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

Catan’s wealth doesn’t go unnoticed.  Fearsome barbarians, eager for booty, are landing on the coasts of Catan, spreading fear and terror.  The fun is over—the peaceful times are history!  One never knows where the barbarians will strike.  There are only a few initial raiders, but their numbers increase rapidly.  At first, they only ruin resource production.  But as their strength grows, they threaten to besiege settlements and cities—with devastating consequences.  But Catanians stand by each other.  They respond by training Knights to send into battle—but will they be strong enough?

If a Barbarian Ship is Shown on the Event Die

If the either the thrown Cities & Knights white die or the Event Card's current season's event die shows a Black Barbarian Ship, two things must occur:

• First, the current player must advance the grey Barbarian Advancement Token one space forward on the Barbarian Advancement Board (and the barbarian attack will be resolved, if the grey Barbarian Advancement Token reaches the end of the Barbarian Advancement Board).
• Secondly, the current player must place (if able) one Barbarian onto the board. The Barbarian is placed on any non-conquered hex that borders the ocean and that shows the production number from the Event Card.  Of course, if this results in three barbarians being on one hex, that hex become conquered (see Barbarians below), and will not produce resources this turn. One or two barbarians on a hex doesn’t block production, but has other effects, such as slowing down movement around the hex. Where? How many?

Barbarian Invasion

Catan is in constant danger of attack from the Barbarians that live across the sea.  Every time the Event Card Event Die shows a Black Barbarian Ship, the grey Barbarian Advancement Token must be moved forward one space on the Barbarian Invasion Advancement Board.  During the roll of a “seven,” when the grey Barbarian Advancement Token reaches the final circular space on the Barbarian Advancement Board (depicting Barbarians landing on the shore), a Barbarian Invasion occurs.  When the Barbarians attack, complete these steps in the following order:

1. Determine the Barbarians’ Strength: When the Barbarians attack, they are assumed to attack all of the islands. Therefore, the Barbarians attack with a Strength equal to the number of towns and cities (but not settlements) currently on the board (even on islands).  Add up all of the towns and cities owned by all of the players anywhere on the board to determine this strength.
2. Determine the Strength of Catan’s Knights: Catan defends itself in the following way: Beginning with the current player and continuing clockwise, all players (even those who do not own any towns or cities) indicate the total Strength of their military forces they are willing to volunteer for the defense of Catan. They may offer any fraction (including zero) of their currently-revealed and currently-active military forces. This includes Knight Cards (see Largest Military Award above).  Only active knights are counted: the inactive knights do not assist in defending Catan in any way.  Once all players have volunteered none, some, or all of their military Strength, the total combined military strength of Catan is calculated.  Remember that the strength of each round knight is based upon its type: Basic (1), Strong (2), Mighty (3), Strong Knight on Horseback (2), Crew Member (1), or Knight Card (1).
3. Compare Attackers’ and Defenders’ Strengths: There are 2 possible outcome of this battle:
   4. If the total combined military Strength of Catan is greater or equal to the Strength of the invading Barbarians, the knights win, and Catan is saved! Because the Barbarians are defeated, the player who contributed the greatest military strength (this will not always be the greatest number of knights) will be declared the “Defender of Catan.” As a reward, he is presented with one of the 8 “Defender of Catan” Victory Point cards.  Each VP card is worth 1 VP and is placed face-up in front of the player.  If 2 or more players tie for the highest total strength of knights no player is declared “Defender of Catan,” and no one receives a VP card.  Instead, each of the players who tie for the highest military strength draws the top card from any 1 of the 3 Progress Card stacks (his choice).  In clockwise order, each eligible player selects 1 card, starting with the player whose turn it is.  Then, continue this list, skipping Step 4.
   5. If the total combined military Strength of Catan is less than the Strength of the invading Barbarians (the Barbarians are stronger), the Barbarians are victorious!
      1. All players pay 1 gold (if they don’t have gold, they must sell resources or commodities to do so) to the Barbarians. This gold is placed on the Barbarian Advancement Board, and represents the plunder on the pirate ship. This gold can be recovered later by a player's military forces (see Plundering the Pirate Ship below in the Knights section).
      2. As a result of their victory, the barbarians pillage one or more buildings. Pillaged buildings are reduced to the next-lowest type (degraded by replaced by the previous piece).  The Barbarians pillage one city belonging to the player who had the lowest total strength of active knights engaged in the conflict when the barbarians attacked.  If you volunteered the least military strength to the defense of Catan, you lose one of your buildings on the board.  If various players tie for having the lowest total strength of active knights, each of those players loses 1 of their buildings.  Important: When determining which player has contributed the weakest group of knights, do not count any player who has no buildings, or any player who only has capitals.  These players are immune to the effects of the barbarian attack.
         1. If you have a city wall on the board, you lose it. If you have more than one wall on the board, you may choose which wall to lose.
         2. If you do not have a city wall, but you have a settlement, you lose that settlement entirely, leaving any trade routes on the board. If you have more than one settlement on the board, you may choose which settlement to lose.
         3. If you don’t have a settlement, but you have a town, you must demote it down to a settlement (possibly losing a metropolis tower in the process). If you have more than one town on the board, you may choose which town to lose.  Of course, the town must be reduced to a matching type of settlement.
         4. If you don’t have a town, but you have a city, you must demote it down to a town (possibly losing a metropolis tower in the process). If you have more than one city on the board, you may choose which city to lose.  Of course, the city must be reduced to a matching type of town.
         5. If you do not have any buildings on the board, then you do not lose anything.

