Aeon's End: War Eternal Rulebook

Table of Contents

Table of Contents

• Object of the Game
• Contents
• Component Anatomy
  • Player Mats
  • Breaches
  • Player Cards
  • Randomizer Cards
  • Nemesis Mat
  • Nemesis Cards
• Setup
  • Player Setup
  • Turn Order Deck
  • Nemesis Setup
  • Supply Setup
• Gameplay
  • Turn Order
  • Player Turn Overview
  • Player Turn: 1 – Casting Phase
  • Player Turn: 2 – Main Phase
  • Player Turn: 3 – Draw Phase
  • Nemesis Turn Overview
  • Nemesis Turn: 1 – Main Phase
  • Nemesis Turn: 2 – Draw Phase
• Exhausted
• Game Terms
• Game End
• Solo Play
• Variable Difficulty
• Nemesis Deck Construction Quick Reference
• Credits

Object of the Game

Aeon's End: War Eternal is a cooperative deck building game where your deck is never shuffled. Your goal is to defeat the nemesis before your home, Gravehold, is overrun or the players are exhausted.

Each round, the players and the nemesis will take turns in a random order. During a player's turn, they will be able to cast spells, acquire additional gems, relics, and spells from the supply, manipulate their spell casting breaches, and use their unique abilities. All four of the different nemeses included in the game are unique in the actions taken during their turns, and will require a different strategy to be defeated.

Contents

The following section introduces the game components and the game terms used with those components. Please take some time to become familiar with this section before reading the rules.

• 30 life tokens with value 1
• 15 life tokens with value 5: used to track the life of the players and minions.
• 24 charge tokens: used to fuel players' abilities.
• 8 trophy tokens: used when playing with the mage Quilius.
• 10 power tokens: used on certain nemesis cards to track the number of turns until a power resolves.
• 15 nemesis tokens: used when playing against certain nemeses.
• 2 life dials: used to track the life of Gravehold and the nemesis.
• 6 player number tokens: placed on player mats and used in conjunction with the turn order cards to determine play order.
• 86 gem cards
• 88 spell cards
• 30 relic cards
• Player cards – gems, spells, and relics: used by the players to enhance their decks.
• 27 randomizer cards: used to determine which player cards are available.
• 16 breaches: used by the players to cast their spells.
• 4 player aid cards: used for quick reference of the phases of a turn.
• 8 player mats: used for tracking the important information of each player.
• 8 sigil breaches: used when playing with the mage Dezmodia.
• 13 turn order cards: used to determine the order of play during the game.
• 4 nemesis mats: used to display the specific rules for each nemesis.
• 70 nemesis cards: used by the nemesis against the players and Gravehold.

Component Anatomy

Player Mats

1. Breach Mage Name
2. Breach Setup: The initial configuration of your breaches. Not all players have the same amount of available breaches.
3. Starting Hand: The five cards which you will have in your hand at the start of the game.
4. Starting Deck: The five cards, and the order in which they are placed in your starting deck. Place the leftmost cards at the top of your starting deck.
5. Player Number: Place your player number token here. Player number is used in conjunction with the turn order deck to determine turn order.
6. Life: Place your life tokens here.
7. Ability: Each breach mage has a unique ability. The player mat explains when that ability can be activated and what it does. Abilities can only be activated when you have a charge token on all of the spaces shown below the ability. Abilities can be used in the same turn that the last charge was gained, if applicable. Once an ability is activated, all of the charge tokens are removed.
8. Deck: Place your deck facedown here.
9. Discard: Place your discard pile faceup here.
10. Breach Mage Story: Has no effect on play. Provides further lore into the world of Aeon's End: War Eternal.

Breaches

Breaches are double-sided tokens used to prep and cast spells. A single spell may be prepped by placing a spell card from hand to an opened breach during a player's turn. On a subsequent turn, a player's prepped spells may be cast by discarding the spell card.

1. Open/Closed: One side of the token is used to indicate that the breach is open, the other indicates a closed breach.
2. Breach Number: Used primarily during setup to indicate where each breach is placed next to the player mat.
3. Open Cost: The cost, in aether, to open the breach. When a breach is opened, flip it to the opened side. Once a breach is opened, it remains opened for the rest of the game.
4. Focus Cost: The cost, in aether, to focus the breach. When a breach is focused, rotate the breach token 90° clockwise. The only time that spells can be prepped to a closed breach is during the player's turn in which that breach was focused.

You may open or focus breaches in any order. For example, you may focus breach III before breach II, or open breach IV before opening breach II or III.

5. Opened Effect: Some breaches have effects that occur when a spell is cast from that breach while it is opened.

Adjacency: Some spells may refer to adjacent breaches. Breaches are always adjacent to the one or two directly next to them physically. For example, I is adjacent to II. II is adjacent to I and III.

