Games

Catan: Fishermen and Prospectors

This is a new game based on the Catan base game and the Catan: Traders and Barbarians expansion. It uses some of the rules from our Catan house rules and some inspiration from John and Chris's giant Catan game.

My games are old, so the rules I follow might not necessarily be current: Catan base game v 3071 (2015) and Traders and Barbarians v 3067 (2008). I bought the base game second hand on an auction on the BoB Shop and Traders and Barbarians new and unopened from Tabletop Guru.

---

Introduction

The people of Catan prospered and learnt new skills. The first of these was fishing. The fishermen could trade their fish for other resources. The second skill that they learnt was prospecting for gold. Deposits of gold were found along the rivers, and in the swamps where the rivers flowed into the sea . These rich alluvial soils prompted the citizens to build towns on the swamps. Like fish, gold could also be traded for resources, but was much more valuable than fish.

---

Additional pieces required

• 2 edge pieces (a method to make these pieces)
• 7 numbered disks (there are six spare disks, only one needs to be made)
  • S - 8
  • T - 10
  • U - 3/11
  • V - 6
  • W - 9
  • X - 5
  • Y - 4

Standard Pieces

• All pieces from Catan Base Game, except the dice are used
• The two monopoly cards are removed from the Development Card deck (we play with resource cards face up, so these give an unfair advantage)
• 2 spare 2:1 resource harbour tokens (optional – see layout below)
• Event cards
  • There are 36 numbered event cards and one New Year Card.
  • Event cards are used instead of dice.
  • In the deck, the frequency of the numbers on the cards correspond with the probability of a number occurring with a roll of two dice. (eg a 7 occurs six times whereas a 12 occurs once in the deck).
  • The cards contain information regarding events which may influence all players.
  • During setup, the cards are shuffled and the New Year Card is placed near the bottom of the pack.
  • At the start of his or her turn, a player:
    • takes the top card;
    • reads and resolves the event (if any).
  • The number on the card (not the number on the die image) is the number for which resources may be drawn from the bank
  • The event card is then placed on the discard pile
  • When the New Year Card is reached, the event cards are reshuffled and the New Year Card is once again placed near the bottom of the pack.
• Bridges
• All fish pieces, except the boot
• Lake hex
• River hexes
• Oasis hex (used as a wheat hex)
• Glassworks hex (used as a forest hex)
• Wealthiest settler card (Poorest settler cards are not used)
• Harbourmaster card
• Gold tokens
• The following hexes are in play:
  • Seven river hexes which include
    • Two swamp hexes
    • Two mountain hexes (ore)
    • Two quarry hexes (bricks)
    • One pasture hex (sheep)
  • Five forest hexes (wood)
  • Five wheat hexes
  • Four sheep hexes (five in total)
  • Three brick hexes (five in total)
  • Three ore hexes (five in total)
  • One lake hex (fish)
  • One desert hex (robber)
• Number tokens
  • There are 25 number tokens:
    • Three each of numbers 4 to 10;
    • Two each of numbers 3 and 11;
    • One token shared between 3 and 11; and
    • One each of numbers 2 and 12.
  • Number tokens are placed on all hexes except
    • The two swamp hexes
    • The desert hex
    • The lake hex which has its own numbers (2, 3, 11, 12).
  • The fishing ground tiles, which are placed around the coastline, are numbered 4 to 10.

---

Layout

• The two new 2 hex edge pieces are placed between the 3-3 and the 6-6 locking points.
• New edge pieces:
  • A fishing ground tile is placed on one of hex vertices which is not a harbour;
  • A 3:1 harbour is placed on the adjacent side (I have printed these on my new edge pieces);
  • The harbour piers will be on the vertices on either side of the harbour (one of these vertices is shared with the fish tile).
• River hexes:
  • The 3 hex river backs on to the wheat harbour on the 4-5 edge piece as per the rules;
  • A fishing ground tile is placed where the river flows into the sea;
  • There are now five possible sites for the 4 hex river:
    • Backing onto the ore harbour on the 5-6 edge piece as per the rules;
    • Backing onto the 3:1 harbour on the new 6-6 edge piece;
    • Backing onto the 3:1 harbour on the 6-1 edge piece;
    • Backing onto the 3:1 harbour on the 1-2 edge piece (this is not recommended as the source hexes of the two rivers would be adjacent);
    • Backing onto the 3:1 harbour on the 2-3 edge piece.
  • A fishing ground tile is placed where this river flows into the sea.
• One of the remaining four fishing ground tiles is placed on the short “side” opposite to the one next to the wheat harbour and the rest on the long sides (the long sides each have two fish tiles). Try not to have two fishing ground tiles adjacent to the swamp of the four hex river - this could happen as shown in the layout below.
• Place the remaining hexes on the board with both the lake and the desert away from the sea.
• Place the number tokens as you would normally. However, place the numbers on the inner rings in a clockwise direction. Resolve adjacent duplicate numbers manually.
• Optional: replace two 3:1 harbours with two randomly drawn 2:1 harbours.

In the pic below, you can see how the new edge pieces fit into the board. By chance, the lake hex (fish), the glassworks hex (forest) and the oasis hex (wheat) ended up together in the centre of the board.

In spite of my efforts to try and minimise adjacent duplicate numbers with the letters on the reverse side of the number tokens, this particular board had fours pairs of adjacent numbers, which I shuffled around.

---

Gold

• Rules for collection of gold in The Rivers of Catan scenario (Traders and Barbarians) apply.
• Placing a settlement on a vertex which touches two hexes, each with a river, yields two gold (only one gold is given according to the rules)
  

  A town which receives two gold

• A settlement on a swamp hex yields one gold per turn, on the owner’s turn
  • A city yields two gold on the owner’s turn (during an epidemic, only one gold may be claimed).
  • A player may only claim for one city or settlement on a swamp hex.
  • If a player has a settlement on both swamp hexes, he may also claim for the settlement on the second swamp hex.
  • Failing to claim the gold during a player’s turn means that gold is lost.
  • If the robber is on the swamp hex, no gold may be claimed (see additional rules below).
• A player may use two gold to move the robber during his turn.
• Four gold may be used to buy a development card.
• Five gold may be used to bribe the robber, so as not to lose resource cards, if a seven event card is drawn. This may be done during any player’s turn.
• There is no limit to the number of gold transactions carried out during a player’s turn (gold transactions are limited to two per turn in the rules).
• Three fish may be used to buy one gold (this can be also be done at any time in order to bribe the robber).
• Wealthiest Settler card
  • The first player with five gold at the end of his turn, may claim the Wealthiest Settler card.
  • This player holds the card until another player has more gold, and the card is then given to that player.
  • The card remains in play even if players have less than five gold.
  • As with other victory point cards, if another player has the same amount of gold, the player originally holding the card, retains the card.
  • If the player holding the card spends his gold so that he is no longer the wealthiest player, the card is passed to the next wealthiest player. If no player can receive this card (two players with the same amount of gold), the card is returned to the bank until a player once again holds five gold.
  • Once no player has any gold, the card is returned to the bank, and may not be claimed until a player once again has at least five gold.
  • When tallying the final score, and the Wealthiest Settler card is being used in the count, the player must still have the most (or equal most) gold.

---

Additional Rules

• Robber
  • Only the active player may move the robber.
  • If the active player moves the robber, he or she does so before any other player claims resources.
  • The active player may move the robber away from a hex at the start of his turn (two gold or two fish or a face down knight development card). Resources/gold for settlements on that hex may then be claimed by all players.
  • If the robber is moved from a hex numbered four to the desert, through a Robber Flees event card (4), players may claim resources for that hex.
  • If the robber is moved from a swamp hex through a seven event card, the active player may still claim gold for his or her settlement on that swamp.
  • If the active player moves the robber to a hex corresponding with the current event number, players with settlements on that hex may not claim resources for that hex.
  • If the robber is on a hex with a harbour, that harbour may not be used for trading until the robber is moved.
  • The robber only becomes active after the end of the second round. If a seven event card is drawn before the end of the second round, the robber remains in the desert. The player does not draw a new event card, but he or she may carry out any transactions as normal. The player draws a new event card.
• Development cards
  • A player may purchase any number of development cards during his turn.
  • A player may only play one development card during his turn (see exception below).
  • A development card purchased may be played immediately or hoarded (kept face down) to be used at a later stage.
  • Two cards may be played if the player can win the game by playing these cards.
• Hanging Roads
  • A hanging road is a road adjacent to a town which is not linked to another town. As this road was probably built by mistake, the player may move it a cost:
    • Five gold; or
    • Six fish.
  • The following applies to moving hanging roads:
    • A town without roads may not be upgraded.
    • A hanging road may not be moved from a city without other roads.
• Initial placement
  • Three settlements are placed by each player at the start of a game in the following order:
    • AB-BA-BA in a two player game;
    • ABC-CAB-BCA in a three player game; and
    • ABCD-BDAC-CDAB in a four player game.
  • No resources may be claimed on the placement of the first settlement.
  • Resources, including fish and gold, may be claimed on the placement of the second and third settlements.
• Victory
  • The first player to 15 victory points on his or her turn wins.
  • In a four player game, this may need to be reduced to 13 points.
  • A conundrum can arise with the Wealthiest Settler card: if player A (the active player) has 16 points and loses the card during the count to player B, who has 14 points, player A still wins as it is his or her turn.

(updated: 9 January 2026)

Playing the game

We finally got around to playing the board.

The red player won quite comfortably. As you can see, there was no real competition for space in this two player game. With three players, space becomes an issue.

When John came around, we played the same board as a three player game.

The (same) red player won the game, but in this case you can see how much more crowded the board has become.

John has been keeping track of the time taken for a three player game, and the average is 1.56 (± 0.40) hours (n=11).

I have not kept times for the two player game, but both Pat and I feel that it is around one hour.

(updated: 25 February 2026)