Das Atoll (The atoll)

"Das Atoll" from Die Siedler von Catan: Das Buch

Players: 4 or 5
Duration: c. 90 minutes
By Birgitte and Wolfgang Ditt
Translation by Christian Beijner.

1. Components
Required Siedler von Catan sets:
Basic game+5-6 player expansion.
Seafarers expansion + Seafarer 5-6 player expansion

Additional Buch Components needed:
8 victory point markers
The numbered counters for the basic game plus 5 additional chips for the middle island, see illustration.

Each player can use:
15 roads
5 settlements
4 cities
15 ships

2. Preparing for play.

Building the playing area:
Put a sea hex in the middle and to the left of that a desert field. Mix 5 standard land hexes (ore, grain, sheep, wood, clay) and put them in random order around the sea hex. Place the 5 extra numbered counters on these hexes as per the illustration on page 22. This is the little atoll
Put sea hexes all around the atoll, mix the remaining 18 land hexes and place them around the circle of sea hexes. Place numbered counters on this land area in alphabetical order, starting on any hex. Circle this large atoll with yet another circle of sea hexes and place the harbors as indicated on the illustration. Each 2:1 harbor should connect to a single hex, and the 3:1 harbors have fixed positions.
Place the pirate ship to the left of the desert hex.

Setup
Each player must place their first settlement on the small atoll and their second settlement on the large atoll. If playing with 5 players the last player may place both his settlements on the large atoll

3. Rule changes.
Play this scenario as the basic settler game with seafarer expansion, with the following exceptions.

Connection VPs
Each player receives a VP each time he creates a "closed" shipping lane with his own ships that connects the small and the large atoll, between two settlements and/or cities. There is no additional VPs earned this way if a shipping lane splits mid sea to connect to another settlement, but any number of shipping lanes can emerge from a settlement. Important: Shipping lanes can "close" on other players settlements/cities. For an example on how to count these VPs see the example on page 24, where red player nets 2 connection VPs.

Rolling a "7" or playing a knight.
Whenever a "7" is rolled or a knight card is played, robber is moved as in the basic game, except the player who activated the robber does not get to take a resource. Instead, whenever a "7" is rolled or a knight card played, the pirate is moved. When playing a knight card, the pirate is moved one step in a clockwise direction around the small atoll, when rolling a "7" the pirate is moved in a clockwise direction the same number of steps as the lower numbered dice shows. The player must steal a random resource from one other player who has a ship adjacent to that hex. If the pirate steals no resource (because there are no ships belonging to other players adjacent to the pirate's hex) then instead the robber may steal a resource as normal.

4. End of the Game
The player who on his turn has 12 victory points wins.

Scenario playing tips:
The atolls are different in character:
€ The small atoll has productive fields, but no harbors.
€ The large atoll has the only access to harbors.
€ The connection VPs compensate players for exposing themselves to the pirate.