Great review!! Played this in 2004 when first started gaming and now playing again today, 2019, so this was great review to help me when directions explained today. Playing with constant players of Cities and Knights.
Cities & Knights, when it came out, was the closest thing most of us had to a medium-weight to medium/heavy game. Now that there are so many more options, like Terra Mystica for example, it really hasn't stood the test of time. People who say it's the best expansion are right; it was the best for its time. But it's not the best now.
Some points to remember: 1. The Science progress card that can swap number tokens is called the "Inventor." BUT, you can't swap tokens with the numbers 2, 6, 8, and 12. Those number tokens stay where they are for the rest of the game. 😊 (Just to clarify, you were swapping 8 and 6 tokens to other terrain hexes, which is against the rules.) 2. If there were no cities for the barbarians to pillage, the players always win the attack. Why? Barbarian attack = 0, which means if there were no knights activated, all players get to take a progress card of their choice (since they tied with each other for having zero active knights). Of course, if there's a knight played, resolve if there's a player who has a higher value of active knights than the other players (therefore he gets a "Defender of Catan" victory point card) or any number of players who tied with the value of their active knights (therefore getting a progress card of their choice).
3. Also, the metropolises and settlements are immune to barbarian attacks. So, let's say a player who only has settlements also has the least value of active knights when the barbarian attacks and wins. But since his/her settlements are immune to the ransacking of the barbarians, the player who has the second lowest value of active knights gets their city downgraded to a settlement. If there is more than one player who tied for having the lowest value of active knights, both/all of them gets one of their cities pillaged to a settlement.
Thanks for the review, great stuff Matt - I only wish my friend had seen this before he just went out and bought it without doing his homework (sigh). We'll give it a try anyway.
Explorers and Pirates is my favorite. Don't even bother with Seafarers--it's just normal catan+random boats (you might as well get Explorers where they're actually integrated into gameplay!). I haven't done Traders and Barbarians yet but all those new tiles and scenarios intimidate me. Maybe they'll be neat once I get into it but that's a lot to unload both figuratively and literally.
for a 10 minute explanation you have explained it the BEST of anyone else i've watched! Great job
Thank you! Glad it was useful!
Thanks for the explanation! This expansion is so intimidating but you made it easier to understand.
adeying so glad to hear I could help!
Great review!! Played this in 2004 when first started gaming and now playing again today, 2019, so this was great review to help me when directions explained today. Playing with constant players of Cities and Knights.
Awesome! Happy I could help. Thank for the comment : )
Cities & Knights, when it came out, was the closest thing most of us had to a medium-weight to medium/heavy game. Now that there are so many more options, like Terra Mystica for example, it really hasn't stood the test of time. People who say it's the best expansion are right; it was the best for its time. But it's not the best now.
Good point.
Some points to remember:
1. The Science progress card that can swap number tokens is called the "Inventor." BUT, you can't swap tokens with the numbers 2, 6, 8, and 12. Those number tokens stay where they are for the rest of the game. 😊 (Just to clarify, you were swapping 8 and 6 tokens to other terrain hexes, which is against the rules.)
2. If there were no cities for the barbarians to pillage, the players always win the attack. Why? Barbarian attack = 0, which means if there were no knights activated, all players get to take a progress card of their choice (since they tied with each other for having zero active knights). Of course, if there's a knight played, resolve if there's a player who has a higher value of active knights than the other players (therefore he gets a "Defender of Catan" victory point card) or any number of players who tied with the value of their active knights (therefore getting a progress card of their choice).
3. Also, the metropolises and settlements are immune to barbarian attacks. So, let's say a player who only has settlements also has the least value of active knights when the barbarian attacks and wins. But since his/her settlements are immune to the ransacking of the barbarians, the player who has the second lowest value of active knights gets their city downgraded to a settlement. If there is more than one player who tied for having the lowest value of active knights, both/all of them gets one of their cities pillaged to a settlement.
You have to inactivate a knight to get rid of the robber!
Dude ....epic intro! Lol
that is one heck of a shirt!
ha! Thanks!
Thanks for the review, great stuff Matt - I only wish my friend had seen this before he just went out and bought it without doing his homework (sigh). We'll give it a try anyway.
dirtywashedupsparkle you may like it! I'm in the minority when it comes to this expansion. : )
Explorers and Pirates is my favorite. Don't even bother with Seafarers--it's just normal catan+random boats (you might as well get Explorers where they're actually integrated into gameplay!). I haven't done Traders and Barbarians yet but all those new tiles and scenarios intimidate me. Maybe they'll be neat once I get into it but that's a lot to unload both figuratively and literally.
Explorers and Pirates is a great expansion.
what if theres no cities when the barbarians attack? does a settlement just dissapear from the person who contributed the least?
Edtweet there will always be a city
If no one has a city the barbarians strength is 0, so it's an automatic win for the players
Thanks
thx for the vid , help me a lot
Simon Wu awesome! glad it helped you out!
Great video thanks
great video, but almost threw up cause of the shakiness
atrocious us version.