Starfarers of Catan
March 3rd, 2006Chris brought his set of Starfarers of Catan over with him this week and three of us played. Chris wrote it up at his blog.
I enjoyed it in an easy-going, freewheeling sort of way. It is more random and not as elegant as Settlers or Seafarers, but who can object to gold spaceships, used as randomisers, with lasers and boosters attached? The event deck also gets lots of laughs and there is direct confrontation between players.
Rick Heli gets it right as usual :
The result is a game which does an excellent job in terms of feeling fun and experience, but is altogether too random to be taken seriously. Everyone should play and enjoy it several times, but as the randomness becomes apparent, attraction eventually pales.
His variant to reduce luck will be worth trying.
For me, Settlers of the Stone Age is the better game, especially as the narrative flow in that game is so strong.
6/10 – Fun, but lacks replayability. I am glad I can play Chris’s copy.
March 6th, 2006 at 21:53
It’s always been a toss-up between this and Stone Age for me as to which is the best of the Settlers range (I have not tried C&K, Nuremburg or any historical scenarios); the problem I have had is getting enough table time with this one. In one group there are Settlers-haters and the other group thought it was too long (esp as we were using the 5-6 player expansion). So I guess by default I’m with you on Stone Age.
March 6th, 2006 at 22:44
Catan with 5/6 is never a good plan. Three players moved briskly enough.