November 2023 Game Night

We had game night for November. Joe, Paul, Pete, and Tony joined me for the expansion board.

We dined on pizza, tortilla chips with queso and salsa (the queso was not popular so it is off future menus), sugar and sugar-free cookies, and the usual non-alcoholic beverages. 

Joe brought a cake and ice cream to celebrate Pete's recent birthday and Tony brought fancy nuts. To eat. Weirdos. [Not that there's anything wrong with that.]

We played the harbor master version, of course, which requires 11 points to win. And this time I kept the camera orientation consistent and remembered to photograph the maps with the overhead lights off to stop the light glare on the protective shield. Joe took on the statistical duties once more!

For the evening, I was mint, Joe was orange, Paul was maize and blue, Pete was pink, and Tony was blue.

GAME 1

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

Rock would be a problem. But nobody was desperate enough to stake out the coastal 8-4 rocks. The wheat belt in the north skewed initial placement. I placed my resource diversity hopes on 10 wood and rock, and 4-11 wheat.

Starting Map

Paul was boxed in in the north but expanded inland toward the void of low-probability spaces. But longest road and harbor master were out of reach. And he would have had a tough job getting largest army. Late in the game he built to the northern coast to take away the build site I was trying to protect (needing one more road) while also keeping open an option to fight for the longest road.

Joe curled around the 4 rock and 3 brick. He had nice resources and with 6 build spots had the potential of getting two more. But longest road and harbor master were out of reach. Victory would have to come from city building and one more point from a victory point or settlement.

Tony was able to link up his enclaves to take the longest road. He could build two more roads and could get another building site without reducing his road length potential. But I did have the room to exceed his maximum longest road if I didn't waste more than one road outside of my longest road line. Nobody else had the room to build roads or link enclaves.

Pete was unable to expand much, but with two coastal flux capacitors had 3 ports and 1 more available as a build site. He had a near-lock on harbor master, although three other players had a theoretical shot if Pete couldn't get another port point. And with a good variety of resources and ample ports, just a settlement and a city upgrade would win the game.

I was happy to reach the coast in the west but focused on creating an enclave in the east. I had two more locked-in build spots available but focused on largest army rather than chasing Tony's road. But when Tony reached a fork in the road, that option opened up. Except that time was not on my side as Tony and Pete had 9 points. I reached 10 with the largest army, and with the prospect of having ... uh ... unwanted attention from the other players ... I briefly debated saving resources to promote a city or build a road and settlement. But I could buy a lottery ticket. Realistically I hoped to get an economic card--road building would be ideal. But I got the victory point card! Wooo! After three cases of game-ending victory point card draws last month, I didn't expect I'd get it today.

Ending Map

Tony (longest road) and Pete (harbor master) tied for second with 9, followed by Joe with 7 and Paul with 6.

"Probability"

There were a lot of 7s in the game--nearly a quarter of the rolls! And 4 and 10 were particularly good. But 6 under-performed. 

GAME 2

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

Brick was inconveniently laid out. Only two feasted on the 6, which took out one of the three theoretical 5 bricks, too (coughpaulcough). Rocks had a similar problem. The southeast corner was placement heck. Ooh! a desert brick port!! I used my double placement to get a variety of resources, although brick was lousy and I had no hope of getting more than what I started with. Pete counted on nobody wanting to interfere with an empire of sand open before him in the southeast.

Starting Map

Joe reached the coast in the northwest to block Tony and hold a coastal building site. His other enclave reached the center of the map and then headed for the coast as Pete and I were unable to close the gap. While Joe built the most roads this game, they were evenly divided between enclaves. And he could link up his roads. Only spite could draw other players in to stop that.

Pete was unable to build more than 3 roads, but did have one flux capacitor toward the coast. So he had a shot at harbor master if he could promote cities. Yet getting new sites for new settlements would be difficult despite the complete absence of other players moving into his sphere of influence.

Tony "three new road" club, notwithstanding his 6 brick and 9 wood. But with 10 and 8 rock, fully urbanized despite lack of wheat.

Paul built enough roads in the south to claim the longest road. He had room to grow. And in the short run it could center around a 6 wood before reaching horrible resources surrounding a desert. In the north he made his great brick and wood a city and ceded the north coast to those far more desperate for build sites than he was. Unless spite entered the equation. But what are the odds of that happening?

I too was in the "three new road" club. But with a flux capacitor on the coast I was able to build on five sites, plus get the harbor master. And by promoting all my cities I reached 11 points! The 10 and 4 were shockingly very good for that.

Ending Map

Paul followed with 9, including the longest road. Tony had 6, Pete, 5, and Joe, 4.

"Probability"

Like I noted, 4 and 10 were great. There were no appearances by 2 or 12. But 7--and the rest really--was pretty much as expected. It ended up being a short game

 

GAME 3

The order of placement and movement was Paul, Tony, myself, Joe, and Pete in the coveted double placement spot.

Rock was again weak. And wheat would be a problem for those unable to jump on the northwest sites. Sheep looked like it would be a problem. Especially considering three players started on sheep--two on 10, which ended up not being rolled once in the game. I did get one of the good wheat sites along with the best rock, and good wood and brick, with a minor in sheep. The center was again pretty empty with two deserts staking out opposite sides of the resource void. 

Starting Map

Joe pushed inland and to the sea from the south and began advancing along the coast in the northwest. But was unable to promote cities with a 10 rock that never produced. And relying on a 10 sheep that never produced didn't help. We really faced a sheep shortage this game.

Tony again grabbed longest road with a meandering road from the mountains through the desert and then on to the sea, linking up his enclaves. And he had plenty of room to grow. Although he did need to put out a speed bump to protect the road from being broken by Pete until Tony could build a settlement.

Pete clung to the coast like a horde of newly hatched turtles. But even with three port spaces settled and 4 port points, could never hope to get harbor master. But he did begin to unleash the knights, yet failing to get the third deployed before the game ended.

I had no hope of getting the harbor master, little hope of passing Pete for the largest army, and--while I counted the roads I'd need to link my enclaves and get longest road (that would be 6)--had but a faint hope of getting that. My great hope of winning came down to promoting one more city and building a road and settlement. But that didn't work out.

Paul built one flux capacitor to two ports plus started on another that reached a port. And with all three of his ports promoted to cities, had the harbor master locked. Add in a settlement and he and his iron dice made it to 11. Congratulations Paul!

Ending Map

Following Paul were myself with 9 points, Pete with 7, Tony with 7 (including longest road), and Joe with 5.

"Probability"

While the robber was expected, 6 and 8 were really good. The 10 was absent. As was 2. I counted on both for sheep. And even 11, which showed up once, hit before I build a city on it. But on the bright side, that city also had a 10 rock. Oh. But I can't complain about my 5 and 9 (and 8) investments. And congratulations to 12 for finally showing up late.

GAME 4

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

Again, rock  looked uneven and inadequate. Road-building materials looked decent. But wheat? Ugh. But sheep was strong, so woo!

Starting Map

After locking down a good rock, I used my second placement to stake out a chance at a northern enclave. By starting with a road in my hand I figured I'd pass the desert and lock down the eastern end. Eventually I locked down the west with a coastal city and then blocked the center by adding to my rocks and rounding out my resources with sheep to complement my sheep port. This looked like good progress to have seven build spots and three ports to try for harbor master. I could even plan for a 14-segment road.

And then the fear of loathing of my fellow Beejorians reared its ugly head. It was pointed out that I had 8 points with the harbor master and that I'd surely build the longest road. So treating me like I had 10 points, the persecution of your mild-mannered host began. The robber was placed on my sheep hex, denying me many sheep.  And shockingly, "probability" cooperated by not engaging the robber often enough to remove the robber and let me use my port and sheep. 

And once, when I managed to finally scrape up enough for a city upgrade to try to defend my harbor master ambitions, Tony played the monopoly card for rocks. It could have been worse but I had traded two of my five rocks--after rare 5 rolls finally came in--for another resource to guard against such a thing.

So I never managed to move beyond 8. And lost my harbor master card. Such is life.

Joe has a long Lineland that quickly linked his close enclaves. For a while he held the longest road. But he also deployed largest army. And he had room to add roads to new build sites while having the possibility of a 14-segment road.

