inconsequential ruminations

I got Cities and Knights of Catan a month or two ago in a BoardGameGeek trade for Bang!: High Noon, which I was pretty pleased about. Last night we finally got to play it with four.

I basically got what I expected. It is a fair bit longer than the basic set. Our game took 2.5 hours, after the rules explanation, which is a little too long for something this random. On the other hand, it is a much richer game. The commodity cards, progress cards and city improvement calendars are fun. The basic map seems biased against brick. The eventual winner, Ness, had a total brick monopoly. She was able to put walls around all her cities, which made her difficult to cripple with the robber.

After reading the rules I was a bit disappointed that there is not more direct conflict between knights, but at least there is continual tension from creating and activating knights before the barbarians arrive. Having played A Game of Thrones before C&K, it’s interesting to see how this mechanic was imitated/stolen. American designers are clearly picking up a few tricks from their German counterparts.

All in all, we enjoyed it but it’s a pity the game is so long. At least an official rule change keeps the robber in the desert until the Barbarians attack for the first time, which should speed it up.