November 2022 Game Night

Joe, Paul, and Pete joined me for another game night.

We dined on sliders, potato chips and dips, chocolate chip cookies and caramels, plus the usual house swill, Labatt Blue Light. Pete kindly donated a premium six pack, as did Joe who also brought some upscale bourbon. And the usual Bailey's was opened up.

We played with the harbor master variant. We also played with 5 extra wood resource cards that I clearly forgot to remove from the basic box after last month playing with the expanded game. Oops. I don't think we ever even got close to wondering about running out of wood. So no harm, no foul, I think.

But what was foul was that in a recent Windows 11 update, the SOBs took out the slide show function of my computer. I used it last month. This month it is gone. So no more meme slide shows during the game until I can figure out how to replace that. Thanks so much!!!!  I suppose I could just put it up and let guests forward it manually like friggin' cavemen would have to do it.

We didn't get the pre-game Michigan Air National Guard Chinook flyover because of the poor weather. But this is from the practice runs Friday:

During the games, I was blue, Pete was red, Paul was orange, and Joe was white.

GAME ONE

The order of placement and play was Pete, Paul, Joe, and myself in the coveted DP spot.

Rock and sheep were adequate, I suppose. Although Joe did note that "if you have enough wood, you can attract sheep." Words to live by, indeed. I chose to abandon sheep to get brick and wheat to go along with my good wood and rock holdings. I didn't have any high-value "red" resources, however. Everybody else had good resource diversity, with Joe enjoying a road every 5 roll.

Pete made it to the coast in both of his enclaves. And he headed north from his western enclave but was hemmed in in the east. His dismal 6 resource production hexes were major disappointments.

Paul cut off my inland settlement to curl around a good wheat hex while gaining rock. In the east he curled around the other 4 rock, giving himself good city promotion prospect should the game last.

I was blocked in the south by Joe, wasting two roads. And my inland settlement was forced to go further north to build after Joe blocked another build site. But at least I threaded the needle and made it to the coveted desert-2 coastal site. Woo!! At least I promoted a city, unexpectedly getting what I needed without trying even though my impulse was to spread out for more settlement sites.

Joe stretched out from coast to coast in a near-Lineland, with the benefit of his high-performing 5s. But with 2 cities, 3 settlements, and both the longest road and harbor master, reaching 11! Congratulations Joe!

The end map. 

Paul and I tied for second with 5 points each (I had a victory point card), and Pete had 4.

"Probability"

Six really under-performed. Five was unusually good. I can't complain about my luck, really. I seemed to hit my numbers regularly. But I lacked the right combination of resources early and needed to spend more trading at bank rates to extend my roads, which slowed me down a lot.

 

GAME TWO

The order of placement and play was me, Pete, Paul, and Joe in the DP spot.

Oops. Upside down.

The massive mountain in the middle was interesting. Nobody was tempted to plant in the middle of it. Perhaps because the rock port was fully beach front property. Paul had the possibility of building into that combination. I was worried about placing my settlements so close together, but I wanted decent resources and diversity. I got that except for rock. But I had a shot at reaching it. And fortunately nobody penned me in with their initial placements. Having last placement at least meant I avoided that.

Paul built toward the rock port. But when I reached the rocks ahead of him, he reversed course and blocked me on the coast. He had good built options off of both initial settlements. Although the desert reduced the value a bit. But lack of roads kept him from building out. Good rock production gave him two cities, however.

Joe linked up his settlements and managed to move down the coast through the sparse pastures. This cut off Pete's expansion options and gave Joe the longest road. Despite poor rock resources, somehow Joe promoted 3 cities. Alchemy, I tell you. Building cities at least diverted Joe from pushing down the coast into Paul's potential build spots or expanding inland. Although that was risky without building the need roads and settlement in one shot.

Pete had a severe wheat shortage. The wheat port he eventually got was kind of a painful reminder of that. Despite an automatic road and ample 9s, Pete built few roads, but still managed to earn harbor master. The sheep port really paid off with lots of 5s and [checks notes] 12s! And his 6 sheep that under-performed his other sheep resources. Signs of Klaus, indeed.

My major success after getting the rocks that my initial placement was curling around the 3 brick for sufficient build spots. And I managed to take the longest road from Joe. And with a fist full of cards, I built inland with two roads and a settlement to reach 11. Whew.

The end map.

Pete came in second with 9 points and the harbor master. Joe had 7 and Paul had 6.

