Nocturne - Review & How to Play

About Nocturne, from BoardGameGeek:

Nocturne is a puzzly spatial bidding and set collection game of sly mystics set in a whimsical moonlit forest illustrated by Beth Sobel! In Nocturne, you play as a fox mystic casting magic spells to collect an assortment of enchanted items. You compete against rival mystics, each of you deciding when to cast the most powerful spells to move through the forest most cunningly to secure the best collection. Each turn you decide which items are most valuable to you and when to hold the other mystics back. Through two rounds (twilight and moonlight), players compete to collect the strongest sets of magical items like firebird feathers, creature skulls, glowing mushrooms, mysterious eggs, and rare herbs. These items have value when collected in specific sets, but can also be combined to fulfill recipes needed for concoctions, scoring you even more prestige! Each round you begin with a set of numbered tokens that represent your spell strengths. These tokens are used to cast spells and bid on a grid of items (and special actions) on the forest floor. Once you cast a spell, your rival mystics will have an opportunity to cast a more powerful spell onto an adjacent item, hoping to compel it towards them and prevent you from collecting what you need! As the forest is explored, different conditions of magical control will restrict pathways, leading to strategic situations in which players can "corner cast" and secure multiple items with less powerful spells. If your spell casting comes up short, you can always make an offering to the forest sprites, magical mice that have their own cache of treasures they may share with you, giving you further options to expand your collection. The set-up of the forest grid and twilight and moonlight goals, along with concoction cards and special player abilities in each game, provide great variability so that no two games of Nocturne will play out the same. Different spatial goals and situations will necessitate different strategies and tactics to outwit your opponents in this highly interactive and unique spatial bidding game! -description from the publisher