In the context of its fictitious history, Catan is situated in the area of today’s Azores and, in terms of size, encompasses all islands of the group. As described in Rebecca Gable’s novel “The Settlers of Catan,” in 850 B.C.E. Catan was first settled by a seafaring Nordic people.

In real history, the Azores were discovered and taken in possession by Portuguese seafarers in 1427 and 1432.

Therefore, it stands to reason that – in fictitious history – Catan is (re)discovered by Portuguese seafarers at the beginning of the 15th century, and that some decades later conquistadores from all countries of the Old World set out for Catan like barbarian conquerors, to steal from the island what they regard as its only valuable good: gold.

Barbarian Attack

„Barbarian Attack!“ The shrill cry came from the village square and jolted the inhabitants of a small coastal settlement awake. Siward the Scout stood at the center of the square. Spots of hectic red burned on his cheeks as he told people that three ships had landed on the shore and soldiers with strangely shaped iron hats were pouring out of them.

Siward the Scout

“Don’t panic, folks!” said the village leader to calm the distraught settlers who, only scantily dressed, came running to the village square. “The barbarians won’t waste their time with our small village. They are only interested in the city with its rich merchants and craftsmen.”

The village leader is right about that. The barbarians are dangerous only for principalities that have at least one city. And even this is only the case if the prince does not have enough units to fend the invaders off with.

To resist the barbarians when a “Barbarian Attack” event occurs, a prince (player) must have placed at least as many units as he has victory points from cities, metropolises, and city expansions. In this context, all units count, whether they are ships, heroes, or characters without hero status. If the prince has fewer units, he loses 2 resources. If he has more units and at least one city, he receives any 2 resources of his choice.

There is a total of three Barbarian Attack events. According to the normal rules, those events would be quite innocuous, and no prince would feel compelled to take major precautions against the Barbarian Attack. However, since the attack of the barbarians is the theme, the rules for preparing the event card stack were slightly modified for this Theme Game:
Momentarily set aside the 3 Barbarian Attack event cards and the Yule card. Then shuffle the other event cards of the Basic Set together with the Retreat of the Barbarians event card and place 3 cards face down. Place the Yule card on top. Shuffle the other 6 event cards together with the 3 Barbarian Attack cards and place them face down on the remaining stack – that is, on top of the Yule card.

Border Fortress

If a Barbarian Attack is drawn during the game, place the card under the 4 topmost cards of the event card stack instead of returning it to the bottom of the event card stack as usual.

That way, the barbarians arrive quite frequently and force the prince to brace himself for the attacks. Let’s see how our prince prepares for the Barbarian Attack.

Barbarian Stronghold

The prince stood, with his legs apart, on the tower of his Border Fortress, giving the Barbarian Stronghold a sullen look. The Stronghold stood out like an ugly boil, marring the beauty of his land. The barbarians seemed to be getting ready for an attack on his principality.

Marie the Shieldmaiden

“Osmund,” the prince shouted. “Are we prepared?”

Arnd the Strategist

“We were, my prince. Unfortunately, Marie the Shieldmaiden made eyes at our Candamir, so that he defected to the princess of the opposing principality.”
“That disloyal scoundrel! May Odin’s ravens come after him! What do we do now?”

White Raven Tavern

“We’re facing a difficult situation, my prince. All our problems would be solved in one fell swoop if we succeed in winning over Arnd the Strategist.”
“Then hire him, Osmund. Or is there anything that prevents you from doing so?”
“Arnd demands a new sword in exchange for his service. Regrettably, we don’t have the ore to forge one.”
“What?“ roared the prince. “Shall a shabby ore decide the fate of my principality? Either you come up with a solution right now, or I sell you as a slave to the robbers!”.
Osmund hesitated for a moment. “I might have an idea, my prince. But it requires a little gold.”

Wolfgang the Street Performer

“I only have one nugget of gold. How do you want to get ore for it so fast? You’re not going to roll the dice in the White Raven Tavern, are you?”

But that’s exactly what Osmund did. And he was lucky. Not only did he win a big lump of ore for Arnd’s sword, he also won back the prince’s gold. During a celebration – true Catanians are always up for celebrations, even in the face of an impending Barbarian Attack – the prince was thus able to win over Wolfgang the Street Performer. Even if the Street Performer was better at playing a lute than at wielding a sword, he still reinforced the lines of defense. And so the prince only needed one more unit to stop the barbarian hordes and even defeat them.

Castellan

And how does the princess in the neighboring principality fare at the same time?

Castle

“I hate celebrations!” the princess ranted and nervously brushed a stray lock of hair out of her face. “Now we also lost the Street Performer to the prince. Castellan, do something!”
The short-sighted Castellan peered intently out of the window of the Castle‘s tower room. “You worry too much. There are no barbarians as far as the eye can see.”

Caravel

“But they’re coming, Castellan! Siward, the prince’s scout, allegedly has sighted them. And for what other reason does the prince reinforce the lines of his units in such a frenzied manner?”

Relocation

The Castellan sighed. “But just recently we have built a Caravel, by means of which – due to a Relocation - we strengthened the power of our fleet, and we have placed another unit in our Border Fortress. Considering that our resource supplies are depleted, we can’t do more at the moment, my lady.”

Baroc the Barbarian

The princess rolled her eyes. “I can’t stand your monotonous ‘we can’t do more’ and ‘depleted resource supplies’ any longer, Castellan. Is your vocabulary really that limited? Get out of my sight and send me Baroc the Barbarian.“

Hunched over, but on the inside happy to escape the princess’s bad temper, the Castellan left the room. Soon after, a stately warrior in iron armor entered the tower room.

“At your service, my princess!”

The princess liked the resourceful barbarian; she had been able to persuade him – with gold and a seductive smile – to change sides.

“My dear Baroc,” the princess benevolently greeted the warrior, “you know about my problem. I trust that your resourcefulness will replenish my resource supplies.”

Arsenal

Secret Brotherhood

Bailiwick

“Well, princess, first of all, it was a mistake to build the Arsenal. For your enemies, the weapons stored there are a coveted bounty, which is why they will increasingly try to invade your city. You should have invested your resources in the Secret Brotherhood. The secret brothers have connections to the barbarians and can assuage the consequences of a potential defeat.”
The princess’s nicely curved lips tightened into a thin line. She just couldn’t take any criticism.
“But it is not my intention to lecture you. At least you have a Bailiwick. Use it, and new possibilities will open up to you.”

Contest of the Heroes

So the princess called the bailiff. He advised her to arrange a Contest of the Heroes.
“Great idea!” the princess rejoiced. “Didn’t Candamir recently change sides, thanks to my dear Marie? Then he should prove himself now and compete against one of the prince’s heroes.”
Of course, Candamir won the contest and thus provided the princess with the resources she needed to reinforce her Border Fortress with another unit.

Now let’s take another look at the realm of the prince:

Alliance Against the Barbarians

“For what purpose am I supporting you?” raged the prince. “So that you bring me shame all the time? If you don’t immediately replace the wool I lost to the princess during the contest, I will …”
“… sell you as a slave to the robbers,” Osmund cut in, unperturbed by the prince’s words. And I already know whom to rob then, Osmund grimly thought.
“My prince, why don’t you suggest an Alliance Against the Barbarians to the princess. That will make your subjects optimistic, and they won’t complain if you raise a special tax.”

Siegfried, Vanquisher of the Barbarians

Retreat of the Barbarians

That way, the prince got another unit for his Border Fortress just in time, because shortly afterwards the barbarians attacked the two principalities. As expected, repelling the invaders wasn’t difficult for the Catanian units. And the princess still took it up a notch. She ordered Siegfried, Vanquisher of the Barbarians to pursue the defeated invaders, which he did so successfully that the Retreat of the Barbarians was not a very orderly retreat. It actually looked as if the barbarians were running away from the devil himself.

Triumph Card

If a player successfully survives the Barbarian Attack, he may rotate his Triumph Card to the next higher level instead of taking two resources. The Triumph card is a marker card a player automatically places as soon as he has built his first city. It is conveniently placed on an empty space above or below any region. It can be removed from there at any time and placed at a different location if the space is needed for a region expansion.

In my last blog post, I promised to introduce the new Tournament rules at this point. They are now available for download at catan.com.

I am currently working on the concept for the second expansion, “Age of Gold” (working title). The editorial team will probably need until spring of next year to discuss, test, and finalize the concept and all the corresponding cards. At that point, I will get back to you right here in this blog space and introduce “The Era of Explorers” set (working title). Until then, I wish all readers of this blog post lots of fun with the new cards of the “Age of Darkness” expansion.

Klaus Teuber

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“The Era of Merchant Princes” Theme Set is played with the Theme Set of the same name and the Basic Cards I have introduced in part 5 of my series of blog posts about the reform of the Card Game. In the fictitious history of Catan, “The Era of Merchant Princes” Theme Set is set in the 14th century and follows “The Era of Discovery,” a Theme Set of the second game expansion planned for fall 2012.
The treasures and the gold of the discovered neighboring islands allow trade to flourish. The rulers of the two principalities compete for economic supremacy on Catan. Powerful merchant princes and – as already in “The Era of Gold” – trade ships play a central role in this context.

Shipbuilder

Therefore, the prince is well-advised to hire a Shipbuilder. The redheaded giant of Scottish ancestry is not only an asset at celebrations: he also manages to economize lumber and wool in such a way that building a trade fleet is noticeably easy on the prince’s resource supplies. And if a Pirate Ship converts a trade ship into a ship wreck – pay this skilled craftsman 1 gold, and the trade ship quickly is like new again.

Cloth Merchant's Residence

A prince who wants to boost trade should offer Residences to his merchants. It actually isn’t that expensive. The prince only has to own a city and provide a building site above or below an appropriate region – the merchant will then generously take care of the building costs for the Residence.

Paper Merchant's Residence

The Cloth Merchant’s Residence must be placed adjacent to a pasture region. At his prince’s behest, the cloth merchant henceforth converts two wool into one commerce point. (The Residence is rotated 90 degrees counterclockwise.) We don’t even see the intermediate stage “cloth” – that’s how fast the cloth is sold and the trade boosted.

The Paper Merchant’s Residence can only become active if it is adjacent to a forest. The paper merchant converts the forest’s lumber into paper. Again, we don’t spend time dealing with the intermediate stage “paper.” We or, respectively, the princes are only interested in the final result. On level three – after three times converting lumber into paper and rotating the card – that result consists of one commerce point, one progress point, and one victory point.

Hour of the Master Merchants

The bell tolls for everyone at some point. Merchants are no exception. But don’t worry, they won’t be swept away by a hurricane. Actually, the Hour of the Master Merchants event has a downright positive effect: without paying a single resource, we just rotate all Residences to the next higher level.

Wainwright

“Oh dear!” exclaims the cloth merchant, bemoaning his destitute situation. “Over there, on the eastern pasture, the sheep multiply like rabbits, and here, on the pasture adjacent to my residence, my rams seem to be dedicated celibates. With a situation like that, I can hardly be of service to you, my prince.”
If the prince is smart, he acts upon his merchant’s complaint and lets a Wainwright settle in his principality. The Wainwright will then see to it that the merchant gets the wool from sheep of other pastures.

