April 2024 Game Night

Joe, Paul, and Pete joined me for a heavy-drinking night of Catan.

So we were on the small board with the harbor master variant, as usual, requiring 11 points to win.

We dined on pizza and corn chips with cheese dip and salsa, plus various cookies and brownies. We had some leftover beer plus lots of the house swill, Labatt Blue Light.

I was red, Pete was blue, Paul was white, and Joe was orange for the evening.

And we're off!

Game One:

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

We weren't happy with the wood resources or the concentration of the rocks. I was grateful for the first chance to place a settlement and wanted both. Otherwise the brick-wood-wheat spot Pete took would have been my choice. And in my last placement really needed wheat--and a port to get brick before I could build on the 4 brick--which funneled Pete toward the desert. Overall Pete had great picks in his DP position.

Starting positions:

Joe built heavily around the 11 wood. Which would have worked great in a future game. And his center settlement was kind of doomed without a heroic road-building effort past the desert in the face of Pete's need for room.

I got hemmed in before I could expand too much in the south. On the bright side, as Paul advanced west to block me, he neglected that when I built a settlement there he lost and build spots along that stretch of coast. Not that the three roads were wasted ... In the north I finally got my brick resource--which never produced for me. Joe blocked me in the northeast and my only real hope for another decent build sport was a coastal 5 rock to get me something that the non-producing 10 failed on. Still, I had what I considered the minimum of five build spots, so that was good.

Pete had trouble building roads with his own 4 problem on brick. But he did promote a couple cities and had one settlement location plotted out with two or three more sites available along our borders that I wanted, too.

Paul overcame trading at 4:1 bank rates using his wood, not noticing he started the game with a wood port. Swear to God somebody would have let him know if any one of us had noticed. And while Paul "wasted" three scarce road segments trying to cut me off, they did help him get the road builder card. And starting with a port point gave him a leg up for harbor master! Despite just four building spots, those cards plus his three cities and a settlement gave him 11 points. Congratulations Paul!

End map:

Pete and I tied for second with 6 points each (I had a victory point card), and Joe had 4.

"Probability"

Well, 4 and 10 were symmetrically awful; while 5 and 9 were symmetrically great. Even 6 and 8 were close to each other, as were 3 and 11. Really weird curve. The robber slept in for game one.

Game Two:

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

Please take a moment to scream like an 11-year-old girl over the poor brick resources we had this game.  Or you could scream like Pete did over how his initial placements ended up after Joe's second placement on the 6 wheat. Happy International Women's Day!

Starting positions:

Paul reached the coast from both his starting positions and had begun to spread out along the coast like moss. 

Joe muddled Pete with the Paul end with his second placement blocking both of Pete's eastern expansion options. He managed to get a decent enclave on the southwest side and had good options in the southwest in competition with Paul at both ends. (Phrasing!) And Joe turned to the lottery tickets where he gained largest army, denying Pete a key asset needed to win.

While Paul and Joe needed long games build on their initial maneuvers, Pete needed a fast win. Except for a brief foray south, Pete found himself confined to three build sites. Amazingly, he managed to promote all to cities and grabbed longest road early with nobody initially able to challenge his 7-segment road given the poor brick situation. Nor did anybody take it from him although both Joe and myself were close to getting longest road.

I built few roads, but I did make the turn to build on the 3 brick and make a nice enclave anchored on port cities at either end. I whined like an 11-year-old boy as I watched the 11 get rolled five times before I could build on that long-coveted rock hex. It would only be rolled two more times, but all things considered that was no more than I could expect. Still ... With 3 cities and two settlements plus harbor master, I would have next aimed for longest road using two roads, with a backup plan of a road and settlement. But fortunately, after getting harbor master, I was able to flip my victory point card and end the game. Woo!

End map:

Pete amazingly followed with 9 points, including longest road and a victory point card. Joe followed with 6, including largest army, and Paul had 5.

"Probability"

So "12" was a thing tonight. Joe started on that hex. And "11". Ah, "probability." The robber picked up the pace and 8 won the longstanding 6 versus 8 battle.

Game Three:

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

Well, only first placer gets any wood this game, eh? And rock sucks. And bricks aren't too sparkly, either.

