Jogo de Tabuleiro - CATAN Histories - Merchants of Europe

Over the years, a series of historical Catan scenarios were published in German with English rules included. After 2002, these scenarios became part of the Catan Histories line of games. Each game in this line is published simultaneously in both German and English, and make pivotal points interactive and exciting. They use the familiar Catan rules while incorporating new ideas to convey the themes. The third game in this line is Merchants of Europe.

~ Build a Network of Trading Posts and Deliver Your Commodities ~

It is the late Middle Ages and trade is beginning to flourish in Europe. Economic groups like the Hanseatic League and merchants from Northern Italy are expanding this network of fledgling trading posts. These movers and shakers vie against each other for profit, power, and prestige.

In Merchants of Europe, you become one of these merchant princes! Recruit an army of merchants and send them out to establish trading posts. The commodities you trade are rich and diverse. Your caravans carry fur from the north, cloth from Flanders, wine from the south, spices from India, and salt, the preserver of food. The more trading posts you have, the more commodities you can sell profitably in foreign cities. You win the game if you are the first player to deliver all of their commodities.

~ Playing the Game ~

Each player starts the game with three trading posts in central Europe, one caravan, and one trading route. As the game progresses, the productivity of the hexes adjacent to your initial trading posts declines, encouraging you to open up new trading posts throughout the game.

You produce lumber, ore, grain, wool, and salt (resources) each turn based on a dice roll, the locations of your trading posts, and the terrain types of adjacent hexes. You then use these resources to recruit merchants, open up trade routes, and put together caravans adjacent to your existing cities. You can also buy development cards.

You spend grain to move your merchants. When a merchant ends its turn on an empty city-site, replace it with a new trading post. This frees up a commodity token for delivery. You spend salt to move your caravans along trade routes. When one of your caravans moves adjacent to an opponent’s trading post that does not already have a commodity token, you may deliver one of your freed commodity tokens.

~ Gold ~

You gain gold when you play certain development cards and whenever you receive zero resources on a non-seven production roll. You also get gold when you connect a citysite to the trading post network for the first time. You can spend two gold for a resource of your choice. You must also pay gold to move one of your caravans along your opponents’ trade routes.

~ Winning ~

If you are the first to deliver all of your commodity tokens, you win. So, you must not only expand your economy, but upgrade your infrastructure. The player who balances building trading posts with developing an efficient network of trade routes will become the most prolific Merchant of Europe!