Official CATAN Cities & Knights Rules

Last Updated on June 23, 2025 by The Official Game Rules Team

Welcome to the Catan: Cities & Knights expansion rules page! This expansion adds a deeper level of strategy and excitement to your Catan experience. In Cities & Knights, players focus on developing their cities and defending them from barbarian attacks while striving to gain the power of knights, trade, and progress.

Whether you’re a seasoned Catan player or new to the Cities & Knights expansion, you’ll find a wealth of fresh challenges and opportunities to explore. Ready to take your Catan game to the next level? Let’s dive into the rules!

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How to Play CATAN: Cities and Knights

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Objective

The goal of Catan: Cities & Knights remains the same as the base game—to be the first player to reach a set number of Victory Points (typically 10) by building cities, roads, and knights, and by completing various objectives introduced in the expansion.

Components

• Game Board: Uses the base Catan board with additional city and knight-related components.
• City Improvements Cards: Include various upgrades for cities.
• Knight Tokens: Represent knights that can be used to protect cities.
• Progress Cards: Offer special abilities and bonuses.
• Barbarian Ships: Represent the threat of invasion by barbarians.
• Victory Point Tokens: Additional tokens for achieving certain objectives.
• City Walls: A new type of improvement for cities.
• Development Cards: Modified to fit the new expansion.

Setup

1. Prepare the Board: Use the base game board and add the new components, including barbarian ships and city improvement cards.
2. Distribute Starting Resources: Follow the base game rules, with adjustments for the new components.
3. Setup City Improvements: Shuffle and place the City Improvements cards and Progress cards in their respective piles.
4. Determine Starting Player: As per the base game rules.

Building Knights

• Cost: Knights cost 1 wheat, 1 ore, and 1 sheep to build.
• Placement: Knights are placed on the board and can be used to defend cities from barbarian attacks.
• Activation: Knights must be activated (by paying resources) to use their abilities.

City Improvements

• Types of Improvements: Includes city walls, libraries, and marketplaces. Each type of improvement offers different benefits and bonuses.
• Building Improvements: To build an improvement, players must pay resources and possibly achieve certain conditions.

Barbarian Invasions

• Barbarian Ship Movement: Barbarian ships move closer to Catan each turn. The more ships that advance, the greater the threat.
• Defense: Players must have knights in order to defend against barbarian invasions. The city with the most knights will receive the most protection.
• Outcome: If barbarians reach Catan and are not sufficiently defended, cities lose their benefits, and players may face penalties.

Progress Cards

• Types: Progress cards provide various benefits, such as extra resources, special abilities, or immediate bonuses.
• Drawing Cards: Progress cards are drawn from the deck and used to gain advantages or counteract threats.

Victory Points

• Base Game Points: Points are earned through settlements, cities, longest road, and largest army.
• City Improvements: Building city improvements grants Victory Points and other benefits.
• Defending Cities: Successfully defending against barbarian attacks can lead to Victory Points and other rewards.

Special Rules

• City Walls: Offer additional protection and can be built in cities to enhance their defense.
• Barbarian Ships: Track their progress on the board and prepare defenses accordingly.
• Progress Cards: Use progress cards strategically to maximize their benefits and influence the game.

Tips and Strategies

• Balance: Balance city development with knight deployment to ensure effective defense against barbarians.
• City Improvements: Focus on building city improvements that offer the greatest benefits for your strategy.
• Barbarian Defense: Prioritize building and activating knights to protect against barbarian invasions.

Catan: Cities & Knights offers a more strategic and competitive gameplay experience, with a focus on military strength and city development. We hope you enjoy playing and if you do, make sure you check out some of the epic expansions like CATAN: Seafarers, CATAN: Traders and Barbarians, CATAN: Explorers and Pirates, and of course the game that started it all, Settlers of Catan.