Game Review: Seafarers of Catan

This week I am reviewing the Seafarers Expansion to Settlers of Catan.

General Information
Number of Players: 3 - 4 (6 with expansion)
Length of Game: 45 - 90 minutes
Difficulty of Game: 3 / 10
Strategic Depth: 5 / 10
Fun Factor: 6.5 / 10
Popularity at local game night: 1 / 10

NOTE: This game has many versions. The version that I have and that I am reviewing is the version that was released in 2003. I know that this version is no longer available. There are some rule changes and differences in game materials - but the core game is more or less the same.

NOTE: This is an expansion. You cannot play the game with only this box. At least that is the case with the version that I have. You need the original Settlers to play.

Overview
Now that you have whet your appetite with the settling of the new land, new opportunities have opened up to you. No longer content to settle a single land, you now see an opportunity to expand your settlements to the open ocean and the islands that lie beyond. This expansion enables you to move beyond the original single land mass to a combination of islands and ocean.

Game Materials
Just like the original, this game is well put together. The tiles, cards, and pieces have all stood up to lots of abuse and playtime. In particular, I especially like the border that you can assemble which helps to keep the land and sea tiles together. It is a well put together game.

Play Summary
Since this is an expansion, I will not be going into the core rules of the game. If you have played the original, you are already familiar with the basic way the game plays. Instead, I will focus on the differences that come into play with this expansion.

First of all, there are several more scenarios. The instruction manuals contain several scenarios for you to put together and play. All of them contain multiple islands separated by water. Some of the scenarios even have unknown tiles that will only be revealed when a player reaches them. This simulates the discovery of new land, which may reveal new treasures. Some of the scenarios have special victory point conditions. When you fill a condition, you are immediately awarded a victory point. These vary based upon the scenario that you choose.

Now, when players are building, they can build ships. In general, ships are similar to roads, but they can be placed on any segment which has water on one side. This means you can use a ship or a road on a segment that signifies a coastline (one side is land, the other is water). It is important to note that ships can only be placed next to other ships or next to settlements. You cannot transition a route from a road to a ship in the middle of a route. You can use ships to build settlements just like you use roads to expand your settlements.

Ships also are a little more flexible than roads. Once a turn, during the building phase, you can move a single ship. You need to move the ship that is at the end of the shipping route, and you can move it to any other valid location as long as it is still connected to the same port. However, you cannot move ships that are part of a closed route. A closed route is defined as a line of ships connecting two of your settlements. You cannot move a ship connected to one of your settlements, and you cannot move ships in the same turn you build them.

With the addition of ships, the longest road card now stands for longest trade route. The route can be comprised of roads, ships, or any combination of the two. Also, the development card that lets you build roads also enables you to build ships. You can start the game with a ship instead of a road during the game set up where you are establishing your initial settlements and roads.

There is a new resource tile; gold. Gold is an extremely valuable resource. There is no official gold resource, but when a gold resource would be awarded, you can take one of any other resource you want. This can also be any combination. So if you have a city and a settlement on a gold tile and the number comes up, you can pick a combination of any three resources you want.

The final addition with the game is the pirate. The pirate can be moved on a roll of a seven or with the soldier card instead of the robber if you so choose. The pirate is placed on any water tile in the game. When you place the pirate, you can steal one resource from any player who has a ship bordering that water tile. Also, no new ships can be placed on the border of the hex that contains the pirate. Finally, no ships that are bordering the hex containing the pirate can be moved.

Otherwise, the game follows the original rules.

Play Experience
This version definitely adds new flavor to the game. Most of the scenarios make it extremely difficult to win without expanding to other islands. Granted, you can always win by building up as much as you can and then relying on development cards. However, that is usually not the best strategy. Other players who expand will have more options to grow faster and receive more victory points. This is because in most of the scenarios, the starting land is much smaller than the original island from the original game.

The addition of ships often makes you consider where exactly you are going before you start building. If you start building a road along the coastline in the hopes to build another port city, and someone cuts you off, you do not have the ability to change those roads into ships or to add ships to the end. Of course, this game mechanic also means that coastal land spots are considered highly valuable. If you get land locked, you will fall into the above scenario, where your ability to win is severely hampered.

The victory conditions in scenarios are a nice touch because they give you something specific to strive for, other than just expanding your collection of settlements. It is nice to have that direction, and also to be able to predict what other people might be striving for. Not to mention, if you know people are striving to reach another island, you can block them or prevent them from expanding across the ocean with the pirate. It provides an additional level of strategy to try and corral other players and limit their opportunities, thus enhancing your chances to win.

Notable Praise
The addition of the unknown islands in some of the scenarios is a very fun addition to the game. It does add a fair amount of luck to the game if you choose to play with one of these scenarios. One time, a player discovered gold three spaces out before anyone else had a ship built. That resulted in a slight imbalance with the game. However, that is part of the risk if you choose to play with the unknown tiles. If you use one of the pre-built scenarios, the games are much more balanced and you are not likely to find yourself in that situation.

There is extra competition for seaside spaces in this game, which makes in interesting. In the original, a lot of times players would not want a coastal space unless it had a port, simply because if felt like you were getting the short end of the deal. However, in this game, taking coastal spaces is critically important. It is nice to have that competition and a bit of a rush.

Notable Gripes
The biggest gripe that I have with this game is a gripe of the original as well - it feels slow when you are playing with five or six players. It works well with three or four, and is a an excellent addition to an introductory game, but I feel it falls short with five or six people around the table. I just feel as if there are better options out there with that many players.

Summary
This expansion definitely breathes new life into the original, and if you want to play more Settlers and just expand it a little bit, this would be right for you. However, if you want to ramp up the strategy, I would strongly urge you to look at the Cities and Knights expansion. In my opinion, it significantly adds to the strategic element, much more so than this expansion. This expansion extends the current game. Cities and Knights feels as if it ramps up the strategy. As a player who prefers more strategic games, if I only had to choose one expansion, I would pass on Seafarers. Most of the time when my group plays, we add Cities and Knights and pass on this one.