Catan Cities & Knights: How to Play and Tips

In this week's Games Made Easy video you will learn how to play Catan Cities & Knights quickly and easily too.
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Catan Cities & Knights is an expansion that makes Catan feel supercharged.
Catan Cities & Knights it still feels like a standard Catan game but adds a lot more depth and variety to the game. You still play a settler in the island of Catan but now, the Catanians have a more complex society.
It is a great Catan game that gets even more challenging when you play the more complex variants.
It plays well with 3 - 4 players but the games with 5 to 6 players can be epic!
Tabletop games are really fun, but learning the complicated directions and rules can be a challenge. Lavinia and Peter explain the rules quickly and easily while giving you all the tips you need to win faster.
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0:00 - Introduction
0:40 - The Theme
1:20 - The Components
4:44- The Setup
6:33- The Game Play
9:35 - Quick Moves
13:03 - My Tips to Win
13:38- Conclusion
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#HowToPlay #PlayBetter #CatanCitiesandKnights #GamesMadeEasy

[@cloroxbleach6673]

I love that the cat is just chilling in the box lol

[@GamesMadeEasy]

I know! Peter loves the boxes :)

[@gregjuicey]

This is my fav expansion. It is super important how you setup your settlements and cities at the beggining and buy knights ASAP once you start.

[@GamesMadeEasy]

Yes, placement is very important. I am torn because I really like some of the scenarios in Traders & Barbarians. I am trying to get a copy of Explorers & Pirates as I've heard good things, but I haven't played it.

[@WarriorPresents]

Did very well explaining. Better than anyone else on youtube

[@GamesMadeEasy]

Thank you very much. I'm flattered.

[@desireeconceicao1621]

Yea, completely agree. Also, your cat is super cut.

[@kenpeters9807]

Something everyone fails to mention. This is an excellent … EXCELLENT … two player game also.

[@GamesMadeEasy]

That's good to know, thank you :)

[@alexruiz5255]

How do you play that?

[@kenpeters9807]

@@alexruiz5255 Just play it as written right out of the box. The strategy changes somewhat but,try it, not at all a bad game

[@Lv5SuperTuba]

very quick and well explained. with the new extension to C&K, this will help remind my playgroup the rules so we can start playing the new content! Thank you!

[@GamesMadeEasy]

Thank you so much, I'm glad you like it.

[@GamesMadeEasy]

@AzureblueSnowman Thanks for the comment. I've now corrected the mistake where I was explaining the walls protected the cities when attacked by Barbarians, when in fact the walls are destroyed with the city. This rule can still be used with beginners but not for the full game experience.

[@TheMariepier22]

This was really well explained! Thank you

[@GamesMadeEasy]

Thank you! I'm glad you enjoyed it.

[@DiegoMartinez-wc2xd]

9:13 There’s also no particular order in the base Catan to trade and build. After rolling the dice you can go back and forth between building and trading. The rule book says that you should follow a sequence: 1. Roll, 2. Trade, 3. Build. But later in the almanac it says that the separation between the build and trade stages is simply to help beginner players understand the game better, but experienced players should ignore it.

[@GamesMadeEasy]

You are absolutely right. When we play we also follow the free flowing rule. This being said, like in Traders & Barbarians, it's a nice challenge to have to follow that strict order.

[@DimitarTomovEU]

Awesome video, quick and easy to understand. Exactly what we needed to start our new game. Thank you

[@GamesMadeEasy]

Thank you so much, so glad it was useful. Enjoy the game :)

[@jogandomais]

Amazing video, super nice, thank you!

[@GamesMadeEasy]

Thank you for the comment, I'm very glad you liked it.

[@staceynugent1985]

I love your channel. It really helped me and my friends a lot. We’re just beginners at Catan but already obsessed and couldn’t play without your help. So really thank you so much ❤

[@GamesMadeEasy]

Thank you so much, it's made me very happy. I'm so glad the videos have been useful, I love Catan as well. Which Catan is your favourite so far?

[@DylanHunter64]

Looking forward to trying this one out.

[@GamesMadeEasy]

It's a fun expansion :)

[@meliascustomcreations2068]

Thanks for the video. Nice job!

[@GamesMadeEasy]

You're welcome. I'm glad you liked it. Enjoy the game :)

[@robtron2]

Oh my goodness - this feels 100x more complicated than regular Catan. It’s a bit overwhelming!!

[@GamesMadeEasy]

Yes, there’s a lot more rules than the base game. It’s fun though :)

[@artboymoy]

Very helpful, thank you!

[@GamesMadeEasy]

I'm so glad it helped, I hope you enjoyed Cities & Knights :)

[@dantyne]

I'm about to play this for the first time tomorrow so thank you for explaining it so well. Hopefully your tips will bring a victory!

[@GamesMadeEasy]

I hope you have a great time! It's a fun game. And I hope the tips help you a bit :)

[@dantyne]

​@@GamesMadeEasy I actually won! Didn't know I had 13 points until one of the others told me that merchant gets one point. 😅

[@GamesMadeEasy]

That’s great, sounds like you had a lot of fun! Congrats on the win :)

[@OldMovieRob]

This was helpful. Cute kitty, too!

[@GamesMadeEasy]

Thank you very much! It's a lovely expansion Cities & Knights.

[@greattennisfanmasters6873]

Hi Lavinia! Nice clear explanation. Thanks. I didn't hear you explain how one activates knights. If you did, my apologies. One must pay 1 grain resource. Our family and friends love this expansion. After we became completely familiar with it after 2 or 3 times playing it we never again played the original Catan! I agree that a 5/6 player game can be epic, and can last around appr. 4 hours. Our strategies are varied. Some of us compete for knight strength, though we all cooperate at the beginning to defeat the barbarians. Others focus on commodity development, others building longest road, building more settlements and cities as fast as possible, astute trading, or some combination of all. Now that we are all pretty experienced, usually the winner ends up being the one who produces the kindest dice rolls at the crucial times, i.e. Lady Luck. :). Note that we always use completely random resource tile placement at the beginning and we have learned to adapt to whatever it ends up being. Of course initial placement of your settlements and cities is important, and then quickly building settlements on additional needed resources. Of course, one can't always have what one wants. :) We also play a variant that the robber takes 1/2 of the cards that one has over 7, not half of all in hand. So if one has 9 or 10 cards, one returns 1 to the supply, 11 or 12, return 2 to the supply, and so on. It makes the game a bit quicker. Also, we play a variant where one player cannot be the robber's victim twice in succession. It makes for a nicer, happier, game. There is no robber or event dice the first turn around. If a seven is rolled, one re-rolls the dice, as I believe you mentioned. That's it, thanks again for your video and nice channel. Kind regards, John P.S. For Christmas, Santa gave the family Explorers and Pirates, and we have happily gone through scenarios1, 2 (PL) and 3 (Fish) and like it so far :) But we decided that we will simply skip learning 4, and proceed straight to scenario 5 and learn about Spices playing the full game. Any recommendations for our next Catan expansion? :)

[@GamesMadeEasy]

Hello, thank you, glad you enjoyed it. Both expansions are fantastic, I enjoy them both very much. Traders and barbarians offers some nice scenarios. I also enjoy Seafarers. You can also do some combinations between expansions, Seafarers and Cities & Knights - they rules are in the Catan website how to combine these. I got recently Catan Dragons & Treasures, have not played it yet.

[@fernandasabaudo]

Thanks for the explanation video! I have a question, Can I combine my base (normal/original Catan) with this expansion (Cities & Knights)? Or only works for the Base catan Cities & Knights?

[@GamesMadeEasy]

Hi Fernanda, so Cities & Knights is an expansion of the Catan base game. You need the base game to play C&K - this will be a 4 player game. If you want to access the 5-6 player game you will need the base game and the C&K extensions. I hope this makes sense :) Enjoy Cities & Knights.

[@fvrev1444]

Hello and thank you very much, you've helped our house a lot with your videos and we have an argument we're trying to figure out. In the nasty variant of C&K, if a player chooses not to contribute with one of his active knights to the defence of the island, does said knight still lose his active status? Half of us argue the knight's status should remain intact since he didnt contribute in the defence, half of us argue all the active knights lose their active status, regardless of contribution or not. Is the nasty variant strictly political?

[@thesean161]

I know nothing about you or your channel. But I see cats so I know I can instantly trust everything you're about to tell me.

[@GamesMadeEasy]

Absolutely! Enjoy the game :)

[@sword6175]

I got a question about the barbarian attacks. Pretend I have the greatest amount of points as knights during a barbarians attack BUT NON of them are activated. Other people have knights that are activated but have lower points than mine. We lose to the barbarians but who loses the city?

[@GamesMadeEasy]

Hi! If none of your knights are active they will not count. The points you have to win the game are not factored when determining if the Barbarians win or not. The rules below say: "The barbarians pillage one city belonging to the player who had the lowest total strength of active knights when the barbarians attacked. Any player who contributed no knights are automatically considered to have the lowest total strength of active knights. If various players tie for having the lowest total strength of active knights, each of those players loses 1 of his cities." And a player with no cities or a player who has a metropolis cannot be pillaged. I hope this helps!

[@ThatDuckE]

Those tiles and cards look very clean, where did you get them? I assume they are custom, but I have a very old version of the game so Im not sure

[@GamesMadeEasy]

The cards are sleeved, maybe that's what it is. Other than that, it's a normal game.

[@ThatDuckE]

Interesting, I have an older version of the game and it's interesting to see how they changed the cards!

[@sotirispetrou5711]

We play with friends and I have a question... In the case of an attack from the barbarians, the player with the less contribution is someone with one metropolis (no other cities). we know that he won't lose his metropolis. in that case, does the person with the second less contribution lose a city ? or they all get to keep their cities?

[@carolineortiz7111]

The second less contribution would lose a city.

[@GamesMadeEasy]

As Caroline said, the next player would lose.

[@user-ew2rr2ew4x]

I’m thinking of getting another Catan expansion. I have E&P and Seafarers, so I’m wondering- C&K or T&B?

[@GamesMadeEasy]

Oh that’s a hard choice - I think both are very good games. T&B offers a lot of different variants, so you get a lot for what you pay and some of the variants are very good. C&K is a solid game - I love the aspect of building a metropolis and having that pressure from the Barbarian attack.

[@bulletslivegaming2787]

How do you activate inactive knights

[@GamesMadeEasy]

Hello! You must pay 1 grain to activate a knight.

[@sanj9278]

Can’t find the answer anywhere so does anyone know if metropolis’s add to the barbarian strength? For example, there are 4 cities on the board with 1 city having a metropolis. Is the barbarian strength 4, for the 4 cities, or 5, for the 4 cities and 1 metropolis? Furthermore, if that city with a metropolis is sacked down to a settlement, is the strength now 4, for the 3 cities and 1 metropolis, or 3, for just the 3 cities? One other question I have is before the first barbarian attack when a 7 is rolled we instead move the barbarian ship towards Catan along the track. If the black ship is rolled as well as a 7, do we move the black ship 2 steps towards Catan? And after the first attack, do we still move it 2 steps to Catan if the black ship is rolled with a 7?

[@GamesMadeEasy]

Hello! A Metropolis is immune to the Barbarians. It can never be pillaged or reduced. But the Metropolis is counted when determining the strength of the barbarian army. The robber is not moved at all until after the first barbarian attack, if you roll a 7, you will check if you are holding too many cards but you don't move the robber. After the 1st barbarian attack you move the robber to a hex like in the base game. When you roll the barbarian ship on the die that has the symbols, you move the ship 1 space on the tracker, when it reaches Catan, the attack takes place. I hope this helps!

[@sanj9278]

@@GamesMadeEasy yes it helps with the fist paragraph of questions but not the second. Before the first barbarian attack, the almanac says that if a 7 is rolled you do not move the robber, but instead move the barbarian ship one step towards Catan along the track. My question was, if a 7 is rolled before the first barbarian attack and at the same time a black ship is rolled, is the barbarian ship moved two steps towards catan on that turn. Once for the black ship and once for the 7 that was rolled. Thanks!

[@CristisiDanii2202]

Work with 6 players?

[@GamesMadeEasy]

Like for Catan Seafarers you would need the Catan base game and the extension for the base game. You also need Cities & Knights expansion and extension box for C&K - a total of 4 different boxes to play C&K at 5 and 6.

[@merey777]

so what does the Cat do?

[@fardeenyassin8490]

Good explanation but what the cat doing

[@GamesMadeEasy]

Thank you. Peter likes to be around while I record :)

[@amanpreetsingh2725]

Appericate it!!!

[@GamesMadeEasy]

You’re very welcome :) enjoy the game.

[@curveofsound]

The creator of the game says Catan like "Kuh-tawn" help spread the news 😁

[@Twinjeremy]

Forgot to mention you need 13 points to win

[@GamesMadeEasy]

Minute 13:40 mentions how many points.

[@lillyjane78]

I love Catan but I hope my kids never buy me this expansion. Way too confusing.

[@GamesMadeEasy]

It takes a bit longer to learn this one. The base game is so straightforward as well.