August 2018 Game Night

Paul, Dave, Tom, Joe, and Pete joined me for game night. Happy hour began at 7:00 and game start was about 8:00.

So we played the big board and ended up doing regular Catan when Dave realized he hadn't brought all the parts for Seafarers. We added the Harbormaster card only to keep things simple rather than using a more complicated variant. This, as you may remember, adds a two-point card like largest army and longest road (and not vice versa)  by granting it to whoever has 3 harbor points. A settlement on a port space is one harbor point and a city is 2 points. With another avenue for points, you need 11 points to win rather than the standard 10.

We dined on home cooked sliders with a hint of cumin in addition to other spices, at my daughter's suggestion. It was build your own with pickles, a couple mustards, catsup, and precisely slices cheeses in two varieties. We had regular and whole wheat buns for those on a health kick. For sides we had potato and macaroni salads and potato chips (regular and barbecue) plus dips, chocolate chip and chocolate/lemon milano cookies, as well as M & Ms and mustard pretzels.

For beer we had the standard swill of Casa Beej--Labatt Blue Light--and Sam Adams.

Paul and Joe broke into the Bailey's early, yet Paul didn't hit his private stash of frozen thin mints for his particular dietary needs.

We had the big board of course. I forgot to take a picture of the game 1 board so my memory is sketchy.  But in a long slog, I think I got it with the longest road and harbormaster card. Funny enough, I didn't notice I'd put down the final points until it was pointed out. My memory was that my one rock source never came up in the game, but my sheep port and extensive sheep holdings made that problem moot. Joe mocked my longest road noting my contention that efforts to defend the longest road are often counter-productive.

Tom, perhaps unclear on the concept of the game after his long absence, bitterly complained every time his "4" hex was rolled despite increasing production from that space. Usually we reserve our best whining for our numbers NOT coming up. Just saying.

Also, the game was odd for not having a robber show up for a long stretch of time after the game began.

Also, Davehenge outperformed Tom's sphinx in stability in the only battle for engineering supremacy in the wooden pieces Jenga competition.

Tom had to depart after game one for previous commitments--rumors that we were mean to him notwithstanding--so we had a roomier board for the rest of the evening.

Game two was a contrasting tale of glory and misery. This game I had no harbors and little access to wood, yet rested my hopes on wresting the longest road from Paul. Despite Paul's initial placement blocking Dave in one important direction, Dave managed to expand outward. Yet his major outlet to the center was along two bordering deserts. So he set the record for desert building with 5 points of building on no resources. Dave totally didn't resent Paul for that.

Also, the probability gods sent the robber in early and often in this game for one stretch.

Pete had effectively cordoned off a good chunk of building space, but it was resource poor; although he did have a solid base of numbers that would allow him to build if those numbers came in.

Still, Dave built up his empire to ten and with a fist full of resources, awaited his turn to come around to collect the inevitable victory he seemed destined to gain. We all prayed for the robber to stop the apparently inevitable. It came up to Paul and he failed to roll a 7. He gamely built up his coastal road-hugging empire. And as he prepared to pass the  poop to Dave who we hoped would roll his own 7, I noted that Paul had 11 points, including his longest road and harbormaster card.

As it turned out, Dave had so many cards that he figured he could promote a city or build a settlement even if he lost half his cards. So close.

Dave totally didn't resent Paul for that and let it bleed into the next game, bickering and arguing over who killed who. Sometimes those initial placements are the butterfly wings that make the difference at the end of the game.

Game three was proof of God.

Joe and Pete had nine points as did I, while Paul was just back with 8. I had the longest road that Joe had hope of contesting. Pete had harbormaster and so had more room to promote cities to get to 11. And nobody was in a position to contest his card. I basically had rocks and wood. My bricks and wheat relied on low-odds spaces and I only gained a "12" sheep later in the game. I figured Pete had pole position to win.

But then the hand of God came down to Catan, with the number 6 rolled in a flood of Biblical proportions for what seemed like 4 or 5 in a row, each time getting me 3-4 cards of each type. When it came to my turn I was able to use 6 rocks plus 16 cards in 4 matched sets (rocks and wood) to buy from the bank 4 wheat, thus getting me to 11 points which smote all my foes.

Obviously, Providence denied my foes a monopoly card at this stage.

Not that this in any way makes up for last summer in Toronto.

And I will say that Dave was plagued with poor rolls for his resources, with the flood of 6s that finally gave him a trickle of bricks too little and too late. He has reason to curse the gods for their role in game 3.

Unless Paul had a hand in that--somehow ...

We wrapped up after 1:00 AM and skipped the usual Game of Thrones this time.

Nobody ever even tried to get the longest army in the games, and development cards weren't that big a deal. One monopoly card played along with some road building and years of plenty. I don't think anybody had a point card. Which would have made all the difference in any of the games.

Also, Pete started the rumor that Paul is going to 3-D print a home colonoscopy set. I'm not totally sure where that was going.

As always, if people would like to correct my errors or omissions, continue their feuds, or again mock me for my solid conviction that longest road is a chalice laced with poison, please feel free.

Thanks to all who attended. We'll do it again next month here. Joe has offered to host a Fall game night (October or November, I can't remember). I'm guessing the 15th or 29th given that the 22nd is out, the 8th looks potentially bad, and the 1st is too soon and the Labor Day weekend.

And now, to tackle the cleaning up in the kitchen ...