Wood Homemade Catan!!

·
Hi everyone! Perhaps you know the game, or maybe it the first time you see it, but there is a thing a guarantee, once you learn how to play it, you will love it, of CATAN is a strategic game, and has been awarded multiple times, Klaus Teuber the creator of the game describe it in this way: “Picture yourself in the era of discoveries: after a long voyage of great deprivation, your ships have finally reached the coast of an uncharted island. Its name shall be CATAN! But you are not the only discoverer. Other fearless seafarers have also landed on the shores of CATAN: the race to settle the island has begun!”

• My friends and I got some kind of fever and spend full nights playing it... but there was a problem the game wasn't ours, it has been lent it to one of them and went it came the time to return it, our hearts were broken, since we live in a country with a coin hyper devaluated, we can afford to buy one, so I decide to make my own, and this how it all begins:

Materials

· Hardwood plywood scraps, or card box.

· A variety of Paints can be acrylics or oil base

· Cold porcelain (if you choose to use it)

. Cardboard

. Crayon colors, or markers

Equipment

· Compass

· Woodcutter (very strong scissors) or hand saw or a Dremel!

· Sandpapers

· Rules

. Paintbrushes

. Printer (if you choose it)

Well you first need to decide the size of the hexagons and that may depend on the amount of wood you have or the size you want to give to your board, mine is made with a large of 6cm between de sides for that I use a circumference with a radio of 3,5cm (7cm diameter) and that gives my board size of 30cm approx the original board its bigger, but I made mine based on the amount of hardwood that I had, and you will need at least 19 hexagons for the terrain! if you want to make the tiles for the ocean you will need 18 more, so yeah it’s a lot if you are not making it with wood it’s a lot easier but remember to be precise so all the tiles fit each other with the assembly of the board if you decide not to make all the 18 extra hexagons for the sea, you can make a framework with the same wood and all the pieces will be set

If you want a smooth finish, it’s a work that it needs to be done and I don’t think that I have to tell you how to do it and if you have a sanding machine or a Dremel well it will be a lot easier.

First, you would need to make a white base for all, in that way when you paint the landscapes the colors will be uniform and real, after the base it’s dry you will have to inspire yourself and paint all the landscapes for the resources in this amount:

1 dessert

4 forest (for wood)

4 fields (crops)

4 pasture (for sheep)

3 mountains (ores)

3 hills (brick)

Or if you want to be pragmatic you can just paint the resource on the tile and it will be done, it’s all in a base of your own abilities

About the seas, if you decide to make the tiles for them:

9 of them will have a deep blue ocean

5 will have a port with a specific trade (2:1) for each resource

4 will have a port with a trade of 3:1

And if you prefer to make the framework as I did you will have to paint it as seen in the picture, with that your board will be ready!!

Well this is kind of a hard step if you decide to make it on wood because of each of they will be like a tiny sculpture that you will be making, but there are always options you can make them with clay or cold porcelain there is a lot of recipes for it online (and here you find one https://www.instructables.com/id/cold-porcelain-c... I started with one of those and make them with a salt base porcelain ( not that one), but it kind of twisted when it dries so they don’t look it really nice and that why I started doing them on wood, but as I said your imagination it’s the limit, the game is for 4 players so you will need 4 full sets of

15 roads

5 colonies

4 cities

Yeah it’s a lot in total it will be 60 roads 20 colonies and 16 cities, the roads are the easiest you can mass-produce them like make a flat patch of porcelain really plain (thickness about 4mm) and cut them 1 cm less than the size of your hexagons (if they are 6cm then this will be 5 cm) for 1 cm wide (or even smaller) how it's more simple to you, and for the colonies, you can make little houses, cities = buildings, but you can make each set with a different theme and it will be even more interesting

There is a little character that you can make with the “clay” the robber this guy brings a lot of balance in the game, and of course, you can print a model to, as I did, actually mine it's a little controversial character, but with my friends we used to joke about it so its more fun XD

After they are done you will have to paint them so each player have his own color, and it's up to you to choose the colors, in the original game the colors are: white, blue, red, orange but this is your model of the game do what you want but remember not to use color that gets lost in the board (example green will get lost in the forest or yellow on the fields) as you can see,nothing has to be perfect, my first set is kind of ugly, but they work just fine, and I'm currently working on the others, but I will keep the roads.

You will need to make 95 resources cards,

• 19 of lumber
• 19 of ore
• 19 of bricks
• 19 of grains
• 19 of wool

Then 25 development cards

• 14 of knights
• 6 progress (2 monopolies, 2 roads, 2 inventions)
• 5 victory points

Then 4 card of cost of constructions

A set of numbered tokens (these ones a made them from old Bingo tokens that I paint over)

And two special cards for

· Biggest commercial route

· Biggest army

Of course, you can print them, it easier, but the images of those have an ownership right so don’t do it that way, but you can make your own designs if you don’t want to draw them, but if you have time or little children it may be a good way to pass time coloring with them heheheh, if you want an advice for free you can always make a set at least the scan it, and then print it as much as you need…and if u wanna give them a nice touche you can buy some contact paper and reinforce your cards, and even use some transparent to protect your illustrations.

And after that, your game will be done!! all you need is a couple of dice and u can start to play!

If it's the first time you see this game and want to learn how to play it go to ( https://www.catan.com/service/how-learn-catan) and try the interactive tutorial! it's a lot of fun!

If you have any doubts don't be afraid to ask!