Example: Players A and B each have two cities.  Player C has only a town with a capital token underneath, and player D has only settlements.  The barbarians attack, and their strength is 5 (i.e., 4 cities plus 1 town).  Players A, C, and D each contribute one activated Basic Knight, and player B has no active knights to volunteer. Therefore, the knights defend with a strength of 3.  Since the knights are weaker than the barbarians, the barbarians win and Catan loses.  Despite the loss, Player C cannot lose anything, because he has only a capital.  Similarly, player B cannot lose anything, because he did not volunteer anything.  Even though B contributed fewer knights than all the other players, since he is immune to the attack (since he did not volunteer anything), it is the next-smallest contributor who thus suffers the effects of the barbarians. Players A and D tie for amount of volunteered strength, so both of them thus lose one of their buildings.  Player A loses one of his cities (replaces it with a town).   Player D loses one of his settlements (it is removed from the board entirely, because it cannot be downgraded).

Losing Victory Points: If a player loses a building(s), he also loses the Victory Point(s) associated with it.  Return the appropriate number of Victory Point Chits back to the general supply.

No Volunteer: If a player does not volunteer any armed forces, he does not count as having contributed the least amount of military strength.  If, however, no players contribute any military strength (and the Barbarians are victorious, as a result), the player with the least military strength is the one who loses one of his buildings on the board.

Losing Your Last Building: If you are unfortunate enough to have your last building pillaged by the Barbarians, you are allowed to keep any building improvements that you may have built before the attack.  You also keep all of your Progress Cards.  You may continue to draw and play Progress Cards normally.  Note, however, that you may not purchase any additional building improvements until you have built at least one town.  Once you own a town again, you may continue to purchase building improvements normally.

• As an extra penalty for the loss, two barbarians are placed on land hexes, according to the dice roll rules in Cities & Knights.

Place Barbarians: Finally, a number of barbarians are placed on land hexes, with a Strength equivalent to the attacking Strength of the Barbarian Invasion. Whether the Barbarians are defeated or victorious, Barbarians must be placed only on land hexes.  The Barbarians are placed on hexes in the following way:

5. Determine the number of times you must roll the pair of dice. The number of dice rolls is equivalent to the strength of the attacking barbarian invasion.  Example: If there were three towns and two cities on the board, the attacking Strength of the Barbarians is 5.  The dice must be rolled 5 times.
6. Each time you roll the dice, roll until you get a result that is not a “7” (re-roll as many times as needed). Then place a Barbarian on each land hex with a production number token that matches the dice roll.  Example: For your first dice roll, you roll an “8.”  There are three land hexes with “8” Production Number Tokens.  One of them already contains 1 Barbarian.  You place 1 Barbarian on each of the three “8” land hexes.
7. Continue rolling the two dice (each time re-rolling if you get a “7”) until you have rolled the dice a number of times equivalent to the strength of the attacking Barbarian Invasion. Example: For your second dice roll, you roll an “8” again.  There are three land hexes with “8” Production Number Tokens.  Two of them contain 1 Barbarian from your previous (first) dice roll. One of them contains 2 Barbarians.  You place 1 additional Barbarian on each of the three “8” land hexes.  One hex now contains 2 Barbarians.  That hex is “conquered.”
8. If any hex ever has 3 Barbarians on it, the hex is “conquered.” You must turn over the production number token, which means that the hex can no longer produce anything as long as it is “conquered” (and until it has been liberated).  A “conquered” hex cannot have more than 3 Barbarians on it.  If, while you are rolling to place Barbarians, you roll a production number that matches only “conquered” hexes, you must roll again until you roll the number of at least one unconquered hex.  If you roll a production number that matches some “conquered” hexes and some unconquered hexes, you must place 1 Barbarian per unconquered hex.  Example: For your third dice roll, you roll an “8” again.  There are three land hexes with “8” Production Number Tokens, but 2 hexes contain 2 Barbarians each from your previous dice rolls, and 1 hex contains 3 Barbarians (it is “conquered”). You may place 1 additional Barbarian on the two hexes than only have 2 Barbarians each.  Now, all three hexes with an “8” Production Number are “conquered.”

9. Example:  The Barbarians are victorious! The blue player volunteered the least military strength, so he must lose one of his buildings.  Because he does not have any walls or settlements on the board, he must reduce one of his towns.  The blue player decides to demote his Convent.  He replaces it with a Camp (which matches the Convent).   

10. Barbarians Return Home: Regardless of the outcome of the attack, the grey Barbarian Advancement Token is returned back to its original starting position—the first space of the Barbarian Advancement Board. All active knights who were volunteered to help in the conflict are deactivated by flipping them over, so their inactive (black & white) side faces up. Starting with the next player’s turn, the barbarians will begin a new journey to the rich island of Catan.  This begins the Barbarian Advancement Token’s journey all over again.

"Defender of Catan" Victory Point cards (1 VP each)--tell about placing these alongside the board earlier?

Remove all 8 of these cards (worth 1 Victory Point each), and place face-down (so the image of the knight is showing) on the reference sheet below:

• Because these cards are publicly won after a successfully-repelled Barbarian Invasion, they are not hidden in your personal supply. They are played immediately, visible to all players.  It is possible to have more than one of these in front of you.

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