Player Cards

Player cards are the various cards the players can use to build their decks in order to defeat the nemesis. Each player starts with a unique hand and deck of cards. Players will gain more cards for their deck from the supply piles by spending aether.

1. Card Name
2. Type: There are three types of player cards: gems, relics, and spells.
   • Gems are played to give you aether, the main currency of the game. Aether can be spent to gain more cards, gain charges for breach mage abilities, and focus breaches. (Breaches are the conduits through which spells are cast.)
   • Relics have a variety of useful instantaneous effects.
   • Spells are the main way of dealing damage to the nemesis and his minions. Spells must be prepped to a breach (that is, the spell card must be placed on a breach token next to your player mat) before you can cast them.
3. Cost: The amount of aether you must spend to gain this card.
4. Effect: The effect you resolve when you play the card. Gems and relics have effects that are resolved immediately. Spells need to be prepped to a breach before they can be Cast. If any card contradicts this rulebook, follow the card's effect.
5. Flavor Text: Has no effect on play. Provides further lore into the world of Aeon's End: War Eternal.

Randomizer Cards

6. For each player card there is one additional copy that has a grey border. The grey-bordered cards are used during setup to randomly pick which gems, spells, and relics will be in the supply. These cards are not played with during the game.

See Setup below for more information.

Nemesis Mat

1. Nemesis Name
2. Life: Starting life of the nemesis. The nemesis's life is tracked on its life dial. If the life of the nemesis reaches zero, the players win.
3. Unleash Effect: The effect that occurs when the Unleash keyword resolves. Each nemesis has a unique Unleash ability.
4. Additional Rules: Any additional rules that pertain only to this nemesis.
5. Increased Difficulty: An optional rule which can be used to adjust difficulty. See Variable Difficulty below for further difficulty modifications.
6. Difficulty Level: How difficult this nemesis is compared to the other nemeses. The difficulty level ranges from 1 (easiest) to 10 (most challenging).
7. Nemesis Story: Has no effect on play. Provides further lore into the world of Aeon's End: War Eternal.
8. Setup: Additional information required during setup for this nemesis.

Nemesis Cards

Nemesis cards are the attacks, minions, and powers the nemesis uses against the players and Gravehold. The nemesis deck is constructed at the beginning of each game from a mixture of basic nemesis cards that can be used in any nemesis deck, and a number of unique cards that are only used with that particular nemesis. You may encounter the same nemesis many times, but it will never attack you in exactly the same way twice.

1. Card Name
2. Type: There are three types of nemesis cards: attacks, minions, and powers.
   • Attacks are resolved immediately and are then discarded.
   • Minions: Minions enter play with life tokens and stay in play until defeated. They have persistent effects which are resolved during the nemesis's main phase. If the life of a minion reaches zero, it is immediately discarded.
   • Powers: All power cards have "POWER X:" on them. When a power card enters play, place X power tokens on it. Unless discarded, power cards stay in play for X nemesis turns before resolving. During the nemesis main phase, remove one power token from every power card in play. When a power card has no tokens left, resolve its effect and then discard it.
3. Life: Minion cards have life which can be depleted by dealing it damage. If the life of a minion reaches zero, it is immediately placed in the nemesis discard pile.
4. Effect: The effect to resolve for this nemesis card.
5. TO DISCARD effect: Some power cards have a "TO DISCARD:" effect. During any player's main phase, that player may fully resolve the effect listed to discard that power card. If a power card is discarded this way, its effect will not be resolved.
6. Flavor Text: Has no effect on play. Provides further lore into the world of Aeon's End: War Eternal.
7. Nemesis: The nemesis to which the card belongs. Cards that say "Basic" may be used with any nemesis.
8. Tier: There are three tiers of nemesis cards. Tier 1 cards are less dangerous than Tier 2 cards, which are less dangerous than Tier 3 cards. Some unique nemesis cards are marked as Tier 0. These cards are covered in the additional rules section of the nemesis to which they belong.

Setup

Player Setup

1. Each player chooses a player mat and a player number token.
2. Each player builds their starting hand and deck as shown on their player mat. The cards should be in the order shown with the leftmost card(s) being the top card(s) of their deck and the rightmost card(s) being the bottom card(s) of their deck.
3. Each player receives one of each type of breach shown on their mat (I–IV as listed). Players arrange their breaches as indicated on their player mat. Some breach mages start with fewer than four breaches. Typically, the fewer breaches a mage has the more difficult they are to play.
4. Each player starts the game with 10 life. Set the Gravehold life dial to 30. The players and Gravehold can never have more than their starting life.

Starter Cards: To differentiate the starter cards from the cards used in the market, the cards used to form your initial hand and deck are denoted with an S in the lower right corner.

Player Setup Example: Abby and Bob are playing a game of Aeon's End: War Eternal. Abby is the first player and has chosen to play with Dezmodia. She sets the Dezmodia player mat in front of her on the table. She places the Player 1 token on the corresponding section of her mat. She checks her player mat to see that Dezmodia starts the game with one Oblivion Shard, two Crystals, and two Sparks in her hand. She also notices that Dezmodia starts with four Crystals and one Spark in her starting deck. Abby locates those cards and places her starting hand in front of her, and her starting deck to the left of her play mat, with the Spark on the bottom of her deck because this is listed second on the player mat. Abby grabs one of each type of breach, which are labeled I-IV. She places them above her mat and orients them so that they match what is shown at the top of her mat. The I breach is open. The II and IV breaches have the yellow section on the bottom. The III breach has the yellow section to the right.

Turn Order Deck

5. The turn order deck is always composed of four player turn order cards and two nemesis turn order cards. The player turn order cards correspond to the player number tokens.
   • For two players, place two turn order cards for each player in the deck.
   • For three players, place one turn order card for each player plus the wild turn order card in the deck. When the wild turn order card is drawn, the players decide which one of them will take that turn. The wild turn order card is a player turn order card. When an effect refers to the wild turn order card, the players choose who is affected.
   • For four players, place one turn order card in the deck for each player.
   • Regardless of the player count, add two nemesis turn order cards to the deck and shuffle it.

When the turn order deck is empty and a new turn order card must be drawn or revealed, shuffle all of the turn order cards together and place them facedown to make the turn order deck again.

Four-player variant turn order deck: If you want to play a slightly easier four-player game, you can play with the variant turn order cards. Instead of using one turn order card for each player, use the two 1/2 turn order cards and the two 3/4 turn order cards. Additionally, place the 1/2 token on the table between players 1 and 2. Repeat this for the 3/4 token. When the 1/2 turn order card is drawn and neither players 1 nor 2 have the 1/2 token, the players choose whether player 1 or player 2 takes the turn. Whichever player takes the turn also places the 1/2 turn order token on their playmat. When the 1/2 turn order card is drawn and one of the players has the 1/2 token, the other player takes that turn. Then, return the 1/2 turn order token to the table between players 1 and 2. The same rules apply to the 3/4 token and turn order cards.

Turn Order Deck Example: Abby and Bob are playing a two-player game, so they will create a turn order deck that consists of two Player 1 cards, two Player 2 cards, and two Nemesis cards.

Nemesis Setup

6. Choose a nemesis to play against, and set its nemesis mat near the players. Carefully read all of the additional rules for the chosen nemesis.
7. Set the nemesis life dial equal to the number shown on the nemesis mat. The nemesis can never have more than its starting life.

Each nemesis has a set of cards with their name written at the bottom. In addition to any specific nemesis cards, some basic cards are included in each nemesis deck.

8. The nemesis deck: The nemesis deck is comprised of between 20 and 31 cards as determined by the player count. The nemesis deck has three tiers which increase in difficulty as the game progresses and will consist of both nemesis specific and basic nemesis cards. Tiers are indicated by a 1, 2 or 3 in the bottom right of the nemesis cards. Each nemesis has nine nemesis specific cards with the name of the nemesis written at the bottom.

To build the nemesis deck:

• Locate the nine nemesis specific cards used for this game, and separate them into three piles of three cards according to the card's tier.
• Use the chart below to add basic nemesis cards to each pile based on the number of players in the game.

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

• Shuffle each pile of cards separately.
• Place the tier 3 cards on the bottom facedown, the tier 2 cards facedown on top of the tier 3 cards, and the tier 1 cards facedown on top of the tier 2 cards. Combined, these tiers form the nemesis deck.
• Do not shuffle the nemesis deck once it has been created.

9. After creating the nemesis deck, follow all setup instructions on the nemesis mat.

Tier 0: Depending on which nemesis you're playing against, there may be other cards used besides the nemesis deck. These cards are marked as tier 0. Refer to the nemesis mat for specific setup instructions.

Additional Aeon's End Sets: You can use basic nemesis cards from other Aeon's End releases when constructing the nemesis deck. It is important to note that this may cause the game to be considerably harder. For example, a nemesis deck with cards that all deal damage to Gravehold is going to be tougher than one that spreads the damage over the players and Gravehold.

Nemesis Setup Example: Abby and Bob have chosen to play against Umbra Titan. Bob finds the Umbra Titan mat and sets it on the table. He reads all of the additional rules regarding Umbra Titan. He checks the mat to see that Umbra Titan starts the game with 70 life. He grabs the nemesis life dial and sets it to 70. Bob finds the nine nemesis cards with Umbra Titan written at the bottom. He consults the chart to see what basic cards he will need for a two-player game. He finds three random tier 1 basic nemesis cards, five random tier 2 basic nemesis cards, and seven random tier 3 basic nemesis cards. Then he sorts the Umbra Titan nemesis cards into tiers. First, he shuffles the three tier 3 Umbra Titan cards into the seven tier 3 basic cards and places them facedown to start the deck. Next, he shuffles the three tier 2 Umbra Titan nemesis cards in with the five tier 2 basic cards and places those on top of the tier 3 cards. Finally, he shuffles the three tier 1 Umbra Titan cards into the three tier 1 basic cards and places those on top of the tier 2 cards. At this point, Bob will no longer shuffle the nemesis deck. He sets it beside the nemesis mat. With the nemesis deck now created, Bob checks the Umbra Titan mat for further setup instructions. The mat says, "Umbra Titan gains eight nemesis tokens." Bob grabs eight nemesis tokens and places them next to the Umbra Titan mat. (Nemesis tokens are used when playing against various nemeses.)

Supply Setup

10. The supply piles are the player cards that can be gained during the game. The supply is composed of nine supply piles. Each pile contains several copies of the same card. The players can determine these piles randomly, using the randomizer cards, or choose the cards they wish to use.

Empty Supply Piles: If a supply pile runs out, it is empty. Do not replace it.

Guidelines for Making the Supply: Choose 3 gems, 2 relics, and 4 spells. Place each card of the same name in its own separate pile, in the middle of the table.

Gems are the primary source of gaining aether. Spending aether is how you gain new cards, focus and open breaches, and gain charges.

• There are seven gem cards in each gem supply pile.

Relics have a wide variety of effects and are resolved as soon as they are played.

• There are five relic cards in each relic supply pile.

Spells are the primary source of damage to the nemesis and its minions. They must be prepped to a breach on one turn in order to be cast on a later turn.

• There are five spell cards in each spell supply pile.

Suggested Starting Supplies: Below are some suggested starting supplies for learning the game.

Suggested Supply: "Deck Destruction"

• Gems: Frozen Magmite, Scoria Slag, Erratic Ingot
• Relics: Mage's Totem, Primordial Fetish
• Spells: Jagged Lightning, Fiery Torrent, Conjure the Lost, Reduce to Ash

Suggested Supply: "Reuse Spells!"

• Gems: Volcanic Glass, Breach Ore, Bloodstone Jewel
• Relics: Cairn Compass, Vortex Gauntlet
• Spells: Thoughtform Familiar, Kindle, Nova Forge, Crystallize

Supply Setup Example: Abby and Bob choose to use the suggested starting supply, Deck Destruction, because they like the ability to make their decks more efficient through cards like Mage's Totem and Reduce to Ash.

Gameplay

Turn Order

Aeon's End: War Eternal has a variable turn order which is determined by the turn order deck. At the start of the game and after each player or nemesis turn ends, draw a card from the turn order deck to determine who takes the next turn. Place that card on the top of the turn order discard pile.

If you need to draw or reveal a card from the turn order deck and that deck is empty, shuffle the discarded turn order cards together facedown to replenish the turn order deck.

Turn Order Example: Now that Abby and Bob have the game set up, they start the game by drawing the top card of the turn order deck. The Player 1 turn order card is drawn, so Abby will take the first turn.

Player Turn Overview

1. Casting Phase — You may Cast any of your prepped spells in opened breaches. You must Cast any of your prepped spells in closed breaches. Place cast spells on top of your discard pile as they are cast.
2. Main Phase — You may resolve the following actions in any order and as many times as you want:
   1. Play a gem or relic card
   2. Gain a card
   3. Gain a charge
   4. Focus a breach
   5. Open a breach
   6. Prep a spell to a breach
   7. Resolve a "While prepped" effect
   8. Resolve a "TO DISCARD:" effect
3. Draw Phase — Place all the gems and relics that you have played this turn on the top of your discard pile in any order you choose. Draw cards from the top of your deck until you have five cards in hand.

If at any time a player's life is reduced to zero, that player is exhausted. Read the Exhausted section below for details.

Turn Order Example: On Abby's turn, she will play through the following phases in order: casting phase, main phase, and draw phase. During the casting phase, she will be able to cast spells that she prepped on a previous turn. Since it is the first turn of the game, Abby will skip this phase and move straight to the main phase.

Player Turn: 1 – Casting Phase

Cast prepped spells:

• Any spells that are prepped in an opened breach may be Cast during this phase.
• Every spell prepped in a closed breach (that is, a spell that was prepped to a focused breach in the previous turn) must be Cast now.
• You choose the order in which you Cast your spells.

When a spell is Cast:

• Discard it to the top of your discard pile immediately, then resolve the effect after the word "Cast:" on the card.
• That spell can only deal damage to a single minion or the nemesis unless otherwise specified.
• Some breaches have a "+1 damage when Cast" effect while they are opened. Any spell Cast from an open breach with this effect deals 1 additional damage, even if that spell's effect would normally not deal damage.

When you deal damage:

• To a minion, remove life tokens from that minion card equal to the damage you dealt. If a minion has no life tokens remaining, it is immediately discarded.
• To the nemesis, reduce its life total on the dial by the amount of damage you dealt. If the nemesis has zero life remaining, the players immediately win.

