Fixing My Catan Board

I almost backed the Settlers of Catan Board Kickstarter.  In the end I decided to wait for the board's retail release.  The economics of the kickstarter project seemed too optimistic, considering the amazon and kickstarter fees and shipping costs.

I finally bought a 6-player board from one of my favorite retailers, The Sentry Box in Calgary, while we were there visiting  friends.  The catan board is great, but it is a uniform blue color, where the interior hexes should be tan to match the resource tiles.

To fix this, I picked up some spray paint, taped the edges, laid down some spray paint, and ended up with the board, below.  The blank catan tile on the right was used for color matching, as we had a challenging time finding the right tan color to match the original catan tile components.

I think we did pretty good at matching the color, and now we've got a nice portable catan board for game nights.

Magic Realm: Day 28

We reach day 28, the final day of the Black Knight's adventures in the Magic Realm.  As day 28 is the end of a week, another kind of magic permeates the Realm.  This time, gold (fairie) magic is abundant.  As the Black Knight has no spell-casting abilities, the availability of gold magic is moot.

The Black Knight is still suffering from a curse laid upon him when he disturbed and looted the Mouldy Skeleton decomposing in the Troll's Vault.  The Black Knight must reach the Chapel by the end of the day if he wishes to have the curse removed and benefit from his accumulated Fame.

For day 28, we record a hide action (courtesy of our Cloak Of Mist), three move actions, and a trade action (to relieve ourselves of some unwanted treasures and acquire gold for them instead).

The prowling monster roll results in a 1:  Dragons. 

This is the end of a week, so not only does the monster roll determine which monsters are prowling, but it also determines which defeated monsters are returned to the game.  We killed the Tremendous Dragon protecting the Lair just under two weeks ago.  Because we rolled a 1 at the end of  a week, any monsters missing from that row are returned to the monster table.  Thus another Dragon appears to take the defeated Dragon's place (the Dragon circled in red, above).

Monsters and Denizens only ever appear and move on the Magic Realm map at the end of a player's turn, so the fact that a re-populated Dragon's Lair is in the Deep Woods, where we start day 28, is immaterial.

The Black Knight successfully hides, as we roll a 5 on his hide attempt.

He uses his three move actions to travel to the Chapel and uses his trade action to sell the gold helmet, jade shield, axe and regular helmet to the Order for 59 gold.  That leaves the Black Knight with 122 gold, well in excess of the 30 needed to fulfil his gold victory condition.

The Black Knight elected not to sell his other owned items and treasures, including the Cloak Of Mist, Gloves of Strength, Warhorse, and Lucky Charm.

He also kept a couple of extra weapons (the broadsword and Morningstar), the potions (Gripping Dust and Penetrating Grease), and the Dragonfang Necklace (the red dot on that treasure signifies a "Great Treasure" which is worth bonus victory points).

Most Magic Realm players will sell all of their treasure and equipment on day 28, if they end the day in a safe building (where the Denizens are friendly to the character).  We could have done the same here, as we merely need to spend 4 gold buying drinks for the Order to ensure their temporary friendship.  But unless I absolutely need more gold to win the game, I usually hold on to my special items, the ones that helped in my success. 

At the end of the day, we roll on the meeting table to see how the Order reacts to the presence of the Black Knight.  With a roll of 1, the Order is thrilled to have him at the Chapel.  The Order overlooks the Black Knight's curse, as they are still grateful for his recovery and return of the Sacred Statue.  The curse is lifted at midnight, and the game ends.

The Black Knight concludes his foray into the Magic Realm, having collected 1/0 Great Treasures (the Dragonfang Necklace), 67/10 Fame, 143/60 Notoriety (123 notoriety for his kills, plus 20 notoriety for the retained treasures), and 82/30 Gold (he possessed 122 gold, but his starting equipment was worth 40 gold, the value of which is deducted from his final score).

The Black Knight ends the game, having fulfilled his pre-selected victory conditions of 10 fame, 60 notoriety and 30 gold.  He in fact collected the equivalent of 16, rather than 5, victory points.  All in all a pretty decent game result.

