Home » Short backgammon » Impressions from Clash of Cultures. Description of the game “Clash of Cultures Board game cult rules

Impressions from Clash of Cultures. Description of the game “Clash of Cultures Board game cult rules

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1 Rules of the board game “Cult” Game by Konstantin Seleznev Publisher: Igology Producer Timofey Bokarev Artist Anton Kvasovarov Designer Andrey Shestakov game for 2 5 participants from 12 years old Make a wise choice who will become your god! After all, many dark and powerful entities lie dormant in the souls of people. You need to have time to summon your ruler and help him gain strength before his rivals. This is no time to sleep: recruit followers, perform dark rituals, bribe the authorities or raise an angry crowd to revolt. In the board game Cult, you send your faithful priests to key locations in the Eternal City. They will have to fight for influence, followers and any other means to get your god the bodies and souls of the whole world. Components 1 game board The game board depicts a city with 13 quarters, on which players will place priest tokens in order to convince the inhabitants of this quarter to provide the service the player needs. 75 Priest tokens, 15 each of red, yellow, green, blue and gray Priests have a level from 1 to 5, which determines their ability to persuade. In total, the player has access to 3 copies of the priest of each level. The flipped priest token is an altar token. The level of all altars is 4. 5 figurines of the Patriarchs in red, yellow, green, blue and black. The Patriarch is the head of the cult, a priest whose level is equal to the number of followers of the cult and who cannot be destroyed. 35 meeples of followers, 7 meeples each of red, yellow, green, blue and black. The more followers, the stronger the cult. The city does not really like the dark gods; followers allow the priests to penetrate into richer and more guarded neighborhoods. At the start of the game, all players have

2 x 2 followers, the maximum number of followers a cult can have is equal to fanatic crowd tokens. Fanatic crowds are the fearless army of the dark god. Four such crowds are enough for the cult to completely take over the entire city. 30 Wonder Cards Wonder cards allow you to temporarily increase the persuasion power of priests, move them, build altars, gain followers, money and crowds of fanatics. The action of wonder cards is aimed at objects owned by the player. The played miracle card is returned to the bottom of the deck. 30 license cards License cards can be purchased for money or for free in the Palace quarter. Each of the cards provides the owner with a permanent unique gaming opportunity, and also increases the level of his Patriarch. 30 conspiracy cards Conspiracy cards allow you to steal cards, money, destroy priests, followers, crowds of fanatics and altars. The action of conspiracy cards is aimed at objects belonging to the player’s opponents. The conspiracy card can be exchanged for money by handing over the conspirators to the authorities. The played and sold conspiracy card is returned to the bottom of the deck. 1 Greatness card The Greatness card is acquired by the player whose priests win the last public debate. The owner of the card receives +7 to the level of his Patriarch for the entire time he owns the card. On his next turn, he can exchange this card for one of the abilities it provides. 100 coins Money is used to pay for various game operations. 8 Cult Shields (Overlord Shields) The Cult Shield contains the dark god's name, image, and the abilities he bestows on his faithful servants. The shield has two sides, light and dark; at the beginning of the game, all cult shields lie with the light side up. Preparing to play 1. Place the playing field in the center of the table. 2. Shuffle the Wonder deck thoroughly and place it in District 1 (Wasteland).

3 3. Shuffle the Conspiracy deck thoroughly and place it in District 11 (Noble Quarter). 4. Thoroughly shuffle the License deck, deal three cards and place them in three slots in District 10 (Palace), placing the deck in the fourth slot.

4 5. Each player chooses the color he will play with and receives a Patriarch miniature of his color, as well as three priest tokens of levels 1, 2 and 3 of his color. 6. Give each player one Cult Shield, randomly or at their choice. 7. Place 2 followers of his color and 5 coins on each player’s cult shield. Definition of the first player Each of the dark cults has mystical power, the value of which is indicated in the upper right corner of the shield. The right to make the first move belongs to the player whose mystical power is maximum. In each of the following moves, the first player will be the one who won in the highest quarter. (see action phase) Progress of the game, victory conditions. The game consists of a series of rounds, each of which has two phases. During the decision phase, players choose the districts they want to use and place their free priests in them. During the Event Phase, players determine the winner of each quarter and use the actions and services that are available to them. The player’s task is to fulfill one of three victory conditions by the end of the round: 1) Build 5 altars 2) Recruit 4 crowds of fanatics 3) Perform the Summoning Ritual 2 times. The game ends if, after the end of the round, one of the players has fulfilled any of the victory conditions. He becomes the winner, and his Master gains power over the whole world. If at the end of the round the victory condition is met by more than one player, the winner of the game is the one with the greater mystical power of the cult. Decision phase. To gain support in the quarter, the cult sends priests there who convince the residents to do him a favor. Each priest increases influence

5 cults per quarter equal to your level. To receive the service, the player must ensure that his influence in the quarter is greater than that of any of his opponents. The accessibility of neighborhoods to penetration by priests of a dark cult is determined by the number of followers that the player’s cult has. Quarter name number of followers 1 Wasteland 2 Thieves' Quarter 0 or more 3 Slums 4 Forum 5 Temple Quarter 1 or more 6 Trade Quarter 7 Crafts Quarter 8 Academy 3 or more 9 Port Quarter 10 Palace 11 Noble Quarter 12 Guard Barracks 13 Rift 5 or more 7 At the beginning of the game, players have access to the 1st to 6th quarters (each cult has 2 followers). The following quarters, from the 7th to the 13th, will become available as the cult gains new followers. Priests are placed one at a time, in turn order. At the beginning of the decision phase, the player who goes first must place one of his free priests (the Patriarch and three level 1, 2, and 3 priests) on any of the available blocks.

