[Board/Tactical Game]: Catan Geographies: Germany, reviewed by ShannonA (5/4)

[RPGnet Reviews]

http://www.rpg.net/reviews/archive/14/14189.phtml

Shannon Appelcline's Summary:

A beautifully produced beginner's introduction for the Catan series of games.

Go to the full review for more information.

[Motorskills]

Thanks as always for the review Shannon.

I'm familiar with Catan, and can explain the rules fast enough to beginners, but I certainly wouldn't call myself a strategic expert.

To my mind 'basic' Catan would make an excellent "Christmas" family game, without all the expansions (although Seafarers would be nice to give the option for more players).

But I don't own a set and really ought to rectify that at some point. Certainly before Christmas!

So my question is, if I go out and buy a 'basic' version, should it be this one or 'proper' Settlers?

[ShannonA]

Originally Posted by Motorskills

So my question is, if I go out and buy a 'basic' version, should it be this one or 'proper' Settlers?

It depends on if you figure you're going to want to supplement it or not.

If you're not going to supplement it, this is really an attractive and simple starting point.

If you think you might supplement it, then I'd get the original Settlers instead.

Note, Germany isn't due on in stores until March 7th or so.

[Motorskills]

I was worried you would say that.


From what you have seen and heard, is there any chance an expansion might follow would allow Germany to be expanded to allow more players?
(I'm guessing not, because what would you add? Other than Poland maybe )


What about the likelihood of other "Geographies" being published in the future?

I imagine individual country versions might sell well if access to high street retail is achieved, but they would all (presumably) be stand-alone.

[ShannonA]

Originally Posted by Motorskills

I
From what you have seen and heard, is there any chance an expansion might follow would allow Germany to be expanded to allow more players?
(I'm guessing not, because what would you add? Other than Poland maybe )

I think the chances of that are very low. There have been a number of Catan variant games over the years, and none of them have ever been supplemented.

What about the likelihood of other "Geographies" being published in the future?

Several years ago Catan started a new era of design where rather than releasing supplements for the original game, they started releasing standalone variants instead. Since that time we've seen two "Catan Adventures" (Candamir and Elasund), one "Catan History" (Struggle for Rome, though several previous standalones have been retroactively labeled the same, of which Settlers of Stone Age really feels like it fits in the same series), and one "Catan Geography".

I can't really guess where they're going from there. I'd think that they'd want to put out at least one other "Geography" to have a series, but then I'm not convinced that Teuber is having anything to do with this labeling of the games, since it wasn't listed as a "Geography" in Germany. Ultimately, if this sells really well, there will probably be more.

Personally, I'd like to see more "Adventures", as they took the Catan mechanics in more interesting directions.