Colonist Lobby

Cities & Knights

1. New Game Pieces

Catan cities and knights red diceCatan cities and knights barbarian event diceCatan cities and knights science event diceCatan cities and knights trade event diceCatan cities and knights politics event diceRed and Event dice
Catan cities and knights barbarian shipCatan cities and knights barbarian tracker hexBarbarians
Catan Cities and knights level 1 knight active iconCatan cities and knights swords iconKnights
Catan cities and knights cloth commodity cardCatan cities and knights coin commodity cardCatan cities and knights paper commodity cardCommodity cards
Cities & Knights city improvement chartCity Improvements
Catan Cities and knights metropolis iconMetropolis
Catan cities and knights progress cards backProgress Cards (replace Development Cards)
Catan cities and knights golden city wallCity Walls

2. Initial Placements

On your second initial placement, place a Golden Catan City city instead of a Golden Catan Settlement settlement.

3. Types of Dice

There are 3 types of dice: regular, red, and event dice.

Catan cities and knights red diceColonist catan diceThe red die determines if players earn a progress card based on the players’ city improvement levels. For detailed information about Progress card distribution and its relation with the red die, click here.
Catan cities and knights barbarian event diceCatan cities and knights science event diceCatan cities and knights politics event diceCatan cities and knights trade event diceThe Event die has 3 Barbarian ships, and 3 Castles. Each Castle represents a progress card type.

Barbarian ship - A ship on the Event die means the barbarian ship moves forward 1 space on the barbarian tracker
Castle - Distributes Progress Cards based on the castle’s color, the value of the Red die, and the player’s city improvement levels.

4. Collecting Commodities

Cities placed on sheep, wood, or ore produce 1 resource & 1 commodity.

Golden Catan City+catan colonist resource tile wool=Catan Wool Resource CardCatan cities and knights cloth commodity cardSheep & Cloth
Golden Catan City+catan colonist resource tile ore=Catan Ore Resource CardCatan cities and knights coin commodity cardOre & Coin
Golden Catan City+Catan Colonist lumber resource tile=Catan Lumber Resource CardCatan cities and knights paper commodity cardWood & Paper

Important things to know about commodities:

  1. Only cities can produce commodities
  2. Commodities count towards robber discard limit
  3. Commodities can be traded like any other resource
  4. Commodities can only be used to buy city improvements as long as you have at least 1 city on the board

5. Barbarians

Cities & Knights barbarian tracker example

When a Barbarian ship is rolled on the Event die, barbarians move one space forward on the track. Barbarian strength is equal to the sum of all cities on the board.

Red Catan city + Green catan city, + Golden Catan City = 3 Barbarian strength

6. Knights

Purchasing a knight

Catan cities and knights knights level 1 knight inactive=Catan Wool Resource CardCatan Ore Resource Card1 Knight costs 1 wool and 1 ore.
Cities & Knights placing knights
  • Can be placed anywhere at the end of or in between roads
  • Can break another player’s road length when placed in between their roads

Activating a knight

Catan Cities and knights level 1 knight active icon=Catan grain resource cardActivating a knight costs 1 wheat.

You CAN place a knight & activate it on the same turn.
You CANNOT place a knight, activate a knight, and take a knight action.

Attack power

Each player can have 2 Basic knights, 2 Strong knights, and 2 Mighty knights.

Catan Cities and knights level 1 knight active icon Level 1 (Basic knight)
1 strength

Catan cities and knights level 2 knight active icon Level 2 (Strong knight)
2 strength

Catan cities and knights level 3 knight active icon Level 3 (Mighty knight)
3 strength

Upgrading knights

Catan cities and knights level 2 knight active icon=Catan Wool Resource CardCatan Ore Resource CardUpgrading a knight costs 1 wool and 1 ore.

Upgraded knights will remain active or inactive.
You CAN place a level 1 knight & upgrade it on the same turn.
You CANNOT upgrade a knight twice on the same turn.
You can ONLY upgrade to level 3 knights after you reach the third level in Politic City Improvements (Fortress). However, you can obtain a level 3 knight without having Fortress, by using a Deserter card on another player who has a level 3 knight.

Knight actions (these will deactivate your knight):

  1. Moving the knight - move a knight to any available spot in the same road network.
  2. Displacing enemy knight - If your knight level is higher than an opponent’s you can displace the enemy knight so the opponent must relocate it or remove it. Both knights need to be connected to each other by roads.
  3. Chasing away the robber - You can move the robber if it is on a tile that one of your active knights is touching. You may do this with multiple knights in the turn, as long as they were active before your turn started.

7. Barbarians vs. Knights

When the Barbarian ship reaches the end of the tracker, they attack.

Catan cities and knights barbarian shipBarbarian strength = total number of CitiesGolden Catan City
Catan Cities and knights level 1 knight active iconCatan cities and knights level 2 knight active iconCatan cities and knights level 3 knight active iconStrength of Knights = total strength of all Active KnightsCatan cities and knights swords icon

If Knight strength is equal or greater to Barbarian strength:

  1. Player with most active Knights is awarded with Defender of Colonist, worth 1 extra Victory Point.
  2. If players are tied for the highest Knight strength, each of those players will choose a Progress card instead.

If Knight strength is less than Barbarian strength:

  1. Player with lowest Knight strength gets their city destroyed, turning it into a settlement.
  2. Players with no cities, as well as players whose cities are all metropolises, are not affected.

After an attack, barbarians return to the start of the track and all knights are deactivated.

Catan cities and knights barbarian shipCatan cities and knights knights level 1 knight inactive
Players who must destroy one of their cities, but already have 5 settlements on the board, must first rebuild that destroyed city before building any other cities.

8. No early robber

Players CANNOT move the Catan Robber Piece Icon robber until the first barbarian attack but players must still discard if they have over 7 cards (this includes using your knight to move the robber, as well as using a Bishop card).

9. City walls

City walls increase your discard limit by 2 cards, helping to protect you from losing cards when a 7 is rolled.

Catan cities and knights golden city wall=Catan Brick Resource CardCatan Brick Resource CardCity wall costs 2 brick

City wall limitations:

  1. Each player can place a maximum of 3 walls, reaching a maximum of 13 cards discard limit.
  2. A city can only have 1 wall.
  3. If a city is destroyed by the barbarians, the wall on that city is destroyed as well.

10. City improvements

3 different types of city improvements can be bought with commodities.

Catan cities and knights cloth commodity cardTrade
Yellow city improvement
Costs cloth
Catan cities and knights coin commodity cardPolitics
Blue city improvement
Costs coin
Catan cities and knights paper commodity cardScience
Green city improvement
Costs paper

City improvement limitations:

  1. You must have at least 1 city to buy city improvements.
  2. City improvements affect what progress cards you receive based on red dice.
  3. Each city improvement level requires more commodities to buy.

Upgrading cities

Each level of city improvement costs one more resource.

Level 1Catan cities and knights cloth commodity card
Level 2Catan cities and knights cloth commodity cardCatan cities and knights cloth commodity card
Level 3Catan cities and knights cloth commodity cardCatan cities and knights cloth commodity cardCatan cities and knights cloth commodity card
Level 4Catan cities and knights cloth commodity cardCatan cities and knights cloth commodity cardCatan cities and knights cloth commodity cardCatan cities and knights cloth commodity card
Level 5Catan cities and knights cloth commodity cardCatan cities and knights cloth commodity cardCatan cities and knights cloth commodity cardCatan cities and knights cloth commodity cardCatan cities and knights cloth commodity card

Upgrading a city improvement to level 3 unlocks a special ability

Trade (Trading House)
Trade commodities at a 2:1 rate for any other resource or commodityCatan cities and knights trading house
Politic (Fortress)
Allows upgrading level 2 knights to level 3Catan cities and knights fortress
Science (Aqueduct)
If none of your numbers roll, or if your number is blocked, you get to select a resource of your choice from the bank (unless a 7 rolls). catan cities and knights aqueduct

11. Metropolis

Cities & Knights city improvement chartCatan Cities and knights metropolis icon

The first player to reach level 4 in a city improvement type, can upgrade a city to a Metropolis, worth 2 Victory PointsColonist trophy icon.

Metropolis limitations:

  1. Only 1 Metropolis for each city improvement type.
  2. Players can steal a Metropolis if they reach level 5 city improvement first.
  3. Barbarians cannot destroy a Metropolis.
  4. Players can have more than 1 Metropolis.
  5. Players must have an available city to buy a level 4 city improvement. You cannot upgrade to a metropolis or purchase a level 4 city improvement without an available city.

12. Progress cards

Catan cities and knights progress cards backIn Cities & Knights, Progress cards replace development cards.
There are 18 of each type of Progress Card.

Collect progress cards based on event dice + red dice + city improvement level.

