In the Northwest, pirates have invaded the island kingdom of the Catanians. The battle-hardened buccaneers quickly sink the peaceful Catanians' merchant ships and capture the settlements on the western isles. After expanding the captured settlements into fortresses, the pirates continue with their raids. Now they are threatening the eastern island.
Time and again, they attack the coastal settlements with their fleet and rob valuable resources from the Catanians. The Catanians decide to build a navy to stop the audacious acts of the pirates and drive them a into the open sea.
Components
Harbors: You need 8 harbor tokens:
5 special 2:1 (one for each resource) and 3 generic 3:1.
Terrain & Tokens: You need:
| Terrain Hexes | Number Tokens | ||
|---|---|---|---|
| Type | # | Value | # |
| Sea | 19 | 2s | 1 |
| Desert | 3 | 3s | 2 |
| Gold field | 2 | 4s | 3 |
| Fields | 5 | 5s | 3 |
| Hills | 5 | 6s | 3 |
| Mountains | 5 | 8s | 3 |
| Pasture | 5 | 9s | 3 |
| Forest | 5 | 10s | 3 |
| Total: | 49 | 11s | 2 |
| 12s | 1 | ||
| Total: | 24 | ||
Additional Components: 12 Catan chits
Setup
The required game components are listed above. Set up the game map as shown in the scenario diagram, and finally place the harbor tokens (from the stack that has been shuffled with reverse sides up).
Please note: The pasture hex on the left two-hex island (in the center) remains without a number token and therefore does not produce resources. The same applies to the two hills hexes of the western islands (at the top of the scenario diagram).
One settlement and one ship of each color are placed on the coast of the eastern island, as shown. The eastern island can be colonized in a normal fashion; all other islands are "pirate islands".
Build 4 pirate fortresses on the western islands, as illustrated. Each pirate fortress consists of 3 Catan chits stacked with 1 settlement of a particular color placed on top.
Please note: In a 3-player game, do not use the white player's position. All white pieces are removed, or not included from the beginning. (Be careful if you switch/substitute colors!)
If you are playing a 3-player game, remove all of the VP cards from the development card deck. In a 4-player game, the VP cards remain in the deck, but are used in all ways as "Knight" cards.
The "Longest Road" and "Largest Army" special victory point cards are not used in this scenario.
Additional Rules
Set-up Phase
You build two settlements with roads/ships on the main (eastern) island (at the bottom of the scenario diagram), as described in basic Catan. After finishing the set-up phase, each player has three settlements on the eastern island!
Remember: If you build a settlement on the coast, you may place a ship (instead of a road) next to the settlement.
Pirate & Robber
The pirate fleet is represented by the black pirate ship and starts on the field marked with a pirate ship in the scenario diagram. There is no robber in this scenario.
Shipbuilding
You can build only one shipping route. Your shipping route must begin at one of your coastal settlements/cities on the eastern island. This shipping route must first lead to the intersection marked by the circle of your color and then to the pirate fortress of your color. Your shipping route cannot branch out, nor can it be continued beyond the pirate fortress.
Your shipping route must be built in such a way so that it reaches its destination in as short a route as possible-i.e., a route may not veer off to block other players' routes.
Warships
When you reveal a knight card (alternatively, in a game with 4 players, a VP card), you can convert the respective hindmost (i.e., closest to your route's starting settlement/city) "normal" ship of your route into a warship. In order to mark a ship as warship, turn it on its side. Place the card used into a discard pile.
Attention: When the stack of development cards is used up, no further development cards can be purchased. This means that the deposited cards do not enter the game again.
The Pirate Fleet
The pirate fleet circumnavigates the two desert islands in a clockwise direction as shown in the scenario diagram. Every time you roll the dice (before anything else), the pirate fleet moves a number of hexes equal to the lower of the two die results. If both die results are the same, use the result on either die.
Pirate Attack
If the pirate fleet ends its move on a hex that is adjacent to one of your settlements/cities, you are attacked immediately - even before resource production or the resolution of a "7" roll.
The die result used for movement also determines the strength of the pirates.
Your strength is equal to the number of warships you have.
If the pirate is stronger, you lose 1 resource card and another resource card for each of your cities. The lost cards are drawn randomly from your hand and are discarded.
If you are stronger, you receive a resource card of your choice.
If both parties are equally strong, nothing happens.
Building A Settlement On The Pirate Island
Once your shipping route reaches the marked intersection of your color on the pirate islands, you can pay the building costs to build a settlement there. You may only build one such settlement, but it can be expanded into a city.
Please note: Building this settlement can also be a disadvantage because it doubles the probability of a pirate attack on one of your coastal settlements/cities.
A "7" Is Rolled
There is no robber in this scenario. Still, if you have more than 7 resources in your hand and a "7" is rolled, you lose half of them, as usual. Then the player who rolled the "7" can steal a card from any of the other players.
Conquest Of A Pirate Fortress
If your shipping route has reached the pirate fortress that matches your color, you can attack the pirates at the end of your turn.
To determine the strength of the pirate fortress, you roll a die - the result is the pirate's strength for the current turn.
If the number of warships in your shipping route is greater than the number rolled, you have won and you can remove one of the Catan chits underneath the pirate fortress.
If the number of your warships is less than the number rolled, you lose the battle and must remove your two ships closest to the pirate fortress.
If the number of your warships is equal to the number rolled, you lose your ship adjacent to the pirate fortress.
After an attack, your turn is finished; hence it is not possible to attack a pirate fortress more than once per turn.
After a tie or a defeat, you must again build 1 or, as the case may be, 2 ships on a later turn, in order to once again attack the pirate fortress.
Once your pirate fortress has lost all three Catan chits, you have driven the pirates away and have recaptured the settlement. From that point on, the pirate fortress is one of your settlements-it gives you a victory point, it produces for you, and it can be upgraded to a city.
End of the Game
You win if...
- You capture the pirate fortress of your color
- AND you have a total of at least 10 victory points.
If all pirate fortresses are captured before the game ends, remove pirate fleet.
Variable Set-up
This scenario is balanced only if the given set-up is maintained. Therefore, it should not be varied, except for the harbors.
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