Second Settlers of Catan using the Great Rivers extension

When we played the 'Rivers of Catan' variant earlier this week, we pretty much learned how it worked as we played. At the end, we all said that perhaps our strategies would have been different if we had understood what we were doing. So, naturally, it seemed like a good idea to play this scenario (from 'Traders and Barbarians of Catan') again, fairly soon.

So on Tuesday night we set it up, and had just got started when a phone call from friends invited us over. So we left our game, covered on the dining room table, and instead played a six-person version of regular Settlers of Catan. On Wednesday morning I moved our entire unplayed Rivers of Catan board to a jigsaw carrying frame... and in the evening we continued the game.

So here's the initial setup. Richard, playing red as usual, wanted to start next to a river so as to gain some Catan coins. So he chose a spot with wood, clay and sheep; not the greatest of numbers, but at least he had 2 AND 12, and we'd decided to play with the 'event cards' which produce cards in correct statistical proportions, so that all numbers would come up at some point (unless buried under the 'new year' card). Daniel was playing white, and went second; he also opted to start with clay and wood, also by the river, and his numbers were a little better than Richard's. Becky played blue; she chose the intersection I would have taken if I had gone earlier: a 5-9-10 on ore, sheep and wood - also by a river. It would have been perfect for a Cities and Knights game, but was pretty good from the number point of view too. Ore was likely to be in short supply in this game, and she'd taken the hex with its best potential source.

Once again I placed last. So I chose the best places I could find to give me all five resources, and reasonable numbers. I had two 3s, a 6, 9, 10 and 11. Not ideal, but I planned to head for the 8-wheat hex, and (if possible) the wheat harbour. I also hoped to get to the nearby 3:1 harbour as soon as possible, not knowing that Richard would take the 8-3 wheat-ore intersection on the coast nearby, effectively blocking both possible building spots on the 3:1 harbour.


By the time we'd finished, Becky had the best selection of numbers, with all five resources. She was also, to start with, the 'wealthiest Settler' since she had four gold coins. Richard and I each had three, and Daniel was the opening 'Poor Settler' with just two.

Since I couldn't get the 3:1 harbour, I started by heading out towards the 8-wheat hex, and was able to build on it fairly easily. Richard built a city fairly early on, and I built one too, just a turn later. Becky built a couple of bridges, giving her extra Catan coins which meant that she kept the 'wealthiest Settler' card (with its extra victory point).


So at this stage of the game, Richard and I each had four points, Becky had three, and Daniel - who still held the 'poorest Settler' card - had one point. I had just blocked Daniel's plan to get the longest street, too, since I really rather wanted that nice intersection with two ore and a sheep.

I managed to take it, too. Becky then built more streets to stop me taking the wheat harbour, and happened to take the 'longest street' card too. Perhaps I should have gone there first, but the two ore hexes seemed like useful spots to have. Taking that 4-5-11 spot also meant I had every number except 2 and 12, which was quite satisfying.

Then the 'earthquake' event card struck... each of us had to move a street across where it went, and then re-build it before we could buy any more streets:


Points were not gathering very rapidly. Becky and I each had five (although my position was a bit solider than hers); Richard had four, and Daniel still had just one.

My next plan was to move to the intersection with clay on 5, and sheep on 10 (covered by the robber for quite some time in this game). So I built out there with a road and a bridge, gaining more Catan coins as I did. Unfortunately for me, however, Richard had acquired a vast number of resource cards; fortunately for him, the 7 was not drawn. So on one turn he was able to build two streets and a settlement on that prime location. He also gained sufficient extra Catan coins to become the 'wealthiest settler'. So he now had 7 points.


I wasn't far behind, since I had six; Becky also had six, including the longest street. And Daniel, who continued to hold the 'poor Settler' card, buying extra resources any time he had any Catan coins, was trailing significantly with just two points.

So I decided to aim for the ore habour, on the 8-wheat hex. I had a useful road-building card so was able to take the place easily, which - we realised - also gave me the longest street:


So now I had nine points. Richard had seven (including the wealthiest Settler card); Becky had four, and Daniel also had four since by this stage he had built the 'largest army'. He was having a hard time building, but was able to buy a lot of development cards.

I planned to buy a bridge over the swamp, as I extended my long street.. but Richard spent some of his Catan coins doing that instead. He hoped to take the longest street card from me, but wasn't quite able to do so; instead, he had to give up the 'wealthiest settler' card to me. So I now had 10 points. In fact, as only I knew, I had a hidden victory point card, so I only needed one more point to win.


t wasn't hard to do. The earthquake struck again, but I didn't need to build any more streets. Instead, I took the settlement spot that Richard had been hoping to take, which gave me my twelfth point:


So Richard came second, with seven points. Daniel had two victory point cards, as well as the largest army, so would have had eight points if two of them hadn't been cancelled out by the poor Settler card. So he had six; and Becky, who had one victory point card, had five.

This isn't very flattering of either Daniel or Becky, but shows them at the end looking at their collection of development cards. Daniel had bought eight, only four of which were knights: