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. 

A most efficient layout on a six-person Catan game

A few weeks ago, we were playing a six-person Settlers of Catan game, with our usual friends and one friend's parents. A six-player game can, of course, lead to rather an over-crowded board, but as we progressed through the game, it seemed that nobody had run out of building spots early on.

It wasn't until about half-way through that I suddenly realised what a remarkably efficient layout we had managed to produce:

Quite by accident, none of our settlements was directly opposite another on any hex. So, theoretically, we had the maximum possible number of building spots. Blue, green and orange had all run out of new spots by this stage, but each had managed six. Red had six already, and one more. And there were four remaining spots which could be accessed by either white or brown.

As it happened, the game did not continue for many more rounds after that. Here's the final board:

I think it was Richard (red) who won, with the largest army (or perhaps two victory points) as well as ten points on the board.

Settlers of Catan for six

It was Marie's birthday; she requested a game of Settlers after dinner. Richard was away, but Annika was visiting, and knows the game. Jacob stayed up too, so there were six of us. Annika took the red pieces; the rest of us had our usual ones (blue for Jörn, brown for Sheila, white for Marie, green for Jacob, and orange for me).

Jörn rolled to go first, and took the obvious spot from the clay-wood perspective. Good numbers for both (8 on clay), and a useful ten on sheep. Jacob was second; remembering that ore is important, he took another nice triple with ore, sheep and clay including a six.

At that point, the two remaining spots with particularly good number selections did not have three resources on them. There was either clay with two wheat, or wood with two ore. I was pretty sure that Sheila would take one of them - which she did - so I took the other. On balance I'd prefer ore to wheat, and could see that the ore harbour was not too far away, so I slightly preferred that place anyway even though Sheila's numbers were significantly better.

Annika was next, and Marie was last; two enviable positions, usually, but by this stage there really were not many useful spots next. Annika opted for ore and two clay, and her other settlement on wheat and two sheep. This gave her a 6 and an 8, but no access to wood - and it looked as if wood was going to be a fairly scarce resource anyway. She pointed her first streets inland, however, which seemed as if it might limit her potential building spots.

Marie managed two settlements that gave her - in theory - access to all five resources, but her numbers were not very good for either wood or clay. I'm not sure what else she could have done, though.

My turn again, and there was no way I could get everything I needed - clay, wheat and sheep - with one settlement. So, as usual, I decided to miss out on sheep. Not too big a deal since the spot I chose, with good access to clay and wheat, lead directly to an 8-sheep hex which I planned to occupy as soon as possible.

Sheila decided she'd take the hex that gave her access to all the three resources she needed, even though it only included a 2 on wood. Then Jacob opted for a coastal intersection that gave him wheat and wood, exactly what he needed. Unfortunately it meant that he and Marie were both heading directly for the same spot, on the wheat harbour. Jörn placed his last settlement on a spot that gave him good wheat, more sheep, and a 12 on ore.


It all seemed fairly even at this stage; nobody had overwhelmingly better spots than anyone else, although the least useful were probably Marie's and Annika's - not through bad strategy, but lack of available spaces.

So we got going, reasonably slowly at first. I was able to get the spot on the 8-sheep without any problem, and then built out to a spot that gave me an 11 on wood - not particularly useful, but I thought I might also go for the ore harbour nearby.

At the same time, Jörn built a couple of settlements too, and Sheila managed three. Jacob managed to get the wheat harbour spot before Marie reached it, which was a pity since Marie had very few possible building spots remaining. Then Jacob was first to build a city. Marie played a monopoly on wheat which gave her quite a few cards, enabling her to build a city too, although we had recommended that she grab her last easy building spot first...


So Sheila had five points at this stage in the game; Jacob, Jörn and I each had four; Marie had three, and Annika had two.

I managed another settlement, taking another spot on the 5-ore. It probably wasn't the best strategy; I was collecting quite a bit of clay, since 9s were rolled regularly, and I could have gone for the clay harbour which would have been rather useful. Sheila built a city and another street.. then Jacob had a street-building frenzy, and took the longest street card:


So now Sheila and Jacob were jointly in the lead with six points each, and I was just behind with five.

I now had to build a city before I could expand any further, and it was surprisingly difficult. 4s and 5s were not rolled very often, and since I kept picking up other cards, I had to buy development cards so as not to exceed the limit of seven in my hand, not wishing to be vulnerable to the robber. The first one was a victory point; the others were knights. Unfortunately, of course, buying them used up some of my available ore. But eventually I managed a city.

