Arguably, however, anyone who enjoyed the basic Settlers card game and is growing tired of it will welcome being able to renew their interest through the various different expansions in this set (which can be played separately).

I do find that some of the expansions are better than the others. In general, they're all playable but not all of them really change things. Indeed, it's easy to get bogged down in the novelty of the new cards and then realize later that they largely distract from a basic winning strategy.

For instance, Wizards and Dragons is fun, but when you realize that you still need to build out your settlements before your opponent grabs them all, then spending a lot of time with the Wizards expansions isn't necessarily a great strategy.

BUT, as long as you don't take "winning" too seriously, each of the expansions is fun and, like the main set, well-illustrated. Some even introduce some novel mechanics to the game, so there's lots of stuff in this little box.

The Settlers card game is one of the few games my wife likes to play. I never turn down a chance to play a game but I must admit the standard card game was wearing thin. It is too much like solitaire, a race between two players to get points with little interaction.

The goal was always the same, build the abbey or library to get more cards in your hand, build the garrison to protect your resourses blah, blah, blah. The expansions are a much welcome addition, the tactics are now deeper, more choices, different buildings, different concepts, different events, and (with some expansions) more player interaction. I would imagine the expansions will grow old eventually, but with five different expansions and room for house rules to combine expansion sets I don't think that will happen for some time.

Now I suggest playing, and my wife has not yet refused.