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