Starting positions:

Pete went without wood but had a Plan B of ample sheep and a sheep port objective. He got that but road-building was low and he had but one more build spot open to him. While making a stab at harbor master, he fell short with a third port square unavailable. Pete did have robber glory when he put the robber on the 9 brick to slow down Joe and Paul, and was rewarded with 4 consecutive 7 rolls going around the board back to him!

Paul again pushed for longest road and ended up in a contest with Joe for road supremacy. I'm not sure how Paul managed to promote three cities the way 4 rock crapped out (the combined 4 hexes came up as often as 12!). But by then Paul was amply drinking strategy in condensed form. But failure to hang on to the longest road pushed him back from the cusp of victory.

To start, I snagged the 3 wood and 4 rock and the good sheep. And I thought Joe would not pen themself to the coast to get those resources with his final placement. Then I grabbed the good wheat with at least token brick plus sheep. Amazingly I built a good amount of roads to get that coveted 11 wood--I built the road first to block Paul--and crawled up the coast for another rock plus a port. And I pushed to the coast in the southeast. I'm not sure how I managed three cities, but my memory is that high wheat and sheep production near the end was key. The robber was insane this game, almost maxing out the chart height. But at one point when there weren't enough sheep to go around, nobody got any--which saved Pete and I from the robber on the immediately following 7! All I needed was one more city promotion or a couple roads and a new settlement!

Joe had room in the south to expand if he wanted to build on the desert but stopped after getting a port to focus on the northwest. Excellent road production let him stretch out and create a nice enclave with four port points to hold harbor master. And he managed to build roads enough to take longest road from Paul to reach 11. Congratulations, Joe!

End map:

I followed with 10, Paul had 8, and Pete had 7 with a victory point card.

"Probability"

Who knew wood would be great with 2, 3, and 11(!) over-producing on top of a great 6? And brick ended up being great with productive 9, 10, and 11. Wow. Basically, you wanted to have your production on the right side of the 7.

Game Four:

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

I'd say brick sucked, but perhaps "probability" will ride to the rescue. nothing else was horrible except for the rock range. I jumped on the rocks and wheat. I hoped to build toward brick and wood.

Starting positions:

Pete managed to link his enclaves and get a generic port to handle his sheep empire. Sadly, he built quickly in the north and ended my hope for coastal expansion. Pete had five build spots with one more possible between the desert and the sea without even a port to help get harbor master. He also competed for longest road.

Joe build a flux capacitor and began wrapping around the 12 brick. With good rock and wheat, he promoted three cities and had a shot at harbor master with another port ready to be built on the 12! Joe also played a monopoly card to take all our scarce bricks to the sound of crickets. I think I gave up three in the many pallets that went to Joe.

I  had better-than-expected brick and wood production. That helped me a bit in the northeast and a lot in the southwest. And my city-building production ended up being good. But early I was stuck and played my monopoly card to collect rock to take advantage of my rock port. To say that didn't go over well with the Catanian mob is like saying sticking your junk in a beehive is ill advised. 

But I digress.

I reached the 2 and built two settlements in the hopes that late-game "probability" would reward me. It did not. Although finally having a generic port was good. I was trying for knights but only had two--both played--before the game ended. The robber was cruel to me this game. Although to be fair, near the end of the game a roll of 6 gave me 7 cards and always put me into robber-bait territory. On at least a couple occasions those 6 rolls came after Joe's turn and I spent all the wheat before he could play the robber on me!

Paul denied my hope for better wood resources and linked his enclaves. Two cities on the coast gave him harbor master, and building into the center with no purpose other than extending the road gave him the road builder honor, too. Truly, the liquid strategy Paul consumed worked nicely this night. Whether or not Paul remembers any of the details is another question. Congratulations, Paul!

End map:

I had 9, followed by Joe with 7, and Pete with 6.

"Probability"

That's the nicest curve we've seen in a while with 2 and 12 put in their proper place. I remain grateful for 3 and 11 for above-and-beyond contributions.

As for who rolled up the robber the most? Paul, Pete, and I tied with 11 rolls each. Paul reached deep and called out the robber 17 times! So, the award changes hands. Congratulations, Paul!

As yet we do not have a Stanley Cup style award with engraved names to actually pass around.

And finally, a game night meme:

Thanks for coming by. It was a fun evening, as usual. We broke up by 11:00 this time.

See you next month at Casa Beej. We are set for Paul hosting al fresco in June and Joe hosting in our Oakland County outpost in July. Details on all to follow in time. Patience, Beejorians.