Such a great addition. Worth noting though, you need to have the C&K expansion - as well as- the standard 5-6 player extension. Unfortunately we hadn’t thought about that when we purchased this one and went to play with additional friends, only to realise we couldn’t. Happily purchased the other required extension, since it’s such a great game

I enjoy the original game. This game differs in that everyone in the country of Catan ban together to fight off barbarians. The downside is that if the barbarians win everyone gets a settlement downgraded. This can be frustrating if you're the only person concerned for the wellbeing of the masses. The plus side include the if the players beat the barbarians the best knight receives payment. Overall I enjoy the game.

I enjoy playing the original game this game differs in that everyone in the country of catanban together to fight off barbarians the plus side include the if the players beat the barbarians the best knight receivers payment

An Awesome Expansion

I love everything about this expansion! It isn't too confusing to explain to younger or older family members as well. IT adds a whole new layer to the already beloved Catan formula. The new additions make it feel like you're playing a whole new game but the changes arent so drastic that you have to relearn a new game.I very much recommend this for Catan lovers.

Buy it if you want to spend an extra hour playing.

Cities and Knights sets up a different level of complexity to the standard Catan game. It won't suit all players, but it will make it more interesting for those who think the basic game is too simple. It changes focus from the board to the cards/commodities, as there is less need for expansion on the board with the city developments. Hint: Use the recommended rule of waiting to use the Special Die until after 2 rounds, and the robber until after the first Barbarian attack. You will need this extra time to build enough so that the game takes less than 2 hours.

Catan: Cities and Knights Expansion

If you are a avid Catan fan and wish it had a little more complexity and more strategy then this is the expansion for you. After we purchased this expansion we have not looked back. We do not play the game any other way now. The expansion allows for different ways to get victory points and adds a lot more strategy to the game. Every player has their own city improvements they can spend resources on which give benefits to help achieve victory. They also have to have knights on the board to help protect Catan (or not depending on where you are at in the game) from invaders. It makes the game feel more complete. If I had to own one expansion, it would be this one. It might not be for everyone though. If your game night includes younger people or people who do not like ... MoreIf you are a avid Catan fan and wish it had a little more complexity and more strategy then this is the expansion for you. After we purchased this expansion we have not looked back. We do not play the game any other way now. The expansion allows for different ways to get victory points and adds a lot more strategy to the game. Every player has their own city improvements they can spend resources on which give benefits to help achieve victory. They also have to have knights on the board to help protect Catan (or not depending on where you are at in the game) from invaders. It makes the game feel more complete. If I had to own one expansion, it would be this one. It might not be for everyone though. If your game night includes younger people or people who do not like deeper strategy than this game might not be for you. This makes a fairly simple game into a more complex one.The game is great fun and I highly recommend it.

Complicated expansion!

In a word: complicated. You must have standard Catan to play this. The board set up is the same. This comes with an additional die that rolls either blue, yellow, green or black. Black means the pirate ship moves one space (on an additional piece) and once it reaches land (the board) everyone is attacked except for the person with the highest defense, which means you downgrade your cities to settlements. To buy defense (knights) you pay 2 resources and an additional one to activate them. Knights also get deactivated when the land is attacked, costing another resource to re-activate them. This is probably the biggest push in the game - have more defense than your opponents and you're safe. The yellow, blue and green rolled mean you get to draw development cards but ... MoreIn a word: complicated. You must have standard Catan to play this. The board set up is the same. This comes with an additional die that rolls either blue, yellow, green or black. Black means the pirate ship moves one space (on an additional piece) and once it reaches land (the board) everyone is attacked except for the person with the highest defense, which means you downgrade your cities to settlements. To buy defense (knights) you pay 2 resources and an additional one to activate them. Knights also get deactivated when the land is attacked, costing another resource to re-activate them. This is probably the biggest push in the game - have more defense than your opponents and you're safe. The yellow, blue and green rolled mean you get to draw development cards but only if you have purchased the ability to do so with paper, coin or cloth which are 3 additional resources in this expansion. These developments cards are better than the original version's. These new resources pair with wood, oar and brick, so you get one regular resource and one new one where you have cities, rather than 2 regular resources. A plus is that if you buy enough of these color things, one of your corresponding cities upgrades to a worth of 4 points. If you're not completely confused yet, let me assure you - It's alot to keep up with!! Still fun but I've heard Seafarers is a better expansion.

Fun game, mediocre quality

This rules for this expansion are a little complicated to understand at first, but will begin to make sense as you play. Once you get past the learning curve, it's a lot of fun. It adds depth to the game and requires more strategizing. In terms of gameplay, it's definitely 5 stars. However, I am disappointed by the quality of the game pieces. There are a couple of yellow gate pieces in this game and we had one of them snap in half after picking it up. The knight pieces are round wooden circles that you label each side with an "inactive" and "active" knight sticker. The sticker images are the same on both sides, but differs in color. The inactive side is gray and active side is beige. However, I did not find the difference between the two colors to be distinct enough ... MoreThis rules for this expansion are a little complicated to understand at first, but will begin to make sense as you play. Once you get past the learning curve, it's a lot of fun. It adds depth to the game and requires more strategizing. In terms of gameplay, it's definitely 5 stars. However, I am disappointed by the quality of the game pieces. There are a couple of yellow gate pieces in this game and we had one of them snap in half after picking it up. The knight pieces are round wooden circles that you label each side with an "inactive" and "active" knight sticker. The sticker images are the same on both sides, but differs in color. The inactive side is gray and active side is beige. However, I did not find the difference between the two colors to be distinct enough when viewed at a distance. As a result, you have to lean close to the board in order to see which side the knights are flipped to. There are also different 3 different levels for the knghts. The knight images are slightly different, but I also found it difficult to quickly discern at a glance which level of knight is on the board. Aside from having slightly different images, the 2nd level has one ring drawn on its border and the 3rd level has two rings. Unfortunately, the sticker printing quality was kind of poor. Some of the rings were printed off-centered and cut off, so some stickers did not have intact rings. That also contributed to the difficulty in telling the knight pieces apart. This is a fun game, but quality seems lacking compared to the original game.

Missing and messed up components

Was missing a metropolis piece and one of the progress card booklets put the paper on the wrong side of the rings so you have to weight it down for it to function properly. Kind of disappointed because for almost $50 it's very few pieces so I would have hoped they all came properly.

You get what you expect.

When buying this you know full well that you're purchasing an extension to an expansion set, but that doesn't help much when you actually open the box and think "...this was $30?" A couple of flip cards, a couple of player pieces... I don't blame the company because everything WAS included and I knew ahead of time what I was buying, so I guess this is more just complaining about the price and how ridiculous it is to begin with. XD This extension costs as much as the official game! It costs as much as a normal expansion! ...feels like it should be $10 instead. But if you really like cities and knights and want to play with 6 people, you will be getting what you expect when you buy it.