In the scenario “Barbarian Attack”, Knights are a type of unit that are used to capture barbarians. When playing without Cities & Knights, knights are represented by the knight pieces introduced in Traders & Barbarians. However, when playing with Cities & Knights, they are represented by the knight pieces from that expansion instead.
Gameplay
Whenever knights are deployed, they are placed on one of the six paths adjacent to a Castle hex.
Only one knight may occupy a path at any given time.
In custom scenarios, there may be multiple landmasses where barbarians may attack. “Barbarian Attack” presumes that only one landmass will be affected by barbarians, and that knights may only exist on that landmass.
During the movement phase, each knight may move up to three adjacent paths. Knights may pass through other knights en route to their destination. Additionally, once moved away from the Castle hex, a knight may not return to a path adjacent to the castle hex, though they may pass through these paths en route to their destination.
A player may pay to have any knight move two additional paths. Any number of knights may receive extra movement, but extra movement must be paid once for each knight.
In a 5-6 player game, knights are required to move the turn that they are placed, so as to not allow players to block their opponents from building knights.
The following additional rules are in effect when playing with Cities & Knights:
Because they are treated as knights in accordance with the rules of “Barbarian Attack”, and not according to “Cities & Knights”, they do not impede roads for the purposes of Longest Route, nor are they restricted to moving along a player’s own road network. (Conversely, they do not enjoy unlimited movement along a player’s own road network, nor move outside of the movement phase).
Movement remains the same for all knights regardless of rank.
A deactivated knight may move up to three adjacent paths.
An activated knight may move up to five adjacent paths, but if moving more than three paths, they must deactivate.
Extra movement is not considered a knight action, and thus a knight may start its turn activated, perform a knight action, activate, and then move five paths and deactivate.
Prior to the English 6th edition (4th international edition), extra movements were considered a knight action.
Players can no longer pay to grant extra movement to their knights. Extra movement is solely granted from deactivating knights during the movement phase.
An activated knight is able to move, and then, as a knight action, displace a knight from its new location.
Under present rules, a knight cannot move more than three paths and displace at the same time. This is consistent with rules prior to the English 6th edition (4th international edition), when both extra movement and displacement were both knight actions.
Knights that are displaced in this manner, are deactivated if they were previously active.
In a 5-6 player game, knights that are built during the Special Build Phase are required to move after a player has made off of their build actions. This prevents players from blocking other players from building additional knights.
This is the only time in which a knight may move outside of the movement phase. A knight cannot move during the Special Build Phase otherwise.
The following additional rules are in effect when playing with “Catan for Two”:
The Foreign Knight: There is one neutral knight in play, known as the Foreign Knight. This knight begins the game off of the board, and enters play whenever the first knight is placed on the board.
Aside from the fact that it is represented by a knight belonging to a neutral color, there is otherwise no association between the Foreign Knight and either of the neutral players.
The Foreign Knight may be moved by either player during their respective movement phases, but a player must move all of their own knights before moving the Foreign Knight. A player may move the Foreign Knight even if they have no knights of their own.
Note that there is no specific guidance for playing with both “Catan for Two” and Cities & Knights together, and thus there are no specific rules as to whether the Foreign Knight can be promoted.