"Westward Ho!"

A Settlers of Catan Scenario

As seen at Pentacon XI!

Players: 3-6, depending on how many sets you have available
Components: At least Settlers of Catan, plus any of the following you can beg, borrow or steal: hexes from Settlers 5-6 Player Expansion, shipping routes from Seafarers and Seafarers 5-6 Player Expansion,
Object: A new continent has been discovered. The eastern coast is quickly settled, but an unexplored interior awaits.

Setup:

Sort out two of each resource-producing land hex (2 meadows, 2 fields, 2 mountains, 2 hills, 2 forests) and one desert. Shuffle them and place them in two rows, one 6 hexes long and one 5 hexes long.

Sort out one of each of the five types of 2:1 port (sheep, wheat, ore, brick, and wood), shuffle them, and place them along the row of 5 hexes so that none of the harbors coincide:

      __    __
     /  \__/_ \
     \__/  \/_/
     /  \__/_ \
     \__/  \/_/
     /  \__/_ \
     \__/  \/_/
     /  \__/_ \
     \__/  \/_/
     /  \__/_ \
     \__/  \/_/
     /  \__/ 
     \__/  

Remove all stream and harbor hexes. Shuffle the remaining land and ocean hexes and place them in a pile face down. (You may chose to include harbor and/or stream hexes. See variations.)

Place number disks on the 10 resource-producing hexes in alphabetical order. Then turn the remaining number disks face down. (Use the disks from the 5-6 Player Expansion if you have them.)

Special Rules

Game End:

Variations:

He must know somethin', but he don't say nothin'.
Shuffle harbor hexes into the pile of random hexes, removing an equal number of ocean hexes. These represent ports on great rivers of the interior.

Geronimo!
If you are not using the Seafarers expansion(s), due to the small starting board and lack of shipping routes players may find themselves cut off from expansion. For the cost of two settlements (2 sheep, 2 wheat, 2 wood, and 2 brick) a player may "airdrop" one settlement onto an uncontested position. A position is considered "contested" if it has a road or shipping route leading to it or of course if it's occupied. (It may be decided before the game begins to only permit airdrops by players who are unable to build another settlement by normal means.)

The rape of the land.
The player who reveals a new hex receives one of that resource if it is a resource-producing hex.

Quest for El Dorado.
Shuffle only one "stream" hex from the Seafarers expansion into the pile of random hexes. The player who reveals the stream hex gains 2 additional victory points.

Settlers Resources

• Die Seidler/Settler of Catan Page with lots of strategy and suggestions.
• Are you burning for a game of Settlers, but can only find one other person to play with? Try Intimate Settlers.
• A page of Expansions and Variants

Return to: East or The Origin