Board Games: Catan - Cities & Knights

This past Fall, I really got into the hobby board games and luckily found a good group of people to share in this social-by-nature past time. While I love video games, there's something about sitting face-to-face with your teammates and opponents.

One great resources that has helped fuel this hobby is the site Board Game Geek. With BGG I have a website that not only has a ton of information and reviews of games out there, but also a site that provides a system to rate and rank games and tools to keep track of your personal collection, as well as games you're interested in playing or purchasing.

Anyhow, I thought it'd be fun to share pictures from some of these gaming sessions. First up, Catan: Cities & Knights, an expansion/variation on the popular Settlers of Catan. What's great about the basic Settlers of Catan is that it acts as a gateway game: a game to show non-gamers that there are now more rich and fulfilling gaming options than just Monopoly. While gateway games will vary in complexity, Catan is easy enough to learn if you have some friends to teach and walk-through a round or two with you.

The funny thing about my initial experience with the Settlers of Catan is that I didn't enjoy it that much but was willing to give the game a few chances despite my overall lack of fun. With all the colorful wooden pieces and interchangeable hexagonal pieces that give you a different board every game, it had all the pieces of a wonderful and variable game. I knew there had to be something behind all the great reviews.

However, I wasn't truly a convert until a played with the Cities & Knights expansion, which basically gives the player a lot more options on their turn, though it also throws in more things to keep in check. My first time playing C&K was also in Hawaii, while visiting one of Taryn's friends. Needless to say I purchased my own copy within a month after playing.

Here's a picture of the board after all five players had claimed their settlements and cities. The regular Settlers of Catan, as well as C&K, has a limitation of 3-4 players. However you can purchase a 5-6 player expansion (ranges from about $15-$20), but the tricky thing is if you need to buy separate 5-6 expansions for both versions of the game. No one said this would be a cheap hobby I suppose, but if you factor in variability and actual hours of play, the pricing of board games should usually be a better value than a video game.

Hopefully this has been an informative overview of the hobby and game itself. I am planning on featuring more games in later posts, as well as an entry on where I recommend finding these board games.