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.