Four-person Settlers of Catan

Richard was busy, and Jacob was away on camp... so we sat down to a four-person Settlers game late yesterday afternoon. Jörn played blue, Sheila brown, Marie white, and I was orange.

I was first to place. Ore looked as if it would be the most scarce resource, so I knew I would place on the four-ore hex. I was undecided between the 5 (sheep)-8 (clay) intersection, and the 6 (sheep)-9 (wheat). From the number perspective, they were equally good. I decided that, on balance, I preferred to have slightly better access to clay than to sheep; and clay is always useful at the start of the game. And it looked as if there would be plenty of wheat available for trading.

Jorn played second, and took the 5-9-10 with wood, wheat and sheep. Marie went next, and took the spot with the best number combination on the board: the 5-6-9 with sheep, wheat and wood. Then Sheila was both last and first. Unsurprisingly she took the spot I had seriously considered, also bordering the 4-ore hex. And she also took the coastal 8-10 with clay and wood. That gave her access to all five resources, and five good numbers: 5, 6, 8, 9 and 10.

Marie needed clay and ore, and had two possible spots: she took the 3, 10 and 11 which also gave her sheep. So she had six numbers: 3, 5, 6, 9, 10 and 11. Jörn also needed clay and ore, so he took the other appropriate spot, giving him two clay and an ore. So he also had six reasonable numbers: 3, 4, 5, 9, 10 and 11. No 6 or 8, but it was likely that he would head to the 8-wheat.

Then, at last, it was me again. I was lacking wheat and wood. My instinct was to opt for wheat rather than wood, although it would have made it rather tricky to get started. And the only good spot on a wheat hex was the 8-4 coastal wheat-clay spot,
The biggest problem with that was that I already had an 8 and a 4, so would be limiting myself to three numbers altogether.

So, with an inward sigh, I opted for the 9-10 coastal intersection with two wood. It was a bit annoying for Sheila since it stopped her from getting the nearby 3:1 harbour which she was aiming for, but the board was already looking crowded. Due to some of the initial placements, there were a surprising number of unavailable spots.

I forgot to take a photo until we'd played a couple of rounds, but all we had built by this stage were a few streets:


Since I'd taken the harbour Sheila had wanted, she built as quickly as she could out towards another 3:1 harbour, thus preventing me from going there. So I could not expand anywhere from my first settlement.

Surprisingly, ore was not in short supply since 4 was rolled rather more often than expected. But without wheat its only use to me was trading - which I did, fairly extensively. I did manage to build on the sheep harbour. Marie had hoped for that spot, but my only hope of building anything at all was to continue around the coast. I'd have liked the 6-11-12 intersection which would have given me access to wheat. Marie would also have liked it. But Jörn built out towards it - and beyond, so that it was secure to him - and took the longest street card in doing so. Then Sheila was the first to build a city:


So Jörn was in the lead with six points, although he didn't expect to keep the longest street card. Sheila had four points; Marie and I each had three. But Marie and I were already struggling to find building spots.

It wasn't long before Sheila took the longest street, and incidentally giving herself quite a few useful building spots:


Marie joined her segments of road, so that she took the longest street card temporarily, but she didn't have the potential to keep it. She aimed for her last building spot, on the desert.. and then Sheila built more streets, and took the card back again:


So Sheila was now in the lead with seven points, closely followed by Jörn with six. I had finally managed my first city, so had five points, and Marie was trailing with three.

I realised that I could, potentially, take the longest street card - and since there wasn't much else I could do, and I had the resources in my hand, I did build a couple more. But Sheila had calculated that she could reach 14 segments, which was the maximum I could reach... so she build the rest of her streets, to guarantee keeping it:


So Sheila now had ten points, but Jörn was still close behind with nine, and I had eight. Marie was still trailing with five. By this stage there were NO building spots left on the entire board... so we were all after ore, wheat and sheep, with little use for wood or clay other than for trading.

