29.12.2020

25th Anniversary Box: What an amazing game, and it's been 25 years now since it's debut. There isn't a lot more to add from my original review, which you can read below. This big box looks sexier, the pieces are all glittery and metallic, and the dice look great. It makes Catan a whole new pleasure, and there is nothing wrong with the original game, this set is a just a lot more prettier.This has a few extras. It comes complete with the 5-6 player expansion, and high quality card protectors. You might think you could get the main game, expansion, and protectors cheaper if you bought it all separate. That is true, but this anniversary box looks so good, it's worth the purchase.If you get to play 5 or 6 players,the rules change a bit, but nothing that will confuse you if you know the core game. The board gets bigger as more tiles are added, and of course new harbour segments are added too to make a huge playing field. You get to add an extra settlement and road at the start, and you even get to use your cards if it's not your turn as the robber will be a nightmare otherwise. There are also more development cards and resource cards added.If it's your turn, you can trade with anyone and use your development cards, do all the cool stuff. If its not your turn, after the main player has finished doing whatever they want to do, it goes clockwise and everyone has an opportunity to spend their cards and build stuff, no trading though, it's just an opportunity to use those cards up before you have too many when a 7 is rolled.This also comes with Helpers cards for a brand new scenario. Makes this huge box of fun even more worthy of being on your games shelf. Love it.Happy 25th Catan, you've done a great job making this box.The following is from my original Catan Story and Review...Story: I awoke one morning on the island of Catan, at the time I didn't know I was on some island in the middle of nowhere. After walking around all day, I ended up strolling down a hill, towards the sunset, hoping it would take me away from the madness of hexagon terrains covered with fields, forests and mountains. People were all around trading their beloved sheep for a piece of grain, or a chunk of rock for an entire tree.Hiding behind one tree that someone had just given away for a brick, was a robber. Dressed in grey, he was waiting patiently, and I soon found out what he was awaiting for as two hopeless pillocks came along and rolled a couple of dice along the ground. They rolled a 7, and quickly the robber came flying out and smashed them both over the head with a tree branch and rode one of their sheep off in to the sunset. I don't know what was more bizarre, the sheep riding robber, or the fact two people just stopped to roll a couple of dice in the middle of a path as if it was a normal day, and as if they hadn't got anything else better to do.Further on in to my journey, I discovered more people, building roads, Knights hitting people and taking things to give to other people, and others begging for ore... I carried on walking to get away from this crazy world, but I was trapped on an island of pure insanity. The only way off, wait for the Seafarers to bring their boats, and even then they would take me to more madness. It's fine though, 'Scotty, one to beam up'. ARGH! No wait, it's more madness in space. I just saw a Klingon Robber smash someone's skull in to steal their Oxygen!Review: The game known as Catan, or to the more experienced a tabletopper, Settlers of Catan. Created by Klaus Teuber, he's created many more versions since he first started this back in 1995, which include Star Trek and Game Of Thrones. It's sold millions upon millions of copies and remains one of the best board games that too many people still don't know about.This is a trading game that's easy to learn for 3 or 4 players, but could end up making you hate dice more than ever, but you'll still be playing it for years. It can be turned in to a 5 or 6 player game with the expansion, and that's a joy in itself. You build the board by creating a hexagon seascape, and fill it with an island using 19 hexagon pieces of different types of terrain that provide resource. Of course, when you play your first game of Catan, you'll use the standard rule names for resource like lumber, grain and wool. It'll soon turn in to wood, wheat and sheep. The classic line of course while trading is "Do you have wood for sheep?" It even went as far as The Big Bang Theory in an episode called The Recombination Hypothesis. Make sure you look that one up if you haven't seen it. The innuendos are incredible.On setting up the game, you have a nice looking island with different land masses like mountains, forests, and even one tile that has a desert. This really is a dirty place because it's the original home of a robber. More on that entity in a moment. Each tile gets a number. This can be set up from the Game Rules and Almanac you get with the game, or you could be really daring and mix up all the tiles before placing them down, and that goes for the circular numbers which are placed on each tile as well. Mixing them up seriously creates a challenge, and always makes for a different game every time and gives it more longevity.Now the board is ready, everyone takes their coloured pieces which consist of 15 roads, 5 settlements and 4 cities, and also have a Building Cost card which comes in very handy. Try and play the game without fiddling with your game pieces. Apart from playing the game properly, you'll be building things with them every chance you get. To kick off the game, choose the starting player who puts down a settlement and a road in between the terrains (on the corners of the hexes), or even on the edge of the island near the sea if you wish. Then players go clockwise. Once it gets to