Designed by Klaus Teuber
Published by: Francos
Translated by Frank Branham (moo@neonate.org)
You build a framework in each scenario to keep the hexes in place. For the most part, fill the frame so that the same letters are side-by-side. The ones with X's are the exception, as they occasionally fill in between pairs of B's or F's.
All of the scenarios require a copy of Die Siedler. The Big Catan scenarios require two sets. Each scenario lits the required number of hexes.
Before each game, mix the mini-harbor tiles requested by the scenario, and mix them face down. Then place them randomly on the locations noted in the scenario.
You do not need to use the sea tiles with printed harbors from the old game, as enough tiles are provided with the Seafarer's Expansion.
For the most part, follow the rules of Die Siedler. All apply except for the ones below.
A ship costs a unit of wool and unit of wood. Ships go along the borders like roads, but they can be moved.
Ships go on the border of two sea hexes, or on the coast between a land and sea.
When you've built a ship, you can place it next to a settlement or city, or next to another ship. You may not build ships at the end of a road, or build a road next to a ship without a nearby settlement. Take a look at Figures B-D on page 2 of the original rules for some examples.
On each waterway, you can put only a single ship. Along the coast, you may only build a ship or a road-never both.
Ships work pretty much like roads. A ship connects the points of a hex to the neighboring point. Several ships make a chain that link two remote points.
If you manage to connect a line of ships that leads you to another open point, you ccan build a settlement. (Keep the spacing rule of 2 points.) You can then reach islands or remote spots.
Ships can be moved. If you have not placed a settlement at both ends of the line of ships it is called a closed shipping lanes. You cannot move any ships in a closed shipping lane. (See figure B on page 3.)
A shipping lane without a port on both sides in an open shipping lane. You can move ships in these lanes as long as you do not break any of the other rules.
Each round, you can only move 1 ship. However, you cannot move a ship that was acquired in the same round.
Figure C on page 3 shows the ship that can be moved as long as it was not bought this round.
Some extra victory points are now in the game in the form of the victory points chips. These are earned depending on the scenario. First to build a settlement on the space gets the victory point.
The longest road tile from the old game now becomes the Longest Trade Route. The player with the longest nonstop connection of roads and shipping lanes, keeps the longest road card. Remember: Ships can only be placed next to roads only if a settlement or city links them.
Figure D on page 3 shows a Trade Route that is 6 long. Building on the 12 would link roads and shipping lanes and make a route of length 8.
Playing the building card that lets you play two roads now lets you build two roads, two ships, or a ship and a road.
The game has a new tile, called the gold river. When the gold river produces, you may take one of any commodity you should desire.
When you are starting the game, you may place a ship next to your two starting settlements instead of a road. This could be useful if you are planning on starting out into the ocean.
The expansion includes the dreaded black pirate ship. With this, you can include the following variation:
The pirate starts out in the middle of any sea hex.
a) When a player rolls a "7", he can choose to move either the Pirate or the Robber. If he moves the pirate, then he can steal a raw material form the owner of each neighboring ship.
[Translator Note: No clarification here on whether that means you steal one from a player for each ship that player has which is adjacent. I think our house rule will allow a max of one commodity from each player bordering that hex.]
b) Playing a Knight (Ritter) lets the player move either the Robber or Pirate as well.
c) Players may not move or add new ships onto the edges of a hex with a pirate.
[Translator Note: For sanity's sake, I'm going to skip reproducing the layouts and the material lists. Use the ones from the manual. Here is a quick translation guide for the materials bit.
| Meer | Sea |
| Wuste | Desert |
| Goldfluß | Gold |
| Ackerland | Farmland |
| Hugelland | Hills |
| Gebirge | Mountain |
| Weideland | Grassland |
| Wald | Forest |
| Ges. | Total |
Section C in each heading shows your number of harbors. In nearly all games, this requests 5 special harbors and 4 of the "3:1" harbors.
Preparation: Set up the main island according to the rules of the basic game. The material in the tables covers the sea and the little islands. Use empty seas with the mini-harbors instead of the tiles with printed harbors.
If you put a settlement on the edge of the big island or on the little islands, you may put out a ship instead of a road.
Take a victory point for the first settlement you build on any small island and place it under the settlement. If another player has already built on the small islands, then the player still gets the extra point.
[Translator Note: I'm taking this to means that you only get one point for the first settlement you build on a small island. No extra points for more settlements abroad.]
First player to 13 points wins.
Foreign lands are populated from two home islands.
Preparation: Build the entire framework as shown. The Material table covers the entire board.
Special Rules:
Foundation Phase: Each player puts both starting settlements on any islands. Each player thus starts with one or two "home" islands. All others are foreign islands.
Settlements on a coast must put in a ship instead of a road when starting the game. Settlements built along the framework, however, are exempt from this requirement.
Special Victory Points: The first settlement that a player builds on each foreign island earns him a victory point chip. (Making this settlement worth 2 victory points.)
The first settlement on the any other foreign island nets you 2 extra points. If another player already has settlements on the island, you still receive the points.
Example: A player starts on the bottom left island. His first settlement on the top left nets him an extra Victory Point chip. If he makes it to the upper right island, he will receive 2 extra victory points for that settlement.
Play to 12 Victory Points.
Use the same rules as the 4 islands for 3. Play to 12 points.
