Hexagon's `Settlers of Catan' house rule ======================================== (Originally posted to rec.games.board) The first time I played Settlers I found it perhaps just a little bit too static. The player with what turns out to be the best positions after the few first rounds tends to win a little bit too easily, since there are no way of substancially damaging an opponent, and the leading player usually has the same or better opportunities than the rest to increase his lead. So before the second game I proposed a rules change that was so successful that it has become "house rule" in our gaming club (`Hexagon' in Trondheim, Norway). Each time a player gets to move the barbarian to another field, either by rolling a "7" or by playing a "knight" card, he moves the number marker from this field to the field from where the barbarian came. This means that after the barbarian har been moved, there will be a number (often a good one) in the desert. Since the desert naturally does not produce anything when this number it is rolled, a player that moves the barbarian back into the desert (to get this number in play again) does not get to take a card from players with settlements bordering to the desert. It will also no longer automatcally be assumed that an unplayed special card is a victory point card; it is rather feared that it might be a knight. A reason to hold a knight card apart from repairing damage done, is that with this rules change it is very interesting to be able to move the barbarian twice in a round (first by rolling a `7', then by playing a knight card). This will allow you to first move the barbarian into an area where your opponent(s) has a `6' or `8' marker, then into an area with a `2' or `12' marker, which effectively reduces his/her/their income. Alternatively, you could first move the barbarian into an area of your own with a bad number, and then into another with a good one; thus boosting your own income. This adds much to the dynamics of the game, but little to the complexity. The games tend to take slightly longer time, but it is well worth it. Tor Gjerde