November 2021 Game Night

We had game night this last weekend! "We" being:

We dined on two kinds of pizza, two kinds on corn chips, two kinds of chip dip, two kinds of cookies, and twin packs of Nutty Buddies. We had Labatt Blue Light and the regular version plus the usual pop. Joe also brought chocolate and Bailey's. Dave brought chocolate-covered pretzels.

We played Catan on the expansion map and using the harbormaster variant, managing to get four games in. I was blue, Dave was green, Paul was red, Joe was orange, and Pete was white.

Game One

Where'd the wheat go! That was a brutal limitation.

Dave went first, followed by Paul, Joe, Pete, and myself in the coveted DP position.

Amazingly, other players didn't jump on wheat to the extent I expected. I had to forego sheep and accept weak wood, but I had the best wheat, good brick, and only had weak rock left to me. I felt penned in but at least could hope for expansion space south of the southern desert.

This was the game start map.

Joe built toward the coast in the south, threatening my potential expansion room. Mostly he too had space in the north shielded by the desert.

Dave was blocked on his interior settlement and fortunately moved north on his western settlement initially.

Paul oddly built just one road despite having a 5 road-building capacity. But with a strong rock capacity, he concentrated on building his cities. He retained expansion room in the north.

Pete started close together but he managed to spring across Catan to get close to the coast while keeping open an option to link his settlements to get longest road.

I reached the coast from both initial settlements, and also blocked Joe from going inland by improving my wheat position and actually getting a rock from that near-useless 2. My year of plenty card was key to building roads to move in two directions and build--finally getting sheep. Amazingly, I earned the longest road with 5 segments, worrying about Pete taking it over; and got harbormaster ahead of two players who also had 2 port points. With two cities and three settlements, that put me to 11 points and victory. Woo hoo!

This was the end map:

Paul, Joe, and Dave had 5 points, while Pete had 4.

 

Game Two

This time wood was the scarce resource.

I placed first, followed by Dave, Paul, Joe, and Pete in the coveted DP position.

This was the game start map.

I pounced on the good rock and brick, and when it got back to me I settled for excellent sheep and adequate wheat. No wood was even within range. And no sheep port was close. Egad. Perhaps I should have grabbed the good wood space in the south and prayed I'd make it to the weak wheat. But as it turned out, Pete had the southern horizons pretty open to his empire.

But without road-building materials, Pete built up his cities with little expansion. Although he did snag harbormaster, as he often does.

Dave was crippled with no brick. He linked his settlements but found that he was ensnared by Joe, Paul, and myself.

Joe reached the coast and moved to link his settlements. Mercifully he didn't head for the coast first in the west where I desperately needed settlement options.

I reached the coast in three locations and hoped to challenge for harbormaster. I especially wanted another port on the wheat before Joe could reach it. But road-building was weak for me. 

Paul was prolific in building cities. And after building a settlement, he went on a road-building spree (every 4 roll gave him 2 roads alone) to get the longest road title and reach 11. Congratulations Paul!

This was the end map:

Pete was second with 7 points, including harbormaster and his fancy non-relic dice tray. Joe had 6, with a victory point card. I had 5 points. Dave had 2.

 

Game Three

No resource sucked by wheat was the weakest.

I forgot to write it down but I think Pete went first, followed by me, Dave, Paul, and then Joe.

This was the game start map.

I was happy with everything but my wheat but at least lacked no resource. I had room to expand, although my inland direction relied on the shield of the desert mostly surrounded by crappy resources. But I did manage to expand with good road-building resources. At one point I had 10 points, including the longest road. 

Egged on by a cabal of my foes friends, Paul blocked one link-up route for me. I wasn't worried because I bypassed it and knew that his commitment there limited his challenge for longest road in the other part of his empire. I knew I could beat Paul because I had only one "wasted" one road segment. But Joe had the potential to max out if he kept building.

Joe stretched out in the south, looking for longest road and with a lot of spaces for ports, too, if the game went on.

Pete also had a mid-range shot at longest road in his southern expanse. But he had potential blockers all around him.

Dave built up his cities even though he was limited in expansion options. But he did begin deploying knights and got the largest army.

I was hoping to regain longest road while Dave lurked uncomfortably close. And not because he was sitting next to me.

But I digress.

Paul completely hemming in Dave at the coast, built his road north, defending his longest road with his 15th road segment, reaching 11. I had 9. But Paul grabbed harbormaster, too, and reached 11 points! Congratulations Paul!

This was the end map:

Dave was looming more than we thought because he had a victory point card in addition to largest army, finishing with 10 points. I had 9 points, the hard way. Pete had 6. And Joe had 5.

 

Game Four

We debated ending for some Game of Thrones or perhaps Xena: Warrior Princess. But one more game beckoned.

Wood was purely crap this game. Except for one lodged up against a desert.

This time Joe went first, followed by Pete, myself, Dave, and then Paul.

This was the game start map.

I grabbed the good wood spot and even had a good brick available. I was denied no resource and if I built out quickly had good settlement options.

I did manage to get to the coast at both locations. As it turned out, it was a mistake to build my first city inland on ample resourcess rather than locking in harbormaster by promoting a port settlement with fewer resources. My sheep port was at least useful for my good sheep resource. Sadly I needed to expand in every direction to block other players and retain build spots--especially ports.

Paul was purely SOL this game for some reason. 

With Joe poking Paul with pointy roads where Paul did manage to build roads, Paul was limited.

Dave expanded in the south, with the potential for harbormaster or longest road. And despite poor wheat managed to promote two cities.

Pete was struggling with roads as Paul and I were. But he staked out some ground in the middle and had room on the coast with Joe preoccupied in the north.

Joe expanded a bit toward the coast in the west but reserved his major attention to ports in the north and his road that cut off Paul at the knees. But with harbormaster and 7 road segments for longest road, Joe made it to 11. Congratulations Joe!

This was the end map:

Dave followed with 8, including a victory point card. I had 6 and Pete had 5. Paul had 3, including a victory point.

It was a fun evening as usual. Thanks to all who made it!

And a meme:

As always, feel free to add your perspective or clear up uncertainties or gross errors of fact.

And a shout out of prayers and best wishes to our friend Tom. May he pull out of his health problem. We'd love to have him return to game night for beer, banter, and friendly games of Catan.