Craft Guild

Sheep need to be shorn. Wool must be spun and woven into cloth. Lumber is waiting to be made into paper. Who is supposed to do all that? Well, the middle class, of course, which – also on Catan – consists of craftsmen, the backbone of any productive society. Our prince knows that too. And so he grants his backbone a Craft Guild, which immediately results in an upgrade of one of his Residences (the card is rotated 90 degrees counterclockwise).

Guild Master

Once a Craft Guild is built, it won’t take long until a Guild Master appears on the scene, to provide his lord with any two resources.

Commercial Harbor

What the craftsmen have created is then spent by the merchants of the Commercial Harbor. If you have built a Commercial Harbor, one time during your turn you may downgrade one of your Residences by 1 level (rotate the card 90 degrees clockwise) and take any 2 resources of your choice in exchange.

At the beginning of the game, the two Commercial Harbor cards are placed as a face-up expansion card stack. That way, both the prince and the princess can build a Commercial Harbor, which is absolutely advisable: if you have a Commercial Harbor, you may place a Trading Station in one of your opponent’s cities and then, once per your turn, pay your opponent 1 gold for any 1 resource of your choice. And if you play the Trade Monopoly, you may even take up to 3 resources of the same type from your opponent.

Trading Station

Trade Monopoly

Lighthouse

The Commercial Harbor also allows you to build a Lighthouse. A Lighthouse enables an adjacent trade ship to trade resources at a 1:1 rate. You need a Commercial Harbor for this to work, but if you don’t have one, being the owner of at least two trade ships also does the trick.

Having either a Commercial Harbor or two trade ships is also the requirement for Hergild the Master Merchant, a lighthouse keeper’s daughter who became rich. If the prince can meet one of the two requirements, Hergild will enable him to trade the resource for which he has a trade ship at a 1:1 rate as often as he wants.

Hergild the Master Merchant

Gero the Master Merchant

Maritime Trade Monopoly

Gero the Master Merchant is a little more modest. Two trade ships navigating off the coast are enough for him to provide his prince with any two resources.

One shouldn’t underestimate the importance of trade ships in this set. If the prince has more trade ships than the princess, he can play a Maritime Trade Monopoly. It allows him to demand one resource from the princess, for each trade ship he has in excess of her trade ship total. To avoid the princess losing her composure, however, he never takes more than two resources from her.

Fortunate Trade Voyage

Capricious Sea

Master Merchants' Alliance

The events “Fortunate Trade Voyage” and “Capricious Sea” are also tailored to trade ships. The first of these two events helps provide the prince with two resources of the type traded by one of his trade ships. The second event either provokes a storm, which – should the prince not have a Lighthouse – sinks one of his trade ships, or it produces calm sea, which earns him one resource of his choice for each of his trade ships.

Olaf the Merchant Ship Captain

If the prince relies on trade ships and assiduously uses them to trade resources, the princess is well-advised to initiate the Master Merchants’ Alliance. By means of this Alliance, each time the prince performs a 2:1 or 3:1 trade the princess receives one resource of the type paid by the prince during his trade. The princess could also build a Pirate Ship (which is also included in the set) and use it to sink one of the prince’s trade ships.

Trading Post

Olaf the Merchant Ship Captain is the first hero to enter the Catan scene who also has a commerce point besides a skill point. By order of the prince, the peaceful merchant ship captain turns into a dangerous pirate who takes two resources from the princess. Afterwards, the commerce point is lost, of course, because Olaf retires with part of the bounty.

Mendicants

The Trading Post offers another possibility to trade resources favorably. You place it on an empty road, where it allows you to trade a resource between the adjacent regions once per your turn. For example, you may quickly convert one gold into one brick, which is much needed for road building.

Brigand Camp

If the princess has the trade advantage, the prince can make use of his connections to the Church and send his Mendicants into the opposing principality. We don’t know what kind of sermon the brothers deliver; however, they always successfully wheedle one or two resources from the princess.

Tactical Retreat

The prince gladly uses the Brigand Camp as another effective means to reduce the princess’s commerce points. But there’s still more to this card. If he places it on one of the princess’s roads, the robbers occasionally intercept a merchant who is on his way to the princess’s Marketplace, the result being that the prince receives 1 gold each time the princess uses her Marketplace to store a resource. The prince can thus lean back and relax while calmly focusing on further expanding his principality.

When the prince no longer needs the Brigand Camp, he sounds the Tactical Retreat. Then he can remove one of the buildings he placed in the princess’s domain. He receives two resources in exchange – one of them comes from the princess, who definitely is happy that she got rid of the unwelcome building.

Commercial Metropolis

Maybe those resources are the crucial resources for the prince to build the Commercial Metropolis and thus maybe win the game. Of course, the prince must have met the requirements to build the Commercial Metropolis: either having 6 commerce points or a Residence of the highest level. The Commercial Metropolis is placed on a city and brings 2 additional victory points.

The three sets of the Age of Darkness expansion extend the possibilities of the Duel of the Princes variant. With this expansion, the players now have a total 6 sets at their disposal, 3 of which are chosen for playing the Duel. For all those who are interested in the selection criteria, here is an excerpt from the game rules:

“The Duel of the Princes” is played according to the already known rules; only the event card stack is assembled differently. Each player chooses 1 Theme Set from the available Theme Sets (the starting player chooses first). The third Theme Set is chosen by lot: take 1 event card from each of the Theme Sets that have not been chosen yet, shuffle them face down, and draw one card at random. The card drawn determines the third set to be included in the Duel. Alternatively, you may want to leave things entirely to chance: take one card from each available Theme Set, shuffle them, and draw 3 cards at random; to play, use the 3 sets these cards belong to. Either way, put the Theme Sets you don’t use back into the box until you start a new game. 

In my next blog post, I will introduce “The Era of Barbarians” Theme Set and give an account of the most important rules of the Tournament Game.

Klaus Teuber

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Age of Darkness -
“The Era of Intrigue” Theme Set

Part 9 of my series of blog posts about The Rivals for Catan had been announced for the beginning of 2011. Unfortunately, the development of the game expansion took longer than originally planned. In order to sufficiently test the cards of the expansion and harmonize them optimally with each other, the release date – and thus, this blog post – was postponed.

Religious Dispute

Now, in September of this year, the German edition of the first “The Rivals for Catan” expansion has finally been published, and the English edition is scheduled for the fourth quarter of this year. Its title is “Age of Darkness,” and it contains “The Era of Intrigue,” “The Era of Merchant Princes,” and “The Era of Barbarians” Theme Sets. I first present “The Era of Intrigue” below.

Church

The theme of this set is the controversy between the worshippers of Odin and the Christians. The beginning of this conflict is also portrayed in Rebecca Gablé’s novel “The Settlers of Catan.”

Odin's Temple

The key events of the set are the two “Religious Dispute” cards. If a Religious Dispute occurs, both players lose their hand of cards. Churches and Temples – the cards of the face-up draw stack – minimize losses. Furthermore, a Temple and the cards that require a Temple strengthen your access to your own draw stacks, and a Church gives you the opportunity to lure away opposing heroes and earn additional gold. And if you have built both a Church and a Temple, you may build the Great Thingstead and end the Religious Dispute.

Judith, Guardian of the Church

The two heroes Judith, Guardian of the Church and

Bran, Defender of the Temple

Bran, Defender of the Temple are also very important in this set. In the Basic Game, the Town Hall was placed on the Parish Hall, thereby enhancing its function; in a similar fashion, Judith is placed on a Church. Judith protects the Church from all actions and events, while the functions of the Church as such remain in effect. The victory point of the Church is also depicted on the “Judith” card (one victory point for Judith and one for the Church). The same applies to Bran and the Temple.
But let’s give Judith and Bran a chance to chat a little with each other and, in the process, introduce us to the remaining cards of the set.

Judith: A beautiful island, this Catan. But only my Church makes the land perfect.

Bran: Soon, churches will spring up like mushrooms here. I should put a stop to this with Odin’s Temple.

Judith: Don’t you dare, you godless man!

Bran: Godless? Who? I? I do believe in gods! Odin, Loki, Freyja, Thor …

Judith: But there is only one God: mine! And mind you, he created Heaven, Earth, and Man.

Bran: Oh, were you there? I wasn’t, actually. Still, I know that it was Odin who created Ask and Embla, the first two human beings.

Judith: Ridiculous! For one, the first humans were called Adam and Eve, and then, how is a god of war supposed to be able to create life? Your god sends people to their deaths, mine died for mankind.

Bishop

Bran: In Valhalla, Odin drinks with all the warriors who die in combat with his name on their lips. Can a warrior expect anything better than such a paradise? If you come a little closer, sweet Judith, I’ll gladly tell you more about Odin and Valhalla.

Judith: Before courting me, you should get a bath or, even better, be baptized and become converted. Maybe my Bishop can see to that.

Sacrificial Site

Bran: You call it converting if your Bishop wants to snatch my gold? I prefer to send him to the Sacrificial Site; there he can make himself useful on the sacrificial stone.

Judith: You’ll definitely not send him there, you ill-bred oaf!

Priestess of the Norns

Bran: Very well then, as a confidence-building measure I’ll let your Bishop go. I’ll ask the Priestess of the Norns for help instead.

Judith: What kind of pagan nonsense is that again?

Odin's Priest

Bran: The Norns are wise women who live by the roots of the World Ash, next to a well, and determine our fate. They just gave Odin’s Priest into my hand. I’m going to introduce him to you. But beware! You might feel a bit rattled afterwards.

Judith: Heavens, such ill-smelling words. I think I’m going to faint. What was it again I wanted to do?

Bran: Convert me?

Missionary

Judith: Right, I wanted to sic my Missionary on you. But where is he? Heavens, could it be that this horrible priest put my servant of God to flight?

Bran: Why not? Sometimes, Odin moves in mysterious ways too.

A little later …

Judith: Ah, there he is again, our good Missionary. If he succeeds in leading one of your heroes to the Lord’s pasture, he can make up for his blunder.

Godfrey

Bran: Vegetarian food for Odin’s warriors? What a joke! But before my heroes might actually fall for the tricks of such a pretty church guardian, I let Godfrey intrigue a little.

Judith: Don’t push my patience to the limits!

Bran: I can’t help it, the Missionary is now on my side.

Judith: Bah, without a Church he won’t be useful for you.

Bran: Then I build one.

Judith: And what does your god say about competition?

Reiner the Miller

Bran: Odin isn’t vain, he is more of a pragmatist, just like me. As long as he is the stronger one, he doesn’t care much about other gods. Besides, this stupid Religious Dispute loses its bite if the few Christians in my principality also have a place where they can pray.

Judith: You think you’re pretty clever, right?

Bran: I am clever, because your former Missionary now does his missionary work in your principality and gives me Reiner the Miller.

Master of the Brotherhood

Judith: I gladly do without that disloyal soul. Fortunately, the Master of the Brotherhood is on my side and compensates me for my loss with gold.

Bran: Does he help you because he believes in your God?

Judith: No.

Bran: So he believes in Odin?

Judith: No.

Bran: Does he believe in anything at all?

Brewery

Judith: I have no idea. He always drivels about tolerance and Enlightenment.

Bran: Your masterly brother seems not to be of this world.

Judith: Maybe, but I don’t care. I build a Brewery for my loyal heroes now and invite them to the Lord’s Supper with bread and beer.

Odin's Fountain

Bran: Shouldn’t it be wine?

Judith: No, beer. Some ignorant monks mistranslated that.

Bran: I see. If you need a clear, delicious elixir for your beer, I could supply you with some barrels of water from Odin’s Fountain.

Pilgrimage Site

Judith: For all I care, you can give your pagan water to your hogs. I’ll definitely not add it to my beer.

Michael the Master Builder

Bran: Too bad, I thought that in return you’d tell me who was the exceptionally gifted stone sculptor who carved the cross in the rock of your Pilgrimage Site. I could almost get jealous when I see you selling trinkets for gold in your stands. Was it perhaps Michael the Master Builder?

Judith: No, there is no stone sculptor, and the Master Builder only helped me build my magnificent Church. It was my God himself who burnt the cross into the rock, by means of a huge thunderbolt. It’s a miracle your Odin would hardly be capable of.

Red Light Tavern

Bran: Only your stupid subjects believe that. You know what? I’ll give you the Red Light Tavern! And I throw in some nice ladies, for free. It won’t take them much time to tease your stone sculptor’s name out of your heroes.

Judith: If one of my heroes shows up in that disastrous place, he’ll get only stale bread in the Lord’s Supper. Speaking of bread, it is running short due to this disloyal Miller. And it seems that you can make extensive use of him. I think I have to build a see for my Bishop.

Bishop's See

Bran: What does your Bishop’s See have to do with the Miller?

Judith: Well, in return for his see the Bishop promised me to threaten the Miller with excommunication if he doesn’t retreat to the desert as a hermit. There he can grind rock into sand, as a penance for his disloyalty. If I can’t have the Miller, you shall not have him either. An eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth …

Bran: By the way, Odin also lost an eye. I guess he still has his teeth though. They actually have something in common, our gods. And therefore we also have something in common, right?

Judith: Nonsense, my God hasn’t lost an eye. That stupid saying just slipped out. My God wants reconciliation. If our enemy smites us on our right cheek, we are supposed to turn him the left cheek also.

Good Neighbors

Bran: Interesting. So let’s do something for our reconciliation. First, we drink to Good Neighbors, or at least to better ones!

Judith: If you like. After all, the Bible says that I shall also love my enemies.

Great Thingstead

Bran: And then I build the Great Thingstead for us.

Judith: And what’s that supposed to be good for?

Bran: For resolving disputes amicably. For talking to each other. Besides, behind those rocks are some very romantic spots for people who just fell in love …

Judith: What’s that supposed to mean?

Bran: That we shouldn’t always quarrel. As a good Christian, what would you do if I kiss your right cheek now?

Judith: I’d probably have to turn you the left cheek also …

A little later…

Judith: But the Bible doesn’t say anything about the mouth!

Bran: How do you know? Maybe you remember now …

Up to now, it was only possible to expand settlements, cities, and regions. For the first time now, the game expansion includes cards that can also be placed on free roads.
In the “Era of Intrigue” Theme Set, the “Red Lantern Tavern” belongs to this type of cards. Since the card is placed on a road and not on a free building site, we refer to it as a road complement. The function of a “complemented” road remains in effect; it only receives additional functions or properties. Therefore, the illustration of each road complement still depicts a road.

The “Age of Darkness” expansion not only offers new and exciting Theme Games but also adds to the Duel. Together with the new sets of the expansion, we now have a total of six different sets. The many possibilities of combining three sets make for an even more varied Duel that always presents new challenges.
The new cards enable the players, for the first time, to use the Tournament mode in a meaningful way. Therefore, we will also program the Tournament mode for the Catan Online World.

Probably in a few weeks, I will introduce “The Era of Merchant Princes,” the second set of the expansion.

Klaus Teuber

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Introduction

The “Era of Progress” Theme Game is played with the Theme Set of that name and the basic cards I introduced in part 5 of my series of blog posts about the reform of the Card Game. In the fictitious history of Catan, the environment of this set belongs to the 15th century. After Portuguese seafarers discovered the island in the Atlantic Ocean, a brisk cultural exchange between Catan and continental Europe begins. Both in the north and east of the island, a university is formed. However, the Portuguese seafarers not only bring new scientific knowledge to Catan; they also bring plagues.
Due to time constraints, this time I do not include a frame story similar to the one I used in the past two blog posts to introduce the cards of the “Era of Gold” and “Era of Turmoil” Theme Sets.

The University

The University takes center stage in this set. It can be found in the face-up draw stack. If you previously built an Abbey (Basic Set) or a Library, you may build the University directly, without having to draw it into your hand first.

University	Library

The Library – a building that is required to build the University – costs only 4 resources, provides a victory point and, once you have built it, allows you to choose a card from one of the draw stacks. It is, therefore, an attractive alternative to the Abbey.

Three-Field System	Mineral Mining

The University allows you to play a number of useful cards. For example, the two Three-Field System action cards provide you with additional grain income, and the two Mineral Mining cards increase your ore supplies.

Chief Cannoneers	Building Crane

You may use the two Chief Cannoneers to either take the strength advantage away from your opponent or to protect your own strength advantage.

Parliament

The Building Crane is another advantage resulting from the University. If you have the Building Crane, each city expansion whose building costs exceed 4 resources costs you any one resource of your choice less. If you want to build the Parliament, the most expensive building of this set (it costs 7 resources), having the Building Crane would surely be an advantage to you. The Parliament is definitely worth it: its two victory points allow you to quickly catch up or even win the game.

The Plagues

The set includes a total of 5 event cards. Besides the two Invention cards already known from the Basic Set, the set contains three Plague cards. A Plague card causes each region adjacent to a city to lose one resource. That way, you can inflict considerable damage to a player who incautiously relies on city building.

Plague	Bath House

There is an antidote, however: the Bath House. The regions of a city where a Bath House was built are protected from Plagues. So that more than one city can be protected from Plagues, 3 Bath Houses are available to the players. If things are already messed up, meaning that the Plague has already befallen one or more of your cities, a Pharmacy will console you a little for the resource loss. After a Plague is played, the Pharmacy provides its owner with any one resource of his choice – whether or not he was affected by the Plague.

Pharmacy	Doctor

If there is a Bath House, a Doctor isn’t far away. Therefore, this set contains 2 of these action cards. In combination with a Bath House, the Doctor has the effect to increase the settlers’ productivity, which manifests itself as an additional resource received in the two regions adjacent to a Bath House.

Other Cards

A set whose theme is progress shouldn’t be without a Town Hall. The Town Hall gives you an advantage: when you exchange a card from your hand at the end of your turn, you may choose a card for free. You might wonder now if that makes the Parish Hall redundant. Yes, that’s indeed the case. For this reason, the Town Hall is built directly on top of the Parish Hall and thus doesn’t occupy a new building site.

Town Hall	Guido the Ambassador

Sometimes, a Town Hall is also a place for diplomacy. Therefore, it stands to reason that it serves as a requirement for playing the action Card Guido the Ambassador. Guido allows you to choose a card from the discard pile. This can be very helpful, for example, if you want to take advantage of the Three-Field System again. The action card Gustav the Librarian has the same effect. Needless to say that to play Gustav, you don’t need a Town Hall. You need a Library. Both action cards may also be played without the building requirement if you have fewer victory points than your opponent.

Gustav the Librarian	Benjamin the Traveling Scholar

Benjamin the Traveling Scholar may also be used without the building requirement. With the help of Benjamin, you once more receive the resource of each region whose number you rolled at the beginning of your turn.

In “The Era of Progress,” dealings between the players are more peaceful than in the “Era of Turmoil” set. The threat in the shape of Plagues comes from the outside, and you should try early enough to protect your principality via Bath Houses from resource loss. The University and the cards linked to it are not as strong as in the old Card Game any more, but they still are powerful enough to decide the outcome of a game.

The Duel

If you have played all three Theme Games and are familiar with the cards, the Duel mode will be a new challenge for you. In the Duel, all Theme Sets are used, although in a slimmed-down form. Many a reader of my blog post may have asked themselves what those funny little half moons on some cards mean. Well, if a card is marked with a moon, it “goes to sleep” during the Duel. That is, it is set aside. This means that we play the Duel with all the basic cards but only about half the cards of each Theme Set.
As a consequence, also the key cards only appear once: in the “Era of Gold” set there is only one Merchant Guild, in the “Era of Turmoil” set only one Hedge Tavern, and in the “Era of Progress” set only one University. You thus have to decide early on which strategic direction to pursue, or you must use tactics and change direction if your opponent has snatched a key building from under your nose. For example, if your opponent has the Merchant Guild in his hand or has even built it, you may try to counterattack with the Hedge Tavern or with the University and the cards linked to it.

The Duel mode offers a broad strategic and tactical spectrum whose appeal definitely compares to that of the Tournament mode of the old Card Game. However, the Duel mode’s great advantage over the Tournament mode is the fact that you don’t need a second game, because all required cards are included in the “Rivals for Catan” game box. And for all players who are not so fond of composing their own decks, the Duel mode has the advantage of being able to start playing without spending much time on preparations and still having the full range of cards to choose from.

I’m not suggesting, though, that the Tournament mode is dead. It will be revived with the Expansion I, whose current working title is “Dark Times.”

The German version of the “Rivals for Catan” game will probably be delivered to stores in Germany the same week this blog post is published. Completing the revised version of the old Card Game was a long journey, and Peter Gustav Bartschat, Dr. Reiner Düren, and Sebastian Rapp walked it together with me. It also was an exciting journey, filled with many test games and stimulating discussions that sometimes were profound and often also humorous and exhilarating. A beautiful experience, for which I would like to say a big thank you to the three of them. My special thanks go to Michael Menzel, who gave Catan its wonderful illustrations and thus justified the slogan “Catan comes to life.”

In my next blog post – presumably by the end of this year – I will talk about the first of the three Theme Games of Expansion I, named “The Era of Intrigue.”

PS:

The illustrator Michael Menzel used a photo of Peter Gustav Bartschat as a model for the “Gustav the Librarian” card. Together with Dr. Reiner Düren, Peter Gustav Bartschat wrote the Encyclopædia Catanica. He also published two detective stories and is the author of the book “Im Zeichen des Sechsecks” (“Under the Sign of the Hexagon”), published in Germany on the occasion of the 10th anniversary of “The Settlers of Catan.”
Photos of my two sons Guido and Benjamin served as models for “Guido the Ambassador” and “Benjamin the Traveling Scholar.”

Klaus Teuber

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Introduction

The “Era of Turmoil” Theme Game is played with the Theme Set of that name and the basic cards I introduced in part 5 of my series of blog posts about the reform of the Card Game. In the fictitious history of Catan, the environment of this set belongs to the mid-9th century, which is about 100 years after the first settlers arrived on Catan. The Viking chief Carl Gabelbart and his men are stranded on Catan. To conquer the island, he sows discord among the Princes and brings traitors, archers, and arsonists into the arena. Heinrich the Sentinel is in the thick of the action. His confessions will give us a better understanding of the Era of Turmoil.

Heinrich the Sentinel

Confessions of a Sentinel

Allow me to introduce myself: I am Heinrich. Strictly speaking, it’s Heinrich the Sentinel, a loyal subject of the Prince. Well, let’s say: a fairly loyal subject.

Actually, the Prince is kind of in my bad books. After all those years of faithful service in the struggle against robbers and pirates, he fobbed me off with a job as a sentinel. He might as well have made me his latrine supervisor.

