Seafarers: Fog Island for five players

Our Settlers-playing friends arrived back after six weeks away, and a guest who also plays is in our downstairs flat. So on Sunday we arranged a game! Richard opted for Seafarers of Catan and we decided to set up Fog Island, with - for the first time - the Seafarers 5-6 person expansion. It took about 20 minutes to set up...


I really did not want to win. I was tired, and had a low-key migraine; dulled with painkillers, but sufficient to make me unable to concentrate hard. I didn't even remember my camera, so Richard had to take photos using his phone.

I was the last person to place my first settlement, so got to do two at once, but by that stage most of the good spots were gone. Not that any of them were obviously brilliant. Setting up according to the booklet meant the board was fairly balanced.


I suppose I was lucky. In the early part of the game I was able to buy quite a few cards, and also built a couple of cities fairly earl on. I set out to sea fairly soon, and quickly gained the 'longest trade route' points. Jörn (playing blue) was not so lucky; he hardly seemed to pick up any cards at all. Play in general was pretty slow. Richard (red) and Sheila (brown) also managed to sail out to do some exploring, but none of us built all that many settlements or cities.


It's interesting having another person, used to playing with different people. John (with green pieces) tends to think somewhat outside the box, and will also sometimes play more aggressively. In this game, realising that I was some way in the lead, he started sailing ships out towards me - not intending to explore, or even build anything useful, but in the hope of placing a settlement in the middle of my 'longest trade route', thus reducing it significantly and meaning the card would pass to Richard or Sheila.


I managed to foil that one, once I realised what he was doing, by building a settlement there myself - although it wasn't a spot I would have chosen. John then moved his ships to a different point in my 'route', and I started building streets at the other end to ensure it stayed the longest.

I had the 'largest army' card at one point too, but Richard was able to take it from me when I had 11 points, putting me back at 9.

It's possible that Richard or Sheila might have been able to take the longest route from me, even so. And since I really didn't want to win, I wouldn't have minded... except that, by that point, it was 11pm. We'd been playing for nearly two and a half hours and it wasn't just me who was yawning and feeling bleary-eyed. So I put all my effort into building, and was able to get a last settlement, taking me to 9 points in buildings, 2 for the longest trade route, and one extra Victory Point card.


It wasn't a very even game - Sheila was the only other person who managed to build even one city. She came second with 8 points (including one card); Richard had 7 (including the largest army); John had 5, and Jörn had 4. I'm not quite sure why it was so uneven - none of the starting places were that bad. I suppose it was just the roll of the dice.