January 2018 Game Night

Gentlemen,

Last night we had game night. Dave, Joe, Paul, Pete and a new player Chuck (any myself of course) played on the big board. We put off Seafarers of Catan for next month in an effort to smooth the learning curve of a new player on the basic game.

We dined on a nachos buffet (taco meat, refried beans, salsas, hot and cold cheese, and guacamole--plus perhaps the first vegetable ever to grace game night, shredded lettuce) and assorted cookies along with the house brew Labatt Blue Light. As well as non-alcoholic beverages, of course.

And Paul had his particular dietary needs met, of course.

Thanks to those who brought additional brews. I try to keep leftovers for the next game night and mostly succeed unless I am completely out of the house brew.

Also, Chuck brought some high class bourbon which Paul nearly mixed with Sprite. Apparently that's a bad thing.

We had a full happy hour 7 to 8. And the games started a bit early as all arrived before game start.

Chuck had a relatively mild intro to the game, with Paul (not Joe, oddly enough) demonstrating how to break a road. Although he had already lost the longest road to Dave, so we didn't get to see that special look of surprise that comes with learning that rule the really hard way. I suspect plying players with bourbon was part of Chuck's plan, perhaps hearing horror stories of how new players are ritually sacrificed to the robber (ball gag optional).

Oh, and still no hookers of any nationality.

We managed only 3 games playing on the big board that seemed oddly short on key resources. One game had a green belt of sheep  bisecting the Although my position on the edge of the table may have just made the far side too hazy to see. And it isn't often we get 6 players, so perhaps that slowed us down too.

One game the strategy to overcome the resource shortage was Dave's all in on wood. Port plus a starting settlement at a triple-wood location.

I tried to overcome my wheat shortage by building 3 settlements on an 11 wheat. While much mocked by Catanians for my plight, when 11 finally came up the opportunity to give a double middle finger and "f*ck you all!" was a nice parting gift before someone else won the game.

Pete tried to rely on engineering background and "probability" which let him down completely. Yeah, like 8s are "supposed" to hit more often. Mumbo jumbo on Catan if you ask me.

Davehenge looked sadly like a pile of rubble rather than the pinnacle of a proud civilization that he has constructed in the past.

Defying the Joe Rule and all that is good and holy on Catan, Joe swept to victory in the first two games. All of a sudden he had 9 points and a shit-eating grin. I think in those two games I had built but one city upgrade. But others seemed to be in better position to possibly win those games had the Joeggernaut been stopped somehow.

Are people unclear about the Joe Rule?

By game 3 Paul was sobering up enough to make a push for victory; while Dave settled on a "Joe must be denied a hat trick" strategy. Why he needlessly cluttered the Catan Compiled Laws with a more complicated duplicate of the Joe Rule is beyond me.

I think Paul was scared straight after he offered to trade 2 wood for "any" single card and so I gave him a single wood. I'll pay for that, I'm sure. My own damn fault for reminding him.I seem to recall someone else piled on at which time Paul shut down his trading floor. I'd name names to dilute the wrath but can't remember. Anyone want to own up to the crime?

Amazingly, Dave took the carpet's virginity as the first person ever to knock a drink onto the floor during Game Night. So the OSHA no accidents in __ days sign was reset to 1 this morning. I blame the bourbon. And gravity. And possibly "probability."

But truth and justice finally prevailed (hey, I write the history books here--you try this hungover if you want a better tale) as I swept to victory with my transcatanental longest road and largest army added to my single city and 4 settlements. Huzzah. That was the only game I bought lottery tickets.

Lottery tickets weren't that popular overall. Oddly, sheep and wheat were scarce a lot. Even I was not pimping out sheep to the derision of the crowd. And I don't think more than one victory point card was held (Pete had one in one game).

We wrapped up late so just had coffee without Game of Thrones, with last guests departing at about 2:15, I think. Late night allowed sobering up. For a while there I was figuring out how many might be sacked out on the first floor when I came down in the morning. As always, nobody needs to drive home if you can't. Casa Beej has a late checkout time on Sunday.

And the carnage in my kitchen awaits me.

Thanks to all who attended. Much fun as always. 

And remember that we have contingencies for more than 6. If 7 players, I sit out the first game and the winner sits out the next game. If 8 players show, as host I sit out the game all night; and the low roller sits out the first game with the winner bowing out of the next game.

I do have a simple game once popular pre-Catan (Viktory II) that has a similar board style to Catan with plastic pieces (ships, cannons, infantry, and cavalry reliant on different terrain types). you can get a few games of that in during a night. It can handle 8 players.

I think expanded Civilization might handle 9? I haven't played that in 30 years. With an abbreviated victory condition level we could get a game in during an evening (maybe 2 games). It is simple to play. With victory conditions as written that game would go 12 hours with the last 9 or more hours a series of genocidal wars to wipe out the leader until the military capacity of non-leaders faded to allow someone to escape that fate and crawl across the finish line.

If we ever get more than 8--in addition to me running out to the store for more food and beer--we could set up a card table with another game. I have Car Wars, Nuclear War Card Game, Escape from New York, Kingdoms, and Snapshot (a Traveller-based game). All could be played quickly and we could rotate.

I'll actually have to start thinking about February game night soon.

Also in a first, I don't have massive leftovers of food that I eat until next game night. I busted out the reserve bag of corn chips and that barely kept the bourbon-fueled rioters at bay.

Also, I'm not sure if anybody so much as garnished their gut bomb plates with lettuce. But I tried. You can kiss your hopes for kale goodbye.

Beej