6 A player’s free priest is the priest (as well as the Patriarch) of his color, which he received at the beginning or during the game and lies next to his shield. A priest who is located on one of the blocks or on a cult shield is not a free priest, and cannot be used as a free priest. After the first player, the next player places one of his free priests in a clockwise direction. This continues until each player calls a pass, at which point the decision phase ends. Any player can declare a pass when it is his turn to place a priest. After announcing a pass, the player can no longer place priests during this phase, but can immediately make any number of transactions. Transactions are made by players in order to receive or spend money. If a player has a sufficient amount of money or conspiracy cards, then he can: Sell one or more of his Conspiracy cards, removing them to the bottom of the deck and receiving the amount of reward indicated on them from the bank. Buy one or more of the three open License cards (located in the Palace quarter) by paying the price indicated on them to the bank. Trades are made by the player only after he has finished placing free priests; the player may not place any priests in this phase, immediately declare a pass and make trades. The rule of sacrifice. There is no cost to players for placing the first three priests, but for placing the fourth, fifth, and each subsequent priest, the player must sacrifice 1 follower, who is removed from the cult shield immediately after placing this priest in the quarter. Event phase. During this phase, in each of the quarters where one or more cults have influence, the winner is determined by the cult whose influence is greatest. If the influence of two or more cults in a quarter is equal, the winner is the cult with the greatest mystical power. The winner in the quarter uses the service, all other cults that have influence in the quarter receive donations, from 1 to 3 coins. The winner can refuse the well-deserved service, in which case he receives nothing. The winners are determined in strict order from the youngest quarter (first) to the oldest (thirteenth). In every

On the 7th next quarter, the winner is determined after all actions from the previous quarter are completed, services are provided, donations are collected, and the priests are removed, dismantled by the players and placed next to the shields as free priests. If no cult has influence in a quarter, the winner is not determined in it, players immediately move on to determining the winner in the next quarter.. Active quarter is the quarter in which the winner is determined at the moment of the event phase. Before the winner is determined in the active quarter, each player starting from the first is given the opportunity to use one of the available actions: 1) Play a miracle card from your hand. 2) Play a conspiracy card from your hand. 3) Use one of two unique abilities of your cult. The winner is determined only in the quarter in which there is at least one priest or altar. Empty quarters cannot be active, there cannot be a winner in them, the described actions apply to them. These actions can decisively change the balance of power, making it possible for another player to become the winner in the active quarter. Before each determination of the winner in a quarter, any player can perform no more than one action; in just a round of such actions, he can perform as many as the number of districts that are influenced by cults, as long as the player’s resources allow him to do so. The event phase and round ends when the last of the winners uses the service received, and the losers receive coins. This winner becomes the first player in the next round. Description of the quarters. 1. Wasteland Wasteland with ancient ruins inhabited by outcasts, hermits, mystics and madmen. A place of rumors, gossip and miraculous signs.

8 Winner: Takes the top wonder card from the deck into his hand. Losers: receive 1 coin. The Wonder Card can be played before the winner of the quarter is determined. A played miracle card allows you to: add your free priest to the active quarter move a priest from the active quarter to any other increase the influence of your priest in the active quarter by 2 7 until the end of the round build an altar in the active quarter, losing 3 followers (for this, your priest in the quarter should turn over) create a crowd of fanatics, having lost 4 followers, receive a choice of 1 2 followers, or 4 7 coins. Some miracle cards have an image of a “dark seal” in the upper left corner; these cards can only be played by a player whose cult shield is turned to the dark side. They have a stronger effect.

9 The played and discarded Wonder card is removed to the bottom of the Wonder deck. If part of the effects of a played wonder card cannot be played (there is no priest in the player's quarter, the player does not have three followers, etc.) that wonder card cannot be played. 2. Thieves' Quarter An outlying poor area inhabited by thieves, bandits, scammers, smugglers and other criminal elements. A place where hard coin solves any problem. Winner: Can pay from 3 to 13 coins and win this round in the quarter whose number is equal to the amount of coins paid. Losers: receive 1 coin. After paying the money, the priest from the thieves' quarter moves to the desired quarter, and the player should put a stack of paid coins on his token (if it is Patrirah, then next to it). When determining the winner in this quarter, it is always the owner of the priest with coins. The exception is the case when rivals manage to remove this priest from the quarter. In any case, the exposed stack of coins will be dumped into bank 3. Slum A densely built area of ramshackle huts inhabited by the poor, beggars and the desperate. A place where it is easy for a dark cult to gain loyal followers. Winner: Receives 1 follower. Losers: receive 1 coin. 4. Forum A square where the citizens of the city hold meetings, and scholars and priests hold public debates and demonstrate miracles. Winning the dispute makes the cult famous in the city, dramatically but temporarily increasing its influence. Winner: Receives the Greatness Card. Losers: receive 2 coins.

10 The main property of the Greatness Card is to increase the level of the Patriarch of the cult by 7 units. If the Patriarch is placed on one of the quarters older than the 4th, the determination of the winner in this quarter will already in this round take into account the presence of the owner of the Greatness Card. The Majesty card is larger in size than other cards, but can be used similarly to other cards to pay for cult abilities if the cost is "Discard X cards." The Greatness card opens up the opportunity for the player to “Arrange festivities in honor of the Greatest” and use one of its unique properties, the cost of which is to skip the player’s turn. To use it, a player must turn over the Majesty card during the decision phase, before placing his priest, and declare which of its properties he used. The list of properties is indicated on the front side of the Greatness Card: The text on the back of the card states that the player skips this move. He does not place priests in the districts, does not participate in transactions, and is unable to take any actions during the event phase. If there are altars of his cult in the quarters, their influence is not taken into account, and the player does not receive rewards.

11 Skipping a turn by a player is valid until the end of the turn even if the Greatness Card changes owner during the turn. The new owner always turns the Greatness Card over to its front side. 5. Temple Quarter The area of old and new temples, where priests and ministers live, and believers worship their lords. A place where a dark cult can find new servants. Winner: May receive a new level 1 priest or raise the level of an available priest by 1. Losers: receive 2 coins. You can only raise the level of your free priest. You cannot increase the level of priests who are in one of the quarters of the playing field, but you can increase the level of a priest from the Temple Quarter itself, since it is removed from the quarter. The level of the Patriarch cannot be raised in this way. New priests are given to the player and can be placed on city blocks in the next round. To raise a priest’s level by 1, you need to discard his token into the bank and replace it with a priest token of a higher level. If the bank does not have a supply of priest tokens of the required level, the player will not be able to use this Temple Quarter service. Accordingly, he will not be able to take a new priest of level 1 if all the priests of this level are out of stock. 6. Trade Quarter The area where merchants, traders, money changers, moneylenders and other wealthy citizens of low classes live. A place where powerful cults can receive valuable donations from believers. Winner: receives 6 coins. Losers: receive 2 coins. 7. Crafts quarter

