May 2025 Game Night

We had a rapid turn-around from April game night just two weeks ago. But it is a new month!

We had 5-1/3 players (Paul needed to leave after game one for reasons it is best not to go into)* including a new player, Thom. We skipped the usual swirly initiation ritual.

We played three games on the expansion board. We played the harbor master variant, as usual, so you needed 11 points to win. 

We dined on traditional sliders and chicken-and-cheese sliders, french fries, potato chips and dip, cookies, and small donuts. Plus the usual house swill, Labatt Blue Light and a mix of new and leftover fancier beers. Plus the usual non-alcoholic drinks. Dennis--his third attendance in a row!--brought a nice Lake Erie Sunset six-pack and Voodoo chips--to add to the mix. And Thom brought over some fancy "totally not Reese's Cups" that we will open up next game night. Thanks gentlemen! Totally unnecessary, of course. Only your attendance is requested.

A quick note on development cards. The basic game has 25: 14 knights, 5 victory point cards, and 2 each of year of plenty, road building, and monopoly cards. The expansion pack adds 10 more: 6 knights, and 1 each of the other cards. So knights are more than half of the cards.

As for trying to draw a VP for the win? That's a 20% chance in the basic game. And in the expansion game it is less--but slightly more than the chance for rolling a '7".

Included in the recap is the production potential for each player at the start of the game. I have called this the Total Original Number Yield (TONY) that counts each of your starting settlement "pips" on the resource hexes. In the Robber's Lair variant, the number yield is considered 6. I think this will be the standard for posts going forward.

On to the games! 

GAME ONE

The order of placement and movement was Pete (blue), Joe (orange), Thom (green), Dennis (white), myself (red), and Paul (brown) in the double-placement position.

Rock was poor. Brick okay. And you either had wood or didn't.

The opening positions:

TONY rankings:

What happened? 

• The game was a war of attrition, with Pete gaining a slight but not alarming lead over a large pack nipping at his heels, built on his longest road. 
• Dennis had harbor master. And he was pursuing largest army.
• Thom experienced the agony of playing a monopoly card for a resource nobody had. Lesson learned on looking at the resource card stack heights.
  
• Joe had a shot at taking harbor master and longest road. 
• I had hoped to get harbor master until Paul sucked the life out of that mirage by building a road to block me. With that port building spot, Paul gained the shot at harbor master.
• I was able to cope with poor brick production with two year of plenty cards. My only hope was to promote all my cities, build another settlement, and pray for a VP card. 
• Thom was close to largest army, with Pete seemingly ready to hit the mark first with his unseen host waiting to be played. Getting there first would put Thom in the pack. But road building was slow.
• With Pete seemingly still safely far from victory, he reached 9 points--and then flipped two victory point cards. Congratulations Pete!

The final map:

Joe, Dennis (including harbor master), myself, and Paul tied for second with 7 points. Thom had 5 (including a victory point card).

"Probability":

Where was the robber? Count yourself lucky if you had 9. And both 6 and 8 were about as expected.

GAME TWO

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

Wheat was adequate, at best. Wood was great! Rock was hit or miss. I think I threw up a little bit in my mouth when I gazed at the bricks.

The opening positions:

TONY rankings:

What happened?

• As one would expect, roads were scarce. Thom built just three; Dennis led with six.
• The west side of Catan remained sparsely settled all game.
  
• Joe was one road away from getting 8 in a row with wide open fields to build more. So close ... 
• Dennis beat Pete to the coast, wasting two of Pete's precious newly build roads; but Pete did thread the needle to push inland.
  
• Dennis promoted all his cities and earned the harbor master and longest road, bouncing the Catan rubble with 12 points!

The final map:

Following Dennis were myself (7 points), Pete (6), Joe (5), and Thom (4).

"Probability":

Six decisively defeated 8 in their never-ending battle for probability supremacy. Hope you had 9 and 10!

GAME THREE

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

Brick was horrible while wood was great. That's always fun. Rock was again weak. 

The opening positions:

TONY rankings:

What happened?

• I eschewed my DP opportunity to frolic in the vast sheep herd and on a sheep port; and instead opted for a sheep-less array of the resources while starting within reach of sheep.
• Dennis could not resist the sheep herd on his second placement; and then built to the sheep port.
• There was a 3-way road-building race (myself, Dennis, and Joe) and a 2-way harbor master race (Dennis and Pete); Thom fielded the night's first largest army.
• With Dennis on the cusp of victory, I was able to salvage three each of wood and brick after I self-robbed by rolling a 7, which took the longest road from Dennis and pushed me to 11 points.
• I managed to have every number but 11 by the end of the game. This seems odd but it may be that I only noticed because I had that range of resources. Is this common? 
• Sadie made a late-night foray into the living room. I know this wasn't a Kittenpalooza like Landry provided last month, but still. At least this squelches that ugly rumor that Sadie is a mail order bride ordered to stay upstairs while the menfolk socialize.

The final map:

Pete followed with 9 points (including harbor master), Thom (with largest army and a VP card) and Dennis tied with 7, and Joe had 5.

"Probability": 

The robber was extremely active this game. 8 let down the right side of the bell curve's dominance.

 And that's it! The last game went long, so we wrapped up at 11:00. 

Miscellaneous

The Grim Reaper of Catan Award for rolling the most 7s and unleashing thievery on the peace-loving people of Catan goes to ...

Also, in a first, I finally managed to record the times players were hit by the robber in an evening--but not how many cards were lost--so we have data for who can validly claim victim status, robbery-wise.

"Congratulations" Joe, with three hits in the evening.

We suffered a casualty from game night. One of my battered chairs finally succumbed to battle damage.

I stripped it for parts and we'll see if I work up the initiative to put another shaky chair into dry dock to extend its lifespan.  

I had planned--while keeping the table which I really like despite its age--to order new chairs a year from now to take advantage of Memorial Day sales. So I advanced that purchase to right now to take advantage of current sales. I received them already and shall have them assembled before next game night. Huzzah.

And a meme!

Thanks to everyone who showed up! It's always fun to get together for Game Night.

As always, I encourage comments to explain your strategy or make the appropriate excuses and/or threats of righteous vengeance against Evil Probability that no doubt thwarted your perfect plans.

*I'd say that only those who stay to the last game earn being in the class photo, but I took the picture late--after Paul left--to give my daughter proof-of-life evidence of game night.