How To Play Aeon's End

If you enjoy cooperative and deck-building board games, Aeon’s End might be just what you’re looking for. Designed for one to four players, the game puts you in control of powerful mages living in the last bastion of humanity—Gravehold. But Gravehold is on the brink of collapse, and it’s your job to defend it.

The main threat comes from terrifying boss monsters known as the Nameless, or Nemeses. Your goal is to protect Gravehold while defeating the deadly Nemesis invading your home. Luckily, you have a team of skilled mages at your side. This guide covers setup, rules, and how to play.

Objective Of The Game

Aeon’s End is a cooperative deck-building game for one to four players. One of its most unique mechanics is that the player decks is never shuffled during play. To win the game, all you need to do is defeat the Nemesis.

However, there are two ways to lose. First, if all players’ characters become exhausted. Second, if Gravehold—your homeland—loses all its HP.

How To Set Up Aeon's End

Player Setup

First, each player selects a player mat, which represents their chosen mage. Then, each player picks a player number token from one to four—this choice doesn’t affect gameplay.

Next, look at your player mat. Find the cards listed under 'Starting Hand' and 'Starting Deck.' Separate them—your Starting Hand cards go directly into your hand, while your Starting Deck cards must be arranged in a specific order.

In the section labeled "Starting Deck" on the Player Mat, the card with the name on the far left should be on top, while the card on the far right should be at the bottom.

Turn Order Deck Setup

You also need to set up the Turn Order Deck. To do this, add Turn Order cards based on the player number tokens chosen:

Player Count	Instructions
For a 2-player game:	Shuffle two Turn Order cards for each player into the Turn Order Deck.
For a 3-player game:	Shuffle one Turn Order card for each player and one Wild Turn Order card into the Turn Order Deck.
For a 4-player game:	Shuffle one Turn Order card for each player into the Turn Order Deck.

After this, regardless of the number of players, add two Nemesis cards to the Turn Order Deck and shuffle it. From this point on, you are not allowed to check the Turn Order Deck. It must always remain facedown.

Nemesis Setup

Choose the Nemesis you will be facing and place its Nemesis Mat in the play area. Read its rules carefully. Then, set the Nemesis Life Dial according to the HP value shown on the Nemesis Mat. This HP value is located to the left of the Nemesis’s name.

Each Nemesis has unique cards, which can be identified by their name in the bottom left corner. Set these aside. Additionally, you will need to add some Basic Nemesis Cards to the deck. The Nemesis Deck consists of three different tiers of cards, which can be identified by the numbers one, two, and three in the bottom right corner. To build the Nemesis Deck:

1. Separate the Nemesis-specific cards into three different piles based on their tier.
2. Add Basic Nemesis Cards to each pile based on the number of players:

Player Count	Basic Cards Added
	Tier 1	Tier 2	Tier 3
1 Player	1	3	7
2 Players	3	5	7
3 Players	5	6	7
4 Players	8	7	7

After you add basic cards to the piles, shuffle each tier pile separately. To finalize the Nemesis Deck, place Tier Three cards at the bottom, followed by Tier Two cards in the middle, and Tier One cards on top.

Supply Setup

You need to set up the Supply, also known as the Market. The Supply consists of nine different piles, each containing multiple copies of the same card.

When setting up the Supply, you have two options:

• Use Randomizer Cards to create a randomized market. This makes the game more swingy and luck-dependent.
• Manually choose the cards without using Randomizer Cards. This allows for a more strategic and controlled game.

The Supply must include:

• Three different Gem piles.
• Two different Relic piles.
• Four different Spell piles.

Turn Order Overview

At the start of each turn, the top card of the Turn Order Deck is revealed:

• If a Nemesis Turn Order Card is drawn, the Nemesis takes its turn.
• If a Player Turn Order Card is drawn, the player matching the number on the card takes their turn.

Once the Nemesis or a player finishes their turn, the next Turn Order Card is revealed. This continues until the Turn Order Deck is empty. When a new card needs to be drawn but the deck is empty, the discard pile is shuffled to form a new Turn Order Deck.

Player Turn Sequence

Phase No	Phase Name
1	Casting Phase
2	Main Phase (Actions in this phase can be taken in any order and any number of times.)
3	Draw Phase

Casting Phase

If it’s your first turn, you won’t be able to do anything during the Casting Phase. The Casting Phase is related to the spells on the player's breaches at the time:

• If there are spells on closed breaches, they must be cast.
• If there are spells on open breaches, casting them is optional.

