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.

Three-person Settlers game with Mick

Our friend Mick had come to stay. He spotted our Catan boxes, and enquired what they were. So, naturally, we offered to teach him to play Settlers...

He rolled to place first, so we suggested a few possible spots after explaining the rules as well as we could. It's a surprisingly complicated game for someone who has no idea what they're doing, so he took our advice about placing his settlements on trust. Mick took the green pieces, while Richard had his usual red and I had my usual orange.

We all managed access to all five resources, at least in theory; and realised that our placements had worked quite neatly, giving us more possible building spots than average. With only three players there is usually plenty of space anyway.


Mick picked up the principles of the game rapidly and started heading inland. It wasn't long before each of us had built one more settlement, so we each had three points:


When the robber started to come into play, Richard and I put it on each other's hexes, not wanting to discourage someone who was brand new to the game. But it wasn't long before Mick went into the lead, with the longest street:


We were still explaining why we did some of the things we did, and occasionally had to recap on various rules... but Mick clearly had Catan strategy in his mind already, and made his own decisions notwithstanding listening to our suggestions. We soon found ourselves able to build cities, and expanded a bit further into useful spots:


So Mick was still in the lead with eight points (including the longest street), I had seven, and Richard had six. And we started playing the robber on places where Mick also had settlements or cities, and sometimes taking cards from him.

He was a bit unfortunate in losing cards to the robber more than once - we didn't always remind him of the strategy of offering to trade an extra card away when having eight in one's hand; he managed to roll a 7 when in the possession of eight or more cards at least twice during the game.

Mick had bought three development cards, and we knew that they were all knights. He played one to move the robber, and I suggested he play a second on his next turn, in hope of gaining the largest army card.

Had I been competing with experienced players, I would have attempted to join up my two segments of street by this stage, and so taken the longest street card for myself. I didn't do so... but by this stage in the game, that's the only concession I was making to Mick being a totally new and inexperienced player. Had he been more experienced, he would probably have extended his more rapidly to ensure that I didn't manage to take the card, anyway.


So Mick and I each had nine points at this stage, and Richard had six. There were still plenty of building spots available to both Richard and me, although Mick had only one remaining.

I built another settlement, and a city. Richard built a couple of streets in the vain hope of taking the longest street... so Mick joined up his segments, ensuring he kept it. I upgraded another city and built another settlement. Mick built a city.

I had eleven points, and was technically in the lead. Mick had ten... and had played two knights. I reminded him that all he had to do was to turn over his third knight, and he would have won.

He decided he would prefer to keep playing for another round or so.

When his turn came round again, he had a huge handful of cards. Luckily he didn't roll a seven... and was able to build another city AND place his last settlement. That gave him ten points in buildings, plus the longest street, so he had twelve points anyway. Then he turned over his third knight, giving him the largest army...


So Mick was resoundingly the winner, with fourteen points!

Here he is, a little surprised to have won...