Cities and Knights for four players

We decided we'd like a game of Cities and Knights with our son Daniel and daughter-in-law Becky, during the afternoon when there was plenty of time, and when we were all wide awake. It's not very often that we've played Cities and Knights with more than two of us, but they play regularly when they're at home.

Richard (red, as usual) was first to play, and went for a good ore-wheat combination. Daniel was second, with brown tiles; he remembered the importance of wheat in Cities and Knights, so took an 8-wheat, with a couple of other good numbers. Becky, playing blue, took what I usually think of as the best three-number combination (5-9-10) and then it was me. I don't much like playing last, but the advantage, of course, was that I could place my settlement and city together.

My beginning strategy - if one can call it that - with this game is to have my first city on the best possible wood hexes. I like to get as many 'books' commodity cards as quickly as I can, so I can pick up the green progress cards which are often useful, and then reach the heights of being able to choose any resource if I get 'no production on a roll'. So my city went on a good spot with two wood and one sheep, and for my settlement I opted for a spot with three different numbers and as many different resources as I could get. I hoped to be able to trade for wheat.

Becky then placed her city, on another intersection with very good numbers and the potential for 'cloth' commodity cards - the only disadvantage being that she didn't have much of a range of numbers - but as they were 5, 6, 9 and 10 there was a good chance that they would come up regularly.

Then it was Daniel's turn. He studied the board.. and someone commented that, with the first six placements, we had totally blocked the central 11-wheat hex. In fact, by placing where we did, each building directly opposite another, we had actually managed to block every other inland intersection. The only remaining building spots were on the coast!

So Daniel took a spot with good ore - and the potential for 'coins' commodity cards - and Richard took a useful place with both sheep and wood:

Daniel and Becky did both have all five resources available, while I was lacking wheat and Richard lacked clay. 

Then, since we realised that resources were going to be thin in the ground, and we've had games where 11s seem to come constantly, we decided to use the Traders and Barbarians cards instead of rolling dice, so that we would, at least, get statistically likely numbers in proportion. 

As usual, we don't play the event die nor use 7s until at least two rounds have passed, and until at least two people have built something - we also play the 'friendly robber' scenario, meaning that the robber may not be put on a hex that is adjacent to any player with only two (or, in Cities and Knights, three) points. But a couple of 10s were turned over early in the game, so it wasn't long before Becky had expanded and built on the sheep harbour - something she hoped to use extensively - and I had also managed to build another settlement:

Richard and Daniel were stuck, and clay was a scarce resource at this stage, so nobody wanted to trade it. 

With limited building spots available, Becky and I both expanded as rapidly as we could, and it wasn't long before she had the longest street:

So she had eight points, and was in the lead. I had managed a second city by this stage, so was second with six points. Daniel and Richard each had four, still struggling for clay, but hadn't been able to build any cities yet, although a few knights were by now scattered around Catan. 

When we started rolling the event die, several of us had already made a few city improvements; I found that the books commodity was coming fairly often, and picked up some useful cards. Surprisingly quickly, I gained an extra two points with a metropolis on books: 

So Becky and I each had eight points. Daniel had gained a victory point for the most knights when the pirate ship landed for the first time, so he and Richard each had five points by this stage. 

I kept expanding, and - with the help of a useful street-building card - managed to gain the longest street card from Becky: 

So I had 12 points on the board, and nobody else was likely to take the street card from me. We play to 14 in Cities and Knights for more than two players, and I had picked up one victory point progress card - so I was one away from victory, and quite a long way ahead of everyone else. 

However, I forgot entirely that I should have activated my knight. I only had one, and was - as usual - leaving the proctetion of Catan to other players. But the pirate ship was fairly close to landing, and we didn't have enough activated knights. It was Richard's turn, and he had the cards to build another city. He didn't want to do so, not wanting to lose it... but then realised that, with a little trading, he could also buy and feed a knight, so he did that. 

