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Astra

2022-11-29T09:21:34-05:00

Vendor: Mindclash Games
Type: Board Games
Price: 34.95

Designer	Patrik Porkoláb Frigyes Schőberl Eszter Krisztina Sas
Publisher	Mindclash Games
Players	2-5
Playtime	40-90 mins
Suggested Age	10 and up
Additional Info	369270/astra http://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/369270/astra/forums/63

You and your fellow players are eager and curious astronomers, determined to explore and understand the constellations of the mysterious night sky. You are willing to assist each other and share your discoveries, but in the end, only one of you will become famous enough to be remembered throughout history.

Astra is a clever mix of tactics and strategy, with a streamlined and intuitive rule set that makes it easy to pick up and quick to play. A game of Astra consists of continuous player turns until a certain number of Constellation cards are taken, when, after an endgame scoring, the player with the most Fame points wins.

On your player turn, you may choose to either Observe or Rest.

The Observe action allows you to spend Stardust to discover stars on the Constellation cards using your dry erase marker. You may only mark stars in a straight continuous line, but you may spend Telescope tokens to start new observations. As soon as you mark the last star in a Constellation, you take the card from the Night Sky, granting you a powerful reusable ability for the rest of the game. But other players also benefit from the discovery: based on how many stars they marked, they may choose one of the card’s instant benefits (Boons) at the time it is discovered.

The Rest action allows you to not only refill your Stardust up to your capacity, but also to reactivate all of your card abilities that match the currently active Sphere. Your card abilities are very powerful and strategy-enabling, so a well-timed Rest action can give you a huge advantage.

—description from the publisher

Cerebria: The Inside World - Forces of Balance

2018-12-14T13:27:54-05:00

Vendor: Mindclash Games
Type: Board Games
Price: 48.95

Designer	Richard Amann Viktor Peter István Pócsi Frigyes Schőberl Nick Shaw Dávid Turczi
Publisher	Mindclash Games
Players	1-4
Playtime	60-120 mins
Suggested Age	14 and up
Expansion for	Cerebria: The Inside World

As Bliss and Gloom struggle for control of the Inside World, a new force enters the fray. Neither judge nor spectator, Balance is an active participant, striving to ensure that no side achieves dominance. Both Bliss and Gloom are important for the health of Cerebria, and Balance seeks a way for them to coexist in harmony.

The Forces of Balance expansion extends the world of Cerebria by adding a third side to the game with two new Spirits; unpredictable Intuition and wise Reason. The Balance game mode makes it possible for six players to play at once, and it also works for fewer numbers of players.

The Balance side has also some new mechanics. Their Emotions, the way they Invoke Emotions, gain Essence or Fortify are all uniquely tied to the playstyle of Balance.

Balance players have their own method to gather final scores during the game. They do not compete for the Common Aspiration. Instead, they have a Hidden Aspiration with two equivalent conditions. Just like Bliss and Gloom, Balance wins by having the most points at the end of the game from Identity Fragments and the Wheel of Intentions.

—description from the publisher

Cerebria: The Card Game

2018-08-16T16:06:33-04:00

Vendor: Mindclash Games
Type: Board Games
Price: 23.95

Designer	István Pócsi Frigyes Schőberl
Publisher	Mindclash Games
Players	2-5
Playtime	15-30 mins
Suggested Age	14 and up
Additional Info	236304/cerebria-card-game http://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/236304/cerebria-card-game/forums/63

Cerebria, the Card Game focuses on occasions when the landscape of your mind interacts with the world and other people. In this turn based card game the players build their Mindsets, filling it up with Bliss or Gloom Emotions. The outside world is represented by the Impulse, a dynamically changing pool of available Emotion cards. Whenever the Impulse is emptied of Emotions, each player’s Mindset is scored, granting Bliss or Gloom Identity Fragments. The goal of the game is to collect enough Fragments to fully develop the Identity.

The deck consists of 96 Emotion cards. Each Emotion can be played either into the Mindset or for its effect. Emotion effects can interact with other Mindsets, other players’ hands, the Impulse, or even other Emotion effects by cancelling them.

The game ends if one of the players manages to build a fully single-minded (Collecting 8 or more of one type of Fragment) or a balanced personality (Collecting 5 or more of both Fragment types).

—description from the publisher

Cerebria: The Inside World

2018-08-16T16:05:05-04:00

Vendor: Mindclash Games
Type: Board Games
Price: 67.95

Designers	Richard Amann Viktor Peter István Pócsi Frigyes Schőberl Nick Shaw Dávid Turczi
Publisher	Mindclash Games
Players	1-4
Playtime	60-120 mins
Suggested Age	14 and up
Expansion	Cerebria: The Inside World – Forces of Balance
Accessory	Laserox - Emotinsert (Compatible with Cerebria: The Inside World)
Honor	2018 Golden Geek Best Board Game Artwork & Presentation Nominee 2018 Cardboard Republic Striker Laurel Nominee
Additional Info	218479/cerebria-inside-world http://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/218479/cerebria-inside-world/forums/63

Origin is the infinite source of all that creates Cerebria, the Inside World. Yet nothing can exist forever unnamed and untamed, two opposing forces emerged in Cerebria: Bliss and Gloom, the Shapers, locked in eternal struggle to form the land to their own image. The agents of the Shapers are the Spirits, powerful entities who use the energies of Willpower, provided by Origin. The Spirits invoke Emotions inhabiting Cerebria in their service to gain power over the Five Realms: the Valley of Motives, the Willow of Values, the Network of Thoughts, the Cradle of Senses, and the Land of Desires.

By increasing their influence over the land, Bliss and Gloom build the Identity, leading it through stages of Revelations. Cerebria is in constant flux, only during a Revelation can the Spirits leave a permanent Fragment on the Identity, an unchangeable mark of Bliss or Gloom. Which side will dominate the Identity, who will establish final control over the Inside World?

Leave the Outside World behind, submerge into Cerebria and shape the future of the Inside World in a 2-4 player area-control team game Cerebria: The Inside World. Assume the role of Cerebria's Spirits associated with either Bliss or Gloom, and invoke Emotion cards with various intensities and abilities to occupy important areas on the main board.

The Spirits can perform multiple actions in their turns, such as moving around Cerebria’s Realms, invoking, empowering and quelling Emotions. The main source of their actions is Willpower, gained primarily from Origin’s Spheres during each Spirit’s Meditation, the other one is Fortitude, determining the number of actions they can take. The Spirits use Essence to sustain the Emotions and eventually upgrade some of them to their more powerful alternatives with new, potent abilities.

The aim of these actions is to build the Identity over the course of the game. The Identity consists of multiple Fragments, belonging to either Bliss or Gloom. These Fragments are added during events called Revelations, and represent the state of the Inside World at the time of that Revelation. These are key moments in the game: Cerebria’s state is in constant flux, but the Fragments are permanent imprints of a game state during a Revelation.

The game is won by the side with more influence over the fully grown Identity, thus becoming the dominant force in Cerebria.