I’m living on the second floor of the city gate. It has a bedroom so small my predecessor must have been a midget. I’m not a midget, however, so I have to bend my knees and duck my head in order to squeeze myself into that lousy hole at night.

Hedge Tavern

And my reward?
“Here, my dear Heinrich,” he said, “take this loaded die and get your payment yourself. There are so many boneheads in the Hedge Tavern, it shouldn’t be difficult for you to fleece some of the scoundrels there.”

And then he gave me a horn I should blow to warn the citizens when enemies were threatening the city. I must confess, until this day I haven’t blown the horn one single time. It isn’t possible anyway, because I plugged the mouthpiece. It serves me much better as a receptacle, to be filled with mead or beer. I quite often raise the horn to the Prince: “Thank you, my Prince. I drink to your downfall!”

It’s true, I’m really mad at him. Each morning, when I wake up in my dull chamber with aching limbs and a stiff neck, I curse his Highness.

Irmgard

The only bright spot in my life is Irmgard, my dear friend who lives in a spacious cottage in the swamp. Sometimes I sneak to her house at night. Then she pampers me with delicious food, and I enjoy falling asleep in her arms with my limbs comfortably extended. After dinner, we often have an animated conversation. There is one topic, however, that I rather avoid, because when the Prince is mentioned and I just can’t stop myself from making one or two bad remarks about him, I get barred from the cottage during the following days.

Irmgard adores the Prince – please don’t ask me why. She supports him whenever she can. For example, if a hero abandons the Prince or the Princess of the neighboring principality burns down one of his buildings, she pulls a few strings and sends the Prince a load of resources as a consolation.

Arsonist	Tithe Barn

Fire Brigade

The other night it happened again. The Princess must have smuggled an Arsonist into our city. Irmgard woke up from the screams in the city and ran out of the cottage. The glow from a building going up in flames illuminated the sky over the city.
“Ha!” I rejoiced, “I think the Tithe Barn is burning up and with it, all the grain and wool the old scrooge got out of the peasants.”
I smiled at Irmgard, but I might have guessed that she didn’t smile back. Her green eyes gave me a harsh look, and it was clear that for the next days I would have to spend the night in my uncomfortable bedroom again.

“Had he built a Fire Brigade, this wouldn’t have happened,” I grumbled. “Had you done your job instead of being here with me, it wouldn’t have happened either!” she answered, went back into her cottage and locked the door.

Archer

The next morning, when I was standing in front of my city gate in a bad mood, a wispy youngster came staggering towards me. “Where are YOU heading, boy?”
“To the … city of the … Princess, Mister … uh …Sentinel,” he answered haltingly, reeking of alcohol. “I … I’m an Archer and I’m supposed to … um … finish off the Princess … no … the hero of the Princess.”

Drill Ground

“Don’t call me MISTER SENTINEL!” I ranted. “That sounds even more ridiculous than ‘night watch.’ You think you are an Archer? At best, you’re a boy who hasn’t even learned to properly carry his bow. Instead of getting drunk in the Hedge Tavern, you’ll go to the Drill Ground now and practice shooting a bow and arrow. If you come back sober in a couple of days, I might let you pass. But don’t you shoot a swordsman there!”

Traitor

As the boy toddled off, out of the corner of my eye I caught a glimpse of a scurrying shape. Somebody was actually trying to sneak through MY city gate. In one leap, I stood next to the intruder and grabbed his right hand. “What are you doing here, you scoundrel?” “I’m not a scoundrel,” the captured guy stammered, who turned out to be another youngster reeking of booze. “I’m a Traitor.”

Of course, the Princess also had a Hedge Tavern in her city. It seemed that she had hired the young lad there to put one over on the Prince. I definitely wouldn’t have minded that, but I also had to think of myself and my finances in particular.

“I hope you’re aware that I have to blow my horn now, meaning that in the future you’ll only be able to betray the rats in the Prince’s dungeon?”
Since the lad couldn’t know that my horn was not suited for blowing any more, he nodded anxiously and furtively looked around. He apparently was looking for an opportunity to escape, but I maintained my tight grip on his wrist.
“Here’s a conciliatory proposal. I’ll roll the die.” With my left hand, I pulled a die out of my vest and shoved it right under the Traitor’s nose. He gave me a blank look. “If I roll a 3, 4, or 5, I take the coins the Princess gave you for your treason and send you home. If I roll a different number, you may enter the city and I only take half of your coins. Agreed?”
Given that his only alternative were the rats in the dungeon, the lad nodded eagerly. He seemed to have lost his tongue. I dropped the loaded die. It fell to the ground, bounced a few times, and then – as expected – came to a stop with the 6 facing up.
“You were lucky, boy! Fate has decided that you may perform your task in the city.” I held out my hand and received half of the pay for his treason.

Carl Forkbeard	Raid

In the evening, the young Traitor appeared again. He had Carl Forkbeard in tow. Carl was a giant of a man and notorious for his raids that terrorized the coasts of Catan. I knew that the Prince was negotiating with Carl because he wanted to win him over and have him among his followers. But that wasn’t going to happen now. Thanks to her Traitor, the Princess would be the one to have access to the hero carrying the huge double axe.

I smiled and let the odd couple pass through my city gate. As of now, Carl would ravage only one side of the island with his raids: the side belonging to my unbeloved Prince.

A couple of days later – I still wasn’t allowed to enter Irmgard’s cottage – Riots threatened the principality. A horde of peasants had been sighted from the Lookout Tower. Armed with sticks and forks, they were marching towards the city, determined and with grim faces.

Lookout Tower	Riots

The peasants’ anger didn’t come as a surprise to me. Without batting an eye, the Prince had ordered to rebuild the burnt-down Tithe Barn and once again collect the tithe from their grain and wool harvests.

The Chapel‘s bell sounded the alarm and the herald shouted, “Enemies at the gate! Citizens, barricade yourselves in your houses!”
The streets quickly became empty, and an eerie silence filled the city. Only the followers of the Prince were still out and about and gradually gathered in front of my city gate. A fight was about to occur. But before the Prince ordered his heroes to confront the peasants, he pulled an ace out of his sleeve.
The band of heroes opened ranks, and Sebastian the Itinerant Preacher stepped forward.

Chapel	Sebastian the Itinerant Preacher

He wore a long, brown habit and his hair had silvery strands, which gave him a presence that exuded authority. He appeared to be above simple human needs such as food and shelter.
“What are you going to tell those poor devils?” I asked Sebastian.
“What I always preach in such situations – and what always helps – is this: ‘Whatever your worldly lord takes from you on Earth, the Lord will repay you for it a thousand times in heaven. But he who lays hands on his worldly lord will burn in hell for a thousand years.’”
Thus spoke Sebastian in front of the peasants, and the episode was over. Sebastian, unperturbed, moved on to continue spreading his heavenly pearls of wisdom among people.

Fairgrounds

A week later, I strolled across the Fairgrounds watching the hustle and bustle of the heroes of our city. They were preparing for the upcoming celebration. They were singing, making music, and dancing. Some were practicing elaborate speeches, others were performing a farce. Two heroes were competing in a spectacular sword fight exhibition.

On my way to the city gate, a messenger boy stopped me and handed me a message he was holding in his dirty little hand. It was from Irmgard; she invited me to go with her to the celebration of the two principalities which was taking place in the city of the Princess. It seemed that she had finally forgiven me. I gave the boy a coin and happily continued on my way. At the city gate, the young Archer was waiting for me – this time absolutely sober.

“Yes, you may go!” I told him good-humoredly before he could open his mouth and gave him a benevolent slap on his frail shoulder. “But don’t hit the target too well!”

Large Festival Hall

And he didn’t.
Two weeks later, when I was sitting with Irmgard in the Princess’s magnificent Large Festival Hall enjoying the presentations of the celebration, an incident occurred that diminished my grudge against the Prince.

The Prince was standing next to his opponent the Princess, and both peacefully applauded the presentation of a young heroine who had sung a melancholy song about love and treason.

At the same time, behind the two applauding members of the royal family a hero of the Prince and a hero of the Princess, both armed with sword and shield, were getting ready for an exhibition fight.
The Archer had meanwhile sneaked up to the Festival Hall from behind and – through a small window – was aiming at the leg of the Princess’s hero. Shortly before the arrow left the bowstring with a faint whirring sound, the hero lowered his shield to scratch his shin with the shield’s rim. The arrow grazed the shield boss and then took another, more fateful direction.

In the dim light of the hall, nobody had noticed that an arrow had penetrated into the Prince’s rear end. The Prince suddenly stopped applauding, emitted a bloodcurdling scream and then jumped about like crazy, and nobody knew whether to applaud or call the guards. Only when the Prince reached back and tried to pull out the arrow, it began to dawn upon everyone what had happened.

Irmgard was so surprised and appalled that she didn’t notice my gleeful grin. Then, when she looked towards me, I already had put on a shocked face and shouted, “Our poor Prince!!! Get a doctor!”
Irmgard put her hand on my arm and smiled at me. I sighed; the next nights in her comfortable cottage were granted.

Notes Regarding the Theme Set

The face-up card stack available to both players consists of the two Hedge Tavern cards. If you have built a Hedge Tavern, you can put Traitors, Archers, and Arsonists onto your opponent. This means that in the Theme Game with this set, the players’ life is a little harder than in the “The Era of Gold” Theme Set I introduced in my last blog post. And if you have the strength advantage, you will often find opportunity to vex your opponent.

Gold also plays a major role in this set, because you can protect your units from the Riots event only if you have enough gold at that crucial moment.

In my next blog post, I will introduce the cards of the set “The Era of Progress” and explain the rules of the Card Game’s next level, the Duel of the Princes. I’ll say only this much now: The Duel of the Princes is played with the basic cards and the cards of all three Theme Sets.
And if someone hasn’t noticed yet: All cards and Theme Sets I describe in my blog posts about the new version of the Card Game are included in the box of the card game “The Princes of Catan.”

Klaus Teuber

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Introduction

The “Era of Gold” Theme Game is played with the Theme Set of that name plus the basic cards I introduced in my previous blog post. In the fictitious history of Catan, the environment of this set belongs to the Middle Ages and thus chronologically follows the “Era of Turmoil” set. The set intensifies the struggle for the Trade Advantage, and the resource “gold” gains importance, among others due to another Toll Bridge, the Mint, and the Gold Cache. Also, players who build their trading empire with trade fleets must be wary of Pirate Ships. This time, I’ll accompany the introduction of the new cards of the set with a little story.

The Story of Someone Who Went Forth to Find the Gold Cache

It was a sticky hot summer evening. My wife and I sat relaxed on our patio and played the “Princes of Catan” card game. Each of us had already assembled a sizable principality with our cards. We were, so to speak, the Prince and the Princess of our respective empires.
On my last turn, I had played the Pirate Ship and thus sent my wife’s trade fleet to the bottom of the sea. As a result, the Trade Advantage and the associated victory point were mine.
As befits a princess, my wife kept her composure and triumphantly played the hero Candamir on her turn. Candamir was a little stronger than the hero Osmund in my principality, and so she obtained the Strength Advantage.

Gudrun, Terror of the Seas — For each of your Pirate Ships, your opponent must give you up to 2 gold.