Pete was oddly inland this game. He had no chance of getting even a single port. But he was on the verge of claiming the longest road near the end. And with a productive 10, fully urbanized his four build spots. He had one building spot cordoned off and shots at two more building spots. And his army was growing.

Paul mostly hugged the coast and with 5 port points had the harbor master practically locked down. Only I could in theory get 3 more port points--assuming Paul couldn't build up 2 more port points by promoting cities on his port settlements to defend or even take back the card.

Tony managed to both link his widely separated enclaves and build a southern enclave. He built a settlement to prevent Pete or Paul from breaking the road. Once again he got the longest road but he would max out at 12--just one more than he had. With 10 points in hand and a ton of cards in his hand, Tony built 2 roads to a new building site. But he didn't have the cards he thought he had to build the settlement. So he bought a lottery ticket--and pulled a victory point card! Congratulations Tony!

Tony mentioned that had he not drawn the card he could have pulled up his two roads (since he still held the poop) and bought more development cards hoping for a victory point card. That's true. But as I write this I note that Tony also could have built just one road to the 4 sheep port and probably have had the cards to build that settlement and get the 11th point that way. That would have been safer than drawing a development card--which is something you can't undo since you see the card. 

Regardless, the point was drawn so alternatives were moot. But Tony really did have to win on his turn given how close the game was with Paul and Pete watching his turn very closely with imminent victory moves coming. As Paul noted, he was close to winning but a couple robber attacks actually reduced his ability to win before Tony moved by pushing him from needing one of three resource die rolls to win down to just one. And Pete had plenty of road-building to take the longest road and build a settlement--absent robber intervention.

Ending Map

After Tony, Paul had 10 points with the harbor master, Pete and Joe (with the largest army and a victory point card) tied with 8, and I had 6.

"Probability"

Well that distribution is just odd.

We wrapped up after 10:00. Thanks to all for coming by! It was fun, as usual.

And a meme:

Please feel free to comment to add your perspectives. I always feel like I'm just giving an after-action review to help you guys defeat me.

We'll do this again early in December.

October 2023 Game Night

After a month at German Park and then Dave's, Game Night was back at Casa Beej for October!

We dined on pizza (professionally cooked and not that amateur stuff with dodgy health standards), cookies, chips, and dip. Plus the usual house swill, Labatt Blue Light, and some raids on the liquor cabinet.

Joe, Paul, and Pete joined me for the small board. I invited those coming for game night to watch the noon Michigan-Indiana game as long as I'd be here anyway, and guests trickled in starting around halftime. 

For the evening, I was white, Joe was red, Paul was orange, and Pete was blue. And as usual we played the harbor master variant (boy, that expansion game and 5-6-player extension box sure were worth that single card!). This requires 11 points to win.

Probability took a bizarre form this evening.

GAME 1 

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

Rock was rather a problem due to its coastal concentration. Otherwise the resources were fine. Although everyone had to forego one resource in initial placement. I gave up brick, Joe gave up rock, and Paul and Pete gave up sheep.

STARTING MAP

I was able to build just three roads--the fewest of any--but did get my minimum of five sites with one more possible. And my rock resources at least paid off with two city upgrades and one more in the on-deck circle before the game ended which would have given me and locked harbor master with 5 because Pete had just one more city upgrade available and no other port sites open.

I caused some anger when I used a monopoly card early to get a small number of bricks in my desperation. Without that I don't know If I'd have gotten five sites because my wood production with a wood port was initially low! So I was happy despite the grumblings of faux outrage. I quietly hoped to get harbor master, but Pete was apparently paying attention and defended his grip in time.

Paul built more roads, but was stuck with just four build sites. His heavy rock investment allowed him to promote 3 cities. His only final spot would require 3 roads bypassing Pete's potential road building.

Joe went big on road building on the shoulders of astounding 9 and 11 brick production. He had a lock on the longest road, and in the process cut me off from all but one possible building site.

Pete built out to five sites with one more guaranteed site and another likely. With a really good 10 rock site and a sheep port and a productive sheep 9 and wheat 10, Pete built up 3 cities while getting the harbor master first. And with nothing he could build to add that final point to reach 11, Pete bought a lottery ticket.

And drew a victory point card.

Congratulations Pete!

END MAP

The rest of us had 7 points, with Joe getting 7 with the longest road.

"PROBABILITY"

I suppose the most noteworthy aspect was the low number of robber rolls this game. And the 9 victory in the frequency race, of course. Oh, and 4 and 10!

GAME 2

This game repeated game 1 in the order of builds and placement. And the outcome.

Rock was scarce. And all the hard things, actually. I prioritized rock, and had all the resources this game. Although I had to rely on 11 for brick.

STARTING MAP

Joe again hit the roads, racing Paul for the top spot. But he had only 4 build sites. To get another site--at my expense--he'd have to divert 3 roads from his longest road, risking giving it to Paul.

Eleven never came up in the game. I could only expect three of those rolls in the game, it is true. But ouch. Again, I built just three roads while building at five sites. I had one more building site pretty much locked down and built two cities. And I again had a shot at harbor master.

Paul built out his northern starting position to the coast on his smaller imperial pocket and constructed a nice enclave in the larger portion. He had six building sites settled (two cities) and two more locked in. It's true both were on a 12 wheat. But still, points are points. And he had a shot (unlikely, but I retained some hope) at longest road.

Pete was able to build out from both starting settlements along the coasts. Once more he grabbed harbor master. And with two cities he was at 10 points with nothing he could do to build another city and no settlement spot open. So he bought a lottery ticket.

And drew a victory point card.

Congratulations Pete!

END MAP (sorry for rotating the map)

Paul and I followed with 8 points each (I had a victory point card drawn earlier in the game. And was hopeless enough to be hoping for largest army and more VP cards), while Joe had 7, including the longest road.

"PROBABILITY"

No 11 and another light day for the robber. 4, 6, 8 (!), 9, and 10 were rather good. I had four of those and lots of sheep as a result. But only a generic port.

GAME 3

The order of placement and moving was Pete, Joe, Paul, and myself in the coveted DP spot. And yes, salads are good for you.

Rock rather sucked--again. And brick was only marginally better. I got everything, but relied on a 3 for rock. 

STARTING MAP

Pete started with no bricks and bet heavily on his 6 sheep. And with a port (but not the sheep port which I shagged before Pete could), that held promise. The problem was that he had only four build sites. And no way to really get and hold the harbor master.

Joe went big on road building. But this game, with his almost-completed sperm road, Joe had more build sites, with five out of six settled. Unfortunately, rock was weak and that would be a problem. And Paul was gaining on Joe's road ... 

Paul extended his holdings along the coast, building up the ports to take harbor master and no way anybody could stop him from connecting his two enclaves. With 5 sites built on and one more locked in, this was a good position to be in.

I thought I was going to face plant on road building, with two flux capacitors my limit. But I did manage to thread the needle along the desert to the coast and get a good rock source! My luck was pretty amazing with 3s hitting after I built up my 3 rock and 3 wheat hexes. By the end of the game a 3 gave me a city. Although that only came up once, I think, even though at least once it gave me most of what I needed. The last three came up after I'd maxed out on city upgrades. Regardless I had well-timed 3 production! 

I had ten natural points but no hope of getting harbor master. Or longest road. Or even building one more settlement! And getting largest army would take time. And I had to think about building roads to keep Paul from building beyond Joe's sperm capacity. (Er, you know what I mean.) And I didn't think I could follow Pete's victory path. But whatever. The Development Card deck was my path to largest army if nobody else won in the meantime. I bought a lottery ticket.

And drew a victory point card.

Wooo!

END MAP (again, the rotation thing)

Paul followed with 8, including the harbor master; Joe had 7 and the longest road, and Pete had 5.

"PROBABILITY"

The robber finally woke up and was marginally busy. And 6 and 8 were pretty much on track. But whoa, 4 nicely over-performed. All in all, a decent distribution, eh?

 

GAME 4

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

Rock wasn't awful. But sitting on the coast made it musical chairs. Pete remained standing and with the classic DP strategy, counted on bricks and a brick port.

STARTING MAP

I went without sheep at the start but felt pretty good about the rest of my resources. And I did reach sheep. But I was blocked by Joe and Paul leaving my rock/wheat outpost stuck from its starting position. I at least reached five settled areas. But I would get no more. I had two cities and vague hopes of harbor master but put more hope on largest army--and was two cards toward that when the game ended.

