Ashes Reborn: Red Rains – The Corpse of Viros

Expansion for Ashes Reborn: Rise of the Phoenixborn

Combines with

Ashes Reborn: Red Rains – The Corpse of Viros Rulebook

Table of Contents

Object of the Game

Ashes: Red Rains is a new players vs. enemy game mode for Ashes Reborn! Choose your Phoenixborn and face off against the resurrected threat of the Chimera, either in a solo battle or as a cooperative experience with a friend! Players use standard Ashes decks, just as they would if battling an opposing Phoenixborn, and the Chimera follows an automated system that nevertheless forces players to play creatively to outsmart their fiendish opponent. If the Chimera receives wound tokens equal to or greater than its life value, the players win the game! If any Phoenixborn receives wound tokens equal to or greater than its life value, the players lose the game.

4 returning Phoenixborn
12 new Phoenixborn unique cards
27 player cards
10 conjuration cards
6 extra player cards (Channel Magic)
1 Chimera board
6 Chimera cards (double sided)
3 behavior cards
3 Ultimate cards
36 aspect cards
1 fatigued card (double sided)
1 twelve-sided behavior die
5 six-sided rage dice
28 standard wound tokens
6 large wound tokens
18 exhaustion tokens
12 status tokens
8 Red Rains tokens

Chimera Board

Chimera Card Slot
Chimera Wound Pool
Ultimate Card Slot
Behavior Card Slot
Discard Card Slot
Draw Card Slot
Chimera Active Dice Pool a) Power Side Dice Slots b) Basic Side Dice Area

Chimera Cards

The Chimera is a shared opponent of the players and can be standard or heroic difficulty. Within that difficulty they range from levels 1 to 3, which are played against consecutively in a campaign. Standard difficulty Chimera are a good place to start, especially if you are new to Ashes. Heroic difficulty Chimera will test the skills of even the most veteran players!

Name
Type
Chimera Difficulty (Standard/Heroic) and Level (1, 2, 3)
Player Count
Threat Value: The number of aspect cards the Chimera deploys each round.
Life Value: The number of wound tokens it takes to defeat the Chimera.
Ultimate Value: The number of Red Rains tokens required for the Chimera to resolve its Ultimate card effects and progress to its next phase.
Starting Setup: The arrangement of aspect cards the Chimera will deploy for the first round of the game.

The Corpse of Viros, Level 1, Standard difficulty, is printed for one player (Threat 4, Life 30, Ultimate 3). The two-player side of the same Chimera card is printed Threat 4, Life 60, Ultimate 5.

Ultimate Cards

Ultimate cards feature powerful effects that trigger when a Chimera collects Red Rains tokens equal to its Ultimate value.

Type: Ready Spell
Phase (I, II, III)
Ultimate Effects

ULTIMATE – Ready Spell, Phase I

After placing Red Rains tokens on the Chimera, if there are Red Rains tokens equal to or greater than the Chimera's Ultimate value, resolve the following:

Remove Red Rains tokens from the Chimera equal to its Ultimate value.
Discard all cards on the Chimera's battlefield(s) that it does not own.
Deal 1 damage to all units and Phoenixborn the Chimera's opponents control.
Remove this card and the top behavior card from the game.

Note: Increase the Chimera's Ultimate value by 1 for each exhaustion token on the Chimera or this card.

Behavior Cards

Behavior cards, along with the behavior die, dictate the Chimera's actions.

Phase (I, II, III)
Behavior Die Results

BEHAVIOR – Phase I

Results are read from the behavior die. Where a row has two entries, the Power symbol entry is printed above the Basic symbol entry:

Die Result	Action
1-2	Reveal.
3-4	Attack, if able. If not, Reveal.
5-6	Reveal. Attack with revealed aspect.
7-9	Power symbol: Target opposing player must lower 2 non-basic dice in their active pool one level. Basic symbol: Reveal.
10-11	Power symbol: Raise 1 basic rage die one level. Basic symbol: Reveal.
12	Power symbol: Place 1 Red Rains token on the Chimera. Basic symbol: Reveal.

Note: Side actions on the behavior card are dice power effects.

Aspect Cards

Type: Aspect
Blood Value
Status Ability
Targeting Icon

Example: RAMPAGE (Fury Aspect, Battlefield). Rampage: At the start of the Chimera's turn, remove 1 status token from this unit to re-roll all basic rage dice. Attack 2, Life 2, Blood 1.

Fatigued Card

This card is placed under the Chimera's draw pile during setup. When the Chimera empties its draw pile (or when it empties it twice in a 2 player game), it becomes fatigued. Follow the card's instructions.

