I t was a whole week since we had played at all. I'm surprised we didn't experience withdrawal symptoms. We weren't even the regular four players in the absence of visitors, since Richard was away but John was staying in our guest flat. And just for a change, although we were at Jörn and Sheila's home, we played with our set which I'd taken in case we decided to play the Seafarers expansion.
Jörn (blue) played first. I expected him to take the 5-9-10 intersection with clay, wood and wheat. It's the one I would have chosen, had I gone first. Although I no longer feel the absolute need for having clay and wood in my initial resources, preferring ore and wheat (if I MUST choose), or whatever is likely to be rare, I would certainly choose a spot with wood and clay if they were both on good numbers. However, we all have different strategies, which is part of what makes the game so interesting. Jörn chose, instead, some equally good numbers (4, 8 and 10) on wood, sheep and wheat.
John (with white tiles) played second. He also didn't take my chosen spot, going instead for the somewhat unusual choice of a 2-6-9 intersection with sheep, clay and ore. However, I was almost certain that Sheila (with brown) would take the spot I coveted, as indeed she did.
I don't particularly like playing last, but it does have the advantage of being able to place both settlements together. So I chose two spots which had six different numbers, albeit not the greatest ones, with all five resources available to me, at least in theory. I was quite pleased to have 3, 5, 6, 8, 10 and 11 (although I would really have liked a 9 - they seem to be rolled more often than one would expect) and I intended to take the wheat harbour as soon as possible since I had two wheat hexes including the 8.
By the final placement, Jörn had no access to clay, and Sheila had no access to sheep (the resource I will most happily do without) but John's second spot did give him his last two resources, even if his sheep access was only on a 2. It looked as if it would be quite a balanced game, with no resource clearly in short supply, so I assumed that trading would be reasonably straightforward for any lacking resources.
As the game started, 8s and 10s were not rolled, but 11 was, more than once. I could see that my wheat harbour was fairly safe - nobody else was likely to aim for it - and I was not picking up wheat. So for my first new settlement, I opted for the 3-11-desert intersection. No new numbers, and not even particularly good ones (theoretically) but a building spot that might have been taken by someone else.
Jörn built a city early on, as did both Sheila and I. I did consider aiming for the 4-11-9 intersection with two wood and an ore, since I really did want a 9 - but thought that John wanted it, or the neighbouring 3-4-9, and would probably get there first. When I have plenty of building places, I try not to take the ones that other people are aiming for unless they are clearly in the lead.
After a few rounds I took this photo:
It was still pretty even. Sheila and I each had four points, Jörn and John each had three. Jörn had twice stopped Sheila from building settlements where she had wanted them; once with his second initial placement, and once when he built an extra street to ensure that he would get the wood harbour, even though it would have been rather more useful for Sheila who had two useful wood hexes.
He then built on her last possible coastal building spot. For a moment it seemed as if Sheila was out of building places altogether, but it was still possible for her to build inland across Catan. I noticed that 4-9-11 spot again. John had not built towards it. He had a a street-building card which he had bought, but instead of building towards that, or the 3-8 sheep intersection on the coast (which I would have wanted in his shoes) he headed up towards the 5-clay.
So Sheila had her opportunity. She took the 5-9-11 hex, and also built out towards the sheep on the coast. And took the longest street card too:
So Sheila was now in the lead with seven points. I had six - I was surprised how often the 11 was rolled, still - Jörn had four, and John still had three. Several times the others had to give up half their resources when a 7 was rolled, but for some reason I was lucky, and it never happened to me. We all rather missed the extra building phase that comes with the 5-6 player Settlers expansion; it's most annoying having eight cards, including the resources for a city or settlement, and perhaps a street or two, and then losing half of them.
Since 8s and 10s were not rolled as often as might be expected, sheep were the rarest resource in this particular game, and meant that very few cards were bought. There were perhaps two knights in the whole game so nobody got anywhere near having the largest army card. I did wonder at one stage if I might have been able to challenge the longest street, but it would have been difficult. Then Sheila played her two last streets, because she had the cards to do so (and nowhere to expand to) meaning that she was unbeatable with 14 contiguously.
By this stage, as is usual, we were all collecting resources and building more rapidly than in the earlier part of the game. We reached the stage where Sheila had ten points (including the longest street), I had nine, Jörn had eight, and John had six. John and I still each had one remaining building spot. I could also build one more city - and was going to on my next turn - and realised that I would then have to concentrate on buying development cards and hope for a victory point. Jörn could build two more cities, and would then need either a couple more knights (and sufficient rounds in which to play them) or victory points.
But we didn't get the chance to find out what might happen. Sheila's turn came round: she built a final city, giving her eleven points, and then revealed a hidden victory point card.
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