Joe again pushed for longest road and was in danger of one of those old video games where your line turns in on itself and explodes. He had five settlements and one more build spot. This was the only game of the night that Joe failed to get longest road.

Pete was stuck building around a 12 sheep hex. But that at least gave him 6 building spots. With one city and harbor master, Pete just needed a couple more city promotions. But with no rock he needed his wheat to produce enough for the wheat and to use his wheat port for rocks, too.

Paul's battle for the longest road paid off as he stretched across Catan to link up his enclaves and claim some sheep. With two cities and the longest road in hand, Paul flipped a victory point card already in his hand to claim the victory. 

Congratulations Paul!

END MAP (yes, yes. It's rotated)

Pete followed with 9 points, including the harbor master; I had 7; and Joe had 5.

"PROBABILITY"

 

Nothing seems too off this game.

We called it a night after this game. It was interesting that in the three games that Joe had the longest road the ultimate winner won with a lottery ticket providing the key 11th point.

A fun afternoon and evening! We'll keep doing this, eh? I think it may catch on. Next month?

And a meme!

Please feel free to comment. I know it works now!

September 2023 Game Night

Dave was the gracious host for September game night in Dexter. We had an extended happy hour for pizza-making in Dave's outdoor wood-fired oven plus drinks and snacks, so only had time for one game of Seafarers of Catan. But we were able to follow the Michigan game on my phone. 

When Dave sends in his review of the game, I'll add it in!

Until then I'll add a framework. 

Rolling a 7 unleashed either the robber or the pirate with different problems caused for each. The pirate was a robber with the added penalty of stopping placement or movement of ships on hex sides around the pirate.

I was blue. Joe was orange. Dave was red. Pete was white. And Paul was green. Oddly, there is no harbor master point bonus. Just largest army and longest road (which can include ship segments). I don't remember the order of placement and movement. Although I know I wasn't first. Was I DP? The victory points needed to win were 12.

I think half of the face down hexes two from the main island were water once flipped over upon discovery by building adjacent to them. And discover of a land hex gave you a resource from that hex's production. Which was nice.

Please note that my road on the coastal city should be a ship. After a rules clarification, with my build sites clearly intended for a sea strategy (no bricks!), I was allowed to replace that road with a ship before play started.

I was the only one who built on the coast. Dave was two roads from a coast and everyone else was one road away.

The starting map:

I went all in on the sea strategy, building just one road during the game--and that was overseas where I built on 4 sites. Although late in the game I thought about expanding on the continent to get a trading port when city-building freed a settlement back to the force pool. But I probably would have used a free settlement to protect my exposed fleet road by building a settlement on that overseas wood 5 hex. Although my first two hexes explored came up water, my luck was fairly good with 5 of 8 hexes explored being land. I briefly held longest road and was working to readjust my ships to reclaim it. And while I got plenty of good building sites out of my sea focus, my two Gold resources (which are wildcards) just didn't produce. Which hurt.

Joe built enclaves on the southern and northern parts of the main island, giving him ten potential build spots. But he was blocked from overseas expansion by me in the north and Paul in the south.

Dave was rapidly blocked from sea expansion by Joe and Paul cutting off access to the coast. He clearly began a strategy to get the longest road and largest army with 4 build spots established by the end of the game, but with one more possible without maximizing his road at 15.

Paul headed out to sea in the south and also discovered 5 land hexes. For a while he had the longest road--largely at sea. He built on 4 locations overseas.

Pete reached the sea on the east and west coasts, with a later surge to sea that gave him three overseas hexes (with really poor resources) to support a largely land-based empire. But the sea effort did give him the extra length to extend his land road of four enough to take longest road. And with the largest army, Pete reached 12 points! Congratulations, Pete!

The end map:

Following Pete, Paul and I had 9, Joe had 7, and Dave had 5.

"Probability"

I needed 4 and 6 to come up a lot more. But at least my 5 produced nicely. Three and 10 were shockingly productive. Sorry, 2.

And thanks to Joe who once again took up his statistical duties!

We broke up relatively early because it was clear that a second game would take us well into Sunday to complete.

Thanks for hosting, Dave! It was a great evening.

And a meme!

We keep doing this things so these posts will keep on coming.