Escaping the overpopulation

Number of players: 4
Victory points to win: 12

Author: Itomi Bhaa

Material

The starting island
Forest	Field	Hill	Pasture	Mountain	Desert	Gold
2	2	2	2		1	1

The six islets
Forest	Field	Hill	Pasture	Mountain	Desert	Gold
4	4	4	4	5	2	2

The sea
Sea	Generic harbor	Wood harbor	Wheat harbor	Brick harbor	Sheep harbor	Coal harbor
24	4	1	1	1	1

Setting Up

- Create the starting island as detailed on the map, using the starting island stack.
- Randomly create the six islets, using the six islets stack, face down.
- Add the sea tiles and the 8 harbor tiles as detailed on the map.
- Take the number chips and place them as detailed on the map for the starting island.
- Take the remaining number chips and place randomly on the six islets.

Special rules

     Founding phase

All settlements must be placed on the central island as detailed on the map. The players begin with no goods.

     Playing the game

Because of the overpopulation, the placement rule does not apply on the starting island: settlements/cities can be "1-away" from all others.

     The robber and the pirate

The robber enters the game the fisrt time a seven is rolled. The pirate enters the game once the first boat is drawn.

     Special victory points

Building four settlements/cities on the starting island is worth two extra victory points.

Available for download on boardgamegeek.com (membership required).

7 Islands

Number of players: 3 or 4
Victory points to win: 12

Adapted from: http://home.worldonline.dk/nyskes/settlers/Catan_Scenarios.htm

Material

The big island
Forest	Field	Hill	Pasture	Mountain	Desert	Gold
3	3	2	3	3	1	1

The six islets
Forest	Field	Hill	Pasture	Mountain	Desert	Gold
3	3	3	3	3	1	2

The sea
Sea	Generic harbor	Wood harbor	Wheat harbor	Brick harbor	Sheep harbor	Coal harbor
18	3	1	1	1	1	1

Setting Up

- Randomly create the big island using the big island stack.
- Randomly create the six islets, using the six islets stack, face down.
- Add the sea tiles and the 8 harbor tiles as detailed on the map.
- Take the number chips 2, 3, 4, 4, 5, 5, 6, 8, 9, 9, 10, 10, 11, 12 and place them randomly on the big island.
- Take the number chips 2, 3, 3, 4, 4, 5, 5, 6, 6, 8, 8, 9, 9, 10, 10, 11, 11, 12 and place them randomly on the six islets.
- Take six markers (six coins for example) and place one of them randomly on each of the six islets.

Special rules

     Founding phase

Each player place their two starting settlements as usual. No settlements may be built on the six islets during startup.

     Playing the game

Whenever a player builds a settlement on an islet that still has its marker, roll a D6. On a roll of 1-2, nothing happens. On a roll of 3+, draw one development card and remove the marker from this islet.

     Special victory points

Colonizing three islets is worth two extra victory points.

Available for download on boardgamegeek.com (membership required).

Orient, septentrion and occident

Number of players: 3
Victory points to win: 14

Author: Itomi Bhaa

Material

The starting island
Forest	Field	Hill	Pasture	Mountain	Desert	Gold
3		3	1

Oriental, septentrional and occidental islands
Forest	Field	Hill	Pasture	Mountain	Desert	Gold
2	6	1	2	6	2	2

The sea
Sea	Generic harbor	Wood harbor	Wheat harbor	Brick harbor	Sheep harbor	Coal harbor
67	3	2		2	2

Setting Up

- Create the starting island as detailed on the map, using the starting island stack.
- Randomly create the oriental, septentrional and occidental islands, using the east and west islands stack, face down.
- Add the 67 sea tiles and the 9 harbor tiles as detailed on the map.
- Take the number chips and place them as detailed on the map for the starting island and radomly on the other islands.

Special rules

     Founding phase

All settlements must be placed on the central island as detailed on the map. The players begin with three wheat cards.

     The robber and the pirate

The robber enters the game the fisrt time a seven is rolled. The pirate enters the game once the first boat is drawn.

     Special victory points

Colonizing two islands is worth two extra victory points.

Available for download on boardgamegeek.com (membership required).

East side, west side

Number of player: 2
Victory points to win: 14

Author: Itomi Bhaa

Material

The starting island
Forest	Field	Hill	Pasture	Mountain	Desert	Gold
1	1	1	1

The east and west islands
Forest	Field	Hill	Pasture	Mountain	Desert	Gold
2	2	2	2	3	2	1

The sea
Sea	Generic harbor	Wood harbor	Wheat harbor	Brick harbor	Sheep harbor	Coal harbor
42	2	1	0	0	1	0

Setting Up

- Create the starting island as detailed on the map, using the starting island stack.
- Randomly create the east and west islands, using the east and west islands stack, face down.
- Add the 42 sea tiles and the 4 harbor tiles as detailed on the map. Take the number chips and place them as detailed on the map.

Special rules

     Founding phase

All settlements must be placed on the central island as detailed on the map. The players begin with no goods.

     Playing the game

- At the start of a turn, the player rolls the dice twice instead of once. Resources are produced for both rolls. If a 7 is rolled on the first roll, then the player with fewer victory points controls the robber or the pirate (when victory points are tied, the player who rolled the dice controls the robber). The double dice rolls mimic the resource production in a 4 player game, and giving control of the robber to the trailing player 75% of the time helps prevent a player from running away with the game. Using two pairs of dice (of different color) makes playing a lot smoother - designate one color as the "first" roll, and the other color as "second".
- Players may only trade with the bank. Since is rare for both players to agree to trade, it is simpler to just eliminate the trading altogether.
- The limit for the number of cards a player can hold when the robber is activated is increased from 7 to 9. In the four player game there is ample opportunity to trade with other players between turns. In this variant, players tend to accumulate more cards between turns, so the limit was increased accordingly. (Two players rule taken from http://www.baumfamily.org/dave/settlers.html)

     The robber and the pirate

The robber enters the game once the first desert hex is drawn (place on desert). The pirate enters the game once the first boat is drawn.

     Special victory points

Colonizing both the east and west islands is worth two extra victory points.

Available for download on boardgamegeek.com (membership required).

The Seafarers board

The templates for “Hexes of Kaathan - The Settlers” are ready. You can download the printable version for up to 4 players here and for up to 6 players there.

More Seafarers'

Let’s continue with the seafarer extension. I have had to create more deserts. I hope these one will be convincing.

The board will be available for download soon.

The gold lakes

After a little break, I decided to go on and design the seafarers extension. Here is a first screenshot. At first, I did not know how to make the gold rivers, my problem was the river stops at the edge of the hex. But eventually I chose to create gold lake instead of gold river.