Catan: Seafarers Expansion Board Game Review

Continuing on my last post on Traders and Barbarians, I will review the expansion Seafarers. Seafarers is a very popular expansion, people usually grab it once they decide to get an expansion of the base game, and that's not really all that big of a surprise. It's been recommended as the best expansion to start out with, as the tules are very simple and don't differ all that much from the base game.  The game's box art stands out when surrounded by all the others, with a rich blue cover. But is it really good? Let's find out.

Catan: Seafarers set a new story for the game, which if explained can make it easier to understand. The settlers of Catan are journeying off their home island and into an archipelago. The different things they encounter, such as pirates and other civilizations, in that archipelago, can be played out using the scenarios, but you can also just play normal Catan with all of the extra pieces and explore your own way. That is what we will be looking at today.

The main thing introduced in Seafarers is the absolutely ginormous board! The board is a little over double the size of the normal Catan board, and contains mostly water, though new land hexes and harbors are also included. Of course, to get through all that water you need ships! Ships can be built like roads and be used to get The Longest Road bonus, but you can also use move them through the oceans to get to new islands without spending boatloads of resources to get there, pun intended. Another thing that is vital to the game is the goldfields. Goldfields are placed like normal hexes, except that a hot spot (A red number) cannot be placed on it. If you have that hex settled and the number is rolled, you get to pick whatever resource you want! Having a well-settled goldfield can win you the game. The pirate is also introduced. The Pirate roams the sea, stopping and plundering ships. It can be useful in blocking opponents' progress to new islands.

I hope you enjoyed the review! Comment what expansions I should review next!