I had expected more from Osmund anyway. Where was the event “Gift for the Prince” that was supposed to get me much-needed gold from Osmund?
The phone rang. My wife quickly placed the Gold Cache adjacent to one of her regions and went to the living room. “Could you please bring a beer for the Prince when you come back?” I shouted after her.

I yawned and looked at my hand of cards. “Gudrun, Terror of the Seas” and “Reiner the Herald” made a good couple. Particularly the Gudrun card fascinated me.

Reiner the Herald — Play this card before your die roll and determine the event Celebration. You receive 1 additional resource for the Celebration.

Not so much because of the bold-looking, attractive pirate woman imperiously sitting at the prow of her ship but because of the waves her ship cleaved so effortlessly. How nice it would be to escape the mugginess of the evening, dive into the gentle waves and take a refreshing swim, I thought, gradually losing myself in the depth of the card. I became drowsy and submerged myself, deeper and deeper …

I surfaced spurting water. I was floating in a refreshing, slightly choppy sea, right next to Gudrun’s ship. She had become real and gave me a frosty stare.
„Hoist him up, boys! Another castaway who wants a seat on our rowing benches.”
Actually, I would rather have enjoyed the refreshing swim a little longer, but the men whose strong arms pulled me aboard had no consideration for it.
Gudrun planted herself in front of me. “What are you doing here, baldy?”
Slightly unsettled because of her irreverent form of addressing me, I stammered, “I was about to, um, play you …”
Her stare became a bit frostier still. “Didn’t you know that all those who ever wanted to play with me ended up as food for sharks? Throw him back overboard, boys!”
I didn’t want what was obviously a dream to turn into a bloody nightmare, so I hastily shouted, “Stop! I am your Prince!”
Gudrun looked at me in disbelief and then roared with laughter.   “You claim to be my Prince? Nobody has seen him yet, but you definitely don’t look like a prince. Now go ahead and throw him overboard, boys!”
“Nooooo! I know where the Princess’s Gold Cache is.” A better argument didn’t occur to me at that moment.
But it worked. Gudrun’s eyes filled with greed, and she eyeballed me with revived interest. “Well then.

Pirate Ship — Your opponent must remove 1 trade ship of his choice from his principality and place it on the discard pile. Event Plentiful Harvest: You receive 1 gold.

After all, I’m not going to benefit if the sharks eat you. I give you two days. But don’t think you can trick me. My faithful companion Reiner will accompany you. Show him where the Gold Cache is, and you are free to go. Or else …”
Reiner, a well-shaped young man with curly black hair, appeared next to Gudrun. He gave her a delighted look and then, clearly less delighted, looked into my direction and demonstratively played with his knife.

A Pirate Ship – which couldn’t neglect the opportunity to capture a trade ship along the way – brought Reiner and me to the Princess’s Harbor.

Harbor — As long as at least 3 trade ships are placed in your principality, the Harbor is worth 1 victory point.

It looked lonely and deserted. Hardly surprising – after all, my Pirate Ships had meanwhile sunk the Princess’s entire trade fleet. Since then, she always got the short end of the stick when the trade ships started a race.
Grumpily, Reiner brushed back one of his thick black curls. “So, where do we go?” It seemed that being temporarily separated from his adored pirate lady didn’t quite improve his mood.
On our way, I already had frantically tried to remember where the Princess, that is, my wife, had placed the Gold Cache card before getting up to answer the phone. Adjacent to her mountains? Or next to her pastures? I simply couldn’t recall. So I bravely confessed, “I can’t remember exactly, but we can ask, or?”
Reiner stared at me, disgruntled. “I knew from the start that you were taking Gudrun for a ride to save your neck.” He pulled out his knife.

Gift for the Prince — Each player receives 1 gold for each unit with at least 1 strength point.

In this very moment, something whizzed through the air and, with a thump, landed directly in front of my feet. Reiner stood with his mouth open and first gazed at the sky and then at the egg-sized lump of gold that had missed me by a hair. I picked it up and read the card attached to the lump. “Gift for the Prince,” it said, and “With best regards from your faithful Osmund.”
Ha! Finally the eagerly awaited event had occurred. Without a word, I handed Reiner the card. Thunderstruck, he fell to his knees and stammered, his head bent, “My Prince, I ask your forgiveness.”
“Rise!” I ordered him with newly found princely authority.
He got up and looked at me in despair. “Please have mercy with me, my Prince. If I don’t tell Gudrun where the Gold Cache is, she will never again allow me near her. Can’t we just pretend that nothing happened and look for the hiding place anyway?”
I actually liked the idea of continuing to roam Catan for a while and have a closer look at the buildings and settlers I only knew from the cards.

Trade Master — You immediately receive 2 resources of your choice from your opponent. Requires: Merchant Guild.

I gave him a comradely pat on his shoulder. “Sure, that’s what we’ll do. Let’s just ask our way.”
Filled with gratitude, Reiner once again fell to his knees and beamed at me. “Then why don’t we start right away and ask that rich merchant over there at the corner!”
The rich merchant turned out to be a Trade Master offering a choice of fine merchandise.
“Greetings, Master,” I began. “Do you know how to get to the Princess’s Gold Cache?”
“Do I look like I would give away my Princess’s best kept secret?”
“As a matter of fact, yes,” Reiner barged in. “You look like it only depended on the right price.”

Staple House — If you build the Staple House, you immediately receive 2 resources of your choice. Requires: Merchant Guild

„Correct, my young friend. If I were too honorable, I hardly had succeeded in becoming a Trade Master. So, if you bring me 5 sacks of salt, I’ll give you a hint.”
“But from where could we get 5 sacks of salt?” I interjected.
“From where? From the Salt Silo, of course.”

On our way to the Salt Silo we passed by the Staple House. Servants were diligently unloading sacks from a merchant cart and carrying them into the building.

Merchant — Take up to 2 resources of your choice from your opponent and give him 1 resource of your choice in return. Requires: 3 commerce points or city.

Somber-faced, the Merchant was standing next to his cart and harshly said, “Well, do you also want to get rich exploiting a poor merchant’s predicament?”
Like all Merchants visiting the city, he was forced to offer his goods to the citizens at reduced prices in the Staple House. Only after a day had passed, he was allowed to continue his journey, usually with a strongly diminished supply of goods.
“Could you perhaps spare a few sacks of salt?” Reiner optimistically asked.
„Bah! The servant of the Salt Silo just snagged the 10 sacks I had – for 2 gold coins a sack. Just imagine! I normally get 4 gold coins for it.”

Salt Silo — Each of your trade ships is worth 1 more commerce point.

The servant of the silo had put up his stall directly in front of the Salt Silo. “Would you like to buy salt, gentlemen? Suuuper low prices today! Only 10 gold coins a sack.”
“That’s extortion!” ranted Reiner. “You wrangled each sack for just 2 gold coins from the Merchant.”
“By order of the Princess!“ said the servant in his defense. “Her two trade ships are making additional profit with the salt. So we hardly can give the salt away here, can we?”
“But the two ships were captured,” I interjected.

Trading Base — The Marketplace and the Harbor receive a second commerce point.

“So much the worse, then the sack costs 30 gold coins as of now.”
Reiner’s face blushed with anger, and he fingered the handle of his knife.
“Never mind,” I whispered to my furious companion. “I have an idea. Let’s pay a visit to the Trading Base.”
The basement of the Trading Base was built of solid stone. We knocked at a heavy door that looked as if they originally had forgotten to build one and later temporarily inserted one into the crudely hammered breach in the wall. The man who opened looked like a twin brother of our Trade Master and probably was. He eyed us with distrust.
As a precaution, I put my foot in the door. “Master, we’d like to offer you a deal. As you know, salt is a scarce good, and this white gold currently costs 30 gold coins a sack.” I lowered my voice and pretended to be glancing around to see whether there were unwelcome witnesses to our conversation. “People say that the price will soon reach 50 gold coins because of the captured trade ships. What would you say if I offered you 5 sacks for 29 gold coins each?”
The Trade Master’s twin brother had taken the bait, and during the haggling that followed he did great credit to his brother. We finally agreed on 125 gold coins, 25 coins a sack. We sealed our deal with a commercial contract.
After we had left the Trading Base, Reiner took me aside. “But my Prince, we don’t have any salt for sale.”
“Ever heard something about short selling? No, impossible. Just wait and see, Reiner. We practically have the salt in our pockets.”

Moneylender — If you have the trade advantage and the event Trade is rolled on the event die, you may take 2 resources of your choice from your opponent.

Our next stop was the Moneylender. He lived in a small, inconspicuous house huddled against the city wall as if seeking protection. We joined the line of waiting citizens. When it finally was our turn, we were received by two heavily armed guards that escorted us to the Moneylender’s parlor. Actually, it rather looked like a shabby chamber, which made me ask him why a Moneylender who apparently had abundant means at his disposal would live in such humble dwellings.
The Moneylender smiled knowingly. “More substance than style. It protects me from thieving riffraff. What can I do for you, gentlemen?”
“I’d like to propose a deal, Moneylender. You give us 100 gold coins, and at nightfall you’ll get 125 gold coins back.”
“What kind of collateral can you provide?”
Reiner was fingering his knife again. This time, however, he seemed to ponder whether his most prized possession might be acceptable collateral.
“If we had collateral, we wouldn’t be standing here. But I have a surefire business model.” I leaned across and whispered my plan into his ear.
The Moneylender grinned. “Who would ever think of something like that? It’s a deal! Here, take your 100 gold coins.”
“And now?” Reiner asked me, uncomprehending.
“Aren’t you a herald?”
“Yes.”

Mint — Once per each of your turns, you may use the Mint to trade 1 gold for 1 other resource of your choice.

“Good, then go and do your duty now. Run through the streets and announce that the Princess has launched two new trade ships. Because of this great event, she’s organizing a feast for all citizens. Meanwhile, I’ll visit the Mint and trade my lump of gold for coins. Afterwards, we meet again in front of the Salt Silo.”
“But it’s a lie. What if the Princess gets wind of it?”
“No, she won’t. She’s talking on the pho … well, it doesn’t matter. Believe me, by the time someone realizes that we’ve spread a rumor our deal is in the bag.”

When we met again at the Salt Silo, I had traded my lump of gold for 11 gold coins and Reiner had shouted himself hoarse, obviously with success: from all quarters, people were flocking towards the festival grounds. Also the servant of the Salt Silo was about to close his stall.
“Hey, wait a moment! We’d like to buy your salt. 10 sacks for exactly 100 gold coins. Since the Princess has launched two new ships, the price per sack should be at 10 gold coins again.”
The servant opened his mouth, probably to voice an objection.
“And on top of it,” I continued, “you receive a commission of 10 gold coins.”
“So you can really go for it at the feast,” said Reiner and gave him a wink and a nod.
That seemed to finally convince the servant. He closed his mouth, took the gold coins and handed us 10 sacks of salt.
We delivered five sacks of salt at the Trading Base and collected the 125 gold coins as agreed. We brought the 125 gold coins to the Moneylender, who rejoiced over the profitable deal. There were still 5 sacks of salt and 1 gold coin left for us. We went to the Trade Master.

Merchant Guild (1x) — Money can't buy you happiness. But taking it away from others can.