12 The working-class district of the city, where artisans, builders, masons and other skilled workers work and live. A place where, for a reasonable fee, priests can order the construction of an altar for their cult. Winner: Can pay 5 coins to the bank and build an altar in any quarter where his priest is located. Losers: receive 2 coins. The altar can be placed in the 7th 13th quarter. In the lower quarters the priests have already been removed. There you can get an altar only by using the corresponding miracle card or the ability Denial of the foundations of the cult of Atheism or the ability Cult of the Dead of the cult of Anubis. To install an altar (in any way), you must flip your priest token in that quarter to the opposite side. In this case, the player loses this priest (there must be a servant at each altar), but gains 4 permanent units of influence in this quarter. Accordingly, in a quarter where the player does not have priests, an altar cannot be erected. You cannot build an altar in a quarter where only the Patriarch is located among your priests. A player can have no more than one altar in each quarter. Altars are not removed from districts at the end of the round, and will remain there until the end of the game if no one destroys them or moves them with the properties of cards and the abilities of the Overlords. Altars are not priests and do not count towards the limit on the number of priests you can field per round. The player who has 5 altars placed at the end of the round becomes the winner. At any time, the player can replace the altar token with another one from the bank, which is often required if there is not enough priest of the required level in the bank. 8. Academy The Academy is a prestigious and ancient educational institution where students learn science and scientists study nature. A place where, for what they can, cults can make their priests more educated and respected. Winner: Can raise the level of a free priest by 2 for 5 coins, by 4 for 11 coins.

13 Losers: receive 2 coins. You can only increase the level of your free priest. You cannot increase the level of priests who are in one of the quarters of the playing field, but you can increase the level of a priest from the Academy itself, since it is removed from the quarter. The level of the Patriarch cannot be raised in this way. To raise a priest’s level by 2 or 4, you need to discard his token into the bank and replace it with a priest token of a higher level. If the bank does not have a supply of priest tokens of the required level, the player will not be able to use the services of the Academy. The Academy allows you to raise the level of any priest up to a maximum level of 5. If the service would result in the priest's level being higher than 5, the player only raises the priest's level to level 5, receiving the corresponding priest token from the bank. 9. Port Quarter An area of taverns, red lights, gambling dens and other nightly pleasures. A place where among revelers, sailors, rakes, pirates, bards and mercenaries of all stripes, priests of rich cults can easily find new followers. Winner: Can pay 5 coins to the bank and get 2 followers, or pay 11 coins to the bank and get 4 followers. Losers: receive 2 coins. If the number of followers ends up being more than 7, the extra ones are immediately returned to the bank. 10. Palace A majestic structure in which the royal couple, their retinue, ministers and officials live. A place where an influential cult is able to increase its influence even more, as well as achieve special powers for its priests. Winner: May take one or any of the open license cards. Losers: receive 3 coins.

14 There are three slots on the territory of the quarter, into which three open license cards are placed at the beginning of the game; in the fourth slot there is a deck of license cards. If at the end of the round one or more slots are empty, all cards remaining in the slots are removed to the bottom of the license deck, and new cards are laid out in their place. On the license card in the upper right corner its price is indicated, which can range from 5 to 22 coins. Players can spend money by purchasing this card during the Decision Phase by making a deal. The winner of the 10th Palace quarter receives any of these three cards for free. However, if all three slots are empty by the time he is declared the winner, he will receive nothing. License cards are divided into four types: Approval<4, 5 или 6>The greatest permission allows you to place a 4th, 5th or 6th priest during the decision phase without sacrificing a follower. For example, with a Favor 5 card, a player would have to lose a follower when placing the 4th priest, but would not lose a follower when placing the 5th priest. Community< квартала>allowing a cult community to be established in a given quarter allows a player who loses in that quarter to still use the quarter's service. In this case, the service is provided to him after the winner, and if he refuses it, he receives nothing. Licenses to establish a community are available for all neighborhoods except the forum. A player who owns a community in the Thieves' Quarter cannot steal a victory in a quarter in which it has already been stolen by the winner from the Thieves' Quarter.

15 Tithe<номера кварталов>allows you to collect taxes from priests of other cults working in a given list of three or two quarters. When placing each priest, its owner must immediately transfer 1 coin to the card owner. If he doesn't have any coins, he can still place a priest here, but he won't pay anything. Job title< квартала>When a cult follower receives a high position, the specified quarter numbered 10 and above is available to the cult's priests during the decision phase, even if the cult does not have the required number of followers. The list of positions that provide access to quarters includes mentor, inquisitor, general and oracle granting access to quarters 10, 11, 12 and 13 respectively. In addition to the main function, each license, as a sign of the greatest mercy, increases the level of the Patriarch of the cult by 1, 2 or 3. Three position cards Skald, Healer and Admiral do not provide access to quarters, but each increases the level of the Patriarch by 4. License cards purchased by the player are laid out next to the shield of his cult in the open form and are not “cards in hand”. Cards in hand are cards of miracles and conspiracies, the player hides them from opponents. License cards discarded to pay for Overlord abilities are removed to the bottom of the deck. 11. Noble Quarter An area of luxurious villas inhabited by members of the upper class engaged in vendettas, intrigues and power struggles. A place where dark cults are constantly in danger, unless they themselves are part of another conspiracy. Winner: Takes the top two cards from the deck of spells, leaves one in his hand and returns the other to the top of the deck.

16 Losers: receive 3 coins. The conspiracy card can be played before the winner is determined in the active quarter. Each of the 10 conspiracy cards exists in three copies and has its own name and feature text. A played conspiracy card allows you to: Blackmail the richest player to take half of his coins. Exorcism flip over the opponent's cult shield before the end of the round. Massacre on the streets destroy 2 followers of rivals whose priests are in the active quarter. Dispersal of fanatics: destroy 1 crowd of fanatics from rivals whose priests are in the active quarter. Secret search: take 1 card from your hand from your opponents (of their choice), whose priests are in the active quarter. Threat to the crown to select and take away any license card from the player with the highest level patriarch. Vandalism destroy the selected altar located in the block with the highest number. Ambush for a fool to destroy a priest if there are no priests other than him in the active quarter. Inquisition raid to destroy the selected priest if there are more than 3 priests in the active quarter. Capture a quarter, expel all priests from the active quarter and take credit for the victory in that quarter. The plotting devices are pursued by the royal services, so the participants in the plot can be brought to justice by making a deal and receiving from 4 to 13 coins. The reward amount is indicated in the center of the card. Some conspiracy cards have an image of a “light seal” in the upper left corner; these cards can only be played by a player whose cult shield is turned to the light side. Others will be able to exchange it for money.

