A ship costs 1 lumber and 1 wool and is a road for the water. A road needs an edge touching land and a ship an edge touching sea; a coastal edge takes either, so that is where a route crosses the shoreline.

Can I connect a road to a ship?

Only at your own settlement or city. At an empty intersection a ship may extend only your ships and a road only your roads — a building is what bridges the two.

Once per turn you may move one ship instead of building. It must be at the open end of a route, not one you built this turn, and it moves to any legal edge.

The robber's sea twin. On a seven you may place it on open water instead: it blocks ship building and movement around its hex, and robs a player with a ship there.

What is the island bonus?

The first settlement you place on an island you have not settled before is worth 2 extra victory points. Your starting placements claim their island silently, so the bonus only pays when you genuinely reach somewhere new.

New Shores

Seafaring rules

The board stops being one island, and the water stops being scenery.

Seafaring adds open water you can actually build across. You get a second route piece — the ship — a raider that works at sea, hexes that pay a free choice, and a reason to leave the mainland: the first settlement on a new island is worth two extra victory points. New Shores includes eleven seafaring scenarios, all free. Start a game →

Ships

Cost — 1 lumber + 1 wool, the same as a road but for water.
Where they go — a road needs an edge touching land, a ship an edge touching sea. A coastal edge touches both, so either piece can take it; that is how a route crosses the shoreline. The outer rim of the board counts as coastline.
Joining a road — only at your own settlement or city. At an empty corner a ship follows only your ships and a road only your roads.
Longest Trade Route counts roads and ships together, but the route may switch kind only at one of your buildings.
Moving — once per turn, instead of building, you may pick up a ship at the open end of a route (never one built this turn) and lay it anywhere legal. A ship with your own pieces at both ends is part of a closed route and cannot move.

The pirate

The robber’s counterpart at sea. When a seven is rolled you choose which to move by where you tap: a land hex sends the robber, open water sends the pirate. The pirate blockades every edge around its hex — no ship may be built there or moved through — and robs a player who has a ship on that hex. It cannot sit on land, and the robber cannot sit on water.

Gold, fog and island bonuses

Gold fields pay a free choice: when the number comes up, every player with a building there takes any resource they like, one per settlement and two per city.
Fog hides a hex’s terrain until someone builds beside it. The builder is paid one of whatever is revealed. Fogged hexes may turn out to be open sea, which pays nothing.
Island bonus — the first settlement you place on an island you have not settled before is worth 2 victory points. Setup placements claim their island quietly, so the bonus only ever pays for genuinely new ground.

The scenarios

Eight of them, each with its own board and its own twist — a light one-ship crossing, four scattered islands with a scattered start, a far shore across a single channel, a coastline that is redrawn every game, a desert belt that counts as a second region, fogged hexes, and a ringed archipelago strewn with gifts you claim by sailing onto them.

Example: the New Shores scenario

Full seafaring: outer islands, gold, the pirate.

14 VP wins. Four one-hex islands ring the mainland; your first settlement on each pays +2 VP.
Gold hexes produce a resource OF YOUR CHOICE for each adjacent settlement (two for a city) when their number rolls.
Setup is on the mainland only; you reach the islands by ship.
Ships (1 lumber + 1 wool) are roads for the water: a road needs an edge touching land, a ship an edge touching sea — a coastal edge can take either, and the picker asks when both fit.
Roads and ships join ONLY at your own settlement or city. At an empty corner, a ship may extend only your ships and a road only your roads.
Longest Trade Route counts roads and ships together, but a road may meet a ship only at your own building on that corner.
Once per turn you may MOVE a ship instead of building one: only a ship at the open end of a route (none you built this turn), to any legal edge. Glowing ships can be picked up.
The pirate is the robber's sea twin. On a 7 (or a Knight), tap open water to place the pirate instead: it blocks all ship building and movement on its hex's edges and robs a player with a ship there.

Common questions

How do ships work?: A ship costs 1 lumber and 1 wool and is a road for the water. A road needs an edge touching land and a ship an edge touching sea; a coastal edge takes either, so that is where a route crosses the shoreline.
Can I connect a road to a ship?: Only at your own settlement or city. At an empty intersection a ship may extend only your ships and a road only your roads — a building is what bridges the two.
Can ships be moved?: Once per turn you may move one ship instead of building. It must be at the open end of a route, not one you built this turn, and it moves to any legal edge.
What is the pirate?: The robber's sea twin. On a seven you may place it on open water instead: it blocks ship building and movement around its hex, and robs a player with a ship there.
What is the island bonus?: The first settlement you place on an island you have not settled before is worth 2 extra victory points. Your starting placements claim their island silently, so the bonus only pays when you genuinely reach somewhere new.

Play a seafaring map free The core rules →

New Shores is an independent project and is not affiliated with, endorsed by or connected to any game publisher. These rules describe how this implementation plays.