Catan: Cities and Knights Review

Cities and Knights is an expansion pack for Catan, you will need the base game (The red box) and the expansion (the green box) to be able to play. The price tag might surprise you, but it'll be well worth it!

The main addition to the game in Cities and Knights is a little booklet of city upgrades. You collect special new resources, called commodities, paper, coins, and cloth, and spend these to get upgrades. These upgrades will earn you progress cards, special abilities, and the mighty metropolises. Progress cards replace development cards and are separated into trade, politics, and science. Upgrading one of these three will give you the chance to earn more of its corresponding cards, for example, if I upgrade science in my booklet, then I will have a higher chance of getting science progress cards. Metropolises are earned when you upgrade, trade, science or politics to full. They are worth four victory points, which is enough to turn the tide of the game in your favor even if your losing.

Minor additions include Knights and the Vikings. There is a smaller board with a track down it. The Vikings move up this track every time the black ship is rolled on the event die (Which also gives out progress cards). Knights are built for a sheep and an ore, can be upgraded with the same, and, unlike in the base game, are a physical piece which you place on the board They can be activated with grain, and are used to move the robber and fight off the Vikings. When the Vikings attack, their strength is the number of cities on the board, and the player's strength is the number of activated knights. Losing to the Vikings can cost you cities, but winning can earn you progress cards and victory points! The merchant is another feature added. He can be controlled with merchant cards obtained from the trade progress cards and is worth a victory point. He also can trade in a 2:1 rate with any resource the player who controls him chooses.

Cities and Knights is, by far, the best Catan expansion you can get for your money. It makes Seafarers and Traders and Barbarians look like baby toys, it's so good. Plus, it still feels like you're playing Catan. Traders and Barbarians had new game mechanics so different from normal Catan it felt like a different game. Cities and Knights doesn't do that. It's better in so many ways. So, if you liked Catan and are ready for something new and more challenges, get it!