Second Settlers of Catan game with Chris

After introducing our friend Chris to Settlers of Catan on Tuesday, we asked if he'd like another game on Wednesday evening, or whether he'd prefer to watch a DVD. Catan was his preferred option :-)

This time Richard sat next to him, theoretically to advise, but Chris had picked up the game very quickly, and really didn't need much assistance at all. If any. It meant that I was sitting at the end of the table for once, giving me a different view of the board.

It wasn't nearly such a nice layout as last time. No good numbers with both wood and clay, for instance. Becky (white) placed first, Daniel (brown) was second. Richard (red) went third, and they all chose obvious spots from the number perspective, with three resources. Chris, playing blue, didn't need any advice to take yet another useful place for numbers. Then it was me, with my usual orange pieces. I couldn't easily get all five resources, so - as I so often do - I decided to do without sheep. It looked as if there would be plenty for trading, anyway. Wood looked as though it might be in short supply, so I opted for an intersection that included wood-5, and was pleased that it also had clay-10 - the best combination of the two - although the third was a 2. I then opted for two different numbers, plus 12, to give me good access to ore and wheat. But, naturally, took the cards from the wood-clay-wheat hex.

On the way back everyone did what they could to choose the best numbers and/or resources, but I'm not sure that anybody was entirely satisfied with their choices. On balance, I thought Chris probably had the best spots, number-wise.


With plentiful ore and wheat, the game started with cities being built. 11s were rolled rather more than they should have been, statistically speaking, which enabled Daniel to build some roads and gain the longest street card.


Up to that point, Chris had been in the lead with five points; Daniel now equalled him, since he had three on the board. But since Becky and I both had four, and Richard had three, it was all pretty even so far.

Richard made an attempt to built a long street going across the board, stopping Daniel from making his also go from coast to coast, but Daniel managed to block him and extend his own advantage. It seemed pretty certain that nobody was going to challenge Daniel from the perspective of the longest street on this Catan board.


Chris had just crept into the lead again with six points, while Daniel and I had five, Becky and Richard had four.

The next picture didn't come out so bright, for some reason, but should still be viewable. I took this one after Daniel built the last of his settlements, giving him seven points, and realised that he would have to start building cities:


Chris was just ahead, still, with eight points (and plenty of building spots remaining). I had seven, and so did Becky who had a sudden spate of being able to build. Richard only had four points on the board, but had played four knight development cards by this stage, which gave him the 'largest army' and thus six points in all.

Chris was primarily being targetted with the robber, as were Becky and I; Daniel was buying cards since he kept picking up sufficient to give him more than seven in his hand, but not enough to build a city.

Then Daniel's turn came round again. He managed, with some careful trading, to build his first city. So now he had six points on the board, plus the longest street card, giving him eight in all. Richard, Becky and I also had eight each, and Chris had nine. It was really remarkably close....


... except that Daniel then revealed that he had FOUR victory point cards:


He said he'd been quite annoyed when he picked up the first one, as he'd hoped for a knight - wanting to gain the largest army. When he got the second he was quite pleased. When he had the third and fourth, he was pretty amazed.

So Daniel shot ahead to 12 points and won the game, much sooner than we had expected a victory.

Settlers of Catan for five with Chris

Our friend Chris is here for the UK for a week. So, naturally, we wondered if he'd like to learn a new board game.... and initiated him into the delights of Catan on Tuesday evening.

We explained the principles and rules somewhat, and then got started. I sat on his right hand so I could glance at his cards and advise, and naturally we all explained strategies for the opening settlement placement.

Richard (red) was first to place, so chose an obvious one with good numbers on wood, clay and ore. I was second, and didn't want to take the other obviously good place near Richard's, since I wanted to advise Chris to take it. I somehow didn't notice that there was actually a third spot with good numbers including wood and clay, so instead I opted for good numbers with wood, wheat and sheep. There were really quite a lot of good opening places on this board. Chris (blue) took the one we suggested - since he had no idea, really, what would happen - and Daniel (brown) then took the other obvious place which I'd missed. Becky who was last (playing white) - and thus first in the second round of placements - took some more spots with good numbers and four resources; she lacked only ore. But it looked as if ore was going to be fairly plentiful in this game.


On the way back around the circle, we all managed to get reasonable spots, with access to all the resources (even though my clay was only on a 12). We all thought it was one of the nicest boards we'd seen.

In the first few rounds Becky, Chris and I both managed a street - clay was rather a poor resource, so they weren't easy - while Daniel, who had such good access to ore and wheat, built two cities. This put him firmly in the lead, which isn't really a good thing too early in the game since it meant that he tended to be the target of the robber, right through the game, other than when he moved it himself.


I took the next photo when a few more cities had been built, but we were still struggling a little for other resources. Daniel was still in the lead - just - with six points, and had managed to reach a 3:1 harbour. But I now had five points, and everyone else had four.


The next excitement came when Daniel gained the longest street card with five streets - trading heavily for them, and also buying a fair number of cards which gave him a street-building and a couple of useful monopolies.


So Daniel had ten points. Chris and I each had five, Richard and Becky each had four. It looked as if Daniel was going to cream us totally. We tried to advise Chris not to trade with Daniel, but he made the point that since Daniel was most likely to win anyway, we might as well hurry the inevitable along, and then we'd have time for another game!

It looked as if Chris was right, when Daniel built another city, giving him 11 points. I had managed to scrape together 8 by that point; Richard and Chris were not far behind with 7, and Becky had 6. But Daniel didn't have any victory point cards, so the game was still going...


I should, perhaps, have accepted Daniel as winner.. but somehow I can't let it happen. I was lucky in a couple of rolls of the dice, played a monopoly card, and then traded on my turn so as to build some more streets, and took the longest street card from him.

So now I had 11 points, and Daniel was back to 9. Everyone else had 7.


Then Daniel built another city, and another settlement. He had 11 solid points on the board, and was buying cards. A few more rounds would surely give him the largest army, and victory.


But then my turn came round, and - again with lucky rolls of the dice - I was able to build another settlement. So I had 12 points, and had won.


Richard then showed that he had two victory point cards, meaning that he had 11, as well as Daniel. It was a very close game although we hadn't realised that Richard was so close. Moreover, Chris wanted us to note that he hadn't quite understood about the 'largest army' card - if he had done so, he would have played more knights, and gained an extra two points. So although he ended with 8 we felt that morally speaking he should have had 10.

Then Daniel set the camera up on timer, and took a photo that showed us all: