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Before you read this articleyou will need to know the following terms and definitions: 

Game(-s): Noun. Singular or Plural. A standalone version of Settlers of Catan, which can be played right out of the box without making additional purchases. There is only one standalone (base) game of Catan.
Expansion(-s): Noun. Singular or Plural.  An Catan game that cannot be played by itself. It must be used in conjunction with a standalone (base) game. The 5 & 6-player expansions are a good example of this.
Scenario(-s): Noun. Singular or Plural. A small set of playing pieces and instructions that can be added to normal Catan gameplay. It cannot be played by itself--it must be used in conjunction with a standalone (base) game. The "Oil Springs" scenario is a good example of this.
Variant(-s): Noun. Singular or Plural. A set of instructions for using the pieces from a Catan game or expansion in a new way. Most variants are fan-generated and require printing and cutting out new pieces.

 

 

  • Green (Science):
    • 1 VP Printer
    • 1 Engineer (free wall)
    • 2 Medicine (upgrade community to village for 2 ore and 1 grain)
    • 2 Inventor (swap 2 production tokens, but not 2, 12, 6, or 8)
    • 2 Smith (promote up to two round knights for free, whether activated or not)
    • 2 Mining (take 2 ore cards for each mountain hex adjacent to at least one of your buildings)
    • 2 Road Building (Place two trade routes for free)
    • 2 Alchemist (decide production number and red die before turning over top Event Card) (same as Marianne Helper)
    • 2 Irrigation (take 2 grain cards for each field hex adjacent to at least one of your buildings)
    • 2 Crane (purchase building improvement for one less commodity)

1 VP Printer

This card awards you 1 Victory Point.  You must immediately play this card face-up in front of you when you draw it, even if it is not your turn.  You may not keep this Victory Point card in your hand.  Because it has been played in front of you, it does not count toward your personal supply limit of 4 Progress Cards. Once played in front of you, it may not be stolen by the Spy Progress Card.

1 Engineer

When you play this card, you may immediately build 1 Wall for free.  Take a Wall from your personal supply and place it under one of your towns or cities.  A Wall increases the number of resource/commodity cards you can safely hold in your hand when a Production Number of “7” is resolved, by 2 cards.  Each building can only have 1 Wall underneath it, and you cannot have more than 3 Walls at a time. If you do not have any remaining Walls in your personal supply, you may relocate one of your Walls on the board, if possible.

2 Medicine

When you play this card, you must immediately upgrade one of your settlements into either a Town or City for one (1) less Ore resource and one (1) less Grain resource than normally required. You may not combine two of these cards for the same upgrade.

Example: Player blue has a Community. After playing the Medicine card, the blue player upgrades the Community to a Village for just 2 Ore resources and 1 Grain resource. 

2 Inventor

With this card, you can improve your production! When you play this card, you may choose any two (2) production number tokens on the board and switch their locations.  You may not swap the following numbers: 2, 12, 6, or 8.  You do not need to have a building next to the hexes with the production tokens you are swapping.  If, for example, you choose a “9” and an “11,” take the “9” token and put in on the hex where the “11” token is.  Take the “11” token and put it on the hex where the “9” token was.  You may choose to exchange a token that is on the hex currently occupied by the Robber.

2 Smith

When you play this card, you may immediately promote up to two (2) of your round knights on (1) level each for free.  You may promote a round knight regardless of whether he is active or inactive.  The condition of the round knight (active or inactive) does not change.  You may not promote Mighty Knights (because there is no higher level to promote them to).  You may only promote a Strong Knight (level 2) if you have built the “Fortress” building improvement (politics—blue).  Although you may play more than one Smith card in a single turn, you may only promote any single round knight 1 level per turn.

2 Mining

When you play this card, you must immediately collect two (2) Ore resource cards for each Mountain hex adjacent to at least one (1) of your buildings.  Because this is not a normal production cycle, the Mining progress card only earns Ore cards. You do not receive any other forms of harvest, such as tokens or commodities.  You do not receive 2 Ore resource cards for each building adjacent to a Mountain hex—the number of Ore resource cards you receive is dependent upon the number of Mountain hexes that are adjacent to your buildings.

Example: You have 2 communities next to a Mountain hex, and 1 village next to a different Mountain hex.  If you play the Mining Progress Card, you will receive 3 Ore resource cards.

2 Road Building

This card allows you to build 2 trade routes for free. (2 roads, 2 boats, or 1 road and 1 boat).  You may not use this card to build a bridge.  The trade routes you build do not have to be adjacent to each other.  These trade routes cost you nothing to build.  You must follow all the normal building rules.

  • Any Road Building cards may be used to build ships instead. Players may not spend an extra brick when playing Road Building to place a bridge.
  • When playing the “Road Building” development card in this game, you have the option of building 2 roads, 2 boats, or 1 boat and 1 road.
  • You may not use this card to build a free bridge.

2 Alchemist (same as Helper of Catan: Marianne)

This is the only Progress Card you can play before revealing the top Event Card at the beginning of your turn.  It allows you to choose the results of the Event Card Production Number and Red Die. It does not allow you to choose the results of the Event Card Event Die.  If you wish to use the Alchemist progress card, you must do so at the start of your turn, before flipping over the top Event Card. When you use the Alchemist card, you may publicly announce the Production Number (you may even choose “7”) and the number on the Red Die by placing the red and yellow dice on the table face-up as you desire. Then, you flip over the top Event Card to determine the special event and the result of the Event die.  You resolve the Event Card Event and Event Die first.  Then, you resolve the production number you announced (as shown by the two dice), followed by resolving the Red Die you announced (only if a colored city gate was shown on the Event Card Event Die).  You may ignore the red die and production number shown on the Event Card.

  • The text on a Robber Attacks or Highwaymen card is ignored, even if the player set the dice to 7 (a normal Robber attack would be performed).

2 Irrigation

When you play this card, you must immediately collect two (2) Grain resource cards for each Field hex adjacent to at least one (1) of your buildings.  Because this is not a normal production cycle, the Irrigation progress card only earns Grain cards. You do not receive any other forms of harvest, such as tokens or commodities.  You do not receive 2 Grain resource cards for each building adjacent to a Field hex—the number of Grain resource cards you receive is dependent upon the number of Field hexes that are adjacent to your buildings.

Example: You have 2 villages next to a Field hex, and 1 community next to a different Field hex.  If you play the Irrigation Progress Card, you will receive 3 Grain resource cards.

2 Crane

When you play this card, you may immediately purchase a building improvement (from your flipchart—abbey, town hall, etc.) for one (1) commodity less than normal.  The Crane can only be used to reduce the cost of purchasing one (1) building improvement (turning over a page of your flipchart).  Unlike the Medicine development card, the Crane card does not affect the cost of purchasing or upgrading a building (settlement, town, city).  You may use a Crane to reduce the cost of a first-level building improvement (to nothing).  You may not combine two (2) Crane cards for the same building improvement, but you may play two (2) Crane cards during the same turn.

 


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