Settling up - Trying something new

Boardgames – Over the weekend, I had a chance to play Settlers of Catan with some friends from out of town. I'm slightly embarassed to say this was the first time I've ever played this iconic game. I'm not sure if I held out because of the theme or because I mistakenly thought it was about farming, but having now played the game I can see what the fuss is about.

For those of you who have never played Settlers of Catan is a reasource management style game. You collect cards to build roads and cities which in turn randomly generate reasources. The game ends when a player has 10 victory points which are accquired by having settlements, cities and/or some special event cards.

At first blush the game seems more luck based than anything else as you're hoping someone rolls your number to gain reasources. Many times you'll be sitting on a ton of the same reasource, which you can trade to other players for what you need. The bartering system is interesting and adds a layer of strategy to the game. 

I'm looking forward to playing more games of Settlers and will probably pick this one up for our family game night.