December 4th, 2004 |
After a poor performance at poker the night before and a day filled with stressing out over my two papers, Dan, Annie, and I met up to play some games at his place.
| Settlers of Catan |
| Results | |||
| Player | Score | Place | First Time? |
| Dan | 10 | 1 | |
| Annie | 6 | 2 | |
| Mike | 5 | 3 | |
Notes: The story of this one was the dice, as sometimes happens. Dan kept rolling robbers, which kept depriving Annie and me of logs (which I really could have used early on). Dan made up for it a bit by making very nice trades, and he kept apologizing, but the dice were just too cruel.
It was a very quick game. Had I not managed getting the University of Catan card, I wouldn't have even managed 5 points. Annie had the longest road for much of the game, but Dan, on his last turn, took it away and also had an army of 3 dudes, which was more than enough to slap us around.
The whole game Annie and I rarely managed more than 1 or 2 cards, except the end when Annie had some nice rolls - she had some stuff on two "4" tiles, and rolled 4's a few times - and Dan always had anywhere from 6 to 12 cards. So, whereas Dan built something every round without needing to trade, Annie and I had big pauses between our purchases.
| Edel, Stein & Reich |
| Results | |||
| Player | Score | Place | First Time? |
| Annie | $109 Million (3 red) | 1 | |
| Dan | $109 Million (1 red) | 2 | |
| Mike | $61 Million | 3 | |
Notes: I really enjoy this game but I tend to get my ass kicked. The first round we all played pretty well, but Dan had the majority in the good gems and I had the majority in the crappy gems. Annie had focused on money a lot and also managed to get the majority of contracts (I had the minority). After round 1 the scores were: Annie $43 Million, Dan $33 Million, Mike $31 Million.
The next round I really started to slide. I had a good amount of gems but I out-thought myself a couple times, going for cards that wouldn't benefit me but would benefit Dan or Annie too much. While I was playing defense, they went for other stuff, leaving me with worthless cards. Other than that it was a smooth round, especially for Annie and Dan, who managed to get the gems they needed (Annie had contract majority again), and I fell way behind: Annie $77 Million, Dan $69 million, Mike $49 Million.
I now needed a miracle, so I grabbed the bonus million cards for majorities, and managed not to get any sole majorities at all. There were also no contract cards. At the end of the game, Annie had a big lead, and Dan was close. Annie and I got into a bidding duel for 3 red gems and 1 blue. Annie had the +8 million card for sole red majority, so I knew I had to give Dan a shot by really making her pay for it if she got it. I, at best, was only going to get one sole majority (blue or red) anyway, so I just kept putting out stones until the deal helped nobody. Annie eventually accepted my crappy 10 gem offer, and I managed to keep her from blowing Dan out of the water - I was a lost cause. Dan made some nice moves, but was only able to tie Annie - $109 million to $109 million. As Annie still had 3 red gems left, she got the victory.
Annie asked why we don't play this one more - it's really her type of game - and I said it was because I don't like it that much with 4 players and when we have 5 people over, I'd really rather play other games, like Amun-Re or Aladdin's Dragons or By Hook or Crook or El Grande or Power Grid or....
| San Marco |
| Results | |||
| Player | Score | Place | First Time? |
| Dan | 62 (2 in San Marco) | 1 | |
| Mike | 62 (1 in San Marco) | 2 | |
| Annie | 60 | 3 | |
Notes: San Marco is one of my all-time faves, up there with Puerto Rico, Power Grid, and El Grande. We usually play by helping out with the card draws at first, then keeping quiet near the end.
My plan in this game was to get the banishment cards, score sometimes, and try to keep a lot of guys out there all over. It worked pretty well, but Dan made one or two nice hose moves in midgame that really cost me.
Anyway, I leaped out to an early lead by getting the first scoring opportunity. As I was the only one to have aristocrats in Castello, I scored that and managed to get 7 points. I then got some more points as Dan scored Dorsodoru to get himself on the board, and finally I had only 8 limit points to Dan's 13 by the end of the round. Annie, who had the San Marco majority, wiped out Dan's guy with a traitor card and scooped up 16 points - scoring the region twice in a row. She tthen scored San Polo to give Dan 5 points and her 6. Annie thus had an early lead, 24 to 16 to 12 after the first round, but Dan and I had more guys out there, as by the end of the round Dan rolled a "6" on a banishment there to drive her out.
The second round saw fewer scoring opportunities, and I focused on making banishment cards expensive. Dan and I had knocked Annie out (she had gone over the limit point limit of 10), and as she had the lead, I was looking to cut into it. I distributed the cards, giving a huge amount of limit points but also a banishment. Dan took it and wiped me out of Castello! This robbed me of 3 points, as I was forced to go from my monopoly over to Dorsodoru, where I managed a majority (for 4 points) but had to give Dan 6 points. I did this rather than go to Cannnaregio (where I also had a majority) because I would have given Annie 4 points there and it would have cost me a point to Annie to get the Doge over there. This was the cunning play of the game. Second round score: Annie 39, Mike 30, Dan 25.
The last round was incredibly close. San Marco, which had been fought for - hard - all game, was a scene of intense battle. Annie managed the majority at the end, and Dan erased my second place finish by using a traitor card there. I had a solid 2nd place in Dorsodoru and solid first in Cannaregio, but I was nowhere in San Polo and was stuck in a tie for second in Santa Croce. Had I been able to get just one more aristocrat into either Croce or Marco, I would have won. Instead, I worried a bit much about Castello - which I did manage to get a monopoly in, the only monopoly on the board - and sacrificed some points in the other two regions. The third round saw fewer scoring rounds, and the few that came up were really expensive.
By the end, Annie had the lead before scoring all the regions, but she had only one clear majority - in San Marco, and minorities in 2 others (San Polo and Cannaregio). Dan had majorities in Dorsodoru, San Polo, and Santa Croce - being the only one getting points there as Annie and I tied for second. He managed to get the minority in San Marco on his very last turn (he was the distributor and I went for a 7 point score in Castello rather than a couple more guys on the board). As we totalled everything up, we were tied. As I reached for the rules to find the tie-breaker, I suddenly remembered it: most guys in San Marco. Curses! It was really a great game - there's always so much to do.
The big moves were Annie's losing a turn in the 2nd round, which allowed Dan and I to catch up in scoring a bit, and Dan's hosing of me which resulted in more points for him when I did a scoring. In retrospect, I still can't think of a satisfactory way to get out of that move. I guess I should have hoped he rolled lower than a "3" on his banishment roll, since I only had three guys there. Excellent and fun game.