Aeon's End: Outcasts Rulebook

Table of Contents

Objective
Components
Component Structure
Setup
Gameplay
Game Terms
End of Game
Solo Mode

Objective

Aeon's End: Outcasts is a cooperative deck-building game in which your deck is never shuffled. Your goal is to defeat the Nemesis before your home, Gravehold, is destroyed, or all players become Exhausted.

Each round, players and the Nemesis take turns in a random order. During a player's turn, that player will cast Spells, acquire additional Gems, Relics, and Spells from the Supply, and use their unique abilities. Every Nemesis in the game is unique in its actions, and players will need to use different strategies to defeat each one.

Components

35 Health tokens valued at "1" and 30 Health tokens valued at "5": used to track the Health of players and Minions.
32 Charge tokens: used to fuel players' abilities.
4 Maw tokens: used in games against the Experiment 153 Nemesis.
10 Power tokens: used on certain Nemesis cards to track how many turns remain until their Power resolves.
2 dials: used to track Gravehold's Life and the Nemesis's Health.
7 numbered player tokens: placed on player mats and used to determine turn order.
Player cards: divided into stacks 1a, 1b, 1c, 1d, 2a, 2b, 3a, 3b, 4, and END.
4 reference cards
4 player mats: used by each player to track important information.
16 Breaches: used by players to cast Spells.
13 Turn Order cards: used to determine turn order during a game.
5 Sigil tokens (used when playing the Z'hana hero) and 1 Barrier token (used when playing the Taqren hero).
1 Nemesis board: used to keep track of specific Nemesis traits.
7 envelopes: contain the mage and Nemesis mats that will be opened gradually over the course of the Expedition. They are labeled: 1d, 2a, 2b, 3a, 3b, 4, and END.
1 story booklet: follow its instructions when you begin a game.

Component Structure

Player Mat

Mage Name
Breach Setup: the starting configuration of your Breaches (it isn't the same for every mage).
Starting Hand: the five cards you begin the game with in your hand.
Starting Deck: the five cards, and the order they're arranged in, that make up your starting deck.
Player Number: place your numbered player token here.
Health: place your Health tokens here.
Ability: every mage has a unique ability. The mat shows when it can be activated and what happens when it is. Abilities can only be activated if you have all of the required Charge tokens (in the indicated spaces below the ability). When the ability is activated, all Charge tokens are removed from the mat.
Deck: place your deck here (face down).
Discard Pile: place your discard pile here (face up).
Mage History: has no game effect.
Additional Rules: some mages have additional cards or unique Breaches, noted in this section.
Difficulty Rating: shows how difficult it is to play this mage.

Breaches

Breaches are two-sided tiles used to prep and cast Spells. Only one Spell per turn may be played from hand to a given Breach tile to be prepped. Starting on the turn after it was prepped, that Spell can be cast (after which it goes to the discard pile).

Open/Closed: one side of the tile indicates that the Breach is open, the other indicates that it is closed.
Breach Number: used during setup, and helps with placing these tiles next to the player mat.
Opening Cost: the cost (in units of Aether) to open the Breach. After paying it, flip the tile to its "open" side (the Breach remains open for the rest of the game).
Focusing Cost: the cost (in units of Aether) to focus the Breach (rotate the tile 90° in the indicated direction). You may open or focus your Breaches in any order. For example, you may focus Breach III before Breach II, or open Breach IV before Breach II or III.
Opening Effect: some open Breaches have effects that trigger whenever a Spell is cast from them.

Adjacent cards

Some Spells may reference adjacent Breaches. Strictly speaking, Breaches are always adjacent to one or two other Breaches. For example: Breach I is adjacent to Breach II, which in turn is adjacent to both Breach I and Breach III.

Player Cards

Player cards are the various cards players use to build their deck in order to defeat the Nemesis. Each player begins with a unique hand and deck of cards. Players will acquire more and more cards from the shared Supply into their deck, spending Aether to do so.

Cost: the amount of Aether you must spend to acquire this card.
Card Name
Effect: the effect you resolve when you play the card. Gems and Relics have effects that resolve immediately, while Spells must first be "prepped" before they can be cast. If a card's text contradicts the rules, follow the card's text.
Type: there are three types of player cards: Gems, Relics, and Spells.
- Gems are played to give you Aether — the main in-game currency, which can be spent to acquire cards, to acquire Charges to activate a mage's ability, and to focus/open Breaches (a kind of "tunnel" through which Spells are cast).
- Relics have a wide variety of useful, immediate effects.
- Spells are the main way to damage the Nemesis and its Minions. Spells must first be "prepped" (that is, played to a Breach tile next to your player mat) before they're able to deal damage to enemies (that is, before their effect can be resolved).
Flavor Text: has no game effect, but immerses you in the lore of the New Age.
Card Number: indicates which deck the card belongs to.

Expedition Deck Cards

The Expedition deck contains story cards that tell the story of the New Age. The cards in this deck are arranged in a specific order — do not look through or shuffle them. This deck of cards should be kept in the game box until it's needed. For more information about the Expedition deck, refer to the back of the first-game setup insert.

Title
Story Section: a short passage of the story.
Instructions: explains which decks to open, which cards to banish, and about stickers.
Card Number: the cards in the Expedition deck are arranged in a specific order (the back of the highest-numbered card is the bottom card of the deck) — do not look through or shuffle them.

Nemesis Cards

Nemesis cards are the Attacks, Minions, and Powers that the Nemesis unleashes against the players and Gravehold. The Nemesis deck, assembled at the start of every game, consists of Basic Nemesis cards (usable in any Nemesis's deck) and unique cards (usable only with a specific Nemesis). You may face the same Nemesis many times, but the encounter will never play out exactly the same way twice.

Card Name
Type: there are three types of Nemesis cards: Attacks, Minions, and Powers.
- Attacks resolve immediately and then go to the discard pile.
- Minions have their own Health total and remain in play until defeated. They have persistent effects that resolve during the Nemesis's Main Phase. If a Minion's Health reaches zero, it is discarded immediately.
- Powers: these cards bear the marking "POWER X". When such a card enters play, place X Power tokens on it, and it remains in play until they've all been removed (one per Nemesis turn). When the last token is removed, resolve its effect, then discard it.
Health: this stat appears on Minion cards, and when it's depleted (reaches 0), the Minion is defeated (the card moves to the discard pile). A Minion's Health can never exceed its starting value.
Effect: the effect that triggers when this Nemesis card resolves.
TO DISCARD: effect: some Power cards have this effect. During any player's Main Phase, the active player may fully resolve this effect to discard that card (preventing its negative effect from triggering).
Nemesis Indicator: shows which deck the card belongs to. "Basic" cards are included in every Nemesis's deck.
Tier: there are three Tiers of Nemesis cards. Tier 1 cards are less dangerous than Tier 2 cards, which in turn are less dangerous than Tier 3 cards. Some unique Nemesis cards have a Tier of "0". How such cards are used is described on the Nemesis board of the deck they belong to.
Card Number: indicates which deck the card belongs to.

Nemesis Board

Nemesis Name
Health: the Nemesis's starting Health, tracked on a dial. If the Nemesis's Health reaches zero, the players win.
Unleash Effect: unique to each Nemesis, and takes effect whenever the "Unleash" keyword is resolved.
Additional Rules: special rules that apply only to this Nemesis.
Difficulty Increase: additional conditions that can be used to vary the difficulty of a game.
Difficulty Rating: compares Nemeses against each other on a scale from 1 (easy) to 10 (very difficult).
Setup Instructions: additional conditions to account for during setup.
Nemesis Lore Text: has no game effect, but immerses you in the lore of the New Age.

Setup

Player Setup

Before reading this rulebook, you should first read the first-game setup insert. After that, you can jump straight to the Turn Order Deck section (TOD, see below).

Each player:

Chooses a player mat and one numbered token.
Assembles their starting hand and deck according to the instructions on their mat, with the cards in the indicated sequence (cards listed to the left should be stacked above those listed to the right).
Takes and correctly places one Breach tile of each type indicated on their mat.
Begins the game with 10 Health. Set Gravehold's dial to 30. Neither players' Health nor Gravehold's Life can ever exceed their starting values.

Turn Order Deck (TOD)

This deck always consists of 4 player Turn Order cards (matching their tokens) and 2 Nemesis Turn Order cards.
- In a two-player game, place two Turn Order cards for each player into the TOD.
- In a three-player game, place one Turn Order card for each player into the TOD, plus a "Wild" Turn Order card (this is a player-turn card). Before the game, give any player the "Wild" token. When the Wild card is revealed, the holder of the token takes the turn, then passes it to the player on their left. When an effect refers to the "Wild" card, it applies to whoever holds the Wild token.
- In a four-player game, place two of the ½ and ¾ cards into the TOD. When one of these cards is revealed and neither of the corresponding players holds a token, one of the two players takes the turn. That player then places the corresponding token on their mat. The next time that card comes up, the other player from that pair takes the turn instead, and the token returns to the table.
- Regardless of player count, add two Nemesis Turn Order cards to the TOD, and shuffle it.

Whenever the TOD runs out and a turn still needs to be taken or the next turn's card needs to be checked, shuffle all of the Turn Order cards together (face down) to form a new TOD.

Turn Order Deck (TOD) example

(5) Abby and Bob are playing a two-player game, so their TOD consists of: two "Player 1" cards, two "Player 2" cards, and two Nemesis cards.

Treasures

At the end of every game you will receive new Treasure cards. Special setup is required for Treasures starting after Battle 1:

Tier 1: for Battles 2–4, each player chooses a Tier 1 Treasure from the Barracks to use for that game. If you choose a Tier 1 Treasure that is a Gem, replace the Crystal in your starting deck with that Treasure, if possible. Otherwise replace a Spark. If you choose a Tier 1 Treasure that is a Spell, replace a Spark in your starting deck with that Treasure, if possible. Otherwise replace the Crystal.
Tier 2: for Battles 3–4, players also choose a Tier 2 Treasure from the Barracks to use for that game. Tier 2 Treasures are shared, and don't belong to any specific player. During the game, any player may use a shared Treasure.
Tier 3: for Battle 4, each player chooses a Tier 3 Treasure from the Barracks to use for that game, and places it on their player mat. A Tier 3 Treasure can only be used by the player who chose it.

Nemesis Setup

Choose a Nemesis, and place its board next to the players, reading all of the instructions on it carefully.
Set the Nemesis's Health dial (shown on the board). This value can never exceed its starting value.

For every Nemesis there is a set of 9 cards bearing its name (in the lower-left corner). Basic cards are also included in the Nemesis deck alongside these cards.

Nemesis Deck:

The Nemesis deck includes between 20 and 31 cards, depending on the number of players. Nemesis deck cards have one of three Tiers (marked "1", "2", and "3" in the lower-right corner of the card), with increasing difficulty.

Assembling the Nemesis deck:

Divide the 9 cards of the chosen Nemesis into three stacks according to their Tier.
The table below shows how many Basic cards of each Tier to add to each stack, depending on the number of players in the game. Over the course of your first Expedition, you will receive Upgraded Basic Nemesis cards, marked "Upgraded-Basic" at the bottom. Be sure to include all such cards, and only then add standard Basic Nemesis cards. In solo mode, never add more than one Upgraded Tier 1 card or more than three Upgraded Tier 2 cards. At the end of your first Expedition, you will receive instructions on how to include Upgraded Basic Nemesis cards in future Expeditions.

Basic Nemesis cards	1 player	2 players	3 players	4 players
Tier "1"	1	3	5	8
Tier "2"	3	5	6	7
Tier "3"	7	7	7	7

Shuffle each stack separately.
Assemble the Nemesis deck by stacking these piles (face down) on top of each other so that the Tier 3 stack is at the bottom, the Tier 2 stack is above it, and the Tier 1 stack is on top.
Do not shuffle the Nemesis deck once it has been assembled.

After building the Nemesis deck, carry out all of the setup instructions given on the Nemesis board.

Nemesis setup example

Abby and Bob lost their first game against Experiment 153 and decided to play again, preparing according to the rulebook.

(6) Bob refreshes his memory by reading both sides of the Experiment 153 board.

(7) Bob sets the Nemesis's Health dial to "45".

(8) Bob counts out the 9 Nemesis cards marked "Experiment 153" (at the bottom of the card), and, according to the table above, adds randomly-chosen Nemesis cards: 3 random Tier "1" cards, 5 random Tier "2" cards, and 7 random Tier "3" cards.

He then sorts the cards by Tier and shuffles each stack separately: first he shuffles the 3 Experiment 153 Tier "3" cards together with the 7 Basic cards of the same Tier, and places the resulting stack face down as the base of the Nemesis deck. He then does the same with the Tier "2" cards (2 Experiment 153 cards + 5 Basic), placing the resulting stack on top of the Tier "3" cards. Finally, he shuffles the Tier "1" cards (3 Experiment 153 cards + 3 Basic) and places the resulting stack on top of the Tier "2" cards. He has now formed the Nemesis deck, which is no longer shuffled and is placed next to its board.

(9) Now that the Nemesis deck has been assembled, Bob checks the Experiment 153 board for further instructions, which read: "Place the Growth board next to this board. Place 4 Maw tokens on the starting spaces. Advance any 2 of them 1 space forward. Experiment 153 does not use a dial to track its Health. Instead, set each of its Maws to 20 Health." Bob does so.

Curse Deck

In Outcasts, there is a Curse deck, placed face down next to the Nemesis deck. Cards in the Nemesis deck may reference cards in the Curse deck. When a player is told to take a card from the Curse deck, they find the corresponding card in the deck and take it.

Supply Setup

Supply piles are the player cards that may be acquired during the game. The Supply consists of 9 piles, each containing several copies of the same card. Players build the Supply from 9 player cards, using player cards from their Barracks. Banish (remove from the Expedition) all player cards that were not used to set up the Supply.

Empty Supply piles

If a Supply pile runs out, it's considered empty. Do not replace it with another pile.

Supply Recommendations

Choose 3 different Gems (we recommend that at least one of them cost 3), 2 Relics, and 4 Spells, and place these piles in the middle of the table.

Gems (7 cards per pile) are the main source of Aether, which you spend to acquire new cards, focus and open Breaches, or acquire Charge tokens.
Relics (5 cards per pile) have a wide range of effects that resolve when the card is played.
Spells (5 cards per pile) are the main source of damage to the Nemesis and its Minions. They must be "prepped" on a Breach during one turn before they can be used on a later turn.

Gameplay

Turn Order

In Aeon's End, turn order "floats" and is determined by the Turn Order Deck (TOD). From the very start of the game onward, whenever a player's or the Nemesis's turn ends, a card is drawn from the TOD to determine whose turn comes next. Place that card on top of the corresponding discard pile.