17 The played or sold conspiracy card is placed on the bottom of the deck of conspiracy cards. If the effects described on a plot card cannot be applied due to lack of a target or resources, the plot card cannot be played. 12. Guard Barracks A military camp in which combat units of the royal guard are stationed, whose task is to suppress riots and guard the Rift. A place where a powerful dark cult can gain armed and determined followers. Winner: Can discard 2 followers and gain 1 crowd of fanatics. Losers: receive 3 coins. A crowd of fanatics is placed on the shield of the cult. Its presence does not give the owner any advantages, however, having gathered an army of 4 ex crowds of fanatics, the dark cult wins, seizing power in the city. 13. Abyss Rift A mysterious place where the earth mystically split, opening the way to the ancient darkness into the world of the living. Here the dark cult, having gathered all its strength, can conduct a great ritual of awakening and calling upon its Lord, who, having appeared, will become the ruler of the world. Winner: Can perform a ritual to summon the Overlord by gathering the required number of high-level priests in the quarter. Losers: receive 3 coins. For the ritual to be successful, it is necessary that the influence of the winner in the quarter be greater than or equal to the mystical power of his cult. Otherwise, the ritual fails and does not bring any results. In order to summon the Overlord, the player must perform two successful rituals. The result of the first ritual of awakening the Lord of the cult is turned over from the light side to the dark side. The result of the second ritual is the coming of the Overlord, the player wins. Please note that the mystical power of the cult indicated in the upper right corner of the shield has different meanings on the light and dark sides. Mystical power

18 The cult of the awakened Overlord (dark side) is greater than that of any of the cults that did not (light side). Description of the Cults The shield of the cult contains the image of the Lord of the Dark God and his name. In the upper right corner, the mystical power of the cult is indicated, and in the middle of the shield, two red frames describe two unique abilities of the Overlord that the player can use during the event phase. Abilities can be of two types, sacrifice and ritual. The sacrifice has the following form of entry:<текст способности>Price:<размер и вид платы>The text, unless otherwise stated, applies to objects located in the active quarter, or belonging to a cult. Priests, unless otherwise noted, are free priests of this cult. The cost determines how many resources the player must sacrifice to use the ability. Money, cards, followers, crowds of fanatics are used as resources. After discarding the required amount of resources, the player uses the ability and passes priority to the next player. The ritual has the following form:<текст способности>Master:<Жрец уровня N>The text, unless otherwise stated, applies to objects located in the active quarter, or belonging to a cult. Priests, unless otherwise noted, are free priests of the cult. To perform the ritual, the player must place a master free priest who fits the specified level restrictions on the Overlord's shield. The priest is selected from those that were not placed in the quarters, or have already returned to the player after the winner was determined in the higher quarter and are not yet on the shield.

19 Before each active quarter, a player can choose any of his Overlord's two abilities and use them by paying the cost or using an available priest. If there is a proper supply of priests and resources, abilities can be used several times per round, but not more than the number of quarters in which the winner is determined. At the end of the round, all priests from the cult shield are removed and then used as free ones. In a number of rituals, the master (the priest who performs it) may lose levels or die. Each cult's shield has two sides, light and dark, with each side of the shield containing its own set of two unique features of the Overlord. List of cults and abilities of the Overlord. 1) Cult of Anubis Ritual of leaving destroy the master, +1 follower per priest in the quarter. Master: Priest level 2 or more. Ritual. The player receives 1 follower for each of the priests of all players who are in the active quarter. In this case, the master (Priest of level 2 or more) will be lost; his token will be returned to the bank. Hand of Death remove your priest from the block, he gets +2 to level. Price: 1 follower Sacrifice. The player removes his priest from the active quarter and puts his token into the bank. He takes from the bank and adds to his

20 free priests receive a priest token, 2 levels higher. one follower. For this he donates to a block where there is already someone else’s altar. Master: Priest level 12 or more. Establish a “Cult of the Dead” and create an altar in the Ritual. The player turns over his priest in the active quarter if this quarter already has at least one altar of another cult and no altar of Anubis. At the same time, he must place a free Patriarch on the shield of the cult, and the influence of the Patriarch must be at least 12 units. Losing the shackles move your altar to quarter number X. Price: X cards, X coins. Sacrifice. The player moves his altar from the active district to any other district of his choice, except those that already have an altar of Anubis. At the same time, he must donate a number of coins and cards equal to the number of the quarter to which the altar will be moved. 2) Cult of Cthulhu

21 Ritual of the Abyss +3 to the level of the priest in the quarter, 2 to the level of the master. Master: Priest level 3 Ritual. The player removes his priest token from the active quarter and exchanges it for a priest token from the bank of 3 levels or higher. Along with this, a master token, a priest of the 3rd level. discarded into the bank and exchanged for a level 1 priest token. If there are no priest tokens of the required level in the bank, the ritual cannot be performed. Wrath of the Ancient destroy all the altars of the quarter, +2 followers. Cost: 1 crowd of fanatics Sacrifice. The player removes all altars from the active quarter (including the altar of Cthulhu), and also receives 2 followers. For this he sacrifices one crowd of fanatics. A devastating storm, all players lose 7 coins, +2 followers. Price: 2 cards. Sacrifice. All players who have 7 or more coins drop 7 coins into the bank. The player also receives 2 followers. For this he must sacrifice any 2 cards. The will of the ancient player, who has the most cards, gives 2 cards. Price: 4 followers. Sacrifice. An opponent who has more cards in his hands and on the table than any other player must pass two

22 any cards of your choice. For this, the player must sacrifice 4 followers. If there is not one player among the opponents who has more cards than any other, or the player himself has more cards than all the cards, the sacrifice cannot be made. 3) Cult of Fafnir Fafnir in the quarter, for 2 free ones. Price: 6 coins Ode to Greed replace 1 priest Sacrifice. The player removes his priest token from the active quarter and places two of his free priests in the active quarter. For this he donates 6 coins to the bank. Blood for gold: steal 10 coins from the richest player. Cost: 3 followers Sacrifice. The opponent who has more coins than any of the players gives the player 10 coins. For this, the player sacrifices three followers. If this opponent has less than 10 coins, or there is no player with the most coins among the opponents, or the player himself has the most coins, the sacrifice cannot be made.

