Trade a wood for a sheep?

My new favorite/least favorite game: Settlers of Catan.

Shawn received this game as a Christmas present. You need at least three people to play, so we cannot just play by ourselves. We played a lot of the holidays, and we played a TON in Colorado. The game is simplistic and strategic, always changing, interactive, and completely entertaining. One round takes about an hour. The goal is to attain 10 victory points. You get build settlements and cities and roads. You can trade or choose not to trade. You can rob your friends and block off their resources. Oh, so much fun!

But, I am horrible! Seriously, I won once the entire week! I would love to retire and never play again, but I can't give it up. On my life list, I need to add "Become an Ultimate Settler of Catan," which would entail winning much, much more frequently.

The thing is, the game depends on dice rolling, and the probability gods HATE me. I think. That's the best explanation I can come up with at this point. I mean seriously...I position myself on 6 and 8...11 and 3 are rolled. I go for 5 and 4...and the game is all about 9 and 10. Grrrrr.

If you haven't played, you should! As far as strategy goes, I recommend Sheep land (position yourself to only receive sheep and then trade it in at the sheep port). This tactic has worked against me more than I care to admit (Thanks, Clay!).