Game Objective

Aeon's End is a cooperative deck building game where your deck is never shuffled. You and your fellow breach mages must work together to defeat the nemesis before your home, Gravehold, is overrun or the players are exhausted. Each of the four included nemeses is unique in their actions and requires a different strategy to defeat.

Setup

Player Setup

• Each player chooses a player mat and a player number token.
• Build your starting hand and starting deck as shown on your player mat. Place the leftmost cards at the top of the starting deck.
• Each player receives one of each type of breach (I–IV) as listed on their mat and organizes them accordingly.
• Set each player's life to 10.

Nemesis and World Setup

• Choose a nemesis and place its nemesis mat near the players. Set the nemesis life dial to the value shown on the mat.
• Nemesis Deck Construction:
  1. Separate the nine nemesis specific cards into three piles of three based on their tier (1, 2, or 3).
  2. Add basic nemesis cards to each pile based on player count (refer to the manual's chart for the exact number of Tier 1, 2, and 3 cards).
  3. Shuffle each tier pile separately.
  4. Stack them: tier 3 cards on the bottom, tier 2 on top of those, and tier 1 on top. Do not shuffle the combined nemesis deck.
• Set the Gravehold life dial to 30.
• Follow any additional Setup instructions on the back of the nemesis mat (e.g., creating a strike deck or adding Fury tokens).

Turn Order and Supply

• Turn Order Deck: Create a deck using turn order cards. For 2 players, use two cards for each player and two nemesis cards. For 3 players, use one for each player, one wildcard, and two nemesis cards. For 4 players, use one for each player and two nemesis cards. Shuffle the deck.
• Supply: Create nine supply piles (3 gems, 2 relics, and 4 spells). Place each card of the same name in its own separate pile.

Game Flow

The game advances through a variable turn order determined by the turn order deck. After each turn, a card is drawn to determine who goes next. If the turn order deck is empty, shuffle the turn order discard pile to replenish it.

Player Turn

A player's turn consists of three phases in this specific order:

1. Casting Phase: The player may Cast prepped spells in opened breaches. Any spells prepped in closed breaches must be Cast now.
2. Main Phase: The player may perform various actions (detailed in the next section) in any order and as many times as they wish.
3. Draw Phase: All gems and relics played this turn are placed on top of the discard pile in any order. The player draws from their deck until they have five cards in hand.

Nemesis Turn

Consulte o manual para detalhes sobre esta seção.

Actions and How to Play

Player Actions (Main Phase)

During the Main Phase, you may resolve these actions in any order:

• Play a gem or relic card: Resolve the card's effect immediately. If the card has an "OR," choose one option. Gems provide aether, the game's currency.
• Gain a card: Spend aether equal to the card's cost to take a card from the supply and place it immediately on top of your discard pile.
• Gain a charge: Pay 2 aether to place a charge token on your player mat. These are used to activate unique abilities.
• Focus a breach: Pay the focus cost to rotate a closed breach 90° clockwise. This allows you to prep a spell to that breach this turn.
• Open a breach: Pay the open cost to flip a closed breach to its opened side. Once opened, it remains open for the rest of the game.
• Prep a spell to a breach: Place a spell card from your hand onto a breach.
• Resolve a “While prepped” effect: Resolve effects of spells currently prepped.
• Resolve a “TO DISCARD:” effect: Resolve the specific effect listed on a power card to discard it.

Card Types

• Gems: Provide aether used for gaining cards, charges, and manipulating breaches.
• Spells: The primary way to deal damage. They must be prepped to a breach before they can be Cast.
• Relics: Provide various instantaneous effects.

End of Game and Scoring

Victory Condition: The players immediately win if the nemesis's life reaches zero.

Defeat Conditions: The players lose if Gravehold is overrun or if the players are exhausted. (Consulte o manual para detalhes sobre a condição de "exhausted").

Tips for Winning

• Manage your Breaches: Use the Casting Phase strategically; remember that spells in closed breaches must be cast immediately, while those in opened breaches can be saved for later.
• Efficient Deck Building: Use gems to gain aether to acquire more powerful spells and relics from the supply to enhance your deck's capabilities.
• Coordinate Abilities: Use aether to gain charges to activate your breach mage's unique ability at the optimal moment.