TIL at a board game convention why I was losing at Settlers of Catan every time

I was at Gen Con last year and sat in on a strategy talk by a guy who's won regional tournaments. He pointed out that I was always grabbing the sheep port first, thinking it was clever, but really I should have been racing for the brick and ore combo. After I tried his approach in a pickup game later that day, I won for the first time in months. Has anyone else had a random seminar change how they play a classic game?

2 comments

2 Comments

gavinh2623d ago

Man, I had a similar moment at PAX Unplugged a couple years back. Some guy running a tiny booth demo broke down why my early game wood hoarding was actually hurting me in Catan. I used to grab every forest hex I could, thinking I was building roads like crazy, but he showed me how I was just painting a target on my back. It took me three more tries after that talk to really get it, but when it clicked, my whole play style changed. Feels good to finally get that first win after months of frustration, right?

hall.charles23d ago

Real talk, the biggest game changer for me was forcing myself to only grab one wood source and then fighting for brick or sheep instead. Keeps you under the radar early and lets everyone else duke it out for longest road while you're just quietly building settlements.