The Settlers of Catan - The Card Game

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The Settlers of Catan - The Card Game
Table display with incorrect structure (2 landscapes are missing from a settlement)
Table display with incorrect structure
(2 landscapes are missing from a settlement)
Game data
author Klaus Teuber
graphic Franz Vohwinkel
publishing company Kosmos ,
Mayfair Games ,
Tilsit Editions ,
999 Games ,
Devir ,
Marektoy ,
Filosofia Editions
Publishing year 1996
Art Card game
Teammates 2
Duration 75 and more minutes
Age from 10 years on

Awards

Game of the Year 1997: Selection list of
German Games Prize 1997: 2nd place
à la carte Card Game Prize 1997: 2nd place

Schematic structure of a principality

The Settlers of Catan - The Card Game for Two Players is a game by the author Klaus Teuber with graphics by Franz Vohwinkel that was published by Kosmos in 1996 and is based on the successful board game The Settlers of Catan . By 2007 the card game had been sold more than 1.5 million times. In the late summer of 2010 a fundamental revision was published under the title The Princes of Catan with three new forms of play: introductory game, themed game and duel of the princes. The introductory game serves to get to know the basic rules and mechanisms, the themed games are comparable to the earlier extended basic games, but are played with fewer cards. In the duel of the princes, three themes are played at the same time, but only with around half of the cards in the theme sets. In autumn 2011 the first expansion Finstere Zeiten appeared with three further topics, which also contains the rules for the tournament version. All cards have been re-illustrated by Michael Menzel . While the original card game is based on the style of the buildings and people in the Central European Middle Ages , the princes of Catan are based on the novel The Settlers of Catan by Rebecca Gablé , which describes the settlement of an Atlantic island by Scandinavian emigrants. Some of the main characters in the book are featured on the cards in the base set. A special “Catanian” architectural style was developed for the buildings.

Game idea

Each player rules a small principality with the aim of being the first to achieve a specified number of victory points through expansion and building projects . This is done by laying out / “building” cards from your hand, for which you have to pay raw materials - similar to the board game.

In contrast to the board game, the principalities with their settlements, streets, landscapes (for resources) and individual buildings (similar to the Cities & Knights expansion of the board game) are completely represented by corresponding cards that are laid out in front of the two players.

In contrast to normal card games, dice are also used here, which on the one hand initiate every move and on the other hand are used for dice tests in special game situations.

Extensions

Tournament set

In 1997 the tournament set for the card game appeared , which changed the game mechanics in the direction of trading card games , but without the usual “compulsion” to buy a booster : each player puts together their own selection of cards from their card game and tournament set, a so-called one "Deck".

At the same time, an ideas competition for new cards was announced, from which in 1999 three new expansions ("theme sets") were created. In total, the following topic sets have been published:

Themed sets

  • Ritter & Händler ("R&H", 1999)
This set is ideal for beginners: most cards can be played without any conditions. The construction of knights is made easier by castles, border conflicts give the opportunity to get to the enemy’s landscapes, but trade is also strengthened. This and the following set emerged from the tournament set, but both contain one or two additional cards, which are available from the publisher.
  • Science & Progress ("W&F", 1999)
This set is all about the university: After it has been built, the player has a wide range of options to get raw materials and / or to build buildings for less. Knight power can be acquired cheaply by means of cannons.
  • Trade & Change ("H&W", 1999)
The focus of this set is on trade. A new feature is the ability to convert raw materials into trading points, for which a trading post has to be built first.
  • Politics & intrigue ("P&I", 1999)
This set is all about the church and town hall. After these buildings are built, a variety of actions are available that give the game a new dynamic; there are both constructive and destructive elements.
  • Magician & Dragons ("Z&D", 1999)
This expansion changes the game completely: The player has a variety of options to control the stacks and events. But he also has to ensure a constant supply of raw materials, since sorcery uses raw materials, especially gold.
  • Entdecker & Piraten (unofficial title "T2002", 2001)
This extension was only available by purchasing the CD-ROM and was sent to participants in the German Championship 2002. Everything revolved around the gold here. Some cards have been taken over - sometimes slightly changed - in "Barbarians & Traders". Since then, these cards are no longer allowed in tournaments. However, they are still part of the CD-ROM version, which is no longer maintained.
  • Barbarians & Merchants ("B&H", 2003)
With this set, overly strong strategies in tournament play should be weakened and others should be upgraded. There are many new buildings, action and event cards for this. In the extended basic game, investing in fleets and knights is particularly worthwhile.
  • Artists and benefactors ("K&W", appeared in spring 2006 initially in combination with an anniversary edition of the base game, in spring 2007 also as a single set)
This set introduces a whole new component: the satisfaction of the people. This is represented by a new, abstract central map, the popular mood. If the mood of the people is high, civil wars and unrest can be averted, roads and settlements can be built more quickly and neutral and protective measures can be used more frequently. As with no other set, almost all cards are used during a game in the extended basic game.

