The Griffin's Crier

Kick-ass game on Friday -- too bad we all had stuff to do on Saturday, because I really would have loved a re-match.

I think the third time was definitely the charm for that game; the first two we were really stumbling around too much to really get into the strategy involved; this time we had enough of a clue (well, except for the robber thing) to really start getting into the meet of the game.

I'd definitely like to play it again on Black Friday.

Definitely a fun night. I'm glad I gutted it out and attended.

This version of Catan may be the one that best lends itself to the, er, Blackrazor style of boardgame play...

erilar wrote:This version of Catan may be the one that best lends itself to the, er, Blackrazor style of boardgame play...

Heh -- yeah, I think that's about right. Nothing like almost the entire island getting sacked within the first few opening turns

I was reading through the almanac over lunch, and they've got a nasty little variant called Knight-Errant, in which its no longer assumed that everyone's knights will contribute to the defense of Catan. Instead, when the barbarians attack, each person declares how many of their knights will be helping.

Evil eh?

That's just perfect! Permanent house rule.

NukeHavoc wrote: Instead, when the barbarians attack, each person declares how many of their knights will be helping.

Oh ho ho! I agree with Lance. Permanent house rule!

So then if you contribute fewer knights to the defense, would they count when determining whose cities get sacked?

Ooo, yes! And how many you contribute should be secret and revealed simultaneously a-la Risk 2210! Sweet...

Ok, so lets hypothesise.

Bob - 2 knights, 3 points total
Ken - 2 knights, 4 points total
Lance - 3 knights, 5 points total
Damon - 3 knights, 5 points total
All knights are active.

Barbarian strength - 8

Bob puts in all 2 points
Ken only puts in 1 point
Lance puts in 3 points
Damon puts in 1 point

So in the above scenario, we do NOT beat the barbarians. Everyone contributed active knights to the defense. So does that mean that Ken and Damon get sacked even though they each have more active knights TOTAL than Bob (because the active knights did not participate in the defense)?

Or does Bob get sacked because he has the lowest # of active knights? (even though he contributed more active knights to the defense than Ken and Damon)?

My thought is the first option. You still calculate sacking by the # of active knights contributed to the defense.

EvilGenius wrote:Ok, so lets hypothesise.

My thought is the first option. You still calculate sacking by the # of active knights contributed to the defense.

HAS to be this way. Otherwise, the person with the most knights has an unfairly powerful advantage. Basically, holding back some knights might be fun, but you could end up screwing yourself. Should be cool!

I read up on the Progress Card rules this morning, and there were a few things we were doing wrong:

* Victory Point cards must be played immediately when drawn.

* You may never hold more than four progress cards in your hand. If you draw a fifth progress card and can not play it because it is not your turn, you must discard one (of your choice) to the bottom of the appropriate stack. (I don't think this would have come into play, but it's good to remember).

* Progress cards may be played on the same turn they are drawn.

The first and last bullets are the biggies. I don't think they had a huge impact on the game, but everyone one would have known that Bob had another victory point, and I'm sure we all had turns when we would have loved to have used a card we just drew.

In situations like last night, where we had upgrades that allowed us to draw progress cards pretty regularly, when we say it can be used on the same turn, if I drew FREX the "steal your knight" and it wasn't MY turn, could I still use it, or do I actually have to wait until my actual turn?

Damon.

Lars Porsenna wrote:In situations like last night, where we had upgrades that allowed us to draw progress cards pretty regularly, when we say it can be used on the same turn, if I drew FREX the "steal your knight" and it wasn't MY turn, could I still use it, or do I actually have to wait until my actual turn?

You have to use it on your turn.