Author Topic: The Settlers Of Catan  (Read 2160 times)

Dragon

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The Settlers Of Catan
« on: January 03, 2022, 01:11:37 »
On Saturday, we started off the New Year with The Settlers Of Catan. I played the game at home with my wife, Beth, and son, Isaac.

We are still using a fairly old set of The Settlers Of Catan, I believe it's the 2nd edition of the game, from long before the title was shortened to simply Catan. Starting off, the random island of Catan had the desert exactly in the center, with Wheat appearing to be a scarce resource, due to those places primarily generating only on 10s and 11s. Isaac placed his first settlement next to some sheep with a matching harbor within a few spaces.

It was a close game, with Isaac getting the last point he needed from the Development Cards. Isaac had collected up a handful of cards in the final round and was able to use many of them at his 2-to-1 Wool Harbor. I had the Longest Road and was at 9 points and had also tried to get my last point from the Development Cards on the previous round, but picked up a Soldier card, which didn't help me. If I had one final turn, I would have had all the cards I needed to complete my final city though, so it was close. Beth had 6 points. We all had fun.     
"Hello IT. Have you tried turning it off and on again? ... OK, well, the button on the side. Is it glowing?... Yeah, you need to turn it on. Err, the button turns it on. Yeah, you do know how a button works, don't you? No, not on clothes." - Roy (The IT Crowd)

Dragon

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Re: The Settlers Of Catan
« Reply #1 on: January 16, 2022, 21:12:50 »
I played The Settlers Of Catan with my son, Isaac, and wife, Beth, today.

Starting off the game, Isaac went first, followed by Beth, then I chose and for some weird reason picked a space where there were 3 grain tiles together. Well... I did think it might have been something that would work out, since there was a grain harbor nearby and with all the grain being right there I figured I could corner the market, but the grain didn't come up for a long time. While Beth and Isaac were going for the Longest Road, I was still struggling with my starting position. (We play the game using a "Tournament Setup" that I learned years ago, so we place a Settlement with Road, then a City with Road, then a 3rd Road before rolling the dice. Resources are still collected from the second location, the City, but we don't get the double resources like we'd get if we had rolled the appropriate number matching the city region.

Later in the game, my grain started coming in, and I did manage to make a pretty decent comeback. Beth started with the Longest Road and Isaac was building up his to keep that away from her. The Robber hit Beth a couple times and she lost lots of cards. Eventually, Isaac managed to build enough Settlements and Cities for the victory, but it was a difficult struggle. Beth and I both had 8 points at the end of the game. It was a good game.
"Hello IT. Have you tried turning it off and on again? ... OK, well, the button on the side. Is it glowing?... Yeah, you need to turn it on. Err, the button turns it on. Yeah, you do know how a button works, don't you? No, not on clothes." - Roy (The IT Crowd)

Dragon

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Re: The Settlers Of Catan
« Reply #2 on: February 08, 2022, 17:55:50 »
Sunday, we also played The Settlers Of Catan, the game which has quickly become the most played game of 2022 for us. It's an old favorite, but it's a great game, and honestly, there are still so many people who have yet to be introduced to this modern classic.

Isaac started the game, I was second, and Beth followed 3rd. She picked two locations that were fairly close together and unfortunately split up the locations that I started with, so I had no realistic chance of getting Longest Road in the game. For the first few rounds I didn't get much, but was able to trade and get some development cards early on. Beth was really running strong and got the Longest Road in no time. I thought it was going to be our fastest game of Settlers ever. Unfortunately for her, Isaac was soon closing in on the score. Beth and Isaac both had 2:1 harbors that they were able to utilize quite a bit, but Isaac managed to get a bunch of Development cards, sometimes picking up more than one each turn. Even though there is a restriction of only playing 1 Development Card per turn, he was able to get some Soldier cards and some Victory Point cards and ended up winning the game when he got the Largest Army. He ended up having 11 points at the end of the game. Beth was second, with 9 points, and I struggled to keep up and ended with 7 points. Good game. Lots of fun!
"Hello IT. Have you tried turning it off and on again? ... OK, well, the button on the side. Is it glowing?... Yeah, you need to turn it on. Err, the button turns it on. Yeah, you do know how a button works, don't you? No, not on clothes." - Roy (The IT Crowd)

Dragon

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Re: The Settlers Of Catan
« Reply #3 on: June 19, 2022, 22:10:37 »
Today we played Catan Seafarers for the first time. Beth and I had played a 2-player variant years ago that had an option of building "roads" to explore across the sea but this time we got the official game. Well... sort of. We have an old copy of The Settlers Of Catan and recently got a new Seafarers set... They are mostly compatible, but slightly different. All in all, we still had fun. I managed to win the game by getting my final Settlement and even getting a Soldier to get the Largest Army in the end, for a total of 15 points. (14 Points are needed to win Seafarers, which is more than what is normally required for the standard Settlers Of Catan game.) 
« Last Edit: June 20, 2022, 00:08:16 by Dragon »
"Hello IT. Have you tried turning it off and on again? ... OK, well, the button on the side. Is it glowing?... Yeah, you need to turn it on. Err, the button turns it on. Yeah, you do know how a button works, don't you? No, not on clothes." - Roy (The IT Crowd)

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Re: The Settlers Of Catan
« Reply #4 on: November 26, 2022, 18:04:14 »
Isaac, Beth, and I played Settlers today. Beth had both of her starting places in the middle of the island and she ended up completely controlling the center space on the board, which was a wheat space. Isaac and I went around the outside on opposite sides of the island, with Beth in the middle. Eventually I picked up the Longest Road bonus and we all hovered at 8 points for a few rounds, which seemed like a long time without advancing. The robber just kept hitting Isaac when he had lots of cards, and Beth was really locked in, while Nathaniel was not having much luck getting resources. Eventually Beth was able to move out toward the edge of the island. Nathaniel got a Road Building card and used it to get the Longest Road bonus back in a surprise grab which stopped Isaac from winning on his next turn. It was an exciting struggle. In the end, Isaac had the Largest Army and was able to take the Longest Road again from Nathaniel. Isaac also had acquired a Victory Point from the Development Cards earlier, bringing his final score to 11 points, while Beth had 8 and Nathaniel had 6.
"Hello IT. Have you tried turning it off and on again? ... OK, well, the button on the side. Is it glowing?... Yeah, you need to turn it on. Err, the button turns it on. Yeah, you do know how a button works, don't you? No, not on clothes." - Roy (The IT Crowd)

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Re: The Settlers Of Catan
« Reply #5 on: August 12, 2023, 23:18:50 »
Isaac, Beth, and I got The Settlers Of Catan out for the first time this year. It was a good game, with a struggle to get sheep. We were actually using bricks a lot in maritime trades to get our settlements established. We all had pretty even distribution around the island, but in the end Beth was able to get what she needed to get the last settlement she needed and she claimed the Longest Road to win. I had a close second place and was even a contender for the longest road at one point but hadn't realized it.
"Hello IT. Have you tried turning it off and on again? ... OK, well, the button on the side. Is it glowing?... Yeah, you need to turn it on. Err, the button turns it on. Yeah, you do know how a button works, don't you? No, not on clothes." - Roy (The IT Crowd)