Gaming With Grandma - 80

Another Saturday morning gaming session with my mother (AKA Grandma) and seven year-old daughter (AKA Maddie). We only played one game today, one that is fast becoming a firm family favourite - The Settlers of Catan.

Grandma was orange, Maddie was red and I was white. I rolled highest so went first. After forgetting last time we played that your initial resource allocation was based on what three hexes were surrounding your second settlement, I made sure to put my second settlement next to wood and brick so that I could build a road on my first turn.

Maddie and Grandma were both buying development cards fairly early in the game. Although I haven't played many games of Settlers, I feel that the better strategy is to use those resources to build up your roads and settlements. Grandma quickly had the Largest Army but due to my road building I acquired the Longest Road.

Nearing the end of the game I was sitting on 9 points, Grandma was on 7 and Maddie was on 5. I knew my best bet was to start buying development cards to gain a building for 1 victory point. It didn't turn out that way as I kept getting Soldier cards. Interestingly, I ended up achieving victory by laying down four Soldier cards and taking the Largest Army card from Grandma.

Final scores were me 1st on 10 points (1 Settlement, 3 Cities, Largest Army and Longest Road), Maddie 2nd on 6 points (3 Settlements, 1 City and the Library), and Grandma 3rd on 5 points (4 Settlements and the Market).

Final board layout - Me white, Grandma orange and Maddie red