the last player, they take their turn and then have another turn and then placements go anti-clockwise so everyone ends up having two settlements and two roads on the board. On the players second placements, whatever the settlement is touching for example, two forests and a pasture (which will soon be called sheep), you'd get two wood cards and a sheep... I mean wool card. These cards can be used to build things, as long as you have all the required cards, which you collect, trade and spend throughout the game. Important rules, each settlement placed at the start has to have their road placed next to that piece so it's always a good idea to observe the board before placing anything, and also settlements/cities cannot be next to each other, there is a two space rule for all settlements/cities. That becomes very clear and easy from the first game.After placing all the pieces, the game begins with the throw of the dice by the player who first put down their settlement and road (who is also the last person, which is fun). When the dice land, whatever number comes up, players with settlements touching terrain of that number get the resource cards. Later on, when players have cities, any city touching a terrain would get two cards. It's quite a simple game, but the dice decide your fate more than anything. Great fun though.When it's a players turn, after doing the rolling and getting resource phase, trading can take place. It's only between the current players turn and everyone else. Players cannot trade with each other if it's not their turn.Let's talk about that dirty Robber. This originally sits in the desert, but once a 7 is rolled, or if someone uses the Knight Development Card, it can be moved and placed on any number on the board, which blocks that number until the robber is moved to another one. So if the Robber is placed on a '5', if anyone has a Settlement or City next to that terrain with that covered number, they wont get any resource cards connected with it until it's moved. It's evil, especially if you get a game where the 7 comes out constantly, and it does happen. By the way, whoever places the robber and puts it on a number that's connected to another players Settlement or City, they can steal a random card from them, if two people are next to that terrain, the robbing player chooses only one person to steal from. Like I said though, evil.Every player has a Building Cost card to show what you need to build roads, more settlements, cities, and development cards which can end up putting anyone who buys them in a strong position. These development cards hold such things as Knights, when used can move the robber on the board to a new number, usually someone you want to block and/or steal a card from. Handy tip about the Knight card, you can use it before rolling when it comes to your turn, always fun to steal someone's card before things really kick off. There are also Monopoly cards which gives you the power to say any resource and every player gives you ALL of what they have of that resource. There are cards that give you Victory points, which gets you that little bit closer to winning the game, and these are revealed as soon as you have 10 points to be victorious, but never shown until the end. All development cards can only be used once, and you can't use a development card as soon as you buy it unless it's the Victory point card that gets you to your 10th point.Yes, 10 points, that's all you need for victory, to be the lord of the sheep and master of bricks. The King of wheat and a God of the forests. It doesn't sound much does it? 10 points. Good news, everyone when they set up the game starts on 2 points for having two Settlements, which are worth a point each. Get a City to replace a Settlement, it's worth 2 points, so you're aiming to get as many Settlements and Cities on the board as possible. But games can go on for an hour or two before there is a victor, and even longer if you have the 5-6 player expansion. It's brilliant. Winning is earnt through strategy, but every roll you want certain numbers to give you the resource to build what you need. It doesn't always work out as you plan.Other things that can get you the 10 points are the bonus missions. If you have the longest road, you claim the Longest Road card which is worth 2 points, and also the Largest Army card, also worth 2 points, for anyone who has the most Knight cards. This can take time, they're only available when someone has a road length of five, and three Knight cards. They can be taken though from anyone who manages to get more, meaning they lose the 2 point advantage and the new player gains it. I think having these cards puts you on more edge than anything.Having a Settlement or City at one of the Harbours is brilliant and gives a player a huge advantage. There are regular harbours that you can trade three of your resource cards for one different resource card, this is known as Maritime Trade. There are special harbours where you can trade two specific resources for one different card. If you manage to have a settlement next to the wheat for example, and wheat is doing really well for you, and you build a settlement next to a harbour that can trade two wheat for a different resource, you're laughing all the way to the bank. The less you can trade for what you want is a path to winning Catan.There are all kinds of different versions out now, along with expansions. There's even a card game called Struggle For Catan, and a brilliant little dice game that wont take up 2 hours of your life.If you're a veteran at board games like me, growing up with games like Cluedo and Monopoly, you'll appreciate this game for the rest of your life. It's an amazing game and there's a reason why it's still going strong after 25 years. Don't just sit there... Game!