So although we were all picking up a fair number of cards, not much happened. We just bought cards, and occasionally played them. Then Jörn build another city:


- so he and Sheila were now equal with ten points each.

Then Sheila built another city.

Then Marie played a third knight card, and so gained the largest army.

And then, at last, Jörn bought another card which was a victory point. He already had one hidden one, so that gave him the twelve points he needed to win:


So he had 12 points, and Sheila had 11. I had 9, and Marie - who also had a hidden victory point card - had 8.

Two-person Settlers of Catan game with Richard

It's been quite some time since Richard and I last played two-person Settlers of Catan without any expansions. We decided to play just the basic game, rather than anything more complicated, since I was quite tired.

Richard had his usual red pieces, and I had orange. I went first, so placed my initial settlement on the 5-8-10 with ore, clay and sheep. I suppose the 5-6-9 nearby (ore, wood and sheep) would have been slightly better from the number point of view. But it seemed that ore and clay were likely to be the least available resources, so I wanted the best spot I could for both.

Richard then placed two settlements. He chose the 5-6-9, and the 3-4-8 with ore, wheat and sheep. It gave him a good range of numbers and he expected to be able to find clay on his third placement.

I then looked at the best possible combination of numbers - with three starting settlements, it's usually easy to get access to all five resources, and, indeed, most of the numbers. I still needed wood and wheat, so an obvious spot for me was the 4-6-9 with clay, wheat and wood. So I had 4, 5, 6, 8, 9 and 10 which are the six most commonly rolled numbers. I decided that for my third settlement, I'd opt for the intersection with a 3 and 11, both on ore, and another useful 6-wood hex in addition.


With three settlements each, play usually gets going fairly quickly in the two-person game. We start with resources for our second two settlements (and are allowed nine cards in our hands before the robber can strike). We decided, too, that rather than giving control of the robber to whoever was behind, when a 7 was rolled, we would just go with the person who rolled it since we're fairly evenly matched. But would still take the resource matching the hex on which we put the robber, rather than stealing from the other player.

Ore was, indeed, rather a rare resource. 3 and 11 were hardly rolled at all in the early stage of the game (although, ironically, there were a couple of 2s and 12s). However, there was reasonably plentiful wood and clay, and we could trade with the bank for anything else we needed; so we both quickly built the first settlements we had planned, and Richard was able to buy a couple of cities.

It took me a little longer, but at last I, too, built my first city, with the help of my useful 3:1 harbour:


So Richard had seven points, and I had six.

I built more streets, basically to reduce the number of cards in my hand, and also bought a few development cards. One of them was a victory point, which wasn't a whole lot of use at this stage. But I did play a knight to move the robber - as did Richard - and had another one hidden. And a very useful 'year of plenty' which would give me two resources of my choice.

I managed to take the clay harbour - although I wasn't picking up a huge amount of clay - and then Richard took the longest street.


So he was now well in the lead with 11 points. I had seven. We usually play to 16 in the two-player game, which means - basically - having all 13 points from buildings on the board, plus either the longest street or largest army, and a victory point. Since Richard had the longest street, I decided I'd aim for the largest army, so played my second knight and bought another card, which was another knight.

With my year of plenty card, and some trading with the bank, I managed to buy another city - ore still wasn't coming with the rolls of the dice - and then took the sheep harbour. I continued putting down streets in the hope of more building spots - and to reduce the cards in my hand - and Richard started building out around the desert. He didn't have any 10s, and really wanted one, so I expected him to build on the 8-10-desert intersection. But instead he started expanding around the 10 and heading towards the 2.


So he still had 11 points, but by this stage I'd managed 9 on the board, and realised I would catch up when I played my third knight.

