December 2023 Game Night

We had a truncated game night for December with only four hours allotted to Catan instead of the usual six with a much earlier start time.

Dave (red), Joe for games 2 and 3 (white), Paul (brown), Pete (orange), and Tony (blue) joined me (green) for the expansion map. With harbor master in play, as usual.

We dined on taco meat (in my new chafing dish) with corn chips, lettuce, shredded cheese, two types of salsa, and queso sauce. We also had cookies (sugar and sugar free--although I'm going back to the wafer kind since the chocolate kind I bought did not attract interest) plus cake and ice cream saved from last month (courtesy of Joe). We had the usual house swill, Labatt Blue Light, and non-alcoholic beverages, including coffee at the end. Tony brought the most expensive board spill beer ever (praise to the holy Shield of Spillage) while Dave brought random beers and some interesting licorice liquor. Thanks guys!

GAME ONE

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

The clusters of rock and wheat in the south made placement interesting. Wood was a tad weak, but not hideous.

Starting map:

I couldn't get all resources so hoped to build to a weak rock and trade for sheep. I assumed my settlement out all by its lonesome could get a 3:1 port. Sadly, somebody (paulcoughpaul) raced to the sheep/rock building space in the north, denying my my rock/sheep/brick spot. My only saving grace was not wasting a precious road to nowhere should I lose the race. I lost the race. 

But in the west I built the flux capacitor and then built out to a molecular model that lacked only a settlement in the east to reach its full ring-like structure. Other people build elaborate structures with their spare pieces. I did it on the map. I failed to get harbormaster but somehow with trades managed to build two cities. Sheep really was difficult to get during this game as the probability section will show. I actually had a shot at harbormaster but I'd have needed three more port points which would have just given me a natural victory anyway. And I lost a chance at longest road by failing to block Paul's road going by my lone outpost.

Paul built inland quickly in the north (yay) and expanded north and south from his other outpost, cutting off Tony as he headed for the coast. Then Paul built four roads in one turn (using a road-building card) to connect his sections, seemingly locking in longest road. Which he held to the end.

Pete was denied linkup for his enclaves, but given his poor road construction that would have been a waste of resources. The vast desert kept us well apart and he had some room on the coast. 

Dave was heavily invested in rock with no brick. Somehow he build a road long enough to challenge for longest road for a while. But only one city went up during the game.

Tony lacked wheat and somehow (coughpaulcough) had his drive to get wheat cut off. I'm still not sure how he built four cities with no wheat. But with harbormaster and a single settlement, Tony reached 11. Congratulations Tony!

We also had the most expensive beer spell ever, as I noted. The state of the wheat cards in the starting map was not psychological warfare against Dave, but an effort to let the cards dry out. No worries. Have you seen my Escape from New York game components? No black light, please.

End map:

Paul and I followed with 8 each (mine natural and Paul with the longest road), then Pete with 6, and Dave with 4.

"Probability":

The theoretical sheep abundance was sabotaged by probability for 8 and 11, which accounted for five of the six sheep hexes. A 12 was the sixth. Both Pete and I traded four bricks for a sheep during the game. FFS. Needless to say, development card purchases were rare. Thankfully I bet right on the 6 versus 8 placement dilemma.

GAME TWO

The order of placement in game two was myself, Pete, Tony, Paul, Joe, and Dave in the coveted DP position.

No resources stuck out as sucking this game. So there's that. The wheat belt was problematic, however.

Starting map:

I grabbed the best brick for my first placement, assuming my last placement would leave me with little hope. For my second I was surprised to have a shot at decent rock but at the price of poor wood. But I had two shots at the coast so hoped for trades. But I was penned in fairly quickly and my attempt to advance around the northeastern brick hex was thwarted. Not that the return on investment would have paid off--thanks probability. My position in the south was hideous. I was not confident about this game and was correct.

Paul stretched out a huge road (the longest, in fact) and built 5 settlements along it. He also deployed the largest army. But he needed to promote a city to build a settlement. And didn't manage to do that before the game ended.

Pete had a shot at longest road with a good opportunity to link his sections but needed three roads to do that. But Pete also bet grossly wrong on the 6 versus 8 bet for his rock resources.

Tony split the difference in the great debate. But he bet heavily on 8 for his expansion choices. Oops.

Dave went on a city-building tear despite very little wheat. But with 3 points on the coast but not on port spaces, getting bonus points didn't happen. He was also penned in and so had to get the largest army or a victory point card to win.

Joe didn't have spectacular resources and had just one more build space within reach. But he clung to harbor master and revealed a victory point to win. Congratulations Joe!

End map:

Dave and Paul followed with 10 points each (Dave proudly natural and Paul with the largest army, longest road, and a victory point), with Tony, Pete, and myself (with two VP cards) following with 8, 7, and 6, respectively.

"Probability":

How about that 4, 5, and 10, eh? The less said about 8 the better. The robber was too confused to even show up too much.

GAME THREE

Despite my intent to wrap up around 11:00, everyone was eager to play a third game despite the hour passing 11:00. The order of placement and moving was Paul, Joe, Dave, myself, Pete, and Tony in the always coveted DP position.

Wheat and rocks were again concentrated and neither was particularly good. Wood was adequate and brick was quite good. Sheep was more than adequate. So resources would rest on probability.

Starting map:

Paul again stretched out his roads, linking up his enclaves. He had five build spaces and one more in reach, but was unable to promote cities. Or hold the longest road.

Dave--wheatless--pushed north after being funneled along the coast. He would run into Joe's last options for expansion in a battle for the last build spot around the 2 brick hex.

Pete built quite a lot of roads in two enclaves but needed to promote cities to build on two building sites already laid out and ready to go.

Tony was stuck at a desert and in a mountain. But while he had two ports he was doomed to fail to get harbor master unless he built 4 roads and a settlement in one turn down at my last port option.

Joe stretched out across the amber waves of grain, getting blocked in the south but having options along the northern coast--once he promoted cities to free up settlements back to his building pool. The road did earn him the longest road.

I curled around two wood hexes with the desert between my enclaves attracting beach front building. With four port points I had a good hold on the harbor master with another port space open for my settlement. And I had two knights played. With three cities, two settlements, harbor master, and a victory point card, I made it to 11 points. Whew!

End map:

Joe came in second with 7 points (including longest road); then Tony with 6; and Paul, Dave, and Pete tied with 5.

"Probability":

Those who bet on 6 over 8 again won, but it wasn't horribly skewed this time. The robber was active and hello 4 and 12!

And thanks to Paul for stepping in to record the dice statistics because Joe was delayed in arriving.

I anticipated two games but even though we rolled past my intended time, we went for a third game, wrapping up at about 1:30. Just like the old days! 

I'm just too old to sleep far into the morning after going to sleep close to 2:30. While I had no problem staying up to 2:30, I do look forward to returning to our earlier start time in January.

And a meme!

Thanks to all who showed up. Great to see you and we'll do it again in January!

As always, feel free to comment with your perspectives or delusions.