23.11.2020

Story:I awoke one morning on the island of Catan, at the time I didn't know I was on some island in the middle of nowhere. After walking around all day, I ended up strolling down a hill, towards the sunset, hoping it would take me away from the madness of hexagon terrains covered with fields, forests and mountains. People were all around trading their beloved sheep for a piece of grain, or a chunk of rock for an entire tree.Hiding behind one tree that someone had just given away for a brick, was a robber. Dressed in grey, he was waiting patiently, and I soon found out what he was awaiting for as two hopeless pillocks came along and rolled a couple of dice along the ground. They rolled a 7,and quickly the robber came flying out and smashed them both over the head with a tree branch and rode one of their sheep off in to the sunset. I don't know what was more bizarre, the sheep riding robber, or the fact two people just stopped to roll a couple of dice in the middle of a path as if it was a normal day, and as if they hadn't got anything else better to do.Further on in to my journey, I discovered more people, building roads, Knights hitting people and taking things to give to other people, and others begging for ore... I carried on walking to get away from this crazy world, but I was trapped on an island of pure insanity. The only way off, wait for the Seafarers to bring their boats, and even then they would take me to more madness. It's fine though, 'Scotty, one to beam up'. ARGH! No wait, it's more madness in space. I just saw a Klingon Robber smash someone's skull in to steal their Oxygen!- - - -Review:The game known as Catan, or to the more experienced a tabletopper, Settlers of Catan. Created by Klaus Teuber, he's created many more versions since he first started this back in 1995, which include Star Trek and Game Of Thrones. It's sold millions upon millions of copies and remains one of the best board games that too many people still don't know about.This is a trading game that's easy to learn for 3 or 4 players, but could end up making you hate dice more than ever, but you'll still be playing it for years. It can be turned in to a 5 or 6 player game with the expansion, and that's a joy in itself. You build the board by creating a hexagon seascape, and fill it with an island using 19 hexagon pieces of different types of terrain that provide resource. Of course, when you play your first game of Catan, you'll use the standard rule names for resource like lumber, grain and wool. It'll soon turn in to wood, wheat and sheep. The classic line of course while trading is "Do you have wood for sheep?" It even went as far as The Big Bang Theory in an episode called The Recombination Hypothesis. Make sure you look that one up if you haven't seen it. The innuendos are incredible.On setting up the game, you have a nice looking island with different land masses like mountains, forests, and even one tile that has a desert. This really is a dirty place because it's the original home of a robber. More on that entity in a moment. Each tile gets a number. This can be set up from the Game Rules and Almanac you get with the game, or you could be really daring and mix up all the tiles before placing them down, and that goes for the circular numbers which are placed on each tile as well. Mixing them up seriously creates a challenge, and always makes for a different game every time and gives it more longevity.Now the board is ready, everyone takes their coloured pieces which consist of 15 roads, 5 settlements and 4 cities, and also have a Building Cost card which comes in very handy. Try and play the game without fiddling with your game pieces. Apart from playing the game properly, you'll be building things with them every chance you get. To kick off the game, choose the starting player who puts down a settlement and a road in between the terrains (on the corners of the hexes), or even on the edge of the island near the sea if you wish. Then players go clockwise. Once it gets to the last player, they take their turn and then have another turn and then placements go anti-clockwise so everyone ends up having two settlements and two roads on the board. On the players second placements, whatever the settlement is touching for example, two forests and a pasture (which will soon be called sheep), you'd get two wood cards and a sheep... I mean wool card. These cards can be used to build things, as long as you have all the required cards, which you collect, trade and spend throughout the game. Important rules, each settlement placed at the start has to have their road placed next to that piece so it's always a good idea to observe the board before placing anything, and also settlements/cities cannot be next to each other, there is a two space rule for all settlements/cities. That becomes very clear and easy from the first game.After placing all the pieces, the game