My turn came around. In my hand, I had three wood and three clay resources. I glanced at Richard's red pieces, and realised that he had used up all his streets, so could never expand his 'long' street beyond eight lengths. So, with a slight apology, I placed the three streets needed to join up my two segments, giving me eleven contiguous streets and the card. I only had two streets left unplayed, but they were sufficient to give me two more building spots which was all I needed.

I played my third knight too.


So now in a complete reversal, I had 13 points, and Richard had 9.

Ore starting being rolled, at last, so we were both able to buy cites. And since I kept forgetting to count points, we played a little longer than we should have done. Richard managed to reach 12 points, and I also played another settlement, giving me 12 on the board, plus the two cards and my hidden victory point meaning I won with 17:

Cities and Knights WITH Seafarers of Catan

It was Tim's last night here for a while. So we decided to try something new; Cities and Knights of Catan, on a Seafarers board.

We thought about playing our usual 'Fog Island' scenario, but the instructions said that it was not advisable to play Cities and Knights on any of the scenarios with unexplored territory that had to be discovered. So we thought perhaps it would be best to use the first and simplest scenario: heading to new shores. That meant we started with a regular-sized Catan island, and a few smaller ones which we could sail to. Since we could gain extra Catan chits by doing so, quite apart from the extra Cities and Knights points, we agreed to play to 16 points. Or maybe 17...

I was first to place my settlement. I was already a little overwhelmed, wondering whether to head for ship-building resources (wood and sheep), or my usual preferences (whatever is least available, particularly ore), or Cities and Knights commodity-producing hexes (wood, sheep and ore), or even the basic Settlers clay and wood for road-building.

I decided to opt for a good selection of numbers, with resources that would - I hoped - be appropriate for all parts of the game. So I took the 5-8-9 with two wood and a sheep. I headed towards the coast and a 3:1 harbour, figuring that if all else failed I could at least head out to sea.

Tim (white) then took the slightly better numbers of 5-6-9 on wood, wheat and sheep, which I had seriously considered. Wheat, after all, is vital in Cities and Knights in order to feed the knights. And of course it's an essential element of both settlements and cities.

Richard (red) took the 5-9-10 with three resources for his settlement, and the 3-4-8 with two wood and a sheep for his city, thus ensuring some reasonable commodity cards, and six different numbers. Tim took an ore and two wheat for his city, also achieving six different numbers. So I decided that I would also go for numbers... even though it left me with an over-abundance of wood, but no access at all to either ore or wheat.


With the help of my wood and clay, and some useful trading, I managed a couple of streets and a couple of settlements without too much difficulty, Then, since I was still collecting wood and some sheep, I thought I might as well build a ship... and head for yet more wood. Richard and Tim had each managed one settlement by that time, and we had all started gaining city improvements.

It was only as the barbarian ships sailed closer and closer to Catan that we realised we had left it undefended. Tim managed to buy a knight just in time:


So nobody gained a victory point as Catan defender; Richard and I both had to demote our cities into settlements.

With the help of some trading, and some useful progress cards, I was able to build my city again, and even fortify it with some extra clay so as to allow myself more cards before the robber could strike. I also bought a knight, and activated it, so that by the next time the barbarians attacked, Catan was at least defended:


Since Tim and I each had one knight, nobody gained a victory point but we each took a progress card of our choice. Since we both like the green ones best, those are what we took.

Although Richard had started with a city on the 8-wood hex, it took him a few more turns before he was able to re-build it after the first barbarian attack. So I managed to reach the metropolis on books before he did, and thus an extra two points.

Richard also played the card that allowed him to switch any two numbers on the board (other than 2, 12, 6 or 8). He chose to switch the 5-wood (on which I had two cities) with the 11-ore (on which I also had a city, and where he was aiming to build a settlement). Unfortunately for him, he did it the turn before he could built the settlement, in anticipation. He did not know that I held a street-building card, which meant that I was able to build a settlement there instead. Suddenly I had good access to wheat, which I had been aiming for, and also to ore, which I had not expected.

By the next barbarian attack, we had two knights each:


- so each of us picked up another green card. I was in the lead by this stage. I had eleven points on the board, including my metropolis. I also had one victory point from my progress cards. I'd had the longest trade route briefly, too, but Richard took it from me when he sailed out towards the wood-clay island. So he had seven points on the board (plus one victory point from progress cards too), and Tim had seven points on the board.

By the next barbarian attack, Tim had sailed out to the gold hex, and gained the longest street card. So he now had ten points. Richard, who had no ore since I took the spot he wanted, had a hard time building cities, so was still on five points. And I was still significantly in the lead with 12 points on the board, plus my one victory point, and another since I'd taken control of the merchant to enable me to have very useful 2:1 trading on wood.


I was pondering building yet more ships, then realised that two streets joining up my road segments would give me the longest route more easily - so I did that, and by the next barbarian attack was far in the lead with 16 points. So we decided to play to 18.


Richard had six points in buildings, plus an extra chit point for building on another island. Tim had ten points, plus a chit, giving him eleven. I did wonder if he would take the longest trade route card from me - he only needed three more streets or ships to do so - which would have prolonged the game for a few more rounds.

But he didn't. And when my turn came around, I had the cards to build a settlement - at last - one one of the outlying small islands. So that gave me one extra point for the settlement, and another one for the chit that was awarded for being first to build on any of the small islands.


We did, briefly, discuss continuing to 20 points, but had made a note in Cities and Knights that it gets dull after 18 points. So I was declared the winner.

It was rather exhausting trying to think about all the different aspects of the game at the same time, but very enjoyable. And my win was at least in part due to Richard's error of judgement in switching two numbers before he had built on the ore hex.

Settlers of Catan for four

Our game of Seafarers of Catan was over so quickly - it was only 9pm when we finished - that we decided to play a quick game of regular Settlers as well. We kept the same pieces: red for Richard, white for Tim, brown for Sheila and orange for me.

I went first, and took the predictable 4-5-8 with clay, wood and wheat. Richard was next; he decided to go for numbers, so took 6-5-9 on sheep and two wood. Then it was Tim, who took 5-9-10 on two ore and clay. Sheila likes the last position best; she was able to take four useful numbers (3, 8, 9 and two 10s) with all resources other than sheep. Tim ended his placement with a lot of ore, no wood or sheep, and six good numbers (3, 4, 5, 6, 9 and 10). Richard lacked wheat after his second placement, and didn't have as many numbers as he would have liked (2, 5, two 6s and two 9s). And I then had nowhere to get ore - which can be a big problem. So I opted for the least bad numbers that would give me the other some sheep, and ended up with six (3, 4, 5, 6, 8 and 11).

And I forgot to take a photo at the end of our settlement placements. However, I took this one shortly afterwards when we had all built at least one street - there was no real shortage of clay and wood at the start of this game - and both Richard and Tim had built a new settlement (Richard on the ore harbour; Tim, who would really have liked the ore harbour himself, on a 3:1).


It wasn't too long before Richard took the longest street card, and shot into the lead. He had six points; Sheila and Tim each had four, and I still had three:


However, Tim and Sheila both managed to build cities. Richard (lacking wheat) could not do so, and my lack of ore made it equally difficult. So Sheila caught up with Richard:


They each had seven points, while Tim and I each had five. And due to the placement of the hexes, there were very few building spots left. Tim and I didn't have any; Sheila and Richard each had one left. But Richard and I were having a hard time building any cities. He did manage one, and I managed two... but Tim, with his plentiful ore, upgraded all four of his settlements to cities. He also bought development cards since there was nothing else for him to do... and then won the game, by playing his third knight (thus gaining the largest army) and revealing two hidden victory point cards:


He hadn't expected to win, when Richard stopped him from getting the ore harbour. If he had been able to take it, he would probably have won rather more quickly. But it was quite a decisive victory since nobody else had more than eight points.

Seafarers: fog island scenario (for four)

John and Sarah have left, and Jörn was still away. Tim leaves in the early hours of tomorrow. So we decided to have one more game with Sheila while Tim's still here. She came to our house, so we played with our set. Rather than regular Settlers of Catan, we thought we'd try our favourite Seafarers scenario: fog island. It always takes awhile to set up since it needs pieces from two sets (but not all of them). We used random distribution of the resource hexes within the main Catan island, but placed the numbers according to the booklet.

Richard (red) went first. He took the 8-9-10 which is on ore, sheep and wheat. Sheep are important in Seafarers as they're needed, along with wood, to build ships.

Tim (white) was second, and - unsurprisingly - chose the 3-8-9 on clay, ore and wood. Sheila (brown) took the 4-6-9 on clay, ore and sheep which is the spot I would have chosen if I hadn't been the last to play place. While some people like being in last position, I don't particularly like it. Particularly in this game where there aren't all that many places available! So I decided I'd focus on exploring and hope for some better numbers that way. I built one of my settlements on the 6-9 with wheat and wood, and a ship rather than a street. Then I took the 5-8-12 on wood, ore and sheep. I had no clay at all, and rather feeble access to sheep, so I hoped to be able to trade for what I needed, and find some better places out at sea.


By the time the second settlements had been placed, Richard and Tim had theoretical access to all five resources, but Sheila had no wood, which was going to make it tricky to build anything.

However, 3s and 4s were rolled surprisingly often, giving Sheila a great deal of clay. So she was able to trade easily every time she wanted wood, and soon started expanding. Within a few rounds she had managed six points, including two cities. In the same time period, the rest of us each had three points...


Since I was slightly stuck by the initial position of the pirate ship, Sheila was also the first person to head out to sea.. although the first hex she turned over was another sea one:


However, she then discovered a useful sheep. And took the longest trade route too. I managed to set sail too, was pleased for a moment to see that I hadn't found a sea hex.. and then realised it was the desert. However, I then managed to uncover a wood hex, with a fairly useful 4:


So I built a settlement there, and started to explore across the land with another street, hoping to head for the gold hex. I uncovered.. yet more wood.

Sheila, meanwhile, found rather a nice ore hex (with 5), but decided to move her leading ship and then explore in the other direction, where she found a 9-wheat hex.

And Richard managed to set out to sea too:


So Sheila was well in the lead with nine points, including the longest trade route. Richard and Tim each had five, and I had four.

I was very pleased to discover an 8-sheep hex, so quickly built a settlement there, bordering two reasonably wood hexes. Sheila went back to the ore, and discovered some more. And built her remaining cities. Tim also set sail from the main Catan island:


So Sheila now had 11 points. Seafarers can be a very long game, but we'd only been playing for about an hour. She was evidently going to be the winner by a long way ... Tim had six points, Richard and I each had five.

Sure enough, Sheila was able to build one more settlement... and thus was the clear winner:

Settlers of Catan for six

It was John and Sarah's last evening here for a while. Tim was still here too, for a few more days. However Jörn was away... so there were six of us for a Catan game on Saturday evening.

Richard (red) placed first. He took a very nice spot with 5 on ore, 6 on clay and 9 on wood. I was second (with orange), so I took a spot that was as good number-wise (5-8-9) but with sheep rather than clay. Then it was Sheila (brown), who opted for a 4-5-11 giving her wood, clay and wheat.

That pretty much used up the obviously good starting positions. John (green) was next. He pondered awhile, then decided to go for the best selection of remaining numbers, which was 5-8-9 on ore and two wheat. We'd been talking about the importance of the ore-wheat strategy... so John was apparently going to try it. Sarah (white) was fifth. She couldn't see anywhere that would be much good - and she likes to use harbours. So she placed her first settlement on the sheep harbour, which bordered two sheep hexes on 8 and 11. Tim (blue) was last. He didn't really have any good places to choose, so decided to opt for as many resources and numbers as possible. He ended up with 4, 8, 9, two 10s and a 12, with theoretical access to all five resources.