23 Ode to Treachery take a conspiracy card and immediately sell it. Price: 1 card. Sacrifice. The player takes the top card from the plot deck and receives a number of coins from the bank equal to its value. The card is removed to the bottom of the plot deck. For this he must sacrifice 1 card of any kind. Hire an army of marauders and get 1 crowd of fanatics. Price: 17 coins. Sacrifice. The player receives 1 crowd of fanatics. For this he donates 17 coins. 4) Cult of Janus Smile of Fortune in the quarter the weaker side wins. Price: 1 card, 1 coin Sacrifice. In the active quarter, when determining the winner, the player with the least influence becomes the winner. If there is more than one such player, the winner is the one whose mystical cult power is the least. For this, the player donates 1 coin to the bank and 1 any card. If a victory in the active quarter was stolen through the Thieves' Quarter, Fortune's Smile can be played, but will have no effect. Mystery of Virtue take X miracle cards for X priests in the quarter. Price: 9 coins

24 Sacrifice. The player draws one card from the wonder deck for each priest of any player in the active quarter. For this he donates 9 coins. Ritual of duplicity, lose the master, draw two plot cards. Master: Priest level 3 or less. Ritual. The player takes the top two cards from the cantrip deck and discards the master token into the bank. The master can be a priest of levels 1, 2 or 3. Mystery of Vices get 2 crowds of fanatics, +1 follower. Price: 9 cards. Sacrifice. The player receives 2 crowds of fanatics and 1 follower. For this he must sacrifice any 9 cards. 5) Cult of Niritti Road of Loyalty receive the bottom card from the deck of miracles. Price: 1 follower

25 Sacrifice. The player draws the bottom card from the deck of wonder cards. For this he sacrifices one follower. The player must play the Road of Loyalty strictly in his turn, since the bottom card in the wonder deck may change if other players play or sacrifice it. Road of Contempt put the priest of Niritti in this quarter, +1 coin. Price: 1 Sacrifice card. The player places one of his free priests in the active quarter and receives 1 coin from the bank. For this he sacrifices 1 card of any kind. Remove someone else's priest from the block, or the owner gives up 1 follower. Master: Priest level 1. Ritual. The player removes the priest of any opponent from the active quarter. An opponent whose priest has been removed can immediately return him back, but he must transfer one of his followers to the player. To perform the ritual, the player places a level 1 master priest on the shield. The Road of Triumph places his Patriarch on this quarter. Price: 2 followers. Sacrifice. The player places his free Patriarch in the active quarter. For this he must sacrifice 2 followers..

26 6) Cult of Tiamat Change of appearance swap 2 of your priests in any quarters. Price: 3 coins Sacrifice. The player swaps the places of two of his priests located in any two quarters. For this he donates 3 coins. Shapeshifting cannot be applied to a priest who has a stack of coins on him (see Thieves' Quarter). Ritual of Incarnation destroy three priests of Tiamat take a priest of level 5. Master: Priest of level 3 or more Ritual. The player discards three tokens of any of his free priests into the bank and takes a token of his level 5 priest from the bank. At the same time, he must place a priest of level 3 or more on the cult shield. Invasion to each player for X of his priests in the quarter, X followers. Price: 2 cards.

27 Sacrifice. All opponents who have priests in the active quarter discard one follower for each of their priests in the quarter. The player must sacrifice any two cards. Harvest of Chaos take a miracle card and play it immediately, +3 coins. Master: Priest level 5. Ritual. The player takes the top miracle card from the deck and immediately plays it according to the rules, as if he had it in his hand. If the taken card cannot be played, it is simply removed to the bottom of the deck. In addition, the player receives 3 coins from the bank. To perform the ritual, a level 5 priest must be placed on the cult shield. 7) Cult of Lolth Initiation of a new priestess to receive a priest of level X this quarter. Cost: X followers Sacrifice. The player takes his priest token from the bank and places it in the active quarter. In this case, the level of this priest will be equal to the number of followers that the player sacrificed. After determining the winner and receiving rewards, this priest joins the free priests of the cult of Lolth. Women's charms move the priest to the next quarter, +1 coin. Master: Priest level 3.

28 Ritual. The player moves the priest token from the active quarter to a quarter whose number is one higher than that of the active quarter. To do this, the player needs to mark a level 3 priest on the shield. Spider's grip expel all priests from the quarter except the priests of Lolth. Price: 2 cards, 4 coins. Sacrifice. All opponents who have priests in the active quarter take them and place them next to the shield as free priests. The player must donate any two cards and 4 coins. If there is a rival priest in the quarter with a stack of coins (see Thieves' Quarter), he is also removed, and the money is put into the bank. Enchantment of the Goddess assign a Majesty Card until the end of the round, +2 coins. Master: Priest level 5. Ritual. The player takes a Greatness Card from the current owner, either from the bank; at the end of the round, the card is returned to the owner, or to the bank. In addition, the player receives 2 coins. While the Greatness card is in the player's possession, his Patriarch receives +7 influence. The Majesty card can be spent to pay for the Spider's Grip sacrifice, in which case it will still be returned to its original owner at the end of the round. The Greatness card may be lost if it is taken by the winner of the Forum quarter, in which case the card remains with him after the end of the round. To perform the ritual, a priest of the 5th level is placed on the shield of the cult.

29 8) Cult “Atheism” Triumph of Science +1 follower, if there are no foreign priests in the quarter. Master: Priest level 3 or more. Ritual. The player receives 1 follower if there are no rival priests in the active quarter. The ritual can be applied to a quarter where only ateymza priests are located, as well as to quarters where there are altars but no priests. The ritual requires a priest of level 3 or more to be placed on the cult shield. Terror strategy: draw 3 plot cards, play 2 of them immediately. Price: 3 followers, 3 coins. Sacrifice. The player takes the top three cards from the deck of spells, keeps one for himself, and immediately plays two according to the rules, as if they were in his hand. If one or both plot cards cannot be played, they are simply removed to the bottom of the deck. To use this ability, the player must sacrifice any 3 cards and 3 coins.

