June 2023 Game Night

We held game night at Casa Beej last Saturday.

We dined on two types of Taco Bell tacos, Taco Bell burritos, and grocery store tacquitos. I jazzed up the food with sour cream, diced green chiles, a couple salsas, and cheese dip. We also had corn chips and an assortment of cookies and other sweet snacks. Plenty of the usual house swill, Labatt Blue Light, was on hand.

Joe brought a couple of specialty beer six-packs. Thanks Joe! Pete brought the first part for his Thai Hookerbot. Fingers crossed.

And everyone passed the test of selecting Taco Bell taco sauce. I brought three kinds:

But there was only one "mild" packet. It remained untouched by the end of the night. Well done, lads. Very little of the food remained for my eating pleasure Sunday and Monday.

And nobody upchucked during the game. So yay. What happened once you got home is not on me.

We played four games. I was blue, Paul was red, Joe was orange, Pete was white, and Dave was green when he arrive for game two. We played the harbor master variant which requires 11 points to win.

Joe continued in his valuable die roll scribe duties so we can fully grok "probability" in Catan. 

And we established a good simultaneous poop passing for the big and little poop holders to avoid getting out of synchronization in the expansion game.

Also note that this game we turned off the overhead lights when taking a picture to avoid the glare that can obscure the map. My production value will surely reach even higher levels in the years to come.

GAME 1

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

Terrain was pretty concentrated, with rock a real problem. Brick was also an issue. I grabbed one of the good rock spots. But with no chance at getting wood and brick I settled on the retreating into the woods to contemplate my choice of rock over brick.

Beginning Map:

Paul was all alone in the east and managed to wall off a huge enclave and get the longest road in the process. He didn't block me at the coast, but did move inland blocking my northern route inland and my southern route inland. And Paul didn't make friends in Orangeland, either. Despite Paul's huge ... tracts of land, he managed to settle only on 4 areas before the game ended.

Joe was seriously hemmed in but did manage to build on four spots and have one spot ready to build on. He used his monopoly card to grab a bunch of rocks from the rest of us. Which was sad.

Pete too could hardly build roads but at least was positioned to build two flux capacitors. And he got harbor master with little chance Paul could take it away.

I was a little worried when I chose rock over brick with my first placement and then couldn't get brick and wood. But I figured I could trade wood for brick. So I wasn't immediately worried about my southern settlement failing to make it to the coast. I am an optimist. I managed to build three roads and build on two new build spots. I also grabbed largest army and promoted three cities after getting effectively blocked from any new settlement spot. And I had two victory points. That made it 11! My Development Card Plan B did as well as I could hope for.

End Map:

Following me were Pete with 9 including the harbor master and Joe and Paul with 7 each (Paul had the longest road).

"Probability"

The robber was very busy, which alone explains the length of the game in turns if not in time. There was a lot of rapid passing of the poop going on. Four and nine were outstanding. And 8 over-performed a bit. The combination let me promote cities and buy development cards.

GAME 2

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

None of the resources were horrible. Although brick was mediocre. Paul jumped on the good rock hex. And everyone ahead of me crowded around the 9 rock.

Beginning Map:

Rock was a problems in this game except for Paul who rudely deprived anyone else from getting a three-hex placement on the other good rock space. But since I was last to place, thanks Paul! And I amazingly had a good amount of room to expand. I was feeling good.

But while I expanded and built on five sites, I never got to the point when I could start promoting cities to free up settlements for new build spots. And I never staked out new spots with roads, making that goal a problem.

Pete was blocked in the north but managed to create a semi-enclave in the south with potential. His northern initial build also had a faint hope of reaching a build site. Promoting two cities helped production.

Paul had a nice mix of producing resources and was well positioned with two cities, three settlements, and potential build spots nearby.

Dave was stymied initially with some poor resource collection rolls. But he did thread the needle going west and reached the coast in the east. New build spots were in reach. And he got two cities promoted.

Despite everyone's potential for more builds, Joe raced ahead with minimal road building to own the coast. And he promoted two cities while taking harbor master. A sheep port with nice sheep rolls paid off. With ten points he revealed his victory point card and sealed the win! Congratulations Joe!

End Map:

Following Joe were Paul with 7, Dave with 6, and Pete and I with 5 each. Amazingly, nobody got longest road.

