Customer Reviews

SETTLERS OF CATAN: THE FISHERMEN OF CATAN

5 star:		(21)
4 star:		(6)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

We have been fans of "The Settlers of Catan" for years. We have played all of the generally available versions (Settlers, Seafarers, and Cities and Knights) for 3-4 and 5-6 players. We enjoy them all, but most often we default to the classic "Settlers of Catan" when we sit down to play.

I was therefore intrigued when I saw "The Fisherman of Catan" game option. When we played this new expansion set we found it to provide an outstanding new dimension to the already great game "The Settlers of Catan."

OK, here's the scoop. First of all you must have the basic 3-4 player "Settlers of Catan" game to use this expansion set. The expansion set includes an easy to follow 2-sided sheet of instructions, 6 ocean tile covers, and a set of 1, 2, and 3-fish cardboard tiles, plus one "old boot" tile.

After you set up the basic game you place the 6 ocean tile covers on some of the blank ocean pieces as directed in the "Fishermen of Catan" instructions. Each ocean tile cover has a number on it - 4, 5, 6, 8, 9 or 10. If you build a settlement or a city on one of the coastal spots that has one of the "Fishermen of Catan" tile covers on it, and the number on that tile cover is rolled you get to go fishing and collect one of the fish tiles (or the old boot) at random.

As you collect fish you can use them to do different things. You can, for example, use different numbers of fish to move the robber back to the desert, steal a resource card from an opponent, choose a resource of your choice from the resource card decks, build a road, or even obtain a development card. You can also include fish in trade deals that you make with other players.

All right, what about the old boot? The old boot is, of course, a bad consequence of fishing. If you collect the old boot that could be good or bad. It can be bad because as long as you hold the old boot you have to acquire 11 instead of 10 victory points to win the game. It can be good, however, because on your turn you can give it to any another player who has as many or more victory points as you have, thus making them acquire an additional victory point to win. Of course they can also pass it along later, so you never know what will happen.

The "Fishermen of Catan" makes most of the formerly useless blank ocean tiles more valuable places to build, and adds additional ways to add to your progress of dominating the settling of the island of Catan.

In summary the price for this expansion is extremely reasonable (we got ours for less than $6.00) and the increased fun for the game is significant. We thoroughly enjoy using this option and I doubt that we will every play "The Settlers of Catan" or any of the other verisons of the game without it.

This is an outstanding addition to a grand game!

Definitely 5 stars all the way from a long time fan of "The Settlers of Catan"!!!

I bought this with the Seafarers expansion thinking they went together (they don't -- it's for the basic game). So anyway, we decided to try Fishermen before we tried Seafarers. Fishermen is so fun and accessible that we've barely even tried that other one. You'd be surprised how much it adds to the game play. If you have a settlement or city on a fish tile, you pick a random fish token when the proper number is rolled (just like resource production). This fish token can either have 1, 2, or 3 fish on it. Once you collect a few of these, you can 'spend' them for things like moving the robber, building roads, etc. (You can trade them too!)
The instructions tell you to put the tokens face down on the table to draw randomly, but keeping them in a bag works much better (we keep ours in an old Crown Royal bag!). Just watch out for "the Boot"! If you catch it, you need an extra point to win.
Happy fishing!

This is the best of the Settlers of Catan add-ons. It features fish tiles that go over the blank ocean squares. Thus, if you've built on that square and roll the card's number (say a 6) in addition to all your resouurces, you get...fish! They're redeemable for tossing the robber back to the desert, and even roads and development cards. Makes worthless spaces much more useful and adds a great dynamic to the game.

The fish are a great addition and variant, but most enjoyed in combination with the lake tile (replaces the barren desert tile) and harbor master card (comparable to longest road and largest army cards). I figured these would be included in this set--especially the lake tile--but nope, you have to buy the Traders and Barbarians expansion set to get those, which also includes these fish tokens and fishery tiles that you get with this set, among more variants. The price of this is appealing but I would have rather spent my money on the Traders and Barbarians set. Now if I buy that I've got duplicated stuff. You can always handmake this fishermen set since there are relatively few pieces.

I love the idea of Fishermen of Catan. Finally a way to make the outside of the board more viable! I also really like the mechanic of adding a lake to the middle of the board that benifits from the lower probability numbers. Frankly though, this version of the expansion is not nearly as good as what is included in Mayfair Games Catan Barbarians and Traders Expansion. This version doesn't have a finished back of the fish tiles (plain white) and it doesn't include the lake hex like the larger Barbarians box. Do yourself a favor, bite the financial bullet and spring for the Barbarians expansion. You wont regret the additional options plus this great and VERY simple addition to the game.

This expansion was dirt cheap and really did add a lot of depth to the gameplay. It didn't hinder things, or simply make the game harder to grasp. When I first took the little page of popouts out of the box, I assumed this was going to be something that we'd try once and never use again. But I couldn't have been more wrong. It gives players much more reason to play on the outer edges of the board than they previously had. The games seem to be more even than before. And it makes it much more difficult to spot a winner easily. Plus all of the pieces and the instructions fit nicely inside the original game box. I can't say enough good things about this product.

Due to the price, The Fishermen of Catan is a MUST HAVE expansion for Settlers of Catan. It's a lot of fun: basically just expanding the resource options for the standard game. It evens things up a bit when you are having a rough time of it due to limited resource options. It's an incredibly simple expansion, which is why it works so well. You can easily integrate it with the other expansions as well.

My wife and I play a lot of Settlers, and have both Knights and Cities and Seafarers, but the version we play the most is the standard boxed set with Fishermen.

I bought Settlers of Catan for my family for Christmas two years ago. They play at least 3 times a week. I bought the Fisherman expansion pack because it looked easy to learn and I figured they could use a new challenge. It is easy to learn and adds a new, interesting aspect to the game without changing everything. We find that it makes games more even; rarely is anyone stuck without a decent spot to build. My family and I love it!

When you want to add complexity to the base game w/o going for a full-fledged expansion, this is a nice (and inexpensive) addition. The ability to horde fish w/o worrying about the robber makes for interesting shifts in strategy.

We already love The Settlers of Catan board game and the Fisherman aspect is a great addition. Keep in mind that you need the main game in order to you this expansion.

My 14-year-old thinks this is cool - he always makes sure he places his settlements where he can get fish. We've found that the fish can keep the game moving, especially on turns where no one has anything to trade. We put the fish in a small cup and then draw them out when needed. My 12-year-old loves the Settler's game, too. Let me tell you how much: it's trumped the Wii.

What is nice about this addition is that it adds another opportunity to obtain resources. The premise is that you can trade in fish for resources, yet you can't lose fish by being robbed and they do not expire.

As far as value, it escapes me why this is not part of the main game? The clever game creators have found a way to eek a bit more out of your wallet. That said, we love the Fisherman addition and no longer play the game without it.

If you do end up enjoying this game, and Settler's as a whole, consider adding Carcassonne to your game collection, too. It's different, yet still strategic and doesn't take as much time to set up. Take the time to absorb the instructions of both games. The instructions can seem daunting at first, but it is well worth the time.

Hope you enjoy the games as much as we do!