Gather Your Coven, Duel as Witch and Witch Hunter, and Add Mythological Creatures to Nidavellir

Gather Your Coven, Duel as Witch and Witch Hunter, and Add Mythological Creatures to Nidavellir
• In May 2022, Mindclash Games announced Septima, an upcoming, competitive witchcraft game from designer Robin Hegedűs, which is coming to Kickstarter on June 16, 2022. In Septima, 1-4 players compete to impress the High Witch, building their covens, healing townsfolk, and more, in hopes to become her successor.

Board Game: Septima

Septima is Mindclash's most accessible game to date and clocks in at 50–100 minutes. Based on the publisher's description below, Mindclash Games continues to stay true to its roots producing unique, highly thematic games:
Quote:
Only in a few corners of the world is the memory of magic still alive, even though a few centuries ago its healing power permeated everything. Witches, its last remaining practitioners, have always been outcasts and could help human society only in strict secrecy. The leader of their people, the Septima, has always been the wisest, most knowledgeable witch. Now, as her time is coming to an end, witches from all over the world gather at Noctenburg to leave their mark on the hostile town and prove to the Septima that they are her worthy successor.

Board Game: Septima
The first official prototype of Septima posted by the publisher

Septima is a competitive, highly interactive strategy game of witchcraft. As the leader of your coven, you must prove your worth in the town of Noctenburg to become the successor of Septima, the High Witch. Practice your craft and gain wisdom by collecting herbs, brewing potions, healing the townsfolk, mastering charms and rescuing your fellow brothers and sisters from the trials. But beware: magic, even if used for good, invokes suspicion in the townsfolk...

Simultaneous action selection with positive player interaction: Septima’s central mechanism revolves around the simultaneous, secret selection of one of nine Action cards each turn: Move, Collect, Brew, Heal, Recruit, Plea, Chant, Rite and Remember. Each Action gets a powerful bonus if it is chosen by multiple players, but performing them together also raises suspicion in the townsfolk and attracts the attention of the Witch Hunters. Decisions of when to do a shared action (and who to do it with) adds a fresh, semi-cooperative touch to a competitive game, and lots of player interaction.

Rescue witches to build your Coven: Heal, enthrall or convince the townsfolk and amass enough support to sway the periodic Witch Trials in your favor. If the hostile witnesses are outvoted, the convicted witch is absolved and joins the coven that rescued them. You start small but you can grow your coven to up to four witches this way, each with their own personality and special ability to help your cause. Reckless Witches caught by Witch Hunters are also put to trial, so with enough support from the townsfolk, even witches from other, less careful players’ coven can end up in yours.

Accessible, intuitive and familiar: Septima is Mindclash Games’ most accessible title to date, with beautiful, hand-drawn art style by Villő Farkas and with the character art of Barbara Bernát, wooden components and intuitive, theme-inspired mechanisms. It is very quick to teach and set up, and takes less than 2 hours to play, even with four players.
Pagan: Fate of Roanoke is a 2-player, asymmetrical, expandable deduction card game from designers Kasper Kjær Christiansen and Kåre Storgaard, and German publisher Wyrmgold GmbH, with a French edition published by Super Meeple. Pagan: Fate of Roanoke was successfully funded on Kickstarter in March 2021 and is now available directly from the publisher, and appears to be making it's way to some U.S. retailers too.

In Pagan: Fate of Roanoke players duel for the fate of Roanoke as a witch and a witch hunter, competing to complete their individual objectives. From what I've read, Pagan has a hint of Netrunner influence, which makes me even more excited to try it. Here's an overview of how it works from the publisher:
Quote:
Pagan: Fate of Roanoke from Kasper Kjær Christiansen and Kåre Werner Storgaard is a deduction expandable card game set in colonial America of 1587. The essence of the asymmetrical game is the witch's struggle against the witch hunter. As the witch strives to complete a ritual, the hunter tries to track her down and find out her true identity. Both players access variable card decks with 50 cards each and use different resources to defeat the other side. Many tactics and strategies are possible and necessary to survive in this fight between the two powers. Embedded in the dark graphics of illustrator Maren Gutt the fictional story of the lost colony of Roanoke comes to life.

