Settlers isn't very good. The game is largely all due to luck after the initial placement of pieces; get that part wrong and you'll be spending 45 to 90 minutes repeatedly asking anyone if they can trade you that one resource nobody can get, and repeatedly hearing "no." (The 45-to-90 is conservative; if your game contains one of those knobs who drags trading out into elaborate haggling over resources-to-be-named-later, God help you.)<p>Of course, the luck in Settlers is actually why it appeals to people. Nobody likes feeling like they lost because they played poorly or because somebody else is better than they are. That said, there are games like Carcassonne and Ticket To Ride that actually balance luck and skill, and so help to provide that social insurance against feeling pathetic while still making the time spent making decisions actually feel like it was worth something.
I've seen Settlers of Catan at my local puzzle store, where they promote its popularity. Any personal experiences here about whether this is worth buying it and introducing it to friends to play (especially over options like Risk, Cashflow, or even Monopoly which has less of a 'I don't know this game' resistance)?
So there seems to be a lot of more interesting board games than I ever realized, but they all seem to require 4-6 players and take over 90 minutes to play. Juggling two full-time work schedules and a toddler old makes these restrictions a non-starter.<p>Does anybody know of a good tactical game, preferably playable by two people who <i>used</i> to have time for Risk and Monopoly, that can be finished generally in about an hour?