Magic Realm: Day 27

Only two days remain in our Magic Realm game.  The Black Knight has enjoyed a great deal of success during his forays in the Realm, finishing off and looting the Guards and the Patrol, trading with the Order, and looting the Dragon's Lair and Troll Vault.

He also recovered powerful treasures, defeated dangerous Monsters, suffered powerful curses, and satisfied his pre-selected victory conditions.

The Black Knight spent yesterday, and will spend the remaining two days in the Magic Realm heading towards the Chapel to have a Disgust curse removed (that curse prevents the Black Knight from benefiting from his accumulated Fame).

During day 27, the Black Knight will keep traveling towards the Chapel.  He will stop at the Enchanted Meadow along the way, briefly searching for the Truesteel Sword, the most powerful weapon in the Magic Realm. 

The Black Knight will need a search roll of 2 to discover the Truesteel sword: a 1 provides the magic pony, a 3 provides a wish, a 4 heals all of his fatigue and wounds, a 5 is a curse, and a 6 is no result.  Prior to recovering the Lucky Charm, searching at the site of the Enchanted Meadow would have been largely futile.  With the Lucky Charm, it is a far more profitable venture.

For day 27, the Black Knight records two moves, a search, another move, and a hide (courtesy of the Cloak Of Mist).

The monster roll for day 27 is a 5: Spiders.  The Black Knight can easily dispatch the Large Spider that will appear at the end of the day, using his original weapon, the Mace.

During the day, Black Knight moves twice, to the Enchanted Meadow, and performs a search, obtaining a result of 4, healing all wounds and fatigue. 

Therefore, all of the Black Knight's fatigued chits are instantly restored to active status, and he is once again hale and hearty.

The Black Knight moves again, and, with a hide roll of 2, is successfully hidden.  We could have used that roll of 2 at the Enchanted Meadow, as it would have provided us with the Truesteel Sword.

At the end of day 27, a Large Spider appears.  The Black Knight has no difficulty killing a single Large Spider, as long as he attacks from hiding, which he is doing. 

During yesterday's combat with the Giant, the Black Knight employed the Axe to good effect (as he should when facing the Giant).  Now, while hidden, the Black Knight activates his Mace, and stows the Axe.  He activates the Mace when fighting the Spider, because on the Mace's alerted side, it has a speed of 3, which undercuts the Spider's move speed of 4 (should it flip to it's deadlier attack).  And the Black Knight can play a slow, heavy chit with the alerted Mace in round 2 and still benefit from the Mace's speedy attack.

During the first combat round, the Black Knight's surprise attack misses, as he plays a slower FIGHT H6 chit with the unalerted Mace, and does not line up with the Spider's maneuver.  Because the Black Knight attacked the Spider while hidden, the Spider did not have the opportunity to counter-attack the Black Knight this round.  Since the Black Knight missed during round 1, his Mace is automatically alerted during round 2, so he can now take advantage of that speedier Mace attack.

The Black Knight vanquishes the Spider during combat round 2.  The Black Knight's Mace attack speed of 3 undercuts the Spider's move speed of 4.  Because the Black Knight wanted to finish off the Spider, he used his FIGHT H4** chit this round, which results in one point of fatigue, but also ensured that if the Black Knight missed, at least one more round of combat would be fought (combat ends after two successive rounds where no one is killed, wounded or fatigued).

As a result of that combat, the Black Knight is awarded another 3 Fame and 3 Notoriety for vanquishing the Large Spider.  That increases his total victory points to 67/10 Fame, 123/60 Notoriety, and 63/30 Gold.

Magic Realm: Day 26

The Black Knight's plan for the final week in the Magic Realm included visiting the Inn, to finish off the Rogues.  Yesterday's events are forcing him to revise those plans.

The most momentous of yesterday's events was the Black Knight's discovery of the Mouldy Skeleton in the Troll's Vault.  The Mouldy Skeleton treasure is accompanied by a curse.  In the Black Knight's case, he was cursed with Disgust, making his accumulated Fame worthless.  Since the Black Knight needs his Fame to win the game, and the only location that allows the curse to be reversed is the Chapel, he must travel there.

Therefore, the Black Knight's new destination is the Chapel.  There are only 3 days left before the end of the month and the game, and it will take the better part of 3 days to reach the Chapel.

