Settlers of Catan for Six

We had started to play a second game of 'Rivers of Catan' last night, but then had an invitation to Jörn and Sheila's for a game of regular six-player Settlers. So we temporarily abandoned the Rivers.

There were quite a few nice starting spots in this game, with reasonable numbers and a selection of resources. I got to go last, yet again, since Sheila - who was sitting on my left, playing brown - managed to roll a 12. So she took the obvious 5-6-9 intersection, with clay, wood and wheat. Jörn (blue) who sent second, then took the 5-8-10 with good access to ore, wheat and wood. Richard (red) was third; he opted for a 4-5-10 intersection, aiming to reach a 3:1 harbour as soon as possible. Becky (white) took yet another good spot, with clay, wood and wheat on a 4-9-10 intersection, and Daniel (green) took a 3-8-9, also heading for a 3:1 harbour.

At last it was my turn - and I was quite pleased to be able to a range of six numbers (3, 4, 5, 6, 8 and 9) with all five resources, potentially (albeit only 3 on ore) AND the sheep harbour, which I hoped would be useful as I had two sheep hexes.

On the way back, everyone took the spots they could with the resources and numbers they wanted; Becky was mildly annoyed to realise that she only had four different numbers rather than six, and no access to sheep at all. Jörn, likewise, had no access to sheep in his initial placement, but was heading towards sheep with one of his streets.


I grabbed my sheep harbour as quickly as I could; Richard and Daniel, likewise, grabbed their intended 3:1 harbours. Sheila and Becky built some more streets... and Jörn built two cities.

I've no idea why the next photograph is sideways... I should have corrected it before uploading. But perhaps it provides a bit of variety...


The game continued with various interruptions, making it quite slow-moving. But it didn't matter; part of the enjoyment of a board game like this is the interaction and discussions amongst the players.

Jörn finally managed a settlement, which he was quickly able to upgrade to a third city. Sheila and Becky managed cities, and Sheila - without realising it - built the longest street. I was struggling with my lack of ore - always a problem - and Richard got blocked by Daniel:


So at that stage, Sheila was in the lead with seven points, although she didn't expect to keep the longest street card. Jörn and Becky both had six points, I had five, Daniel had four, and Richard had three.

Daniel took the next photo, from the other side of the board, which is perhaps even more confusing than a sideways one:


Becky now had eight points on the board - she was doing very well despite her lack of starting numbers, and no 6s or 8s - although she had managed to reach an 8-wood hex by this stage. Sheila was still holding the longest street card, so also had eight points. Jörn had managed another settlement, so had seven; I had finally succeeded - by dint of a lot of trading - to build a city, so had six. Daniel had five, and Richard had four.

Then Jörn linked his two sets of streets, and took the longest road card from Sheila. That put him in the lead, with nine points. Becky was right behind, with eight:


The game was still fairly close, however. Sheila now had seven points, Daniel and I each has six, and Richard was trailing with four. With rarer numbers on both clay and ore, there wasn't much that he could do.

Becky, however, went from strength to strength. She picked up cards, and did more building, so that suddenly we realised she was in the lead, with ten points:


Richard was still having a hard time, but decided to aim for the longest street, so started building roads whenever he could. I wasn't really getting the resources I needed, despite my good numbers. Jörn had run out of building spots, and somehow wasn't getting the resources he needed for his final city.

Richard achieved the longest street, which did give him six points. I managed one more settlement, putting me on seven (I also had a hidden victory point card). Jörn was still stuck on seven, having lost the longest street, and Daniel also had seven. Sheila was doing a bit better with nine... although we think she somehow managed to miss a turn as we were so distracted in this game.

Then Becky's turn came around, and she built another settlement, and produced a victory point card. So she was the clear winner, with 12 points:


My small friend Helen, who usually plays on my 'team' (and is getting better and better at recognising the different pieces and resource cards, has become quite attached to Daniel and Becky too, and posted with Becky for the winner's photograph:

Settlers of Catan: The Great Rivers of Catan variation (from Traders and Barbarians)

On Monday night, it was back to just the four of us again. So we thought we would try another scenario from 'Traders and Barbarians', the third expansion of 'Settlers of Catan'. The next one was the 'Great River of Catan', which apparently has somewhat different rules from the game previously published with that name. However that didn't worry us since we'd never played or even seen it before.

Becky set the game up. Some of the hexes are replaced by river tiles, that have a swamp area next to the sea (replacing the desert) and some other standard tiles with a river running through them. Since there are two swamps, the 2 and 12 numbers go on the same place, giving more of a chance to anyone who builds next to that tile.

So here's the basic board layout:


There are also some cardboard 'coins' in this scenario: 25 small and 15 big. There was no indication as to whether they should be used differently, so we decided to count the big ones as equivalent to five small ones.

Then there was a 'wealthiest settler' card, worth an extra victory point, and four 'poor settlers' cards, each worth minus two points:


Two coins can be used to buy a resource card, and that can be done up to twice in anyone's turn. Very useful... the only problem being that at any point the person (or people) with least coins is given the 'poor settler' card, and must earn an EXTRA two points before being the winner. The guidelines told us that it's almost impossible for the 'poor settler' to win, so anyone considering buying a resource card should keep an eye on everyone's coins and ensure that he or she has the opportunity to gain more coins in future, so as not to become the 'poorest'.

Coins can also be used to trade - offering a coin to another player for a resource, for instance. They can also be bought by trading with the bank, including using harbours if relevant. Coins may not be stolen by the robber, and are not counted as part of the 'hand' when a seven is rolled.

The final addition for this game is that we each had three little bridges:


Bridges can be built wherever there are dotted lines on the board - crossing over a river, or between the sea and the swamp areas. A bridge works like a road in most respects, but costs two brick and one wood.

Why would anyone bother with bridges...? Well, that's because of the 'money' aspect to this game. Anyone placing a road or settlement adjoining any of the river tiles is given one coin. But if a bridge is built, the player building it gets three coins. So, right after the initial placements of settlements and streets, it's possible for any player to have up to four coins, depending on where they are placed. (A bridge may not be used in place of one of the initial roads).

So... having perused the rules, we started our initial setup. Then we realised that there was a slight error, in that there were two less wheat hexes (and two more sheep) than should have been on the board for this particular scenario. However we didn't discover that until we were half-way through placing our settlements. By that stage there was really only one sheep hex that could be removed (and replaced with wheat) without affecting what we had already played. So we decided we'd just have to cope with having fewer wheat than we should have.

Richard (red) placed first, and took an intersection with good numbers, with the settlement (but not the street) bordering a river hex. So he gained a coin. Daniel (white) was second; he took the 4-8-9 intersection, with both settlement and street bordering a river hex. So he gained two coins. Becky (blue) too the 5-6-11 including both clay and wood, and also gained two coins. I was last to place, so also first in the second round. I decided to opt for places where I would gain four coins, and have access to all resources. My numbers were 3, 4, 5, 8 and 9 which seemed quite reasonable; I had no way to get a six, and had to border the swamp - but at least it was next to the river.


All other placements were next to one of the rivers too, so that Daniel ended with four coins too, Becky and Richard each had three. That gave both of them 'poor Settler' cards, but it hardly mattered at the point. Since Daniel and I were equally wealthy, nobody gained the 'wealthy settler' card.

It wasn't long before each of us had managed to build a bridge, and gain an extra three coins. It also gave us more room for expansion, since roads can't be built in the bridge places. But with wheat in such short supply, it was more difficult to build settlements or cities. Still, Daniel managed a couple of settlements, and the rest of us each managed one.


At last, Daniel managed a city, although he had to buy one of the resources with a couple of coins. He was helped by the 'year of plenty' card, too. Of the four of us, he had the best access to wheat, but with the only numbers being 3 and 11, there wasn't much in the game at all. Around the same time, Becky gained the longest street - and in the process built a bridge that Richard had hoped to build, between the swamp and the sea:


So Daniel was in the lead with six points, followed by Becky at five, while I had four and Richard had three.. although as he had the 'wealthy settler' card, he actually had four. And since the 'poor Settler' card kept moving from person to person, it was a bit unpredictable.. and still pretty even.

Then Dan built another city, and another settlement. Becky and I each managed a city too:


Becky still had the longest street - even though it was only five pieces long - so she had seven points, but Daniel was still in the lead with eight. I had six... and Richard was still struggling with only three points on the board, plus the wealthy settler card giving him four in all.

Daniel had amazing access to ore by this stage, and also the ore harbour. So it wasn't too difficult for him to build his other two cites, giving him ten solid points. Except that they aren't entirely solid in this game... by this stage he was down to just a couple of coins, and had the 'poor settler' card. So he really only had eight.


Still, Daniel was in the lead anyway. Becky and I each had seven points, and Richard had five, plus the wealthy settler card.