Then it was Becky's turn, and she rolled the black event, so the pirate ship was just one move away from landing. She had a choice - she could activate her knights so as to protect Catan, and then gain a victory point through having the most active knights - or she could activate just one, meaning that I would be the player with the least active knights (ie zero!) and would lose a city. 

Becky decided to be kind, so she fed her knights. We were safe... 

... then Daniel, who didn't move the pirate ship on, built another city.  Catan was no longer safe.  My turn at last, and I would be able to activate my knight so long as I rolled one of the coloured events... 

.. but I didn't. I rolled a pirate ship event, and Catan was attacked. And I lost a city, and therefore a point:

So now I was back to 12. Richard, who had control of the merchant, had 8, Becky and Daniel each had 6. But it was only a matter of time. It did, at least, mean that we all had another turn, which enabled Becky to reach the metropolis on cloth, as well as another settlement and city, giving her 10 points by the end. 

I had too many cards by the time it was my turn again; had I lost half of them to the robber, we would probably have played yet another round. But as it was, I was able to re-build my lost city, giving me 13 points... and then I produced the progress card I had collected during the round which enabled me to take control of the merchant, and give me the final victory point I needed: 

So Becky and I were quite  a long way ahead of our menfolk. Possibly, as Daniel pointed out, this was (at least in part) due to the fact that they had been forced to place their initial cities on the coast, giving them fewer resources at the beginning. 

Settlers of Catan by Facetime, for five

It's over a year since we first played Settlers via Skype with our son Tim (who is in the UK). Since then, we've played several such games with him, and have gradually changed the technology; Facetime is now the usual method, and there is always some discussion about what microphone and cameras to use. 

But we've never played a five-person game this way. With our other son Daniel and his wife Becky staying, Tim suggested we try. Richard and Daniel set up a proper microphone, balanced on a stand in the middle of us so that Tim would be able to hear us all, and we got started... 

Daniel took these first two pictures.. while we were doing the initial set-up, Becky played with her remaining pieces to make some little stick figures: 

Then I took the camera, so the board looks a little turned around. Here were our starting places - Richard was red, as usual, and I was orange. Tim played white, Becky blue and Daniel brown:

Of course it's quite hard to see all the numbers in a photo of the bigger board. We all had fairly evenly distributed numbers and resources at the start. It wasn't long before Becky built a city, and Richard managed two of them fairly quickly: 

I was struggling through lack of clay, and thus was last at this stage, still on two points.  Richard was in the lead with five. 

Becky was adapting her stick figures to suit her remaining pieces, and produced this, possibly a cyberman of some kind: 

I traded and traded, and at last managed to build a few streets and settlements, and even gained a possible clay resource, although as it was on a 3 it wasn't all that frequent:

So suddenly I was sharing the lead with Tim and Richard - all on five points - while Daniel had four, and Becky was still on three.

Here's a photo showing Tim thinking about his move, with the little Settlers picture at the side being the image of what he was seeing:

I managed my first city, then decided to expand a little more in the hope of more clay - and someone pointed out that I had the longest street. So, bizarrely, I was in the lead with eight points. But only just. Daniel was building cities as fast as he could as well as expanding, and was on seven. Tim, playing his usual ore-wheat strategy, had three cities and thus six points. Richard, who for some reason was not getting cards, was still on five, and Becky had four: 

I managed another city, and thus nine points. Tim built, in quick succession, a settlement and then an upgrade to a city, so had eight points. Then Daniel not only expanded but took the longest street, so now he was in the lead, with ten points.  

Becky and Richard were trailing a little with six each. But since Becky had won each of the last three games we had played, she didn't mind!

Then Tim played a third knight, giving him the largest army, and sharing the lead with Daniel, also on ten points. Daniel then took his turn, built another settlement... and showed a victory point development card.  So Daniel was the winner:

Here's how the board looked at the end:

Daniel won with 12 points, but Tim also had a victory point so he was close behind with 11.  And the rest of us had eight points each... Becky had a victory point card too. It was a good game. 

Settlers of Catan for six

It was Daniel's last full evening in Cyprus for some months... and he said he'd like to play another game of Settlers of Catan with our friends. John had just arrived, and since he's also a fan of Catan, it meant a six-player game.

Daniel (green) played first, and chose a rather nice intersection with 5-6-10 on wheat, ore and wood. Jörn (blue) was second, and opted for a fairly traditional opening giving both wood and clay, with the useful numbers 4, 6 and 10. That's the spot I'd have opted for too, since it looked as if clay was going to be the most difficult resource to get hold of in this game. Sheila (brown) was next, and took the 4-8-10 with wheat, ore and wood. Then it was my turn; I wanted that 10-clay hex, so chose the intersection with a 4 on wheat and 5 on sheep. Not ideal, but there weren't too many great spots left.

Richard was next. and took the 3-8-9 near the top, which at least gave him access to clay if a 3 was rolled. John was last, so placed two settlements together. He didn't get any clay, but four good numbers (5, 6, 8 and 9) with access to all the other resources, particularly wood. And since he built on the coast, he was only one spot away from the wood harbour. A good move, if a little unusual from our perspective.

Richard needed sheep and wood, and couldn't get both, so he opted for a spot with two good sheep hexes, heading towards the sheep harbour. And, in doing so, made my first placed street useless - but that's how the game goes. I needed wood and ore and couldn't get both, so for once I decided to do without ore, and hope that I could get some by building towards the 8-ore in the bottom corner. I didn't really have great numbers at all; 9 and 5, but no 8 or 6.


For the first round, a surprising number of 6s were rolled, which of course were no use to me at all. However, other useful numbers came up, and I found that I was easily able to trade for ore, despite not having any access to it myself. Ore was a great deal easier to come by than clay, since 10 wasn't rolled at all. I would have done better to have gone for a 3-clay hex!

I was quite pleased when I managed to build my first city, using ore I had traded for:


It was a fairly slow-moving game, with so little clay available. I did, eventually, manage to extend out to the 3:1 harbour, which seemed more useful than getting ore (since I could trade for it so easily). And, indeed, I was able to upgrade another city without too much difficulty.

Although 10 was still not rolled, 3 was, more than once, meaning that there was clay in the game after all. However, it wasn't enough that anyone wanted to trade it at this stage. Jörn managed to build out to several useful spots, and gained the longest street too. And since he had been buying cards, and playing knights, he also gained the largest army:


So Jörn was now significantly in the lead, with nine points. All the rest of us had five.

It still wasn't a particularly fast-moving game, but Jörn continued extending his long street, so that nobody else could even think of challenging it. I still wasn't picking up many cards - ten STILL wasn't rolled - but did manage to build streets out towards the 8-ore hex.

I took this photo when Jörn had managed to gain 11 points, still holding both the longest street and largest army cards:


Sheila did attempt to build out into his street, and I did manage my settlement on the 8-ore hex... and a ten was, eventually, rolled (when clay was no longer any use to me).

But all Jörn needed to do was to upgrade one more city... which is what he did:


So he won the game resoundingly with 12 points. Sheila had a victory point card, so 10 points. John had 9. Daniel had two victory points, so he and Richard both had 8 points. And although I had one victory point card too, I was still last with 7 points.

Cities and Knights of Catan for three

It was nine o'clock, which is a little late to start a game, unless it's going to be a short one. But Daniel will only be here for a little more time and we felt like doing something together. We're not the most decisive of families (and that's an example of the Great British Understatement...) but eventually agreed to Cities and Knights. It wasn't until we were setting it up that I remembered that this is rarely a short game, and is not ideal for when I'm feeling a bit tired as there are so many different strategies to consider.