You can cast spells at any time during the casting phase. After casting a spell, place it in the discard pile and apply the effect listed next to the "Cast:" keyword.

Main Phase

Player Action

Instructions

Play a gem or relic card

When you play a gem or relic card, you must apply all the text on the card. If the card has the word "OR" written on it, and you can only choose one of the options, you must select the one you can perform.

Gain a card

You can spend the aether you gained from gem cards or other effects to purchase a card from the supply pile. The cost of the cards is displayed in the top-right corner of each card in the supply pile.

Gain a charge

You can spend two aether to gain a charge during your turn. You can continue gaining charges as long as you have enough aether. When you gain a charge, place it on your player mat.

Focus a breach

One of the things you can do during your turn is to focus a closed breach. The cost to focus a breach is located above the circular arrow symbol on the closed breach.

Open a breach

To open a closed breach, pay the aether cost displayed on the top of the breach. The cost to open a breach will decrease as you focus breaches.

Prep a spell to a breach

To prep a spell, you can place a spell card from your hand onto an opened breach or a closed breach that has been focused during this turn.

Resolve a “While prepped” effect

Any "While prepped" effects on the spells you placed during your Main Phase can be used once during each of your Main Phases. If you didn’t cast that spell, you can still use the "While prepped" effect during your following Main Phase.

Resolve a “TO DISCARD:” effect

Some Nemesis power cards have the "To DISCARD" keyword. This provides an opportunity for you to discard those cards. By resolving the effect listed next to the "To DISCARD" keyword, you can discard those power cards.

Draw Phase

After your main phase ends, you must place all the gem and relic cards you played in any order on the discard pile. Any cards you didn't play will remain in your hand. You should never discard a card from your hand during your turn, and at the end of your turn, the cards in your hand are not discarded.

Nemesis Turn Sequence

When a Nemesis turn order card is drawn from the turn order deck, it means it's the Nemesis's turn. The Nemesis turn is divided into two phases: the main phase and the draw phase.

Main Phase

During the Nemesis's main phase, cards are played in order from the oldest card placed on the board to the newest one. Therefore, place the cards drawn from the Nemesis deck onto the board in a specific order and do not alter this order.

If a card has a 'Persistent' effect, resolve it. If a Power Card is revealed, remove a power token from it. If there are no power tokens left on the Power Card, trigger its effect.

Draw Phase

During this phase, draw a card from the Nemesis deck and reveal it. If you are required to draw a card and the Nemesis deck is empty, instead, the Nemesis triggers the Unleash effect three times.

Card Type	Instructions
Attack Card	If the card you drew is an Attack card, trigger the effect listed on the card, then place it in the Nemesis discard pile.
Minion Card	If you draw a minion card with an "IMMEDIATELY" effect, trigger it as soon as it is drawn, and then place the specified amount of life tokens on the minion.
Power Card	Similarly, if you draw a Power card with an "IMMEDIATELY" effect, trigger it when drawn, and place the specified number of power tokens on the card.

Exhaust, Explained

If a player has no life tokens left and their total is zero, that player is considered exhausted. If all players become exhausted, the game is lost. One of the best features of Aeon's End is the absence of player elimination. However, when a player becomes exhausted, there are certain penalties:

• First, resolve the Nemesis's Unleash effect twice.
• The exhausted player must destroy one of their breaches and return it to the box. If there is a spell on that breach, it is discarded.
• The exhausted player discards all charge tokens.
• The exhausted player continues playing, but with some exceptions:
  • They cannot gain life.
  • Effects targeting the player with the lowest life do not affect exhausted players and they are exempt. In this case, the lowest life among the non-exhausted players is chosen.
  • If the exhausted player is about to take damage, instead of taking the damage themselves, double the damage and deal it to Gravehold.

How The Game Ends

The game will immediately end if one of the following conditions is met:

Condition	Instruction
Victory	The Nemesis deck is empty, and there are no Minion or Power cards in play.
	The Nemesis reaches zero life.
Defeat	All players become exhausted. (their life reaches zero).
	Gravehold reaches zero life.

How To Play Solo Mode

In solo mode, you can control multiple mages. In this case, you should set up the game according to the standard multiplayer setup. However, if you want to play with a single mage, you must adjust the Nemesis deck accordingly during setup.

When playing with a single mage:

• The turn order deck consists of three player turn order cards and two Nemesis turn order cards.
• You can target yourself with ally effects, even though these effects are normally meant to target other players.

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