Game Objective

In Aeon's End, you and your allies are rift mages seeking to protect your home, Gravehold, and reclaim the world that existed before. To do this, you must build a deck of gems, relics, and spells to defeat the invading nemesis.

Your primary objective is to defeat the nemesis before Gravehold is overrun or all players become exhausted.

Setup

Player Setup

• Each player chooses a character board and a player number token.
• Assemble your starting hand and your starting deck as indicated on the board (the leftmost card is the top of the deck).
• Receive the breaches indicated on your board (I to IV) and position them according to the instructions.
• Each player starts with 10 health.

Scenario and Nemesis Setup

• Set the nemesis health to 70 and Gravehold health to 30.
• Choose a nemesis and place their nemesis board on the table.
• Nemesis Deck Assembly: Combine 3 specific nemesis cards per tier (Tier 1, 2, and 3) with the amount of general nemesis cards based on the number of players. Stack them with Tier 3 at the bottom, Tier 2 in the middle, and Tier 1 on top. Do not shuffle the final deck.
• Follow any additional Setup instructions written on the nemesis board.

Turn Order Deck

• The turn order deck consists of four player turn cards and two nemesis turn cards.
  • 2 Players: Two turn cards for each player.
  • 3 Players: One card for each player plus the wild turn card (players decide who plays).
  • 4 Players: One card for each player.
• Add the two nemesis turn cards and shuffle them all together.

Supply

Set up a 3x3 grid in the center of the table containing:

• 3 stacks of gems (7 copies of each).
• 6 stacks of spells or relics (5 copies of each). It is recommended to use 4 spells and 2 relics.

Game Flow

The order of who plays is determined by the turn order deck. When a turn ends, the next card is drawn to determine who acts. If the deck runs out, shuffle the discard pile to regenerate it.

Player Turn

1. Casting Phase: You may Cast spells prepared in open breaches. Spells prepared in closed breaches (focused in the previous turn) must be cast now.
2. Main Phase: You may perform the following actions in any order and as many times as you wish:
   • Play a gem or relic card.
   • Acquire a card from the supply.
   • Focus or open a breach.
   • Prepare a spell in a breach.
   • Resolve "While prepared" effects.
   • Gain a charge.
3. Draw Phase: Discard the cards played from your hand and draw from the top of your deck until you have five cards in hand.

Nemesis Turn

1. Main Phase: Resolve the effects of each minion and power in play, from oldest to newest. Each power card loses 1 power token; if it reaches zero, the "POWER X" effect is resolved and the card is discarded.
2. Draw Phase: Draw a card from the nemesis deck.
   • Attacks: Resolve immediately and discard.
   • Minions/Powers: Resolve the "IMMEDIATELY" text and place the card in play with its respective health tokens or power tokens.

Actions and How to Play

Player Card Types

• Gems: Provide aether, the game's currency used to acquire cards, gain charges, and manipulate breaches.
• Relics: Have various effects that resolve as soon as they are played.
• Spells: Must be prepared in a breach before being Cast. They are the primary way to deal damage.

Breach Mechanics

• Focus: Pay the focus cost and rotate the breach 90° clockwise. This allows you to prepare a spell in it for this turn only.
• Open: Pay the opening cost and flip the card to the open side. Open breaches remain so for the rest of the game and allow you to prepare spells at any time.
• Additional Damage: Some open breaches grant +1 damage when Casting a spell.

Abilities and Charges

Each character has a unique ability. To activate it, you must have charge tokens in all the spaces indicated below the ability description. Upon activation, all charges are removed.

Deck Management

When your deck runs out, you do not shuffle the discard pile. You simply flip the discard pile (face up) and it becomes your new deck.

End of Game and Scoring

The game ends immediately when any of the following conditions are met:

Player Victory

• The nemesis reaches 0 health.
• The nemesis has no more cards in its deck and there are no minions or powers in play.

Player Defeat

• Gravehold reaches 0 health.
• All players become exhausted (reach 0 health).
• Fulfillment of any specific defeat condition described on the nemesis board.

Exhaustion Rule

When a player reaches 0 health, they become exhausted:

1. The nemesis Unleash effect resolves twice.
2. The player must destroy one of their breaches and discard any spell in it.
3. The player loses all their charges.
4. The player continues playing, but cannot gain health normally. Any damage they would suffer is now dealt double to Gravehold.

Tips for Winning

• Breach Management: Focus breaches to reduce the opening cost, as open breaches make casting spells easier in subsequent turns and can grant additional damage.
• Aether Usage: Use the aether from gems strategically to acquire new cards from the supply and increase your casting potential.
• Power Control: Keep an eye on the nemesis power cards; some have the "TO DISCARD" option, allowing players to discard them during the main phase to prevent the final effect from resolving.