Sheila could easily have taken Marie's last building spot, but had plenty of other places along the coast. So she expanded around there, taking the longest street card, and also taking a spot Jörn had hoped for. He - like most of us - lacked wood for much of the game, which seriously limited his expansion potential.

At last Marie managed to build in the centre of the three wood hexes. She did, in theory, have one more building spot but it was likely that Annika would get there first.


So now Sheila was decidedly in the lead, with nine points, including the longest street. I had six (well, seven including my victory point, but that was hidden); Jörn and Jacob each had five; Marie had four, and Annika still had only two. She was not being at all lucky with the rolls of the dice.

However, Annika had bought a few development cards, and had played a couple of knights. She played her third, and thus received the largest army card (and two extra points). She also, at last, managed another settlement, and then fairly quickly upgraded it to a city. I took the clay harbour, although it was too late in the game to be much use. Jörn built some cities...

But it was Sheila who raced ahead of us all. She actually reached 12 points on the board on the 'building phase' of Jacob's turn, including having the longest street card. But the rules state that one can only win on one's own turn. Jacob could, temporarily, have taken the longest street card back since he had a street in his hand, and a street-building card. But he decided not to, realising he couldn't keep the longest street, and hoping for other opportunities to expand elsewhere.

As it happened, it wouldn't have made any difference. Sheila took her turn, and during it managed another settlement, and also picked up a victory point development card. So she creamed us all, with 14 points. Jörn and I were in joint second place, with eight points each...

Settlers of Catan for five (with Mick)

Having introduced our friend Mick to Settlers of Catan, and found him rather proficient, it seemed like a good idea to play a five-person game with Jörn and Sheila a couple of evenings later.

Since Mick had only placed once, it seemed better to use our set, even though we were at our friends' house, so that he didn't have to try and understand a different set of graphics - not to mention German text on the development cards. Mick was happy to play with the green pieces again, and the rest of us took our usual colours: brown for Sheila, blue for Jörn, red for Richard, and orange for me.

Richard rolled to go first, and with plenty of nice spots to choose from, opted for the 5-6-9 intersection on ore, sheep and wheat. I was second, and since I like to have good ore I took the 4-8-9 with clay, ore and sheep. I would have done slightly better, I realised immediately, to have taken the 5-6-9 which Jörn then claimed, with exactly the same resources and slightly better numbers. Sheila went next, and took yet another good spot: 4-6-9 on sheep, clay and wheat. Then it was Mick's turn to play last and first, placing two settlements together. He chose the 4-5 coastal intersection on ore and wood himself, and we advised on various other options; he decided on the 5-8-10 with the other three resources he needed. He had good numbers, but only four different ones.

On the way back, there were still some reasonable spots to take. Sheila needed wood and ore, and found a good intersection providing both, and giving her six good numbers. Jörn and I both needed wheat and wood; so, unsurprisingly, he took the one good spot with both available. I then decided that wheat was more important than wood, so took a spot with two wheat and an ore, giving me six different numbers (one of them being a 12, so not very useful). Richard, in final place, needed wood and clay, and was able to get rather a nice spot with both, giving him also six numbers, including a 12.


So I was the only player who did not have immediate access to all five resources at the start of the game. And wood was in rather short supply, so I was unable to trade for it. Jörn, Sheila and Richard each managed a street and a settlement each in the first few rounds... and I built two cities.


So, technically, I was in the lead with four points. However, without being able to build streets, I was now rather stuck. And, indeed, it took me quite some time before I managed to build even one new street. In the meantime, everyone else had done significant amounts of expanding:


So Jörn and Richard each had five points by this stage, while the rest of us each had four. And I could see that I was going to get boxed in before long, if I didn't start expanding.

Richard was first to take the longest street card. Then, in a move I haven't seen before, Sheila - who wanted a 9-10 double wheat intersection - built in the middle of his street, thus breaking it into two sections, and meaning that nobody held a five-section street any more so it had to be returned to the bank:


Richard had been in the lead with nine points, but was now back to seven. Jörn also had seven. Sheila had six, I had six, and Mick had four.

I managed to build another city, and another settlement. My final possible building spot was on the desert, so I did build one street towards it. But realised that I would do better to buy cards at this stage; I had played a couple of knights, so when I managed my third I did gain the largest army, and another two points. I had a hidden victory point card too, and when my turn came around I bought another card. Had it been a victory point, I would have won... but it wasn't.

So Jörn, who by this stage had ten points on the board, and the longest street card, was the winner with twelve points.


Mick still had only four on the board, but he had a couple of victory point cards, so his total was six, putting him just one point behind Sheila.

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.

