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?
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.
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