Customer Reviews

Catan: Seafarers Game Expansion

5 star:		(37)
4 star:		(8)
3 star:		(3)
2 star:		(6)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

The Settlers of Catan won board game of the year in 1995 for a reason. I'm not sure if there is an 'expansion pack of the year' award, but if there was, Seafarers would win hands down. I've played a lot (and I mean a LOT) of strategy board games in my time, and Seafarers combined with Settlers of Catan is the best over all strategy game I've ever played.

If you're looking at this expansion, you likely already are sold on Catan (or addicted!) and are looking to expand your game. You have a good number of options, including the 5-6 Player Extension, Seafarers, or Cities & Knights. All of them are solid, but if you were going to just get one, it would have to be Seafarers. Here is why:

1. Diversity of maps
The 5-6 player expansion allows you to play with more players, but it is basically the same game as the 3-4 player version. You don't get the addition of over a dozen different maps like you do with Seafarers. Knights and Cities is more of a different game altogether, and will be more unfamiliar than Seafarers. Don't get me wrong, the other two expansions are fantastic, but get this one first.

2. Strategy
Seafarers unlocks a whole new realm of strategy. You can now build boats, discover islands, expand outward, control the pirate (like the robber, but used on water hexes), and generally play the game a few new and unique ways that are extremely satisfying. Whether you're playing "Into the Desert," with its fantastic static map that forces very careful placement, or "Four Islands," with its emphasis on resource management and aggressive island expansion, or just the basic Seafarers map (a new twist on the standard 3-4 player map) the level of strategy has been increased over all in a fantastic variety of ways. You can play longer maps that penalize 'lucky' players who choose bad numbers, or maps with exotic things like the Gold resource hexes (which produce a resource of your choice!), or maps that reward a conservative or aggressive style: you have so many options you will never get bored!

3. Replay value
With so many strategies available, and with potentially millions of variations on the maps, Seafarers never gets old. Just the "Into the Desert" map kept me busy for months. All of the maps are great, unique, and a whole lot of fun to play.

A few caveats:

1. This is an expansion. It is not playable without The Settlers of Catan. Also, make sure you are buying an expansion of the same edition as your 3-4 player board!

2. I have both the 3rd and 4th generation boards, and I actually prefer the 3rd generation with its more subdued graphics. That is a matter of preference however, so if you have the 4th generation 3-4 game and like it, you will like this expansion's aesthetics just as much.

3. Some of the maps in the map book also require The Settlers of Catan 5-6 Player Extension. You don't NEED to have the 5-6 player expansion, but be aware that about 20% of the maps require Seafarers, the 3-4 player game, and the 5-6 player expansion.

Built on a masterpiece of a board game like Settlers of Catan, it's no wonder this expansion is simply fantastic. I cannot recommend it highly enough. It deserves 7 stars.

I found this expansion to be a great addition to the Settlers series. It adds much game play value to the original base game (Settlers of Catan) and it allows for even more creativity in creation of your own game maps.

Durability-wise, this expansion is the same as the other settlers games--the board pieces are on nice quality cardboard and the pieces are made of painted wood. The box this expansion comes in is of very high quality as well.

Again, this game has lots of little pieces so be aware of that (though they do all come with storage baggies, and everything fits nicely and securely in the box.

Make sure that you have the 4th edition of the original expansion set, as this one is incompatible with the 3rd edition. If you have the 3rd edition you need to purchase the 3rd edition of Seafarers as well.

The frame to make the older and newer versions compatible is available from Mayfair Games on their site for about $10. If you buy the 4th edition of Settlers and Seafarers together, you have nothing to worry about. And I strongly recommend it. Seafarers adds some nice new wrinkles to Settlers while preserving the spirit of the original game. You, your neighbors, and your kids will get hooked! But remember, you have to start with Settlers!

If you own the base Settlers of Catan, you should immediately order this expansion set. The base Catan game can get a bit cramped with 4 players. Even the expansion base game with 5-6 players gets cramped and the strategies can get a bit rote once the game has been played more than 20 times. With the Seafarers extension, the board really opens up. The strategies become more varied, and the value of the resources becomes more balanced. In the base game wheat and ore are paramount because of their use in building cities. In Seafarers, sheep and wood are elevated in importance because of their use in building ships. Trading resources becomes even more important. Finally, this set is a tremendous value. There are at least 3-4 excellent scenarios of playing this expansion so you really are getting a lot for your money. Very highly recommended.

My surprise when first opening this expansion pack was in the number of new games this actually allows you. It's not one expansion which expansion lets you play the original game slightly different. It's a plethora of scenarios and setups which give a great deal more depth to this purchase than I was expecting. All along I had assumed this was something I'd find to be overpriced and add only one new element to the game. I couldn't have been more wrong. The only reason I can't give this a 5 is that it's almost overwhelming at times. The set truly makes a monster game board out of the original, there are tons of new little pieces and learning the rules of each setup can take more time than most casual gamers are going to appreciate. If you just really love the original and want a large amount of new spins, buy this right away. If you're just wanting a small addition to the original, go with the Fishermen of Catan set; which is something like $5, couldn't be more simple and really balances the gameplay moreso than the original game already manages. There's a lot of fun to be had with this set. I think 6 months from now we will still be learning and amazed by what it's capable of adding to the experience. Just expect a slight learning curve and make sure you have extra table space.

Seafarers of Catan offers a new dimension to the game: the ability to build a trading route to outlying islands across the vast ocean and settle there.

This expansion requires The Settlers of Catan to play, and is equipped with 4 sets of ships, additional resource hexes, many sea hexes, additional number tokens, new harbor tokens, a pirate ship, and an extensive rules and scenarios book.

The expansion uses much of the same rules as The Settlers of Catan. The biggest addition is that coastal settlements/cities can serve as links between the mainland and neighboring islands. A trade route of ships can be build from a coastal settlement/city along the coastline, or out to sea, much like building roads on land. 1 ship costs 1 Lumbar and 1 Wool to build.

In addition, once per turn. 1 ship on the end of an open trade route can be moved to a new location, as long as it remains connected to the trade route or to a coastal settlement/city. This game mechanic increases players' abilities to expand and explore when they are ready to.

Settling on islands can be beneficial as they may provide resources that are scarce on the mainland, or it can enable (a) player(s) to capitalize on significant (and sometimes) unrivaled production of certain resources. This is important because ports are typically located on the mainland in most scenarios, and will become extremely useful later on.

There are also 2 Gold Hexes provided. Gold Hexes provide players who have built there with resources of their choice when the number on the token is rolled. Gold Hexes are located on outlying islands, and are usually worth the effort and resources to reach and settle there.

Due to the extra cost of building ships, most games are played to 12 or more Victory Points. In addition, "The Longest Road" card is aptly renamed as "The Longest Trade Route", which includes the longest chain of unbroken ships and roads.

The Robber has a new partner called the Pirate Ship. When a 7 is rolled, either the Robber or Pirate Ship can be moved. The Pirate Ship serves to prevent further extension of marine trading routes (i.e. no ships can be built along the sea hex border upon which The Pirate Ship is located). Adjacent ships cannot move away from the hex either. In addition, the turn player can take one resource card from a player whose ships are located next to the Pirate Ship.

With the option to move either the Robber or the Pirate Ship, players can elect to keep the Robber on a desired hex instead of being forced to move it. This can severely diminish a player's lead.

Like Settlers of Catan, Seafarers takes the most exciting aspect of the game and expands upon it. Seafarers offers a virtually unlimited number of board layout possibilities. The scenario booklet included profiles several scenarios such as: Heading for New Shores, The Four Islands, and The Fog Island (and a few more).

Heading for New Shores employs the normal Settlers of Catan board, and adds outlying islands, which include the popular Gold Hexes.

In The Four Islands scenario, players start on 1 or 2 "home islands" and earn additional points for settling on the others. Certain resources may be more abundant on the non "home islands". In addition, the various ports are distributed among the islands, providing additional incentive to expand.

In The Fog Island, players begin on the mainland and build out to unknown, uncharted territory covered by fog. As ships extend from the coast, face down and randomly shuffled hexes are revealed as land or sea (if it is a resource producing land hex, 1 resource of that type is provided as a discovery bonus). 1 random number token is then assigned to the newly discovered resource producing island hex.

Of course, players are free to create their own "New World" as they like and employ any or all of the new game aspects introduced.

I highly suggest Seafarers for those who have only played Settlers and are seeking a modest game addition to enhance their Catan experience. The ability to generate new maps and scenarios is what keeps the game exciting for me, and it has been highly rewarding for me and my friends to expand and explore.

If you are on the fence, search for Seafarers of Catan. You will see many images of how much fun people have had while playing this expansion.

I hope you found this review to be helpful. Thank you.

My friends and I had played Settlers of Catan about 4 times before I bought this expansion. It is really fun and doesn't change the game that much. The ways it does change it are all good in my opinion. There is a new tile added called a gold title. Whenever the gold tile yields a resource you get to pick your choice. They also added boats. Boats work like roads but have to boarder a sea tile on at least one side. They count towards the longest road card as well. Another change that would work in the original game as well is the idea of exploring tiles before you know what they are. So these tiles are left face down and when one of your roads or boats touches a corner of the tile it is flipped and you yield whatever resource it is. The only draw back is that it takes a really long time to set up and the board does not hold together as well as the original game, which is why I gave it only 4 instead of 5 stars.

If you have bought the original within the last year don't worry about compatibility. (IE: the bad reviews)

So I recently purchased this expansion while having the original and other expansions and couldn't be more pleased. This is the best of the three. This expansions adds ALOT more of the original game without a lot of complicated rules. More casual catan player will enjoy this over other expansions. I have also bought the City and Knights expansion and now hardly touch it after this purchase (unless I'm with a serious strategy playgroup). Traders and Barbarians adds alot of variety but every game type is different and has it's own rules specific for that game. Seafarers adds the same variety, but the rules are simple and simular to the ones you already know.

Seafarers expansion introduces ships to which act like roads on the sea, and gold tiles which produce a resource of your choice when rolled. This may not sound like much but is. It also introduces a pirate ship which acts like a robber of the sea. The games still plays like the original and the resources are more balanced (wool and wood are used more to create ships). The game also comes with 8 unique scenarios. Each of which are well designed and diverse. and a way to play with a random catan board with islands much like the original. We now always play with this expansion if we want to play a game of catan.

If you like the original Catan but want more interest and balanced resources go with Seafarers expansion. It plays almost exactly like the original and adds alot of variety without adding complex rules.

The City and Knights expansion doesn't add much variety, but it does however add complex strategy and management which is fun and recommended if have a more serious playgroup.

Traders and Barbarians adds tons of different variety. they all play differently and each varient also has it's own set of rules. So If you want to try many different varients of catan go with this expansion.

If you can only choose one. choose seafarers.

The makers did a great job with this game by giving a lot of options for expanding and mixing up the game play with a lot of different random setups with ideas for different island placement and the addition of pirates at sea, and yet it is still relatively simple. Only one addition of new peices--trade one wool and one wood for a ship to sail to new islands. Fog island is one of my favorites.. you don't know what is there until you sail to it and it could be one of the new GOLD hexes that will produce your choice of resource each time. GOLD is always on an island making it worth while to set sail.

The Settlers of Catan was already a fun game. This expansion adds many new elements to the game like gold tiles(any resource you want), Catan chits and, of course, ships. The expansion also features new highly customizable scenarios so you never have to play it the same way twice. It is loads of fun with friends or my favorite is to sit down and just play with my wife. It is well worth your dollars.