"Probability"

Probability was just odd. My bricks and wheat over-performed--multiplies by heavy builds--and my wood resource was sufficient. The standout was of course the 12 sheep that outperformed 6 and tied for 4th place with 8 for the most rolls.

 

GAME THREE

It was sometime during game 3 that the bourbon kicked in.

The order of placement and play was myself, Pete, Paul, and Joe in the coveted DP spot.

Rock was poor. But I was worried the concentrated wood would be gone by my last placement. So I grabbed rock, wood, and the 3 rock with hope another 3 build spot would be open. And maybe a 2. I was desperate enough for wheat to make my final placement on the desert and probably doom myself to being penned in. The north seemed pretty open, at least, even at the end of placement.

Overall, my resources did well on hitting. But poor 4 rolls kept me from expanding in the north as both ends were blocked on the coasts. Oddly, my penned in site gave me two more build spots and a port. And in the north I at least staked out a sixth build spot to give me theoretically 10 points and the need for just one VP or bonus card. I never did manage to build any cities. But did have hope with 2 VP cards in my hand.

Joe threaded the needle between me and Paul to claim the 2 rock. And he expanded toward the 11 wheat.  Joe, too, had 7 available spots and built a city. The massive 11 performance really helped otherwise poor resource numbers.

Pete rode his high-producing 5 and 8 to massive urbanization. He expanded in the northwest, blocking Paul and myself. Apparently I'm to blame for keeping Pete from going over the top with his massive wheat production and wheat port. Plus Pete locked in the harbor master card. In my own defense it was hard to calibrate which of the two to target.

Paul threaded the needle between Joe's starting positions to cross Catan from coast to coast, getting the longest road with almost no chance of anyone taking it from him--and that would be momentary unless it gave someone 11 points. And the high-producing 10 points and his brick port probably enabled Paul to promote 2 cities to seal the deal. 

I should note that Paul was inebriated and apparently didn't notice his victory path. I was equally inebriated and made the classic error of pointing out the path to victory. Sigh. I thought it was obvious. Even to me. It was not obvious to Paul. Oops. I usually don't do that. Anywho ....  Congratulations Paul!

The end map.

Pete came in second with 10 points, including the harbor master card. I had 7, including two victory points. And Joe had 6 points natural.

"Probability"

 

Six and 8 were at least good this game. But 5? And 10? And 11?? Four was lousy. Which hurt me. But since I had 6,8, and 10, I can't complain.

 

GAME FOUR

The order of placement and play was Joe, myself, Pete, and Paul in the coveted DP spot.

Rock was poor. Brick was good or bad. Wood was good. I grabbed the wood, wheat, rock, space. And on the way back had to go for the coastal bricks. I at least had a road for every 8 roll.

Joe got stuck in the east and inland as Paul expanded, but did manage to push down the coast to "steal" a spot from Pete. He also had a fourth build spot secured. But that was it. Only four cities, largest army, and a victory point remained as the most likely path to victory.

I too was blocked inland from my brick holdings. And I was stopped along the coast by Paul, too. But I had another good brick spot plus a 3:1 port. And I pushed inland to get some wheat that had above average productivity. And my 3 over-produced, too. Which was nice. With just five build spots and no way to build roads or ports, I started buying cards and managed to beat Pete for that achievement. I built one city but didn't have the time to build 3 more.

Paul again grabbed longest road. This time by building a nice corner enclave in the north and abandoning his southern settlement. Paul had one more guaranteed build spot and a shot at one in the south. But his city-building stalled at one.

Pete had the best rock and it produced. Pete built few roads but again earned harbor master with a small--5 build spots--but fully urbanized empire. He had one more potential build spot but didn't need it! Congratulations Pete!

The end map.

 Paul came in second with 9 points. I followed with 8, including largest army. And Joe had 3.

 "Probability"

Lots of robbers. And 3, 4, 5, and 9 were really good. But the curve at least looked kind of normalish.

 

Thanks to those who attended. It was a lot of fun. And in a participation trophy spirit, everyone won a game. And I appreciate the clarification to my questions the next morning. My notes on the last two games were not in sync with my photos or memory. Sadly in my effort to avoid glare I narrowed the pictures to miss perimeter evidence of points. All is clarified.

And while I forgot to mention it, everyone is welcome to stay after the game for additional coffee, non-alcoholic beverages, and time before driving home. And if you can't drive you can sleep next to the cat.