Daniel still had quite a few building spots. And he was gaining handfuls of resources every turn. With no extra 'building phase' in the 3-4 person game of Catan, he couldn't do anything with his excess cards; and, as is so often the way, he rolled 7s time and time again on his turn, meaning that he had to discard half of his cards many times over.

But he still had sufficient to build a couple more roads, and take the 'longest street' card from Becky, while the rest of us were struggling to do anything more:


Daniel now had 12 points in theory, but since he continued to hold the 'poor Settler' card, he needed a couple more to win.

It didn't take long for him to build another settlement, and he then showed that he also had a hidden victory point card:


So Daniel was the winner by quite a long way. Moreoever, he showed that the advice in the booklet was wrong: it's entirely possible to be the 'poor Settler' and still win. He said he'd realised that it was in fact better strategy to buy necessary cards using coins and not worry about being by the river or gaining more coins.

Seems like he was totally right.

Second Settlers of Catan game with Chris

After introducing our friend Chris to Settlers of Catan on Tuesday, we asked if he'd like another game on Wednesday evening, or whether he'd prefer to watch a DVD. Catan was his preferred option :-)

This time Richard sat next to him, theoretically to advise, but Chris had picked up the game very quickly, and really didn't need much assistance at all. If any. It meant that I was sitting at the end of the table for once, giving me a different view of the board.

It wasn't nearly such a nice layout as last time. No good numbers with both wood and clay, for instance. Becky (white) placed first, Daniel (brown) was second. Richard (red) went third, and they all chose obvious spots from the number perspective, with three resources. Chris, playing blue, didn't need any advice to take yet another useful place for numbers. Then it was me, with my usual orange pieces. I couldn't easily get all five resources, so - as I so often do - I decided to do without sheep. It looked as if there would be plenty for trading, anyway. Wood looked as though it might be in short supply, so I opted for an intersection that included wood-5, and was pleased that it also had clay-10 - the best combination of the two - although the third was a 2. I then opted for two different numbers, plus 12, to give me good access to ore and wheat. But, naturally, took the cards from the wood-clay-wheat hex.

On the way back everyone did what they could to choose the best numbers and/or resources, but I'm not sure that anybody was entirely satisfied with their choices. On balance, I thought Chris probably had the best spots, number-wise.


With plentiful ore and wheat, the game started with cities being built. 11s were rolled rather more than they should have been, statistically speaking, which enabled Daniel to build some roads and gain the longest street card.


Up to that point, Chris had been in the lead with five points; Daniel now equalled him, since he had three on the board. But since Becky and I both had four, and Richard had three, it was all pretty even so far.

Richard made an attempt to built a long street going across the board, stopping Daniel from making his also go from coast to coast, but Daniel managed to block him and extend his own advantage. It seemed pretty certain that nobody was going to challenge Daniel from the perspective of the longest street on this Catan board.


Chris had just crept into the lead again with six points, while Daniel and I had five, Becky and Richard had four.

The next picture didn't come out so bright, for some reason, but should still be viewable. I took this one after Daniel built the last of his settlements, giving him seven points, and realised that he would have to start building cities:


Chris was just ahead, still, with eight points (and plenty of building spots remaining). I had seven, and so did Becky who had a sudden spate of being able to build. Richard only had four points on the board, but had played four knight development cards by this stage, which gave him the 'largest army' and thus six points in all.

Chris was primarily being targetted with the robber, as were Becky and I; Daniel was buying cards since he kept picking up sufficient to give him more than seven in his hand, but not enough to build a city.

Then Daniel's turn came round again. He managed, with some careful trading, to build his first city. So now he had six points on the board, plus the longest street card, giving him eight in all. Richard, Becky and I also had eight each, and Chris had nine. It was really remarkably close....


... except that Daniel then revealed that he had FOUR victory point cards:


He said he'd been quite annoyed when he picked up the first one, as he'd hoped for a knight - wanting to gain the largest army. When he got the second he was quite pleased. When he had the third and fourth, he was pretty amazed.

So Daniel shot ahead to 12 points and won the game, much sooner than we had expected a victory.

Settlers of Catan for five with Chris

Our friend Chris is here for the UK for a week. So, naturally, we wondered if he'd like to learn a new board game.... and initiated him into the delights of Catan on Tuesday evening.

We explained the principles and rules somewhat, and then got started. I sat on his right hand so I could glance at his cards and advise, and naturally we all explained strategies for the opening settlement placement.

