About Settlers of Catan has been written so far, thousands of games are played online and offline, discovered multiple variants and extensions and even its own Catan GmbH is founded. Therefore, there is now no x-thousand rule review or explanation, but a small report on a spontaneously carried Catan-themed evening, in the Baden Brewery in Karlsruhe.

Participants:

• Janina, actually Agricola fan, has never even played Settlers of Catan.
• Jens played his last game in 1998, but only the basic game, but lays emphasis on the owner of the timber output from the basic game, cities and knights and sailors extension to be.
• Carsten, who knows the game very well, but also a long time has not played.
• Tommy, real Catan veteran who played active since 1995 and knows all the tricks and subtleties.

Tommy had offered to take over the role of the game Erklärmeisters and brings his own Catan edition, packaged in an elegant Catan tin can from a special edition of Vedes ideas & games, as well as several sets of wood pieces sorted neatly in a Schraubenbox with individually removable plastic bowl. This eliminates annoying color ever sort the pieces.

We decide on a lot with basic play / Cities and Knights and Seafarers expansion. In this version, explains Tommy, Klaus Teuber, the game already planned from the beginning to get it but then later bring in some extension parts on the market because the publisher had doubts whether the enormous complexity.

While Tommy explained to us at Brauhaus beer and good food, the basics of the game or new calls to mind, as well as indicating witty strategic viewpoints, we learn that he has met even the game at a Munich Games afternoon about 15 years ago. A short time later he bought himself his first copy and heard since then with his family to the large crowd of Catan fans. As Damien and Thessi he and his wife many years have been very active in the Catan online scene.

Before we begin, Tommy shows us an interesting table in which he has calculated the different probabilities when using a cube instead of two D6-W4 and W8. This gives the 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, the exact same probabilities, while the normal 2W6 the 7 most frequently, the 6 and the 8 bit less often and the 5 and 9 in turn trace rare. In the long notes the W4/W8-Variante the game but something the spice, and we play that night, of course, 2W6.

A curiosity in Tommy's "equipment" is the sentence tokens in Quietschrosa from a time when his daughter that color "hip" was (because she was not 8, but played pretty good base with their parents).

Even when we deviate from the basic game building up into a slightly modified, but rule-compliant version. Instead of the usual 37 hexagons Tommy lays out a game with 52 landscape and water maps, which presents a large, randomly generated Catan island landscape. This leaves more room for each player and there is less competition. Together with some additional rules of fairness in dealing with the robber from the aggressive competition a suitable family structure play - such additional rules of hardcore gamers as a derogatory called "Cuddle-settlers."

Another special variant of Tommy for rounds with other players, the (still) can not lose so easily, and at a too fast to slow forward onrushing lucky thing: After each commodity distribution seen whether of between any two players a distance 4 points or more exists. If so, the player with the lowest score of the player with the higher score as many commodity cards and merchandise draw hidden until it has no more cards in hand when he should have a 7 (which is usually 7 plus 2 each per wall ). Example: Player A has reached 8 points, player B and C each have four points. After each commodity distribution (and only if) B and C may alternately draw cards until A has only 7 on the hand. Tip with guaranteed success!

Back to Karlsruhe to Badisch Brewery Tommy enlarged Schedule: There are of course more revenue chips, with one by an overweight of 5, 6, 8 and 9, the game can in turn be a major cuddle factor - if you like. This shows once again the enormous flexibility of Catan, which makes for experienced players for much of its charm.

We play with barbarian ship, pirates, robbers and dealers. Robbers / pirates come until after the first attack of the barbarians into the game - a "cuddly" version, incidentally, which was acquired by Teuber already as an official rule change.

During the game quickly becomes clear that for four players the slightly larger island landscape is not too large, as the coveted Siedelplätze sell out fast and really good other places are not really there. Tommy said, however, that would be a coincidence.

A little headache prepared the newcomers how to enable the Knights and the settlement of the protected cities. Here we have relatively little over-cautious and cooperative play. Tommy tells us that we can provide through clever tactics that a player in the attack of the barbarians surprisingly losing a city - then it has ausgekuschelt however.

Also just in our game was almost all of us good at dice rare numbers like 3, 4 or 11 particularly common. The result, in some phase of play certain raw materials for all the players were just bad. It showed once again abundantly clear that despite all Catan strategy elements but, in no small part also gambling.

At least the robbers did his service, and disturbed many a lasting contribution to the game design. That a knight distribute the robber, while other players may even dust raw materials, we learned a little late, but anyway it would be able to apply only rarely effective. Especially in the beginning there was a lack of bad grain, which is urgently needed to activate the knight after the robbers expulsion.

Also late in the course of the game are less experienced gamers, it became clear how important the construction of cities on timber, sheep and bronze, is to obtain as many goods and trade with these in turn promote the Stadtausbauten. The obtained Forschrittskarten here to help your own game and developing the dramatic. Some cards also efficiently disrupt the opponent's structure and bring this time advantage. The advantage of experienced players is because above all, know all the existing progress cards and how to use accurate, Tommy is too open. He holds the Stadtausbauten for the most important element of Catan Cities & Knights, directly linked to an effective line of defense-Ritter, in order not to attack a ship of the barbarian cities and thus losing income sources for merchandise. In addition, he advises, especially in the early stages of the game it once in making a swap round so that you can trade 4:1 with the bank and then invest in commodities and thus Stadtausbauten.

All in all, our launch went really interesting game, showed us many of Catan subtleties and made you want more. After more than 15 years of existence, the game has received its fun and repetitive and remains timeless.

At the end of an interesting evening Catan cited Tommy the unfortunately still too early to late former game reviewer for the Süddeutsche Zeitung, Michael button. The closed if the ever-growing empire Catan one of his reviews by saying: "We buy a bigger table and never go out of the house." *

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Tags: cosmos