There are some effects in Aeon's End: War Eternal that will allow you to cast another player's prepped spells. When casting a spell other than your own, you are the "you" referred to on the spell card. You make all decisions pertaining to that spell. When that spell is discarded, it is placed on top of the discard pile of the player who had it prepped. For example: You play a Vortex Gauntlet to cast your ally's prepped Thoughtform Familiar. Thoughtform Familiar will deal 1 additional damage for each spell that you have prepped, not each spell your ally has prepped. You also choose either the nemesis or a minion to suffer Thoughtform Familiar's damage.

Casting Phase Example: For this example, we have skipped ahead a few turns in the game to a point where Bob has gained a few spells. He starts the turn with a Spark and a Jagged Lightning prepped as shown below. His Spark spell is prepped on breach I, which is opened, so he has the option of casting it now or waiting to cast it later. Jagged Lightning is prepped on a closed breach III. Since that breach is closed, Bob must cast Jagged Lightning.

Bob decides to cast Jagged Lightning first. He immediately places the Jagged Lightning in his discard pile. Then he resolves the Cast effect - dealing 3 damage to the nemesis. Bob then has the option of discarding a card in hand so that any player can focus their closed breach with the lowest focus cost.

Bob chooses to discard a Crystal in his hand, which is placed on top of the Jagged Lightning in his discard pile. Bob chooses himself as the "any player," and he focuses his closed breach with the lowest focus cost. The I and II breaches are open, so he focuses the III breach. He turns that breach 90° clockwise. (For more information about focusing breaches, read the section titled "Focus a breach.")

Finally, Bob decides not to cast the Spark prepped on an open breach. He wants to save this spell for a future turn so he can be ready if a minion shows up.

Player Turn: 2 – Main Phase

The following eight actions can be done in any order, any number of times during a player's main phase. For example, you could play a gem, gain a card, prep a spell, play another gem card, and gain another card.

1. Play a gem or relic card:

• When you play a card, you must execute all of the text on that card, if possible.
• If there is an "OR," choose exactly one of the options listed. If you can only complete one of the two options, you must choose that option.
• You may gain aether even if you choose not to spend it.
• Any aether gained on a turn that is not spent is lost. Aether does not accumulate over turns, nor can it be given to other players.
• At the end of your turn, any gem or relic cards you played are placed on top of your discard pile in any order.

Discard Order: When a spell is cast, it is immediately placed in your discard pile before resolving its effect. Cards gained are immediately placed in your discard pile. Any gem or relic cards that you play are placed in your play area. At the end of your turn, during the draw phase, played gem and relic cards will be placed in your discard pile in any order you choose.

Main Phase: Gain and Spend Aether Example: On Abby's first turn, she has one Oblivion Shard, two Crystals, and two Sparks in her hand. She plays her two Crystals to gain 2 aether. She plays her Oblivion Shard for 2 aether that cannot be used to gain a relic or spell. Abby has a total of 4 aether. She has many options as to what she can do with this aether. She chooses to spend all 4 aether to gain a Scoria Slag. She immediately places it on top of her discard pile. OR Abby could have chosen to spend her 4 aether to gain two charges. OR Alternatively, she could have spent 2 aether from her Crystals to gain a Mage's Totem, which costs 2 aether, and gain one charge with the remaining 2 aether from her Oblivion Shard.

2. Gain a card:

• You may gain a card from the supply by spending aether you have gained this turn equal to the cost shown in the upper right-hand corner of the card.
• When you gain a card, it is immediately placed on top of your discard pile.

3. Gain a charge:

• You may pay 2 aether to gain a charge.
• When you gain a charge, place a charge token on your player mat beneath the ability description.
• You may not pay aether to gain charges for your allies.
• You may not have more charges than your ability requires. The maximum charges are denoted by the number of spaces available on the player mat: 4, 5, or 6.

Important Terms

Nemesis Tier: Some effects refer to the nemesis tier. The nemesis tier is the highest number in the tier section of any nemesis card in the nemesis discard pile or in play. This is typically the tier of the last card drawn from the nemesis deck.

Link: Some spells have the Link ability. You may prep two spells with Link to the same breach. When you cast one of these spells, you do not have to cast any other spell prepped in this breach.

Revealing Cards: Whenever you reveal a card from the top of any deck, return it to the top of that deck. If you reveal more than one card, return them in any order you choose.

4. Focus a breach:

• You can focus a closed breach by paying the focus cost shown near the center of that breach token.
• When you focus a breach, rotate the breach token 90° clockwise. You may prep a spell to the focused breach this turn.
• Breaches may be focused any number of times per turn. Any number of breaches may be focused per turn. You may focus a breach without prepping a spell to it.
• A breach that has been rotated so that the yellow quadrant is at the top can be opened by an effect that would otherwise focus this breach.

5. Open a breach:

• You can open a closed breach by paying the open cost currently indicated on the top of that breach token. The open cost decreases each time you focus the breach.
• When you open a breach, flip the breach to the opened side. Opened breaches stay opened for the rest of the game. A spell can be prepped to a breach on the turn that breach is opened and any subsequent turn.

Focus or Open a Breach Example: For this example, we'll explore a few more options Abby has on her first turn. She has one Oblivion Shard, two Crystals, and two Sparks in her hand. It is her main phase. She has only one open breach, so she will need to either open or focus another breach if she wishes to prep both of her spells. Abby starts her main phase by playing her two Crystals for 2 aether and her Oblivion Shard for 2 aether. She now has three options that will allow her to prep both of her Sparks. (1) She could focus her II breach for 2 aether using the aether from her Oblivion Shard. This would leave Abby with 2 aether to gain a charge, buy a Mage's Totem, or focus her II breach a second time. (2) She could open her II breach for 4 aether. (3) She could focus her III breach for 3 aether or her IV breach for 4 aether. She decides to open her II breach (option 2). Abby flips the II breach token over to show that it is now opened. This breach will remain opened for the rest of the game. She will be able to prep spells to this breach this turn and subsequent turns without paying any further aether costs. Finally, Abby preps both of her Sparks by placing them on top of her breaches I and II. Both Spark spells will be available to Cast during her casting phase next turn.

6. Prep a spell to a breach:

• To prep a spell, play a spell card from your hand onto an opened breach or a closed breach that has been focused this turn. Only one spell may be prepped to a breach at a time. You cannot prep a spell to a breach that already has a prepped spell. You can only prep spells to your own breaches.
• Prepped spells can be Cast during the casting phase of that player's next turn.

7. Resolve a "While prepped" effect:

• You can use the effect of any of your prepped spells that have a "While prepped" effect that is specific to the main phase. Such effects may be used the same turn that the spell is prepped or any subsequent turn if the spell is still prepped.

8. Resolve a "TO DISCARD:" effect:

• Some nemesis power cards have a "TO DISCARD:" effect. During your main phase, you may fully resolve the effect listed to discard that power card. If a power card is discarded this way, its effect is not resolved.

Player Turn: 3 – Draw Phase

Once you have finished your main phase, place all of the gem and relic cards you played this turn on top of your discard pile in any order. Then, keeping all unplayed cards in hand, draw cards from the top of your deck until you have five cards in hand.

If at any time there are not enough cards in your deck to draw or reveal a card, draw/reveal as many as you can then flip over your discard pile to form a new deck and draw/reveal. At no point in the game do you shuffle your deck.

No Deck Shuffling: Unlike many other deck building games, you do not shuffle your discard pile when your deck is empty. Simply flip your discard pile over to form your deck.

Notes:

• You may not choose to discard cards during your turn. Unlike other deck builders, you do not discard your hand at the end of each turn.
• You may look through your discard pile at any time, although you may not rearrange it.
• You may not look through your deck.
• There is no maximum hand size.

Draw Phase Example: It is the end of one of Bob's turns. During his casting phase, he Cast a Jagged Lightning, which was immediately placed on top of his discard pile. While resolving the Jagged Lightning, Bob chose to discard a Crystal from his hand, which was placed on top of the Jagged Lightning. On this turn, he played a Primordial Fetish, three Crystals, and a Scoria Slag. He used the Primordial Fetish to focus his III breach. He used the 5 from the Scoria Slag and the Crystals to gain a Fiery Torrent. When he gained the Fiery Torrent, he placed it directly on top of the Crystal in his discard pile. Bob is now done with his main phase. At the start of his draw phase, he places the Primordial Fetish, the Crystals, and the Scoria Slag on top of his discard pile in any order. Bob chooses to place the Primordial Fetish first, then the Scoria Slag, and finally all of the Crystals. Next, Bob draws cards from the top of his deck until he has five cards in hand. His deck only has two cards in it. Bob draws those two and then, without shuffling, flips his discard pile over to form his new deck. He then draws three more cards so that he has five cards in hand.

Nemesis Turn Overview

1. Main phase — From oldest to newest, resolve the effects of each minion and power card the nemesis has in play.
2. Draw phase — Draw a card from the nemesis deck.
   • If it is an attack card, resolve its effect immediately.
   • If it is a minion card or power card, place it into play with the appropriate number of life or power tokens. Resolve any effects following "IMMEDIATELY:" on the card. The rest of its effects will not be resolved this turn.

If at any time a player's life is reduced to zero, that player is exhausted. Read the Exhausted section below for details.

Nemesis Main Phase Example: For this example, we'll fast forward a few rounds into the game. The nemesis turn order card has been drawn. Gate Witch starts its turn with one Nemesis token. It has Catacomb Drone, Planar Collision with one power token, and Paradox Beast in play. Those cards came into play in that order, so Abby and Bob will resolve them in that order.