Richard (red) was first to place, so chose an obvious one with good numbers on wood, clay and ore. I was second, and didn't want to take the other obviously good place near Richard's, since I wanted to advise Chris to take it. I somehow didn't notice that there was actually a third spot with good numbers including wood and clay, so instead I opted for good numbers with wood, wheat and sheep. There were really quite a lot of good opening places on this board. Chris (blue) took the one we suggested - since he had no idea, really, what would happen - and Daniel (brown) then took the other obvious place which I'd missed. Becky who was last (playing white) - and thus first in the second round of placements - took some more spots with good numbers and four resources; she lacked only ore. But it looked as if ore was going to be fairly plentiful in this game.


On the way back around the circle, we all managed to get reasonable spots, with access to all the resources (even though my clay was only on a 12). We all thought it was one of the nicest boards we'd seen.

In the first few rounds Becky, Chris and I both managed a street - clay was rather a poor resource, so they weren't easy - while Daniel, who had such good access to ore and wheat, built two cities. This put him firmly in the lead, which isn't really a good thing too early in the game since it meant that he tended to be the target of the robber, right through the game, other than when he moved it himself.


I took the next photo when a few more cities had been built, but we were still struggling a little for other resources. Daniel was still in the lead - just - with six points, and had managed to reach a 3:1 harbour. But I now had five points, and everyone else had four.


The next excitement came when Daniel gained the longest street card with five streets - trading heavily for them, and also buying a fair number of cards which gave him a street-building and a couple of useful monopolies.


So Daniel had ten points. Chris and I each had five, Richard and Becky each had four. It looked as if Daniel was going to cream us totally. We tried to advise Chris not to trade with Daniel, but he made the point that since Daniel was most likely to win anyway, we might as well hurry the inevitable along, and then we'd have time for another game!

It looked as if Chris was right, when Daniel built another city, giving him 11 points. I had managed to scrape together 8 by that point; Richard and Chris were not far behind with 7, and Becky had 6. But Daniel didn't have any victory point cards, so the game was still going...


I should, perhaps, have accepted Daniel as winner.. but somehow I can't let it happen. I was lucky in a couple of rolls of the dice, played a monopoly card, and then traded on my turn so as to build some more streets, and took the longest street card from him.

So now I had 11 points, and Daniel was back to 9. Everyone else had 7.


Then Daniel built another city, and another settlement. He had 11 solid points on the board, and was buying cards. A few more rounds would surely give him the largest army, and victory.


But then my turn came round, and - again with lucky rolls of the dice - I was able to build another settlement. So I had 12 points, and had won.


Richard then showed that he had two victory point cards, meaning that he had 11, as well as Daniel. It was a very close game although we hadn't realised that Richard was so close. Moreover, Chris wanted us to note that he hadn't quite understood about the 'largest army' card - if he had done so, he would have played more knights, and gained an extra two points. So although he ended with 8 we felt that morally speaking he should have had 10.

Then Daniel set the camera up on timer, and took a photo that showed us all:

Seafarers of Catan: fog island (for six)

It was a few weeks since we had introduced Becky to Seafarers of Catan, with the Fog Island scenario. Yesterday afternoon, Richard and Daniel went out sailing, but our friends came over for a game, and asked for Seafarers. We decided on the same scenario, but with random distribution of hexes and numbers.

We had not played with six before. The initial setup wasn't easy, with distinct lack of spaces by the end. Becky (playing red, for a change) went first and took what was, in my view, the best spot available. Marie (playing white) went second; Jörn (blue) third; Sheila (brown) fourth. I was fifth, playing orange as usual, and since there were no obviously good spots, decided on some good numbers on sheep and wood - the resources needed to build a boat. Jacob (green) went last, his favourite position, since it meant he placed both settlements together. I'm not entirely sure why he took one spot with only the wood-8 bordering it - there was a similar wood-8 hex with a wheat next to it that he could have had. But he was determined to set out to sea as soon as possible, and to aim for the 10-gold hex.


So the game started. Since I had no ore, my first strategy was to build towards a useful 9-ore hex. Becky built streets out towards the coast at the back of the board, in the hope of the ore harbour. And picked up the longest street card without really intending to.

The first person to uncover a 'hidden' hex was Jacob...and it was a sea hex. Sheila then set out in boats as well, and uncovered a further sea hex.


Jacob kept on building boats and exploring, and for several moves found nothing but sea. Then finally he uncovered a wood hex, with a useful 5, and built a settlement bordering that and the gold hex he had been aiming for.