FATIGUED – Rule Card

Set this card by the Chimera, and then shuffle the Chimera's discard pile to create a new draw pile. Set all rage dice to their basic side.

The Chimera is fatigued!

When resolving effects:

The Chimera cannot draw cards.
Its draw pile is considered to be empty.
After 1 or more cards are discarded off the top of its draw pile, place 1 wound token on the Chimera for each discarded card.

Fatigued Effects
Player Count

Behavior Die, Rage Dice, and Red Rains Tokens

Behavior Die: The behavior die, along with the behavior cards, dictates the Chimera's actions.

Rage Dice: The Chimera has 5 rage dice that power up over time to generate Red Rains tokens that will eventually trigger its Ultimate effect! Each rage die has 3 power sides and 3 basic sides.

Power Symbol
Basic Symbol

Red Rains Token (see Red Rains Tokens and the Ultimate Card below).

Game Setup

First, choose whether to play a 3 game campaign or a standalone game (see Red Rains Campaign below). The campaign is the recommended experience, but players may also use any deck against the Chimera of their choice in a standalone game.

Next, set up the Chimera:

Place the Chimera card that corresponds to your selected difficulty and player count onto the Chimera board.
Create stacks of the behavior and Ultimate cards, with the phase I cards on top, followed by the phase II and phase III cards beneath them.
Set the 5 rage dice to their basic side and place them on the board. Place the behavior die nearby.
Gather 18 aspect cards. There are multiple options for this. Keep Blood 1 and Blood 2 aspects separate for now.
- Recommended: Choose all aspects of the same subtype (Fury or Shadow are included in this set).
- Custom Chimera: Choose any 9 Blood 1 and 9 Blood 2 aspects that you desire.
- Random Chimera: Shuffle a stack of Blood 1 aspects and a stack of Blood 2 aspects, then draw 9 from each stack.
Create the Chimera's starting battlefield(s) by setting up a row of random face down aspect cards facing each player in an arrangement that matches the starting setup on the Chimera card. The battlefield facing you is your opposing battlefield and aspects on that battlefield consider you their opposing player.
Shuffle the remaining aspect cards to create a face down draw pile. Place the fatigued card on the bottom of the draw pile with the 1 player or 2 player side face up, corresponding to the number of players.

Finally, players should set up as normal, following the standard rules in the Ashes Reborn rulebook. Give the first player token to any player.

The printed booklet includes a 2 Player Setup diagram showing the Chimera board, the Ultimate and Behavior cards, the 2-player Chimera card, and both players' opposing battlefields.

Aspects, Rage Dice, and Red Rains Tokens

Aspects

Aspects are a type of unit, and are considered to be all other types of unit (e.g. ally or conjuration). Each aspect has a blood value (instead of a recover value) and may have a status ability.

Blood Value: When an aspect is destroyed or discarded from the battlefield, place a number of wound tokens on the Chimera equal to its blood value.
Status Ability: This is a special type of inexhaustible ability. Aspects with a status ability come into play with status tokens on them equal to the number of pips at the top of the green box. During the recovery phase, replenish these units with status tokens up to the pip count.

Rage Dice

Whenever all rage dice are on their power side, place 1 Red Rains token on the Chimera, set all rage dice to their basic side, and if you were in the middle of raising multiple rage dice, continue doing so.
Rage dice are permanently in the Chimera's active pool. The Chimera has no exhausted dice pool, so rage dice can never be exhausted.

Red Rains Tokens and the Ultimate Card

Red Rains tokens represent the Chimera's growth in power as it prepares to progress to its next phase. They are placed when there are still aspects during the recovery phase, when raising rage dice, and as otherwise directed.

After placing Red Rains tokens, if there are Red Rains tokens equal to or greater than the Ultimate value on the Chimera card, resolve the following steps in order as they are listed on the Chimera's current Ultimate card:

Remove Red Rains tokens equal to its Ultimate value from the Chimera.
Discard all cards on the Chimera's battlefield(s) that it does not own.
Resolve the phase-specific effect printed on the Ultimate card.
Remove the topmost Ultimate card and behavior card from the game to reveal the Chimera's next phase (unless it is already at phase III). The Chimera is now stronger!
Note: Increase the Chimera's Ultimate value by 1 for each exhaustion token on the Chimera or the Ultimate card.

Round Order

Ashes: Red Rains has a similar structure to the player-vs-player experience, moving through the standard phases with slight modifications.

1. Prepare Phase

Follow the prepare phase steps as normal.

2. Player Turns Phase

Battlefield Management

When you place units on any battlefield, they must be placed to the right of all other units on that battlefield and the position of units cannot be changed relative to each other. As units leave the battlefield, slide the remaining units to the left to fill in gaps. The Chimera will attack and resolve effects based on the positions of the units, so positioning and sequencing will be a crucial skill to defeating it!

