| The Settlers of Catan has been the flagship | | | | you build new settlements around open grain |
| for German Style Designer Games for many | | | | and ore hexes, or you will have a very |
| reasons, some of the main ones being its | | | | difficult time trying to build cities later |
| elegant simplicity and its depth of strategy. | | | | on in the game (which can be crucial for a |
| Your choice of strategies will influence your | | | | win). |
| initial setup and overall game play. The | | | | |
| separation of strategies that are outlined in | | | | Optionally, with your increased settlement |
| this series is a bit artificial, but it is | | | | production, you can build on a number of |
| useful to understand the concepts behind | | | | ports to get ore and wheat. |
| them. In practice, players will use a | | | | |
| combination of these strategies during | | | | With your increased road building capability, |
| gameplay. This article, the second in this | | | | you should build your roads to cut off other |
| series, will discuss the Wood-Brick Strategy. | | | | player's expansion. This can help in denying |
| | | | Ore/Grain players from acquiring enough |
| The Wood-Brick Strategy is a strategy to get | | | | building sites they need to win the game. |
| a lot of wood and brick early in the game, in | | | | This leads into the next variant, which takes |
| order to build settlements and roads fast. | | | | this to more of an extreme: |
| | | | |
| A wood/brick port is very useful in this | | | | The "Road Boy" variant works to build roads |
| strategy, as finding a way to get ore/grain | | | | fast in order to block off other players' |
| will be important to build cities for the | | | | expansion. This strategy concentrates on |
| middle to end game. | | | | building roads first, rather than on |
| | | | production. Only when you are done blocking |
| Lots of people think this strategy is less | | | | people off do you work on getting enough |
| effective on a small or congested board, as | | | | victory points to win the game. This requires |
| you need room to grow. Actually, it can be | | | | a lot of wood and brick, so your first cities |
| more effective, as your increased road | | | | should be on these, rather than ore. Trade |
| building capability gives you the advantage | | | | aggressively for wood and brick, before it's |
| in reaching those limited number of expansion | | | | obvious you might be a threat. This is an |
| spots first. An ore-grain player's worst | | | | interesting variant in that it violates my |
| nightmare is playing on a congested board | | | | general philosophy of building up production |
| with one or two wood-brick players. | | | | first. It could work better on smaller boards |
| | | | with less people, so you don't miss blocking |
| This strategy naturally lends itself to | | | | anyone. In addition, it might not work well |
| getting the longest road. | | | | in many Seafarers scenarios, as people could |
| | | | just build to islands. |
| For this strategy, it is very important that | | | | |