19 terrain hexes: forest, pasture, field, hill, mountain and one desert.; Number tokens (2–12, excluding 7) placed on the non-desert hexes.; Resource cards: lumber, wool, grain, brick and ore.
Why people argue about this
People often assume that all resource cards must be placed randomly among the terrain hexes, forgetting that some are specifically designated for certain types of terrain like lumber for forest or wool for pasture. This leads to disputes over which resources should go where, as they're not just interchangeable tokens but tied directly to specific landscapes.