Sheila (brown, as usual) placed first, and took a spot with good numbers and resources. So did Becky, playing second (and confusing us a little by playing with the blue pieces). I was third. I could see that clay was likely to be in short supply in this game, so I opted for a coastal tile with clay on 6 and ore on 4. It happened to be on the ore harbour, too, which I hoped would be useful.
Richard (red) was next; he opted for the other placement on the 6-clay hex, although the other numbers weren't great, and Daniel was last, playing white. He was able to get access to all five resources, although his numbers weren't too great: 3, 6 (twice), 9 (twice), and 12.
Richard, who always likes, if possible, to have an 8 and a 6 in his initial placements, opted for the 8-10-11 for his second settlement; he had no ore, but hoped to reach the 5-ore tile soon.
There was no way I could get all three of the resources I needed, so I decided to take the best available number combination. That was the 4-6-9 on wheat, wood and ore. I thought that since I had the ore harbour, another good number on ore would be sensible. It wasn't until after I'd placed my pieces that I realised I only had three numbers: 4 (twice), 6 (twice) and 9. However I'm not sure that there was any significantly better place that I could have chosen. Becky then took a good spot giving her potential access to all five resources, and Sheila went right in the middle of three wheat hexes, which gave her probably the best numbers of all of us: 4, 5, 6, 8, 9 and 10.
Play started fairly slowly, although I was lucky in that both a 4 and a 9 were rolled in the first couple of rounds, meaning I could build a city rather quickly. I regretted not having an 8, since 8s were rolled significantly more than 6s - however, when 6 did come around, I picked up both wood and clay. When I was able to make my second city, I effectively picked up two streets any time a six was rolled.
I had hoped to aim for the 5-ore hex but realised that Richard would also do so, and block the place I hoped to build, so I set off in different directions - a safe one around the coast and towards the 3-ore hex, blocking Daniel's access as I did.
So here's the board after a few rounds. I had six points; Sheila, Becky and Richard all had five, and Daniel had four. However Daniel had been buying a lot of cards, so we expected him to take the largest army sooner or later.
In fact it was Richard who first managed to play three knight cards, and so gained the largest army. Daniel had picked up some other useful cards, however, and was able to get first access to the longest street:
So Becky had eight solid points by this stage and Richard had eight including the largest army. I had seven solid points, and Daniel had seven including the longest street. Sheila had six. It was still very evenly matched, depending very much on the roll of the dice. Some rounds I picked up nothing at all - still being rather limited for numbers, although not as much as I was at the start - and other times I picked up a couple of streets or (when a 4 was rolled) a city.
With just five of us on a 5-6 player board, there was plenty of room for expansion. I don't think anyone ran out of building spots entirely. I took this photo a few rounds later, when the situation was similar to the previous one, except that Daniel had played a fourth knight and so taken the largest army card from Richard:
That gave Daniel 9 points, despite the fact that he hadn't yet managed to build a city. Becky and I both had nine solid points on the board too. Richard and Sheila both had seven. It could still have been anybody's game.
Then Richard linked his two road sections, gaining the longest street and two more points:
Sheila, who had been watching the numbers closely, monopolised sheep. Unfortunately for her, Becky hadn't been picking up the sheep she should have taken when 8s were rolled (although she had taken her ore). Sheila should have been able to extend her street to take the longest street card..
But she couldn't. She was able to build another city, putting her on eight points and (although we didn't know it at the time) she had two hidden victory point cards. So if she had been able to take the longest street card, she would have leapt from 7 points on the board to 12 in one turn, and won the game.
Instead, Becky had another turn. She was also able to build another city, putting her on 11 points... and a hidden victory point meant that she was the winner:
It was a good game. Sheila, Richard and I all ended with ten points, and Daniel had eight.
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