Gather Your Players' Game Components!

Before you read this article, you will need to know the following terms and definitions: 

Give each player the following:

• 1 wooden game component holder, used to hold the following during gameplay:
  • Resource Cards
  • Commodity Cards
  • Development Cards
  • Progress Cards
  • Gold Coins
  • Favor Tokens
  • Ship Tile
  • Fishing Overview Card
  • Building Costs Card:
    • The building costs cards show what can be built, and how much they “cost.”
    • Helper of Catan
    • Oil Tokens
  • 1 Cities & Knights Flipchart, used to track the following during gameplay:
    • Each flipchart is divided into three sections, with 5 pages each.
    • Green Building improvements
    • Yellow Building improvements
    • Blue Building improvements
    • Cost of Building ____
  • 1 Fishing Overview Card
  • 1 Crop Storage Record Card player aid

Have each player choose one of the following colors:

• Red
• White
• Green
• Brown
• Orange
• Blue

Have each player place four (4) face-up fields crop tokens (seed vial side up) of one plant type on one (1) of the two (2) seed vault spaces marked in their player color on the seed vault display beside the game board, using the following list:

• The Red player chooses four (4) rice field crop tokens and places them in a stack, seed vial side up, on one (1) of the two (2) red seed vault spaces marked on the seed vault display beside the game board.
• The White player chooses four (4) bean field crop tokens and places them in a stack, seed vial side up, on one (1) of the two (2) white seed vault spaces marked on the seed vault display beside the game board.
• The Orange player chooses four (4) maize field crop tokens and places them in a stack, seed vial side up, on one (1) of the two (2) orange seed vault spaces marked on the seed vault display beside the game board.
• The Blue player chooses four (4) quinoa field crop tokens and places them in a stack, seed vial side up, on one (1) of the two (2) blue seed vault spaces marked on the seed vault display beside the game board.

If there are any players missing, do not place any fields crop tokens on the seed vault display for their player color. Instead, leave those fields crop tokens in the corresponding piles beside the game board. Ensure that all of the remaining field crop tokens are left beside the game board in five piles, organized by crop variety (wheat, beans, maize [corn], rice, quinoa).

Give each player the following pieces that match their chosen color:

• 1 deck of Baggage Train cards
• You receive the set of 5 Baggage Train Cards whose frame colors match your color. Stack the cards face down, sorted so that the backs of the cards are in sequence from 1 to 5.  Turn the top (1) Baggage Train Card of your stack face up and place it next to the stack (see illustration)—this is your active Baggage Train Card.
• 1 Wagon
• 1 Explorers & Pirates Building Costs Card
  • While Cities & Knights provides the cost of rebuilding a destroyed city and Traders & Barbarians provides summary cards for the Fishermen variant, the writing is very small and the information is separated. Therefore, the Miscellaneous Costs card details these rules in larger print. They can be printed out on heavy cardstock and then attached them to the backs of the Basic Building Costs cards with double-sided tape. This can be tremendously helpful at times!
• 11 Settlements:
  • 5 Communities
  • 2 Camps
  • 4 Mills
• 10 Towns:
  • 4 Villages
  • 2 Convents
  • 4 Sea Ports
• 12 Cities:
  • 2 Commercial Centers
  • 2 Industrial Factories
  • 2 Citadels
  • 3 Metropolises
• 8 Transports:
  • 2 Train Cars
  • 2 Container Ships
  • 3 Sailing Ships
  • 1 Warship
• 44 Infrastructure
• 3 Metropolis Squares
• 4 Castle Walls
• 15 Roads
• 15 Boats
• 3 Bridges
• ___ Units
• 2 Settlers
• 9 Crews
• 6 Circular Knights
• 6 Knights on Horseback
• 2 Traders
• 2 Markers

Have each player randomly draw 7 of the shuffled, face-down (seed vial side up) field crop event tokens that have been swept into a pile and place 1 face-down field crop event token under each of the remaining 3 wooden community pieces and 4 wooden village pieces in his/her supply. 

Personal Warships

Pirate ships are a way for you to force your opponents to pay gold to move their ships.  They also allow you to steal resource cards (much like the Privateer) and fight against the Barbarian fleet.

Placement

After the first Barbarian Invasion is resolved (and each player places their personal warship on a sea hex), future Production Numbers of “7” require all players to move their personal warships onto a new, adjacent sea hex, starting with the current player.  In this way, the pirate ships slowly sail around the board. A few restrictions apply:

• Pirate ships always travel inside sea hexes.
• You may never place your personal warship anywhere on the outside frame of the board.

Once you have moved your personal warship onto a new sea hex, your personal warship remains on the hex until someone resolves another Production Number of “7” or chases your personal warship away.

Example: The red player resolves a Production Number of “7.”  The blue player moves his personal warship to the hex directly to the left of his current hex.  The red player moves his personal warship up from the hex below into the hex above.

Stealing

When you place your personal warship onto a sea hex, you may take 1 random resource/commodity card from the personal supply of an opponent, but only if they meet one or more of the following criteria:

• They have at least one building on an adjacent coastal intersection. If their adjacent building is a Capital, it does not count.
• They have at least one ship on an adjacent sea/coastal path/route.
• They have a Wagon on an adjacent intersection. The Wagon must be connected to a coastal path/route or sea route.

If your opponent doesn’t have any resource/commodity cards, then you make take 1 gold from him instead (you may make change).

Example: In Example 6B above, after the Red player placed her ship, she could steal a resource/commodity card either from the Orange player or the Blue player.  The Blue player has not cards (but does have gold).  The Orange player has cards and gold.  If the Red player steals from the Blue player, she can take 1 gold.  If the Red player steals from the Orange player, she must take 1 random card.

Even if you choose not to steal 1 card (or choose to move your personal warship to an unoccupied hex), you are not eligible to receive a Favor Token.

Fishing

Your personal warship may not steal Fish Hauls.  However, if your personal warship is ever moved onto a Fish Shoal hex that contains a Fish Haul, it “protects” the Fish Haul from being picked up by opponents.  The ships of other opponents may not load that Fish Haul into their holds. 

Defeating an Opponent’s Personal Warship

While all players are taking turns moving their personal warship, you may have the opportunity to remove an opponent’s personal warship from the board.  If, on your turn to move your personal warship, you move it into the same hex as an opponent’s personal warship (before or after they have had the opportunity to move it), both you and your opponent must roll a die.  If you roll a higher number than your opponent, you defeat your opponent!  Your opponent’s personal warship is effectively “sunk” and must be removed from the board.  Your personal warship remains on the hex.  On a future “7,” your opponent may replace his personal warship on a sea hex not adjacent to any other players’ buildings, trade routes, ships, or wagons.  If your opponent rolls a higher number than you, your opponent is victorious!  Your opponent’s personal warship stays on the hex, and you must remove your “sunk” personal warship from the board, placing it in your personal supply.  On a future “7,” you may replace your personal warship on the board, placing it on a hex that is not adjacent to any other player’s buildings, trade routes, ships, or wagons.

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