Carolus Magnus and The Settlers of Catan

My only final this term was due on Wednesday afternoon, and after I turned it in, I tried to arrange some plans for the evening (Ariele was grading finals for the chemistry class she is TA'ing). I sent Mike, Greg, and Paul an email to see what they were up to, and they invited me over for some pizza. On my way, I stopped by Beverages and More to take advantage of the sweet 12 bottles of Guiness for $9.99 deal, and by the time I arrived at the guys' place, three Domino's pizzas (one each of pepperoni, mushroom, and pineapple) were waiting on the coffee table. Seven hours, three pizzas, twenty-four beers, two margaritas, and a viewing of Jack-Jack Attack later, the four of us had gone through one (might I say "epic"?) game of Carolus Magnus and two games of The Settlers of Catan.

Mike wrote about Carolus Magnus in his blog a little while back, and I don't have anything to add to his review other than...what a game. The teams were Greg and I versus Paul and Mike, and Greg and I squeaked out a victory (as a result of a couple of fortunate decisions we could not have foreseen having the significance they had near the end). Having played once, though, there is plenty I would do differently the second time around. Needless to say, I'm anxious for round two.

The Settlers of Catan is a much different game with many more elements of economics than most other games I have played. The board is made up of nineteen or so hexagons, with each hexagon having a resource associated with it. There are five resources: wheat, brick, sheep, wood, and ore. The hexagons are placed face down at the beginning of the game, shuffled, and then randomly dealt to create a unique board for each play of the game. The placement of the various resources turns out to be quite vital in determining their relative worth. It was surprising to me how quickly each resource develops a value that is recognized by all the players. The more valuable resources usually draw two resources in return via trade. (Trading itself is a very economics-oriented aspect of the gameplay.)

I was able to win the first game in not-so-thrilling fashion, but Paul took a commanding lead in the second game and looked like he wasn't going to turn back. After a few rounds, it became clear Mike, Greg, and I had no chance of winning by ourselves, so we banded our resources to form a three-headed monster. Paul was not amused. Still, we barely eked out a victory. Paul had quite the moral victory, but that and a quarter leaves you ten cents shy of a phone call. Maybe next time Paul.