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Making hexagonal game tiles

comradestu — Tue, 22 Sep 2009 12:24:36 -0800

Custom Settlers of Catan Tileset! Help me find (or make) the perfect hexagonal tile for Settlers I've been wanting to create my own set of custom Settlers of Catan hex tiles for a few years now. The only thing holding things up is my desire for perfection. I cannot seem to find a perfect way to create the hexagonal base on which to sculpt terrain. I'd like the tiles to, well, tile nicely with no large or irregular gaps between them.

I've tried balsa wood, which a/ I could not reliably cut straight, and b/ warped once they sculpey clay I was using was baked hard.

I've also tried using a layer of sculpey clay, as seen here, but I again found that the slight pressure I applied deformed the edges, and removing it from the sheet of wax paper also stretched and deformed the whole thing.

So, hive mind: What would be the best way to create a hexagonal tile with perfectly straight edges? Or alternatively, what pre-made item could I purchase? Size isn't extremely important - approx 8cm in diameter, 1cm thick. I can either make/buy 8, or make/buy 1 and cast 8 copies.

I'm a bit light in the power tools department - I have a jigsaw, but no good way of securing material to a table. I also have acess to a dremel tool with a few attachments.

Games without frontiers...

cooker girl — Wed, 05 Aug 2009 07:33:03 -0800

What games out there are similar to Settlers of Catan? My 12-year-old son absolutely loves Settlers of Catan. He's hooked the rest of us, too (two parents, one nine-year-old sister). This question solves the "what next" problem quite nicely, but I'm wondering if there are other Catan-like games we'd enjoy playing. They don't have to be limited to 4 players; we often have various friends over who also like to play.

The nine-year-old is pretty smart and likes strategy games but if things tend to go on and on and on and on she gets bored. We're not looking for card games, so Fluxx is out for the moment. Oh, one more thing: my son already has HeroScape but 50% of us don't care for it. So perhaps nothing that's battle-centric.

Romantic Phrase for Catan Nerd Love

pokeydonut — Thu, 26 Mar 2009 11:12:19 -0800

Where can I buy and get engraved a silver hexagon pendant online, and what romantic Settlers-of-Catan-related phrase should I engrave on the back? My economy-minded wife has imposed a price limit on her birthday present and so I want to get her something small and romantic. We've been really into Settlers of Catan for a while so I thought about getting her a silver hexagon pendant that looks simple and innocuous from the front but then put something Catan-related on the back.

It's surprisingly difficult to find somewhere to buy a sterling silver hexagon pendant online. It might be because those medical alert pendants with the Caduceus on them are hexagonal and they don't want to confuse people. But I've been looking online forever and I can't find any - can anyone help?

Second - what's a good romantic line to put on the back? So far, my favorite is "I wouldn't trade you for anything" which is good but not great. It does, however, come out ahead of anything that uses "wood" as a euphemism for my penis. Does anyone have any other suggestions?

Settlers of Catan: Where to from here?

Effigy2000 — Tue, 03 Feb 2009 20:10:55 -0800

I just bought Settlers of Catan! But now I have some questions surrounding expansion packs and two-player variants. I'm hoping some experienced Catan players could help me out. My questions are;

1. What expansion should I buy next? Seafarers of Catan or Cities and Knights of Catan? In other words, what's the better of the two?
2. Is Catan: Traders & Barbarians worth getting at some point down the road?
3. Can the original Catan be played with two players only, or is it really unplayable without 3+ players?
4. With the 5-6 player expansion packs, will I only need one of those to cover Catan and all its expansions, or will I need to buy a 5-6 player expansion for every new expansion I buy?

We grow tired of Risk, but are always up for a risk.

MaHaGoN — Wed, 21 Nov 2007 14:30:06 -0800

What board game would my friends and I enjoy next? Now, forewarning, I have done a lot of research on this and am just unable to come up with a decision. I have done quite a few mefi searches as well, which pointed me in different directions but never really answered this hankering question, as it is quite specific.

My friends enjoy coming together around a good board game. We love the player interaction and strategy they can bring that other games and activities cannot. The problem is we have played the heck out of Risk, and all the various types of Risk (including the Star Wars Risks, etc etc) We want a new game, but being a college student my money is low, even though my desire to play something new is high.

I have looked into a few games, including Settlers of Catan, Tigris and Euphrates, and Puerto Rico. I know quite a bit about the rules, and ideas of how play would go, but.. I dont know if they really fit my ideal game that I want to look into next. I have been spending a lot of time on boardgamegeek.com searching around, but I still can't find enough information to decide.

We love the player interaction and strategy of Risk. Secret alliances, well known alliances, troop placement and fortification, its all great and it makes for a very thought provoking night. We hate (or love depending on your side of the luck) how much dice comes into play. You could out-place, out-think, and out-play everyone but lose because of a string of bad luck. This often leads to a lot of hostility in the group at the end of the night, even though we meant to just come together for a fun time.

The game I want can have a luck based part to it, as long as it only alters gameplay, or can be overcome by strategy. Also, we like being against each other, and being able to have alliances, as in a military styl games would probably be a plus, but is not necessary as long as it has player interaction and negotiations of sorts.

So please Hive Mind, help me find my friends and I a new board game. New recommendations beyond what I have already mentioned are welcome, as long as they fit what we want. Thanks :)

The Missing Card of Catan

zeoslap — Mon, 04 Jun 2007 22:28:18 -0800

How many region cards should there be in the Settlers of Catan card game (the two player game) Just played and we had eleven region cards when it would seem to make sense that there should be twelve (two per settlement)