I was first to place a settlement (orange) - an unusual position for me. It has been a while since we've played this game, so I couldn't really remember what works and what doesn't. So I opted for my default system when I can't think of anything better: look for the resource that is likely to be scarcest, and choose a starting spot that borders the hex most likely to produce that resource.

Wheat looked as if it was going to be the least-produced resource in this game - and wheat is vital to activate the knights, as well as for its normal use in cities and settlements. So I built on the 5-9-10 intersection with sheep, ore and wheat.

Richard (red) went next. He likes to take spots that will produce commodities (books, cloth and coins) in Cities and Knights, so he opted for another 5-9-10 intersection with two wood and a sheep. Daniel (brown) was last, and chose two complementary spots, giving him six numbers (3, 4, 5, 6, 8 and 11) with access to all five resources, potentially, and a city on two of the commodity-producing hexes. Richard - still following the strategy of collecting commodity cards -put his city on a spot with two ore and a wheat, although the wheat was a 12 and so unlikely to be rolled very often. It meant he only had four useful numbers (5, 6, 9 [twice] and 10) in addition, and no access to clay at all.

Finally it was my turn to place my city; since I needed wood and clay and wanted some more numbers, I opted for a spot that gave me both, plus more sheep. My numbers were, on balance, as good as Daniel's: I had 3, 4, 5, 6, 9 and 10.


Play started rather slowly. With plenty of ore and sheep it was easy to buy knights, and we all managed to activate them too, either with lucky rolls or suitable trading. We don't use the event die for the first couple of rounds, while we're not counting the 7s, but as soon as we did we found that the black pirate event was rolled almost every time. So it didn't take long before we had to pause for the first invasion of Catan:


It's a little hard to tell from the photo, even if you click to enlarge it, but Richard had upgraded his knight to a double strength one, making him the Defender of Catan, and giving him an extra victory point. So he was in the lead, since we were all having a very hard time doing any actual building. We had each managed precisely one street in addition to our knights, so far!

And the black event continued appearing considerably more than 50% of the time. We did each manage to build one settlement, and were gradually buying city improvements, enabling us to pick up the occasional progress card. Daniel played the merchant, which gave him an extra point temporarily, and I bought another knight, while upgrading my first one.

So when the barbarians attacked for the second time, I was the sole defender of Catan:


The score was still totally even. We each had built one more settlement, giving us each four points on the board. Richard and I each had one Defender of Catan card, and Daniel had a a point for the merchant. We hadn't yet agreed what number of points to play for, but since we were on five each there was still a long way to go...

Slowly play picked up. I built another settlement on a useful interior spot giving me an 11 - so, with the useful 8-clay hex which was on my first extra building spot, I now had access to 3, 4, 5, 6, 8, 9, 10 and 11. Always my ideal! I then managed to pick up a street-building card (I do like the 'books' progress cards) and was able to build on the wood harbour. Possibly not as useful as the 3:1 harbour nearby, but floating in my mind was the idea of taking the longest street, eventually, by joining up my two segments of road. I also wanted more clay, since it appeared to be in rather short supply in general - Richard still had no access to it at all, so it was useful for trading.

Meanwhile Daniel also built another settlement, and took the longest street card, just after the barbarians attacked for the third time:


We had already de-activated the knights by the time I remembered to take the photo, but I still had the most, and so received a second Defender of Catan card.

So Daniel was in the lead with nine points (including controlling the merchant), I had eight, and Richard still had five. It seemed very strange that none of us had yet managed to upgrade to a city, but that was due to the distinct lack of wheat in the game.

I was tired... earlier in the game I had traded four clay since I had too many cards in my hand, forgetting that I could fortify my one city with two clay, which would enable me to keep nine rather than seven cards in my hand if the robber attacked. However I remembered eventually, and thus bought city fortifications - although with only one city, I could only do that once.

