I went first, but really wasn't awake enough to think of strategy. So I just opted for what looked like the best intersection number-wise, and on my final two placements went for a variety of numbers and resources. I thought I should get a fair amount of wheat, with 5, 9 and 10, and planned on the wheat harbour. That was about as far as I got.
Tessie decided she would join in. We did manage to persuade her not to get on the table....
As often seems to happen in this game, Richard set out to sea to explore uncharted territory earlier than I did. I didn't get nearly as much wheat as I'd expected, but did collect rather a lot of ore. Unfortunately the ore harbour was beyond my reach. It did mean I built some cities very early in the game; in fact I'd built them all before I managed to reach the coast and start building boats.
Richard found himself - unusually - buying a lot of cards. He quickly gained the largest army - and carried on playing knights regularly. He also gained the longest street (trade route) card fairly easily with his exploring ships.
I wasn't really thinking about winning.. I just kept exploring and/or building, using whatever resources became available. However, since we were playing our standard two-player rule that the person with lower points controls the robber when a 7 is rolled, we did have to stop and count every so often. Then it occurred to me - a turn after the event - that my 'trade route' was actually longer than Richard's. It was his turn, and he'd just placed a road that made his route 11 pieces long. I realised that mine was already 11.. which meant that I should have taken the 'longest street' card, and that he would need 12 piece to overtake.
The following turn he rolled a 7. We counted points to see who was ahead. Up to that point, it had been Richard every time. But he only had 10 points on the board, whereas I had 12. He had the largest army, but I had the longest street. So I had 14 points. I hadn't realised that.... and I also held two victory point development cards. So I showed them... that gave me 16 points, and I was the winner.
Except that... it was still Richard's turn. I should have realised that when it was my turn. I shouldn't have declared it out of turn. So on his turn, he moved his leading ship to the coastline behind the main island, and built another ship... which meant he now had the longest trade route, and took the longest street card back. Now I had just my 12 on the board (plus the two victory point cards, which I hid again) while he had 10 on the board, plus for four the army and street. And a victory point card which he showed at the same time as I showed mine, giving him 15...
So he was bound to win.... I really wanted him to win, too. And I also wanted to see if I could built my final settlement on the gold hex which would give me a resource of my choice if an 11 was rolled. I don't think I've built next to a gold hex before. So I said that now neither of us had 16 points yet, we should continue playing.
I put all my energies into building further streets so as to gain the gold hex. And succeeded :-)
Having done so, I then proceeded to roll an 11 on my next move!
And then... I built yet more ships, so I was able to take back the longest street card once more. Meaning that, instead of Richard winning as expected, I won with 17 points since I now had all 13 points' worth of buildings on the board.
It was a good game, anyway.
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