Seafarers of Catan: Poverty is No Shame
February 14th, 2005We played Seafarers with a variant from the Settlers Book called Poverty is No Shame.
It is a simple variant, designed to remove some of the luck from dice rolls, especially in the early game. You get a red chip every time you do not get a resource card and every time anyone throws a seven. On your turn, instead of throwing the dice, you can pay a number of red chips equal to your victory point total, in order to name the number that generates resources.
It works well, but distorts the game slightly, although not necessarily for the worse. The winner won by putting lots of his settlements around the same number, so every time he chose it he was paid handsomely. The variant also made it more difficult to dislodge the robber, as the dice were rolled so much less. You had to pay for soldier cards or it would never move.
Although I am quite bored with Settlers, the Settlers Book injects interest into the old format. Rules learning is kept to the minimum, but it still has a fresh feel with new options to explore. I am going to buy Cities and Knights for my brother-in-law’s birthday, as he always demands to play Settlers when he is feeling too lazy to learn something new. Even though I will in fact have the game, he will get the most benefit from it. 
February 15th, 2005 at 07:58
I know it has it’s fans but I don’tlike Cities & Knights. It tries to take the game to a new depth which just doesn’t seem appropriate for Settlers. Seafarers is fine because it broadens the game but leaves it at just the right level of complexity. C&K just drags (as I have to admit the core game can occassionally).
Michael
February 15th, 2005 at 10:09
You’re right that even basic Settlers can drag badly if you are frozen out at the start. This happening in a longer game would be painful.
On the other hand, some people love Cities and Knights. My B-I-L loves games with a bit of violence, so I think it will be a big success.