Settlers of Catan in the evening

The same group that met for a Catan game last Thursday evening gathered once more. This time, John and Sarah played separately but Richard and Tim formed a team. They play very differently from each other, so it was interesting to know how they would work together.

They rolled to go first. Playing Richard's usual red pieces, they had some discussion about starting but opted for the good numbers of 5, 8 and 9 on sheep, ore and clay respectively.

Sheila was second, with her usual brown pieces. She opted for the other obvious place: 4-6-9 on ore, wood and clay. That would probably have been my starting spot of choice, had I played first. The numbers were not quite so good as Tim and Richard's choice, but wood is generally more useful than sheep. Then again.. it didn't look as if there would be a lot of sheep in the game, if numbers were rolled as expected.

I was third. With the two prime locations taken, I decided to opt for numbers rather than three resources. So, playing orange as usual, I took the 5-8-9 on two wheat and wood. Of course I had a faint hope that I might be able to access the wheat harbour.. but it seemed pretty unlikely that it would still be available.

As it happened, it wasn't until John (playing white) got to place his settlements that the rather nice 4-6-10 (two ore and wood) intersection was taken. He went for numbers rather than resources, it seemed, since he started without either sheep or wheat.

Jörn (blue) and Sarah (green) played in between John and me; both of them were able to access all five resources, at least in theory, with their placements, and also had a reasonable selection of numbers. So by the time I got to place again, there wasn't much available. I decided that it was most important to have ore, and I really wanted a 6 if possible. So I opted for the coastal 6-4 spot, which gave me yet more wheat in addition to a useful ore place. Possibly I should have placed my street heading inland since I had little hope of getting to the wood harbour before Sarah did, but I knew I had plenty of space for expansion in the wheat section near my first settlement.


By the end, Tim and Richard probably had the best selection of numbers, although I was quite pleased with mine too. They were lacking wheat; I was lacking both sheep and clay.

With plentiful ore and wheat, I managed to build my first two cities fairly easily. Sarah took the wood harbour, so I knew I would have to do any expansion via my other settlement. Clay was somewhat at a premium, but others wanted wheat so I was able to trade, and built a couple of settlements around the 8-wheat hex. John expanded towards the wheat section too, since that was a resource he lacked; in doing so, he was the first to take the longest street card.

I was actually in the lead at this point in the game, with six points. This seemed rather surprising, since the lack of clay was holding me back. I had considered expanding out towards the 5-clay hex, but only ever managed one set of street resources at a time. If I had built one, or even two streets, I could pretty much guarantee that Jörn would have then built one of his to block me.


Sarah, who also had good access to ore and wheat, had also built two cities and had five points. John also had five, with the longest street card, as did Tim and Richard. Jörn and Sheila each had four. It was still very even.

I continued being lucky with rolls and trading, and was able to expand further inland to take a double-wood slot next to the desert. Although, unfortunately, I then kept forgetting to take the relevant wood resources when a 6 was rolled! I was handed the longest street card, which put me more firmly in the lead with eleven points. All I needed was one more city, and I would have won... although I'm pretty sure I did not realise this at the time!


Tim and Richard had built all their cities by this stage - despite still lacking wheat - and had nine points. Sheila had seven, and everyone else had six.

My hope of victory diminished when Jörn joined up his sections of street, and thus took the longest street card with nobody able to take it from him.

Finally I had the resources for three streets in my hand, so I built out towards the 5-clay hex. Not that clay was going to do me much good at this stage - but it was another building spot. Sheila had taken the ore-wheat one which I'd hoped to take near my main expansions so this was my last possible place to build.


So, once again, it could almost have been anybody's game. Tim and Richard were now in the lead with ten points, but Jörn and I were both right behind with nine points each. Sarah and Sheila each had eight, and John had seven. John still had three possible building spots; I had one, Richard and Tim shared one possibility with John; I had the one on the clay which I technically shared with Jörn, but he needed to build some cities first, and I almost had the cards in my hand for that settlement...

Then it was Richard and Tim's turn. I picked up wood, which was the last resource I needed to built my settlement on their building phase.

Except that there wasn't one. They played a third knight card, thus taking the largest army, and another two points.

Once again, Tim had won. That's three wins in the three games we have played since he arrived here last Thursday. According to my statistics on the side of this blog, he's now won 10 out of the 20 games which he's played with us since I started recording them at the end of last year.


Still, nobody was completely trounced. Jörn had ten points, Sarah had eight, and the rest of us each had nine.

Settlers of Catan for... seven

There were seven of us around the Catan table last night. Actually there were eight, but two-month-old Elisabeth wasn't contending to play just yet. John and Sarah decided to play together, so we had a six-person game. Even though Tim had arrived in the early hours of that morning, and Richard and I were both extremely tired.