begins with the throw of the dice by the player who first put down their settlement and road (who is also the last person, which is fun). When the dice land, whatever number comes up, players with settlements touching terrain of that number get the resource cards. Later on, when players have cities, any city touching a terrain would get two cards. It's quite a simple game, but the dice decide your fate more than anything. Great fun though.When it's a players turn, after doing the rolling and getting resource phase, trading can take place. It's only between the current players turn and everyone else. Players cannot trade with each other if it's not their turn.Let's talk about that dirty Robber. This originally sits in the desert, but once a 7 is rolled, or if someone uses the Knight Development Card, it can be moved and placed on any number on the board, which blocks that number until the robber is moved to another one. So if the Robber is placed on a '5', if anyone has a Settlement or City next to that terrain with that covered number, they wont get any resource cards connected with it until it's moved. It's evil, especially if you get a game where the 7 comes out constantly, and it does happen. By the way, whoever places the robber and puts it on a number that's connected to another players Settlement or City, they can steal a random card from them, if two people are next to that terrain, the robbing player chooses only one person to steal from. Like I said though, evil.Every player has a Building Cost card to show what you need to build roads, more settlements, cities, and development cards which can end up putting anyone who buys them in a strong position. These development cards hold such things as Knights, when used can move the robber on the board to a new number, usually someone you want to block and/or steal a card from. Handy tip about the Knight card, you can use it before rolling when it comes to your turn, always fun to steal someone's card before things really kick off. There are also Monopoly cards which gives you the power to say any resource and every player gives you ALL of what they have of that resource. There are cards that give you Victory points, which gets you that little bit closer to winning the game, and these are revealed as soon as you have 10 points to be victorious, but never shown until the end. All development cards can only be used once, and you can't use a development card as soon as you buy it unless it's the Victory point card that gets you to your 10th point.Yes, 10 points, that's all you need for victory, to be the lord of the sheep and master of bricks. The King of wheat and a God of the forests. It doesn't sound much does it? 10 points. Good news, everyone when they set up the game starts on 2 points for having two Settlements, which are worth a point each. Get a City to replace a Settlement, it's worth 2 points, so you're aiming to get as many Settlements and Cities on the board as possible. But games can go on for an hour or two before there is a victor, and even longer if you have the 5-6 player expansion. It's brilliant. Winning is earnt through strategy, but every roll you want certain numbers to give you the resource to build what you need. It doesn't always work out as you plan.Other things that can get you the 10 points are the bonus missions. If you have the longest road, you claim the Longest Road card which is worth 2 points, and also the Largest Army card, also worth 2 points, for anyone who has the most Knight cards. This can take time, they're only available when someone has a road length of five, and three Knight cards. They can be taken though from anyone who manages to get more, meaning they lose the 2 point advantage and the new player gains it. I think having these cards puts you on more edge than anything.Having a Settlement or City at one of the Harbours is brilliant and gives a player a huge advantage. There are regular harbours that you can trade three of your resource cards for one different resource card, this is known as Maritime Trade. There are special harbours where you can trade two specific resources for one different card. If you manage to have a settlement next to the wheat for example, and wheat is doing really well for you, and you build a settlement next to a harbour that can trade two wheat for a different resource, you're laughing all the way to the bank. The less you can trade for what you want is a path to winning Catan.There are all kinds of different versions out now, along with expansions. There's even a card game called Struggle For Catan, and a brilliant little dice game that wont take up 2 hours of your life.If you're a veteran at board games like me, growing up with games like Cluedo and Monopoly, you'll appreciate this game for the rest of your life. It's an amazing game and there's a reason why it's still going strong after 25 years. Don't just sit there... Game!

12.6.2018

Chosen as an add on to the original Catan which we bought at christmas, and loved. This was the expansion that seemed most popular (through a quick Google and reading reviews on board game sites that compared the various expansions available). Quick note - the ones labelled 'expansion' expand the game, as in create new goals and ways of earning victory points as well as physically expanding the size of the board, while 'extension' packs give you extra pieces so you can have more players - be careful which you end up buying because it isn't always clear from cut and pasted product descriptions!Our family (two adults, two teens aged 13 and 14) loved the original game but after enough games it can get a bit tedious,

10.3.2016

There is little to say about Settlers of Catan that has not already been said. Catan has won numerous awards including the coveted ‘Spiel des Jahres’, and appears in almost every list of best board games on the net.Rather than using a board, Catan uses hexagonal tiles which you build into your play area. These tiles can move around if you are not careful, especially during setup. This isn’t really a big deal, and recent editions of the game come with edge pieces to hold everything in place. The quality of the components is excellent with the play pieces made out of wood and the tiles made of extra thick card.Catan is not a game to play in a hurry. Expect a game to take 10-15 minutes to setup,

19.4.2016

Catan Junior is a kid-friendly version of Catan. For those familiar with Catan, this is a standalone game and not an expansion. My son, aged 5, is able to pick up the rules but not quite the tactical aspects of the game. My daughter, aged 8, has no problems with either the rules or her winning strategy. The game plays 2 - 4 people and there are two sides to the board (one for 2 players and one for 3 & 4 players). The game takes between 20 mins and 30 mins to play. The players' pieces (ships and pirate's lairs) are well made plastic tokens and the resource chits are thick cardboard. Each player is also given a pictorial resource conversion card, again on thick card.

12.10.2013

I have to agree with the other reviewers of this game. The original Settlers of Catan Board Game was one of the best strategy games around. However, veteran players would be quick to tell you that during most games played there would be a point during the game where one particular player gained an upper hand in some respect and from that moment on everyone knew who was going to win and there was very little that the other players could do about it.Star Trek: Catan is 95% Settlers of Catan, with Star Trek dressing. Resources are dilithium, tritanium, food, oxygen and water. Starships instead of roads. Outposts instead of settlements, Starbases instead of cities. On a resource dice roll of 7,

8.12.2015

Catan is amazing. To outline my favourite things about this game:It has the perfect balance of skill and luck. Every roll of the dice has an impact on the decisions you make. You will find yourself whispering prayers to the Gods of Catan that you get the resource you need. Dramatic scenes can play out in this game and ad hoc alliances between players will be forged over mutual interests but quickly broken when their needs diverge.The rules are incredibly intuitive and the instructions are easy to follow or explain (and there's a helpful companion app if nobody has ever played before). Admittedly, there are those who just don't like board games and although Catan is fun it might not be for them,

5.11.2015

I played this game whilst visiting family recently and decided to purchase it so we could all continue to enjoy it at home. As a game, it looks far more complicated than it actually is. It's easier and quicker to play than Monopoly and having a game board that can change every time is a brilliant idea.There are a few subtle differences between this version and the one I played originally. Firstly, the board pieces seem a little thicker, which is a good thing. Secondly, the hexagonal resource pieces aren't as snug a fit as the earlier version - again, another good thing as you don't get pieces buckling up or the board edges coming apart, although there were a couple of incidences where road pieces were falling into gaps.

