Unboxed the Board Game Blog

As with a lot of people The Settlers of Catan was my gateway into the hobby and I have always retained a soft spot for everything Catan. I own most of the expansions, plus I own two different digital versions and the original card game. When Rivals came along I tried to hold out on buying it, after all I already owned the Settlers the Card Game, which, while fun, suffered from stilted mechanics, but Rivals looked so pretty and after playing it once I retired my copy of Settl

Continuing with my series of reviews on Catan: Traders and Barbarians, we’ve finally arrived at the red-headed step child of the bunch… Well, that’s probably a bit harsh, but Caravans is probably the least innovative scenario in the book, despite adding wooden camels to the game, it changes the base game so little that I’d rather just play Settlers… probably… The Fluff Still reading? Good, haven’t scared everyone away yet then. The Fluff in the rulebook reads: “Nomads have se

Rivers of Catan is another of the “reprints” included in the Traders and Barbarians box, although as I understand it the scenario has been updated enough for it to count as new. It is also responsible for the fastest game of Settlers I’ve ever played. The game took 25 minutes, no sevens were rolled and my opponents continually argued over who was building to the contested Wheat port first. Doubtless to say, I won. The Fluff While some settlers have totally committed themselve

Welcome to the first of the Traders and Barbarians: Scenarios. Working logically through the book we’ll start with the first scenario Fishermen of Catan Concept Like most of the scenarios in Catan expansions, Fishermen has some fluff about how fish were recently discovered to be a delicious change from Lamb and Bread. However what Fishermen is really about is adding a new resource to the game, but one that can only be used in certain ways. Gameplay I really like Fishermen, it

In my opinion Traders and Barbarians is one of the best expansions for Settlers of Catan because the box offers a massive selection of new options, variants and scenarios. In fact there is so much stuff in the box, to try and talk about all of it in a single review would be a mistake. So over the coming year I will post up sporadic reviews of the various elements of the game. This week I’m going to start with the four Variants included in this box. These are as follows: The F

So, what is Settlers of Catan about? Well when I was first asked if I wanted to play I assumed it would be similar to the computer game Settlers and I guess it kind of is, just without the complexity. You are a Settler on the new island of Catan. Your aim is to build a thriving settlement and achieve 10 victory points before any of the other settlers. Unlike in a computer game however there is no war aspect to the game and no way for players to be eliminated, a common elemen