I’m currently in the process of making my own homemade version of the boardgame Settlers of Catan since the retail version is around $50. The game is about intermediate on the simplistic-scale, and it has a lot of pieces. I would classify it as a combination of RISK, Monopoly, and the somewhat obscure old BBS door game Baron Realms Elite.
So far, I’ve experimented with a number of media for the board tiles. These tiles are hexagon shapes that represent different land regions from which a particular resource (ore, grain, lumber, brick and sheep) come from, which are laid out at random at the beginning of the game so that the logistics and strategy changes each time.
Instead of making individual hex tiles, I’ve instead opted for an alternative — creating a one-piece (or two-piece in this case) solid game board with drawn divisions for the hex borders. I’m taking a number of circles cut from patterned scrapbooking paper and placing them within the hexes to indicate which hex is which region, so I don’t have to worry about cutting perfect hexes anymore and making sure each one fits with every other one. I’m using two main pieces because the whole layout is slightly wider than the foam board, so I opted to cut the board in half and separate them slightly to fit within the usable area of the board, and I’ll just line them up side by side as normal when it’s time to play.
I bought a pack of thin foam sheeting that was on sale at a local hobby shop and will cut out and glue together little pieces for roads, settlements and cities by hand.
When I get the pieces made as I’d like them, I’ll be sure to post pictures and such. I may even call it my own version of the game, so that I don’t have to fuss with trademark issues by posting such things on the web, just as another website has recently gotten in trouble for doing lately.
The ocean pieces that make up the border have pieces of paper designating them strictly because I may opt to make expansion packs so I won’t be limited to strictly one size board to use.
Hi
I would love to make settlers of catan myself. To make the tiles and all the pieces, I think is not so difficult. But where can I find the text for the developmentcards and the soldierscards?
Thanks
Deb
Hi ,
I would like to make my own catan set like Deb. but i need a copy of cards and photos of all other pieces..etc. how can i find them?
thanks a lot.
Eylül
Your best bet is to just make your own versions of the text and such, and your own kinds of pieces instead of duplicates. The wikipedia entry for Settlers has quite a bit of the details..