attempt to travel with this box will result in all the settlements popping out of the board and all the pieces going everywhere.

Any suggestions on how to make this actually portable?