30 Debunking the myth Players who have an altar in their quarter give away 1 card. Master: Priest level 12 or more. Ritual. All opponents who have an altar in the active quarter and have cards, choose and give player 1 any of their cards. If the owner of the altar misses a turn, he must still give up the card. The ritual requires a free Patriarch of the cult whose level has reached 12 or more. Denying the foundations, get an altar if there are no other altars in the quarter. Price: 3 cards. Sacrifice. The player flips over one of his priest tokens in the active quarter, receiving an altar. This property can only be applied to an active district where there are no altars yet. In this case, the player must sacrifice any 3 cards.

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Of the new products from Essen this year, I was interested in another attempt to bring Civilization to the table, released under the title Clash of Cultures. Because the author made it Merchants & Marauders I view the game with suspicion, but given the opportunity I wouldn’t refuse to play. In the meantime, I found one of the reviews online and present my free translation.

Clash of Cultures is a game about the formation of civilizations from the author of Merchants & Marauders, and this alone is enough for me to definitely play it, since Merchants & Marauders is an excellent toy. In Clash of Cultures, players start out as rival tribes scattered across the world and without any technology. In six turns, players will have to explore the territory, extract resources, build cities, study technologies, trade, fight with each other and do everything to become the most successful of all rivals. At the end of the game, points are awarded for built cities, for studying technologies, for completing tasks and for building wonders of the world. The player with the most points wins.

The playing field is formed from tiles, each of which consists of 4 hexes of terrain of various types: water, mountains, wasteland, plain, forest. Unexplored areas are laid out face down and remain closed until players reveal them. When opening, you can sometimes choose which side to put the tile on.

At the beginning of the game, everyone has 1 settler and 1 city. During the game, cities can be developed by building ports, academies, temples and fortresses. The number of occupied hexes determines the size of the city - the larger it is, the more resources it brings and the more influence it has. The maximum city size is equal to the number of cities you have, so you won't be able to build one mega-city. Cities can be “lucky” - such a city receives +1 to its size.

Actions

Each of the 6 game turns consists of three action rounds. In each round, players take 3 actions. Here's what it could be:

Research technology - pay 2 food or 2 ideas and get a new technology

Found a city - the settler figurine can be replaced with a city

Activate the city - build a building, units, collect resources

Move - move up to 3 groups of units

City development - spend mood tokens to increase the city's development level

Cultural influence - try to "recruit" one of the hexes of another city if it borders your city.

Technologies

Each player has a personal field where available resources (food, wood, ideas and gold), as well as levels of population, culture and happiness are marked. Most of the field is dedicated to 48 different technologies. When a player acquires a technology, he places a die next to its description.

Technology is the various advantages and abilities. For example, "tactics" allows you to move troops. “Fishing” is the ability to get food from water hexes. If you have "storage" you can have more than 2 food items in stock. “Water supply” saves from plague and epidemics and so on. Some technologies require that you already have some technologies unlocked.

When acquiring technology, the level of happiness or culture increases. When it reaches certain values, an event card is revealed. These could be barbarians attacking cities, plagues, etc. Sometimes there are events with a positive effect.

Battles

The battles are quite simple. Players roll 1 die for each unit, add up the results and divide by 5. The resulting number is the number of enemies destroyed. The battle continues until one side is destroyed, or until the attacker decides to stop attacking. Tactics technology allows you to play cards with various effects in battle. You can fight not only with opponents, but also with neutral barbarians, you can also attack cities and organize naval battles between ships.

End of the game

After three rounds the turn ends. Players receive 1 technology, 1 action card and 1 task card (with personal goals for which points are awarded). Action and task cards also indicate combat effects - these cards can be used both for their intended purpose and can be played in battle.

Impressions

The first thing you think about when you see Clash of Cultures is that not only are there great figures, but the cities are also very elegantly laid out. The center of the city is indicated by a miniature with a round base, and all buildings have a “curved” base, so that it is very convenient to place them towards the center. In addition, if a building is captured by the enemy, a miniature of its color is placed in the city (for example, instead of a red house - green), so it is very visual.

As one would expect from a tabletop “civilization,” the key to success is proper distribution of resources. It is beneficial to have large cities and certain technologies, but to achieve this you will need resources (and some technologies too).

The most important thing in the game is the choice of actions (perhaps even more important than resource management). The player has only 3 actions per round, for a total of 9 actions per turn. Therefore, you need to squeeze the maximum out of every action. As a rule, you will always be one action away from being at full power, and you will always be looking forward to the next move. I'm sure this is a sign of a good game.

Such parameters as mood and culture are interesting; they are thematic and organically integrated into the game. A disgruntled city is bad because it only produces 1 resource per turn. Culture tokens are needed to expand cities and build wonders of the world. Mood tokens can also be an important resource.

The technology system is great and is the core of the game. The game has 48 technologies, arranged in a specific tree. Each technology opens up access to something new (for example, to build a library, you need to learn “writing”, etc.) and players will have to choose from several categories, correlating the choice with their goals. Some technologies open up new activities, some improve mood and the level of culture.

Actions and technologies open up a wide range of choices for players. Each turn you have to make many decisions about how to develop your civilization - what technologies to choose, what to build, in which direction to explore the territories, what resources to extract, where to build new cities, and so on.

In addition to building cities and learning technologies, the system of task cards also deserves praise; they are very diverse and can bring a lot of points. Plus, personal challenges mean that each player develops in his own way, in an individual way. This aspect is very good. The territory of the world is generated anew each time, that is, all games will be played in a new way, which increases replayability.

With Mosigra, Master of the Galaxy with Ares games, and now the hour has come for the Cult together with the large American publisher Cryptozoic. Cryptozoics' Kickstarter credits included such hits as Ghostbusters and Walking dead. We were confident that our success was guaranteed. Our experience, high-quality game, media capabilities under our control, plus the ability of our partners to demonstrate the game in America, network of contacts and authority. What could go wrong? That's what I'll tell you about.

Project preparation

Our process for launching board games is well established. There are warm contacts with columnists, bloggers, and the press. The game was also launched publicly on our digital platform Tabletopia. This meant we knew how many people had played it and could send everyone notifications that the game had launched on Kickstarter. Add here a powerful newsletter from Cryptozoic, several exhibitions in the USA and we get a good start for success! Also, already during the project, we were supported with updates by our partners in previous games - Hobby World Int, Mosigra, Ares games. By the time of the launch, we had several reviews ready for publication, and all the newsletters and announcement posts were prepared. Banner advertising and a competition on the largest gaming portal BoardGameGeek were also launched.

It is also worth noting that Cryptozoic began a promotional campaign in its Facebook community for 35k+ participants.

What went wrong?

Trouble crept up from where we did not expect. We saw that in the company's previous projects there were good fees, a large number of backers, but a lot of dissatisfaction. In general, dissatisfaction with the quality of components, rules or some problems with delivery is a normal situation. Out of a thousand backers there will always be a dozen dissatisfied. And, if they all actively write about it in the comments, then you may get the feeling that everything is bad for the project. Although in fact the other 2,000 people are completely happy with the game. Therefore, we decided that the company has great authority, a lot of credibility, our game is of high quality, which means everything will work out in the best possible way.

In reality it turned out completely differently. It turned out that almost everyone who supported the first Ghostbusters project (the project raised $1.5M) was dissatisfied with the quality of the game components. According to buyers, the game looked cheap and of poor quality. The cryptozoics promised to correct the situation in the new project, and raised $700k for the second version of the game. But the backers were again unhappy and amazed that the game had all the same shortcomings that the authors promised to fix. The Walking Dead project became its apotheosis. It has already raised only $400k and again turned out to be of poor quality.

And this is our Cult!

As a result, in our joint project, we immediately began to receive angry messages that Cryptozoics again wanted to deceive people and sell them a low-quality product. There were dozens of people who threw in a dollar to be able to comment, and wrote their stories about how badly the publisher behaved towards them. We tried to fight this negativity, but there was too much of it. Meanwhile, the collections were going much slower than we had expected.

What's the result?

As a result, our comments and work with negativity took an unexpected direction. Many haters have seen that our studio Iglogiya has never had any problems with quality. We released three high-quality, unusual, interesting games: Septikon, Nightmarium, Master of the Galaxy (then the game was still in production). That is, there were no complaints against us. And many began to write that it was in vain that we contacted Cryptozoics, that we should stop this project and launch the game on our own account. Then they will be happy to support us.

Interesting twist, isn't it? But this option did not suit us. Every board game on Kickstarter has two very important development lines. The first is Kickstarter itself. The more money you raise, the more people will know about the project and the easier it will be to put the game on store shelves. But this is not always accompanied by good sales after Kickstarter. It happens that everyone who wanted it has simply already bought the game. The second line of development is sales after Kickstarter. And here again the Cryptozoics are very strong. They have a large distribution network and do not have such a tarnished reputation as on Kickstarter. Therefore, we brought the project to the end, although we raised several times less than we originally planned.

On Saturday I had a chance to play Clash of Cultures, 4X strategy for the development of your civilization. What came of it is in this short note.

Talking about Clash of Cultures, as a tabletop civilization, it becomes clear that as the game progresses we will mine resources, actively build, study technologies, explore new territories and fight with rivals.

As it should be in such games, everyone starts in their own corner, having a minimum starting capital, in this case it is one settler and a village, or it would be more correct to say, a first-level city (later it will become clear why). Unfortunately, civilizations do not differ in anything special, they have no properties or abilities, all settlements are equal to each other; and which development paths the players will choose will depend on the technologies they have studied, the surrounding area, hidden goals and random events that will fall on the heads of the people throughout the game. After 6 rounds, the winner will be determined by points; they are awarded for expanding their cities, mastering the technology tree, building Wonders of the World and completing secret tasks.

Actions take place on a field of randomly laid out hexes. The size and shape of the field is determined by the number of participants in the party. At the start, only areas with player settlements are visible, while the remaining territories are hidden and will have to be explored. On the way, pioneers may encounter various types of terrain and hostile barbarians, who not only hinder expansion, but can also attack unexpectedly.

One of the main sources of victory points here are secret objective cards. Players receive one such card at the beginning of the game, and they will receive one more at the end of each of the six rounds. About a third of the points are earned from goals, so it is logical that they will act as a guiding vector when choosing strategies.

These cards are divided into two parts: on top is a peaceful target, and on the bottom is a military one. In the center is the number of victory points (always 2) that the player will receive, regardless of which of the two objectives he completes. Peaceful goals are of a constructive nature, for example: to study a specific branch of technology, to have a specified amount of resources of a certain type, to be the first to build a Miracle, etc. The military forces people to show aggression towards their neighbors and, basically, encourage the capture of foreign cities and the destruction of enemy troops.

In addition to objective cards, players will receive one action card at the beginning of the game and at the end of the round. These cards offer some additional features and bonuses that can be used under certain conditions. Like goal cards, they have two parts: the upper one is aimed at speedy development, and the lower one indicates a bonus that the player can apply during the battle.

Progress in the study of technologies and the amount of extracted resources are noted on personal fields. The abundance of improvements can make your eyes wide open at first, but dividing them into thematic categories saves the situation a little. There is also a whole string of various resources. Wood, ore and food are basic resources; they are mined from tiles adjacent to the city and are needed for constructing buildings and training armies. Gold and ideas are special resources that can be obtained using certain technologies. Ideas are used for improvements, and gold as any other resource. There is also culture and mood, these indicators increase through the study of technology. Culture is needed to build Wonders of the World and as payment for special actions, and mood tokens make player cities happier by helping them produce base resources more efficiently.

We talked about the main elements, now about how the game round actually goes. In each round, players make three moves. During your turn, you can perform three actions. There are six main actions:

1. City activation. A city can be used for three things: train an army there, collect resources, or build a building. If we talk about the army, then the units are as follows: settlers (cost 2 food), soldiers (1 food, 1 ore) and ships (2 wood). If the player decides to start mining resources, their type will depend on the nearby area, and the number will depend on the size and mood of the city. For example, a level 3 city will bring 3 resources, and for a “happy” mood the player will receive an additional resource.

For a fixed fee of 1 wood, 1 ore and 1 food, the city can be expanded by adding one of four buildings to it: a temple, an academy, a fortress or a port (one of each type). The number of extensions is limited by the number of cities. That is, if you have 3 cities, then a maximum of 3 buildings can be built in each of them. Without consequences, each city can be activated once per turn, then with each additional activation the residents will begin to change their mood - after all, no one wants to work overtime. Yes, I almost forgot, by choosing this action, you can build one of the available Wonders in the city (they are revealed after studying certain technologies).

