Strategy guide

Hexlands rewards good planning more than good luck. These ideas will win you more games than any single trick.

Openings decide a lot

Your two starting settlements produce for the whole game, so spend your time on them.

• Count the dots. Add up the dots of the three tiles around a corner. Around 10–12 dots is a strong spot. Avoid corners that lean on 2, 3, 11 or 12.
• Spread your numbers. Two settlements on the same numbers means feast or famine. Different numbers mean you get something on more rolls.
• Cover what's scarce. Look at the whole board: if ore only appears on a 3 and a 10, an ore spot is worth more than the dots suggest.
• Plan your second settlement with the first. Placement snakes back, so the last player picks twice in a row. Your second settlement also gives you starting resources, so pick it to get you building right away.

Two ways to win

Most winning games lean one way:

• Wide (lumber, brick): many roads and settlements, longest route, harbors. It's fast early but slows down once land runs out.
• Tall (ore, grain): cities and development cards. Slow at first, strong later. Largest army and hidden victory points often come with it.

Wool is the swing resource: both plans need some, and it's usually the easiest to trade for.

Grab space early

A settlement spot can be lost to a single road from a neighbour. If two good corners are within reach, a road toward the contested one is often worth more than a card in hand.

Trading

• Trade for what finishes a build this turn, not "maybe later".
• Don't hand the leader the last card they need. Bots know who's ahead; so should you.
• A 2:1 harbor on a resource you produce a lot of turns surplus into anything.
• Hold more than 7 cards at your own risk: a 7 costs you half.

Using the robber

Put it on the leader's best tile, ideally one that also hits nobody else. Stealing from the player with the most cards gives better odds of getting what you need. Playing a knight before rolling frees your own tile and might also win you the largest army.

Endgame

Count everyone's visible points every turn. Development card buyers may be closer than they look. When you're one build from winning, keep the needed cards out of reach: spend or trade them rather than holding them through a 7.