However, Becky was still rather significantly in the lead. She had 7 points including the longest street. Even if - as was likely - someone took that from her, she had 5 solid points on the board. Jörn was second with five points; Marie, Jacob and I had four each, and Sheila had three.

I did manage to build enough ships to take the longest route card for a couple of rounds, but Jacob soon took it from me. His line of ships was pretty much invincible from that perspective, although he wasn't doing much other building:


Despite losing the longest route card, Becky now had eight points, since she had built two cities and a further settlement. Jörn also had eight points, and Jacob was close behind with seven. Marie, Sheila and I all had five, so it was still fairly even. Marie and I had been discovering some useful land hexes, as had Jacob by this stage. Sheila had remembered a rule which we had quite forgotten in our last game: whoever turns over a land hex takes an extra resource corresponding to it immediately.

Richard and Daniel arrived home from their sailing trip, and Richard sat with Jacob to give him some advice on strategy. He pointed out that since he had by far the longest route, there wasn't much point extending it further; he needed the resources to build settlements and cities instead, to gain more points. Then Daniel took over advising... and Jacob waited until two 12s had (surprisingly) been rolled. Jörn and I both picked up clay for that, so Jacob, on his turn, monopolised clay and received 15 cards:


With those, he was able to trade with others, and then built another settlement.

However, Becky was maintaining a clear lead by this stage. She had 11 points on the board. She still had building spaces too - lots of them! - so could either build more, or buy cards. We had decided to play to 12 points rather than 14, as we were getting hungry. We had to remember to keep counting points; as so often happens in Fog Island, we were all enjoying the exploration phase and tended to forget about trying to gain points.


Unsurprisingly, it was Becky who won - by picking up a victory point card.


We were greatly relieved, not wanting the game to continue much longer. The camera shook slightly on the last shot, and I temporarily ran out of memory space to take any more, so the final board isn't too clear:


But Becky was the clear winner, and Jacob came second with 10 points.

Settlers for six again on Monday

It had been over a week since we last played a game of Settlers at Jörn and Sheila's. Various reasons, including the birth of their new baby... but by Monday evening she was three and a half days old, and it was time for another game.

It took us a while to get set up, but it wasn't a bad board. At least, not for the first few people to place settlements. The first was Becky (white), who chose a very nice 5-6-9 intersection, with wood, ore and clay. Exactly what I'd have chosen if I'd gone first. Daniel (green), who went second, chose an 8-9-3 with good access to wood and clay. Richard (red) was third - it wasn't quite so easy for him, but he opted for good numbers (4-5-8) with wood and two ore. Another spot that I would have taken if I could.

I was fourth, and since there were no obviously great spots, I decided to go for numbers. I could have had clay and two sheep, or wood and two wheat. And although wheat is usually more useful than sheep, it looked as if wood was going to be a lot more plentiful than clay. So I wanted to ensure at least some clay in the game. Sheila (brown) then took the 3-5-10 spot, and Jörn (blue) took the second intersection I had considered, with wood and two wheat. He also took the 4-8 on wheat and clay, next to the desert, meaning he was lacking both sheep and ore. There really weren't many good spots for second placement - those with good numbers bordered either the sea or the desert. Sheila was at least able to get access to all five resources; since I couldn't get wood and two wheat, I opted for wood and one wheat near the sea. I don't like to start the game without any ore, but hoped I might reach the 4-ore hex before too long.

Richard took a spot that made sense for him, though it meant that Sheila's second street was wasted; since he'd picked up street resources with his second spot, and would play before her, he could clearly take the path she had planned on. Daniel, like Sheila, was able to find somewhere with more good numbers which gave him access to all five resources -at least in theory - and Becky then took a spot that didn't have great numbers, but potential for all resources.


In the first few rounds, a surprising number of 3s were rolled, and quite a few 8s. With some judicious trading, Daniel was able to get in the lead - including building the first two cities of the game, as well as buying quite a few cards. Here's the game when he had already reached 6 solid points:


Jörn and I both had four points, Richard and Sheila each had three, and Becky was still stuck on two points at this stage. Her numbers simply weren't coming up.

Then Daniel built enough streets to get the 'longest road' card. He was WAY ahead, although he didn't expect to keep that one. But at this stage, he had - in all - eleven points:


Jörn was second with eight points, Becky - who had suddenly done rather better - had six, Sheila and I both had five, and Richard had four. If one of Daniel's cards had been a victory point, he would have totally creamed the rest of us.

