Every now and then, I guess I need to be reminded that that most classic of German board games, The Settlers of Catan, despite its many strengths, is not actually to be played by four players -- regardless of what the box might tell you. Play with three players on the standard board, or five players on the "5 or 6 player" board, and everything should work out fine. But four players on the basic board is simply too cramped for its own good.I've never played a four-player Settlers game that didn't have one of the "players" serving as more of a witness than anything else. You can't always tell for sure when the game begins, but one player will quickly be cut off from expansion by the road-building of others. He'll happen to be the one to have his numbers starve in the early game. And that's it. There's simply no recovering.
Shocho brought over a special deck of cards for Settlers to tonight's gaming. They're meant to replace the dice, with every number represented on the cards in its proper mathematical proportion. This had some pros and cons to it, but of course, one player's numbers can still somehow refuse to come up (in this case, because they're shuffled to the bottom of the deck).
Bottom line -- Settlers with four? Just don't do it.
3 comments:
I hate dice. Any way to take dice out of a game I like is a good thing. Agreed on the four players, though, super cramped.
I plain don't like Settlers anymore, and rarely play it. I've gotten rid of my copy, actually. There are just so MANY outstanding games out there that I can't stand to play a "broken" game just for fun.
Still, I can understand why people love and play it. It's just not for me, I guess.
FKL
No player should ever feel like they're completely boxed in. I win games all the time where I'm stuck sitting on two settlements.
You do have to tailor your play to the number of players quite a bit. Generally, in four player, I try to get ahold of good Rock and Wheat production quickly, ensuring solid Development card production, which is pretty much the only consistent way to generate points.
In my experience, most people horridly neglect the Development cards, and as such, pay the price. :P
I recently got a few of the guys here in St. Louis into the game, which is kinda nifty. It's nice having people who are just starting to pick it up, and are excited about it, rather than our otherwise jaded crew. :P
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