Mayfair Games Catan: Traders & Barbarians Expansion 4th Edition

I bought this for my wife for Christmas. It was the last of the main Settlers expansions we didn't have. We haven't stopped playing it yet, and we have yet to try half of the new scenarios and variants. This expansion surprised us with how much diversity and variability it applied to the game. Rather than just adjusting the setup of the map and the number of victory points like Seafarers does, there are several totally new ways to play Settlers in this game. So far, we like the Fisherman of Catan the best, but we haven't tried them all yet. In addition, there are included 2 player rules for any of the Settlers variants, although we are not sure we like these rules better than playing the normal rules with 2 players. There are also cards to replace the dice in any Settlers game, which we definitely like. Overall, I highly recommend this expansion if you love Settlers and want some variety.

First of all, you must already have the original Settlers of Catan to be able to play this expansion. If you are here reading this than chances are you do. With this expansion it presents different campaign scenarios to the Catan story. Many scenarios. This is like having several games in one box! You can choose to play the Fishermen of Catan, or the Rivers of Catan, or the Caravans, or Barbarian Attack, or Traders & Barbarians. The new pieces include wagons, bridges, camels, etc. You also get new game hexes with rivers, swamps, etc. But the best part is you can now play with just two players. It gives you the tools and rules so you and a friend can play Catan for two! All these campaigns are available in a two player version as well as up to 4 players. The only game you can't play in a two player version is Cities and Knights if you own this expansion (sold seperately). Another great thing is that if you are not lucky at rolling dice it has event cards that replace having to roll dice if you choose to do so. Not mandatory but it eliminates the randomness of dice. On your turn you don't roll the dice but instead you turn the top card of the Event Card deck face up. Not only does the card determine what number is "rolled", but it also causes an event. There are 11 different events, and almost half of the cards have events. (36 event cards are included) The statistically correct distribution of the numbers on the cards reduces the randomness produced by dice rolls. In exchange, the events inject new elements of chance into the game. Producing a slightly different ambience. The events are: Robber Attacks!, Epidemic, Earthquake, Good Neighbors, Tournament, Trade Advantage, Calm Sea, Robber Flees, Neighborly Assistance, Conflict, Plentiful Year, and New Year (you reshuffle). You can also use these "dice cards" with any of the different campaigns including Cities & Knights if you own this expansion already. Now on to the new campaigns...in Fishermen of Catan you get a new lake hex, 6 fishing ground tiles which you place along the coast, 20 fish tokens and 1 old boot token. The fishing ground tiles allow you to produce "fish" when your coastal settlements or cities are adjacent to them. So now coastal settlements can mean more than they did in the origanal Settlers of Catan. In Rivers of Catan you receive 2 sea frame pieces, 3 river tiles: a 3 hex river on 1 tile, and a 4 hex river on 2 tiles. You also get 12 bridges (3 of each color), 40 gold coins, 1 Wealthiest Settler tile, and 4 Poor Settlers tiles. For each road and settlement you build adjacent to a river hex, you receive 1 coin. You can trade 2 coins for any one resource of your choice. If you have the most coins, you are the Wealthiest Settler, which earns you a Victory Point. If you are a poor settler you lose -2 victory points. So you can see how this can affect the outcome when you are trying to win. You have to build bridges over the rivers instead of roads. (there are dotted lines on the hexes indicating which ones require bridges)Building a bridge takes 2 bricks and 1 lumber whereas a road only takes 1 and 1. Game ends at 10 victory points. The Caravans campaign includes 1 oasis hex and 22 camels. The camels make up the caravan and you use them to carry certain resources. I haven't played this one yet. The Barbarian Attack campaign includes 24 knights, 40 gold coins, 30 barbarians, 1 castle hex and 26 development cards. Haven't played this yet either. The last campaign Traders & Barbarians include 2 sea frame pieces, 3 terrain hexes, 36 commodity tokens, 4 wagons, 40 gold coins, 30 barbarians, 20 Baggage Train Cards, and 25 development cards. Haven't played this yet either. So you can see there are many different games all in this one box! If you have Settlers of Catan, this is the perfect expansion because of the many different scenarios included. More importantly the ability to play with 2 people up to 4.