Tim, playing green, rolled to place first. And with the entire board at his disposal, he opted not for a standard three-resource spot, but for the 5-6-9 with two wheat and a wood. Excellent numbers, to be sure; and he was hoping to gain the wheat harbour. But not the place i would have chosen in his shoes. Which was fine, since I played second so I was able to opt for the 5-8-9 intersection incorporating ore, sheep and clay. While sheep isn't the most useful resource, I could see that both clay and ore might be in short supply, so I hoped I was well-placed for both.

Sheila (brown) was third, and took the spot I would have taken if Tim had opted for my first choice. She had the 4-8-9 on wheat, wood and clay. Jörn (blue) was next. He always likes to have ore at the beginning, so opted for two wood and ore, with 4, 5 and 11 as his numbers. The it was Richard (red). He likes to ensure an 8 and a 6 if possible - and certainly one of them. So he took the 4-6-11 with ore, sheep and clay.

Finally it was John and Sarah's turn, playing the white pieces. They were quite surprised that the 4-6-9 (two wood and a wheat) intersection was still available. I was surprised too, since that would have been my third or fourth option. The numbers were better than either Richard's or Jörn's choice - at least, if they were rolled with statistical likelihood. They were also able to take the 8-10-12 with sheep, ore and clay, thus ensuring them access (at least in theory) to all five resources, and five excellent numbers in addition to the 12.

On the way back, we all attempted to take spots that would give us the resource we lacked so far and, where possible, some new numbers. I would have liked somewhere with a 6, but there was nowhere obvious, so I plumped for reasonable access to wood and wheat. Tim, continuing in the 'ore-wheat strategy' was pleased to be able to place his final settlement on an intersection with two ore and a wood. He lacked sheep, but there were clearly going to be plenty of sheep in this game.


In the first few rounds, 6 was rolled several times, and 8 not at all. 9 didn't appear either. Nor, surprisingly, did 7. I finally bought a development card and was pleased to find that it was a street-builder; extremely useful early in the game. Tim managed to build a city rather quickly, and we all headed for our first planned spots. I took this picture when Tim and I each had four points, while everybody else was on three:


So it was a very even start to the game.

I never like to poach on other people's potential building spots if I can help it, so wasn't entirely sure where I would go next. I didn't need to think too hard, since 9 - the number which would have given me a street each time - continued to be non-existent. I did manage my first city, however, and then decided to aim for the 6-10 intersection on the coast, since I didn't have a 6 and since Tim wasn't aiming for that spot.

Gradually we were all expanding... and suddenly we noticed that Richard had, at least for now, the longest street:


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

Then Sheila built inland, blocking a potential building spot for both Richard and Jörn. I started thinking about the ore harbour, since rather a lot of 5s were being rolled. I could see that Jörn would have liked it too, but he had a few possible places. I didn't plan to take the 8-sheep spot that he was looking at.


I had drawn equal with Tim at this stage; both of us on seven points. But it could still have been anyone's game.

The next excitement was that Jörn took the longest street, although I did grab the ore harbour:


However Tim was still expanding fast. He had built all four of his cities already, plus a couple of settlements, so was well in the lead with ten solid points. Jörn and I each had eight, John & Sarah and Sheila each had six, and Richard - who was struggling to build a city - was just behind with five after he lost the longest street.

Then John and Sarah played a third knight card, and thus took the largest army and another two points. Richard managed his first city. And while everyone else kept losing cards to the robber, I was lucky - and despite having a lot of cards in my hand, did not roll a seven. So I built two streets and a settlement out to my final building spot on the not-terribly-useful spot on the desert.


So Tim was still in the lead with ten points, and I was right behind with nine. I could potentially build two more cities, and planned to buy cards as well in the hope of some victory points. John and Sarah also had nine points including the largest army; I could see that they had other hidden development cards, and wondered if they were victory points since they didn't play a fourth knight on their turn - and thus risked losing the largest army card to Sheila, who by that stage had also played three knights (and had some hidden cards too).

Jörn, who still held the longest street card, had eight points; Richard and Sheila each had six. We knew that things could change rapidly, of course....

... Which is what happened when Sheila played another couple of streets, and thus overtook Jörn's longest street.


So she now had eight points, and he was back on six.

9s were being rolled more often, which wasn't much use to me now as I didn't need any streets. So when Tim's turn came round and he monopolised clay, I wasn't too worried. He had the clay harbour, and we all assumed he was going to build another settlement on the other desert building spot. He muttered about his maths, not sure if he had calculated right...

