Catan expansions.

[El-Producto]

I have a weekend at my cottage with some friends.  Most of which have not played Catan.  There will be 6 of us, are any of the expansions which add more players worth it?

[wonderpug]

The 5-6 player expansion is very worth it if you wish to play with 5-6 players. If you're using the Seafarers expansion you'll need the separate Seafarer 5-6 player expansion.

[Mithridates]

If you buy an expansion like Knights and Cities or Seafarers then you also have to buy the 5-6 expansion for that particular game.  We enjoyed Knights and Cities, but I think it would be a zoo with 6.  Actually, I don't think I would ever try Catan with 6, seems like it'd really drag.

6 is sort of a lousy number for board games, IMO.  Fortunately we don't have that number too often.

[Graham]

If you buy an expansion like Knights and Cities or Seafarers then you also have to buy the 5-6 expansion for that particular game.  We enjoyed Knights and Cities, but I think it would be a zoo with 6.  Actually, I don't think I would ever try Catan with 6, seems like it'd really drag.

6 is sort of a lousy number for board games, IMO.  Fortunately we don't have that number too often.

The rules change a bit with 5-6 players because anyone can build after the player whose turn it is has built.  The game does seem to move faster with this rule.

If you have someone unfamiliar with Catan, I would just go play without the other expansions first.

[Lordnine]

I have the 5-6 player expansion and have played it a grand total of one time.  To be honest it just seemed to make the game endless.  It was two hours before any of us had any sort of lead and because the game moved so slowly early on most people had started to lose interest.  I ended up locked in a corner the whole game and ended up winning buying nothing but development cards.

[Mithridates]

I can believe it, even with the rule change Graham mentioned.  I think the sweet spot for Catan is 3 players, there is room for everyone to build and try to accomplish their goals.  The game seems to go fairly quickly and everyone feels like they have a chance.  When we play with 4 there is always someone who seems to get locked in and can't do squat.