But Richard quickly took the longest street card. Just as well, since Daniel built another city and had ten solid points. So did Becky:


Jörn had nine points, Sheila and I both had seven, as did Richard (including the longest street, which he was pretty certain to keep).

Then some 9s and 10s were rolled. I did worry that I might lose half my cards to the robber; in previous rounds I had ensured that I stayed with no more than seven cards, either by trading away two of them to receive one, or buying a card. But I really needed to build some cities. I was lucky. My turn came around, and I didn't roll a 7. With a little trading, I was able to buy one city. I then built another on the same round, using two wheat, and nine sheep (since I had a 3:1 harbour)! Now I too had ten points:


Jörn had nine, Sheila had eight, and Richard still had 7. I had now built all four of my cities, and had run out of building spots so the only thing left for me to do was to buy development cards. Which I did - and one of them was a victory point.

However, Daniel had been playing knight cards, and on the next round played his third. So he was presented with the 'largest army' card and the associated two extra points, and was declared the winner:


He seemed a little surprised about it!

Here's the final board, not much different from the previous one other than the robber having been moved by Daniel's knight:


Richard, despite having had such good access to ore, didn't manage even one city in this game.

Settlers of Catan: fishermen variation

We'd enjoyed the 'Fishermen of Catan' variation of the game, from the Traders and Barbarians set when we played it at the end of last month, so decided to try it again. We used the 'event cards' rather than rolling dice to determine resource production, too.

Having the fish availability does slightly change initial setup strategy; it means there are more useful places to start, which is good. And, as Daniel worked out last time, it's well worth building alongside the lake which replaces the desert.

Daniel (playing green) went first, and chose that rather nice spot near the top left of the board, with 5-8-10 on ore, wheat and sheep. It looked like a particularly good place to me, since it was evident that wheat was, in general, going to be a fairly scarce resource. Indeed, playing with event cards rather than dice, we could be pretty sure of that.

Becky (blue) was second, and chose the interesting spot with two good wood hexes and the lake, very near the wood harbour. Richard (red) then took another lake spot, next to both wood and clay - always useful - and since I was last, I decided I'd make the third available lakeside spot my first choice. I realised I would not be able to get all five resources, but it looked as if sheep would be fairly plentiful; and since we weren't playing either Seafarers or Cities and Knights, sheep tends to be the least useful resource.


Even at the start of the game, Becky bought cards whenever she could, while the rest of us were putting up our first settlements (and Daniel his first city). Since Becky bought - and played - knights to start with, it wasn't long before she had the largest army. And when we counted up, nobody was in the lead: we all had exactly four points. A very even game so far.


I was also able to buy a city, but with wheat in short supply it wasn't easy. Richard concentrated on building roads, expanding outwards towards a wheat hex (if only 11), and, naturally, was awarded the longest street card. That put him in the lead, with 7 points. But now he needed to build cities, and with little wheat and no access at all to ore, it wasn't easy for him.

I had only five points on the board, but had concentrating on building towards that useful 8-wheat hex at the top. And since I'd picked up the 'old boot' card in one of my fishing expeditions, I passed it to Richard.


But Richard, too, had been buying cards. He was able to trade for ore, or use some of his fish tokens. And he played his fourth knight card before Becky could, meaning that he now had the largest army card as well as the longest street, and was a long way in the lead.


So, I joined up my two sections of street, giving me the longest street card. Moreover, the 'earthquake' card had been picked up, and I was the only one able to repair my broken road, at first. So now I was ahead with 9 points... and, naturally, was given the 'old boot' card again.


Since I had the ore harbour, I was able to make use of a monopoly development card which I'd held for some time, and monopolise ore. It gave me sufficient to build quite a bit more. I was well in the lead with 11 points, but - since I held the old boot - needed 13 to win. The earthquake struck once more; Daniel - who had no further building spots - hadn't even repaired his first one. So now he had two broken roads. And he was buying cards at every opportunity. He could have built some cities, but pointed out that he could get, at most, eight points on the board. So he needed to buy victory points... hopefully before anyone else did.


We decided to end the game at 9.30, since Richard and I were going to visit a friend and her very new baby. So we played one more round. I built my last city, giving me 12 points on the board - and I bought a couple of cards. Neither of them was a victory point.

And for the first time, I completely forgot to take a photo at the end (although it was only one round after the last one). I was counted as the winner even though, technically, nobody won the game.