Todd Blackhurst
United States
Texas
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It had been so long since I played any of the expansions, I have almost forgot about many of them and almost felt like I have been missing out. Since the family was getting together for the holidays, I knew there would be opportunity to get a few games in. This session report is for the Basic Game played with my brother-in-law (BL) to introduce him to the game.
During the setup, my girls had a minor emergency I had to take care of, so BL read the rulebook until I returned, which helped speed up explaining the mechanics. Unfortunately, since he did not get to read the almanac, he spent a lot of time reading each of the cards in his hand before each turn. That made the game last about 2 hours just waiting for him to role.
My initial hand did not start out strong. The expansion stack I chose from only had red buildings and action cards. Fortunately, one of the actions was a scout card so I set out to build a third settlement in order to select the resources I wanted. This turned out very well because on my next two turns I drew a wool fleet and a wool mill. I was able to build the third settlement next to a large pasture region. Once I had solid wool production going I was able to trade in wool with the fleet on almost every turn.
BL picked up quickly on how to control the knight token, but did not worry much about the commerce token until I took a resource from him each time the windmill came up. By then I had too many commerce points for him to try to catch up.
Through out the game BL made good use of the action attack cards and several of the event cards too. He eliminated all my knights and I had to rebuild the wool fleet twice. I didn't bother with hiring knights anymore because he wanted a solid hold on that token and I could make better use of the resources.
For most of the game we stayed within one or two points of each other until we approached the two hour mark. His family was ready to leave and was surprised we were still playing the same game. (I was too because I had hoped to have enough time for my niece to play). By that point I had 10 points and BL had just built another city to bring his total up to 9. I knew in which expansion stack the Colossus of Catan was and I had enough resources to build it so I opted not to play out of my hand. I exchanged a card, paid two resources, and grabbed the statue.
During BL's turn, I realized I had 8 un-garrisoned resources. If the brigand attacked on my turn, I would have lost the resources I needed to finish the game. I offered to trade a wool for wheat to bring my number down to 7. He said he couldn't see why I would want another wheat but went ahead with the trade. It was good he did because the brigand did attack on my turn. I kept my resources, built the Colossus and won the game.
Regardless of the outcome, it was a great win because BL enjoyed the game so much he told his family it was a "must have" for him. I always feel more successful introducing others to new games or genres, especially when they become enthusiastic enough to play when we get together or to buy their own copies.
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Brian M
United States
Grand Ledge
Michigan
Tasteless Brute
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Even the core Catan Card Game is great fun, but when you add in the expansions....gooodness. It's such a great game.
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