Please feel free to comment.

And a meme!

October 2022 Game Night

We held game night at Casa Beej. Joe, Paul who flew in from Jackson--boy were his arms tired--arriving late, Pete, and [checks notes] Dave[!] joined me for Catan.

We had taco pie, Taquitos, Fritos, Tostitos, salsa and cheese dip, and cookies. Plus the M & M stash. So it was a modified, limited Ito Night. Plus the usual house swill, Labatt Blue Light, and assorted non-alcoholic beverages. And at one point my guests raided the liquor cabinet.

Expecting Paul to arrive shortly after official game start, I figured we could hold off starting to avoid playing on the small board and then expanding to the expansion game when Paul arrives. So I set up the bigger board to save time.

But after a longer delay than I expected and no word from Air Paul, I broke down the board to the small one and we played a game. Paul literally arrived as we finished the first game. We clearly could have played another game. Oh well.

Joe was orange, I was red, Dave was white, Pete was blue, and Paul was green when he arrived.

Game One

Joe placed and played first, followed by myself, Pete, and Dave in the coveted DP spot.

Starting positions.

Wheat was pretty crappy. I thought I was good with an automatic road rather than claiming wheat at start. I thought I had two outlets for wheat but other players cut off my southern play. Thanks, Joe. Luckily I was able to get some wheat in the north. But 4 just came up twice in the game. My single road built during the game was a nightmare. It prevented me from getting the 5 wheat I had hoped to get. I was forced to focus on cities and lottery tickets, hoping I could get to another couple build sites before I was completely cut off. Shockingly, I picked up three victory point cards! In theory just one more settlement would be enough to win.

Joe built out his empire and grabbed the longest road. And after cutting off Pete's southern outlet to the sea, could link up his roads to defend it. Joe also had a shot at harbor master.

Pete, too, worked for the longest road and if he linked up his roads could have gotten that card. Although holding it with his end points blocked would have been tough. Despite three cities, Pete had no more build sites available. Without bonus points he was stuck.

Dave wasn't able to build many roads. But his wheat sites produced nicely and he fully urbanized his four build sites. He even had 2 harbor points. Eventually, Dave played enough knights to take largest army. And to my surprise--because I knew how many victory point cards I had--Dave flipped over his victory point card and reached 11. Congratulations Dave!

Amazingly, I followed with 8 points, including my 3 victory point cards, while Joe (with longest road) and Pete tied at 7.

End game:

"Probability":

Nothing really outrageous. Thank God for my 10 and 11 sheep holdings which at least let me use my port to get some non-rock resources. And while probability denied me only 1 or 2 "4" rolls, I had hoped for above-average return on my investment. Or at least some road-building efficiency with normal rolls.

Paul arrived as we finished the first game. I think Dave triumphantly flipped his victory point card while I was letting Paul in, actually. So we broke down the small game and built the expansion map.

Game Two

Pete placed and played first, followed by Dave, Paul, Joe, and myself in DP spot.

Starting positions.

Rock was in poor shape in this game. Joe even built on the coast for a rock, although the 8 wheat made it a decent site. Wheat was hit or miss, number-wise.

I struggled to expand but did manage to expand out to 5 build sites with 1 ready to build and 1 or 2 more that should have been easily achievable. I built just a single city but did get a victory point card.

Paul built quite the road and created an impressive enclave. But with no way to build cities he had no easy way to free up settlements to build more--or even protect his longest road! I was so tempted to build two roads and a settlement to break his lock on that! It would surely have made the newsletter! Alas, my road building was too limited. But Paul didn't get the time he needed to build cities.

Dave build roads that challenged Paul but didn't quite make it. His lack of wheat wasn't good but he had vast ranges of sheep. And he started with a sheep port on initial placement. I'm so proud. Hey! I'm not crying. You're crying! And with 5 settlements out, Dave also faced the sudden truncation of his road had Pete cared to try.

Pete probably would have done the deed, actually, because he was running out of safe build spots. Not only did Dave cut off one initial road placement, Pete was surrounded by threats from every other player who could have built on the sites around him. I hate that. You almost have to build roads and settlements in one move to avoid having your roads wasted slowly trying for one and than another build spot. Pete did promote two cities.

Joe build a flux capacitor inland and stretched out on the coast for another 3 build spots. Joe blocked my one hope of getting sheep with his coast build. And with two port cities, Joe grabbed harbor master. Along with 3 cities and 3 settlements, that was enough for victory. Congratulations Joe!