Board Game: Pagan: Fate of Roanoke

Pagan is an asymmetrical card game for 2 players taking on the roles of witch or witch hunter. The witch tries to carry out a ritual of renaturation before being exposed by the witch hunter and terminated. Nine villagers are under suspicion and only the Witch player knows who is the real witch. Each turn the two players use their action pawns on active villagers to draw cards, play cards, and gain influence. Moreover, the witch can brew powerful potions, improve their familiar, and cast enchantments and charms, while the witch hunter enlists allies, claim strategic locations, and ruthlessly investigates the villagers.

In Pagan, two players compete to be the first to complete their individual objective. As the Witch, your objective is to collect enough secrets to perform a ritual so potent, that the entire region will fall under your spell and Mother Nature will reclaim the Island. As the Hunter, you gather all the allies and support you can muster, to bring the Witch to justice before its fatal ritual comes to fruition.
Board Game: Nidavellir
Board Game: Nidavellir: Thingvellir
Idavoll is an upcoming expansion for Serge Laget's 2020 release Nidavellir, which masterfully blends bidding, set collection, and dwarfs into a crowd-pleasing game. French publisher GRRRE Games is targeted to release a French edition of this expansion in Q4 2022.

Here's a quick breakdown of the new additions you can expect in Idavoll, the second expansion for Nidavellir, which plays with 2-5 players in 45 minutes:
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During the 3 first rounds of the Age 1, the second tavern offers Mythical Animals, Aesir, Valkyries, and Giants, which adds an additional round to the game. Each new type of card also adds never-before-seen effects.

Gods: When you recruit a God, put the card in your Command Zone with 1 Power token on it. Discard this token to use the God's power.

Board Game: Nidavellir: Idavoll

Giants: When you recruit a Giant, put the card in your Command Zone and place 1 Capture token at the bottom of the column of the matching class. Each Giant lets you capture a Dwarf of the matching class.

Valkyries: When you recruit a Valkyrie, put the card in your Command Zone with 1 Strength token on the highest notch. Whenever you meet one of the Valkyrie's requirements, move the token down a notch. At the end of the game, earn victory points depending on the position of the token.

Mythical Animals: When you recruit a Mythical Animal, place it in your army in the matching class. Each animal has its own unique ability.
• In one of Eric's Gen Con 2021 round-up posts, he mentioned Gordon Alford's co-operative, story-driven, exploration game, Lost Ones from Greenbrier Games, which was Kickstarted in November 2020 and is now available at retailers.

Lost Ones is centered around map tile exploration with story encounters and plays with 1-4 players in 45–90 minutes. Check out the otherworldly experience you can expect in Lost Ones based on the publisher's overview below:
Quote:
Lost Ones is a “Choose Your Own Path” story utilizing map tile exploration. Each player takes on the role of a Lost One, a kidnapped youth taken to the Otherworld, home of the Fae. Thankfully, a conflict between warring Fae factions has created enough distraction for the Lost Ones to escape. Now you must explore this magical realm of dreams and nightmares and hopefully discover a way home while the remaining Fae hunt you down.

Each player takes between 1 and 3 actions in a round. Once a player completes their action, any player who hasn’t taken their turn can take their actions. Repeat taking rounds until the game ends.

Each player has access to these actions.

• Explore a new area by placing a map tile, moving there, and reading the introduction of an encounter in the Story Book
• Perform an action in a story encounter
• Move to an adjacent map tile that has already been placed
• Activate Boon cards

Board Game: Lost Ones

When investigating a map tile, you experience a story encounter and usually make decisions that will impact the rest of the game. These encounters often require you to use Ability cards from your hand. Success could mean learning more valuable information, overcoming obstacles, or even gaining Boon cards that grant magical powers and mythical relics. However, exploring this realm of dreams may result in experiencing a terrifying Bane, which will hinder progress and potentially lead to the character’s doom. You may also find a new phase of the moon and the passage of time…

You must find and open a magical Gateway to escape before another New Moon, having an empty hand, or being caught by the Fae. Careful use of resources, piecing together clues, and acquiring special Boon cards are crucial to winning the game. Based on the choices made by the player, there are also a dozen different story endings with their own epilogues.

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