Two types of game were introduced with the themed sets: the “extended basic game” with only one theme set and the “tournament game” known from the tournament set, which requires the card game and at least one extension for each player, but usually with Cards from several theme sets is played.

The theme sets have only been available in summary form since 2003:

  • The theme sets for fighters & merchants contain the expansions Knight & Merchants , Politics & Intrigue and Barbarians & Merchants .
  • The theme sets for magicians & researchers contain the expansions Science & Progress , Trade & Change and Sorcerers & Dragons .

Only the artist and benefactor set, released in spring 2007, can still be bought individually; the previously also individually available set Barbarians & Traders is largely sold out.

With the appearance of Barbarians & Traders , some cards and rules of the original expansions were changed as part of the “Reform 2003” in order, according to the publisher, to weaken overpowering deck strategies and to increase the variety of strategies overall. The most important change concerns the playing of action cards: If both players previously had to have at least 3 victory points, which often led to game delays, now both players must have at least 7 victory points together. As a result, the leading player can now actively initiate the action card phase when the score is 4: 2 by adding another victory point to 5: 2 and the player who is behind can in turn initiate the action card phase by adding another victory point to 4: 3.

Special cards

Since 2002, limited annual special cards have also been published, which were never officially available in stores, but some of which were gradually added to the new theme sets. In addition, the basic game and the expansions experienced different editions.

Unofficial extensions

Because of the great enthusiasm for the card game, there are numerous unofficial expansions, which come from German and Dutch players in particular and whose distribution on the Internet is tolerated by the author and the publishers as long as this is not operated commercially. In addition to extensions the new aspects, e.g. B. Bringing culture and auctions but also armed conflicts into play, there are also sets especially for three and four players with which it is possible to play the card game as well as the board game in larger groups.

Similar games

In spring 2007 Klaus Teuber published the game Anno 1701 - Das Kartenspiel, based on a similar mechanism .

Championships

  • 1997: "100,000 DM card game tournament" to promote the tournament set, winner: Wolfhart Umlauft
  • 2002: Open Catan card game championship to promote the CD-ROM version, winners: Jörn Niewerth and Andreas Bechtel

Translations

The game has also been translated into other languages: English, Finnish, French, Italian, Dutch, Polish, Spanish, Russian, Slovenian, Czech, Hungarian.

The design of the cards is largely identical to that of the German cards, but the English and Dutch editions use different backs, so that tournament games with players from these countries are not possible. The English cards also use different raw material, mill and victory point symbols. In the Russian edition, the cards with a shorter edge are sold as sheets and must be separated before the first game.

Availability

With the publication of the Princes of Catan , the production of the old card game was stopped.

Web links

Commons : The Settlers of Catan - The Card Game  - Collection of images, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Press release ( Memento of the original dated February 8, 2007 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. for Anno 1701 - The card game at spielbox.de  @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.spielbox.de
  2. ↑ kosmos.de: The Princes of Catan - Dark Times
  3. ↑ The Catan two-player game "The Princes of Catan" has been published.
  4. ↑ The annual special cards ( Memento of the original from January 3, 2008 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.  @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.siedeln.de
  5. ↑ What are the differences between the cards in the different language editions? ( Memento of the original from January 6, 2008 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.siedeln.de