Settlers Of Catan Board Game Review & Comparison

One of the great things about the Settlers Of Catan game, is that there are several expansion sets that you can buy to change the game up from time to time. Some of the expansions allow different scenarios and game play, while others allow you to expand the game to allow 5 or 6 players. Keep in mind that the expansion sets are not stand alone games, you will have to have The Settlers Of Catan in order to use them.

Cities and Knights: In this expansion, you will field knights, and build defenses to protect Catan from barbarian attacks. You will also be competing to build the three great metropolises of Catan, investing in city improvements.

Traders and Barbarians: This expansion contains five linkable scenarios to play, in addition to the original game. This Settlers Of Catan expansion also allows play with just two players.

Seafarers Of Catan: In this variation, you control a group of settlers, exploring the Isles of Catan, and settle the islands.

These are just some of the expansion sets available. You can buy others, and continue to reinvent your experience with Settlers Of Catan.

If you like the Settlers Of Catan, you'll probably also like the Carcassonne board game. Well, Carcassonne is more of a tile laying game than a board game. You must lay tiles to develop the area around Carcasonne. In laying the tiles, you will build roads, fields, cities, and cloisters. As you lay the tiles, you will also place your followers to score points. Points are scored as roads, cities and cloisters are completed, and at the end of the game, more points are scored for farms. The game may look complicated at first, but if you go through the rules a couple of times, it won't take long at all to get the hang of the game.

Carcassonne is another great family game with a lot of variability in game play. Since the tiles are drawn randomly, the game is never the same twice. Like Settlers Of Catan, Carcassonne also has several expansion sets available to change up the game play. This is one game that definitely will be getting a lot of play in our household.

As mentioned earlier, there are several Carcassonne game expansions. These expansions, like those of Settlers of Catan, offer a wide variety in game play. This is just one of the features that I like about many of the games that you see these days, is the expansion sets that let you expand and change the game, so that you don't end up playing the same game over and over again.

Carcassonne: Inns And Cathedrals - This expansion features, as the title suggests, Inns and Cathedrals which can increase the number of points for roads and cities respectively. It also allows the addition of a sixth player, rather than the 2-5 players of the original game.

Carcassonne: Traders - In this expansion, players can use builders to place extra tiles, so that roads and cities will be completed and scored faster.

The Count Of Carcassonne - This expansion includes 12 tiles that represent the actual city of Carcassonne. Players may place their followers in the city, and then move them out of the city to the scoring features outside of the city. There is also a count that may prevent players from moving their pieces to scoring features.

As with The Settlers Of Catan, you will need the basic Carcassonne game in order to use these expansion sets.

Ticket To Ride is an award winning strategy game from Germany, that challenges players to complete train routes from city to city to score points. Routes can be completed, and opponents routes blocked in this game, providing a mixture of luck and strategy. I'm sure that you've played games where it seems that one player is going to win, but then someone comes from behind and wins at the last minute. Well, this is one of those games where that can happen. Ticket To Ride comes in many different versions, using different maps. There is one using North America, and others using maps of Europe.

Ticket To Ride is one of those games that your family will want to play over and over again on family game night. If you're tired of playing Monopoly, week after week, then buy Settlers Of Catan, or Ticket To Ride, or Carcassonne, and bring the fun back to your game nights.