Celestia

23rd June 2019.

Gaming day continues at 'The Sovereigns'.
The next game of the day is 'Celestia'.

Celestia is very similar to another game called 'Cloud 9', in fact both games are designed by the same person.

You can see my thoughts on Cloud 9 here.

​Celestia is a fantasy-themed push your luck game about making a journey. 

What's in a game?

Celestia contains a skyship placing piece that needs to be built. Annoyingly, when constructed, it does not fit in the game box! This means it must be constructed before and then deconstructed after every game session. Otherwise it's quite a nice prop for the game.

There are is a set of 'city' markers and several sets of small decks of 'treasure' cards for each of the cities.

There is also an 'equipment' deck of cards used to 'travel' in the game. Most of the cards in the deck contain symbols identical to those from on the dice (See below.). Some cards are 'power' or 'turbo' cards that give a different benefit.

There are 'event' dice; these are 4 custom six sided dice used to represent obstacles or events that must be overcome during the journey. Each die is identical and has 4 custom symbols on 4 sides and blank faces on 2 sides.

And finally there are 6 meeples for the players.

The components are pretty standard. But I feel I must add that the art on all of the cards and markers is excellent.

How's it play

Before play begins, the cities markers are set out in a specific order (From lowest to highest scoring.). Then the associated smaller treasure decks are placed next to each city marker.

The purpose of the game is to reach the last city (If possible.) to score maximum points. But if the skyship crashes along the way, then no points are scored by the passengers.
Players will be given the choice to abandon the skyship early and earn less points.

This is how play goes.

• At the start of the game equipment cards are dealt to each player.
• The skyship is placed on the beginning destination marker. Every player's meeple is placed in the skyship.
• The active player assumes the role of 'Captain' for the round. The captain takes 2 event dice and rolls them (Later on, the further along the journey the skyship is, the more dice are rolled.).
• The other players decide whether to stay aboard or abandon ship. If a player chooses to abandon ship, they remove their meeple from the skyship model.
• When a player abandons the skyship, they take a treasure card from the deck associated with the destination marker the skyship is currently on.
• The value of the card is dictated by the city the skyship was on when the player abandoned it. Earlier cities give lower somewhat scores in a random range (6+ or 9+ for example.). Additionally, the earlier treasure decks also contain power cards. The last cities give a fixed value for each card. When a treasure card is acquired, it should be kept hidden face down.
• Once all the other players have made their choices and abandoned the skyship or not: The captain either must play the equipment cards from their hand matching the symbols rolled on the dice, or announces that they cannot do so. If the captain cannot overcome the event dice, then the skyship crashes! Crunch!
• If the captain plays the required cards, the skyship moves along to the next city marker. And the next player becomes captain. Any player who has abandoned the skyship cannot become captain in the current journey and is skipped if they are next.
• If the skyship crashes, (And believe me, it will, frequently!) the skyship is returned to the first city marker, all players' meeples are put back in it and everybody draws an equipment card.
• If the skyship reaches the last city, this journey is completed. Everybody aboard takes a treasure card (Worth 25 points!). The skyship is returned to the first marker and gets back aboard and each player collects another equipment card.

​Endgame.
When a journey ends for whatever reason and before another begins: If one or more players have accumulated 50 or more points, they must declare it. Then all players tally their points, highest score wins.

Overall
Celestia is an easy to play and accessible push your luck game. It is a competitive game, but there are elements of co-operative play here. Because to reach the further destinations you will likely need other players to co-operate with you. This is doubly true if one player is rushing ahead in the scoring.

Comparisons with Cloud 9 are inevitable, they are both very similar, with similar strategies and mechanics.

But Celestia has a few tweaks that gives it a bit more depth.

Firstly, in the equipment deck, the 4 different types of card required to overcome obstacles from the event dice are not represented in equal numbers. This means it's less likely that certain cards will be dealt into players' hands. And this means that certain types of obstacles are harder to overcome. It's something to pay attention to. 

Secondly, some of the power cards allow you to mess with the other players. Although in this game it seems strangely antagonistic. I've rarely seen these types of card used, possibly because of hidden scores means it's hard to know who to target.

And finally, hidden scores. In Cloud 9, there is a scoring track, so when a player reaches 50+ points, everyone else knows they need to push it in order to have a chance of winning. But in Celestia, with its hidden scores you can never know exactly what another player's score is. You can't afford to be complacent and need to keep accumulating your score.

It doesn't take too long to play either, meaning that it's a nice filler game. It's one to play.