posted
I prefer Settlers of Zarahemla. Same game, but better board design, faster set up. No expansions, but I didn't really like the expansions anyway. Our local game store (in Texas owned by a non-LDS guy) sells that one almost exclusively because of those advantages.
Posts: 1001 | Registered: Mar 2006
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But really, Settlers of Catan is a great game, but you will burn out after about 10 or 12 playings. At least that was my experience.
Posts: 1810 | Registered: Jan 1999
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posted
Settlers of Catan is generic, Settlers of Zarahemla is the LDS version of it. You can get 2 victory points by building the temple, the robber is called the Gadianton robber and some of the cards are named slightly different (instead of a governer, you have Alma). You kinda have to be LDS or know about them to even pick up on the differences. Except that the board is prettier.
Posts: 1001 | Registered: Mar 2006
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posted
Love Settlers. Also love the expansions. Especially the Cities & Knights expansion. This one really adds something to the game. But it will also add a lot of time to the duration of the game.
What is also fun to do, especially if you play with people that are not so good tactically, is playing with a 12-sided dice (with the numbers 1-12). Using that, all locations on the board will gave you equal chance on raw materials. The 1 and the 7 will activate the robber. We found out that this appeals to people who are new to the game and in general like games in which luck is very important.
@Elmer's glue: Settlers is originally a German game by Klaus Teuber.
Posts: 7 | Registered: Apr 2005
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I play this with my friends all the time. Cities and knights, while iritatingly expensive, is a good addition to the game. Good stuff.
Posts: 655 | Registered: May 2005
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posted
Settlers is a great game. My friends and I will sometimes set up a settlers game for extra people after we exceed the seven person limit for Diplomacy (you can't beat Diplomacy).
Posts: 1327 | Registered: Aug 2007
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My roommate plays it all the time. I burnt out after one game. Maybe it's because he was so good at it that I never felt I could compete with him, or maybe because I just don't like the game. I haven't figured that one out yet.
Posts: 1711 | Registered: Jun 2004
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posted
I first played it with the Cities and Knights expansion. I loved it, and then when someone had Settlers all by itself and I tried to play I found it extremely boring. Cities and Knights is the only way to go, if you ask me. Posts: 1635 | Registered: Aug 2002
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posted
Another vote for the Cities and Knights expansion. Also if you like Catan you should check the Carcassonne series of games. The best is Carcassonne the City.
Posts: 212 | Registered: Nov 2006
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I played this once in college, as a friend of mine had it. I enjoyed it, so when I was coming up with a list of potential Christmas gifts people could get for me, I put it on the list. Whether I get it or not is to be seen. I'd be happy if I did though.
Posts: 1960 | Registered: May 2005
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posted
I was big into Catan lonnng lonnnng time ago. Erm, tends to burn itself out, though. You get to the point where everyone's peaked out their game knowledge and experience and all know exactly how you play in order to win (usually: maximize rock & grain for city building + dev cards) and the ending of the game is essentially random, determined by one of three periods of potentially exponential resource accumulation growth, which in turn is determined by where everyone got to place.
And you CAN kill off another player's chance to succeed nearly entirely by cutting them off with your sequenced opening placement of settlements. In fact, half of all the games we played ended up with at least two people realizing that they had already lost due to the placement choice of another player.
And they're stuck playing the hopeless game for hours afterwards.
posted
The semester before I got to college that game was big among the people I hang out with. The guy who owned it moved though, so I've never played it.
Posts: 2827 | Registered: Jul 2005
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posted
With kids, I prefer Carcassone. Even my seven year olds can play and we have a good time with it. It's funny how everyone has their own preferences, my oldest daughter loves to build cities while my middle daughter will always get sucked into building long, circuitous roads.
We also have the hunter/gatherer version of Carcassone and it can be fun. I do not recommend the expansion set with the dragon and princess though - none of us have ever enjoyed playing with it.
Posts: 14428 | Registered: Aug 2001
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posted
I like the basic game, not so fond of the expansions I've seen. I feel like most of 'em create a level of complexity that would make them more appropriate to a computer game.
Posts: 3826 | Registered: May 2005
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