February 2023 Game Night

We held February game night. After a week of dealing with a flood from my neighbor, I finally put my place back together a couple hours before game start. That put me back in the mood for game night!

Joe, Paul, Pete, Tony, and new player Jordan joined me for Catan on the big board. Well, not the biggest board.

Joe was kind enough to (but needlessly--just show up!) bring extra supplies for Paul and Pete's special dietary needs and some nicer beer. Thanks, Joe!

We dined on pinwheel sandwiches and a plethora of condiments, corn chips plus salsa and Chad's smoked gouda dip, and various cookies. Also, I brought out the leftover Twinkies that must finally be consumed before they go bad in several decades.

And the usual house swill, Labatt Blue Light and a plethora of leftover beers including a bunch of IPAs. And non-alcohol drinks and Bailey's.

The colors for the night were white for Paul, brown for Jordan, green for me, red for Tony, blue for Pete, and orange for Joe.

GAME 1

The order of placement and movement was Paul, Jordan, myself, Tony, Pete, and Joe in the coveted DP position.

Wheat was a bit short this board. And wood was placed poorly.

Starting map:

Tony got hemmed in pretty quickly despite threading his way to the coast. And despite holding rocks never managed to promote cities.

Pete had a similar problem but at least had a fifth build site possible if he won the race with me. But he did promote two cities. And had a theoretical chance of getting harbor master if he won that race.

I was squeezed in my eastern settlement but managed to thread the needle from my other settlement almost to the coast. But I had to build three roads for each settlement! I should have had three settlements on that stretch of road. But I was relieved to squeeze through at all. I managed to promote one city and hoped to get one more settlement on the coast, depending on what Paul and Pete did.

Also, I demonstrated why we have the holy plastic covering relic for the board. Next week, pleas note that the spill is the reason some of the rock cards might be a tad sticky. Soylent Green is totally not people.

Joe managed to link his settlements, and reached the coast in the northwest, blocking Jordan. And his inland expansion nearly blocked me. With two cities and longest road, Joe was contending for the crown.

Jordan was stymied in expanding and had just four settlements. He did, however, buy lots of development cards to get the largest army. And at the end of the game revealed three victory point cards!

Paul didn't expand much, curling around an 8 wood, 6 brick, and 6 rock. He won the harbor master and promoted 3 cities, getting to 11! Congratulations Paul!

End map:

Jordan had 9 points with 3 VP cards and the largest army, followed by Joe with 9 points including the longest road, Pete and myself tied with 6, and Tony with 4.

"Probability":

Nothing was too out of the ordinary, although 5 and 9 were hot, while 11 was on fire.

GAME 2

The order of placement and movement was--again--Paul, Jordan, myself, Tony, Pete, and Joe in the coveted DP position.

Wheat and brick were pretty bad.

Starting map:

Paul started out hemmed in in the northeast and with a bit of room in the northwest. He curled around a good wood (well, he did!) but was locked out of more than four build spots.

Joe squeezed through a choke point to link his settlements and--for a while--hold the longest road.  But I managed to build through his path and block him and take the longest road. But with all his cities built and no building spots, it would be all up to getting the largest army and a VP card to win.

And we did enjoy Joe's sinister laugh right before he couldn't make the move he thought he could. *golf clap*

Tony was hemmed in the west but in the southeast had some room to expand potentially. But road-building was hard, and with only two new roads, Tony had three build spots that somehow each had a city! That got him harbormaster.

Pete had a small enclave on the southern coast and managed to expand nicely in the east. Despite four coastal build spots, two were on non-port spaces. So harbormaster was out of the question. But Pete did have the option of surpassing my maxed-out road.

I was rolling despite crappy wheat and a relatively good 4 brick that just did not produce. I expanded in the north and I was--contrary to the usual outcome--able to expand my center settlement throughout the interior. I even linked them--and cut Joe's road--to get the longest road. But with two cities and no build spots because I'd built all my roads, I had to get either a victory point card or promote a city. As my turn came up I had all the rocks and wheat I needed to promote a city. I'd have to trade a couple wheat at what I thought was my useless wheat port. But I could do it. 

Then Jordan played a monopoly card and took all my wheat. Damn.

So the game went around and this time I had all the rocks and wheat I needed with no trades!

Then Jordan played a monopoly card and took all my wheat as he took his turn before my turn. WTF?

Jordan had a lot of development cards this game, hemmed in to just four build spots he nonetheless built up all his cities with a health diet of 10 rolls. And with the largest army all he needed was to stop my drive to victory (see above) and get a victory point. You guessed right. Congratulations Jordan!

End map:

I followed with 10 points, including the longest road, then Tony with 9 (harbor master and a VP card), Pete with 8 (one VP card), Joe with 8, and Paul with 5. It was all in all a hard-fought game.

"Probability":

Oh my God, 5, 10, 11, and 12! Four was mostly AWOL.

GAME 3

Not appearing in this scene: Paul, who bravely ran away to "get up early" for "family" reasons.

The order of placement and movement was Joe, Jordan, myself, Tony, and Pete in the ... DP spot.

Nothing was totally horrible. Although brick was problematic.

Starting map:

Jordan got pinned in his southernmost build spot and in his other settlement by the time he bypassed my northern expansion, he ran into Joe's expansion. Building just three roads all game will do that.

I was able to expand my northern settlement to three settlements and didn't expect more from that area. In the south I thought I had a quarter of the board open for expansion. But the most I did there was build a single road segment as I watched other people play. Building just three roads all game will do that.

Joe built a nice enclave in the north with only one more build needed to seal it off safely. And in the south he reached the coast. With three cities and more build spots he was in a good position.

Tony was rolling and with the longest road, he looked like he was going to link up his initial settlements and potentially lock that in. With four cities, Tony was in a good position to win.

And then it happened. Pete's 8-roads-in-one-turn "March Through Tony":

Six road segments in one turn blocked Tony's link-up effort. Tony could have cut the road by building on it. Although it was unlikely--but theoretically possible--that Tony could have built through Joe's potential enclave in the north to regain the longest road in time.

Pete, as noted, grabbed the longest road with his sperm-road. And he had the harbor master. So his two cities and three settlements provided the balance of points he needed. Congratulations Pete!

End map:

Tony followed with 9 points the hard way. Joe had 8, and Jordan and I had 4.

"Probability":

As "6" said this game, "Thank God for 2!" Those of us who bet on "6" instead of "8" were greatly disappointed. Heck, those of us who bet on "6" instead of "11" were disappointed. My "11" and "4" bricks gave me 7 bricks. My "6" wood gave me one wood. Thanks probability. Not that I was the only one afflicted, of course.

So that was it. We wrapped up after 3 long games before 10:30. It was much fun and a needed escape from a week of 3 fans and a dehumidifier alarming the cat and requiring hearing protection to use the first floor.

And we might have a variant for the "Girthiest Road" by letting players build double roads with the first to get three two-laners getting that card. Something to think about for poor souls trapped in tiny enclaves with no place to build roads. We'll see. That might be good for Mega-Catan to speed it up.

Thanks for playing! Game night is always fun. With certain caveats.

And, of course, a meme:

Sadly I still do not have a meme slide show back up and running for game night. Thanks Microsoft.

As always, feel free to comment with your perspective.

Note to self: Turn off overhead lights for map pictures.

We'll do it again next month. At Casa Beej. April game night will almost certainly be at Joe's.