May 2022 Game Night

Saturday was game night! After missing April from a certain unspecified illness of unknown origin, I'm tanned, rested, and ready to host Catan! We're back, baby!

We started with a 3:00 happy hour and started playing a bit before 4:00. We played 4 games with the harbor master variant, ending at 9:00. We hung out for another half hour for coffee and talk. No big whoop.

We dined on Sliders, potato chips and dip, some Hostess-like products, lemon cake, some miscellaneous leftover cookies, and M & Ms brought by Joe to replenish my supply.

Beer was the house swill, Labatt Blue Light. For those unsure of what wine goes with Sliders, the perfect pairing was the Fireball bottle. Also, some bourbon.

GAME 1

Pete (white) placed and moved first, followed by Paul (red), Joe (blue), and myself (orange) in the coveted DP spot.

The only decent rock was poorly placed. Pete snagged one and denied anyone else the chance for it. An unfair person might call it a "dick move." An unfair person, of course. I thought I had room to expand in the west and the northeast with decent road-building resources to stake out territory.

I managed to expand to a minimum necessary footprint with 2 or 3 settlement spots still available. My early shortage of road-building material allowed expansion into what I thought would be open fields in the southwest. I  was relieved to have promoted a single city. 

Paul was stuck in his southern settlement so expanded in the north. He too managed to promote a city and he competed with me for coastal sites.

Joe Pushed into "my" eastern zone from the north and east. He built the most roads this game. But no cities.

Pete amazingly built only 3 roads this game. But he road his 9 rock and productive wheat site into four cities, getting harbor master and adding a victory point to reach 11. Congratulations Pete!

END MAP

After Pete, Joe had 7 points, including longest road. I had 6. And Paul had 5.

This game began the trend of the entire night of very frequent "8" rolls. And in a statistical but ultimately meaningless shock, after I put the robber on Paul's 2 rock, we rolled 2 three times ...

GAME 2

Pete again went first, followed by Paul, Joe, and me.

This map didn't suck, although bricks were a problem. Paul jumped on that when Pete passed it by. And how I grabbed a good rock settlement is beyond me. Although obviously bricks were a severe shortage, making my theoretical open northwest likely beyond my grasp.

Paul's ample brick supply did indeed allow him to march across the north into "my" sphere. He promoted three cities, too! Harbor master was within sight. Oh, and at one point Paul put the robber on my lottery ticket 12 hex, but 12 was not rolled while it sat there.

Joe's brick situation was worse than mine and like anybody not named "Paul" playing, built few roads--3 to be exact, tying him for second place in road building. He challenged for harbor master, with a city on the coast that provided zero port points that came up short.

Pete looked like he could repeat his last game and built four cities on four sites, using just two roads that he built. The difference is that he had just two port points this game.

I tied for second in road building with 3. And with sheep (just stop ...) and a sheep port, plus a generic port (my brick port was useless except for denying it to brick-rich Paul), I built 4 cities and a settlement. The harbor master bonus pushed me to 11.

END MAP

Pete and Paul followed with 9 points each, with Paul having an unchallenged longest road while Pete had a victory point. Joe had 7 points.

Sorry about the rock card stack, Dave. 🤯

GAME 3

For the only time in the night, Pete did not place and move first. Joe went first, then me, Pete, and Paul.

Rock was a horror show. My second pick went to get more rock despite the desert. All I lacked was sheep. But despite decent road-building resources I was penned in by the Andersons.

I was able to escape the noose in the south. But getting a sixth build site would require the skills of Xenophon to reach the sea and beat Pete and Joe with massive road building. And my preference was to use any roads I got to connect my enclaves for longest road.

Despite decent wood and brick, Joe built few roads but challenged for harbor master. He also denied me my build spot at the 8,4 wheat space.

Paul once more began building toward a Catan-spanning longest road that he claims he never wants.

Pete expanded to the coast in the north and south, grabbing the harbor master, building a city (one of only three build total this game), and managed to string 5 road segments to get longest road, too, and 11 points! Congratulations Pete.

END MAP

I followed with 6, Paul had 5, and Joe had 4.

GAME 4

We reverted to the usual order of Pete, Paul, Joe, and myself in the coveted DP spot. Paul continued his evening record of not rolling higher than a 1 on the initial order rolls.

Rock was hit or miss. Sheep were great. Otherwise nothing too bad for resources.

I forgot to take the picture--or my finger failed to register the push--of the start map on this game. Bad host. I blame the Fireball. But imagine a small Catan map with each player placing two settlements and two road segments, on a map with unequal hard substance distribution and only adequate sheep. With the desert in the center.

My options were so bad for getting multiple resources that I resorted to choosing the wood port and building on wood and sheep in the west. Only a doctor's prescription for little blue pills would erect a victory path for me.

I must say, while others kindly mentioned I didn't get much production from my wood resources, I can't really complain. I needed great results. I got probably normal results. Still, I at least managed to build on 5 sites and was beginning to build cities, with my first on my wood resources. I had hope. I thought of connecting my enclaves to challenge for longest road. Harbor master was even possible for a while.

Paul built his usual Catan highway network.

Pete built along the coast in the south and again managed to build 4 cities on four sites. He had one more build site, so one more map point possible. But his four harbor points weren't enough because Joe got 4 first.

Joe built two good enclaves and by getting 4 harbor points, locked in the harbor master card because nobody had more than two ports available. And with three cities--despite Pete beating Joe to a port building site based on a trade just completed with Joe (who won't be walking right for a few days)--reached 11 points and victory. Congratulations Joe!

END MAP

Paul followed with 9 points, including the longest road and a victory point card. Pete had 8 and I had 6.

Of note, I was the only player not to buy a development card the entire night. I also got a Catan hat trick, coming in first, second, third, and fourth over 4 games.

So that was it. A fun night!

Your host, however, made a rookie mistake during game night. One I discovered when I woke up at 2:00 a.m. with a gurgling stomach that telegraphed gut-wrenching pain to follow.

It's been a while since I had Sliders. I forgot to scrape off most of the onions. The onions do me in every time in any volume. 

 

But a little Pepto and a gallon of water cured all, and I woke up Sunday bright eyed and bushy tailed.

Next month game night will be at Casa Joe's in South Lyon. Details to follow in June.

And a Catan meme!

Thanks for coming by. It's always fun. I missed it in April.