Catan Traders and Barbarians — Rules FAQ

Traders & Barbarians is the third major Catan expansion, released originally in 2007 and reprinted multiple times since. Unlike Cities & Knights or Seafarers, T&B is a collection of five distinct scenarios and four short variants in one box, rather than a single layered ruleset. Each scenario adds a different mechanic to the standard 19-hex board.

(1) Fishermen of Catan — fishing-ground tiles around the coast that produce fish on dice rolls. (2) Rivers of Catan — three river hexes replace standard land tiles; bridges across rivers earn gold. (3) The Caravans — the desert becomes an oasis with two desert cities; players move camels to earn special bonuses. (4) Barbarian Attack — barbarian camps appear on three forest hexes and players must drive them out. (5) Traders & Barbarians (the title scenario) — the largest, combining castle, glassworks, marketplace, wagons, and barbarians into one ~3-hour game.

In addition to the five main scenarios, the box includes: Harbor Masters (extra VP for harbor variety), Friendly Robber (no targeting players with two or fewer VPs), Catan Event Cards (replace the dice with a deck), and Catan for Two (a head-to-head two-player variant). These can be layered on the base game or onto any scenario.

Fishing-ground tiles attach to coastal intersections on the standard 19-hex board. Whenever a player rolls a number adjacent to a fishing ground, they pull a fish tile (1, 2, or 3 fish, or a "old boot" penalty). Spend fish tiles for resources, to move the robber, or to buy progress. The lake tile in the centre of the board adds extra production.

Three river hexes replace three land hexes on the standard board layout. Building a road over a river requires a brick + lumber bridge piece (which the rulebook treats as a special road piece). Bridges earn the builder a gold coin per bridge; coins accumulate to victory points at game end.

The desert hex becomes a fixed-layout oasis with two desert cities representing rival traders. Players build settlements and roads as normal, then deploy camel caravans to walk between their settlements and the desert cities along a special caravan path. Reaching the desert with a caravan earns special VP and resource bonuses.

Barbarian camp tiles are placed on three forest hexes at setup. When dice rolls activate those forest hexes, the barbarian threat increases. Players build knights (different from C&K knights — these are scenario-specific pieces) and march them across the board to clear the camps before they overrun adjacent settlements.

The largest scenario in the box. It combines: a fixed castle hex (which produces gold and grain), glassworks tiles that turn ore into glass, marketplace tiles, wagons that move resources between settlements, and a barbarian threat track. It plays in roughly 2.5–3 hours for 3–4 players and is considered the most strategically rich Catan scenario published.

Highly variable by scenario: Fishermen and Rivers play in 60–90 minutes (similar to base Catan); Caravans and Barbarian Attack run 90–120 minutes; the title T&B scenario is 2.5–3 hours for 3–4 players. The build-phase rule from the 5–6 expansion (if you're playing 5–6 T&B) keeps things moving.

Most T&B scenarios are not designed to combine with C&K — they're alternative rule overlays, not stacking expansions. The exceptions documented in the rulebook are limited; most groups play one or the other per game.

Yes — Fishermen of Catan and Barbarian Attack combine especially well with Seafarers (the rulebook includes specific notes). The Caravans and Rivers scenarios don't combine cleanly with sea hexes, since they assume a single landmass.

No — every scenario uses the standard 19-hex base board (or the 30-hex 5–6 expansion board with the T&B 5–6 extension). The scenario-specific tiles (fishing grounds, river hexes, oasis, castle, barbarian camps) are placed over or around that standard layout per the scenario sheet.

Most scenarios use the standard 10 VP from base Catan. The title T&B scenario raises this to 13 VP because gold coins, caravan bonuses, and castle income all add additional VP sources. Each scenario sheet specifies its own target.

Fishermen of Catan — the gentlest learning curve, single new mechanic (fish tiles), and otherwise plays exactly like base Catan. After Fishermen, Barbarian Attack is the next-easiest jump. The Caravans and Rivers add more rules surface area but remain accessible; the title scenario is best saved for a group that has played at least one other T&B scenario.

When a player draws a fish tile from the bag and it shows the "old boot" symbol, the player must give the old boot to the current Catan player with the most VP — and if there's a tie, the active player chooses among the tied leaders. The old boot is a small but meaningful catch-up mechanic, slowing the leading player on subsequent turns by penalising one of their fish-tile pulls. The old boot is returned to the bag after being given away.

A bridge piece is a special road component — physically larger or distinctly marked, depending on edition — that occupies a road slot crossing a river hex edge. It costs 1 wood + 1 brick like a regular road, plus the player gains 1 gold coin upon building. Bridges count toward longest trade route exactly like roads (they're a continuous segment), but cannot be moved or removed once placed. Players are limited to a fixed number of bridges per game (typically 3–4 per player, varies by scenario sheet).

No — gold coins are a separate currency that converts to VP at game end (2 gold coins = 1 VP, rounded down). Coins cannot be spent on building, trading, or progress cards during the game. Some players treat the coin accumulation as a soft VP track running in parallel with the main game; aggressive bridge-building can add 3–5 VP to a final score, which is enough to swing the result.

Each player has a personal camel piece that begins at one of their settlements after the standard setup. On the active player's turn, they may spend specific resource combinations (typically 1 wheat or 1 sheep, per the scenario sheet) to move their camel along the special caravan path one space toward the desert oasis. Reaching the desert with the camel earns the player special VP and the right to take from a fixed pool of camel-bonus tiles. Multiple players can have camels en route simultaneously, racing to the desert.

Yes — the three barbarian camp tiles are placed on three specific forest hexes during setup, per the scenario sheet. The camps are stationary; they don't move during the game. What changes is their threat level: as the dice activate the underlying forest hexes, the camps gain strength, and when they reach a threshold they raid the nearest settlement. Players build special scenario-knights (different from C&K knights — these are barbarian-scenario-specific pieces) and march them toward the camps to clear them before they overrun any settlements.

The castle is a fixed-position component in the title Traders & Barbarians scenario that occupies a specific hex (typically a mid-board location) and serves as both a permanent VP source for the castle's owner and an income tile producing 1 gold and 1 grain per activation. The castle changes hands when an opposing player defeats the holder in a specific combat sub-mechanic. Its position is fixed by the scenario sheet rather than randomised because the title scenario is essentially a hand-crafted asymmetric layout — randomising the castle would unbalance the surrounding glassworks, marketplace, and wagon-path positions, all of which are tuned for its specific location.