“Here are your 5 sacks of salt, Master. Now we’ve complied with our part of the agreement.”
The Trade Master received his salt and whispered his hint into my ear. Afterwards he also gave me a letter of recommendation. I thanked him and shook his hand. Then we headed for the Merchant Guild.
Reiner walked along beside me in a pensive mood. “Wasn’t that fraud, my Prince?”
“Why? The small Merchant at least didn’t incur a loss. All the others made good money: the servant of the Salt Silo obtained a profit of 8 gold per sack and a decent bribe on top of it. The Moneylender collected 25 % interest, and the Trade Master and his twin brother now have the salt monopoly and will surely sell their sacks at a high profit.”
“So we didn’t harm anybody?”
“Well, come to think of it, we did. The baker will resent the price of the salt and be forced to sell his bread at a higher price. And the prices for pickled herrings and salt meat will surely surge too.”
“So once again the losers are ordinary people,” Reiner concluded.
“That’s probably right,” I answered thoughtfully and was relieved that I seemed to be only dreaming and thus wouldn’t have to deal with a guilty conscience after waking up.

Brigands — You may take as many resources of the same type from your opponent as 1 of your regions can accommomodate. Requires: Strength advantage.

A Merchant Caravan stood in front of the Merchant Guild. We gave the Trade Master’s recommendation letter to the leader of the caravan and were allowed to board one of the wagons and go with them. The Merchant Caravan would travel directly to the Gold Cache, to get the gold the Princess intended to pay for the lumber and wool required for a new trade ship.
On our way, I noticed the Princess’s lush grain fields. Sadly, mine were withered at the moment.  It probably wouldn’t be a bad idea to have my Brigands carry out a raid soon.

Gold Cache — The Gold Cache may also be used to store the gold you received. When the event Brigand Attack is rolled, the gold in the cache is neither counted nor stolen. Requires: Hero with at least 1 strength point.

The Merchant Caravan had arrived at the Princess’s Gold Cache. Since I would soon part with Reiner, I gave him my last gold coin. “Use it to buy something nice for your Gudrun.”
“Thank you, my Prince. You are very generous.” Reiner sighed. “Sometimes I think that we are all cards in a huge game. We are shuffled, end up in random stacks and have no bearing on what is being done with us. I only wish I would land with Gudrun in the same stack more often.” He smirked. “Preferably very closely together.”
“I can arrange that,” I laughed. “I’m your Prince, after all.”

“Hello my Prince. Wake up! Here’s your beer.” I awoke from my dream, rubbed my eyes and gave my wife a grateful look. Then I took a deep pull at the bottle. I had earned it.

Notes Regarding the Theme Set

In general, the following rules addendum applies to all Theme Games:
In the middle between the two players, 5 expansion stacks are placed face down next to the center cards, 3 consisting of the basic cards and 2 of the Theme Set cards. In addition, there is an open stack containing cards which – like the center cards – are “built” directly, meaning that the players don’t have to add them to their hand first. In the Theme Game “The Era of Gold,” the open expansion card stack is formed by the two Merchant Guilds. The player who has reached 12 victory points at the end of his turn is the winner.

The “rule of ’7′” applies neither to the Theme Games nor to the Duel of the Princes nor to the Tournament Game. Action cards can always be played if potentially existing conditions are met.
Probably in mid-July, I’ll tell you about The Era of Turmoil.

P.S.: For the card “Reiner the Herald,” the illustrator Michael Menzel used  a photo from Dr. Reiner Düren’s youth for reference. Together with Peter Gustav Bartschat, Dr. Reiner Düren wrote the Encyclopædia Catanica. During the past years, both of them accompanied the development of the Card Game with help and advice, and they are currently participating in the editorial work on the redeveloped Catan Card Game.

Klaus Teuber

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Follow-up comments on my last blog posts as well as comments in various forums repeatedly expressed concerns that the revised Card Game might become deprived of its depth, in favor of being easier to play and more “appropriate for the public.”
Well, all those of you who fear for the complexity of the new version may rest assured. The Tournament version will continue to exist and, therefore, also the possibility to assemble one’s own deck from a variety of cards.

Maybe in my previous blog posts I didn’t express clearly enough that the simplification mainly consists in the fact that it facilitates an easier understanding of the rules. Therefore, the “Introductory Game” is an important component of the new rules system. It only takes 20 to 30 minutes to play and familiarizes the players with the basic game rules. However, it does not replace the old Basic Game. Although the Introductory Game is already an exciting race for 7 victory points, the manifold possibilities of the Card Game are not fully exploited here.

After 2 or 3 Introductory Games, the players should be ready for the three Theme Sets with their additional rules, which are also included in the game box.

A Theme Game requires the cards of the Introductory Game plus the cards of a Theme Set. As far as complexity and game depth are concerned, a Theme Game is on a par with the old Basic Game. However, each of the three Theme Games is clearly more theme-related, and the duration of the game is also shorter.

But more about this in my next blog posts. Today, dear reader, I would like to introduce the Introductory Game to you. It is titled “The First Catanians,” and the card motifs suggest that the Catanians haven’t prospered much yet.

As in the old Basic Game, the stacks containing the center cards Settlement, Road, City, and Region and the Event cards are placed in between the players. In addition, there are 3 stacks containing 12 Expansion cards each. I already presented the illustration of the new center cards in the section “Catanian Fog” of my last blog post. This time, I’m presenting the new cards and the rule changes that apply to the Introductory Game and the Theme Games alike:

Regions

We have redistributed the numbers on the regions. Before, it could happen that identical numbers on forest and hills regions allowed the player with the black coat of arms rapid expansion via roads and settlements, while his opponent’s wool and gold regions were bursting at the seams. The new distribution makes everything a little fairer. The numbers on brick and lumber now correspond to the numbers on grain and ore. And there’s good news for all gold fans: due to the increased demand for gold, we have reinforced the Region card stack with a fourth gold region.

Expansion Cards – Buildings

The “resource-doubling cards” such as the Foundry, Grain Mill, Brick Factory, Lumber Camp, and the Weaver’s Shop are carried over from the old Basic Game, retaining their function but in some cases having new names.

The old Toll Station became a Toll Bridge. We had a long discussion whether the card should keep its commerce point. Finally, the toll lobby prevailed and successfully defended its commerce point. However, the storekeepers were less successful. Their supplications were in vain – their storage facilities were stripped of their commerce point. As usual, the monks kept a low profile and thus survived the reform unscathed. After praying the Our Father a couple of times, they even gained a little advantage for their Abbey. More about this when the Event card “Productive Year” is presented.

The Expansion cards of the Introductory Game don’t include city expansions and, therefore, no Town Hall that would give the princes the privilege to pay only one resource for choosing a card from an Expansion card stack. This function is now carried out by the Parish Hall, the card that regulates the structures of a village community and thus makes it easier for the prince to follow through with his plans.

The function of the Marketplace is new. It had always bothered me to see my opponent build his third settlement before I could do so, while I was lagging behind with my resource income. If you build a Marketplace in the new version of the game, you receive an additional resource each time a number is rolled of which more appear on your opponent’s Region cards than on your own Region Cards. You may choose a resource your opponent has received too.

The Marketplace strengthens the concentration strategy. The players have more time to expand their principality before expanding via settlements and roads. The Marketplace also counteracts the possibility for a player to take the lead early on, a possibility which later – combining the advantage of having built more settlements with favorable dice rolls – could make him unbeatable.

Expansion Cards – Units – Trade Ships

Taking into account the humble beginnings of the settling of Catan, the Trade Fleets became Trade Ships. Similar to the situation before, there is one Trade Ship for each resource. The Great Trade Fleet is also still part of the game but now is called Large Trade Ship.

Expansion Cards – Units – Heroes

Until now, the male component in the form of heavily armed knights in armor predominated the Card Game. This predominance doesn’t correspond to reality, because women and men always participate equally in the development of a community. Therefore, we replaced the word “knight” with “hero,” a term that applies to both genders. The strength remains unaffected – and strength doesn’t just refer to plain muscle power but also includes intellectual flexibility and the influence this flexibility has on the strength of a community. The tournament points were replaced with skill points. We defined skill as all the abilities to endure contests or delight one’s fellow men. The skill of prevailing in an exhibition fight is on an equal footing with talents such as telling an electrifying story, singing a captivating song, or beautifully playing the harp. The harp thus became the symbol for a hero’s skill and the die roll event “Celebration.”

Those who have read the novel “Die Siedler von Catan” (The Settlers of Catan) by Ms. Gablé will easily recognize the depicted heroes as the protagonists of the novel – the first Catanians.

Expansion Cards – Action Cards

The Action cards of the Introductory Game can all be played without requirements. The Merchant Caravan is the new version of the old Caravan, the Alchemist was substituted with Brigitta the Seer (another character from Rebecca Gablés novel), and the rather modern-sounding Land Reform is now called Relocation. The Scout remained unchanged.
The Goldsmith is a new card. For three gold, the Goldsmith hands over two resources of the player’s choice.

You might be worried now about the “mean” Action cards of the old Basic Game, such as Spy, Arsonist, or Brigands. Don’t fret, dear reader, the reform did not devour its children. These fiends continue to exist in the Theme Sets, although they are hiding behind new names.

Event Cards

The new name for the former Event card “Progress” is “Invention.”
The Productive Year not only provides the regions adjacent to Storage Facilities with an additional resource but also the regions adjacent to an Abbey.
The Fraternal Feud (formerly Conflict) and the Feud (formerly Raid) allow the player who has the Strength Advantage to make his opponent’s life as a gamer a bit more difficult. But since each of these cards exists only once, the damage is not excessive.

The Yule corresponds to the old Year End – but there are two important changes:

1. When the Yule is drawn, the card stack is shuffled and a new card is drawn immediately.
2. Shuffling of the card stack: Except for the Yule, all cards are shuffled face down. Three cards are placed face down. Then the Yule is placed on top of them, and the remaining Event cards are placed on top of the Yule.

These rule changes make the Event card stack more predictable, and it no longer happens that the Yule is drawn repeatedly and no event occurs.

Two new constructive Event cards help to make the game a bit faster yet:

If the Traveling Merchant visits the principalities, each player may buy any one resource of his choice for one gold – up to two times. Happy the player who hasn’t spent his gold yet and is able to strike a lucrative bargain. When the Event card “Trade Ships Race” is played, the player with the most Trade Ships receives any one resource of his choice.

There are also two innovations regarding the die roll event “Tournament.” First of all, the Tournament is now called Celebration, acknowledging the fact that not only weapons are wielded but people now also sing songs and play instruments. Secondly, both players each receive any one resource of their choice when the Celebration is rolled. Only if his heroes have more skill points than the heroes of his opponent, a prince receives one resource of his choice all by himself.

Production and Event

Even though the old rule stipulated that the result of the Event die should be resolved before resolving the result of the Production die, hardly anyone adhered to it. In the new Princes of Catan version, therefore, we followed intuitive behavior and inverted the order. The players collect their production first and then resolve the event. The only exception: if the Brigand Attack is rolled, the robber strikes before the production is distributed. To make sure the players don’t overlook this detail, the club is red.

Trade Advantage and Strength Advantage

“What, in addition to my 3 commerce points I must have built a city to get the Windmill token? Then I’ve played this the wrong way for years.”
I can’t tell you how often I have heard or read this phrase during the past years. As it seems, the requirement to have a city was hard to understand or went in one eye and out the other. So we bowed to reality, very much like good politicians, and dropped the requirement to have a city. Instead, we reduced the number of commerce points a little, thus making it more difficult to reach 3 commerce points.
In a matching fashion, a player obtains the Strength Advantage if he has placed heroes that show a total of 3 strength points.