Players take a shared turn, with a main and side action each, in any order. Players are each allowed to play one reaction on each shared player turn and each Chimera turn. (Marked with the two-player icon in the printed booklet.)
Card effects may target cards on ANY battlefield, spellboard, etc. (Marked with the two-player icon in the printed booklet.)
Passing: The Red Rains halt for no one! If you take a Pass main action while there are 1 or more face down aspect cards on the opposing battlefield, the Chimera raises 1 basic rage die one level.

Attacking the Chimera

Targeting the Chimera (analogous to targeting a Phoenixborn)

Declare Attackers: Choose any number of unexhausted units you control to be attackers.
Declare Blockers: Unexhausted units with the Defender ability on the opposing battlefield block, assigning themselves from left to right against a player's line of attacking units. Each attacker is blocked by up to one Defender. Excess Defenders and Defenders on another battlefield do not block.
Resolve Battles: Resolve each battle in the order of your choice. Unblocked attackers battle the Chimera.

Targeting a Unit

You may target a unit on either of the Chimera's battlefields. (Marked with the two-player icon in the printed booklet.)

Declare Attackers: Choose one unexhausted unit you control to be the attacker.
Declare Guard: The Chimera and its Defender aspects only guard aspects.
- If there are one or more unexhausted units with the Defender ability on the same battlefield as the targeted aspect, the leftmost one which can guard the attack is declared as a guard.
- If no Defender is declared as a guard, roll the behavior die. On a result of 9+, the Chimera guards, if able. Unlike Phoenixborn, the Chimera may guard any number of times per round.
Note: The Defender ability states that the Chimera will not guard for Defender units being attacked. Since exhausted units have no ability text, the Chimera may guard for an exhausted aspect with the Defender ability, since it is currently not considered a Defender.
Resolve Battle: as normal.

Countering

Aspects always counter if unexhausted, and they do not become exhausted as a result of countering.

Blood Value

When an aspect is destroyed or discarded from the battlefield, place a number of wound tokens on the Chimera equal to its blood value.

Chimera Turn

To resolve a Chimera turn, first resolve any status (green box) abilities on aspects on its battlefield, from left to right. Then, the Chimera does one of the following, based on the game state:

Roll: If there are one or more face down aspects, the Chimera will (1) roll one basic rage die and then (2) roll the behavior die and take the action(s) indicated on the Chimera behavior card.

Note: Side actions on the behavior card are dice power effects.
Attack symbol: Attack. If there are no face down aspects, the Chimera attacks with the leftmost unit that can attack.
Pass symbol: Pass. If there are no face down aspects and no units that can attack, the Chimera passes. The player turns phase ends when the player(s) and Chimera all choose Pass on consecutive turns.

Chimera Reveals

When the Chimera Reveals, flip over the leftmost face down aspect. If the revealed aspect has a status ability, it comes into play with status tokens on it equal to the pips on the top of the green box. After revealing, resolve any abilities on that card that trigger when it comes into play (if any), targeting the opposing player.

Chimera Attacks

When the Chimera Attacks, it declares one attacker: either the specified unit or the leftmost unit that can attack.

Aspects will target the opposing player's leftmost or rightmost unit (as indicated by the Claw icon on the left or right of the card), or their Phoenixborn (as indicated by the Jaw icon in the center).

If an aspect cannot target the specified unit, it targets the next left/rightmost unit. If it cannot target any unit, it will target the Phoenixborn instead.
Non-aspect units will target the Phoenixborn.
After attacking, units will become exhausted as normal.

3. Recovery Phase

The recovery phase has a few additional steps.

Recover: as normal
Remove Exhaustion: Before removing exhaustion tokens, remove 1 Red Rains token from the Chimera for each exhaustion token on the Chimera or Ultimate cards.
Exhaust Dice: as normal
Place Red Rains: Place 1 Red Rains token on the Chimera for each aspect in play, resolving the Ultimate card, if applicable.
Replenish Aspects: Add face down aspect cards to the Chimera's battlefield(s) until each battlefield has a number of aspect cards equal to its threat value (face up or face down). (Marked with the two-player icon in the printed booklet.) Alternate between battlefields, one card at a time, starting with the battlefield opposing the First Player or the player the first player token is pointing to.
Replenish Status Tokens: For any aspects with status abilities, if they have fewer status tokens on them than there are pips on their status ability, refill their status tokens until they are equal to the number of pips.

