Settlers of Catan for two players
I got the idea for this two player game variant from Yometheus. [1] Instead of playing until up to 10 victory points, you can play up to 12 so that it doesn't end too quickly. [2]
The board is built symmetrically (see picture), whereby in the model of Yometheus instead of the hills in the east additional mountains were recommended and for this only two hills terrains are used altogether. [3] For both players getting an equal amount of grain in the beginning, in the opposite corners the terrains 2 and 12 both produce resources if one of them is rolled. [4]
Since it takes relatively long for two people to find suitable resources and free bartering takes place less frequently, an additional socialist rule is recommended for bartering: Once each round up to three resource cards can be given to the opponent, for which he must give the same number of resources in exchange, without looking at the receiving cards beforehand. If the opponent has less than three cards in his hand, he can only be dealt as many as he has and afterwards both players will have the same number of cards again. [5]
Footnotes
[1] https://strandfabrik.wordpress.com/2014/03/31/siedler-von-catan-fur-2-spieler/
[2] With two players, there is plenty of room on the island. So it would be a shame if you spread out halfway and the game ends at 10 points.
[3] For a perfectly symmetrical playing field, you obviously need an additional game set, because in ours there are no four mountains, but three mountains and hills each. Despite imperfect symmetry, there was no noticeable imbalance in the course of our gameplay, since being in the middle, these terrains are equally accessible for both players. We only paid additional attention to the fact that the additional hills do not lie near the clay harbour, since there can be only one clay harbour.
[4] Likewise the idea generator obviously had a second set of games when it came to numbering, because his photo showed the token number 2 along with the 12 placed twice on any of the two opposite field terrains. For our game, however, it was enough to simply remember when throwing a 2 or 12 that resources are produces for both terrains.
[5] Since the levy is forced, and each player chooses his kind of contripution himself, only those cards are dealt that are not needed at the moment. This is like real life: The usage of robbers loses importance when it comes to obtaining resources, since this new form of robbery is permitted by law. The destitute is naturally worse off. Anyhow, the play time without building activities by reciprocally rolling the dices and waiting for resources decreased and the joy of playing increased substantially.
PS: Please give me your upvote if you have read this far and please leave me an additional comment if you have any ideas or thoughts on it or if you have played Catan again.
PPS: We've come up with another variant for two players. See https://steemit.com/gameschooling/@anli/the-settlers-of-catan-another-variant-for-two-players
PPPS: For this article in German language, see https://steemit.com/gameschooling/@anli/die-siedler-von-catan-zu-zweit-spielen