Ah, those carefree moments setting up game 1 when we thought we'd play 4 or 5 games. And then ... the horror.
But
first we feasted and drank. Smithwicks and Killian's (thanks Joe!)
before the usual Labatt Blue Light swill (and I say that with all due
respect).
It
was a cheesapalooza of bacon and pepperoni pizza, cheese popcorn,
cheetos (the crispy kind and not the puffed crap that saps our precious
bodily fluids), spicy peanuts, and mustard pretzels. Pretty much
everything but the beer discolored or greased your fingers.
Sweets
were provided by chocolate-covered, and peanut butter-filled pretzel
nuggets AND brownie-filled pretzel nuggets. Yes, you read that latter
one right. Truly we live in an advanced era and we are blessed to have
witnessed this technology. I'm assuming 3-D printing was involved.
Paul
managed to pry the Bailey's Irish Cream out of my claws and Tom even
appealed to me for a Bailey's and ice coffee. Which I granted, I hasten
to add.
The
3-D printed poop emoji (thanks Paul!) was deployed to make sure we knew
who had the turn (and still I managed to screw that up once).
We managed but two games before retiring for coffee and Game of Thrones.
We
seemed deadlocked in both games as key resources seemed denied to us. I
of course had plenty of sheep in both games, products that the robber
enjoyed as much as my fellow Catanians shunned them--I suspect they were
getting them on the black market from a guy who said they fell off a
truck.
Oh how I laughed when Pete actually asked me if I had a sheep in one round.
Pete
and Paul each snagged a victory as the stalemates edged into 2+ hours
each game. Pete actually complained that his efforts in one game to get
knights gave him a crappy victory point card. Oh the horror.
Paul
settled on the Golden Dice early and Pete brought his own suspicious
Vegas Dice as if my Box of Totally Legit Dice Alternatives isn't
trustworthy.
Joe eventually resorted to the tiny dice.
Tom chose the standard dice and then tried the asymmetric dice trick.
My dice choice had no measurable effect. I should have asked to try the Vegas Dice Set.
And
welcome to Tom who returned after a long absence. I assume either the
newsletter or Catan meme drew him in, so this newsletter will feature
happy gamers so you'll know for sure you are missing out. And a meme
that reflected the night for so many of us:
Also,
Tom committed a repeated faux pas in the first game by repeatedly (but
genuinely) complaining every time he pulled in 3 logs on one particular
roll. I'm reasonably sure the time out cured him of that.
Still, a great time. Glad to get together. We'll do it again in June!
