How to Play Catan: Cities & Knights

Objective of the Game

In Catan: Cities & Knights, dark clouds gather as wild barbarians are lured by Catan's wealth and power, maneuvering to attack. You must be strong, as barbarians attack the weakest targets, and the victim of their onslaught will be the player who contributes the least to the defense of Catan. You must field your knights and engage in the defense of Catan, while also competing to build the three great metropolises of Catan. These magnificent centers are even more valuable than cities and are safe from the barbarians. To achieve this, you must invest in city improvements, which are acquired using three commodities of trade: coin, paper, and cloth. By improving your culture, mustering your knights, and enriching your fine cities, you will become the master of the great realm of Catan!

Preparation (Setup)

What You Need from Your Settlers Game

To play Cities & Knights, you will need most components from a copy of The Settlers of Catan. Set aside the following Settlers pieces, as they are not needed:

• the Development Cards
• the Building Cost Cards
• the "Largest Army" card

Cities & Knights replaces these components. Use all remaining pieces from Settlers.

New Game Pieces Preparation

• Knights: Before playing for the first time, label all 24 round wooden knight tokens. There are 6 tokens of each color. Each player receives 6 knights: 2 basic knights (1 ring, open helmet), 2 strong knights (2 rings, full helmet), and 2 mighty knights (3 rings, great helmet with crest). Attach 2 labels to each token: the inactive symbol (a black and white head) on one side, and the active symbol (a color head) on the reverse. The 3 types of knights' heads correspond to similar heads on the reverse side of the token.
• Development Flip-Charts: Separate the spiral-bound pages of the development flip-charts. Each page is perforated into 3 parts. Gently pull the sections apart. When finished, you should have 5 pages, each separated into 3 sections. These charts track your purchased city improvements, showing building costs and the cost to purchase the next level. Each section also illustrates the improvements and a number of red dice, indicating when you acquire Progress Cards. The third improvement in each category describes a special ability earned for that development track.
• City Walls: These are low, square wooden blocks.

Setting Up the Island of Catan

Normally, you play Cities & Knights on a random, variable game board, like the basic Settlers game. However, for your first few games, it is recommended to use the prepared board setup shown in Illustration E (consult the manual for this illustration). This layout provides a balanced production of resources and commodities, especially grain, which can be scarce.

• After constructing the frame, place the hexagonal tiles (hexes) within the frames as shown in the Game Overview (consult the manual for this overview). If constructing a random board, place the land hexes in the center of the framed area as normal.
• Next, place the "Barbarian Tile" as noted (consult the manual for its placement). The Barbarian Ship will move along this track toward Catan.
• If using a random board, shuffle the harbor tokens and place them normally.

Setting Up the Game

1. Sort the Resource Cards into 5 stacks (1 for each resource) and place them face up near the island.
2. Sort the new Commodity Cards into 3 stacks (1 for each commodity) and place them face up by the Resource Cards.
3. Divide the Progress Cards into 3 stacks by the flag color on the back of each card (green, blue, and yellow). Shuffle each stack separately and place them face down near the island.
4. Place the 3 metropolises, the trader cone, the 3 dice (1 yellow, 1 red, and 1 event die), and the "Longest Road" card near the island.
5. Place the black wooden Barbarian Ship on the "Barbarian Ship" space on the Barbarian Tile.
6. Place the robber on the desert hex.
7. Each player selects a color and takes all pieces of that color. Each player receives:
   • 5 settlements
   • 4 cities
   • 15 roads (all from the basic Settlers game)
   • 6 knights (2 each of basic, strong, and mighty knights)
   • 3 city walls
   • 1 development flip-chart

Set-up Phase

Once the board is constructed and pieces arranged, begin the Set-up Phase. Players place their initial settlements, cities, and roads.

1. Each player rolls the yellow and red dice; the player rolling the highest begins.
2. Starting with the first player and continuing clockwise, each player places 1 settlement and 1 road (as in basic Settlers).
3. The second building round begins with the last player to place a settlement and continues counter-clockwise. Each player now places 1 city and 1 road, following all normal placement rules from basic Settlers (e.g., no city less than 2 spaces from other settlements).
4. You receive your first resources immediately after placing your city: 1 resource for each terrain your city is adjacent to.
5. Place your development flip-chart in front of you with the first page showing (indicating no city improvements yet).

Fluxo do Jogo

Turn Overview

The player who placed the last city takes the first turn. Each player, going clockwise around the table, performs the following actions in the listed order:

1. You must roll all 3 dice.
2. The results of the event (symbol) die are resolved.
3. Progress Cards may be drawn (depending on the result of the event die).
4. All players produce the commodities indicated by the red and yellow dice.
5. You may do any or all of the following in any order:
   • Trade resources and/or commodities with the bank and/or players.
   • Build roads, settlements, cities, knights, city walls, and/or city improvements.
   • Activate, promote, and/or perform actions with your knights.
   • Play any number of Progress Cards.

Note: The "Alchemist" Progress Card can only be played before the dice are rolled. It is the only Progress Card that can be used before the dice are rolled and the results resolved.

