Blood for wool, blood for wool…

Aug 30, 2009 by Joshua    2 Comments    Posted under: game short, games

So I totally have internet access on vacation. We’re staying at a resort for the week, and I brought my laptop along to stay connected to the outside world. The bad news is that I can’t use it to play any of the myriad great games I plan to write about in the near future. The good news is that I can still update about other topics of importance. Depending on our plans for the week, I may also have some pictures and video of the beautiful forests and caverns of the state of Virginia.

Image courtesy boardgamegeek.com.

One great thing about having the whole family under one roof is that we get the chance to sit down and partake in old-fashioned pastimes, like board games. On many occasions, my brothers and sister-in-law and I have sat down at a kitchen table around a campaign of Risk, tensions running high as we divide up the world with conquest. Tonight, though, I introduced everyone to a new game called Settlers of Catan.

For those of you who have never played or heard of Catan, the game has some similarities to Risk and Monopoly. For one, a single game can take hours to complete. Each player takes on the role of settler, building roads and cities across an island made up of hexagonal plots of land, striving to gather the most resources and build the greatest settlement.

Like Risk, competition comes into play when vying for prime land. Unlike Risk, however, players do not directly combat each other. Rather, interaction plays out like Monopoly: Players can trade resources with each other, which adds a whole new layer of strategy.

And strategy is a big part of Catan. Players win by accumulating “victory points”, which can be obtained in a number of ways. A proper method of winning is to focus on particular goals rather than spreading one’s resources thin by trying to attain multiple achievements. Tact and diplomacy also play heavily into the game, as one must make agreeable trades and, at times, ally with other players to gain desirable footholds.

The strategy of it can begin as early as the start of the game, depending on the way players choose to set it up. Rather than a concrete board arrangement, the playing field is composed of a number of hexagonal cardboard pieces that can be arranged in any order to create the “island”. Number values, which correspond to dice rolls to determine the frequency of a particular resource, can also be placed randomly or strategically on the board, and players can choose to place their settlements in locations where they are more likely to gain certain resources to use toward certain ends.

What’s also interesting about the board game is that it is nearly impossible to tell who is winning at any given time. A tally can be kept on points, but players also have potentially hidden points that they do not have to reveal until they have won the game. Also, someone can rally their resources and perform a series of plays in a single turn that can quickly tip the scales.

I got the game for my birthday from my brother and his wife, having never played it before. I heard about it from a former philosophy professor, and his description (as well as my respect for his opinion on such matters) suggested to me that it would be a fun game to play with a group of friends or family members. After the initial hiccups of explaining the roles and intricacies of the somewhat complex game, everyone seemed to warm up to it and get involved in the strategy of it all. Though it can often be frustrating trying to attain what one needs in Catan, post-game opinion seems to be that it was very enjoyable. A good time was had by all.

For anyone curious about the more intricate details of gameplay, check out the  video below:

In the future, I might have to check out some of the numerous expansions and add-ons. Anyone who has played them have any recommendations?

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