Dave, myself (with a victory point card), and Paul (with longest road) tied for second. Pete had 6.

End game:

"Probability":

On paper the 3 worked out well for me. But a good chunk of that was earned right before the game ended and sit on the board in front of me at the end. Drat. And I swung and missed when I bet on 6 rather than 8. At least I didn't bet on 11! And egad, 4 was even worse than in the first game.

And with tired players, we cut the night short at two games. How shameful.

And a meme:

Thanks to those attended! Hopefully Dave doesn't think he gets low value for his attendance with just two games. We'll do better next time! It was fun, as usual, with witty banter worthy of the salons of Paris. Or that could have been the booze. Yeah, with a little distance from the night the "sheep" and "wood" jokes weren't that great. Oh well. We'll do better next time on that, too!

Please feel free to add your comments about your perspective on game night.

September 2022 Game Night

Paul hosted game night in September with an outdoor event that had great weather for playing into the evening. Without further commentary, Paul's recap:

This game night was an away game at Casa Paul. Since my favorite pizzaria burned down, I chose to grill steaks instead. It was a warm, pleasant late afternoon and evening. The noon football game traffic had died down, so the outdoor setting under the trailer awning was comfortable and quiet. 

Grilling and eating the steaks took awhile, as it turned out, so we were only able to get two games in. 

In both games, Paul was white, Pete was red, Joe blue, and Brian was orange.

GAME THE FIRST 

Paul rolled for start position, followed by Pete, Joe, then Brian in the coveted DP spot. 

The first game made us all pay for our culinary gluttony by depriving us of brick. Joe's placement on the only strong brick served the rest of us maximum pain, as we would have to "go coastal" in order to get decent brick. Now that I look at it, I don't know why I didn't place on the 3:1 port next to the wood and brick. It would haven given relatively easy access to road construction. I plead food coma. 

After second placement, Paul completely forwent any access to brick. No doubt bravely hoping for rolls that never quite paid off. 

 

During play, the center section's general weakness of good numbers made it harder to build up critical mass of production, except for Joe, who blitzkrieged across Catan, of course gaining longest road, but also my undying appreciation for his beautifully done coast to coast highway. Wisely, Joe's initial placement set him up for a road segment on every 9 roll. 

Despite several production barriers, Pete and Brian were able to at least make this came a little bit close, with Pete obtaining a victory point card, and Brian ending with the harbormaster card. Paul distantly trailed with 4 points. 

Joe led with 11 points, followed by Brian with 9, Pete with 7, and Paul with 4.

Dice rolls for game one appeared to be relatively normal, with a single 12. Otherwise nicely distributed. 

 

GAME 2.0

In the second game, wood was a little soft [editor: I see what you did there], again keeping the start a little slow, as people struggled to obtain road and settlement materials. Pete led us off, then Joe, Brian, and finally Paul. 

 

Despite the slight shortage of wood, the initial placements appeared to be of relatively even quality, this time with Pete choosing to forgo direct access to wood. As he placed first, he chose to emphasize city building matrials in the sheep/wheat/rock position. This also gives a nice stream of development cards, which he used to his advantage as well. 

This game almost certainly went a little bit faster, in particular, all three bonus cards were out, Pete with largest army, Joe again with longest road, and Brian with harbormaster. 

Paul, hemmed in a bit, and without rock, again trailed at 7 points, Joe, with a bit more room to stretch out, took longest road, but was also hampered a bit by poor rock (the 11 in the center). He made it to 8 points. Brian may have suffered weak rolls early in the game slowing expansion - at the end, he had decent diversity and resources, but it probably came a little late to give him more than the 10 points he finished with. Pete made hay with his 8 hex rock, upgraded his four settlements to cities, then grabbed largest army and a victory point card for the win - good job, Pete! 

Dice stats in game two showed two was never rolled, and three with an impressive showing of being rolled 6 times. 

Having started game one a bit late, we finished up around 9:30 or so if I remember. It was dark and late enough we decided to call it a day and return home to nurse our real and mostly imagined injuries. 

Thanks to Joe for recording dice statistics, as well as a nice bottle of Buffalo Trace. It was well received!

And so a great outdoor dinner with a side of Catan concluded. Thanks to Paul for hosting and taking up writing duties!

I leave you with a meme.

Next month back at Casa Beej.