.. and then surprised us all by placing, instead, six streets.

Not one extra point, but two as he took the longest street card, and neatly won the game.


It turned out that John and Sarah were also very close to winning, since they had two hidden victory point cards, and thus (including the largest army) eleven points.

Five-person Settlers of Catan

After an enjoyable meal with our friends, the children went to bed and the rest of us started another game of Settlers.

John rolled to go first. He was playing with the white pieces, and with the entire board to choose from, opted for a coastal spot. It was certainly the best place for wood and clay (10 and 8 respectively) and gave him the ore harbour too... but not a spot I would even have considered when playing first, particularly since there weren't any particularly nice places nearby to aim for.

Richard (red) was second, and chose the exact spot I would have liked. Ore was evidently going to be in somewhat short supply in this game, so clearly the 6-ore hex was worth grabbing. He took it, along with a useful 5 on wood, and 10 on wheat.

I was third, with my usual orange pieces. So I took the other spot that had three resources and good numbers - actually slightly better numbers than Richard's, statistically speaking (5-8-9) but with sheep rather than the more useful ore. Sheila said she would have taken the one next to it (with the 4 on clay rather than the 9 on sheep) - but I no longer worry about having both clay and wood at the start of the game, and 9 is a slightly more useful number than 4, in general.

Sheila (brown) was fourth; since there were no places left with three good numbers and three different resources, she opted for the 5-6-9 intersection with two wood and a sheep. That's what I'd have taken in her position. Jörn (blue) played last; with the advantage of being able to place both settlements at the same time, he opted for two reasonable spots, giving him access to all five resources, and five useful numbers (3, 6, 8, 9 and 10) as well as a 12 on clay.

On the way back around the table, we all attempted to get hold of the numbers and/or resources we were lacking. I could not get hold of both ore and clay; so although I did consider the 3-6 coastal hex with two ore, it was quite a crowded place already, and I prefer room to manoevre without too many people trying to get the same spots. So I shrugged mentally, and chose three other reasonable numbers, giving me clay on 5, and two more sheep hexes. I realised that there was no way I could get to a sheep harbour, and in retrospect I think the place with two ore would have been more useful - but I didn't go for it.


The most surprising second placement was John's, who built simply on the 6-ore hex by the sea. He didn't even take the 3-6 intersection which I had considered. He said his strategy was to take harbours (and, indeed, the spot he chose was right on the wood harbour) but it gave him only three numbers in all, and not a whole lot of scope for expansion into other useful numbers.

So we started the game, and unsurprisingly I collected quite a few sheep. 3s were rolled a few times, giving access to ore, so I was able to trade for it and buy one or two cards. Mostly I concentrated on expanding to start new settlements, and succeeded in getting a spot on ore, albeit with an 11. Richard had hoped for the nearby spot with a 10 on wheat - actually I'd quite have liked that one too, but thought it better to secure the one I could easily take rather than push further away and risk losing the spot altogether.

Richard and Jörn each managed a city reasonably early in the game, John started building roads in order to get to some useful building spots, and Sheila fairly quickly achieved the longest street:


That put her in the lead with six points, but Jörn was close behind with five; Richard had four; John and I each had three. With five players on the larger size Catan board, there's usually a fair amount of room so we weren't really fighting over building spots too much.

Having said that, Richard - who didn't find the intersection with a 12 and two desert hexes too appealing - did make an attempt to build right across the board to grab a place where I actually built, on the 4-11-8 intersection with two clay and wheat. However, in doing so, he gained - by quite a margin - the longest street card:


Although he couldn't extend it any further, the only person who could possibly challenge him was John - and he still had quite a way to go. So Richard now had nine points, including three cities and the longest street. He could still upgrade to another city, he still had the unattractive potential building spot by two desert hexes, and he had played two knight cards... meaning that he would most likely also take the largest army. Richard was in a strong position.

Jörn, meanwhile, had seven points, Sheila had six, I had five, and John had four.

In the next round, I finally succeeded in getting my first city. Sheila played a wood monopoly, which gained her quite a few cards and enabled her to use her useful wood harbour; she was then able to build another settlement, and a city. Jörn and John each managed another settlement too.

But Richard was unbeatable. On his turn, he built another settlement, played a third knight (thus gaining the largest army) and also displayed a hidden victory point card. He was the clear winner, with thirteen points in all.


Sheila did say afterwards that she debated playing a third knight card before Richard did, thus prolonging the game a little - but could not resist playing the monopoly on wood instead, since there was rather a lot of wood to be gained from it. I suspect Richard would have won sooner or later, anyway.

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: