Thu Mar 11 11:35:39 PST 2004
Das Grosse Rennen
By Stefan Schwaninger
["The Great Race" from Die Siedler von Catan: Das Buch
Translation by Rick Heli. Editorial additions in square brackets.]

The History:
Long, long ago the legendary island chain, Duodora ignited the Settlers' passion for discovery.

It all began with the discovery of an exhausted, half-starved shipwreck victim on the eastern coast of Catan. His ship had been sunk in a fearful storm and for days the good man had held fast and managed to float using a locked, empty, watertight gold chest.

Fortunately the chest was empty and he therefore did not sink to the bottom of the sea. When the settlers of Catan opened the chest they found only a half illegible map. It depicted a large island which, if one could trust the map, was not so far separated by sea from Catan. However, when the reports of the spidery script on the old map of the land on that side of the great sea came to be known, it led to a passionate response on Catan, entered into history as "The Great Race".

"Duodora" as it was to be read on the map, the legendary island chain whose high mountains were said to be to so rich in gold that at night the peaks shimmered gold in the moonlight, Duodora lay here. And whoever could cross the open sea to the west and build the first city on the coast of "Duodora", to him would belong all the gold of these islands.

An unparalleled race began on Catan. All settlements served only the single aim: to be the first to pass through dangerous seas and forbidden lands with ships and over roads as fast as possible through largely unknown lands to reach "Duodora". However would they still have the wherewithal to build the required city?

Players: 3 (also good for two)
Duration: c. 80 minutes
Components

[See picture at right of page 62.]

[See picture at bottom of page 62.]

Please find the necessary hex tiles, number chips and ports:
[See tables at top of page 63.]

No ports from the basic game.
7 ports from the Seafarers expansion: 5 x special ports; 2 x 3:1 ports.

Each player chooses a color and receives:

• 15 roads
• 5 settlements
• 4 cities
• 15 ships

Preparation

• The sea hexes, the hexes of the Landgürtel [land belt] and the two gold river hexes are placed as shown.
• The hexes which in the "?" row of the table are shuffled and placed face down randomly in the spaces marked "?".
• The number chips indicated for the Heimatinsel and Landgürtel are shuffled and randomly placed in the corresponding hexes. Attention: red number chips may not be placed adjacent to one another.
• The number chips indicated with "?" are shuffled and placed face down in two piles next to the board.
• The two "Springflut" chips are placed on the indicated edge hexes.
• The red chips are placed on the gold islands as shown.
• Finally, the ports are placed as shown.

Initial Phase
All players place both of their initial settlments on the home island to the right. Each player must try to be the first to found a city on one of the gold river islands at the left edge of the board. Whoever first accomplishes this wins the game.

• Victory points have no meaning in this scenario. The special victory point cards "Größte Rittermacht" [largest army] and "Längste Handelsstraße" [longest trade route] are therefore not needed.
• The pirate is not placed.

Rule Modifications

Roads and Boats

• The restriction that only one player may place a road or ship on an edge of a hex does not apply in this scenario.
• Players may may place a road or ship on an edge of a hex which has already been built by another player. Also one may build out from another's port settlement. To return the favor the owner of the port settlement may draw a resource card from the user of his port. The distance rule for settlements still applies however. In the above example [see page 64 left column] "Red" has built out into the sea from the white settlement, after which "White" may draw a card from him.

Question Mark Hexes
As soon as a player's road or ship reaches an intersection bordering a face down hex, he turns it up. If it is a land hex (part from the desert), he draws the top number chip from one of the stacks and places it face up on the hex. However, the player who turned up the land hex does not receive an extra resource card for it.

Development Cards
Since victory points play no role in this scenario, a player who draws a Siegpunktkarte [victory point card] may turn this card in and with it, build a road or a ship.

Storm Hexes and the Land Belt
No ships may be built on the edges of the of the sea hexes marked with the "Springflut" markers. Anyone who wants to continue further in the direction of the gold river island must cross the Land Belt by building settlements and roads.