Sarah then went for two more sheep hexes with a wood - so all the had available to her was sheep and wood, plus the sheep harbour for trading. A strategy that could work very well, or could be a disaster! John was pleased to find that the coastal 6-10 on clay and wood was still available - giving him the wheat harbour too. He was in a very strong position. He had also inadvertently blocked Tim's first intended move.

Sheila then took two more numbers on the other sheep harbour, I decided I'd opt for three numbers (without any clay) rather than just two on the coast in a rather crowded position, and Richard then took the 4-8 sheep-wheat intersection on the ore harbour, which John had been heading for.


With six players, there can be a fair bit of competition for building spots.

Although Richard played before John, he didn't have such good tiles. And so, twice, John built streets that blocked Richard's plans:


So he built in other directions. Play moved reasonably fast, so that settlements and cities started to spring up all around the island of Catan.


Tim was in the lead at this stage, with six points. John and I both had five, Richard and Sarah both had four, and Sheila had three.

Richard took the longest street first:


Then, rather than taking Sheila's last building spot, I realised that I could build inland to extend my street, and also gain a useful new spot on a 5-ore and 10-wheat (and 2-ore... but that was unlikely to be much use to me). Richard and Sarah had both hoped for that spot.


So I now had the longest street, and nine points. Richard was next with seven. Tim and John each had six points, Sarah had five, and Sheila - whose numbers just weren't being rolled - was trailing with three.

Then Richard extended his road, and took the longest street card back again:


.. which now put him in the lead with nine points, and me in second place with seven, jointly with Tim and John who had each built another settlement in the meantime. Sarah had six, and Sheila four.

By this stage, resources were being gathered faster and faster. The extra 'building phase' in between turns allowed us all to build - so we didn't lose much to the robber - and cities came rapidly, with an abundance of ore and wheat. I joined up my two sections of street, and took the card back from Richard - who had unfortunately wasted a few resources by extending his long street without providing any new building spots.


So, at this stage, Tim was in the lead with ten points. John and I each had nine, Sarah had eight, Richard had seven, and Sheila was still trailing with five.

Most of us had run out of building spots at this time, so all we could do was build cities (if we had any left - Tim didn't by this stage) or buy cards.

Richard and I each built a new city:


So I now had ten points, and was jointly in the lead with Tim.

But John, who had started with such a good position, was able to trump us all. He was the first person to play a third knight card, giving him the largest army - and then turned over a victory point card:


So John was victorious, with twelve points.

Seafarers of Catan: fog island (for four)

Tim was out, and Richard needed a break. So we decided to have a four-person Seafarers game with John and Sarah. They did look at the other scenarios in the booklet, but as so often happens we decided that Fog Island was the most interesting, because of the 'exploration' to turn over unknown hexes.

As when we played Seafarers with them before, we set up the main Catan island resources and numbers randomly. With four people on the 3-4 player board, it's not easy to find good building spots by the end since there are not many available. I went first (orange); I chose some reasonable numbers with an 8 on ore, plus 5 on wood and 8 on sheep. Sheep are a lot more important in Seafarers than in regular Settlers of Catan games, since they're necessary (along with wood) for building boats.

Richard (red) was second; he built on the other 4-sheep hex, with wheat and wood as well. John (white) took some good numbers: two wood and a wheat, on 5, 10 and 6. Then Sarah (brown) took a very nice combination: all five resources, with 4, 6, 8, 9 and 10 as her numbers. On our second placements it was increasingly difficult to find suitable spots. John also managed five good numbers, but was lacking access to both sheep and ore. Richard had all five resources, but not such good numbers, and I had no access to wheat.


John was the only person who bought a ship right at the beginning, rather than a street for his second settlement.

Play was very slow at first. The problem was that 4 was not rolled, and it was the only possibility for sheep. Ironically, 12 - which had sheep but no settlements - was rolled a couple of times. However, we all managed to build some streets; John, Richard and I each built a city (wheat was plentiful so it was easy to trade for it), and Sarah managed the first new settlement of the game after trading heavily for her sheep:


So we were all on three points.

Then a four was rolled and we all cheered. Sarah picked up three sheep, and was able to buy a couple of ships. And so the first exploration of the game yielded...

.. some sea:


I was beginning to wonder where I would build, since John had pretty much blocked my access to the coast, in his quest for sheep. I wanted the 9-wheat spot first, and then decided I might as well extend in the other direction from my first settlement, and perhaps eventually reach the sea that way. Or maybe I'd concentrate on building on the main island...

Sarah bought another ship, and uncovered a useful 5-clay hex:


At this stage, John was - just - in the lead with five points; all the rest of us had four. Building in general was still a bit slow.

Having achieved my 9 on wheat, I started building more streets around the coast in the other direction in the hope of building on the 8-3 coastal intersection. And in doing so, realised that I could claim the longest street card:


So now I was slightly ahead, with six points. For a short while, anyway.

It was indeed only a few rounds. Sarah continued buying ships and uncovering useful land resource hexes, and quickly had a 'trade route' of seven which beat my six streets - so now she had the longest street card.


So Sarah was - just - in the lead with seven points; John (who had managed, at last, to build on sheep) had six; Richard - who had just bought his first ship - had five, and I was trailing with four.

Richard and Sarah both build settlements on the newly discovered island, and when another 4 was rolled - to the accompaniment of more cheers - John started buying ships. All he uncovered was sea, but his 'trade route' now had eight units, so the longest street card was now his:


John was ahead with nine points; Richard and Sarah each had six, and I was still just behind them with five. Evidently the longest trade route was going to be very significant in whoever was finally victorious in this game.

Sarah crossed the island with streets, and built another settlement. Richard headed out towards one of the gold hexes, and John - still maintaining the longest trade route - headed towards the other. He uncovered, and quickly built upon another sheep hex with a useful 9 on it.


John now had ten points. And he had played two knight cards. He didn't have any hidden development cards at that stage, but he only needed one more knight to claim the largest army and victory.

Sarah was not impressed because John not only moved the knight to the sheep hex she and Richard shared - to try and prevent her from building more ships - but he also put the pirate ship next to her one spare ship, so that she could not move it!

However, with the help of some trading, Sarah did manage to buy more ships. And overtook John... so once again the longest street card was hers:


Sarah was now in the lead with nine points, and John had eight. Richard had seven, and I was still behind with six... and there was no way that either of us was going to compete for the longest street card.

Sarah continued buying ships, and maintained her longest route with ease. Then she uncovered an ore hex. Now she and Richard were in a race to build on the gold...

But John, meanwhile, managed to build another settlement AND his last city.


So John now had ten points on the board. And Sarah had eight on the board, plus two for the longest street. The game was clearly going to be a race between the two of them. Richard still had seven points, and I still had six.

Still, I did eventually manage to build a settlement on the 8-clay hex and then bought a couple of ships. I even had the excitement of uncovering a wheat hex, and another 8 for it. That would have made rather a nice building spot... except that I now needed a city before I could buy any more settlements. And I wasn't getting a lot of ore.

Then Richard managed to build on the gold hex, at last. However, it didn't do him any good, because it was then John's turn. He had bought a card on his previous turn, so now he revealed it. A knight - which gave him the largest army, and the extra two points he needed to be the winner.


So Sarah was second with ten, Richard was third with nine, and although I only had seven points on the board, I did have one victory point card which I had kept hidden since the very early stages of the game.

Even though she had the longest trade route, Sarah still wasn't impressed at the way John had blocked her sheep access...