Asmodee

Brussels, 1893: Victor Horta constructs Autrique House and Tassel House, beautiful buildings where the fluidity of space echoes curvilinear botanical forms. In the same year, Paul Hankar erects his own house, incorporating ironwork, mosaics, frescoes, and stained glass windows. The Belgian capital has become the birthplace of an innovative movement that will impress all Europe and impact the greatest architects of the Belle Epoque…

Become one of Europe’s most renowned architects and artists at the beginning of the Art Nouveau movement in Bruxelles 1893, a board game of clever auctions and beautiful buildings for two to five players. Over the course of five rounds, you must compete to earn the most victory points by reacting to an ever-changing marketplace. You must dispatch your assistants to create and sell gorgeous works of art, construct soaring buildings, and attend the Royal Theater to secure the patronage of important public figures. Over the years, your works will garner acclaim, but only one player can achieve victory!

The Birthplace of Art Nouveau

In Bruxelles 1893, you’ll be faced with countless choices, each challenging you to make the most of your limited resources to claim the victory points you need over the five game rounds. To gain fame as the most talented artist and architect in Brussels at the turn of the twentieth century, you must carefully consider what options you have available to you.

Each round of Bruxelles 1893 begins in the same way: the first player reveals the top card of the Stock Exchange deck and uses its information to determine which actions are available during this round. Each Stock Exchange card provides you with a pair of coordinates for the Art Nouveau board, and as the first player, you can choose one of the coordinates on the Art Nouveau board and place the bracket there. All actions outside of the bracket are off-limits and cannot be chosen this round!

After the available actions have been defined, players take turns dispatching their assistants to perform actions at different spaces on the Art Nouveau board and the Brussels board. On the Art Nouveau Board, you may work in your workshop to create a gorgeous work of art, which can be exchanged for Belgian francs and victory points by taking the sale action. You may visit the theater to recruit a public figure, who can grant you a one-time gift or become one of your permanent retainers to support your art over the years. You might even construct a building that permanently occupies one of the spaces on the Art Nouveau board, giving you a bonus whenever one of your opponents uses that action.

Of course, it’s not just assistants that you’re placing on the Art Nouveau board. Each column on the board also has a bonus card at the bottom of the column, and whenever you place an assistant, you must include a number of francs as a bid for this bonus card. At the end of the round, all bids in the column are totaled, and whoever has bid the most money gains the bonus card, giving them a valuable boost. 

You may also choose to send your assistants into Brussels itself by committing them to the Brussels board. Here, you may visit the market of Place Sainte-Catherine, gaining resources to construct your masterwork buildings. You may go to the stock exchange for an influx of capital, travel the Fiftieth Anniversary Park to perform a free action, or get more benefits from your public figures at the Grand Plaza. All actions on the Brussels board are free to perform, but the police are always watching for disruptive apprentices shirking their duties. If you send too many assistants to Brussels, some may be picked up and detained in the Courtroom. 

At the end of five rounds, your final score is tallied from the victory points you gained during the game, the buildings you constructed, and the works of art you’ve produced. The player with the most victory points is the winner!

A New Era of Art and Architecture

Will you become one of the founders and formers of the Art Nouveau style? Put your mind to the test and guide your assistants wisely in Bruxelles 1893.