2. Improvement. A new technology can be learned by paying 2 food (you can use ideas instead of food). Improvements are divided into categories, and in order to make all technologies available in one category, you must first study the top one.

The technology mastered is marked with a die, and the color of the frame around the hole will indicate which of the tokens, mood or culture, the player receives (and which marker moves on the resource track). The bottom three gray categories relate to government systems, and to start any of these branches, you will have to study the additional technology located directly above it.

3. Founding of the settlement. Everything is simple here: we remove the settler from the field and put a city token in its place.

4. Unit movement. Using this action, you can explore the area as a settler, redeploy an army, or send ships on a voyage. For one such action, you can activate up to three groups of units. Settlers and soldiers move 1 hex, while ships move according to special rules (for example, they can go around the field from the outside) and, of course, only on water.

5. Improved mood. Yellow mood tokens will help raise the infusion of residents in the city. To do this, you need to spend a number of tokens equal to the size of the city. If there is an angry red face near the city, then you can make the settlement as happy as possible in two stages: first the mood will become neutral, and only then happy.

6. Cultural influence. Quite a cunning action that allows you to lure buildings to your side. The range of influence is determined by the size of the city (plus it can be increased by culture tokens), and the success of the “conversion” depends on the roll of the die. On 5 or 6, the player replaces one of the opponent’s buildings with the same one of his own. You can only influence “extensions” in this way; the initial settlement cannot be replaced. The replacement does not affect the building or city in any way - the buildings still remain with the opponent. It bears fruit only at the end of the game, when the player receives one point for each building of its color.

The round ends after everyone has completed three moves. After this, everyone can reveal goal cards whose conditions have been met. Then everyone receives using free technology and gets an action and goal card. At the end of the round, you can demolish one of your first-level cities and thereby get hold of one gold. And finally, you need to determine the first player: the token goes to the one who is superior to the rest in culture and mood.

After six rounds, a winner is revealed. This is the one who has scored the most points for cities (1 VP for each “piece”), technology (1/2 VP for each improvement), goals (2 VP per card) and Wonders of the World (5 VP for built miracle).

In my opinion, Clash of Cultures– a kind of example of classic “tabletop” civilizations, incorporating all the features of the genre. But, if usually such games are not distinguished by the simplicity of the rules, then in this case all the elements accompanying 4X strategy are presented, let’s say, in an easy form. Therefore, the game is not difficult to master, which seems to be a plus, but at the same time it indicates that in some places the game is too straightforward. Interestingly, according to the mechanics Clash of Cultures reminded me of Nexus Ops, only more sophisticated and with a technology tree.

It would seem that there are a lot of development branches and several types of buildings, and different ways of influencing an opponent, but in reality there are no serious decisions to be made. If you can complete the goal - do it, there are resources for buildings - build, if you have extra food - study technology. So most of the party is spent on the three main actions - "assemble-learn-build", and only towards the end do rare attacks and manipulations with cultural influence appear.

What about combat and Wonders of the World? The battles are simple, but to be fair, the system is not the worst. Players roll as many dice as there are warriors in the squad, then divide the result by five. This will be the number of losses on each side. Such combat is less dependent on chance and gives a logical advantage to larger units.

Wonders of the World are too expensive, and it is realistic to accumulate resources for them only towards the end of the game. Therefore, the meaning of their properties is a little lost; you simply don’t have time to use them. On the other hand, 5 points for a Miracle is already a significant bonus.

The next ambiguous point for me is that it is very difficult to keep track of your technologies, or rather, the bonuses that they provide. This happens due to the fact that improvements do not provide any specific material benefits, but carry nuances that simply need to be remembered. Considering that on average a player masters about 20 technologies per game, keeping all this in mind is problematic.

The system for determining the first player is not yet entirely clear. Since everyone’s mood and cultural level increase more or less evenly, the first player is replaced extremely rarely. And going first here is very profitable, because you have the opportunity to get the most useful (especially in the first half of the game) goodies from event cards.

Now from trifles to more serious claims. For me, the main problem was the terrible imbalance of action cards and goals. They are too situational and unequal. If you are unlucky with actions and goals, then it is simply a disaster. While you are looking for the right moment to get at least some bonus, your opponents receive such bonuses every turn. And I’m generally silent about goals, some are very specific, while others can be achieved “in passing”, without particularly straining. When everyone said “master this category of technology” or “have at least five food items”, and I said “make 4 cities happy”, I just wanted to tear and rush. It’s the same story with military tasks - “kill two barbarians” when there was not a soul around was not at all happy.

Now comes the fun part. Despite the above shortcomings, Clash of Cultures I liked it, and I wouldn't mind playing it a couple more times to try other ways of development. Probably, the merit in this is the “mini-constructor” of buildings, with the help of which small settlements are transformed into amazing cities with temples, fortresses, academies, ports and houses of local residents. Yes, after all, visual appeal in such games is of great importance to me.

The components here are not only pleasing to the eye, you really feel that you are in control of a civilization that grows in size as the game progresses. Probably, it was the external component that the author put pressure on, because, by and large, the toy does not stand out among its peers in anything else. By the way, precisely thanks to the visual development, Clash of Cultures somehow I liked it more than Sid Meier's Civilization from FFG, where all your possessions are a couple of flags and a cart (what a stupid use of the field).

I’ll also note the technology tree, it’s quite rich and doesn’t constrain you too much. I was also pleased with the opportunity to “upgrade” one of the three management systems, where improvements not only provide significant bonuses, but also some penalties.

This is how craftsmen with 3D printers solved the problem of “cardboard” Miracles

It’s a pity, of course, that the Wonders of the World are made in the form of tokens on ugly cardboard stands. They could have shelled out for a few figures, since there aren’t that many of these buildings.

And one last thing. As for me, in such games civilizations should differ from each other in some way: have a different set of technologies, some unique properties, penalties, and so on. But we will probably see this in the addition, which was announced not so long ago.

All in all, Clash of Cultures not a masterpiece, but a decent game. Such a beautiful entry-level civilization. And most importantly, thanks to simple rules and clear goals, it is quite dynamic (I think that for three or four people it can actually be done in 2.5-3 hours) and is not burdened with difficult calculations and the agony of choice, which makes it accessible to a wider audience. Even Katya got involved. Why did she get involved, she cheated us to the fullest.