Replenishing One’s Hand and Swapping a Card

The modification: First, the player draws or discards cards so as to adjust his hand to the allowed limit.
Afterwards, the player may swap a card. To this end, he discards a card; then he pays either one or two resources to select a card from a stack, or he draws the top card from a stack for free.

Conclusion

In terms of difficulty, the Introductory Game is certainly not a “heavyweight.” It has less – and also simpler – rules than the previous Card Game. The aggressive Action cards are left out too. Compared to the old Card Game, the Introductory Game thus offers beginners much easier and less frustrating access to the world of the Catan Card Game. And if, after the Introductory Game, people want more – they are cordially invited to explore the advantages of the University in the predominantly peaceful Theme Game “The Era of Progress” or, in “The Era of Turmoil,” to attack their opponent with the Traitor and Arsonist or take away his resources by means of the Voyage of Plunder or the Brigands.

In my next blog post, I will present the cards and rules of the first Theme Game “The Era of Gold.”

Klaus Teuber

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In my fourth blog post, I originally wanted to present the Introductory Game. However, it will still take some more time to finish all cards of the Introductory Game, and Michael Menzel sent me an interesting report on the development of the card “City.” So I spontaneously decided to dedicate my fourth blog post to the history of Catan and the card illustrations influenced by this history.

The Fictitious History of Catan

When I developed the Card Game in 1995, I didn’t think much about the illustrations. Sure, the game was meant to have a medieval setting, and the card titles were already chosen. But there weren’t any further specifications for Franz Vohwinkel, the illustrator of the old Card Game.

The Settlers of Catan - The Novel

Now it’s 15 years later, and many things have happened since. The novel “Die Siedler von Catan” (The Settlers of Catan) by Rebecca Gablé gave Catan its storyline – or at least the story of its discovery and first settlement in the 9th century by men and women who were expelled from the coast of Norway.
In the novel, the story ends with the settlers being in discord and separating. Candamir and his followers found a new settlement in the island’s south, while Osmund and his loyal ones stay in the north.
Of course, many wanted to know how the story continues, and I was no exception. So I thought about it from time to time and outlined the further course of the history of Catan.

Except for its large active volcano and occasional earthquakes, Catan was paradise for the settlers. Fertile fields and pastures, an abundance of building materials, and ore deposits in the mountains allowed the settlements to prosper. A hundred years later, the two settlements had spawned many settlements on the plains and in the valleys of the island.

The island in the Atlantic Ocean was big enough for everyone; therefore, despite religious differences between the devotees of Odin in the north and the Christians in the south, almost no conflicts occurred. This period of the first Catanians is the topic of the Introductory Game. The cities do not have expansions yet, and the buildings look similar to the houses that the Catanians’ forebears used to build in their Nordic home country. There weren’t any knights either – only heroines and heroes such as Siglind, Osmund, Candamir, or Harald, which some of you may already have met in Rebecca Gablé’s tale.

If Catan were a large island in the area of today’s Azores (the Azores were not discovered until 1427), chances would not have been too bad for other seafarers to reach the island. And indeed, in 960 the Viking prince Carl Gabelbart lands with a large fleet on the shores of Catan. Carl didn’t actually want to sail to Catan but was on a Viking journey heading south; however, a storm set in and carried his longships filled with warriors off course, far to the west.
Carl is impressed by Catan’s beauty and fertility and decides to conquer the island and become its ruler. But first it is necessary to boost his men’s morale and satisfy their most important need: women.
One can imagine that this need led to conflict with the Catanians. Therefore, cards such as Carl Gabelbart, Traitor, Arsonist, Feud, and Riots characterize the Theme Set “Times of Turmoil.” After the Carl Gabelbart episode is over, the Catanians rebuild their destroyed farms and villages. The brisk shipping traffic between the north and the south is an expression of the reinvigorated trade, and after a couple of years the horrors of Carl’s attack are a thing of the past. Now the era of gold begins, which is reflected in the Theme Set of the same name.

In subsequent sets such as “The Era of Progress” or “The Era of the Merchant Princes,” Catan has contact with continental Europe. On the one hand, the new relations are beneficial for Catan’s development, but on the other hand, they also entail the danger of being attacked by gold-hungry barbarians who are quite similar to the Spanish conquistadores. The history of Catan ends at the beginning of the 16th century. Whether or not it ends with the island being conquered by Spanish soldiers of fortune – that is something we ourselves decide in each game of “Cities & Knights” or in the subsequent Theme Game “The Era of the Barbarians.”

Catanian Architecture

Well, I don’t want to delve further into the fictitious history of Catan. Ultimately, I wanted to show that the history of Catan – divided into eras – is reflected in the Theme Games. And this brings me back to the artwork, because it is meant to visually bring Catan’s fictitious historical background to life. While the buildings of the settlements are still simple and follow the Viking or Nordic architecture, it can be assumed that a unique architecture arose in the cities that later developed on Catan. How could such an architecture have looked like? I got together with Michael Menzel, and we conjointly developed the basics of a Catanian architecture. We opted for some Gothic mixed with typically Viking elements such as gable crosses or dragon heads and roof constructions that reminded of longships or also of Nordic stave churches. On the not yet finished card at the right (the text box will look different) you can see the mix of the different stylistic elements. The hexagon typical for Catan also found a place at the front of the town hall.

Catanian Fog

The Card game actually isn’t a card game. It’s basically a game with cards that are placed side by side on the table – meaning that it is more a tile-based game with the characteristics of a strategy game. Placing the cards on the table creates a settlement structure. We wanted this structure to result in a harmonious whole or, respectively, to convey the impression of a continuous landscape. Therefore, each card motif appears out of the fog. The cards are the relevant segments of a principality. In reality, there may be large distances between the cards. However, since we are not interested in the areas between the cards they disappear in the fog.

The following illustration shows that the placed cards – by means of the fog, the depiction of the buildings in isometric perspective and the approximately identical size of all buildings – convey the impression of a continuous settlement structure. The “6″ on the regions is only a placeholder, and the transparent text boxes on the Foundry, the Abbey, and the Garrison are still missing.

Development of the Catanian City

How is a card developed? How does the illustrator proceed? I’m sure these are questions that you, dear reader, are also interested in. Who could be more qualified to satisfy our curiosity than the illustrator himself? I’m pleased that Michael Menzel has agreed to show us, in the following, the individual steps in the development of the card “City” and to comment on it.

I’m pleased to be able to write some brief explanations for you regarding the development of the city of “Die Fürsten von Catan” (The Princes of Catan).
For my work, I use Photoshop and a graphics tablet. Photoshop allows painting in various layers. The term “layer” will be used a couple of times in the following text. You can imagine those layers as various sheets of tracing paper stacked on top of each other.

In the first sketch, I’m trying to “find” the right shapes. This can be done with a pencil on paper or digitally, as I did here. I gradually approach the right shape of the houses, so to speak.
All buildings of the Card Game are drawn at the same angle. There is no foreshortening, meaning that the buildings in the foreground are of the same size as the ones in the background. This “Iso” perspective can often be seen in the area of computer games. That way, all cards visually fit together when placed side by side. During the course of the game, the cards thus become a large continuous landscape. To be able to always keep the same orientation, I draw the angle on a separate layer (light blue). This serves me as a reference during illustration.
As soon as the drawing is good enough, I apply colors in an approximate fashion. At this point, sharp contrasts shouldn’t be used yet. The result is a “swampy patchwork of colors.” In Photoshop, it is possible to paint on a layer below the sketch and, thus, to not paint over the lines of the sketch.
From now on, I also consider the position of the light source. It is important to always maintain the same illumination and make sure that the shadows are always cast in the same fashion, so that afterwards the impression of a large landscape can be created.
Now the finishing touches can be added. At this moment, I zoom in closely and model the right contours out of the “swampy patchwork of colors.” Now I add hard shadows and highlights. This process is very akin to painting. Here, computer, program, and graphics tablet are simply new tools for painting.
Afterwards, the color contrast is increased in Photoshop and matched with other, already existing regions and buildings.

Then I add small human figures to the city. These “miniature people” are not just for decoration. I think that they are the ingredient that makes the city a city. They give it sounds and liveliness. Finally, I draw the flags. They add wind and movement to the picture and nice splashes of color that make the picture more enjoyable.

The entire process takes between 3 and 6 hours, depending on the motif’s richness of detail.

Michael Menzel

In my next blog post, I will present all the cards of the Introductory Game “The First Catanians.”

Klaus Teuber

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During the second half of 2008, when the future of the Card Game seemed uncertain due to decreasing sales figures, I thought about what could be improved to lay the foundations to reposition the Card Game.

I often had given the Card Game as a present during the past years – primarily to couples who usually didn’t play very often, and when they did, they played among themselves. The feedback I had received from the presentees gave me an idea where the problems were arising in the Card Game and where to begin in order to improve it. I arrived at the following conclusions:

1. The game takes too long for beginners
   The first games may easily take 2 hours. That way, the gaming night is basically over for many players, and a second round is rather unlikely. Even if the players have mastered the game, it still may take up to 90 minutes to finish it, which for some players is also too long.
   Objective: Shorten the duration of the game in general, and in particular for beginners.
2. High complexity due to card variety
   A player who plays the Card Game for the first time is confronted with a great number of cards whose function often is not understood until the second or third game.
   Objective: Beginners should initially be faced with less cards.
3. Game slowdown
   Many cards may not be played during the first third of the game. For instance, City Expansion Cards and most Action Cards may initially not be used. This causes the flow of the game to slow down. A beginner who, for example, receives only red City Expansion Cards and non-playable Action Cards will feel less motivated to continue the game.
   Objective: Beginners should be able to play all cards from the start, and all cards should be immediately usable.
4. Potential to provoke irritation
   There are some destructive cards such as Arsonist, The Black Knight, and Civil War that may lead to unpleasant surprises and irritation, especially in the first game, when players do not yet know how the cards interact.
   Objective: Beginners shouldn’t have to deal with too strong “irritation cards.”
5. Extensive rule
   Some rule details, such as the requirement for the trade advantage, are not intuitive. To receive the trade advantage, a player must have more Commerce Points and must also have built a city. Many players are not aware that a city is required.
   Some rules are not necessary, such as the rules of how to trade with one’s opponent. In practice, experienced players do not trade with each other in the Card Game.
   Objective: Unnecessary rule details should be removed.

Each item of this list reduces the fun of playing the game already on the first try. To properly reform the Card Game, I had to find ways of designing it in a more beginner-friendly fashion – without taking away its appeal as a game. I knew that this wouldn’t be an easy thing to do.
The basic idea for the first concept I developed was to offer, in one game box, a simple Introductory Game for beginners and three Theme Games for advanced players. I needed around 180 cards for this. When choosing the cards, at first I only considered the cards of the Basic Game and of the old Tournament Set.