End of Round

At the end of the round, the first player token passes between the player and the Chimera. (Marked with the two-player icon in the printed booklet, for the rule below.) When the first player token is passed to the Chimera, point it at the player who did not just have it. The Chimera will pass the first player token to that player at the end of the next round.

Winning and Losing

If the Chimera has a number of wound tokens on it equal to or greater than its life value, the player(s) win the game!
If any Phoenixborn receives wound tokens equal to or greater than its life value, the player(s) lose the game.

Laws of the Chimera

There are some effects in Ashes Reborn that do not translate directly into the Red Rains game mode. The following rules are adaptations of these effects:

Choices: If a player's effect would require the Chimera to make a choice between multiple options, that player chooses which option the Chimera selects.
Card Draw: After the Chimera draws cards from an effect, immediately discard those cards. When the Chimera is fatigued, it cannot draw cards from effects.
- e.g. Abundance draws 2 cards for the Chimera, which are immediately discarded. Once the Chimera is fatigued, Abundance instead deals 2 damage to the Chimera since it cannot draw cards.
Hand: When an effect would affect the hand of the Chimera, set aside the top 5 cards of the Chimera's draw pile (or as many as you can) to create a hand. After resolving the effect that affects the Chimera's hand, return the set aside cards to the top of the Chimera's draw pile in random order.
Blocking: If a card effect forces the Chimera to block an attacking unit and it has no eligible Defender units, it will block with the first eligible non-Defender unit, assigning from left to right. If a unit can choose its blocker, you may choose any eligible unit, including non-Defenders.
Guarding: If a player's attacking unit cannot be guarded against (such as from the Bypass or Stalk ability), the Chimera does not roll to guard. If a Defender unit cannot guard due to effects like Terrifying or Gigantic, select the leftmost Defender that can be declared as a guard, if any.
Countering: Aspects always counter if unexhausted, and they do not become exhausted as a result of countering.
Type: While playing the game, aspects are considered to be allies, conjurations, and units, and the Chimera is considered to be a player, opponent, and its own Phoenixborn.
Non-aspect units on the Chimera's battlefield: Units like Blood Puppet that can be placed onto any battlefield can always be placed onto the Chimera's battlefield. During the recovery phase, non-aspect units are not counted when adding Red Rains tokens to the Chimera or aspects to the battlefield.

Call of the Phoenix 2-Player Variant

In a two player game, players may choose to add an additional tragic element to their encounter. After defeating the Chimera (in a standalone game or all three games of a campaign), remove all Chimera components from the play area, and roll one rage die. If the result is a symbol shown in the printed booklet (rendered there as an icon on the die face), players will continue playing, as if facing each other in a regular player-vs-player Ashes game. The Phoenix calls, and only one can remain!

(If the Chimera had the first player token, give it to the player it is pointing to. Then continue from the current game state. If you are in the player turns phase, end the current turn (does not count as passing) and the First Player takes the next turn.)

New Phoenixborn Unique Cards

This expansion introduces new Phoenixborn unique cards for previously existing Phoenixborn. When constructing a deck, players may mix and match their Phoenixborn's unique cards, but cannot exceed three total. In addition, no more than one Phoenixborn unique card may be included in a player's First Five.

Red Rains Campaign

Tell the story of Argaia by choosing Phoenixborn to play through a three-encounter campaign against an increasingly difficult Chimera. Each player starts by choosing a preconstructed deck. You may customize it by (a) mixing and matching your Phoenixborn's unique cards, (b) substituting up to three copies of Channel Magic instead of cards you do not wish to use, and (c) adjusting your dice pool however you wish. When playing a heroic campaign, you may also (d) substitute up to three copies of any one card from your collection. (Your deck can never violate the deck building rules.)

Players can choose to run either a standard or heroic difficulty campaign, using the corresponding difficulty cards when setting up the Chimera. For the first encounter, use the level 1 card of the matching difficulty (standard or heroic). If you are victorious, the next encounter will be level 2. If victorious again, level 3. Defeating a level 3 Chimera will result in a campaign victory!

After each encounter, you may further customize your deck by choosing one other preconstructed deck you own and selecting up to three copies each of three different cards from that deck to build with. You may not choose a new Phoenixborn. You may adjust your dice pool freely between encounters.

Players can check off each Phoenixborn on the back of the Chimera rulebook to chronicle their victories against the Chimera.

Channel Magic

When playing a Red Rains campaign, players may choose to substitute some cards from their preconstructed deck with this spell. Channel Magic may also be used in regular Ashes gameplay. No more than three copies may be used in a player's deck.

Campaign Checklist

The printed booklet ends with a Campaign Checklist: one row per Phoenixborn portrait, each with a "Standard Victory" box and a "Heroic Victory" box to tick.