Anthelion: Conclave of Power may have run into an asteroid field while traveling to Kickstarter, delaying its launch until January 8th, but it was able to jettison an escape pod in time to deliver these strategies to you. Many Liberation troops lost their lives to secure this information, so be sure to make wise use of this broad overview of strategies available when playing Anthelion: Conclave of Power.

THE BASICS: PUSHING AND PULLING

The core action mechanism in this game involves either Pushing or Pulling the Character cards. Pushing represents moving a Character toward your opponent’s Conclave, while Pulling represents moving a Character toward your Conclave. There are two planets that begin in play, the Colonies and the Borderlands, and each features one of these basic mechanisms so those will always be available. In fact, many turns might see a player choosing to Pull one card and Push another. Why would you want to Push a Character toward your opponent, you might ask? Let’s take a look at a few of the special Characters and what they can do with their Petition actions.

FLY AND UNITE

Two characters that really showcase the uniqueness of Petition Powers are the Ace and the Diplomat. Ace has the Petition power called Fly, which lets you Push her twice. Then every Character on the planet she passed over during this double movement is Pulled once. Depending on the board state, this could potentially allow you to Pull up to four Characters closer to your Conclave while allowing your opponent to get close to gaining a single star from Ace.

The Diplomat, on the other hand, has the Unite power. This allows you to either Push or Pull a Character directly to her location. When used properly, you can swing a Character from your opponent’s Threshold and get them closer to your location. By looking at just two of the Petitions in the game, you can already see how the standard Pull or Push 1 space isn’t all there is to the game as certain Characters allow you to move more than one Character or to move more than one space.

GATHER AND CHARGE

Some of the more interesting abilities are found on the valuable Neutral Characters. The Crime Boss has the Gather ability, which allows you to either Push or Pull the Crime Boss to the location with the most Characters. This can be especially impactful on a turn that begins with Ace moving several Characters toward your Conclave, and followed by the Crime Boss moving over afterwards.

The Warrior, on the other hand, can change the tide of the game with his Charge ability. This has you Push the Warrior to your Opponent’s Threshold, which is usually a bad thing. But then it allows you to Pull another Character to either the Borderlands or the Colonies. If your opponent is about to recruit a Character into their Conclave, this allows you to essentially replace that one with the Warrior who, hopefully, is worth fewer points to their bottom line.

LET’S ALL JUST DISAPPEAR

The game has a giant reset button in the form of the Rogue Planet’s Disappear action. This allows you to Eject a Character, moving them to the discard pile. This is a great defensive move to foil your opponent’s plans on scoring that really valuable Character. However, they will eventually resurface once that deck gets reshuffled so it is only a matter of time before they get a second chance at recruiting that Character.

This may seem like a really powerful action, and it can be, but the Sage provides built-in protection on his Character, with an Attribute preventing any Character on his planet from being Ejected. If you can find a way to move them together, such as with Ace’s power, then you can either force an opponent to waste their entire turn to Eject your Character or make them look elsewhere for easier targets.

CURSE YOUR SUDDEN BUT INEVITABLE BETRAYAL

One of the most interesting Character abilities in the game does not come from a Petition, but rather from a static ability. The Mercenary has the Traitorous Attribute which triggers at the End of a Turn, and states that if he is located at the Dynasty Capital, he is recruited by the Liberation. On the other hand, if he is located at the Liberation base, the Dynasty recruits him. This Character is admittedly my favorite in the game because it is easier to recruit him into your Conclave and he does so in a devious manner. So many Characters involve Pulling a Character at the cost of needing to Push a different one, and this guy is the ideal candidate for those Pushes. You really need to be aware of where he is on the board, as a single determined turn could end with him scoring into a Conclave.

THE MORE YOU TIGHTEN YOUR GRIP...

One of the most fun tactics to employ can come up near the end of the game. The game ends during the round where a player reaches 10 Stars in their Conclave; however, if both players achieve this at the same time then the victory goes to whomever is the active player. That opens up some interesting interplay with cards such as Ace, who has a Resource trigger that gains +3 Stars when she’s in your Conclave if your opponent has either the Trooper or the Commander into their Conclave. Which means once you are at 7 Stars, your opponent needs to avoid pulling those into their Conclave unless it wins them the game - but it also means you could Push one of them into their Conclave on your turn to trigger a victory on your side. Keeping an eye on how many stars your opponent has, and any bonuses like this which could trigger, makes for engaging interplay between the two sides.

PREPARE YOUR CONCLAVE

Anthelion: Conclave of Power is launching on Kickstarter January 8th, 2019 and will be priced as low as $10 plus shipping and will come packaged in our standard vinyl wallet for maximum portability. We hope you'll use a Petition to Pull a copy into your Conclave during the campaign.

In the meantime, keep your eyes open for some additional articles that will appear in the coming weeks. We’ll be back to preview some of the cards in the Androids expansion that will be released during the Kickstarter campaign (and come included with the base game for all Kickstarter backers while the campaign is running) on January 11th.

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BUTTON SHY PROJECT STATUS

• Liberation - Here and being assembled. Expect to start shipping in early January.
• Twin Stars: Adventure Series II - Partially here, waiting on deluxe content. Expect to start shipping in late January.
• The Perfect Moment - Partially here. Expect to start shipping in early February.
• The Maiden In The Forest - Not received yet. Expect to receive and ship in late January.