Dice Rolls

Each player begins his turn by rolling all 3 dice. The result determines not only which terrain hexes produce resources and commodities, but also what actions the barbarians will take, and if any Progress Cards are drawn. The effects of the die roll must be resolved in a specific order:

1. Event Die Resolution: First, use the white event die to determine what event takes place that turn.
   • If the ship symbol is showing, move the Barbarian Ship 1 space closer to the island of Catan. The ship follows the track on the Barbarian Tile, starting its journey on the space illustrated with the ship. The barbarians attack when the ship reaches the last space. (See "Attack of the Barbarians.")
   • If the event die shows one of the three city gate symbols (blue, green, or yellow), then all players may be eligible to draw a Progress Card. To be eligible, a player must be able to match the number rolled on the red dice with one of the red die icons showing on his flip-chart in the section that matches the color of the city gate rolled on the symbol die.
     • Example: If the event die shows a yellow gate, and the red die shows "1," all players who have purchased at least the second level yellow city improvement (the trading house) are eligible to draw a yellow Progress Card.
     • Beginning with the player whose turn it is, and continuing clockwise, each eligible player draws the topmost card from the Progress Card stack that matches the color of the city gate showing on the event die. Keep your Progress Cards secret from your opponents until you play them. You may never have more than 4 Progress Cards in your hand.
2. Resource and Commodity Production: Add the red and the yellow dice together to determine which hexes produce resources and commodities for all players.
   • All hexes whose number matches this sum produce 1 of the appropriate resources for each settlement adjacent to it.
   • Production for a city bordering a producing hex depends on the type of terrain rolled. (Consult the manual for Illustration J.)
   • As in basic Settlers, any hex occupied by the robber does not produce any resources or commodities.
   • If a "7" is rolled on the dice, no hexes produce. Instead, the player who rolled the seven must move the robber and may be able to steal 1 card from any opponent adjacent to the robber.
   • The robber cannot be moved until after the barbarians reach the island of Catan for the first time. Until the first invasion, when a "7" is rolled, each player must check if he is holding too many cards as normal; but the robber remains in the desert and you do not steal a card from another player. The robber may also not be moved through the play of any Progress Cards (like the Bishop) or knight actions until after the first invasion.

Ações e Como Jogar

Trading & Building

In Cities & Knights, you are allowed to build and trade any number of times and in any order. You do not need to finish all of your trading before you begin your building. All of the rules from Settlers apply to trades made in Cities & Knights (with the addition of Commodity Cards). Progress Cards may never be traded at any time. All of the basic rules for building remain in effect. The cost of roads, settlements, and cities remains unchanged. You may no longer purchase Development Cards. The 2 new items you may elect to build are city walls and knights.

City Walls

To build a city wall, you must pay two brick resources to the bank. The city wall (square wooden token) is placed under any city you own on the board. There are three restrictions:

1. You may only build city walls under cities, never settlements.
2. You may only build one city wall under each city.
3. You may never have more than 3 city walls at one time.

Each city wall you control increases the maximum number of cards you safely hold in your hand when a "7" is rolled on the production dice. Each city wall adds 2 cards to this limit. If the barbarians pillage your city (reduce it to a settlement), the city wall is also destroyed and removed from the board.

Knights

Knights are represented by round wooden tokens, labeled on both sides. The inactive side shows a black and white helmet symbol. The active side shows a color helm, with the type of helmet and number of rings indicating strength: basic knight (open-face helmet, single ring, strength 1), strong knight (full helmet, pair of rings, strength 2), and mighty knight (full helm with glowing sun, trio of rings, strength 3).

To "hire" a knight, pay 1 wool and 1 ore to the bank. Take a basic knight and place it on any unoccupied intersection connected to your roads, with its inactive side up.

Knights serve two purposes: protecting Catan from the barbarian army and performing actions when active. Each knight may perform any 1 action per turn. A knight cannot be activated and then perform an action on the same turn, but can perform an action and then be activated again later in the same turn (without performing a second action). When a knight performs an action, it becomes inactive. To activate it again, pay one grain.

Activating a Knight

To activate a knight, pay one grain to the bank. Then, turn the knight token over to its active side. The strength of the knight does not affect the activation cost.

Promoting a Knight

Increase a knight's strength by paying 1 wool and 1 ore to promote a basic knight to a strong knight, or a strong knight to a mighty knight. Return the old knight token and replace it with a stronger one in the same location. The knight's active/inactive status does not change. A knight can be promoted on the same turn it was built or any later turn, but only once per turn. A strong knight can only be promoted to a mighty knight after purchasing the third level politics (blue) city improvement (the "Fortress").

Knight Actions (with an active knight)

• Moving a Knight: An active knight can move to another intersection if you have roads linking the two. An intersection can only have one knight. A moving knight can pass through intersections occupied by pieces of the same color (if connected by roads). After moving, the knight becomes inactive. If you want to build a settlement on an intersection with your knight, you must first move the knight. If there's no empty intersection, the knight cannot move, and you cannot build there.
• Displacing a Knight: Move one of your active knights to an intersection occupied by an opponent's knight. Your knight must be stronger than the opponent's knight (e.g., a strong knight can displace a basic knight; a mighty knight can displace a basic or strong knight; a basic knight cannot displace another knight). The owner of the displaced knight must move it to any empty intersection connected by their roads to its original spot. The displaced knight's status (active/inactive) does not change. If no empty intersection is available, the displaced knight is removed from the board. You cannot displace your own knights. After displacing, your knight moves to the former intersection and becomes inactive.
• Chasing Away the Robber: Any active knight can chase away the robber if the robber is in one of the three hexes adjacent to that knight. Move the robber to any numbered hex (not the desert) and steal one resource from any player with a settlement or city adjacent to that hex. After chasing away the robber, your knight becomes inactive.

Playing Progress Cards

During your turn, after rolling the dice, you may play any number of Progress Cards in any order, even between other actions. When played, resolve its effects, then place it face down under the matching color's progress stack.

• Victory Point Cards must be played immediately when drawn, even if not your turn. They cannot be stolen by the Spy and do not count against your hand limit of 4 cards.
• You may never hold more than four Progress Cards. If you draw a fifth and cannot play it (because it's not your turn), you must discard one card (of your choice) to the bottom of the appropriate stack.
• Progress Cards may be played on the same turn they are drawn.
• Progress Cards