This is by far our favorite game with our friends. It is easily taught and seems to always be a new challenge after you reset the board. After tons of playing, we wish the cardboard was different. It has been camping, to the coast, to relatives houses, and has even had a wine bath. It still is playable but the edges are getting fringy. There are aftermarket board sets but they are very pricey. I def recommend this game! If you have more than 2 players we find the expansion is tons of fun to play with to give us some more room.

This is a fantastic expansion for the Settlers of Catan game. I bought the Seafarers expansion and played it a few times before buying this one, and though that one was fun, I almost felt it got too far away from the original game. The Traders and Barbarians expansion however, is great because it has several variants that can change the game slightly, as well as scenarios that are almost in themselves new games. Settlers of Catan Seafarers Game Expansion Variants These are great because they don't change the game too much, and you can pick and choose which ones you would like to use. For example I like to use the Event Card which replace the dice. There is one card for each possible number you can roll with two dice (one way to roll a "2" so there is only one "2 card, but six ways to draw a "7" so there are six "7" cards) This takes out the luck that is involved with rolling dice and levels the playing field a bit. Other variants include the Harbor Master Card (+ 2 victory points to whoever has three settlements/cities built at harbors), the Fishermen of Catan (originally sold separately SETTLERS OF CATAN: THE FISHERMEN OF CATAN , Catan For Two (which allows the game to be played with 2 players rather than the necessary 3-4), and the Friendly Robber. Scenarios Like the Seafarers expansion, this box includes some scenarios that change the game up quite a bit. These would best be enjoyed by players that are familiar with how to play the original game but are looking for something to spice it up a bit. One of the scenarios, The Rivers of Catan, is another that was originally sold separately, but comes in this box Settlers of Catan River Tile ) Other Scenarios include The Caravans (with golden camels), Barbarian Attack (with golden barbarians invading from all sides of the board), and Traders & Barbarians (where you must form deliver materials to and from locations on the board using a wagon piece). Overall I highly recommend this expansion for anyone who is new or a long time fan of the Settlers of Catan. Just be sure you have the original game or buying this will do you no good! The Settlers of Catan

My brother in law and my sister and I all LOVE this game it is so fun and so addicting because you can gradually add more and more pieces and steps to make the fun last longer. HOwever i ordered form warehouse deals Inc. and they promised me all the pieces but we ended up missing 3 or 4 pieces and considering it was a christmas present to my brother in law I was really disappointed to hear that from him. Great Game worth the money IF you get all the pieces!

This is a great new way to experience Settlers of Catan. This is currently the only expansion that we have played for Settler of Catan. We love that this expansion includes rules on how to play with only 2 people. There are several different variants and scenarios that are included in this expansion. We play the Traders and Barbarians variant the most and I really enjoy the Rivers scenario. We love playing Settlers of Catan and think it is the best board game out there. But these expansions really enrich gameplay.

This came intact, although only had 3 of the 6 border strips inside. Meaning, the interlocking perimeter borders that make up the game board. Can we request another set of borders? And yes, my son likes Catan.

This game isn't overpriced, because you get a ton of compoenents in the box. The problem is that it's a jumbled collection of mini expansions instead of one clearly themed major expansion like Seafarers, which I love. You've got the fisherman of Catan, the Traders of Catan, a bunch of Camals, the River, the Niner, my head wants to explode. We tried most of the variants and found the only one that was really fun was the fish, which you can get for like 4 bucks by themselves. That and the Harbormaster card which gives you 2 VP's for building the most cities on Ports. That's cool too, but I wouldn't pay 25 extra bucks for a single "Harbormaster" card. (same as Longest Road and Largest Army card) In short, you can skip this one and just buy the fish cheaper.