Whenever the TOD runs out and a turn still needs to be taken or the next turn's card needs to be checked, shuffle all of the Turn Order cards together (face down) to form a new TOD.

Turn order example

Now that Abby and Bob have finished setting up, they reveal the top card of the TOD. It's a "Player 1" card, which means Abby takes the first turn.

On her turn, she goes through phases in the following order: Casting Phase, Main Phase, and Draw Phase. During the Casting Phase, she'll be able to cast any Spells she had previously prepped. Since this is the first turn of the game, Abby skips this phase and moves straight to the Main Phase.

Simultaneous effects

When effects from two sources (cards, mats) must trigger at the same time, players decide in which order to resolve them.

Player Turn

Casting Phase

You may cast any of your previously-prepped Spells from open Breaches. You must cast any of your previously-prepped Spells from closed Breaches. Place Spell cards on top of your discard pile immediately after casting them.

Main Phase

You may take the following actions in any order, and as many times as you like:

Play Gem or Relic cards
Acquire a card
Acquire a Charge
Focus a Breach
Open a Breach
Prep a Spell on a Breach
Resolve a "While prepped" effect
Resolve a "TO DISCARD:" effect
Draw Phase

Place all of the Gem and Relic cards you played this turn on top of your discard pile, in any order you choose. Then, keeping any unplayed cards in hand, draw cards from the top of your deck until you have five cards in hand.

If your deck runs out and you don't have enough cards to draw (or to reveal), take your discard pile and simply flip it face down — never shuffle it — to form a new deck.

Notes:

You cannot discard cards during your turn. Unlike other deck-building games, you do not discard your hand at the end of your turn.
You may look through your discard pile at any time, but you may not rearrange it.
You may not look through your deck.
There is no limit to hand size.

Non-shuffled deck

Unlike many other deck-building games, you do not shuffle your discard pile when your deck runs out. Simply flip your discard pile face down to form your new deck.

Draw Phase example

It's now the end of one of Bob's turns. During his Casting Phase, he cast the Spell Imbued Smash, which was immediately placed on top of his discard pile. When resolving this Spell, Bob chooses to discard a Crystal from his hand, which is placed on top of that Spell in his discard pile.

During this turn he also played Galvanized Bauble, Crystal (x3), and Recurring Jasper. He used Galvanized Bauble to focus Abby's Breach IV. When he played Recurring Jasper, the Crystal he discarded from casting Imbued Smash was the top card of his discard pile, so he does not place Recurring Jasper on top of his deck. Finally, Bob used the 5 from Recurring Jasper and Crystal (x3) to acquire another Imbued Smash card, which he places in his discard pile on top of the Crystal.

At the start of his Draw Phase, he decides to place his played Galvanized Bauble, Crystal (x3), and Recurring Jasper on top of his discard pile in the following order: Galvanized Bauble first, then Recurring Jasper, and only then all of the Crystal cards.

After that, Bob draws cards from the top of his deck until he has five cards in hand. However, his deck only has two cards left, so after drawing them Bob flips his discard pile face down to form a new deck, and draws the remaining three cards into his hand from there.

If at any point a player's Health is reduced to zero, they are considered EXHAUSTED (see p. 14).

Player Turn: 1 — Casting Phase

Casting previously-prepped Spells:

Any previously-prepped Spells on open Breaches may now be cast.
Every previously-prepped Spell on a closed Breach must now be cast.
You choose the order in which your Spells are cast.

When a Spell is cast:

Discard it onto your discard pile, then resolve its effect.
Damage from that Spell affects only one Minion or the Nemesis, unless stated otherwise.
Some open Breaches have a "+1 Damage" effect on any Spell cast from them, even if that Spell's effect would not otherwise deal damage.
New Age introduces several new characters with unique Breaches. If a mage uses one of them, the prep conditions and effects of that Breach are shown on the player mat.

When you cast a Spell with Echo, resolve its cast effect twice; any additional effects granted for casting this Spell are added to both resolutions of the Spell.

For example, you cast a Spell with Echo whose effect reads: "Deal 2 damage." This Spell is prepped on a Breach with the following two effects: "Deal +1 Damage" and "Gravehold gains 1 Life." You resolve these effects as follows: deal 3 damage and Gravehold gains 1 Life, then deal 3 damage again and Gravehold gains 1 Life again.

When you deal damage to:

A Minion — remove Health tokens from its card equal to the amount of damage dealt. If the Minion's Health reaches zero, its card is discarded immediately.
The Nemesis — reduce the value on its dial by the amount of damage dealt. If the Nemesis's Health reaches zero, the players win the game.

Casting Phase example

Let's jump ahead several turns to a point where Bob has acquired several Spells. He begins his turn with the previously-prepped Spells Spark (placed on open Breach I, meaning it can be cast now or several turns later) and Imbued Smash (on closed Breach III, meaning it must be cast this turn).

Bob decides to cast Imbued Smash first: he places the card on his discard pile and resolves its cast effect — dealing 4 damage to the Nemesis — then chooses to use the Spell's additional ability, discarding a card from hand to deal 2 more damage to the Nemesis.

Bob also discards a Crystal from his hand, placing it on top of Imbued Smash, dealing another 2 damage to the Nemesis.

After that, Bob decides not to cast Spark and saves it for a future turn, so he'll be ready to face whichever Minion comes out.

In Aeon's End: Outcasts, you'll encounter some effects that let you cast another player's previously-prepped Spells. In that case, any reference to "you" in the card's text refers to you, and you make all decisions related to that Spell.

Player Turn: 2 — Main Phase

The 8 actions listed below may be taken in any order, and any number of times, during a player's Main Phase. For example, you could play a Gem card, acquire a card, prep a Spell, play another Gem card, and acquire another card.

Play a Gem or Relic card:

When you play a card, you must carry out all of its text, if possible.
If the text contains "OR," you must choose only one of the listed options.
- If you can only carry out one of the two options, you must choose that one.
You may gain Aether even if you ultimately don't spend it.
Unspent Aether does not carry over to your next turn and simply disappears (it also cannot be given to other players).
At the end of your turn, any Gem or Relic card you played is placed in the discard pile in an order of your choosing.

Acquire a card:

You may acquire a card from the Supply by spending Aether gained this turn equal to the cost shown in the card's upper-right corner.
When you acquire a card, it is placed immediately on top of your discard pile.

Discard order

When a Spell is cast, it's placed immediately in your discard pile before its effect resolves. Acquired cards are placed immediately on top of your discard pile.

Any Gem or Relic card is placed in your play area when played. At the end of your turn, during the Draw Phase, played Gem and Relic cards are placed in your discard pile in any order you choose.

Acquire a Charge:

You may pay 2 Aether to acquire one Charge.
When you gain a Charge, place its token on your mat in the area below your hero's ability description.
You cannot pay for an ally's Charge token with your own Aether.
You cannot have more Charges than your hero's ability requires (4, 5, or 6).

Main Phase example: gaining and spending Aether

On the first turn, Abby has the following cards in hand: Glyph Carver (x1) and Crystals (x4).

She plays Glyph Carver and her 4 Crystals to gain 5 Aether, which she could spend in various ways, but decides to spend it all to acquire a Transmuter's Lens, placing it immediately in her discard pile.

Abby could instead spend all 4 of her Aether to gain 2 Charge tokens, and use the Glyph Carver card to place a Sigil token on a card in the Supply.

Important terms

Attach: some Relics let you attach them to Breaches (place them underneath). You cannot attach a Relic to a Breach that already has one attached. Attached Relics are not discarded at the end of the turn. If an attached Relic is discarded, it's placed in the discard pile of the player whose Breach it was attached to. If a Breach with an attached Relic is destroyed, the attached Relic is discarded.
Nemesis Tier: some effects reference the Nemesis Tier — the highest Tier number among any Nemesis card in the Nemesis discard pile or in play. This is usually the Tier of the most recently drawn Nemesis card.
Revealing Cards: whenever you reveal the top card of any deck, place it back on top of that deck. If you reveal more than one card, return them to the top of the deck in any order you choose.

Focus a Breach:

You may focus a closed Breach by paying its focusing cost (shown on the Breach tile).
When focusing a Breach, rotate its tile 90° clockwise. You may prep a Spell on a 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 with no Spell prepped on it.
A Breach that has been rotated so that its yellow section is on top can no longer be focused, and is only ready to be opened (by paying the corresponding cost).

Open a Breach:

You may open a closed Breach by paying the opening cost shown at the top of that Breach tile. The opening cost decreases each time you focus the Breach.
When you open a Breach, flip its tile to the open side. Open Breaches remain open for the rest of the game. A Spell may be prepped on an open Breach this turn, and on any future turn.

Example of focusing or opening a Breach

As an example, let's look at a different version of Abby's first turn. Recall that she has Glyph Carver (x1) and Crystals (x4) in hand, and it's currently her Main Phase. Her ability rewards having several open Breaches, and her Breach IV, once open, has a special effect (increasing Gravehold's Life whenever a Spell is cast from it). These factors encourage Abby to open her Breaches quickly.

Abby plays all 4 of her Crystal cards and gains 4 Aether. She now has 4 options for focusing her Breaches:

She could focus her Breach II for 2 Aether, and spend the remaining 2 Aether to acquire a Charge, or focus Breach II a second time.
She could open her Breach II for 4 Aether.
She could focus her Breach III for 3 Aether.
She could focus her Breach IV for 4 Aether.

She decides to focus her Breach IV and rotates it 90° clockwise. On future turns, she'll be able to open her Breach IV at a lower cost, since she focused it this turn.

Abby now preps her Glyph Carver Spell by placing it on top of Breach I. This Spell will be available to cast next turn, during her Casting Phase.

Prep a Spell on a Breach:

To prep a Spell, play its card to an open Breach, or a closed Breach that was focused this turn. Only one Spell at a time may be prepped on a given Breach. You cannot prep a Spell on a Breach that already has a Spell on it.
Previously-prepped Spells may be cast during that player's Casting Phase on their next turn.

Resolving a "While prepped" effect:

This effect may be triggered during the Main Phase from any Spell you have prepped (including one prepped this turn) that has the listed keyword ability.

Resolving a "TO DISCARD:" effect:

Some Nemesis Power cards have this effect. During your Main Phase, you may fully resolve this effect to discard that Power card (in which case its negative effect does not trigger).

Player Turn: 3 — Draw Phase

Once you've finished your Main Phase, place all Gem and Relic cards you played this turn on top of your discard pile, in any order you choose.

Then, keeping any unplayed cards in hand, draw cards from the top of your deck until you have five cards in hand. If your deck runs out and you don't have enough cards to draw (or to reveal), take your discard pile and simply flip it face down, without shuffling it, to form a new deck.

Notes:

You cannot discard cards during your turn. Unlike other deck-building games, you do not discard your hand at the end of your turn.
You may look through your discard pile at any time, but you may not rearrange it.
You may not look through your deck.
There is no limit to hand size.

Non-shuffled deck

Unlike many other deck-building games, you do not shuffle your discard pile when your deck runs out. Simply flip your discard pile face down to form your new deck.

Draw Phase example

It's the end of one of Bob's turns. During his Casting Phase, he cast the Spell Imbued Smash, which was immediately placed on top of his discard pile. When resolving this Spell, Bob chooses to discard a Crystal from hand, which lands on top of the Spell in his discard pile.

During this turn he also played Galvanized Bauble, Crystal (x3), and Recurring Jasper. He used Galvanized Bauble to focus Abby's Breach IV. When he played Recurring Jasper, the Crystal he discarded when casting Imbued Smash was the top card of his discard pile, so he does not place Recurring Jasper on top of his discard pile. Finally, Bob used the 5 from Recurring Jasper and Crystal (x3) to acquire another Imbued Smash, which he places in his discard pile on top of the Crystal.

At the start of his Draw Phase he decides to place his played Galvanized Bauble, Crystal (x3), and Recurring Jasper on top of his discard pile in the following order: first Galvanized Bauble, then Recurring Jasper, and only then all of the Crystal cards.

After all this, Bob draws cards from the top of his deck until he has five cards in hand. However, his deck has only two cards left, so after drawing them Bob flips his discard pile face down to form a new deck, and draws the remaining three cards into his hand from there.

Nemesis Turn

Main Phase

Resolve the effects of every active Minion card and Power card, from left to right (oldest to newest).

Draw Phase

Draw and reveal a card from the Nemesis deck.

If it's an Attack card, resolve its effect immediately.
If it's a Minion or Power card, put it into play with the corresponding number of Health or Power tokens. Resolve any effects on the card following the keyword "IMMEDIATELY:". The rest of the card's effects do not resolve this turn.

If at any point a player's Health is reduced to zero, they are considered EXHAUSTED (see p. 14).

Nemesis Turn: 1 — Main Phase

Starting with the earliest (leftmost) Minion or Power card, players resolve the effects of each active Nemesis card.

PERSISTENT effects resolve at this step.
Every active Power card loses 1 Power token. If no tokens remain on it afterward, resolve the effect listed after the keyword "POWER X:", then discard the card.

Nemesis Main Phase example

Several rounds later (a Nemesis turn)... Maggoth begins its turn with no Fly or Maggot tokens on the Hive board, but already has 2 cards in play — Carriod Colony and Fly Throng (with one Power token). These cards resolve in that order.

The PERSISTENT effect on Carriod Colony is "Unleash," which triggers the unique effect of the same name shown on the Nemesis board. For Maggoth, this is "Put 2 Maggot tokens into play," so now there are 2 Maggot tokens on the board.
Next, players remove one Power token from Fly Throng. It was the last one, so the card's effect triggers: "Put 3 Maggot tokens into play. A player takes 3 damage." The 3 added Maggot tokens completely fill the bottom row, triggering its negative effect — Gravehold takes 2 damage. Bob reduces Gravehold's Life from 30 to 28. He then flips one Maggot token to its reverse side (Fly).
In addition, Abby reduces her Health by 3, from 10 to 7, and Fly Throng is discarded.

Wandering

Some Minions have the Wandering trait, which reduces damage dealt to them by abilities and cards by 1. However, players may spend Aether to deal that reduced amount of damage to such a Minion anyway.

Nemesis Turn: 2 — Draw Phase

Draw a Nemesis card:

If the Nemesis deck has run out and a card still needs to be drawn, resolve Unleash three times instead.

If the drawn card is:

an Attack card — immediately resolve its effects in order, then place it in the Nemesis discard pile.
a Minion card — resolve any effect following the keyword "IMMEDIATELY:", then put it into play with the number of Health tokens shown on the card.
a Power card — resolve any effect following the keyword "IMMEDIATELY:", then put it into play with the number of Power tokens shown on the card.

When resolving a card's effects:

If an effect cannot be fully carried out, carry it out as fully as possible. If you are given a choice between two effects, you must choose whichever one you can fully resolve.
Persistent effects and Power effects trigger only during the Nemesis's Main Phase. Ignore them when new Minion or Power cards enter play before the next Nemesis turn.

Ambiguity

The text of some Nemesis cards may create ambiguity about who/what should be affected by an effect. This decision is made by the players.

For example, if you resolve a Nemesis card that causes the player with the lowest Health to take damage, and two players are tied, the players decide which of them takes the damage.

Another card's effect targets the player with the most Charge tokens to deal them damage, but no player has any, so the players decide which of them takes the damage.

If a Nemesis card forces you to resolve an effect that cannot be fully carried out, carry out as much of it as possible.

For example, if a Nemesis card states "Any player must destroy 5 cards from hand" and no player has 5 or more cards in hand, the player with the most cards in hand must destroy all of the cards in their hand.

Nemesis Draw Phase examples

After the Nemesis's Main Phase is fully resolved, Abby and Bob move to the next step (the Draw Phase) and draw the next card from the Nemesis deck and resolve it. Here are examples of the three Nemesis card types and how they'd be resolved.

ATTACK CARD

Players draw the Morph card, which resolves immediately.

Its effect reads: "Put 1 Maggot token into play. A player takes 3 damage."

Abby places a Maggot token on the Hive board. Then the players decide that Bob takes the damage, and he reduces his Health from 10 to 7. After that, the Morph card is placed in the Nemesis discard pile.

MINION CARD

Players draw the Drillbeak Wurm card.

Drillbeak Wurm is a Minion with no immediate effect, so it simply enters play with 6 Health tokens. Its persistent effect will only resolve during the next Nemesis Main Phase.

POWER CARD

Players draw the Obliterating Meteor card.

Since this is a Power card, it simply enters play with 1 Power token, since it bears the marking "POWER 1". The card has no immediate effect, so nothing else happens. Power tokens are removed one at a time during the Main Phase, and the card's effect will only resolve once all tokens have been removed, which will happen on a future turn.

The Obliterating Meteor card has a "TO DISCARD:" effect, letting any player resolve it during their Main Phase in order to discard this card without its effect triggering.

Exhaustion

If a player's Health reaches "0", that player is considered EXHAUSTED. Carry out the following steps in order.

Resolve the Nemesis's "Unleash" effect twice. If this happens during the resolution of a Nemesis "Unleash" effect, finish resolving it first, and only then resolve the consequences of EXHAUSTION.
The Exhausted player destroys one of their Breaches (returns it to the box), discarding any Spell prepped on it. Their other Breaches remain in their current positions.
The Exhausted player discards all of their Charge tokens.

The Exhausted player continues to take part in the game as normal, with the following changes:

Exhausted players cannot increase their Health.
When a card deals damage to the player with the lowest Health, it always targets the non-Exhausted player with the lowest Health.
When an Exhausted player would take damage, instead deal double that damage to Gravehold. This also applies to excess damage dealt when a player first becomes Exhausted.

If all players become Exhausted, the game immediately ends in a loss for the players.

Exhaustion example

During the Draw Phase of a Nemesis turn, the Gore card ("Unleash twice. The player with the most expensive card in hand discards three cards from hand. Then, for each card in that player's hand costing 2 or more, that player takes 2 damage.") is drawn and resolved. First, Bob resolves the Unleash effect twice, putting 4 Maggot tokens into play. Then:

Bob has the most expensive card in hand. After discarding 3 cards, Bob has two cards left that cost 2 or more, so Bob takes 4 damage. Bob now has only 3 Health left. The first 3 damage exhausts Bob. As a result of becoming Exhausted, he resolves the following steps:
Resolving Maggoth's Unleash effect twice, he puts 4 Maggot tokens on the Hive board, resolving any effects of filled rows in the process.
He destroys his Breach III and discards the Spell that was prepped on it.
He discards all of his Charge tokens.
The remaining 1 damage is doubled and deals damage to Gravehold: its Life is reduced from 23 to 21.

Game Terms

Ally

An Ally is any player other than you.

Destroy

Destroyed cards leave the game (are removed to the box).

"OR" effects

When a card offers two options separated by "OR," you may choose either one; however, if you cannot fully carry out one of them, you must choose the other, and must carry it out fully.

TO DISCARD:

Some Nemesis Power cards have a TO DISCARD: effect. During a player's Main Phase, the active player may carry out the condition listed after TO DISCARD: to discard that card from the game (its negative effect does not trigger).

Unleash

Some Nemesis deck cards bear the Unleash keyword. Each Nemesis has a unique effect (shown on its board) that resolves whenever this is triggered.

Banished

When a card is banished, place it in the banished-cards section of the game box. Banished cards are no longer used during the current Expedition.

Barracks

Between games, the Barracks is where players store everything they have access to for their current Expedition. This includes player cards, player mats, and Treasures.

End of Game

Whenever a game-ending condition is met, the game ends immediately without resolving any further effects.

Players win if either of the following conditions is met:

The Nemesis deck has run out, and there are no Minion or Power cards in play.
The Nemesis's Health has been reduced to "0".

Players lose if either of the following conditions is met:

All players are Exhausted (Health "0").
Gravehold's Life has been reduced to "0".

In addition, a Nemesis may have a specific win condition listed on its board that causes the players to lose.

At the end of the game, return all of your player cards, player mats, and Treasures to the Barracks. Follow the instructions given in the Expedition deck. Also, write down whether you won or lost on a sheet of paper.

Solo Mode

In true solo mode, you play as a single mage. You become your own Ally. For example, if a card gives a Charge to an Ally, you gain that Charge yourself instead. If an effect affects you and another player, you resolve that effect twice.

You do not lose the game when you become Exhausted, and only lose when Gravehold's Life is reduced to "0". Otherwise, play the game as normal.

You may also play solo mode as multiple mages. If you do, setup should be the same as if real people were playing each mage. It is recommended that you not play as more than two mages.

Aeon's End: Outcasts Rulebook

Table of Contents

Objective
Components
Component Structure
Setup
Gameplay
Game Terms
End of Game
Solo Mode

Objective

Components

35 Health tokens valued at "1" and 30 Health tokens valued at "5": used to track the Health of players and Minions.
32 Charge tokens: used to fuel players' abilities.
4 Maw tokens: used in games against the Experiment 153 Nemesis.
10 Power tokens: used on certain Nemesis cards to track how many turns remain until their Power resolves.
2 dials: used to track Gravehold's Life and the Nemesis's Health.
7 numbered player tokens: placed on player mats and used to determine turn order.
Player cards: divided into stacks 1a, 1b, 1c, 1d, 2a, 2b, 3a, 3b, 4, and END.
4 reference cards
4 player mats: used by each player to track important information.
16 Breaches: used by players to cast Spells.
13 Turn Order cards: used to determine turn order during a game.
5 Sigil tokens (used when playing the Z'hana hero) and 1 Barrier token (used when playing the Taqren hero).
1 Nemesis board: used to keep track of specific Nemesis traits.
7 envelopes: contain the mage and Nemesis mats that will be opened gradually over the course of the Expedition. They are labeled: 1d, 2a, 2b, 3a, 3b, 4, and END.
1 story booklet: follow its instructions when you begin a game.

Component Structure

Player Mat

Mage Name
Breach Setup: the starting configuration of your Breaches (it isn't the same for every mage).
Starting Hand: the five cards you begin the game with in your hand.
Starting Deck: the five cards, and the order they're arranged in, that make up your starting deck.
Player Number: place your numbered player token here.
Health: place your Health tokens here.
Ability: every mage has a unique ability. The mat shows when it can be activated and what happens when it is. Abilities can only be activated if you have all of the required Charge tokens (in the indicated spaces below the ability). When the ability is activated, all Charge tokens are removed from the mat.
Deck: place your deck here (face down).
Discard Pile: place your discard pile here (face up).
Mage History: has no game effect.
Additional Rules: some mages have additional cards or unique Breaches, noted in this section.
Difficulty Rating: shows how difficult it is to play this mage.

Breaches

Open/Closed: one side of the tile indicates that the Breach is open, the other indicates that it is closed.
Breach Number: used during setup, and helps with placing these tiles next to the player mat.
Opening Cost: the cost (in units of Aether) to open the Breach. After paying it, flip the tile to its "open" side (the Breach remains open for the rest of the game).
Focusing Cost: the cost (in units of Aether) to focus the Breach (rotate the tile 90° in the indicated direction). You may open or focus your Breaches in any order. For example, you may focus Breach III before Breach II, or open Breach IV before Breach II or III.
Opening Effect: some open Breaches have effects that trigger whenever a Spell is cast from them.

Adjacent cards

Player Cards

Cost: the amount of Aether you must spend to acquire this card.
Card Name
Effect: the effect you resolve when you play the card. Gems and Relics have effects that resolve immediately, while Spells must first be "prepped" before they can be cast. If a card's text contradicts the rules, follow the card's text.
Type: there are three types of player cards: Gems, Relics, and Spells.
- Gems are played to give you Aether — the main in-game currency, which can be spent to acquire cards, to acquire Charges to activate a mage's ability, and to focus/open Breaches (a kind of "tunnel" through which Spells are cast).
- Relics have a wide variety of useful, immediate effects.
- Spells are the main way to damage the Nemesis and its Minions. Spells must first be "prepped" (that is, played to a Breach tile next to your player mat) before they're able to deal damage to enemies (that is, before their effect can be resolved).
Flavor Text: has no game effect, but immerses you in the lore of the New Age.
Card Number: indicates which deck the card belongs to.

Expedition Deck Cards

Title
Story Section: a short passage of the story.
Instructions: explains which decks to open, which cards to banish, and about stickers.
Card Number: the cards in the Expedition deck are arranged in a specific order (the back of the highest-numbered card is the bottom card of the deck) — do not look through or shuffle them.

Nemesis Cards

Card Name
Type: there are three types of Nemesis cards: Attacks, Minions, and Powers.
- Attacks resolve immediately and then go to the discard pile.
- Minions have their own Health total and remain in play until defeated. They have persistent effects that resolve during the Nemesis's Main Phase. If a Minion's Health reaches zero, it is discarded immediately.
- Powers: these cards bear the marking "POWER X". When such a card enters play, place X Power tokens on it, and it remains in play until they've all been removed (one per Nemesis turn). When the last token is removed, resolve its effect, then discard it.
Health: this stat appears on Minion cards, and when it's depleted (reaches 0), the Minion is defeated (the card moves to the discard pile). A Minion's Health can never exceed its starting value.
Effect: the effect that triggers when this Nemesis card resolves.
TO DISCARD: effect: some Power cards have this effect. During any player's Main Phase, the active player may fully resolve this effect to discard that card (preventing its negative effect from triggering).
Nemesis Indicator: shows which deck the card belongs to. "Basic" cards are included in every Nemesis's deck.
Tier: there are three Tiers of Nemesis cards. Tier 1 cards are less dangerous than Tier 2 cards, which in turn are less dangerous than Tier 3 cards. Some unique Nemesis cards have a Tier of "0". How such cards are used is described on the Nemesis board of the deck they belong to.
Card Number: indicates which deck the card belongs to.

Nemesis Board

Nemesis Name
Health: the Nemesis's starting Health, tracked on a dial. If the Nemesis's Health reaches zero, the players win.
Unleash Effect: unique to each Nemesis, and takes effect whenever the "Unleash" keyword is resolved.
Additional Rules: special rules that apply only to this Nemesis.
Difficulty Increase: additional conditions that can be used to vary the difficulty of a game.
Difficulty Rating: compares Nemeses against each other on a scale from 1 (easy) to 10 (very difficult).
Setup Instructions: additional conditions to account for during setup.
Nemesis Lore Text: has no game effect, but immerses you in the lore of the New Age.

Setup

Player Setup

Before reading this rulebook, you should first read the first-game setup insert. After that, you can jump straight to the Turn Order Deck section (TOD, see below).

Each player:

Chooses a player mat and one numbered token.
Assembles their starting hand and deck according to the instructions on their mat, with the cards in the indicated sequence (cards listed to the left should be stacked above those listed to the right).
Takes and correctly places one Breach tile of each type indicated on their mat.
Begins the game with 10 Health. Set Gravehold's dial to 30. Neither players' Health nor Gravehold's Life can ever exceed their starting values.

Turn Order Deck (TOD)

This deck always consists of 4 player Turn Order cards (matching their tokens) and 2 Nemesis Turn Order cards.
- In a two-player game, place two Turn Order cards for each player into the TOD.
- In a three-player game, place one Turn Order card for each player into the TOD, plus a "Wild" Turn Order card (this is a player-turn card). Before the game, give any player the "Wild" token. When the Wild card is revealed, the holder of the token takes the turn, then passes it to the player on their left. When an effect refers to the "Wild" card, it applies to whoever holds the Wild token.
- In a four-player game, place two of the ½ and ¾ cards into the TOD. When one of these cards is revealed and neither of the corresponding players holds a token, one of the two players takes the turn. That player then places the corresponding token on their mat. The next time that card comes up, the other player from that pair takes the turn instead, and the token returns to the table.
- Regardless of player count, add two Nemesis Turn Order cards to the TOD, and shuffle it.

Whenever the TOD runs out and a turn still needs to be taken or the next turn's card needs to be checked, shuffle all of the Turn Order cards together (face down) to form a new TOD.

Turn Order Deck (TOD) example

(5) Abby and Bob are playing a two-player game, so their TOD consists of: two "Player 1" cards, two "Player 2" cards, and two Nemesis cards.

Treasures

At the end of every game you will receive new Treasure cards. Special setup is required for Treasures starting after Battle 1:

Tier 1: for Battles 2–4, each player chooses a Tier 1 Treasure from the Barracks to use for that game. If you choose a Tier 1 Treasure that is a Gem, replace the Crystal in your starting deck with that Treasure, if possible. Otherwise replace a Spark. If you choose a Tier 1 Treasure that is a Spell, replace a Spark in your starting deck with that Treasure, if possible. Otherwise replace the Crystal.
Tier 2: for Battles 3–4, players also choose a Tier 2 Treasure from the Barracks to use for that game. Tier 2 Treasures are shared, and don't belong to any specific player. During the game, any player may use a shared Treasure.
Tier 3: for Battle 4, each player chooses a Tier 3 Treasure from the Barracks to use for that game, and places it on their player mat. A Tier 3 Treasure can only be used by the player who chose it.

Nemesis Setup

Choose a Nemesis, and place its board next to the players, reading all of the instructions on it carefully.
Set the Nemesis's Health dial (shown on the board). This value can never exceed its starting value.

For every Nemesis there is a set of 9 cards bearing its name (in the lower-left corner). Basic cards are also included in the Nemesis deck alongside these cards.

Nemesis Deck:

Assembling the Nemesis deck:

Divide the 9 cards of the chosen Nemesis into three stacks according to their Tier.
The table below shows how many Basic cards of each Tier to add to each stack, depending on the number of players in the game. Over the course of your first Expedition, you will receive Upgraded Basic Nemesis cards, marked "Upgraded-Basic" at the bottom. Be sure to include all such cards, and only then add standard Basic Nemesis cards. In solo mode, never add more than one Upgraded Tier 1 card or more than three Upgraded Tier 2 cards. At the end of your first Expedition, you will receive instructions on how to include Upgraded Basic Nemesis cards in future Expeditions.

Basic Nemesis cards	1 player	2 players	3 players	4 players
Tier "1"	1	3	5	8
Tier "2"	3	5	6	7
Tier "3"	7	7	7	7

Shuffle each stack separately.
Assemble the Nemesis deck by stacking these piles (face down) on top of each other so that the Tier 3 stack is at the bottom, the Tier 2 stack is above it, and the Tier 1 stack is on top.
Do not shuffle the Nemesis deck once it has been assembled.

After building the Nemesis deck, carry out all of the setup instructions given on the Nemesis board.

Nemesis setup example

Abby and Bob lost their first game against Experiment 153 and decided to play again, preparing according to the rulebook.

(6) Bob refreshes his memory by reading both sides of the Experiment 153 board.

(7) Bob sets the Nemesis's Health dial to "45".

Curse Deck

Supply Setup

Supply piles are the player cards that may be acquired during the game. The Supply consists of 9 piles, each containing several copies of the same card. Players build the Supply from 9 player cards, using player cards from their Barracks. Banish (remove from the Expedition) all player cards that were not used to set up the Supply.

Empty Supply piles

If a Supply pile runs out, it's considered empty. Do not replace it with another pile.

Supply Recommendations

Choose 3 different Gems (we recommend that at least one of them cost 3), 2 Relics, and 4 Spells, and place these piles in the middle of the table.

Gems (7 cards per pile) are the main source of Aether, which you spend to acquire new cards, focus and open Breaches, or acquire Charge tokens.
Relics (5 cards per pile) have a wide range of effects that resolve when the card is played.
Spells (5 cards per pile) are the main source of damage to the Nemesis and its Minions. They must be "prepped" on a Breach during one turn before they can be used on a later turn.

Gameplay

Turn Order

Whenever the TOD runs out and a turn still needs to be taken or the next turn's card needs to be checked, shuffle all of the Turn Order cards together (face down) to form a new TOD.

Turn order example

Now that Abby and Bob have finished setting up, they reveal the top card of the TOD. It's a "Player 1" card, which means Abby takes the first turn.

Simultaneous effects

When effects from two sources (cards, mats) must trigger at the same time, players decide in which order to resolve them.

Player Turn

Casting Phase

Main Phase

You may take the following actions in any order, and as many times as you like:

Play Gem or Relic cards
Acquire a card
Acquire a Charge
Focus a Breach
Open a Breach
Prep a Spell on a Breach
Resolve a "While prepped" effect
Resolve a "TO DISCARD:" effect
Draw Phase

If your deck runs out and you don't have enough cards to draw (or to reveal), take your discard pile and simply flip it face down — never shuffle it — to form a new deck.

Notes:

You cannot discard cards during your turn. Unlike other deck-building games, you do not discard your hand at the end of your turn.
You may look through your discard pile at any time, but you may not rearrange it.
You may not look through your deck.
There is no limit to hand size.

Non-shuffled deck

Unlike many other deck-building games, you do not shuffle your discard pile when your deck runs out. Simply flip your discard pile face down to form your new deck.

Draw Phase example

If at any point a player's Health is reduced to zero, they are considered EXHAUSTED (see p. 14).

Player Turn: 1 — Casting Phase

Casting previously-prepped Spells:

Any previously-prepped Spells on open Breaches may now be cast.
Every previously-prepped Spell on a closed Breach must now be cast.
You choose the order in which your Spells are cast.

When a Spell is cast:

Discard it onto your discard pile, then resolve its effect.
Damage from that Spell affects only one Minion or the Nemesis, unless stated otherwise.
Some open Breaches have a "+1 Damage" effect on any Spell cast from them, even if that Spell's effect would not otherwise deal damage.
New Age introduces several new characters with unique Breaches. If a mage uses one of them, the prep conditions and effects of that Breach are shown on the player mat.

When you cast a Spell with Echo, resolve its cast effect twice; any additional effects granted for casting this Spell are added to both resolutions of the Spell.

When you deal damage to:

A Minion — remove Health tokens from its card equal to the amount of damage dealt. If the Minion's Health reaches zero, its card is discarded immediately.
The Nemesis — reduce the value on its dial by the amount of damage dealt. If the Nemesis's Health reaches zero, the players win the game.

Casting Phase example

Bob also discards a Crystal from his hand, placing it on top of Imbued Smash, dealing another 2 damage to the Nemesis.

After that, Bob decides not to cast Spark and saves it for a future turn, so he'll be ready to face whichever Minion comes out.

Player Turn: 2 — Main Phase

Play a Gem or Relic card:

When you play a card, you must carry out all of its text, if possible.
If the text contains "OR," you must choose only one of the listed options.
- If you can only carry out one of the two options, you must choose that one.
You may gain Aether even if you ultimately don't spend it.
Unspent Aether does not carry over to your next turn and simply disappears (it also cannot be given to other players).
At the end of your turn, any Gem or Relic card you played is placed in the discard pile in an order of your choosing.

Acquire a card:

You may acquire a card from the Supply by spending Aether gained this turn equal to the cost shown in the card's upper-right corner.
When you acquire a card, it is placed immediately on top of your discard pile.

Discard order

When a Spell is cast, it's placed immediately in your discard pile before its effect resolves. Acquired cards are placed immediately on top of your discard pile.

Any Gem or Relic card is placed in your play area when played. At the end of your turn, during the Draw Phase, played Gem and Relic cards are placed in your discard pile in any order you choose.

Acquire a Charge:

You may pay 2 Aether to acquire one Charge.
When you gain a Charge, place its token on your mat in the area below your hero's ability description.
You cannot pay for an ally's Charge token with your own Aether.
You cannot have more Charges than your hero's ability requires (4, 5, or 6).

Main Phase example: gaining and spending Aether

On the first turn, Abby has the following cards in hand: Glyph Carver (x1) and Crystals (x4).

Abby could instead spend all 4 of her Aether to gain 2 Charge tokens, and use the Glyph Carver card to place a Sigil token on a card in the Supply.

Important terms

Attach: some Relics let you attach them to Breaches (place them underneath). You cannot attach a Relic to a Breach that already has one attached. Attached Relics are not discarded at the end of the turn. If an attached Relic is discarded, it's placed in the discard pile of the player whose Breach it was attached to. If a Breach with an attached Relic is destroyed, the attached Relic is discarded.
Nemesis Tier: some effects reference the Nemesis Tier — the highest Tier number among any Nemesis card in the Nemesis discard pile or in play. This is usually the Tier of the most recently drawn Nemesis card.
Revealing Cards: whenever you reveal the top card of any deck, place it back on top of that deck. If you reveal more than one card, return them to the top of the deck in any order you choose.

