Settlers of Catan for two with Tim

Richard was out Monday evening, and Tim had wanted to play a two-player Settlers of Catan game with me... so as we weren't in the UK for much longer, we decided to have a game. And, just for a change, we used his tiles which are the American version with graphics rather different from either the German one or the new international one with a grid.

I was kind of tired.. and forgot to take a photo until we'd placed a couple of streets. But this shows our starting three settlements (Tim blue, me orange):


As usual with a two-player game, we both had a good range of numbers. I had potential access to all five resources, although it was evident that clay was likely to be in rather short supply. Tim decided to head for as many harbours as possible.

Surprisingly, however, several 3s were rolled early in the game, which gave me the clay I needed for quite a few streets. Tim collected a lot of wood and sheep and traded four to one with the bank for his clay. I reached a 3-1 harbour first, and also the sheep harbour (the picture is cut off in the photo but it's the one next to the 3-clay hex). Tim, meanwhile, built a city pretty early in the game:


I don't usually think about the longest street, but simply because I was expanding I was the first to get to five streets. So we both had 7 points on the board, but I was ahead... which isn't actually a good thing in the two-player game, since our house rules state that when a 7 is rolled, the person who is behind on points controls the robber. Quite a few 7s were rolled, so Tim got to move the robber (and take a matching resource from the bank) several times.


With his good access to ore, it wasn't all that long before Tim had built all four of his cities. And I could see that he was going to take the longest street too. What I'd forgotten was that Tim's strategy isn't the same as Richard's. He liked being a point behind, and ensured he stayed that way so that he continued to control the robber...


He joined up his two sections of street to take the longest street card.. but another 3 was rolled, and I was able to join up two of my sections as well, so as to keep the card. So by this stage we both had 11 points on the board, but I was still ahead. We were both buying cards too, hoping for either victory points or knights to build the largest army. I had also finished building my four cities... and had just two streets remaining in my hand. I had one building spot, but two settlements. And I pondered out loud.. do I join up another section of street, giving me 14 (and thus unassailable as far as the longest street went) or do I use them to provide a final building spot....?


As it happened, I didn't get to decide. The robber was on the 3, and 2s were not rolled. Tim, however, with the ore harbour, was able to get plenty of clay, and finally took the longest street card from me:


I couldn't build the two streets I needed. And somehow I still thought the game would continue a few more rounds. So - since I had the sheep harbour - I built another settlement using the cards in my hand, which would have delighted my youngest friend Helen who loves sheep:


We play to 16 points in the two-player Settlers game, but Tim actually won with 17 by placing another settlement, and buying another card which gave him two extra victory points: