The Semi-Final Round will be held here Saturday, May 21st.

Sign in at 10am. Starts promptly at 11am.

Warhammer Fantasy Ard Boyz Tournament

3000 points

April 16th

Try to be here by 10am and start at 11am.

Settlers of Catan is a board game created in Germany by Klaus Teuber. It is about ten years old and has won many awards.

The manufacturer states the game is for ages 10 and up. Honestly if your child is bright or has an interest and patience for board games and has decent thinking skills they can play it at younger ages, perhaps as young as age six. Four or five may be pushing it but you know your kids best! The majority of the game does not involve reading. In this base game, only rarely used specialty cards need reading and there are graphics on each card so bright young non-readers may be able to remember the meaning of the card from memory linked to the visual. Otherwise, a parent can help the child with the less-used specialty cards and keep confidentiality.

Before I explain the game basics, I need to explain that Settlers of Catan is the base game. You can play Settlers of Catan by itself. Later once this is mastered and if you like it, if you want the game to become more complex you can choose to buy an add-on component game (an “expansion” game) such as Cities & Knights (barbarians attacking cities and knights fighting or protecting) or Seafarers of Catan (ships) or Barbarians & Traders. When you have an expansion set, you then combine pieces from the add-on set to make the base game larger. Then all the rules expand to be more complex. You can add on one game (Cities & Knights) or two games (Seafarers) or all the games at once (four games total). As you can imagine if you use all the games at once the game is quite complex with many layers of action taking place.

Also the base game is a four player game. You can buy an add-on set to boost the player numbers to six.

Note you must own the base game, Settlers of Catan, to play the game. You cannot start with one of the add-on games and use that as a base game (i.e. Seafarers).

The gist of the game is that people are going to settle in an unpopulated land. The land you occupy has natural resources (ore to mine, wood to harvest for paper) or farming capabilities (growing grain) that give you resources you can use to build wealth, expand your settlement and become more powerful. The person to gain a certain amount of points wins the game. (To learn more about game play see the link at the end of this post to view a free online tutorial.)

One interesting thing is that each time a new game is set up the board is reconstructed in a random manner so the game is never the same twice (such as the prime spots you’d want to occupy are always different).

The cool thing about the game is that with each person’s turn, every player is involved. There is no sitting idle while one player takes their turn and does their thing. There is a lot of action such as proposed trades being made, upgrades, and some switching around of game components that can help one player and suddenly hinder another. Due to the fast pace and interaction with other players, sometimes best laid plans to take action on your next turn are ruined. This helps keep players on their toes and constantly thinking about the next best move to make, making fast changes, adapting to those changes and learning good sportsmanship in the process.

The more the game goes on, the more complicated the game gets. So instead of getting bored half way through or close to the end, the pace picks up and it becomes more complicated and requires more thinking skills. The game is therefore exciting right up to the end.

My kids learned this game in no time (ages 9 and 11.5). It is so logical and clear that they were able to teach me and my husband to play. It is the type of game that you completely understand after playing one game, it’s not a horribly complicated game that leaves you feeling stupid at trying to understand the directions.

The game is addicting because once you learn from some mistakes you want to play again to see if some new strategies will work better, or perhaps really much of it is controlled by the other player’s actions or the unique layout of the board, I’m not sure.

The game can take 90-120 minutes to play depending on how it goes.

This is “good clean fun”. Kids, teens and adults like this game.

I know three adults who would absolutely love this game, they are all people who normally don’t play board games. I know the action, the pace, and the thinking skills involved as well as the bartering and entrepreneurial type skills are things those people enjoy.

My boys feel the base game alone is too boring once they were playing with the Cities & Knights expansion pack. My boys recommend that a family start off with the base game and one add on, either Seafarers or Cities & Knights, whichever you choose. Then they suggest buying the other one you didn’t get, and lastly, Barbarians & Traders. They feel that owning them all is optimal!

I myself think the base game is fine just as it is, it is NOT boring and would recommend a family start with just that game. However I do like the extra action and more thinking skills required when playing Cities & Knights.

I know later this year, either for a birthday or Christmas, I’ll be buying the rest of the games!

Settlers of Catan base game (core game)
Full retail: $40.00

Join the Party!   This magic set will only be sold in boosters packs. We have 2 cases pre-ordered.  Call to reserve yours today!! 

 Please Leave a comment Below and let us know if you will be attending our party.

Worldwake Launch Parties are a great way to celebrate the release of the latest Magic: The Gathering set! Play, trade, spend time with friends and win cool prizes! All participants receive a Joraga Warcaller exclusive Launch Party promo card (while supplies last).

What Happens There?

Worldwake Launch Party main event tournaments may be run as either Sealed Deck, Booster Draft, Standard, or Two-Headed Giant formats. See below for product details on these formats. All players in a Limited event must receive the same product mix.

Launch Party main event tournaments may be run as either rated or non-rated (casual) events. Check with your tournament organizer beforehand to find out which your event will be.

What Do I Get? 

Each participant receives 1 Joraga Warcaller promo card (while supplies last). Additional prizes such as Worldwake booster packs may also be awarded at the discretion of the organizer. Contact your local Launch Party organizer for specific entry fee, prize payout and event information

What Else Can I Do?

Launch Parties are meant to be a weekend of fun celebrating the newest set! Some locations may offer other events in addition to their Main Event. Other booster combinations are allowable as long as each player uses the same number and type of booster packs.

Sealed Deck — As in the main Launch Party tournament event, each player in a Sealed Deck event should receive 3 Worldwake and 3 Zendikar booster packs to build a deck.

Booster Draft — Players participating in a booster draft event should each receive 2 Worldwake and 1 Zendikar booster packs.

Team Events — Playing with friends as a team is a fun and exciting way to enjoy Magic. For Two-Headed Giant tournaments at Launch Parties, the recommended product mix is 4 Worldwake and 4 Zendikar booster packs per team.

League Play— All participants in a league receive a Joraga Warcaller promo card (while supplies last). Contact your local organizer for specifics regarding the length and structure of league play.

Open Dueling — Open Dueling is a casual format primarily for players not participating in the main Launch Party tournament. Open Dueling players receive 1 WorldwakeIntro Pack chosen at random and 1 Joraga Warcaller promo card (while supplies last). Open Dueling players play against other Open Dueling participants as well as main tournament players who are between matches.