Catan: Traders & Barbarians, released in 2007, is the third major expansion to Catan, and the first since the switch to plastic pieces in the 2nd international edition, and the first since the release of the English 4th edition. Within the color-coding system of expansions, international sets briefly used a yellow color, before standardising on the purple used in the English editions, starting with the 3rd international edition.

Unlike Seafarers and Cities & Knights before it or Explorers & Pirates after it, Traders & Barbarians does not consist of a central game mechanic or scenario: rather, it acts as a collection of scenarios and variants. Some of these expansions were previously available as standalone mini-expansions.

Unlike the expansions before it, there is no specific compatibility between the scenarios and variants introduced in this expansion, though there was a major addendum released on the Catan website. Notably, until the release of the English 6th edition, some of the compatibility notes referenced setups from Seafarers present in the English 4th edition, even after many of these setups were redesigned in 2008 and were put into the English 5th edition.

Scenarios

• “Fishing on Catan” - Originally available as a standalone product, though with new components for this expansion.
• “Rivers of Catan” - A revision of “The Great River”, a standalone product that was also included as part of Atlantis
• “Merchant Trains” - Originally available as a standalone product, though not in English.
• “Barbarian Attack”
• “Traders & Barbarians”
  • “Traders & Barbarians XXL” - an officially endorsed scenario of the now-defunct Siedeln.de community
  • “Traders & Barbarians Ultimate” - an officially endorsed scenario attempting to use as many components of the expansion as possible
• “The Friendly Robber” - Originated as a popular house rule, and is regarded as the sole exception to the policy of not publishing common house rules
• “Harbors of Catan” - Originally available as a free download in English. Previously included as part of Atlantis.
• “Catan Event Cards” - Originally available as a standalone product.
• “Catan for Two” - Prior to this variant, the Catan Card Game was the only officially endorsed way to have a two-player Catan experience.

Parts List

Traders & Barbarians includes the following:

• Hexes
  • “Fishing on Catan”
    • 1 Lake hex with preprinted 2, 3, 11, and 12 number tokens
  • “Rivers of Catan”
    • 1 Mountains/Hills/Swampland triple hex river piece
    • 1 Mountains/Hills/Pasture/Swampland quadruple hex river piece. English sets prior to the 6th edition split this into two two-hex pieces
  • “Merchant Trains”
    • 1 Watering Hole hex
  • “Barbarian Attack”
    • 1 Castle hex
  • “Traders & Barbarians”
    • 1 Castle hex
    • 1 Quarry
    • 1 Glassworks
• Frame Pieces
  • Replacement frame piece 1-2 for “Traders & Barbarians” (English 4th-5th editions only)
  • Replacement frame piece 4-5 for “Rivers of Catan” (English 4th-5th editions only)
  • Replacement frame piece 5-6 for “Rivers of Catan” and “Traders & Barbarians” (English 4th-5th editions only)
• Coins
  • 25 - 1 gold
  • 15 - 5 gold
• 21 Catan chits (English 4th-5th editions only)
• Player Pieces
  • “Rivers of Catan”
    • 3 bridges per player
  • “Barbarian Attack”
    • 6 knights per player
  • “Traders & Barbarians”
    • 1 wagon per player
• Miscellaneous Player Specific Assets
  • “Fishing on Catan”
    • 1 reference card per player
  • “Rivers of Catan”
    • 1 Poor Settler scoring bonus per player
    • 1 reference card per player (English 6th edition only)
  • “Merchant Trains”
    • 1 reference card per player (English 6th edition only)
  • “Barbarian Attack”
    • 1 reference card per player (English 6th edition only)
  • “Traders & Barbarians”
    • 1 Wagon Board per player (English 6th edition and 4th international edition only)
    • 1 Marker Cube per player (English 6th edition and 4th international edition only)
    • 5 Baggage Train cards per player (English 4th-5th editions and 2nd-3rd international editions)
    • 1 reference card per player (English 6th edition only)
• Scenario Specific Equipment
  • “Fishing on Catan”
    • 6 Fishing Grounds
      • 1 with preprinted 4 number token
      • 1 with preprinted 5 number token
      • 1 with preprinted 6 number token
      • 1 with preprinted 8 number token
      • 1 with preprinted 9 number token
      • 1 with preprinted 10 number token
    • 30 Fish tokens
      • 11 - 1 Fish
      • 10 - 2 Fish
      • 8 - 3 Fish
      • 1 - Old Boot
  • “Rivers of Catan”
    • 1 Wealthiest Settler scoring bonus
  • “Merchant Trains”
    • 22 Trade Wagons
  • “Barbarian Attack”
    • 1 color die (international editions only)
    • 1 Development Card deck (26 cards)
  • “Traders & Barbarians”
    • 1 Development Card deck (25 cards)
    • 36 Commodity Tokens
    • 9 “X” Markers (English 6th edition and 4th international edition only)
  • “Harbors of Catan”
    • 1 “Strongest Ports” scoring bonus
  • “Catan Event Cards”
    • 1 Event card deck (37 cards)
  • “Catan for Two”
    • 20 Trade Tokens (English 6th edition, all international editions)
• 4 Cover cards used to separate cards from different scenarios from each other (English 4th-5th editions only)
• 36 barbarians

