Then we placed our initial settlements. Jörn (blue) was first, and chose a very nice spot with good access to both wood and clay. Richard (red) took another similar location. I (orange) then decided to go for the best numbers I could find amongst the remaining intersections, despite knowing that ore was likely to be a fairly scarce resource. I was pleased to be able to take a 10-ore slot on the second placement, though Daniel (green) had taken the best spot as far as ore was concerned.
Play was fairly slow at first, with Richard and I being the first two to build settlements although Jörn did well with streets, and headed out towards a useful clay spot:
It wasn't long before cities started appearing. 11s were rolled a little more than would be expected, statistically speaking, which helped. By this point in the game, Becky (white) had 6 points including two cities, and was in the lead again. Daniel and Richard each had 4 points; the rest of us were on 3:
It seemed that Becky was on a roll. She soon increased her points to 7 with a third city, while all the rest of us had 4:
Of course, this meant that the robber was placed on Becky at every opportunity. And Jörn, who had such good access to wood and clay, continued to build roads and soon took the longest street card:
Daniel pointed out to Becky that she could join her sections of streets, which would ensure that I didn't gain the card (and she might)... so with several suitable cards in her hand, she built a few more streets. While Jörn had the longest street card, they were in the joint lead with 7 points each; Daniel still had 4 and the rest of us each had 5.
It wasn't long before Becky joined her two street sections, took the card, and was well in the lead again with 9 points. She only had one building spot left, but there wasn't much competition for it. The rest of us, other than Daniel, now had 6 points; Daniel still had 4.
Poor Daniel was thwarted at every point. First Becky had taken one of his building spots; now I hoarded cards until I could build three more streets, then built out to block another one for him. I didn't feel too bad about it, since he'd stopped me from taking the longest street by suggesting that Becky do so!
The board was beginning to fill up. Becky played her final settlement, giving her 10 points. However Sheila had also been building, and was close behind with 9. Richard had 7, although he had bought quite a few development cards at the start of the game, and had played a couple of knights so was evidently aiming for the largest army. Jörn and I each had 6 points, Daniel had 5.
Jörn made an attempt at taking the longest street card from Becky, but she was able to keep it since she had no wastage. She built her last city, so there was nothing for her to do other than buy cards and hope for a victory point - which several of us were doing by this stage in the game. Sheila now had 10 points, as did Richard (including the largest army). Jörn had managed to build some more settlements - not on very useful places, but they still gave him points. So he had 9 by this stage. I had 7, Daniel had 5.
To our surprise, we ran out of development cards. None of us could remember that having happened before. It meant that there was no chance for some of us to win. Richard had planned to buy two more cards on his turn, with some trading... however, he then realised that in fact he could build a final city, so that he was the winner with 12 points.
Several of us did have one victory point card, including Sheila - so she and Becky were in joint second place with 11 points each.
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