25.9.2013

Settlers of Catan is just one of those games, a building game that just seems perfectly balanced and never ceases being fun.Settlers of Catan Junior was an oddity. Being a junior version of the game implies simplicity, but Settlers was already a fair simple game. Well, the simplification is there, though most of it simply replacing the 'boring' framing of the original with more child friendly terms and ideas. the Settlers are long gone, and in their place pirates. Rather than towns and cities, your building a pirate base, and rather than buying development cards you get ..coco cards.Okay, so it doesnt all work so well. (seriously, was calling them Plunder or Swag not on the table?).

3.3.2016

Wow! What a great game this turned out to be. Much much better than Seafarers, and surprisingly almost as interesting as Traders and Barbarians. I have played this as 2-player several times with my wife and the simplicity of neutral players placed on the starting island but not taking any further part in the game works well. I've also played it with my (grown-up) kids and (teenage) grandchildren who were all excited by it. We like that ships can move, the variation in island/ocean layouts as areas are discovered, the fact that you get gold even when you get no yield from the dice throw, and that victory points can be gained quite quickly in several different ways.

4.11.2020

I bought this scenario to add more variety to the base Catan game and Spring Oils completely met my expectations. I have to say that the new resource (oil) is overpowered, and thus people are going to use it quite a lot, which will cause natural disasters to occur during the game. If many people play (3/4) it is very likely that all will lose the game (pyrrhic victory to the one who captured more oil, i.e., decided not to use it). For a game with the special rules for two players that is most likely not to happen. In any case, the game finishes much faster than the regular game since the use of oil speeds up everything.In any case, is a scenario that I recommend everyone to add a different touch to the base game.

28.5.2016

Absolutely great game. Some newcomers might be intimidated by all of the counters and cards, but honestly after a couple of run throughs you will be flying! This game is very popular as rather than being a very singular turn-taking game (like Monopoly, which lets face it can be very dull and last forever), everyone is involved even during other people's turns as you have opportunity to trade resources with one another on each person's turn. There are various ways to win the game (building the most cities, the longest roads or the biggest army) and every time you play the game you might decide on a different strategy depending on the board set up, so there really is scope for a lot of variety.

1.1.2016

Another quality board game!This is an amazing game, and if you do not own it, go buy it now! It is very easy to learn (I grasped the basics after 1 game, and learned some tactics after a few games at Christmas).The objective of the game is to obtain 10 victory points. You can get these in several ways, such as by building cities or buying development cards (think Monopoly chance cards). You also have to collect resources to trade with other players or to use to buy buildings. It is very fun, and the games don't necessarily have to take a long time - sometimes games can be finished in 1.5 hours (with 3 players). The only negative is that you have to buy an expansion pack to get 5-6 players,

10.8.2020

Not used our copy of the expansion yet but have played it at our friend's place. Not much to review here really, but if you already enjoy playing the base game of Catan then you will definitely benefit from this expansion. The additional tiles mean you can make a larger island and play with 5 or 6 players, OR you can play a standard island 3 to 4 players and switch around some of the tiles to make the game more challenging; you could use the second desert tile or make lumber more plentiful and ore more scarce for example. Alternatively you could make the 3 to 4 player game potentially a bit easier (or quicker?) too by replacing the desert tile with a resource or by replacing the No.2 and No.12 discs with No.6 and No.8 discs for instance.

19.1.2018

The game itself is very good and fun to play. It's clear after playing a couple of times why it is so popular. Quite straightforward after watching a couple of youtube videos, this game is already one of our favourites.However, the build quality is really poor. The cardboard pieces were not cut out very well and did not break out easily resulting in several tears. The building pieces (roads / settlements / cities) feel very cheaply made and many of the pieces are not a uniform size. Also the red and orange pieces are very close in colour, this makes it quite tricky to play, They only had to choose 4 different colours, I don't know why they picked 2 that were so similar.

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