The Traders & Barbarians extension includes the following:

• Hexes
  • “Fishing on Catan”
    • 1 Lake hex with preprinted 4 and 10 number tokens
  • “Rivers of Catan”
    • 1 Mountains/Pasture/Pasture triple hex piece. English sets prior to the 6th edition split this into a single mountain hex and a pasture/pasture double hex
  • “Merchant Trains”
    • 1 Watering Hole
  • “Barbarian Attack”
    • 1 Castle
  • “Traders & Barbarians”
    • 1 Castle
    • 2 Quarry
    • 2 Glassworks
• Frame Pieces
  • 2 single-hex frame extensions. English 4th and 5th edition sets are not useable on their reverse sides; all other sets are useable on their reverse sides
• Coins
  • 12 - 1 gold (8 pieces were only present in English sets prior to the 6th edition, 5 pieces were only present in international sets)
  • 8 - 5 gold (5 pieces were only present in international sets)
• Player Pieces
  • “Rivers of Catan”
    • 3 bridges per player
  • “Barbarian Attack”
    • 6 knights per player
  • “Traders & Barbarians”
    • 1 wagon per player
• Miscellaneous Player Specific Assets
  • “Fishing on Catan”
    • 1 reference card per player
  • “Rivers of Catan”
    • 1 Poor Settler scoring bonus per player
    • 1 reference card per player (English 6th edition only)
  • “Merchant Trains”
    • 1 reference card per player (English 6th edition only)
  • “Barbarian Attack”
    • 1 reference card per player (English 6th edition only)
  • “Traders & Barbarians”
    • 1 Wagon Board per player (English 6th edition and 4th international edition only)
    • 1 Marker Cube per player (English 6th edition and 4th international edition only)
    • 5 Baggage Train cards per player (English 4th-5th editions and 2nd-3rd international editions)
    • 1 reference card per player (English 6th edition only)
• Scenario Specific Equipment
  • “Fishing on Catan”
    • 2 fishing grounds
      • 1 with preprinted 5 number token
      • 1 with preprinted 9 number token
    • 14 Fish Tokens
      • 4 - 1 Fish
      • 5 - 2 Fish
      • 5 - 3 Fish
  • “Merchant Trains”
    • 11 Merchant Wagons
  • “Traders & Barbarians”
    • 18 commodity tokens
    • 1 Development card deck (12 cards)
• 12 barbarians
• 1 set of 2 Paired Player Markers (English 6th edition, 4th International edition only), with figure stands

Notes:

• Depending on individual print runs, the backs of the fish tokens may be different between the base expansion and its extension.
• The 2nd and 3rd international edition extensions had a double-sided Castle hex, with the hex for “Barbarian Attack” on one side and the one for “Traders & Barbarians” for the other. These are always separate hexes in English sets.
• The 2nd and 3rd international edition extension used a double-sided hex, with the Lake hex on one side and Watering Hole hex on the other. These are always separate hexes in English sets.
• Different editions of Traders & Barbarians may have different hex edge configurations for the “Traders & Barbarians” trade hexes
• The coins used between this expansion and Explorers & Pirates are intended to be interchangeable for gameplay purposes, but only the English 6th edition sets are they interchangeable in practice. International sets use plastic coins in Traders & Barbarians and cardboard coins in Explorers & Pirates.
• Some select English 5th edition and 3rd international edition sets will use the Paired Player Turn rule, and thus include the Paired Player markers
• As with the other extensions, the color of the 6th player is brown prior to the English 6th edition and 4th international edition, and purple afterwards.