Gold River Islands
Each player may only build one settlement on the gold river islands. Important: Each player must reserve a settlement and a city for the gold river islands! Thus he may not build out all four cities or all five settlements.

The Robber
The robber first comes into the game when two settlements outside the home island have been founded (regardless of by whom). Before this, naturally the rule requiring each player to lose half their resource cards when they have more than seven on a roll of "7" still applies. The robber may not be placed on the home island, only on the land belt and the gold river hexes.

End of the Game

Variants

1. The largest army is in play: whoever holds the largest army may, when he moves the robber, steal 2 resources - from one or more affected players.
2. If it is desired to increase the strategic aspects of the game, the hexes which are indicated with question marks can also be revealed at the start of the game and given number chips.

Das Grosse Rennen
Players: 4
Duration: c. 100 minutes
Components

The game board:
[See picture page 65.]

Please find the necessary hex tiles, number chips and ports:
[See tables at top of page 66.]

Ports from the basic game: 4 (1 x wood port, 1 x ore port, 2 x 3:1 ports).
Ports from the Seafarers expansion: 3 (1 x grain port; 1 x wool port; 1 x clay port)

Preparation

Changes:

• The hexes with the "Springflut" are dropped. Instead there is the "Verbotene Land" [forbidden lands] -- the black hexes. Place 12 hexes of your choice face down on the 12 black places in the game board.
• You must use the four indicated ports from the basic game and three from the Seafarers expansion.

Rule Modifications

Forbidden Land
On the edges of the sea hexes which border the forbidden land, neither roads nor ships may be built. No settlements may be built on the intersections which touch the forbidden land.

End of the Game

Das Grosse Rennen
Players: 5
Duration: c. 120 minutes
Components

The game board:
[See picture page 67.]

Please find the necessary hex tiles, number chips and ports:
[See tables at top of page 68.]

Ports from the basic game: 5 (1 x wood port, 1 x ore port, 3 x 3:1 ports).
Ports from the Seafarers expansion: 3 (1 x grain port; 1 x wool port; 1 x clay port)

Preparation

Changes:
The number chips are randomly divided. Only on the middle gold island must a "12" chip be placed. You must use the five indicated port hexes from the basic game and three from the Seafarers expansion.

Rule Modifications

End of the Game

Das Grosse Rennen
Players: 6
Duration: c. 120 minutes
Components

The game board:
[See picture page 69.]

Please find the necessary hex tiles, number chips and ports:
[See tables at top of page 70.]

Ports from the basic game: 3 (1 x ore port, 2 x 3:1 ports).
Ports from the Seafarers expansion: 5 (1 x grain port; 1 x wool port; 1 x clay port, 1 x wood port; 1 x 3:1 port)

Preparation

Changes:
The number chips are randomly divided. Only on the middle gold island must a "12" chip be placed. You must use the three indicated port hexes from the basic game and five from the Seafarers expansion.

Rule Modifications

End of the Game

The History:

There were stories for example told of the wonders of the two great islands which lay to the east of the Catlantic ocean. There it was said there was gold, precious stones, strange sorts of animals and plants. And one summer the Catanian captains set out in their ships for what would soon be entered in the log books as "The Colonies". Piece by piece the white areas of the Catanian land maps disappeared as step by step the seafarers discovered the world of wonders of the Colonies. Claims to ownership of the new lands were safely secured by ships, but before the first settlement could be built a great deal of road construction and drudgery was still mostly required.

The colonies are also so rich (the desert itself yields up produce, namely precious stones), but so little is permitted by these circumstances, in the way of putting this wealth directly to use to build in size and power. With trouble and danger, everything must be transported back to the home island. To keep the sea trips short and give the pirates the smallest possible chance to overtake them, the Catanian colonists link their their settlements on the new islands with roads and thus bring their products to a point on the coast where only a short sea passage is required.

But if the dangers at sea were not bad enough, in the middle of the new lands there are also to be found threatening volcanoes. They erupt time and again, burying settlements under their lava and forcing the settlers to yet again re-establish their destroyed buildings.

1. Components

The playing area:
[See picture at bottom of page 54. There is a slight problem. The layout depicts "collar" segments labeled "F G" and "B A" having a length of only 2 tiles. However, in the actual game, these parts have lengths of 3 tiles. This causes a contradiction in the layout. I sent an email to Kosmos to ask about this. The reply from Tara Tobias Moritzen said that on both the north and the south edges of the map, one of the two "X X" collar segments was meant to be a single "X". You will want to adjust your layout accordingly. --Translator]

Please find the necessary hex tiles, number chips and ports:
[See tables at top of page 55.]

No ports from the basic game.
7 ports from the Seafarers expansion: 1 x wool port; 1 x grain port; 1 x wood port; 1 x clay port; 3 x 3:1 ports.

Each player chooses a color and receives:

• 15 roads
• 5 settlements
• 4 cities
• 15 ships

2. A Short Introduction

3. Preparation

Land Type	Colony Chit Produced	Effect upon Delivery on the Home Island
Gold River	Gold	Each gold chit is exchanged for one raw material of choice. Exception: not ore!
Mountains	Ore	Each ore chit is exhanged for 1 normal ore raw material card.
Desert	Precious Stones	For every 2 precious stones receive 1 development card.
Jungle	Discovery	For 3 discovery chits receive 1 victory point chip.
Volcano	Choice	Depending on the chit.

Initial Phase
All players must found their first settlment on the coast which is facing the undiscovered areas. The location of second settlement may be freely chosen (the distance rule must be observed!).
Anyone who founds a settlement on the coast and would like a ship instead of a road must place the ship on the intersection (!) on which the settlement rests.

4. Rule Modifications

1. Ships are not placed in a row one after another in order to move forward, but instead they travel from intersection to intersection.
2. For settlements which border on colonial areas, instead of producing the normal raw material cards, they new produce treasures and raw materials in the form of colony chits.
3. The Robber is not in the game.
4. Cities may only be built on the home island. Only settlements may be built on the land tiles of the colonial areas.
5. The special victory points for the longest trade route is dropped; the special victory points for the largest army is still available.

4 a) Ships Functions

Moving Ships

• A player may move his ships following the Production Phase -- at the time of his choosing during his turn (including ships purchased in the same turn). Ships are moved from intersection to intersection.
  [Unclear from the rules is whether it is allowed to build a ship where there is already a ship and whether it is possible in one turn to move a ship, build a ship and move another ship? Email from Sebastian Rapp of Kosmos states that it is not legal to build a ship where there is already a ship but that it is indeed legal to move a ship, build a ship and move the new ship. --Translator]
• The extent of the turn begins with the roll of the dice which determines the distribution of raw materials. The player may move each of ships as far as the pips of the higher die indicates. Example: With the roll of a "7" resulting from a "5" and a "2", he may move each of his ships up to five intersection points.
• A player may ignore pips, thus he need not move his ships the full amount indicated by the higher die.
• A ship may not be moved on an intersection where another ship already rests, it may be moved over and past it however.
• The move of a ship may not end on an intersection with a foreign settlement, but it may be moved over and past it.

Discovery and Marking Influence with Bases

[Because the tile backs in this pile are not uniform, I suggest that you shuffle the tiles beneath the table and draw one so that players are unable to anticipate what is coming. Or, draw them from one of the cloth bags. --Translator]

• If the discovered tile is a land tile, he must place the ship on its side in [the center of] the tile as a base. With this the player indicates his influence on this tile. Influence on a tile is important for the ability to build a settlement on this tile. In addition the player immediately receives a colony chit as a reward. Only such a reward chit may be immediately converted (without first bringing it back to the home island). Should he need 2 or 3 such chits, he must lay and keep them down and in front of himself. Then the player draws a number chip from the linen bag and places it on the land tile. Important: The desert also receives a number chip.
  [Translator's note: while the above may be construed to imply that an ore or gold chit must be immediately converted to a card, according to Steffi Hüttig at Kosmos, this is not the case. The chits may be left on the table until needed.]
  Attention: Red numbers may not be placed next to one another. Should this case occur, another chip must be pulled and the red chip placed back in the bag. Once a ship is placed as a base, it no longer functions as a ship -- to discover new areas the player must build a new ship.
• If the discovered tile is a sea tile, the journey of the ship is ended, any remaining die pips being lost. The player can first move the ship again on his next turn.

