![beginner catan board setup beginner catan board setup](https://i.ytimg.com/vi/GgfZEDowzLA/hqdefault.jpg)
The other way, just on settlements and cities, relies on a bit of luck to draw some victory point cards via development cards, or some well played development cards (specifically the monopoly). You'll almost always need largest army or longest road to win. In the meantime, a brick/wood strategy gets you competing for longest road. Even if you don't get the largest army but still have a couple knights you'll find the ability to not have the thief on one of you hexes is a huge advantage. That settlement can be on ore and you can then try to go for largest army or cities. The idea is you'll need at least two wood, two brick, one sheep, and one wheat in order to build your road (or roads) and a new settlement. So, I think a better approach is to focus on brick and wood while having some placement on sheep and wheat, but these can be rarer numbers.
![beginner catan board setup beginner catan board setup](https://cdn.instructables.com/ORIG/FPF/EBJ7/HJKBV4D0/FPFEBJ7HJKBV4D0.jpg)
I'm looking at the initial board for beginners, and I don't see any good strategy that starts by going for cities. (Not a guarantee, but among my friends and online, I'd say with this strategy I have a better-than-half record.)įinally, if you do random layouts and due to the randomness of the dice rolls, inevitably you'll have some really slow moving games. While some people try to expand a lot, especially in the beginning of the game, I find that trying to build cities straight out from the beginning of the game is always a quick and solid way to winning. ("Natural," as in not trading to the bank for it.)Īs a personal strategy, I find that building cities speeds up the game immensely. Concentrating your focus on one resource and then trying to get the matching port or at least a 3:1 port can severely reduce the need for income of a resource the "natural" way.
![beginner catan board setup beginner catan board setup](https://i0.wp.com/etspeaksfromhome.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2018/04/catan-board.jpg)
It all depends on your initial placement strategy and strategy throughout the game. That being said, steady supplies of brick and ore are not necessary for winning at all. This is due to the fact that there are 3 brick hexes and 3 ore hexes, but 4 hexes each of the other 3 resources. I don't recall exactly what the initial setup is because it's been ages since I first played, but in general there will always be a little less brick and ore than the other 3 resources.