Variant: The Fishermen of Catan
The Fishermen of Catan is a variation which introduces the concept of fishing to the Catan game. Fishermen was previously offered as a separate mini-expansion, but the Traders version introduces a small rule addition.
At the start of the game, six fishing areas are put on the board, and (exclusive to Traders) a lake tile is placed on an interior hex (i.e. not adjacent to a coast). A settlement next to a fishing area or the lake has a chance to draw Fish Tokens, produced in the same manner as resources. Fish tokens may contain a fixed number of fish, or the old boot. Fish may be traded in for various actions (though any excess fish in payment are lost). If a player has the old boot, the player will need one more victory point than normal to win, though the player has the option to pass the old boot to any opponent that the player is trailing or tied.
The actions are:
- 2 fish to move the robber back to the desert (without taking an opponent's card)
- 3 fish to steal a random resource card from an opponent
- 4 fish to take a free resource from the bank
- 5 fish to build a free road (or a ship, with Seafarers)
- 7 fish to take a free development card
When combined with Catan for Two, the trade token mechanic from the former game is omitted, and a player who does not have more victory points than the other player requires one less fish for any action.
Read more about this topic: Catan: Traders & Barbarians
Famous quotes containing the word fishermen:
“As they are not seen on their way down the streams, it is thought by fishermen that they never return, but waste away and die, clinging to rocks and stumps of trees for an indefinite period; a tragic feature in the scenery of the river bottoms worthy to be remembered with Shakespeare’s description of the sea-floor.”
—Henry David Thoreau (1817–1862)