"Probability"

Those who bet on 6 were disappointed. My only wheat spot never produced. But 5, 9, and 11 were bright spots. Dave at least had 5 and 9, but was heavy on 3 and 6. Welp.

GAME 3

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

All the resources were reasonable. I jumped on a good rock with brick and wood. And took good wheat with some more rock at the expense of sheep. I counted on building to the 6 sheep. When placement was done I was pleasantly surprised that the admittedly inferior interior was open for expansion.

Beginning Map:

I did indeed manage to stretch across the interior to stock up on sheep and add more wood (don't go there), getting longest road. But my bet on the 8 rock and wheat went bust. Oops. Happens.

Paul stretched out into the interior from the south, amazingly nowhere near my line across Catan. There was that much space. Two cities verified Paul's wise choice of 6 rock. But his 8 wheat derailed a city machine. I could see a glimmer of hope for Paul in linking up his settlements for longest road. And he had a remote shot at harbor master.

Pete managed to turn around when blocked in the north cruelly by Dave and Joe to make a long march to the sea in the north, keeping his option for harbor master alive as well as posing a threat for longest road. But despite betting correctly on the 6 rock, production was too low to do him much good. As was his late game title of King of the Barren Sheep (10, 12, 12!).

Dave linked up his enclaves along the coast to initially take longest road. And he had build options in the southwest. But he too bet on 8 rock.

Joe was stuck in road Hell, building just 3. But somehow he built up 4 cities to get harbor master. Indeed, with 6 points he built two cities, earning the harbor master to get to 10. And on the same turn he bought two development cards and ... *checks notes* pulled a victory point card! It was a five-point surge for victory. Dang. Congratulations Joe! We all dream of the lottery ticket walk-off win!

End Map:

Following in Joe's wake were myself with 8 including the longest road, Paul with 7, Pete with 5, and Dave with 4.

"Probability"

Probability was odd. Eight and twelve were equally productive. And only 11 and 2 did not produce as much as 8.

GAME 4

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

Wood and wheat were a bit of a problem. After some soul searching, I had to take my second pick on the rock-wheat coast as my desperate search for wood and rock failed to find a suitable candidate. But I'd have to trade for wood to take advantage of my somewhat open interior options.

Beginning Map:

Dave had problems so obviously he bet big on sheep for his second placement. he would need to move quickly to escape some bottlenecks and/or beat me to the interior. But with lots of sheep and no wood, Dave was frustrated in his desires. A 3:1 port was just not good enough.

Paul had room to grow and looked like he'd repeat his Catan-spanning road building plan.

Pete was the one who actually took longest road with a hex-spanning 5 segments. And with two cities remaining, he had a good shot at harbormaster. Pete was also a sheepmeister, but with the actual sheep port. And one more sheep hex in the north pulled Pete toward it.

Joe was stymied with poor road building and a cruel block of his flux capacitor tactic. He did promote all of his settlements to cities, however. Build spots were available for expansion but roads just weren't there.

Once more, things were looking dark for Beej. I made it to the non-producing 3 brick but added to my rock holdings. And in the center I made it to the 12 brick, making my sheep empire rival Dave's. 

And that's when probability bent to my relentless will to achieve power. With 5, 6, and 9 rolling in I took harbormaster early with my first city upgrade because I worried I might not get four harbor points if someone else got to three first. And amazingly I built three more cities. My foes were stymied in targeting me with the robber because while I got 8 cards every roll of six, the robber could only cut my production in half. I was finally able to build a settlement on the desert and reach 11. Whew.

End Map:

Following myself were Pete with 7 and the longest road, and the rest with 6 each (with Dave having a victory point card).

"Probability"

It was an odd distribution. But late in the game the rolls went my way big time. The robber was below average and 8 was substandard. 

So that was it. We wrapped up a little before 10:00 after 6 hours of playing, drinking, and eating. And the trash talk. Seriously, a blockade is an act of war.

And a meme:

We'll be back here next month at Casa Beej for another episode of "God! My position and die rolls suck!"

And we will  be at Cabana Dave in September for an outdoor Dexter game night of Catan--quite possibly the Seafarers variant unless too many show up and we have to go to Mega Catan.

I need to figure out a date for July in the next couple days. 

Thanks to all who came by to play. Please feel free to offer your comments on your strategy or how you were wronged by other players, "probability," or Klaus himself from beyond.

Remember, grudges reset after each game. Right? Hey, is anybody out there??