Daniel extended his long street, and Richard played the card that meant he could upgrade both his knights at no cost - a card he had previously stolen from me by using the 'spy'. He was now in by far the strongest position as far as knights were concerned, so I no longer worried about them. I prefer to concentrate on regular building and city improvement when possible, and leave the defence of Catan to other players.

Daniel was in the lead with 11 points, still including the longest street and control of the merchant. He had actually managed to build a city - the first one in the game. I don't like being ahead in this game, since there are quite a few cards that can be played against any player who is in the lead. But I wanted control of the merchant, and with the extra building I had done and my two Defender of Catan cards, it would give me ten points. So I decided to use the resources I had for three more streets to claim another building spot, and also the longest street.

I now had 12 points... and we wanted to play a little longer, so decided to go up to 14. We couldn't remember what we usually do, but it seemed like a good number even though by now it was past 10pm and I was even more tired...


Oddly, after the early part of the game producing almost nothing but black events, the latter part of the game gave us rather more than half coloured events, meaning that a lot of progress cards were collected and played. And it took a great deal longer for the barbarians to attack. I didn't take a photo of the fourth attack, but Richard had the most knights and so received a further victory point.

By this stage I was aiming for Metropolis status on cloth. So I traded where I could, and when my turn came around I had a huge pile of cards in my hand. Thankfully I didn't roll a seven; it meant that I could finally build my first city of the game, and then immediately upgrade it to a Metropolis.


- and that meant I now had 15 victory points, and so was the winner.

Daniel actually had 11 points - he had two hidden victory point progress cards, which he should actually have declared when he received them. He had forgotten that rule - or perhaps played by different rules in the past - which would have helped him, since he frequently had more than four progress cards and had to discard one. Had he been able to reclaim the longest street and the merchant, he would have won.

Another Settlers of Catan game for six

Another Thursday evening; another foray onto the shores of Catan. This time in a room running air conditioning, since the weather is getting decidedly hot and humid. Marie was still up, so she joined us.

Daniel (playing green) placed his settlement first, and opted for a very nice 5-6-9 intersection giving ore, sheep and wood. I was second, playing my usual orange. There were several good places available, but I could see that wheat was likely to be the rarest resource, so I chose the 5-8-9 (all good numbers) on ore, wood and wheat. I would probably have chosen that if I'd been first to place, too.

Richard (red) was third, and chose another good place, an 8-9-10 intersection which gave him clay, ore and wood. That would probably have been my second choice since it's always useful to have good access to both clay and wood early in the game. Marie (white) was next; she took the 5-8-10 with wood, sheep and ore. Sheila (brown) went next - and took the 4-6-10 with sheep, ore and wood.

Evidently this game was going to have a plentiful supply of three resources, namely wood, ore and sheep. By this stage I was wondering if I would be able to get access to clay on my second placement; sheep seemed like less of a priority. Jörn was the last to play; he was able to get access to all resources other than ore, and included a settlement on the 9-wheat which I had targetted.

On the way back, play was fairly predictable, and by the time my turn came round again I was pleased to see that the coastal place with 6 on sheep and 10 on clay was still available. It meant that I had all five resources, and five good numbers: 5, 6, 8, 9 and 10.


Play started pretty evenly, although there was a distinct lack of clay. However, despite the theoretical lack of wheat in the game, 11 was rolled a couple of times, as well as 9. So three people - Marie, Richard and Jörn - each built a city before they had managed another settlement, or even a street. I took the next photo when each of us had exactly three points:


I was particularly pleased to have a settlement on a 4, since I now had resources - robber permitting - for the six most likely numbers.

Both Marie and Daniel bought rather a lot of development cards in the 'extra building phase' of the game , so that they kept their hands of resources at seven or less, not wanting to risk theft by the robber. Marie played knights fairly regularly, and soon gained the largest army:


Marie was thus in the lead, with two cities and the largest army, despite not yet having built a single street:


Daniel was second with five points, and the rest of us each had four. I now had a useful 3:1 harbour and was hoping I might be able to extend around the coast towards the 11-ore hex, although I thought that the sheep harbour might be more useful despite being located by a 2-sheep hex.

