Aeon's End: The New Age

Objective and battle scope: The team selects a Nemesis and manages each mage’s life, Gravehold’s life, and the Nemesis area. The team wins when the Nemesis reaches zero life; the rules also list a victory condition for an empty Nemesis deck with no minions or power cards in play at the end of a turn. Players must defend the city as well as develop their own mage.

First battle and later setup: For the first battle, follow the included First Game Setup Sheet, which may specify teaching components and starting quantities. Later battles use the standard Nemesis setup on rules pages 7–9. Choose the Nemesis cards and basic cards for the player count, then build a three-tier Nemesis deck: tier 1 on top, tier 2 in the middle, and tier 3 on the bottom. Do not shuffle the assembled Nemesis deck.

Order of player and Nemesis turns: Shuffle the player turn cards together with two Nemesis turn cards. Draw one card at a time to determine who acts next. In a two-player game, each player uses two player turn cards; in a three-player game, each player uses one and the Wild card is assigned by its marker; in a four-player game, use the paired player-number cards. When the turn deck runs out, shuffle its discard pile to form a new deck; this is separate from the mage-deck rule.

Three phases of a player turn: A player turn has a Casting Phase, Main Phase, and Draw Phase, in that order. During Casting, the player may cast spells prepared on open breaches, while spells on closed breaches must be cast. In the Main Phase, the player plays cards and takes actions. In the Draw Phase, the player arranges the gems and relics played that turn, then draws back up to five cards.

Main Phase actions: A player may perform permitted Main Phase actions in any order and repeat them, including playing gems or relics, gaining a market card, gaining a charge, focusing or opening a breach, preparing a spell, using a “while preparing” effect, and paying a “TO DISCARD” effect. There is no fixed action sequence, but players must check their resources and breach states. A spell cannot be cast at an arbitrary point in the Main Phase; casting belongs to the Casting Phase.

Breaches and spells: Each mage has their own breaches. To focus a closed breach, pay the printed focus cost and rotate its marker; the mage may then prepare a spell there this turn. Opening a breach costs its printed amount and an opened breach does not close again. Spells are normally prepared only on their owner’s breaches, and each breach can hold no more than one prepared spell. When casting, first put the spell on top of the discard pile, then resolve its effect.

Aether, the market, and charges: Gems produce Aether, which the active player spends in their Main Phase to gain market cards, pay breach costs, or gain charges. Aether lasts only for that player’s current turn; unused Aether disappears at the end of the turn and cannot be saved or transferred to a teammate. A gained gem, relic, or spell normally goes on top of that player’s discard pile. Paying two Aether gains one charge, and a mage cannot hold more charges than the ability spaces on their board.

Drawing and the no-shuffle deck: During the Draw Phase, place the gems and relics played this turn on top of the discard pile in any order; cards still in hand stay there. Draw until the player has five cards. If the deck runs out, draw the remaining cards, flip the discard pile over to form a new deck, and continue. A mage’s deck is never shuffled; this rule does not apply to the turn deck or Nemesis deck, which have their own shuffle rules.

Nemesis phase: Resolve continuing effects and power counters on powers already in play; when a power’s counters reach zero, resolve its delayed effect and discard it. Then draw a Nemesis card. An attack resolves immediately and is discarded; a minion or power card resolves any “immediately” text and stays in play for later effects. If the Nemesis deck is empty when a card must be drawn, resolve Unleash three times instead of treating the empty deck alone as a win.

Exhaustion, solo play, and failure: A mage whose life reaches zero becomes exhausted but does not immediately leave a multiplayer game. Follow the exhaustion procedure: destroy one breach, discard its prepared spell, and remove charges. An exhausted mage cannot regain life; later damage to that mage is dealt to Gravehold at double value. The team loses in a multiplayer game if all mages are exhausted. In true solo play, mage exhaustion alone does not end the game; the game ends in defeat if Gravehold reaches zero life.

Victory and Expedition: The team wins if the Nemesis reaches zero life, or at the end of a turn when its deck is empty and there are no minions or powers in play. The team loses if Gravehold reaches zero, every mage is exhausted in multiplayer, or the Nemesis’s special defeat condition is met. After an Expedition victory, use its deck and guide to apply treasures, update the Barracks, and open the next encounter. Rewards belong to the campaign; they are not personal points, and the rules do not rank players or break ties.