This time we are looking at one of the better known German board games, Settlers of Catan. Hexagonal landscape pieces with land printed on them sounds like Mighty Empires to me, but can this take on a strategic board game live up to the hype?
Aug 18 2011
How To Murder Time – Settlers of Catan
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8 comments
Volstag
August 19, 2011 at 3:03 pm (UTC 0)
Great podcast! Really enjoy Settlers of Catan though, candidly, after 50+ games it’s not quite as awesome as the first dozen or so. The main problem it has, IMO, is that trade will all but cease when you have a handful of people who are all within a point or two of winning — which turns it into a simple die rolling contest (much like Monopoly) and can add an hour to the game easily. Thankfully that doesn’t happen all the time.
Again, I have to recommend you check out Dominion!
Jon Shute
August 19, 2011 at 3:39 pm (UTC 0)
I do wonder if the expansion mix up the game enough to deal with that, I’ll have to grab one or two and give them a go.
Dominion is on the list of things to try, don’t worry.
Dr_Toerag
August 20, 2011 at 9:07 am (UTC 0)
Excellent to hear about board games, and I side with Jon Shute in the “Monopoly is tiresome” debate.
I would recommend a board game called Pandemic. Each player has a character class (Medic, Transport, Brutal Killer) with a speciality, and all play together against a developing outbreak of plagues. It takes 1 to 1 1/12 hours and either the world ends in disease or EVERYBODY WINS!
Volstag
August 22, 2011 at 4:31 pm (UTC 0)
I’d like to mimic what Dr. Toerag said about Pandemic — an absolutely fantastic cooperative title! Probably the best of all the cooperative boardgames out there (IMO).
Melmoth
August 22, 2011 at 3:20 pm (UTC 0)
With reference to the gentlemen’s dice observations, I stumbled on the following a while back, which may delight, horrify, or simply implode one’s will to live, with equal chance (or all three, on the roll of a seven on two dice):
http://www.chiark.greenend.org.uk/~sgtatham/dice/“
Jon Shute
August 22, 2011 at 4:29 pm (UTC 0)
That has so much scope for fun… I wonder if any games have used custom dice like that in order to spice things up, and if not then why not?
Melmoth
August 22, 2011 at 5:33 pm (UTC 0)
I think the comment at the end hints that imperfections in the dice can disproportionately affect the results with respect to probability, alas.
If I recall correctly, m’colleague also had a reasonably lusty objection when I showed it to him, although I don’t recall the details of it. Next time you’re playing Catan at his house, you’ll have to ask him!
Akely
August 27, 2011 at 7:29 pm (UTC 0)
Ordered this game today, and have booked up friends for a sitting. Looking forward to it.