The next excitement was that Richard gained the longest street card, by joining up his two road segments and reaching a length of seven streets:


I had gained the sheep harbour, but lost access to the 11-ore hex when Sheila built two streets in that direction. And then I lost the possibility of any more building spots when Jörn built out to the other side of the 2-sheep hex, so as to take a 3:1 harbour:


The scores were still remarkably even. Richard (with the longest street), Marie (with the largest army), Jörn, Daniel and I each had seven points. Sheila was very slightly behind with six... but she only needed to build two more roads to obtain the longest street card, and she had a couple more possible building spots. Jörn also had the possibility of building on the same two spots; Richard had two more possibilities (having had one blocked by Jörn fairly early in the game), and Daniel had a not-terribly-useful potential spot on the desert.

Marie and I had now run out of building places. I could still upgrade two more cities, and gain a total of nine on the board. Marie's largest army was increasing in size - she kept on picking up knight cards! - so there was no likelihood of her losing that; however she had only managed to build one new settlement, so had a maximum of six building points. Both of us needed to buy cards in the hope of victory points to have any possibility of winning.

As it happened, I did already have one hidden victory point. And I'd monopolised sheep at a useful point, and used my sheep harbour to build another city. Running out of building spots meant that I could trade any clay I had for ore or even sheep... and I frequently had a significant number of wood cards.

I built my next city. I bought another card, and it was a second victory point. So now I had eight points on the board, plus two hidden ones - ten in all. I needed to upgrade one more city, and then hope to buy a further victory point...

But others had hidden cards too. It could still have been anyone's game.

I took the next photo when all six of us had exactly eight visible points:


Then Daniel upgraded another settlement, giving him nine points. Marie played yet another knight and increased her largest army to seven:


A ten was rolled, and I picked up three clay. How useless, I thought. And then had an idea. I already had a couple of sheep, which could be traded for another clay. I seemed to pick up wood regularly although I didn't currently have any. Perhaps I could simply build four more streets in addition to my segment of four at the bottom - since Richard's longest street was still at seven, and Sheila hadn't yet joined up her two sections...

It was quite a risk. By the time my turn came around, I had about eleven cards in my hand. Had I rolled a 7, I'd have lost half of them... but I rolled a five. Two ore. Ore was what everyone else wanted by this stage, and they all had wood which was now useless to them... although I hadn't picked up any wood in the last round. Surely, however, nobody was going to give me wood since it was clear that I had no building spots...

But I offered ore, or wheat, in exchange for wood. Four people took me up on it without, apparently, any suspicions. After all, we all had eight points - except for Daniel, who had nine - so the game was evidently going to continue a few more rounds.

So I bought four more streets, and placed them... and revealed my two victory points:

Settlers of Catan for five

It was nearly a week since our previous Settlers of Catan game. Becky had flown back to the UK, which meant that we were back to a five-player game. So there was less likelihood of running out of building spots.

We were all a bit tired, and somehow didn't feel entirely enthused by the game. Possibly the heat and humidity was wearing us all down. Daniel rolled highest so (playing green) he placed first, and chose an obvious good spot: 5, 6 and 9 with clay, sheep and wood. It's where I'd probably have gone if I'd been playing first. Jörn (blue) was second, and chose an intersection with 5, 8 and 9 on clay and two sheep. I was a little surprised: the other spot I would have considered was the nearby 5, 6 and 9 with the same clay and one of the sheep, but ore on 6 rather than sheep on 6. Sheep, to me, is the most expendable commodity and it was the best ore hex in the game. But everyone has their own strategy..

Sheila (brown) took another nice place with 4, 8 and 9 on wheat, clay and sheep. And at last it was my turn. I always look at the resource likely to be most limited if the dice fall approximately as they should statistically speaking. In this game, wood and looked as if it would be least productive. If possible I also like to start with good ore - so my obvious choice was an intersection between one of the best ore hexes (on a 6) and the best wood hex (on a 9). I'm not entirely sure why that rather prime spot, which also bordered a 4-wheat hex, was still there... but it was, so I took it.

Richard was last for once, playing his usual red pieces. He always likes to ensure wood and clay, and there was still a good wood-clay intersection with sheep as the third hex. So he took that (as his second), and then another useful spot with the other resources he needed, including an 8 on ore. Then it was me again. I quite like being second to last. I had several possible places offering the two resources I needed - clay and sheep - some of them on the coast. But decided to opt for an inland intersection that also gave me a 12 on wheat; not that I expected it to come up very often, but I like to get three starting resources if I can. I also liked the fact that I had six different numbers including both 8 and 6; I also had a useful 9, 10 and 4. . I'd have liked a 5 too, of course, but wasn't going to battle for the clay-5 hex. So I headed away from the other nearby players.


In the first few rounds, I was very lucky with the dice rolls. 12 was rolled twice, giving me a bonus of wheat, and I was quickly able to build a city as well as a couple of settlements. My rather vague strategy is usually to avoid any spots that other players are clearly heading for (unless I happen to have a street-building card, and don't have anywhere else to go...). I also like to collect numbers where possible. So on my first settlement I gained a 3 and an 11. I wanted a 3:1 harbour and the easiest one to take was on another 11 hex, so I built out in that direction too.


So I had five points on the board, but by this stage Daniel had bought a large number of cards and played three knights, so he had the largest army, and was thus equally in the lead. It wasn't exactly a huge lead, since Jörn and Sheila had also been building, and each had four points, while Richard had three. And there were still plenty of building spots for us all.

I realised that I had every number other than 5 and 2, and while I wasn't too worried about having a 2, I did quite like the idea of a 5, even if it was only on sheep. So since nobody else was heading for that spot, I built out towards it and placed another settlement. 9s were rolled with reasonable regularity, giving me a plentiful supply of wood; something that some of the other players had to trade for quite heavily.


In building out to that intersection which gave me access to every number, I also inadvertently gained the 'longest street', although I didn't really expect to keep it. It's very rarely part of my strategy, although I sometimes find it's easy to take anyway. So now I had nine points. Daniel and Sheila were next with six each, Jörn had five, and Richard had three.

I was getting a fair number of sheep now, so thought I might head out towards the useful 6-wheat hex and possibly the sheep harbour... however Richard started building in that direction so I abandoned that idea. Instead I extended my long street, heading for the 5-10-desert hex. I had, by that stage, a hidden victory point card. With eight points on the board and the lognest street, all I needed to do was to build one more settlement...

.. then Daniel joined up his two street segments, and took the longest street card:


He only had five points on the board, and rather poor access to wheat which made it hard for him to build settlements. But he now also had four extra points with the largest army AND the longest street. So he had nine. I had eight on the board at this stage so was no longer in the lead. Sheila also had eight points. So it was close again...

But by this stage I was picking up quite a bit of wheat and ore. So when I'd built my planned settlement, I simply collected the resources I needed for cities. And when my turn came round - having built a fair amount in other people's building phases - I was able to trade for my last one. So with 11 points on the board and one victory point, I was the winner. For the first time in a while.


Sheila was very close behind. If she had been able, as she hoped, to upgrade to one more city she would have won as she had two victory point cards. So she had eleven points in all. Daniel had ten, since had had a victory point too... as did Richard, who thus had eight points. Jörn had seven.

We were quite pleased the game was over since we were even more tired by the time it had finished...

Five-player Settlers of Catan

Becky returns to the UK this week, so Sheila wanted one more Catan game while she's still here. Jörn was out last night, so that meant - for a change - a five-player game.

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.