Influencing an Already-Discovered Area

4 b) Discovery Via Roads

4 c) Building Settlements in the Colonies

• As soon as a player has marked with bases all land tiles around an intersection and all tiles around an intersection point have been discovered, he may build a settlement on this intersection.
• He need not sail to this intersection with a new ship. He [simply] pays the necessary raw materials for a settlement and places the settlement on the intersection.
• After building a settlement the player removes his bases [the overturned ships] from the bordering land tiles.
• The bases of other players remain on the land tiles. Other players still have the opportunity to build settlements on intersections bordering tiles marked with bases. Naturally the distance rule must be obeyed.
• As soon as a player has founded his first settlement on a colony island, he can build roads from this settlement to make further discoveries.

Production of Settlements in the Colonies

4 d) Transporting the Colony Chits

Ship Transport

• A ship can transport at most 3 colony chits. When a ship reaches the intersection of a settlement with colony chits, up to 3 chits are placed face up under the ship.
• When a ship reaches a settlement, it can, for example, be loaded and immediately again put to sea if there are still movement points remaining.
• As soon as a ship reaches one of its own ports on the home island, the player can convert the colony chits -- as provided by the table. If the player has not yet reached the requisite number of colony chits, he must place them face up before himself and trade them in later. Colony chits which are face up can no longer be robbed.
• Each player may employ at most 3 ships for transport or discovery at at time. Ships placed as bases on land tiles and war fleets do not count against this limit.

Transport Over Roads

Special Rules for Colony Chits

• Colony chits may not be traded.
• Colony chits do not count (as cards in hand) when a "7" is rolled.
• Colony chits are not within the reach of the "Monopoly" development card.

4 e) The Pirate / Rolling a "7"

• At the beginning of the game, choose a vacant intersection which borders a sea tile and place the pirate there.
• When a "7" is rolled, the player moves the pirates to the vacant intersection of his choice which borders a sea tile. Excluded are intersections having a settlement, city or ship.
• If a ship or settlement is on an intersection neighboring the pirates, the player who move them there may rob this ship or settlement of one colony chit. However he may not rob himself in order to bring a chit back to the home island more quickly!
• If there is a choice of several chits, he may choose one. He may treat this chit as if he had just brought it back to the home island. Should there be multiple eligible colonial ships or colonial settlements, he may only take a chit from one opponent. Instead of taking a colony chit, he is permitted to instead take a raw materials card.
• The pirate has no effect on ships lying on land tiles as bases.
• Ships may not be moved on or over intersections occupied by the pirates.
• Anyone who plays a knight may move the pirates and rob a bordering ship or colony settlement.
• Settlements on the home island may not be robbed by the pirate.

4 f) The War Fleet

Benefit: The player ships on the 6 intersections of this tile can no longer be attacked by pirates. In addition, the pirate may not be placed on an intersection which borders a War Fleet.

Additional: A War Fleet counts as a knight for the largest army.

4 g) The Volcano Rules

When in the course of play a number is rolled which happens to lie on a volcano, it erupts. The tremendous mass of lava flows mainly in one direction. Roll a die to determine this direction. Small numbers on the volcano tile indicate the affected vertex. If a Settlement lies on this vertex, it is buried under lava:

• The settlement is placed on its side (and therefore is not available for building elsewhere), counts as zero victory points and produces no further raw materials.
• If the player has sufficient raw materials to build a settlement, he may once again erect the settlement on this location.
• Ships, roads and colony chits are not affected by a volcanic eruption.

5. End of the Game

The History: [omitted]

1. COMPONENTS

[See picture at right of page 92.]

Please find the necessary hex tiles, number chips and ports:
[See tables at top of page 93.]

Ports from the basic game: 9 (5 specialized ports, 4 3:1 ports)
No ports from the Seafarers expansion.

Each player chooses a color and receives:

• 15 roads
• 5 settlements
• 4 cities
• 2 cardboard ships

Build the scenario according to the picture [at bottom of page 92]. Place the ports from the basic game as shown. Now complete the setup of the scenario:

• The cards with the names of the islands are placed as shown.
• Each player receives an island display and a ship display.
• The pirate is inserted in his black stand and placed on the intersection marked with the red dot.
• Each player inserts both cardboard ships of his color in stands of his color. and placed face down in two piles next to the board.
• The two "Springflut" chips are placed on the indicated spaces [near the board edge].

Initial Phase
The setup phase proceeds according to the usual rules. One change: all players found both of their initial settlments on the large island "Catan" at the top! But each player must found one of them on the bottom (southern) coast of Catan.

3. RULE MODIFICATIONS

Short Overview
Goal: To access valuable ore, settlements on both of the bottom islands (Roja and Talis) must be founded during the course of the game. The winner is the player who during his turn is first to achieve the required victory points.
Ships: Unlike in the usual Seafarers scenarios, ships are not built one on another to reach the two lower islands, but instead they sail (only two ships are allowed) from intersection to intersection. How far differs from round to round and will be decided by die roll.
Raw Materials: Each player has three areas on his island display (one per island) on which he must place raw materials cards that have been produced on this island. Settlements, cities and roads of each island are only produced with raw materials either produced on that island or transported to that island by ship.
Transport of Raw Materials: Raw materials are transported with one's own ships (1 and 2). For each ship there is a space on the ship display where the transported raw materials cards are placed. Thus at the start of the game every raw material will have to be produced on Catan and transported to the southern islands to be able to build a settlement there.

Overview of a Game Turn

• The current player rolls the dice.
• The player moves the pirate and possibly collects raw materials from the owner of a transport ship.
• All players receive their raw materials as usual.
• The current player may, in any order: Trade
  Build
  Load and Unload Ships
  Move Ships
  
• When the player has ended his turn, in seating order, all of the other players may also move their ships.

b) The Pirate
Movement Rules

• The pirate moves from intersection to intersection like a ship. The range of the pirate is determined by the higher of the two pips. The aforementioned range must be fully used. (Example: On a roll one die shows a "2" and the other a "4". The pirate is moved 4 intersections away.) Exception: see "Robbing".
• If a "7" is rolled, the pirate is moved double the pips of the higher die (if a "3" + "4" are rolled, the pirate moves 8 spaces).
• The pirate may be moved in the direction [of the player's] choice, but he may not cross the same intersection twice.
• The pirate's move may not end on a warehouse (see section "f"), a settlement or a city.
• The pirate may not be moved on or over an intersection adjacent to a Springflut [Storm].
• The pirate first comes into play after at least one ship has been built.

• If in the course of its move the pirate encounters any [player's choice] transport ship, its turn ends next to this ship. This ship will be robbed.
• The owner of the transport ship must hand over to the player who moved the pirate ship [pirate player] all of the raw materials from his ship display (the space with the same number). The pirate player must deposit these captured raw materials on his island display (Catan Island).
• If in the course of its move the pirate encounters a ship without any load, it ends its move anyway. In this case the pirate player goes emptyhanded.

d) Trade
Players may only trade with one another raw materials which are found on the same island. Raw materials currently on ships may not be traded at all. In special ports and 3:1 ports only raw materials on the same island as the port may be exchanged.

e) Building
This phase proceeds as in the basic game. At first building can only be done on Catan. A player who builds pays the required ship price and places it next to his port settlement. No more than two ships per player (the two on the display) are allowed.

f) Warehouse
A warehouse entitles a player to store raw materials on an island where he has not yet built a settlement. Naturally the ship (1 or 2) must have arrived at the island and the raw materials may only be loaded on the island display (area with the name of this island).

Each player may, if he moves a ship on an intersection on the coast of an island, build a warehouse if he

• has loaded at least one raw materials card
• the warehouse does not violate the distance rule for neighboring settlements or warehouses.

g) Moving Ships

• The movement distance of ships is determined by the lower value of the two raw materials dice.
• If the player has two ships he may move each ship the corresponding distance.
• The ships move from intersection to intersection.
• Unlike the pirate, it is not necessary to move the full distance indicated by the dice pips.
• There may not be more than two ships on an intersection (exceptions ports, warehouses).
• It is allowed to move over one's own or others' ships and intersections with settlements or warehouses, however not over the pirate!
• Multiple ships can be on an intersection with a warehouse or settlement.
• A ship may only be placed on another's port or warehouse if the owner of the settlement corresponding to the port allows them and the ship owner has paid him a raw material of his choice.

  [This brings up two questions: (1) when this raw material is paid, where does it come from? (2) when received, where does it go?

  I asked the folks at Kosmos who were good enough to reply as follows:

  The ship-owner pays any raw material he wants. He may take it from any of his card-groups - which is, from "Catan", "Roja" or "Talis". The port owner has to add the card to his corresponding group of cards. I hope, this was clear, otherwise, please ask again.

  Greetings,

  Martha Igelspacher
  Kosmos Verlag. Tue Nov 25 17:58:50 PST 2003 ]

• A ship can only be loaded or unloaded in one's own port. In this scenario a port is an intersection on the coast on which a warehouse or settlement has been built. However, the improved exchange functions remain with the normal exchange ports.
• A player loads his ship with raw materials cards from the island (island display) at which the ship lies onto the ship display.
• A ship may be loaded with a maximum of three raw materials cards.
• A ship is unloaded in reverse with the raw materials from the ship display placed on the display of the island.
• If a ship lies in a port for loading or unloading, it loses any left over movement points. Loading or unloading do not require movement points. A player who has enough movement points to reach one of his ports may both unload and immediately load again.

4. END OF THE GAME

With 3 players: The game ends when a player reaches 10 victory points.
With 4 players: The game ends when a player reaches 8 victory points.

[ Additional Note:

Since the Robber Baron is not in this scenario, and since there is no "hand" of cards per se, I wondered whether it is still true that a roll of "7" causes a player to lose half his cards should he hold 8 or more. I wrote to and received a reply from Stefan Otte of Kosmos Verlag. The German text of it is below, but the gist is that if a player has more than seven cards at all of his locations, he must indeed still discard as usual. However, he goes on to say that their recommendation is to try omitting this rule as otherwise this scenario is sometimes very difficult to play. He finishes by suggesting that one play with whichever variant seems best to the players. So apparently it's impossible to go wrong on the issue.

Bei dem Szenario "Transportsiedler" muß man, wenn man zusammen mehr als 7 Karten besitzt, die Hälfte abgeben. Unsere Empfehlung aber lautet, diese Regel eher wegfallen zu lassen (d.h. man verliert bei einer "7" niemals Karten) , da das Spiel dieses Szenarios sonst unter Umständen sehr zäh werden kann.
Probieren Sie am besten aus, welche Variante Ihnen besser gefällt.

Designed for: Seefahrer-Erweiterung (Seafarers Expansion)

To be able to fly like a bird - this eternal human dream is dreamt even on Catan. But even here the laws of gravity apply. Even on Catan it is no easier to raise oneself into the air. But resourceful researchers have now developed a balloon to fly over the islands and thus experience flight. Apart from the purely aesthetic view which this spectacle offers, one now has the opportunity to switch over to other islands if one is out of expansion opportunities.

Necessary Components:

• Direction field with turning arrow (from bag 9)
• 6 "Balloons" (from bag 11)
• 6 Stands in the player colors

[See picture on second column of page 127.]

Assemble the direction field -- see page 124.

At the beginning each player receives 5 ships. Then each player also receives a stand in his color. The direction field with turning arrow is placed next to the board.

A die is rolled once. The resulting number determines which way the arrow points, i.e. which way the wind blows. This wind direction persists until one of the below events occurs (see "Changing the Wind Direction").

• The building cost for a balloon is 2 x Wool, 1 x Wheat, 1 x Wood (for the balloon envelope, basket and combustible fuel).

• If a player would like to build a balloon, he surrenders the specified raw materials and places it in the middle of a land hex which borders one of his settlements or cities. The Flight Phase of a balloon always immediately follows its construction.

• To travel with a balloon, one needs combustible fuel. For each hex to be traversed 1 Wood or Wheat card must be discarded. Which one is up to the player. However in his turn he may travel at most 3 hexes. Travel is always in the same direction as the wind.

• If a player wants to land his balloon in a hex and build a settlement, he must pay the necessary raw materials cost. Construction of the settlement is only possible on one of the two further intersections which lie in the path of the wind. [i.e. the two intersection points on the far side of where the wind is coming from]

  [See picture on first column of page 128.]

  Example: The balloon travels 3 hexes. After landing the player may build a settlement on one of the two marked intersections.

  After the building of the settlement, the owner takes back his balloon, which can later be rebuilt.

• If playing an Oceans scenario, i.e. one with hidden tiles, the balloon traveler may decide to land on one of the hidden tiles, causing the tile to be turned up. If it is a Sea hex, the balloon is lost. The player receives it back and can rebuilt it later. If it is a Land hex, after placing the number chip the player can decide to build a settlement there. Or instead he could fly further on his next turn.

There are actually two ways to change the direction of the wind:

1. In the Initial Phase a "10" is rolled. Then there is immediately a second roll to determine the new wind direction.

2. A player plays a Knight card. The Knight cards now have a double function: either they are as normal or the player gives them up, placing them back under the Development cards pile and thereby changes the wind arrow to the direction of his choice. A player can also change the wind direction during his turn by playing a Knight card. Thus he can travel one hex in the current wind direction, play a Knight card, change the wind direction and finally travel two hexes in the new direction.

• If a balloon flies over a hex containing the Robber or the Pirate the left-hand neighbor of the balloon traveler may draw a raw materials card [from him] if he possesses one.

• As a variant players may agree that a player who has, with the help of a balloon, built a settlement on a coast immediately receives a free ship to place on this new settlement.

The History

Millions of years before the Settlers, dinosaurs roamed the lands of Catan. As they multiplied, the lands became crowded and some moved back into the sea. Still, crowding continued and competition for food limited survival. The fittest gradually evolved, adapting more and more to particular niches. Eventually some of them became very specialized, so much so that when the asteroid stuck, they found themselves so dependent on a very specific set of conditions and environment that they were hard-pressed to compete with their more adaptable competitors. Nor was this the only event to test their mettle ...

Terminology

In this scenario, adjust terminology as follows:

Road	becomes	Path
Settlement	becomes	Colony
City	becomes	Large Colony
Ship*	becomes	Dinosaur

Players: 3-4
Duration: c. 90 minutes
Components:

Preparation

The home island is built as usual for the basic game.

The Development deck, Largest Army award, Robber and Pirate are not used.

Initial Phase
Players take turns placing their initial colonies as usual.

As each colony is placed, the player also places 2 Dinosaurs in an adjacent hex which is free of other dinosaurs if one such is available.

Rule Modifications

The rules of the basic game apply with the following alterations.

Dinosaurs
A dinosaur is placed inside a hexagon tile. A land hexagon tile can hold at most 2 Dinosaurs, except for sea and desert tiles, each of which can hold at most 1 dinosaur.

A player has the right to place more dinosaurs during his turn, before rolling the dice.

The player places one dinosaur for each colony or large colony that he has on the board. A dinosaur may be placed in any of the hexes adjacent to the colony, or in any hex adjacent to his existing dinosaurs which can trace a path of friendly-occupied hexes back to the colony. If by placing a dinosaur he links two colonies, this may make placement of the next dinosaur easier. This is permitted.

If the player places one or more dinosaurs in a hex already occupied to its limit, this triggers an Ecological Competition (see below).

Evolution
A player's Dinosaurs are constantly evolving in order to survive better in various niches, i.e. different types of land tiles. In order to evolve, during his turn a player turns in any number of Raw Materials cards. For each card turned in, the player earns 1 niche point of the corresponding type. This information should be tracked on the Niche Competition Chart (see below). To evolve in the Sea niche, a player must turn in a set of 1 Wood + 1 Wool to receive an additional niche point. To evolve in the Desert niche, a plyaer must turn in a full set, i.e. 1 Wood + 1 Brick + 1 Wool + 1 Grain + 1 Ore.

Ecological Competition
When a player places a Dinosaur in a hex which is already at capacity, there is Ecological Competition. This competition is resolved by consulting the Niche Competition Chart. All players having dinosaurs in the hex compare their niche points for the type of hex in question. Dinosaurs are removed from the map until the hex capacity is reached. Resolve ties for the order of removal as follows:

1. Dinosaurs having the fewer niche points than the niche point leader in the hex.
2. Dinosaurs unable to trace a contiguous set of friendly-occupied hexes back to a friendly colony.
3. Dinosaurs belonging to the the active player.
4. All of the tied dinosaurs.

Example 1: One Blue and two Red dinosaurs are in the mountains. Blue has more niche points than Red. Red removes one dinosaur and the hex is now at capacity so removals stop.

Example 2: Two Blue and two Red dinosaurs are in the mountains. Both players have the same number of niche points for the Mountains, but Red cannot trace a path of hexes to a colony. Red removes two dinosaurs and the hex is now at capacity so removals stop.

Example 3: Two Blue and two Red dinosaurs are in the mountains. Both players have the same number of niche points for the Mountains and Red both can trace a path of hexes to a colony. Red is the active player and so removes 2 dinosaurs. (Red should have found a better location if possible.)

Example 4: One Blue, one Green and one Red dinosaurs are in the mountains. Blue and Red have the same number of niche points for the Mountains, but Green has more than either of them. All three can trace a path of hexes to a colony. Neither Blue nor Red are the active player, so both Blue and Red must remove their dinosaurs, leaving only one Green dinosaur in the hex.

Removed dinosaurs are returned to the players' supplies for later use.

Rolling a "7"

When a 7 is rolled, players must discard Raw Materials cards in their hands if they total more than 7, as usual.

In addition, the active player rolls the dice again to determine which of the following Catastrophes has occurred:

Roll	Event	Effects
2	Supernova	All players having more than 3 niche points in Sea lose 1 as well as all dinosaurs in Sea hexes.
3	Solar Flare	All players having more than 3 niche points in Mountains lose 1 as well as all dinosaurs in Mountains hexes.
4	Comet Impact	All players having more than 3 niche points in Forest lose 1 as well as all dinosaurs in Forest hexes.
5	Vegetation Increase	The current player chooses any player to lose his dinosaurs in the Mountains as well as 1 Mountains niche point.
6	Deforestation	The current player chooses any player to lose his dinosaurs in the Forest as well as 1 Forest niche point.
7	Blight, Red Tide	The current player chooses any player to lose his dinosaurs in the Sea.
8	Viral Epidemic	The current player chooses any player to lose his dinosaurs in the Hills as well as 1 Hills niche point.
9	Trypanomiasis Plague	The current player chooses any player to lose his dinosaurs in the Fields as well as 1 Fields niche point.
10	Asteroid Impact	All players having more than 3 niche points in Pasture lose 1 as well as all dinosaurs in Pasture hexes.
11	Sun Dims	All players having more than 3 niche points in Hills lose 1 as well as all dinosaurs in Hills hexes.
12	Global Volcanic Gases	All players having more than 3 niche points in Fields lose 1 as well as all dinosaurs in Fields hexes.

Victory Points

Besides the usual ways of scoring points, including the Longest Path, players also receive 1 point for each of their dinosaurs on the board.

End of the Game

The game ends as soon as any player has achieved 23 (25 for the three-player game) victory points on his own turn.

Niche Competition Chart
Player Name	Player Color	Forest	Hills	Fields	Mountains	Pasture	Sea	Desert