The Black Knight suffered four points of fatigue during the previous two days of combat, with the Heavy Snakes, and then the Troll and Giant.  There is no time to recover that fatigue, if he wants to have the Disgust curse removed before the game ends.

The Black Knight has recovered a significant amount of treasure during his adventures in the Magic Realm, including the Cloak Of Mist, the Gloves Of Strength, and the Lucky Charm.  He is also in possession of several other treasures.  We have two extra actions, in addition to the ones needed to travel to the Chapel, so one of those two actions will be a trade action, to sell those extra treasures to the Order.

At the start of day 26, the Black Knight records four move actions, and an extra hide action, courtesy of the Cloak Of Mist.

The prowling monster roll for day 26 is a 4, so Giants and Trolls are active.

The Black Knight uses his four move actions to move to Deep Woods clearing 4, and attempts to hide.  With a hide roll of 4, the Black Knight's hide attempt is successful.

A Giant appears at the end of the day.  I had forgotten that the Stink M chit attracts both Spiders and Giants!  Fortunately, the Black Knight is hidden at the end of the day, so he will have little difficulty finishing the Giant.

During combat round 1, the Black Knight switch weapons, activating the Axe and stowing his Morningstar.

He's doing this to demonstrate that the Black Knight can use the lowly axe to defeat the Giant (his original weapon, the Mace, is ineffective against Giants, which is why defeating the Guards and obtaining an axe or sword from their loot is so critical to the Black Knight's strategy).

As the Black Knight is still hidden, he waits until combat round 2, and then alerts the Axe.

Playing his FIGHT H4** action in conjunction with the alerted Axe, the Black Knight kills the Giant.  The Axe does medium damage, with a "sharpness star" that increases its damage against unarmoured opponents by one harm level, and the heavy fight chit increases it one more level.  Therefore, the Axe does Tremendous damage, sufficient to kill the Giant.  The Black Knight's speed 4 attack undercuts the speed 5 dodge attempt of the Giant.  And the Black Knight's speed 4 attack strikes before the speed 5 and 6 attacks of the Giant, so we kill the Giant before its' attacks have a chance to connect.

Because the FIGHT H4** action is very fatiguing, the Black Knight suffers another point of fatigue.

As a result of that combat, we add another 8 Fame and 8 Notoriety to our accumulated victory points, leaving us with 64/10 Fame (once the curse is removed), 120/60 Notoriety, and 63/30 Gold at the end of day 26.

Magic Realm: Day 25

Today is day 25 in the Magic Realm, and there are only four days remaining until the end of the game.  The Black Knight is currently unhidden in the middle of the Cliff, with a swarm of monster and treasure sites surrounding him.

I know I said earlier that, with the Black Knight's equipment and treasure, he is well-nigh invulnerable.  That is not entirely true:  if too many tremendous monsters arrive at the same time, the Black Knight could still suffer an untimely death.  The Lost Castle is a dangerous place, even for a character as well-equipped as the Black Knight now is.

Yesterday, the Black Knight recovered the Lucky Charm.  That treasure allows the Black Knight to roll one die, instead of two, for such actions as hiding and searching.  That improves his chances of hiding from 70% to 84%, and chances of obtaining the first treasure at a site from 3% to 16%.  The Lucky Charm is another game-changing treasure that you seldom find in the Magic Realm, but makes a huge difference in your chances of succeeding.

Our plan for day 25 is to hide and loot the Vault.  With the Lucky Charm in our possession, we should have a better time of recovering any treasures at the Vault.  Thereafter, we will travel to the Inn and finish off the Rogues.

For day 25, we record one hide action (using our Cloak Of Mist), and four search actions.

The prowling monster roll is a 4.  That means Trolls and Giants are prowling today.  Not a good result for the Black Knight.

The Black Knight is currently at the Vault of the Tremendous Troll, so the Tremendous Troll will arrive at the end of the day.  To complicate matters, a Giant will also arrive.  From hiding, the Black Knight can easily dispatch one of those Monsters.  The second will be more challenging.  Good thing we recorded a hide action this turn!

Our hide roll is a 6.  We fail to hide.  Okay, now we're in really deep crap.  It would be a challenge to finish off both the Troll and a Giant when we begin combat hidden.  Unhidden, the Troll or Giant will both attack in combat round 1, virtually assured of hitting the Black Knight, as the Troll gets one attack and the Giant, two, and there are only three avoiding maneuvers available to the Black Knight.

There are four treasures left at the Vault.  The Black Knight's first search roll nets us a 4.  We discover the Mouldy Skeleton.  The Mouldy Skeleton is a cursed treasure: the skeleton wears a gold helmet, silver breastplate and jade shield (which are added to the treasure pile) and when the skeleton is discovered, the discovering player rolls to see what curse his character is inflicted with.  We roll a 6, and the Black Knight is cursed with Disgust, which makes his accumulated Fame points worthless.  We need those Fame points to win the game.  We will have to travel to the Chapel before the end of the month, since that is the only location where curses can be removed.

There are now 6 treasures remaining in the Vault, since the gold helmet, silver breastplate and jade shield have been added to the Vault's treasures.  Our next search roll is a 1, and we recover the gold helmet.

The gold helmet is heavy armor, compared to normal helmets, which act as medium armor.

The Black Knight's next search roll is a 6.  Since there are only five treasures remaining, he recovers nothing.  His last search roll is a 2, and he recovers the jade shield.

We end the day, unhidden at the Vault.

As I mentioned earlier, both a tremendous Troll and a giant appear during the combat round at the end of the day.  Both monsters are deadly.  If the Troll makes a successful attack in combat round 1, he will automatically rend us apart in round 2.  In comparison, the Giant gets two attacks per round, one as he tries to stomp us underfoot, and the second as he swings his mighty club.  But because the Troll will rend us apart next round if he strikes us this round, he will be our first target.

The Troll has an attack speed of 4.  As a result, we can't use our Warhorse during combat round 1, since the Warhorses fastest move speed is 5, and the Troll will automatically hit us unless our move speed is 4 or less.  Therefore, we must use our MOVE H4**.  That means we must play a slower attack.

At the end of combat round 1, we get extremely lucky and kill the Troll.  The Troll lines up with our maneuver, and therefore should have grabbed us, but, as you may remember, during combat round 1, weapon length determines who strikes first.  The Troll, with his claws (weapon length of 0) hits after the Black Knight, with his Morningstar (weapon length of 6). 

The Giant misses us during combat round 1, as his attacks do not line up with our move, and his attack speeds are slower than our move speed.  



During combat round 2, we use our H4** chit to alert our Morningstar.  We can use our Warhorse to maneuver, as the Giant's attack speed, and the Warhorse's maneuver speed are both 5.  The Giant will be unable to undercut our move.

With an attack speed of 3, the Black Knight undercuts the Giant's move speed of 5, killing the Giant.

We got very lucky with those two rounds of combat.  We could have just as easily been hit by the Giant during round 1, destroying our Armor and resulting in our death in round 2.

As a result of those two rounds of combat, the Black Knight suffers another two points of fatigue.  As a result of the Monster kills, the Black Knight collects another 24 Fame and 24 Notoriety (8 for the Troll, and 2x8 for the Giant).  The curse that we suffered makes our Fame worthless, but once that curse is lifted, we will have 56/10 Fame, 112/60 Notoriety and 63/30 Gold.

Magic Realm: Day 24

We're on the home-stretch, folks.  It's day 24 in the Magic Realm, and the Black Knight has five more days before the end of the game.  The Black Knight has satisfied all of his victory conditions, as he has 20/10 fame, 76/60 notoriety and 63/30 gold.  Any additional treasure, fame, notoriety or gold will simply go to improving his final score.

In the past couple of days, the Black Knight has recovered the Gloves of Strength from the Dragon's Lair, a treasure that, in conjunction with his recently purchased Morningstar and Warhorse, makes him all but invincible.  The only monsters that pose a serious threat to him are the Octopus and the Winged Demon.

The Black Knight is currently hiding in the Deep Woods.  His plan is to visit the Cliffs, to the Northwest, and then backtrack to the Inn, where the Rogues are waiting to be routed.  If there is time after eliminating the Rogues at the Inn, the Black Knight will continue North, to the Ledges, to uncover any monsters or treasures there.

Here's the Black Knights list of actions for day 24.  He will use one action to hide (courtesy of the Cloak Of Mist), two actions to move to clearing 3 of the Cliffs, and then will search twice.  He will search in clearing 3, because there is a secret passage between clearings 3 and 6, so he will be looking for both that passage and any treasure locations.  We will not stop in clearing 2, as the only potential treasure location to be found there is the Statue, with only 2 treasures, which is a poor treasure location indeed.

The prowling monster roll for day 24 is a 2: snakes and demons. 

The winged demon is one of the few foes that is still a threat to us.  Hopefully the Black Knight's hide action is successful, or we don't encounter the demons. 

During the Black Knight's hide action, a 1 and 5 are rolled, so his hide is successful.  He moves twice to clearing 3 and performs two search actions. 

His first search roll results in double ones, and finds the Vault of the Troll.

In addition to discovering the Vault, the Black Knight also discovers clues as to the other monsters and treasure locations in the Cliff.  The Cliff is the site of the Lost Castle.  In Magic Realm, there are two sites that contain an abundance of monsters and treasure: one is the Lost Castle, found in one of the mountain tiles, and the other is the Lost City, found in the cave tiles.

Based on the clues above, we are able to tell that the Lost Castle is overrun with bats, dragons, snakes, and giants, along with the Vault of the Troll, the Pool of the Octopus, and the Statue guarded by a mischievous Imp.  Since our prowling monster roll was snakes, we can expect snakes to arrive and battle us at the end of the day.  As you can appreciate, the Lost Castle and Lost City are both dangerous and rewarding locations.  The Pool is in clearing 6, and the Octopus does not appear unless the prowling monster roll is a 3, so we are safe from his attack for the moment.

The Vault of the Troll is impossible to open, unless your character has tremendous strength.

Fortunately, our Gloves of Strength give us tremendous strength and thereby permit us to open and loot the Vault.  Our second search, for treasure in the Vault nets us a roll of 1 and 3, and we recover the Lucky Charm.

The Lucky Charm is another absolutely fantastic treasure.  Normally, we must roll two dice when performing an action, using the higher of the two rolls.  The Lucky Charm permits us to roll only one die instead of two, vastly improving our chances of performing various actions.

At the end of the day, all of the monster and treasure locations in the Cliffs are revealed.  As you can see, we are surrounded by monster and treasure locations.  Two Heavy Snakes also appear to battle us.

Heavy Snakes are a tough opponent.  Their attack speed is a four, on their less dangerous side, which is fast enough, but their move speed is three, even faster.  Since the Black Knight's fastest attack is speed 3, he cannot undercut the move 3 of the Heavy Snake. 

Under normal circumstances, the Black Knight should absolutely avoid the snakes if possible.  However, his Warhorse is invulnerable to the attacks of the Heavy Snakes, since monsters need to deal tremendous damage to kill the Warhorse, so the Black Knight will be able to defeat the snakes, although it will take him several rounds to do so.

During combat round 1, the Black Knight alerts his Morningstar and attacks the Snakes from hiding.  He misses the snake, and the snake does not attack him since it was surprised.

During combat round 2, the Black Knight targets one of the snakes, but it slithers out of range before he can strike it, while the second snake lines up with the Black Knight's move, flipping over to its more deadly H5 attack.  The second snake's fangs connect, but fail to penetrate the armor of the Black Knight's Warhorse, so the Warhorse is unharmed.  The Black Knight used a fatiguing attack during round 2, so he suffers a single point of fatigue.

During combat round 3, the Black Knight targets the second, slower and deadlier snake.  He connects with the snake, as the Black Knight's attack speed of 3 is faster than the snakes move speed of 4.  The first snake's attack misses.

Since we killed one of the two snakes during combat round 3, our Morningstar becomes unalerted and is flipped over to its slower, speed 6 side.  During round 4, we target the first snake, which has flipped over to its heavy attack side.  The Black Knight misses the snake, and the snake misses the Black Knight.

Finally, during combat round 5, the Black Knight finishes off the other snake.  The snake flips to his faster attack, so the Black can't undercut him, but the Black Knight's attack lines up with the snake's move, so the Black Knight finishes him off.  The Black Knight once again used a fatiguing attack, so suffers another point of fatigue.

After five rounds of combat, the Black Knight (astride his Warhorse) finishes off the two Heavy Snakes, collecting 12 fame and 12 notoriety in the process (4 for the first snake, and 2x4 for the second snake).

He now has 32/10 Fame, 88/60 Notoriety and 63/30 Gold.



Magic Realm: Day 23

There are six days remaining before the end of the month, and the game.  The Black Knight has uncovered four of the seven treasures in the Dragon's Lair, including the Enchanted Meadow.  There are three remaining treasures in the Lair, too few to spend any more time looting there.  Therefore the Black Knight needs to travel elsewhere to seek additional treasure and opponents.

The Black Knight has seven options.  He could travel to the Ruins.  That location is immediate, but is somewhat distant from the Inn, where the Rogues are waiting to be routed.  The Cliff is closer to the Inn, and also gives him access to the tunnels under the High Pass.  The Ledges are just beyond the Inn, and could be the Black Knight's destination after he eliminates the Rogues.  The Borderland has yet to be explored, but visiting there may preclude a visit to the Inn.  And the Chapel is distant  as well, although the Black Knight could take out the Order and the visiting Lancers while he is there.

Given the options before him, the Black Knight decides to visit the Cliff, then the Inn, and if he has time, travel beyond, to the Ledges.

We record a hide action, and four move actions for day 23.

At the start of the day, we make our prowling monster roll, obtaining a 2.  That means that snakes and demons are prowling today.  Only Dragons and spiders reside in the Deep Woods, so we are safe today.

With rolls of double ones, the Black Knight's hide attempt is successful.  He moves four times, ending the day just at the border with the Cliff and the Evil Valley.  No monsters appear, and the Black Knight ends the day.

Magic Realm: Day 22

The Black Knight begins his final week in the Magic Realm having already met all of his victory conditions.  He has 20/10 fame, 76/60 notoriety, and 63/30 gold.  During his final week, the Black Knight's goal is to collect as much additional fame, notoriety, gold and treasure as possible.  He wants to avoid the Octopus and the Winged Demon, the only two Monsters that pose a threat to him.

Yesterday, day 21, the Black Knight recovered the Gloves of Strength from the Dragon's Lair, a treasure that permits him to deal tremendous damage with the Morningstar he purchased from the Order. 

Yesterday, with the Gloves and Morningstar, he killed the Tremendous Dragon making the Lair it's home.  He has now recovered three of the seven treasures there.

The Black Knight will spend one more day looting the Lair, which still contains four treasures.  After that, he will seek out some additional opponents and treasure sites.

For day 22, we record a hide action and four search actions.

Today's prowling monster roll is a 1, which means Dragons are on the move.  The Dragon that appears in the Deep Woods has already been dispatched, so no other Dragons will appear today.

For his first action, the Black Knight attempts to hide, rolling a 2 and 5.  His hide action is successful.

The Black Knight attempts to loot the Dragon's Lair.  His first loot roll is a 5 and 6: with only four treasures remaining, he collects nothing.  His second loot roll is a 2 and 6, so he collects nothing. 

The third loot roll is double ones.  The Black Knight locates the Enchanted Meadow! 

The Enchanted Meadow is the site of a magical pony, and the Truesteel sword (the best weapon in the game). 

The are both very difficult to obtain:  since we must roll two dice, taking the higher of the two, during each search action, there's a 3% chance of recovering the pony, and an 8% chance of obtaining the Truesteel sword.  In comparison, there is a 30% chance we will obtain nothing, and 25% chance of being cursed.

Since we have located the Enchanted Meadow, we can either use our last search to keep looting the Dragon's Lair, or we can try looting the Enchanted Meadow.  Considering our chances of getting cursed (25%), versus obtaining either the pony or Truesteel Sword (11%), we will make one more search attempt at the Dragon's Lair.

Our last search roll results in 4 and 5.  Again, since there are now only 3 treasures left, we obtain nothing.

No Monsters appear at the end of the day.