Hello everyone!

Today I want to present you a witch game, Septima. Let’s brew some potions and save witches from the trials!

Game Overview

Septima is a 2023 release for 1–4 players, ages 12+, with a playtime of 50–100 minutes. It was designed by Robin Hegedűs, illustrated by Villő Farkas (with character art by Barbara Bernát), and published by Mindclash Games.

Theme

In Septima, you represent a witch who has come to Noctenburg to prove you’re worthy of becoming the next Septima, the leader of all witches. She is the wisest and most knowledgeable among them, and now that her time is coming to an end, witches from all over the world have gathered at Noctenburg to become her successor.

You’ll prove your worth by collecting herbs, brewing potions, healing the townsfolk, mastering charms, and rescuing your sisters and brothers from the trials. But be careful: raise too much suspicion among the townsfolk, and you’ll see the witches of your coven sent to trial instead.

How to Win

The player with the most Wisdom wins. You’ll collect Wisdom throughout the game (and lose some too), then gain more at the end by fulfilling your objectives, and mostly by scoring points from the patients you’ve treated.

Gameplay

Septima is a fully competitive game where players can still work together to boost their powers.

A game of Septima is played over a single year, made up of 4 Seasons: Autumn, Winter, Spring, and Summer. Each Season is made up of 5 Moon Phases (rounds). In each Moon Phase, you select one card from your hand to play. Every card has two effects: one that’s always resolved, and a second one that also triggers if another player plays the same card, or if it matches the Septima’s own action. All cards are revealed simultaneously, then resolved in player order.

Your possible actions include moving, collecting resources (only the Ingredients matching the current Moon Phase are available), brewing potions, treating patients, and sending Loyal Citizens to the Crowd or to a Trial Chamber.

A Trial takes place at the end of every Season. Each Trial process can involve up to 2 Trial Chambers: the First Trial Chamber always has a witch, drawn randomly from the witch stack, and is always resolved. The Second Trial Chamber only goes to trial if it has accumulated 1 or more witches from players raising too much suspicion and getting caught by the Hunters, and even if several witches have piled up there, only the one on top is put on trial.

For each Trial, all Loyal Citizens from the Crowd go into the bag, plus one Angry Citizen per suspicion level shown on each player’s board. These are drawn one by one to fill the Trial Chamber. If Loyal Citizens outnumber Angry Citizens, the player with the most Loyal Citizens in that Chamber brings the witch into their coven and scores points.

Components

The deluxe version, the one I have, comes with a really good insert that keeps everything sorted and makes setup much easier. The retail version doesn’t include this insert, so setup can take noticeably longer, worth knowing before you decide which edition to get. The meeples are lovely and the resources are a nice touch (both come in the retail version too). Card quality is excellent, and the game overall is simply beautiful. The illustrations pull you straight into the witches’ world, and the purple palette suits the theme perfectly.

Solo Mode

The solo mode was designed by Dávid Turczi. You play against an automa: the Black Widow. She doesn’t move a witch on the board but instead controls 3 spider pawns. Each round, after you choose your action, you roll a die to determine which of her 3 available action cards she takes, either one of the two face-up cards or the top face-down one. You can manipulate this choice using specific cards available to you.

The Black Widow has her own board where she tracks the witches she’s rescued, her suspicion level, and patients healed. If your action matches one of the Septima tokens (or hers), your suspicion still rises the same way as in a multiplayer game. If you’re playing with the full rules, instead of advancing on the Ritual track, the Black Widow’s Ritual action discards all the Spells from the bottom row of the Spell display.

Each round, the Black Widow moves her spiders to threaten spaces on the board: you lose 1 point if a spider ends on a space adjacent to you (or if you end your turn adjacent to her), and 5 points if a spider lands on your exact space. She also participates in Trials the same way you do.

Scoring works a bit differently in solo mode. First, don’t count the Wisdom from your Book of Divinations’ 4 objectives. Add the Wisdom you collected during the game, Wisdom from your Loyal Citizens on the Crowd or in Trial Chambers (3 Wisdom for 3 or 4 citizens, 7 Wisdom for 5 or 6), Wisdom for the highest level reached on each patient track, and an additional 6 Wisdom for each level that all three patient tracks have reached (so reaching level 2 on all three nets you 2 × 6 = 12 extra Wisdom, not just a flat one-time bonus). You also score 1 Wisdom per Good Luck Charm and 1 point per remaining potion, and 1 Wisdom for each pair of ingredients and crystals.