The Introductory Game

For the Introductory Game, I selected Action Cards without requirements and omitted City Expansion Cards. That way, all cards could be played without restrictions from the very beginning.
I stocked the four Expansion Card stacks with 36 cards (versus 62 cards in the old Basic Game). Each stack, therefore, consisted of only 9 cards, which should be enough for beginners.
I decided the victory condition to be 7 victory points. I expected this to provide a substantial reduction in the duration of the game, and I was right on target. Subsequent tests revealed that the Introductory Game mostly took between 25 and 30 minutes.
After two or three Introductory Games, players should be sufficiently familiar with the basic cards and rules of the Card Game and thus be ready for the actual game with its larger number of cards and more victory points required for winning. However, the way I saw it now was that the “actual game” should no longer be one game but three games on equal footing that are clearly differentiated in terms of theme and strategy.

The Theme Games

And so the Theme Games took the place of the old Basic Game and the expanded Basic Games. I took the cards I hadn’t used for the Introductory Game and some entirely new cards to put together three thematically different Theme Sets. At the current state of development, they were called “The Era of Gold,” “The Era of Heroes,” and “The Era of Progress.”
When choosing the cards, I didn’t include those that had proven unattractive in the old Card Game. I modified existing cards or also developed new ones to obtain a smoother game flow and strengthen the selected theme. For example, some mighty knights were scrapped.

I provided each Theme Set with 24 cards for the Expansion Card stacks and also with some Event Cards. Playing a Theme Game required the cards of the Introductory Game and the cards of the respective Theme Set. The supply of Expansion Cards and Action Cards for both players consisted of five card stacks. The three stacks with the cards of the Introductory Game as well as the two stacks with the cards of the respective Theme Set contained 12 cards each.

A Theme Game, therefore, had a total of 60 cards making up its Expansion Card stacks, 2 cards less than the old Basic Game (which contained 62 cards) and many cards less than the old expanded Basic Game (which contained 85 cards and more). These numbers are currently still unchanged.
The following tests showed that it mostly took between 45 and 60 minutes to finish a Theme Game. Even the more aggressive Theme Game “The Era of Heroes” often took no longer than one hour. This was owed to the fact that the cards were more target-oriented and that some accelerating game elements were also added while developing the game.

Development

I felt that I had reached my objectives, and at the end of 2008 I presented my concept to the publisher Kosmos. It was accepted, and so the course was set for repositioning the Card Game. Our American Catan partner Mayfair also liked the concept, meaning that the future of the Card Game could now be shaped for English-speaking countries too. I was happy that I could use my experience of the last 12 years to, in a way, redevelop the Card Game.

The relaunch was supposed to occur in two phases. The German publication of the Card Game under the title of “Die Fürsten von Catan” (The Princes of Catan) containing the Introductory Game and three Theme Sets was scheduled for fall 2010, and an expansion containing all other Theme Sets was planned for 2011.
Sebastian Rapp at Kosmos and I agreed that we should get some reinforcement for the editorial work. We asked Dr. Reiner Düren and Peter Gustav Bartschat – both of them experienced Card Game players from day one – if they wanted to join our team. I was very glad they agreed, because when people work together for an extended period of time, not only expertise is required – the chemistry between those involved must be right too.

So I crafted 7 prototypes based on my concept. Three of them I sent to my team members, one went to Michael Menzel, the illustrator who would create new illustrations for the Card Game, and Arnd Beenen and Sebastian Mellin each received another one. While Arnd was drawing up an adaptation of the game for the Catan Online World, it was Sebastian’s task to program the game.
The year 2009 was all about development. Each time one of us had tested the game and written a test report, we discussed the strengths and weaknesses of individual cards in our forum. Some cards were modified, and some also were canceled and substituted by new ones. Afterwards, I sent the modified cards to my team members for more testing.
Maybe some of you will now ask themselves, “And what’s happening with the Tournament Game?” Well, the Tournament Game wasn’t our first preference during development, but we always kept an eye on it. It certainly is possible to play the Tournament Game with the cards of “The Princes of Catan.” However, it is likely that the attractiveness of the game will fully reveal itself only after the expansion containing additional cards comes out in 2011.

Two princes in a test duel during the Catan Weekend 2009 in Bilstein, Germany (Photography by Roland Hülsmann)

During development, a new, alternative way to play the game emerged that may very well be regarded as a precursor of the Tournament Game. We have called it the “Duel of the Princes.” More information on this alternative will follow in one of my next blog posts.

Meanwhile, we have finished development of the Card Game for now, and I have started with the concept for the expansion. Until April, Sebastian Mellin will have completed programming. Then we will have sufficient time to test “The Princes of Catan” online with a larger circle of people and to make some smaller modifications before the finalized cards go to press.

In my next blog post I’ll present the cards and rules of the new Introductory Game, and I’ll also show you some illustrations.

Card game reform: Road and settlement

To begin with, I am presenting you, dear reader, the new road and settlement that in the future will provide the basic framework of the new Card Game. Please don’t be surprised about the settlement without victory point. The victory point will definitely be added.

Klaus Teuber

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In 1997, the “Tournament Set for the Card Game” was published as the first Card Game expansion. My inspiration for this expansion came from “Magic, the Gathering,” during the mid-nineties a cult game in Germany. Although the rules of the two games are totally different, they do have one thing in common: both games can be expanded by means of new cards.
I liked the concept of Magic, where each player assembles his own deck from a selection of cards to compete against his opponent. I adopted this concept for the Tournament Set I wanted to develop especially for ambitious gamers: the players no longer replenish their hand with cards from shared stacks but from their own stacks, which they assemble from the cards of the Basic Game and the cards of the Tournament Set before the actual game begins.
Now, with one’s own card stacks, it was much more effective to pursue a certain strategy. However, each player needed a Basic Game and a Tournament Set to ensure a satisfactory selection of cards for the respective strategy.
I didn’t adopt Magic’s trading card concept. A player who – in Magic and in all other trading card games that came after it – wants to get new cards must buy so-called “booster packs,” which are small expansions containing randomly integrated cards. These small expansions include more common and less common cards. If a player wants less common cards, that is, good cards, he has no choice but to purchase some booster packs to get those cards.
Of course, a lot of money can be made with a trading card game, but I thought that the concept didn’t go well with Catan, and I also was a little afraid that I would be compelled to continuously invent more cards to fill the small booster packs with new cards.

The Tournament Set for the Card Game

Therefore, the Catan Card Game did not become a trading card game. The tournament fun didn’t come cheap, though – after all, each player needed his own Basic Game and his own Tournament Set. Although a corresponding note in big letters was showing on the back of the Tournament Set box, many buyers overlooked it and were understandably disappointed that the Tournament Set in combination with their Basic Game wasn’t enough.

Dissatisfied gamers are an anathema to every game author, and the publisher Kosmos wasn’t happy about the complaints arriving every day either. Therefore, I came up with a variant that allowed playing the Tournament Set with only one Basic Game: the expanded Basic Game was born. Already in the second edition, this variant was integrated into the rules of the Tournament Set. A third edition was not published because the Tournament Set paved the way for individual Theme Sets.
With each Theme Set, an expanded Basic Game – that is, a Basic Game with additional, theme-related cards – was possible. At the same time, each Theme Set offered ambitious Tournament Game players the possibility to use additional cards for developing new strategies or decks.
The Theme Sets appearing in October of 1998 were called Wizards and Dragons, Politics and Intrigue, Trade and Change, Science and Progress, and Knights and Merchants. They comprised the cards of the Tournament Set as well as new cards whose basic ideas people had sent to Kosmos in the context of an ideas competition.

The Theme Sets (1998)

This ideas competition developed into a giant project for me that kept me busy for almost nine months. Over a thousand letters came in, and some contained novel ideas. Now the task was to integrate those ideas with the already existent cards and my own ideas about the theme-related sets.

Testing isn't such a dry affair after all. - Testing the game with my older son Guido (1998)

When the prototypes of the new Theme Sets were ready, I mainly tested them within the circle of my family and with members of the Kosmos staff. At the time, I also received support from Brigitte and Wolfgang Ditt who tested the new sets and provided valuable tips and suggestions. As is the case with tests, shortcomings came to light. Cards were rejected or modified and changed over to other Theme Sets. Then the testing, rejecting, and modifying continued, and later there was more testing…

When the Theme Sets finally were done, I heaved a sigh that probably could be heard beyond the walls of our house. I was relieved to have concluded the work, but I was also satisfied with the new Theme Sets and hoped the gamers would be too.

Since the Theme Sets sold very well, I assumed that people liked them. In 2001, the company USM published a PC version of the Card Game – including a small expansion called “Tournament Cards 2002″ – and simultaneously created an Internet platform that enabled players to compete in the Tournament Game online. Every once in a while, I also played there and soon found out that some cards were actually too strong, while other cards were almost never used in a game.

Originally, I hadn’t planned on developing another expansion for the Card Game, but somehow I couldn’t stop thinking about the shortcomings regarding the interplay of the cards when playing in Tournament mode.

Barbarians & Traders (2003)

In 2003, therefore, the sixth Theme Set was published. It was called Barbarians and Traders. On the one hand, with the theme of this set I wanted to seize the idea from the Board Game expansion “Cities & Knights,” where the players jointly defend themselves against the invading barbarians. On the other hand, there were – as mentioned before – some cards in the old sets that allowed for overly powerful decks and other cards that were irrelevant. In combination with a minor reform of the old cards, the new Theme Set was meant to reduce the potential of overly strong deck strategies and strengthen the variety of strategic directions of decks.
After I had created the first prototype, I asked some experienced Tournament players I had met when playing on the Internet or at the Catan weekends in Bilstein, Germany, to help me test the game. At this point – given the great variety of existing cards and their possible applications in the Tournament Game – I no longer thought myself capable of keeping track of all eventualities or recognizing all possible shortcomings of the cards.

After six months of intensive collaboration, my previous prototype had changed its appearance. The basic idea had survived, but some of my cards had been eliminated, and my fellow testers’ card ideas had found their way into the set instead – an example of this being the Scribes Offices, a card the card gamer community can hardly do without nowadays. The testing team had become a development team. (More information about the development team can be found here under “Barb. & Handelsherren” – German language only.)

In the meantime, the annual sales figures were declining considerably. Sebastian Rapp, meanwhile responsible for Catan at Kosmos, and I agreed that the Tournament Game was the culmination of the Card Game – but nevertheless reached only a relatively small number of gamers. Therefore, the next new set, titled “Artisans and Benefactors” and published in 2007, focused on the expanded Basic Game.

Artisans & Benefactors (2007)

For this set too, I presented a prototype whose central theme was the satisfaction of the subjects to the well-tried development team established in 2003. Once more, a very constructive development phase ensued. The end result was a set mainly suitable for gamers who found the Tournament Game too elaborate and time-consuming and who wanted an exciting expansion for their Basic Game, but it also contained cards that were interesting for Tournament players. The set actually received very good reviews, and many gamers rated it the best Theme Set for the expanded Basic Game.

However, the new Theme Set unfortunately couldn’t stop the sales figures from declining. Unlike the Board Game, which year after year shows rather constant sales figures, the Card Game sales dropped considerably each year. It was foreseeable that Kosmos sooner or later would have to remove the Card Game from their game portfolio. So, at the end of 2008, the question was what to do next. Two possibilities were discussed: either to let the Card Game die or to revive it.
I agreed with Kosmos that a revival shouldn’t just concern the graphic art but should also include a revision of the game’s content. The fact that it was more and more difficult for the Card Game to win friends surely had its reasons.

In my next blog post I will specify those reasons and describe my thought process that laid the ground for the revision of the Card Game.

Klaus Teuber

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