Settlers of Catan

I have talked about Settlers of Catan before. In fact, I started out this blog with a post about it. The game's appeal seems to be pretty much universal. I usually play the game with a group of friends who are very good at it and we have played for several years now. I decided to buy a copy so I would own it for myself. I had the game for a long time with out even opening it. Last Sunday, I decided I wanted to try and see if I could teach my Fiance and our Exchange Student (who is from Vietnam) how to play. They both are not gamers like me. However, they do enjoy an occasional board game or card game. We set up the board and I taught them how to play in a pretty short amount of time. As it turns out I won, but the game was very competitive. They were able to grasp the nuances of the game rather quickly which is a testament to the game's designer. Actually the only reason I won was because the two other players were battling over having the Longest Road card. If it hadn't been for that I probably would have lost. They are both enthusiastic about the game and I now have two more people to play with. I guess the moral of the story is that if a board game is really well designed, it shouldn't be too hard to introduce new people to it. You then can never complain about a lack of people to play the game with.

Catan: quick impression

I have been slow updating the sight for two main reasons. Catan on Xbox Live and Lord of the Rings Online (yeah I know, I said during beta I wouldn't play the released version -- sue me). Both games have been taking up most of my free time. Add a few multiplayer sessions of Rainbow Six Vegas and I have no time to blog. I'll have a full review of Catan and LOTRO soon, but until then here are some of my thoughts on Catan after playing several games against the computer AI.

Catan allows for multiple ways to play either versus Xbox Live opponents or against the computer AI. If you choose to play against the AI you will be pitted against famous historical figures who have different strategies. Some are expansionists, and some like to go for resource monopolies. Like the board game, you need to have 3 or 4 players. One nit picky thing I noticed is that you can't seem to choose your color. The human player is always white. That was a bit irksome, but I got over it. The game comes with two skins for representing the board. The first is the one we are all used to from playing the board game and the second is called "Living Catan" it is a 3D representation of the hexes. The later skin made it a bit difficult for me to recognize resources although it looked really nice.

Games take quite a bit less time than I am used to from playing the board game. The computer handles all resources and game pieces which I find to be convenient. The AI opponents make their decisions quickly and logically. A nice touch is that the AI will get "mad" at you if you do bad things to it like putting the robber on one of their hexes. If this happens they will likely not trade with you. This is a nice touch and brings back some fond memories of old Catan sessions with friends. So far the games I have played have been competitive and exciting, although the boards have had some really crappy resource layouts. I managed to almost win one game with a monopoly on wheat, but lost ten to nine to "Sun Tsu".

The game is very customizable and allows for many popular house rules. Sessions last an acceptable thirty minutes or so and the AI is logical and competitive. I have yet to make a foray into the Xbox Live portion of the game, but I have heard good things. So far, I am happy with the game and I look forward to playing some of my friends online instead of around a kitchen table. I wonder what their excuse will be when I thrash them now?? I will have a full review up after I have played all portions of the game. Hopefully it will do well enough that we will get the popular Cities and Knights expansion.

Settlers of Catan: Cities and Knights

Cities and Knights

I started off this blog talking about the upcoming Xbox Live Arcade game, Settlers of Catan. In that post I introduced you to some cutthroat players the likes of: The Accountant, The Machine and The Deflector. I am happy to announce that I have emerged victorious in our latest game of the expansion to Settlers of Catan which is called Cities and Knights. If you aren't familiar with it, think of the regular game, but with lots more opportunity for "dickage" as we are want to say. Cities and Knights is very adversarial and challenging. There are many chances to screw over your opponent and to be screwed.

One word of advice: don't start a game of Cities and Knights at 12:00 AM especially on the night you set the clocks forward. Ugh! The game lasted for a little over three hours. This is partly due to the fact that the only way I win these things is if I stumble upon the victory in what turns out to be an exercise of stamina. I am not nearly as good at strategy as my aforementioned opponents. I would have won earlier if The Deflector hadn't been determined to hang on to the Longest Road even though he had no chance of winning. Sounds like something I would do. I am thinking about retiring as champion now, but I think I will enjoy the fruits of my victory for a time before making any announcement.