Aeon’s End: War Eternal
2017
War Eternal is a thrilling standalone game compatible with Aeon's End. With unique abilities, powerful spells, and dynamic characters, players strive to defend Gravehold from The Nameless. Experience a game like no other with innovative mechanisms and strategic deck management!
60
minutes
1 - 4
player(s)
14+
Medium
About the game
Aeon’s End: War Eternal is a captivating cooperative deck-building game that takes you into a fascinating world of magical warfare and strategic battles. Set in the post-apocalyptic land of Gravehold, you and your fellow players are the last bastions of humanity, standing against the unending onslaught of The Nameless.
The game is set in a distinctively immersive universe, teeming with lore and depth. Players take on the roles of unique characters called Breach Mages, each with their own special abilities, strengths, and weaknesses. The objective is to defend the fading light of Gravehold from the ceaseless waves of The Nameless, a horde of monstrous entities set on annihilating the last remnants of human civilization.
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Setup and rules summary
Game flow Round and round we go
Aeon’s End: War Eternal is a cooperative deck-building game where players work together to defend their city from The Nameless. The game structure is divided mainly into two phases: The Player Turns Phase and The Nemesis Turns Phase. Each phase consists of specific actions that players must perform.
The Player Turns Phase
The Player Turns Phase is where players coordinate their efforts to defeat The Nameless. This phase is further divided into four steps:
- Cast Phase: Players may cast any prepped spells from their opened or closed breaches. This is optional, and a player may choose to leave a spell prepped for a future turn.
- Main Phase: Players can perform any number of actions in any order. They can gain a card, focus or open a breach, prep a spell, or play a gem or relic card.
- End of Turn: Players place any cards they played this turn into their discard pile. They also place any remaining cards in hand on top of the discard pile in any order.
- Draw Phase: Players draw cards up to their maximum hand size, usually five cards. If the player’s deck is empty, they shuffle their discard pile to form a new deck.
The Nemesis Turns Phase
The Nemesis Turns Phase is where The Nameless strikes back at the players. This phase consists of three steps:
- Main Phase: Draw the top card of the Nemesis deck and resolve it. If it’s an attack card, follow its instructions and then place it in the Nemesis discard pile. If it’s a minion or power card, place it in the Nemesis play area.
- Nemesis Action Phase: Resolve actions on any minions or power cards in play. For minions, apply their persistent effects. For power cards, remove a power token and apply the effect if there are no more power tokens.
- End of Turn: If there are no cards in the Nemesis deck, shuffle the Nemesis discard pile to form a new deck. If the nemesis deck is empty and there are no cards in the Nemesis play area, the Nemesis does not take a turn.
These phases continue in a cycle until either the players have defeated The Nameless, all players have been exhausted, or the Nemesis deck is depleted and there are no more Nemesis cards in play.
End of the game All good games must come to an end
The game of ‘Aeon’s End: War Eternal’ ends when either the players or the Nemesis achieve their respective victory conditions. The players and the Nemesis are essentially in a race to meet these conditions before the other does.
Player Victory Conditions:
Players achieve victory by depleting the Nemesis deck and then reducing the Nemesis life to zero. Once the Nemesis deck is depleted, players are still required to reduce the Nemesis life to zero before claiming victory.
Here are the steps players must take to achieve victory:
- Players must first focus on surviving the onslaught of the Nemesis by managing their health and resources effectively.
- Players need to deplete the Nemesis deck. This is done by surviving the rounds and exhausting the cards of the Nemesis.
- Once the Nemesis deck is depleted, players must then focus their resources on reducing the Nemesis life to zero. Players can do this by casting spells, using gems or relics, or using their special abilities.
Nemesis Victory Conditions:
The Nemesis wins the game if any of the following conditions are met:
- All players are exhausted (i.e., their life points are reduced to zero).
- The Gravehold is destroyed (i.e., its life points are reduced to zero).
It’s important to note that unlike players, the Nemesis does not need to deplete the player deck before it can win. It simply needs to reduce the life points of all players or the Gravehold to zero.
As soon as either the players or the Nemesis meet their victory conditions, the game immediately ends, and no final scoring is required. In ‘Aeon’s End: War Eternal’, victory is determined solely by survival; there are no points to be calculated or compared.
Scoring Did you outsmart your rivals?
Aeon’s End: War Eternal is a cooperative deck-building game where the goal is not to accumulate points, but to defeat the nemesis before Gravehold is destroyed. The game does not employ a traditional point-scoring system. Instead, players win by depleting the nemesis’s life to zero while keeping their own city, Gravehold, from being destroyed.
However, if you would like to introduce a scoring system to rate the performance of your team, you could consider the following factors:
- Nemesis life points: Award one point for each life point reduced from the nemesis’s total.
- Gravehold life points: Add the remaining life points of Gravehold to the score.
- Player life points: Add the remaining life points of all players to the score.
- Turns taken: Subtract one point for each turn taken to defeat the nemesis. This rewards efficient play.
After tallying these points, the team with the highest score is the winner.
For tie-breaking rules, consider the following:
- If two or more teams have the same score, the team that ended the game (i.e., dealt the final blow to the nemesis) is the winner.
- If there is still a tie, the team with the most remaining player life points wins.
- If there is still a tie, the team with the most remaining Gravehold life points wins.
Please remember that these scoring and tie-breaking rules are not official and are simply suggestions for those who wish to introduce competitive elements into the game.
Particular Cases and Exceptions Wait… is that legal?
Aeon’s End: War Eternal is a cooperative deck-building game where players strive to defend the last city, Gravehold, from the monstrous nemeses. However, there are some special rules, exceptions, and rule clarifications that players should be aware of:
1. Turn Order: Unlike most deck-building games, the turn order in Aeon’s End: War Eternal is not set. Instead, the turn order is determined by a turn order deck. This introduces an element of uncertainty as to who will act next — be it a player or a Nemesis.
2. No Shuffling: In a unique twist, players do not shuffle their deck when it runs out. Instead, the discard pile is simply flipped over to form a new deck. This allows strategic deck manipulation as the order in which cards are discarded can influence future hands.
Exception: Abilities or game effects that instruct you to shuffle your deck are the only circumstances where shuffling is allowed.
3. Casting Spells: Spells in Aeon’s End: War Eternal are not cast immediately. Instead, they are prepped to breaches during a player’s turn and can only be cast on a subsequent turn. This necessitates forward-thinking and strategic planning.
Clarification: Spells prepped to open breaches can be cast in any order. However, spells prepped to a closed breach must be cast in the order they were prepped.
4. Nemesis Actions: The Nemesis deck contains both attack and power cards. When a power card is drawn, it is placed in the Nemesis play area with a number of power tokens on it. Each Nemesis turn, one power token is removed. When there are no power tokens left, the power card is activated.
Exception: If a power card requires more power tokens than the supply has available, place as many as possible on the card. The power card will still activate when all tokens have been removed, even if it didn’t start with the full amount.
5. Player Elimination: In Aeon’s End: War Eternal, player elimination does not mean the end of the game. If a player’s health reaches zero, their turns are skipped for the rest of the game, but the remaining players continue to fight against the Nemesis.
Clarification: If all players are eliminated, the Nemesis wins. However, if the Nemesis is defeated before all players are eliminated, the players win, regardless of how many are left.