We had game night, of course. Joe, Paul, Pete, and Tony joined me for a game on the expanded map. Harbor master variant, of course. It almost seemed like we hadn't ever played Catan the way we kept forgetting rules. And I forgot to take the group picture! Luckily, ChatGTP was able to recreate the event with uncanny accuracy and attention to detail:
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We dined on pizza and cheese bread, corn chips with salsa and cheese dip, and assorted cookies and brownies/bars. Tony brought Belgian chocolates from his trip abroad; and Joe brought M & Ms and a fine non-swill beer to add to the usual Labatt Blue Light and some assorted vodka/carbonated juice combinations that I bought on deep discount.
GAME ONE
The order of placement and movement was Joe (green), Tony (blue), Pete (brown), myself (red), and Paul (orange) in the double-placement position.
The opening positions:
TONY rankings:
What happened?
- Well, rock sucked. And I'm not too happy with wood while I'm bitching.
- Tony built every road he had; built no cities; and easily held longest road.
- With Pete's super-charged 10 rock, he fully urbanized; but built only three roads. And sadly, one coastal city had a lovely ocean view unspoiled by docks with their unruly seamen.
- I could build but two cities with enough expansion to have six build sites. Fear of 7s led me to buy development cards, which at least got me largest army. I took a little heat for my futile effort to handicap Paul and Tony in road building, hoping my feeble road-building capacity would finally kick in and let me link by enclaves.
- Joe expanded nicely in the southeast and managed to expand his massive rock holdings. With four cities he was working on either longest road or another settlement. But then somebody noticed he was close to winning and the Catan anti-bodies kicked in. No trade for Joe!
- Paul started the game by blocking Tony in two directions (Double Paulitration?). Boy, that really escalated quickly. After that it was modest expansion, three cities, and harbor master to reach 11! Congratulations, Paul.
The final map:
"Probability":
GAME TWO
The order of placement and movement was Pete (brown), myself (red), Paul (orange), Joe (green) and Tony (blue) in the coveted double-placement position.
The opening positions:
TONY rankings:
What happened?
- Rock was good--but uncomfortably concentrated.
- Pete expanded into the center of the board in a noteworthy development. His victory path likely required connecting his enclaves to grab and hold longest road.
- Once again I almost accidentally fielded the largest army as I struggled to build roads, mocking my room to expand. But if I could promote three cities, I would not need more territory.
- Paul abandoned his interior enclave, which helped Pete expand. His opportunity to take harbor master waned near the end when he found he needed four harbor points (barely possible), leaving him to tenuously hold longest road. But if he could build a settlement and promote a city while he held longest road ...
- Tony modestly expanded and also had room to build. Living in the mountains gave him three cities. And while it looked like his path to victory was long, his two victory point cards meant he needed just a city promotion and a settlement. Alas ...
- ... Joe marched to the sea from both his initial placements to finally seize harbor master. Full urbanization with the requisite five building sites (in my opinion the minimum to have a reasonable path to victory) gave Joe the win with an epic 4-point turn of building a settlement to get harbor master and then promoting a city. Congratulations, Joe!
The final map:
Tony (two victory points) and Paul (longest road) followed with 9 points each. I had 8 with the largest army, and Pete had 7.
"Probability":
Having the 8 rock proved nearly worthless. And 11 continued its reign of terror.
GAME THREE
The order of placement and movement was Tony (blue), Pete (brown), myself (red), Paul (orange), and Joe (green) in the always coveted DP position.
The opening positions:
TONY rankings:
What happened?
- Rock was technically okay. I guess.
- Pete secured a build spot to make a play for harbor master, and totally unintended I'm sure, cut off Joe's attempt to link up his road segments and seize longest road.
- I started with what I considered my best initial placement of the night. Finally able to build roads I found I was still relatively poor in road building. Belatedly I started to seek largest army. At the end, I traded with two other players to build three roads to block another link up spot for Joe to take and maximize longest road. I confess I very briefly considered taking the three roads I could build to link up my segments to take longest road. But that would have been wrong.
- Paul took harbor master this game, and had room to expand his port points to six to fend off any challengers.
- Joe, with three cities and three settlements, was on the cusp of victory when twice he was thwarted by cabals of his frenemies. With only one city left to use and no available build spots, longest road seemed like the best bet. Sadly, "events" happened.
- While Affaire le Joe played out Tony expanded his hold on longest road while Joe tried to catch him and while Paul and I eyed linking up enclaves to make a play. But with five settlements and two cities, the longest road was enough to win. Congratulations, Tony!
The final map:
Joe and Paul (harbor master) followed with 9 points each, I had 8, and Pete had 6.
"Probability":
Once again, 11 produced!
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, we have data for who can validly claim victim status, robbery-wise, from holding too many cards when the 7 robber strikes.
Everybody was hit at least once, but nobody stood above the crowd.
And a meme!
We wrapped up a little after 10:00. The first two games took time to finish. But they didn't drag as everyone was in striking range of victory. Note that Joe was close to sweeping the evening. I was skunked notwithstanding my excellent TONY ratings in all the games. Curse you, "probability"! Or perhaps the cocktail waitress was too distracting.
Also, I need to stop sending maps and charts with maximum size from my phone. They seem to get butchered in the InterTubes on the way to my computer.
Anyway, it was great to see everyone. It is always a pleasure to host good friends for some drinks, food, and a little of the ultra violence across a table.
We'll do it again in November!