Then you lose Wisdom: 3 or 7 Wisdom if the Black Widow has 3/4 or 5/6 Cursed Citizens (her own equivalent of Loyal Citizens), and for each patient track, you lose Wisdom equal to the highest level reached, plus an additional 6 Wisdom for each level she’s reached on all three tracks, following the same logic as the gain side.

Winning isn’t about comparing a final Wisdom score, it comes down to completing at least 5 of 8 “Tribulations.” Four of them come from meeting your Book of Divinations objectives (no coven witches required here, unlike multiplayer), the fifth is having 4 witches in your coven, the sixth is limiting the Black Widow to 3 or fewer witches in hers, the seventh is reaching the top ribbon on the Ritual track, and the eighth is finishing with at least 42 Wisdom after all scoring. Complete 4 or fewer, and the Black Widow becomes the new Septima. Complete 5 or more, and you do.

My Experience

I’ve played Septima 3 times so far, always with the full rules and no expansions.

I really enjoyed my plays, even though I felt completely lost at the start, especially with the Black Widow’s actions. After 2 turns, though, I realised it wasn’t nearly as complicated as it first seemed. Out of my 3 plays, I’ve won 1 and lost 2. Funnily enough, winning that first game made me a little too confident going into my most recent play, where I got caught by the spiders again and again and had a hard time shaking them off. Turns out Septima rewards reflection, not swagger! 😅

Setting up the deluxe version isn’t complicated at all, the insert genuinely makes a difference, and setup itself is a pleasure: seeing all the board details and the quality of the tokens come together is part of the fun. The rulebook is well written, with helpful examples for the trickier rules. I’d have loved a quick-reference card summarising the Black Widow’s turn, though.

Beyond that, I had a really good time. The spiders are annoying in the best way, and you constantly have to weigh whether to match with another player or the Septima, since that raises your suspicion and risks getting caught by the Hunters, landing one of your witches in a trial. I really like this mechanic of potentiating your action through matching with your opponents’ choices, it adds a great layer of tension to every round.

I particularly appreciated how the Moon Phase controls resource production: only the Ingredients tied to that specific Moon are available, which is very thematic and makes you plan ahead and think carefully about when to go for which resources.

With only 5 actions per Season, it can genuinely feel tight. There were plenty of turns where I wanted to collect, brew a potion, heal a patient, and send a Loyal Citizen to the Crowd or a Trial Chamber, all while also needing to move, and sometimes adjusting my plan entirely just to avoid matching with the Septima or the Black Widow. It’s easy to feel overwhelmed wanting to do everything at once, and simply not being able to.

My favourite potion is the one that lets you move, it makes managing your position on the board so much easier.

In solo mode, the game becomes a real puzzle. I never found it boring, I could genuinely lose myself in it. I haven’t tested the Shapeshifting & Omens expansion yet, but I’m keen to try it. As for the full ruleset itself, I think it makes the most sense for players already experienced with board games, there’s more to think about, but not more complexity than you can handle.

I haven’t played in multiplayer yet, but I expect the game will shine even more there, with matching actions and negotiation between players happening far more often.

My Rating

Note: 8/10

Septima earns this score for its striking production, a theme that comes through in every mechanic, and the constant tension of deciding whether to risk matching an opponent’s move. It’s a game that rewards patience and reflection over confidence.

Final Thoughts

Septima brings its theme, artwork, and mechanics together in a way that feels genuinely cohesive, brewing potions, healing patients, and managing suspicion all pull in the same direction, and every round has real weight to it. Whether you’re up against the Black Widow solo or negotiating your way through a coven of rivals, there’s plenty here to sink your teeth into. If you enjoy strong theming and clever player interaction, Septima deserves a spot on your table.

Your Turn

Have you played Septima, solo or with a coven of friends? I’d love to hear how your trials went. Come share your comments on Mastodon and Facebook.

Related Links

• Septima on BoardGameGeek
• Mindclash Games

Videos

• Septima - Official How To Play - Official rules explanation from Before You Play
• Septima + Expansions - Playthrough - Playthrough with expansions from Before You Play