1. First, Catacomb Drone's persistent effect is "Unleash. Gravehold suffers 1 damage." Each nemesis has a unique "Unleash" effect listed on its nemesis mat. Gate Witch's Unleash effect is "Gate Witch gains one nemesis token." Bob adds another Nemesis token to Gate Witch, for a total of two Nemesis tokens. Catacomb Drone also causes Gravehold to suffer 1 damage. Abby adjusts Gravehold's life from 30 to 29.
2. Next, they remove one power token from the power card Planar Collision. There are no power tokens remaining on that card, so it resolves. Planar Collision's effect is "Unleash twice." The nemesis's Unleash effect resolves twice, so the players add two nemesis tokens to Gate Witch for a total of four. Planar Collision is discarded.
3. Finally, they resolve Paradox Beast. Paradox Beast's persistent effect is "Gravehold suffers damage equal to the number of Nemesis tokens Gate Witch has." Gate Witch has four Nemesis tokens, so Paradox Beast causes Gravehold to suffer 4 damage. Abby adjusts the Gravehold life dial down by 4, from 29 to 25.

Nemesis Turn: 1 – Main Phase

Starting with the minion card or power card that has been in play the longest, the players will resolve the effects of each minion card and power card in play.

• PERSISTENT effects are resolved now.
• Each power card in play will lose 1 power token. After removing a token, if a power card has no tokens on it, resolve the effect that is shown after "POWER X:" and discard it from play.

Nemesis Turn: 2 – Draw Phase

Draw a nemesis card:

• If the nemesis deck is empty and the nemesis would draw a card, instead Unleash three times.

If the drawn card type is:

• Attack card — Resolve the card's effect immediately in the order that it appears on the card. Then, place the card in the nemesis's discard pile.
• Minion card — Resolve any effect that follows the word "IMMEDIATELY:." Then place the minion card into play with the number of life tokens indicated on the card.
• Power card — Resolve any effect that follows the word "IMMEDIATELY:." Then place the power card into play with a number of power tokens as indicated on the card.

When resolving card effects:

• When resolving an effect that cannot be fully completed, resolve as much as possible. If you are given an option between two effects, you must choose an option you can fully resolve.
• Persistent and power effects only occur during the nemesis's main phase. These effects are ignored for newly placed minion and power cards until the nemesis's next turn.

Ambiguity: Nemesis cards may have ambiguous situations where it's not clear what or whom should be affected. In these cases the players make that determination. For example, if you are resolving a nemesis card that makes the player with the lowest life suffer damage and two players are tied for having the lowest life, the players decide who suffers the damage. Another card may have the player with the most charges suffer damage when no players have any charges. In this case also, the players choose who will suffer the damage. If a nemesis card forces you to resolve an effect that cannot be fully resolved, resolve as much of that effect as possible. For example, if a nemesis card says "Any player destroys five cards in hand," and no player has five or more cards, then the player with the most cards in hand must destroy all of their cards in hand.

Nemesis Draw Phase Examples: After fully resolving the nemesis main phase, Abby and Bob proceed to the nemesis draw phase. During this phase, they will draw a card from the nemesis deck and resolve it. Here are examples of the three types of nemesis cards, along with how they would be resolved.

Attack Card Example: In this example, Abby and Bob draw Smite, an attack card, from Gate Witch's nemesis deck. Attack cards resolve immediately. Smite's effect is "Unleash twice. Gravehold suffers 2 damage." Gate Witch's Unleash effect is "Gate Witch gains one nemesis token." Abby adds two Nemesis tokens to Gate Witch. Then, Bob adjusts Gravehold's life dial down 2 life from 25 to 23. Finally, Smite is discarded to the nemesis discard pile.

Minion Card Example: In this example, Abby and Bob draw Mage Ender, a minion card, from Gate Witch's nemesis deck. Mage Ender is a minion with no immediate effect, so it is placed into play. It has 9 life, so Abby and Bob place a 5 life token and four 1 life tokens on it. They also read Mage Ender's persistent effect so they know what will happen during the next nemesis main phase. This effect doesn't resolve this turn because persistent effects are only resolved during the nemesis main phase, which has already passed.

Power Card Example: In this example, Abby and Bob draw Morbid Gyre, a power card, from Gate Witch's nemesis deck. Since Morbid Gyre is a power card, it is placed directly into play. It has a power of 1. Therefore, Abby and Bob place one power token on it. It has no immediate effect, so there is nothing else that Abby and Bob have to resolve this turn. They read the card's effect so they know what it will do when it resolves. Power tokens are removed and powers resolve during the nemesis main phase – neither of these actions will happen this turn as the nemesis main phase has already passed. Morbid Gyre has a "TO DISCARD:" effect. Any player may resolve the effect listed here during their main phase to discard that power card.

Exhausted

If a player's life is reduced to zero, that player is exhausted. Resolve the following effects in order.

• Resolve the nemesis's Unleash effect twice. If a player becomes exhausted during the nemesis Unleash effect, finish resolving the Unleash effect before that player resolves the effects of becoming exhausted.
• The exhausted player destroys one of their breaches, discarding any spell prepped in that breach. Destroyed breaches can be returned to the box – there is no way to regain a destroyed breach. The remaining breaches stay in their current positions.
• The exhausted player discards all of their charge tokens.

The exhausted player continues to participate in the game as usual with the following exceptions:

• Exhausted players cannot gain life.
• When a card deals damage to the player with the lowest life, it always deals that damage to the non-exhausted player with the lowest current life.
• When an exhausted player suffers damage, instead deal twice that amount of damage to Gravehold. This includes excess damage when a player initially becomes exhausted.

If all players become exhausted, the game ends immediately and the players lose.

Exhausted Example: Later in the game during the Nemesis draw phase, Banish is drawn and its effect (Unleash twice. The player with the most prepped spells suffers 1 damage for each of their prepped spells.) is resolved. First, Gate Witch gains two nemesis tokens, and now has three. Then: (1) Abby has 3 spells prepped, which is more than Bob, so she will suffer 3 damage. She only has 2 life left. The first 2 damage she suffers causes her to become exhausted. As a result of being exhausted, she resolves these steps: (2) Resolves Gate Witch's Unleash effect twice. Gate Witch gains two Nemesis tokens, bringing it to five nemesis tokens. (3) Destroys her IV breach and discards the spell that was prepped on it. (4) Discards all her charge tokens. (5) The remaining 1 damage is doubled and suffered by Gravehold. She adjusts the Gravehold life dial down from 23 to 21.

Game Terms

Ally: An ally is any player other than you.

Destroy: Cards which are destroyed are permanently removed from the game and are not used or interacted with in any way once they are destroyed.

"OR" effects: When a card gives two options separated by an "OR", you may choose either option, unless you cannot fully resolve one of them. In that case, you must choose the effect that you can fully resolve.

"To Discard:" Some nemesis power cards have "TO DISCARD:" effects on them. During a player's main phase, that player may resolve the text following "TO DISCARD:" to discard that power card from play. If a player does discard a power card this way, that card has no effect.

Unleash: Some nemesis cards will say "Unleash." Each nemesis has a unique effect that is resolved when this happens. This effect is listed on each nemesis mat.

Game End

The game ends when any of the following conditions are met.

The players are victorious if either of the following conditions is true:

• The nemesis has no cards in its deck and no minions or powers in play at the end of any turn.
• The nemesis has 0 life.

The players lose if any of the following conditions are true:

• All the players are exhausted (have 0 life).
• Gravehold has 0 life.

In addition, a nemesis may have a specific victory condition listed on the nemesis mat that causes the players to lose immediately.

Solo Play

You can play solo as multiple separate mages where you control all of those mages. If you choose to play like this, just follow the rules as normal for the player count related to the number of mages you chose to play. It is recommended that you don't play with more than two mages.

To play a true solo experience, consult the chart for constructing the nemesis deck (see Nemesis Setup above). Create the turn order deck to contain three player turn order cards and two nemesis turn order cards. When any of the player turn order cards are drawn, the solo player takes a turn.

In solo play, you are your own ally. For example, if a card gives a charge to an ally, you instead gain that charge yourself. If an effect affects you and another player, you resolve that effect twice.

You don't lose the game when you are exhausted. Instead, you lose the game when Gravehold has 0 life. Otherwise, play the game as normal.

Here are a few extra ways you can adjust the difficulty of playing solo with only one mage to make it a little easier:

• Play with four player turn order cards.
• Start the game with 12 or 15 life.

Variable Difficulty

Aeon's End: War Eternal has adjustable difficulty. Play the nemesis mat as written to play in normal mode. To adjust the difficulty, follow the rules below:

Beginner

• Each player starts the game with 12 life (2 more).
• Gravehold starts with 35 life (5 more).
• The nemesis starts with 10 less life.

Expert

• Use the Increased Difficulty rules shown on the nemesis mat. These rules may affect Setup, Unleash, or the Additional Rules section of that nemesis.

Extinction

• Use the Increased Difficulty rules.
• Also, each player starts the game with 8 life (2 less).
• Gravehold starts with 25 life (5 less).
• The nemesis starts with 10 more life.

Nemesis Deck Construction Quick Reference

• Separate the nine nemesis specific cards into three piles based on tier. Then use the chart below to add basic nemesis cards to each pile based on the number of players in the game.

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

Credits

Game Design - Kevin Riley Game Development - Nick Little, Travis R. Chance, and Jenny Iglesias Art - Gong Studios Art Direction - Travis R. Chance Graphic Design - Daniel Solis, Scott Hartman, and Stephanie Gustafsson Editor - Rachael Mortimer

© 2017 Lone Oak Games. Oakland, CA 94610. All rights reserved.