CATAN - Cities & Knights
| Cities & Knights | |
|---|---|
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| Game data | |
| author | Klaus Teuber |
| graphic |
Franz Vohwinkel (1998 edition), Tanja Donner (2003 and 2006 edition), Michael Menzel (2010 edition) |
| publishing company | cosmos |
| Publishing year | 1998 |
| Art | Material expansion |
| Teammates | 3 to 4 to 6 (with extension) |
| Duration | from 2 hours |
| Age | from 10 years |
Cities & Knights is an expansion to the game The Settlers of Catan by Klaus Teuber , published in 1998, for initially 3 to 4 players. The game was published by Franckh-Kosmos- Verlag in Stuttgart . In the same year a supplement for 5 to 6 players appeared.
Game setup
The structure is the same as in the basic game, but the island could be fixed in the first version using a frame included in the supplement, which fixes the individual water fields. This frame is no longer included in the editions from 2003 onwards, as the basic game now contains a frame instead of individual water fields. In the first version, a sea field was replaced by the barbarians' approach route, which the players pay special attention to. Because instead of two settlements, each player begins with a settlement and a city that irresistibly attracts the barbarians in order to destroy them. Since every city next to a mountain range, a forest and a pasture landscape now also produces trade goods with which the players expand their cities, it makes sense to protect the cities from the barbarians. For this purpose, the players can set up an army of knights, which can also drive the robbers from "their" fields. The development cards known from the basic game are no longer used here. Instead, players can receive progress cards that can be used to expand their own principality if the player invests in education. If he has a weakness for trade, he can also promote it and thus become independent of foreign trade via the ports by means of a trader and various trading cards, but can also annoy the opponents with trade goods and raw material monopolies. But there are also new opportunities for those who prefer to intervene in the ecclesiastical and secular order. Even the players who are behind can turn the tide with some progress cards. Ultimately, this creates three metropolises that are immune to the barbarians and bring you additional victory points. The whole thing is now controlled via 3 instead of 2 dice, two of which continue to determine the yield, the third either drives the barbarians forward or - in combination with the new red yield dice - provides the players with progress cards. While the mountains, forests and pastures produce commodities as well as ore, wood and wool, grain is required for knight activities and city walls can be built with clay, which increases the card limit on a 7. The winner is the first to reach a certain number of victory points, but with this expansion it must be 13, which means that the game is not only more complex than the basic game, but also takes longer.
content
- Expansion for 3 and 4 players (version from 1998):
- 11 frame parts, including a barbarian route
- 54 progress cards (18 each trade, politics and science)
- 36 merchandise cards (12 each × book, cloth, coins)
- 6 victory point cards "Savior Catans"
- 4 city calendars
- 6 round wooden discs for knights of each color
- 3 square wooden discs of each color for city walls
- 1 sticker sheet with stickers for the knight and city wall discs
- 1 barbarian ship
- 1 dealer cone
- 2 dice (red and event)
- 3 metropolitan stones
- 3 metropolitan chips
- 1 set of instructions, 4 pages
- 1 almanac for the progress cards
- 2 card stands (later editions)
- Plastic insert for the box for sorting the material (later editions)
- Supplement for 5 and 6 players (version from 1998):
- 2 city calendars
- 18 cards of trade goods (6 each cloth, coins, book)
- 2 victory point cards "Savior Catans"
- 3 frame parts (x, y, z)
- 6 city walls (3 each green and brown)
- 12 knights (6 each green and brown)
- 1 sticker sheet with stickers for the knight and city wall discs
criticism
The second extension was received differently. While a large part of the press reported positively, there was also criticism. In addition to inadequacies in the quality of the game material of the first edition, a too high luck factor is particularly criticized. This arises on the one hand from the unevenly strong progress cards, on the other hand from the sometimes quick first appearance of the barbarians without the possibility of being able to send a knight beforehand. Losing your first city at the beginning of the game is often tantamount to defeat. To take this into account, Klaus Teuber modified the robber rule for Cities & Knights in 2003: Now the robber may only be moved after the barbarian ship has arrived. On the other hand, it has been shown in many games that an early city loss does not necessarily have to be synonymous with a defeat in the game, especially since a city loss can also contribute to the balance of the game.
Modifications
In the editions published in 2003, the wooden city walls were replaced by walls made of plastic into which the city figures of the basic version published in 2003 fit. For the metropolises there are now 3 essays for each player and the knight discs have also been replaced by figures. Since the movable arms with which the activity is displayed often broke off, these were replaced in 2006 by knights with fixed arms but additional helmets, through which the activity is now displayed. The sticker sheets are also no longer included. Instead of the fold-out calendar for the city expansion, the editions from 2003 contain city expansion boards into which markers are inserted for each expansion. Since many players like the fold-out calendars better, they have also been available individually in the Catan shop since 2005. Because the basic version already contains a frame, the frame previously contained in the Cities & Knights expansion is no longer necessary. For this reason, a different format was chosen for the train field of the barbarian fleet - which is also included as a plastic figure. This is now placed outside the playing field.
The new graphics are by Michaela Schelk, the illustrations by Tanja Donner, the characters were designed by Andreas Klober.
The rules of the game also changed. First it was printed on 4 square pages and also an almanac for the progress cards in A5 format. From 2003 on, the game instructions and the almanac were printed together on 12 pages in A4 format.
A graphically revised edition was published in spring 2010
3-D version
The 3-D version released in 2005 also contains the material from the Cities & Knights expansion. The figures are made of high quality plastic, the instructions are printed on glossy paper. The fold-out calendars are also included here, but with the raw material symbols that have been used since 2003.
particularities
Many of the motifs of the Catan card game drawn by Franz Vohwinkel were used for the progress cards of the first edition . In 2003 these were then drawn in the design of the new basic game. The old motifs were still used for the progress cards displayed in the Catan Online World. In 2010 the maps were redrawn by Michael Menzel, some pictures were also used for the maps of the Princes of Catan and the “Dark Times” expansion .
Rule changes
With the appearance of the new 2003 editions, the “Saboteur” card was changed: At first the player who played the “Saboteur” could “turn the city of any player upside down” so that it only brought in the income from a settlement and only afterwards Payment of ore and wood was again considered a "normal" city. Now all players with the same number or more victory points must give up half of their hand cards. In 2004 the rule for the use of the robber when rolling a 7 or through other actions (bishop, knight) was changed so that now the robber can only be moved once the barbarians have invaded Catan. The case, initially only regulated in the FAQ, how to proceed if a city has to be demolished if there were already 5 settlements, was changed in 2003 in the rules booklet of the new edition. Then the city is put on its side and counts as a settlement, before it had to be taken off the field entirely. In the course of setting up the FAQ database, it was made clear that progress cards may only be played if they have an effect.
Anniversary extension
CATAN - The legend of the conquerors
The legend of the conquerors appeared in August 2019, it was supposed to appear in 2018 for the twentieth anniversary of the “Cities & Knights” expansion, but development was delayed. Like the legend of the pirates, it was developed by Klaus Teuber together with his son Benjamin. Klaus Teuber got the players in the mood for the appearance with 16 blog posts on the Catan website.
It contains three scenarios that can be played in three chapters one after the other with an overall rating or individually. Each chapter begins with a short story that defines the task for the players. The material from the base game and the Cities & Knights expansion are also required. The players not only play against each other, but also against the game, because if certain conditions are met, a scenario ends prematurely with a defeat of the players. The players can then repeat the scenario and start with better starting conditions if desired.
Included scenarios
- Resist !:
- The players must prevent the conquerors from conquering 7 (in a three-player game) or 10 (in a four-player game) or more landscape fields with number chips.
- Stop the Conquerors !:
- The players must prevent the conquerors from conquering 4 (in a three-player game) or 5 (in a four-player game) or more landscape fields with number chips.
- Free all of Catan !:
- The players have to capture as many fortresses of the conquerors that at the end of the game they have a maximum of 2 (in a three-player game) or 3 (in a four-player game) fortresses.
content
- Plastic toy figures:
- 4 sets in 4 player colors each with:
- 4 (4 × 1) cannons
- 4 (4 * 1) horses
- 8 (4 × 2) marker stones
- Neutral game material:
- 20 conquerors
- 16 forts
- Game material made of cardboard (must be removed from punched sheets):
- 9 frame parts
- 25 landscape fields (marked with a flag in one corner):
- 9 swamp fields
- 3 fields of arable land, one of which has a sea on the back
- 3 forest fields, one field each on the back swamp and sea
- 3 hill country fields, one field each on the back swamp and sea
- 3 mountain fields, one field each on the back swamp and sea
- 3 pasture fields, one of which is on the back of a swamp
- 2 number chips, marked with a sea dragon on the back
- 2 chapter tables, one of which is printed on both sides (chapter 2 & 3)
- 32 amber chips
- 32 wine chips
- 10 number chips (back: flag)
- 5 trading stations (back: ports)
- 1 direction field
- 4 landing markers
- 4 settlement markers
- 4 road markers
- 3 roadblock markers
- 4 foundry tiles
- 4 stud tokens
- Playing cards:
- 20 progress cards battle
- 18 Politics progress cards (used in Chapters 1 and 2 instead of the normal Politics cards)
- 24 overview cards, 2 per player per chapter
- 1 direction cube made of wood
- Stickers for the conquerors and fortresses
- 10 zip bags for sorting the game material
- Game instructions (44 DIN A5 pages, multicolored)
Use at championships
At the German championship, organized by the Herne game center and since 2008 by Kosmos, it is played as the last game at the final tournament. Since 2005, the organizers of the ranking tournaments can also let it play.
Realizations for the computer
On the 1999 CD-ROM Catan: The first island was not included "Cities & Knights". At first it seemed too difficult to program a powerful AI for it. From 2003 "Cities & Knights" could be played in the Catan Online World (COW), but only against other online players. In autumn 2008, “Catan - Cities and Knights” was published for the PC, both as a commercially available CD-ROM and as a download. The program was programmed by the programmers of the board game world who had also programmed the COW. With this program "Cities & Knights" could now also be played against the PC. A version for the Mac was later offered for download.