“Cities & Knights” is an expansion of the board game “The Settlers of Catan.” Before playing this expansion, you should at least have played a few rounds of the Basic Game.

At first glance, this expansion doesn’t seem very different from the Basic Game.

In “Cities & Knights,” settlements, roads, and cities are built as well. You get resources from adjacent terrains, and there’s the “Longest Road.” There is trade, and the first player to attain the required number of Victory Points wins – 13 Victory Points have to be reached in “Cities & Knights.”

The first bigger difference appears in the set-up phase: Instead of a second settlement, each player builds a city. Also new is a third die, the Event Die.

The Barbarians

The Robber has gotten an ally! Barbarians, represented by a Barbarian Ship, are threatening Catan!

At the beginning of the game, it is 7 steps away from the island (upper display: Distance). Every time the black Barbarian Ship comes up when rolling the Event Die, the Barbarian Ship advances one step further towards Catan. When it arrives, there’s a fight between the barbarians (center display: Strength of barbarians) and the Knights of Catan (lower display: Strength of Knights). But where are those brave warriors?

The Knights

In contrast to the Basic Game, the Knights are not bought as Development Cards but are available as the Building Project “Knight” in the Build menu.

The building of a Knight costs 1 ore and 1 lumber.  Any player who has these resources and wants to build a Knight clicks on the symbol for Knight in the expanded Build menu.

Once a player has built a Knight, he/she clicks on a free intersection which at least one of his/her roads is leading to. The Knight is placed.

A Knight is very useful. With him, one can interrupt alien roads, drive away the Robber from a neighboring terrain, and – together with the Knights of other players – defend Catan against the barbarians. However, all these actions are only possible with activated Knights. There are Knights of three different levels; Knights of level 3 can be placed only if the third level of city expansion in the political direction (blue) has been reached. (See below)

Level 1	Level 2	Level 3	Level 1 - activated

A Knight action can be performed via the Knight menu.

Upgrade Knight

Here, Knights can be upgraded by two levels, from the level “weak” to “strong” and “powerful” Knights. Each upgrade costs one ore and one wool, and is carried out by clicking on the “Upgrade” symbol.

The Strength Points of a Knight are indicated on the Knight’s shield.  A weak Knight has one Strength Point, a strong Knight, two, and a powerful Knight, three.

Activate Knight

Activation costs one grain. If you have one grain and click on the Activation symbol, the Knight lifts up his banner. Now he is activated and can perform other actions. Only activated Knights count in the battle against the barbarians.
 

Drive away Robber

Any player who has an activated Knight can drive the Robber away from an adjacent terrain by clicking on the Robber symbol.

Move Knight

Knights can be moved to another intersection, also within one’s own sequence of roads. To do so, click on the “Move” symbol. Opposing Knights interrupting one’s own road can be driven away by dragging a stronger Knight of one’s own to their spot.

A Knight that was moved or used to drive away a Robber is automatically deactivated. A Knight can be used for only one action per turn. But after an action, it can be reactivated with grain during the same turn.

Clicking on the red “X” closes the Knight menu.

Attention: Each player can build 6 Knights at most: two weak, two strong, and two powerful Knights. For example, a player owning 2 strong Knights and one weak Knight cannot upgrade the weak Knight. First, he/she would have to upgrade one strong Knight to a powerful Knight.

For each player, the sum of the Strength Points of his/her Knights is indicated in the Status display. 

The Battle Against the Barbarians

When the barbarians arrive in Catan (distance 0), a fight ensues. The barbarians have as many Strength Points as there are cities (and Metropolis) in Catan. At the beginning of the game there are 3 or 4 cities, depending on the number of players, and thus the power of the barbarians is “3” or “4.” Catan’s power results from the sum of the Strength Points of all Knights.

Catan’s Knights Win

Catan wins if the Knights of Catan together have an equal number of Strength Points as the barbarians, or more. The player who contributed most of the Strength Points for victory, the Savior of Catan, is awarded a Special Victory Point. If several players contributed an equal number of Strength Points for victory, each of those players is awarded with a Progress Card (see below).

The Barbarians Win

In this case, the Pirates will loot Catanian cities. The player who contributed the least number of Strength Points for defense loses a city. It is replaced with a settlement.

If several players contributed the least for defense, each of them will lose a city.

The Commodities

In contrast to the Basic Game, there is no double production of resources for a city in the vicinity of mountains, pasture, or forest. You only receive one of the resources of the respective terrain, and one additional commodity:

Forest:          Lumber and paper

Mountains:    Ore and coins

Pasture:        Wool and cloth

Expansion of Cities

With commodities, you can expand your cities in three directions:

For expansion in the blue, political direction you need coins. For expansion in the yellow direction of trade you need cloth, and for the green, scientific direction you need paper.

If you want to build a level and have the required commodities, you click on one of the three City Expansion windows in the left lower corner. The commodities required for building are automatically debited.

Each direction can be expanded in 5 levels. The first level costs 1 commodity; each of the following levels costs one additional commodity. For example, level 4 of the political direction costs 4 coins. You learn about the costs for the next level and the buildings of that level by clicking on one of the three City Expansion windows.

Once the first level of a certain direction for expansion is built, 2 red dice appear. With each expansion, another die is added.

The Progress Cards

On the Event Die, there are three City Gates with the colors of the directions for city expansion – blue, yellow, and green. If the “City Gate” symbol comes up when rolling the Event Die, all players meeting the following condition receive Progress Cards:

The currently rolled red die must be displayed in the player’s Expansion window that shows the color of the City Gate rolled. Progress Cards appear in the Card window. The card is played by left-clicking on it. An explanatory text is shown when you right-click on a card. If you have several cards, you can skim through the cards by clicking on the small arrows to the right and left.

Attention: You cannot have more than 4 Progress Cards. If it is not your turn and you receives a fifth card, youwill be requested to discard one card. In the document “Cities & Knights – The Progress Cards” you will find images and descriptions of the individual Progress Cards.

The city expansion has further advantages. When you reach the third level of a direction for city expansion, you obtain an additional permanent game advantage:

Political Direction (blue):

Strong Knights can be upgraded to powerful Knights.

Trade Direction (yellow):

You can trade 2 commodities of the same kind for a resource or another commodity.

Scientific Direction (green):

When rolling a number for which no resource is obtained, you can choose any resource (exception: a “7” is rolled).

The Metropolis

The player who first reaches the fourth level of a direction for city expansion can convert a city into a Metropolis by clicking on it. A Metropolis is worth 4 Victory Points. A crown appears above the corresponding City Expansion window, to indicate that a player has created a Metropolis within a certain direction for expansion.

The City Wall

A City Wall costs 2 brick. If you want to build a City Wall, you open the Build menu and click on the City Wall symbol. Next, you click on one of your cities: Now a City Wall surrounds the city. With each City Wall, the number of resources and commodities a player can own when rolling a “7” rises by a factor of 2.

The Merchant

The Merchant comes into play only when the Progress Card “Merchant” is played. The player puts the figure on a terrain next to one of his/her settlements or cities. Then the player can trade the resource type of this terrain at a ratio of 2:1, for as long as the Merchant is standing on that terrain. Only by playing a “Merchant” card can the Merchant be moved. Owning a Merchant is worth one Victory Point. The color of the Merchant indicates which player currently owns the Merchant.

Just Play!

“Cities & Knights” is not complicated. Even if you don’t have an overall picture of the game yet, just dare to play your first game! During the game you will get enough tips on what to do in specific situations. Your fellow players will also love to help you – after all, everyone has been a beginner at some point.

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