Cities & Knights how to get progress cards

Progress card limitations:

  1. You can only have 4 progress cards in your hand. However, you may have 5 on your own turn. If you end your turn with 5 progress cards, you must immediately discard 1 of them.
  2. If you draw a 5th progress card when it’s not your turn, you must discard 1 progress card from your hand.
  3. Victory points from progress cards (Printer & Constitution) do not count towards the 4 cards in your hand.

13. Trade progress cards

Catan cities and knights commercial harbor card2 Commercial HarborForce each player to trade you a commodity of their choice for one of your resources. You may finish using this card early without doing all available trades
catan cities and knights master merchant card2 Master MerchantChoose 1 player that has more victory points than you to see their resource and commodity cards. Choose 2 cards to steal from their hand
catan cities and knights merchant fleet card2 Merchant FleetPick 1 resource or commodity. You may trade it at a 2:1 rate for any other resource or commodity until the end of your turn
catan cities and knights merchant card6 MerchantMove the merchant to any tile touching one of your settlements. You can do 2:1 trades with this resource as long as it stays there. Having control of this merchant gives you 1 victory point.
catan cities and knights resource monopoly card4 Resource MonopolySelect a resource for all players to give you 2 of
catan cities and knights commodity monopoly card2 Commodity MonopolySelect any commodity for all players to give you 1 of

14. Politics progress cards

catan cities and knights politics card bishop2 BishopMove the robber and steal 1 card from each player on the tile the robber is moved to
catan cities and knights politics card constitution1 Constitution1 revealed victory point
catan cities and knights politics card deserter2 DeserterChoose an opponent to remove a knight of their choice. You may place one of your knights for free if you have an available spot
catan cities and knights politics card diplomat2 DiplomatRemove any open road. If it is your own road, you may relocate it.
catan cities and knights politics card intrigue2 IntrigueDisplace an enemy knight touching one of your roads. If there is no available space for the opponent to place it, it must be removed from the board
catan cities and knights politics card saboteur2 SaboteurAll players that have equal or more victory points than you must discard half of their resource/commodity cards.
catan cities and knights politics card spy3 SpySelect a player to see all their progress cards and steal 1 of them
catan cities and knights politics card warlord2 WarlordActivate all of your knights for free
catan cities and knights politics card wedding2 WeddingAll players with more victory points than you will give you 2 resources or commodities of their choice

15. Science progress cards

catan cities and knights science card alchemist2 AlchemistPlay at the beginning of your turn before the dice roll. Determine the roll of the red and regular dice
catan cities and knights science card crane2 CraneBuild a city improvement for one commodity less. These cannot be combined together to pay for 2+ less commodities in one turn
catan cities and knights science card1 EngineerBuild a city wall for free if you have a city
catan cities and knights science card inventor2 InventorSwap 2 numbers on the board (except 6, 8, 2, 12)
catan cities and knights science card irrigation2 IrrigationCollect 2 grain cards for each individual grain tile you have a settlement or city on
catan cities and knights science card medicine2 MedicineUpgrade a settlement to a city for 2 ore and 1 grain
catan cities and knights science card mining2 MiningCollect 2 ore cards for each individual ore tile you have a settlement or city on
catan cities and knights science card printer1 Printer1 revealed victory point
catan cities and knights science card road building2 Road BuildingBuild 2 free roads
catan cities and knights science card smith2 SmithUpgrade up to 2 knights for free

16. Points to win

The first person to get to 13 victory points (VP) is the winner.

In order to win, you have to reach 13 points on your turn. You may still lose if another player achieves 13 points on their turn even if you had 13 points before them. Note: points to win may vary while combining Cities & Knights and Seafarers expansions, depending on maps and scenarios.

Get points by doing the following:

Golden Catan Settlement+1 pointBuild a settlement
Golden Catan City+1 pointUpgrade a settlement to a city
Catan Longest Road Icon+2 pointsGet the Longest Road. A minimum of 5 consecutive roads is required to get this achievement
catan cities and knights defender icon+1 pointHighest Knight strength when defeating the Barbarians (Defender of Colonist)
catan cities and knights merchant card+1 pointHaving control of the Merchant
Catan cities and knights progress cards back+1 pointEarn a progress card that provides one Victory Point (Printer & Constitution)
Catan Cities and knights metropolis icon+2 pointsHaving a Metropolis

17. FAQ

● I received my 13th Victory Point with a Progress Card (or Defender of Colonist) on someone else's turn. Why didn’t I automatically win?

You can only win the game on your own turn. So you only win if you still have 13 points when your regular turn starts.

â—Ź Am I allowed to pick commodities from a city on a gold tile?

No, you are only allowed to pick resources from gold tiles, even with cities.