Seek the unexplored territory. What can you discover?
Preparation: The big and little islands are laid out as shown on the template. Leave the fields with a "?" open - they are discovered during the course of the game.
Mix the listed tiles in the second line of the table facedown and stack them. Mix the listed number chips as well.
Special Rules:
Foundation Phase: Both settlements start on the main island. A player building on the coast may place a ship instead of a road at the start.
Discovery: As soon as a player puts in a ship (or road) that touches the corner of an undiscovered hex, pull a hex and place it. If it is a land hex then also put a number chip. The player then immediately receives a raw material from the newly discovered land.
If it is a sea hex, then sulk.
This scenario has no special victory point tiles.
Play to 12 points.
Same rules as for 3 players. Play to 12.
Preparation: Put this mess together. The Materials table covers the entire board.
Special Rules:
Foundation Phase: The main island has an insidious desert belt. All players must build both of their first settlements on the larger part of the main island. The small islands and the 3 hexes across the desert belt are regarded as foreign.
Special Victory Points: For the first settlement that a player builds on a tiny island (or the desert-isolated coast), he gets an extra victory point chip that goes under the settlement.
Play to 12.
Same rules as Through the Desert for 3. Play to 12
Mix the listed tiles then turn them up within the framework. Turn up number chips onto the land tiles. However, the red number 6's and 8's may not be placed on adjacent tiles or on the gold-river. Replace with an appropriate number chip as desired.
Mix the harbors. Starting with the oldest player, place a harbor next to a countryside tile.
Special Rules:
Foundation Phase: Each player builds settlements anywhere his heart desires. At the start of the game, each player has one or two home islands. Any other island is a foreign island. The first settlement on any foreign island gains the player 1 extra Victory Point.
Play to 12.
Same rules as for 3.
10: Die Grosse Uberfahrt - The Big Channel.Ships must build trade routes between Catania and Transcatania.
Trade Lines: In this scenario, players receive Special Victory Points for trade routes between settlements/cities on Catania and Transcatania. The trade routes can be of different types:
1: You can link a line of ships between one of your settlements and that of an opponent on the other island.
2: You can link a line of ships between one of your settlements and connect it to an opponent's road.
3: You can link a line of ships to the other island and build your own settlement there. This is a direct trade route. All others are indirect trade routes.
4: You can link a line of ships to connect with an opponent's line of ships (which eventually links to one of his settlements.)
5: You can create a branch off of one of your ships so as to connect two settlements to one of an opponent. The example shown will create two indirect trade routes between red and white.
6: A trade route may not pass through a settlement. Example 6 on page 14 only consists of a single indirect trade route. Not 2.
Special Rules:
Foundation Phase: Each player must put both of his starting settlements on a single isle. This becomes his home island. The other is known as the neighbor island. Placing a settlement on the coast allows you to build a ship instead of a road.
Special Victory Points: For each direct trade route that a player manages, he places an extra victory point chip under the settlement on the neighboring island.
For an indirect trade route, a player only gets a victory point chip if he has contributed more ships to the trade route as compared to his opponent's ships + streets. In Example 4, Red gets the Victory Point. If both player have the same number of units, then the player who closed the trade route gets the point.
In Example 5, Red has a connection to two settlements and so nets two points.
Careful: If two players have built ships to form the trade routes that meet in the middle of the channel, one player may move the ship at the end of his part of the route. Should this happen and the trade route be broken, the player with the token must give it back.
[Translator's Note: Really, it doesn't say anything about the end of the game like how many VP's finishes the game.]
This is the one that requires two basic sets of Die Siedler.
Preparation: Set up the main island in the middle according to the rules of the basic game. The other islands are constructed out of the second game. Leave out the desert. Mix them and place them into the spaces for the little islands. Do not put number chips on the little islands! Fill the sea with 23 sea fields.
Give each player 5 settlements, 8 cities, 15 streets, and 15 ships.
From the second Die Siedler game, pull 7 number chips and toss into a bag: 2,3,4,5,9,10,11.
Harbors: Use 5 special harbors and 4 "3:1" harbors.
Special Rules:
Foundation Phase: Place both of your starting settlements on the main island.
As soon as a player puts a ship or street onto the corner of a land tile without a number, pull a chip from the bag and toss it on the island.
Once all 7 of the starting number chips are gone, the player pulls a number chip from the main island and places it instead. To keep some semblance of sanity, there are a few restrictions:
a) The player can only remove a number chip form a tile where he has a settlement.
b) Each settlement on the main island must always be adjacent to at least one active hex. You cannot completely strip a settlement or city of raw materials.
c) You cannot place the red 6's and 8's side by side on the little islands.
If there is no possible chip that can meet all of these restrictions, then the player may break them in order of a,b,c until he can choose one. (So placing 6's and 8's next to each other is only possible as a last desperate choice.)
End of the Game
Play to 18 points. This should take about 2.5 hours.
1. One of the games is missing the target score.
2. Most of the games with one big island and several tiny islands offer special victory points for placing your first settlement on a small island. They are not quite clear on whether that means your first settlement on EACH tiny island or not. Entdecker's style of play makes me want to believe the second, but the translation seems to suggest otherwise.
Moo
The Game Cabinet - editor@gamecabinet.com - Frank Branham (moo@neonate.org)