Focus a Breach:

You may focus a closed Breach by paying its focusing cost (shown on the Breach tile).
When focusing a Breach, rotate its tile 90° clockwise. You may prep a Spell on a 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 with no Spell prepped on it.
A Breach that has been rotated so that its yellow section is on top can no longer be focused, and is only ready to be opened (by paying the corresponding cost).

Open a Breach:

You may open a closed Breach by paying the opening cost shown at the top of that Breach tile. The opening cost decreases each time you focus the Breach.
When you open a Breach, flip its tile to the open side. Open Breaches remain open for the rest of the game. A Spell may be prepped on an open Breach this turn, and on any future turn.

Example of focusing or opening a Breach

Abby plays all 4 of her Crystal cards and gains 4 Aether. She now has 4 options for focusing her Breaches:

She could focus her Breach II for 2 Aether, and spend the remaining 2 Aether to acquire a Charge, or focus Breach II a second time.
She could open her Breach II for 4 Aether.
She could focus her Breach III for 3 Aether.
She could focus her Breach IV for 4 Aether.

She decides to focus her Breach IV and rotates it 90° clockwise. On future turns, she'll be able to open her Breach IV at a lower cost, since she focused it this turn.

Abby now preps her Glyph Carver Spell by placing it on top of Breach I. This Spell will be available to cast next turn, during her Casting Phase.

Prep a Spell on a Breach:

To prep a Spell, play its card to an open Breach, or a closed Breach that was focused this turn. Only one Spell at a time may be prepped on a given Breach. You cannot prep a Spell on a Breach that already has a Spell on it.
Previously-prepped Spells may be cast during that player's Casting Phase on their next turn.

Resolving a "While prepped" effect:

This effect may be triggered during the Main Phase from any Spell you have prepped (including one prepped this turn) that has the listed keyword ability.

Resolving a "TO DISCARD:" effect:

Some Nemesis Power cards have this effect. During your Main Phase, you may fully resolve this effect to discard that Power card (in which case its negative effect does not trigger).

Player Turn: 3 — Draw Phase

Once you've finished your Main Phase, place all Gem and Relic cards you played this turn on top of your discard pile, in any order you choose.

Notes:

You cannot discard cards during your turn. Unlike other deck-building games, you do not discard your hand at the end of your turn.
You may look through your discard pile at any time, but you may not rearrange it.
You may not look through your deck.
There is no limit to hand size.

Non-shuffled deck

Unlike many other deck-building games, you do not shuffle your discard pile when your deck runs out. Simply flip your discard pile face down to form your new deck.

Draw Phase example

During this turn he also played Galvanized Bauble, Crystal (x3), and Recurring Jasper. He used Galvanized Bauble to focus Abby's Breach IV. When he played Recurring Jasper, the Crystal he discarded when casting Imbued Smash was the top card of his discard pile, so he does not place Recurring Jasper on top of his discard pile. Finally, Bob used the 5 from Recurring Jasper and Crystal (x3) to acquire another Imbued Smash, which he places in his discard pile on top of the Crystal.

Nemesis Turn

Main Phase

Resolve the effects of every active Minion card and Power card, from left to right (oldest to newest).

Draw Phase

Draw and reveal a card from the Nemesis deck.

If it's an Attack card, resolve its effect immediately.
If it's a Minion or Power card, put it into play with the corresponding number of Health or Power tokens. Resolve any effects on the card following the keyword "IMMEDIATELY:". The rest of the card's effects do not resolve this turn.

If at any point a player's Health is reduced to zero, they are considered EXHAUSTED (see p. 14).

Nemesis Turn: 1 — Main Phase

Starting with the earliest (leftmost) Minion or Power card, players resolve the effects of each active Nemesis card.

PERSISTENT effects resolve at this step.
Every active Power card loses 1 Power token. If no tokens remain on it afterward, resolve the effect listed after the keyword "POWER X:", then discard the card.

Nemesis Main Phase example

The PERSISTENT effect on Carriod Colony is "Unleash," which triggers the unique effect of the same name shown on the Nemesis board. For Maggoth, this is "Put 2 Maggot tokens into play," so now there are 2 Maggot tokens on the board.
Next, players remove one Power token from Fly Throng. It was the last one, so the card's effect triggers: "Put 3 Maggot tokens into play. A player takes 3 damage." The 3 added Maggot tokens completely fill the bottom row, triggering its negative effect — Gravehold takes 2 damage. Bob reduces Gravehold's Life from 30 to 28. He then flips one Maggot token to its reverse side (Fly).
In addition, Abby reduces her Health by 3, from 10 to 7, and Fly Throng is discarded.

Wandering

Some Minions have the Wandering trait, which reduces damage dealt to them by abilities and cards by 1. However, players may spend Aether to deal that reduced amount of damage to such a Minion anyway.

Nemesis Turn: 2 — Draw Phase

Draw a Nemesis card:

If the Nemesis deck has run out and a card still needs to be drawn, resolve Unleash three times instead.

If the drawn card is:

an Attack card — immediately resolve its effects in order, then place it in the Nemesis discard pile.
a Minion card — resolve any effect following the keyword "IMMEDIATELY:", then put it into play with the number of Health tokens shown on the card.
a Power card — resolve any effect following the keyword "IMMEDIATELY:", then put it into play with the number of Power tokens shown on the card.

When resolving a card's effects:

If an effect cannot be fully carried out, carry it out as fully as possible. If you are given a choice between two effects, you must choose whichever one you can fully resolve.
Persistent effects and Power effects trigger only during the Nemesis's Main Phase. Ignore them when new Minion or Power cards enter play before the next Nemesis turn.

Ambiguity

The text of some Nemesis cards may create ambiguity about who/what should be affected by an effect. This decision is made by the players.

For example, if you resolve a Nemesis card that causes the player with the lowest Health to take damage, and two players are tied, the players decide which of them takes the damage.

Another card's effect targets the player with the most Charge tokens to deal them damage, but no player has any, so the players decide which of them takes the damage.

If a Nemesis card forces you to resolve an effect that cannot be fully carried out, carry out as much of it as possible.

Nemesis Draw Phase examples

ATTACK CARD

Players draw the Morph card, which resolves immediately.

Its effect reads: "Put 1 Maggot token into play. A player takes 3 damage."

MINION CARD

Players draw the Drillbeak Wurm card.

Drillbeak Wurm is a Minion with no immediate effect, so it simply enters play with 6 Health tokens. Its persistent effect will only resolve during the next Nemesis Main Phase.

POWER CARD

Players draw the Obliterating Meteor card.

The Obliterating Meteor card has a "TO DISCARD:" effect, letting any player resolve it during their Main Phase in order to discard this card without its effect triggering.

Exhaustion

If a player's Health reaches "0", that player is considered EXHAUSTED. Carry out the following steps in order.

Resolve the Nemesis's "Unleash" effect twice. If this happens during the resolution of a Nemesis "Unleash" effect, finish resolving it first, and only then resolve the consequences of EXHAUSTION.
The Exhausted player destroys one of their Breaches (returns it to the box), discarding any Spell prepped on it. Their other Breaches remain in their current positions.
The Exhausted player discards all of their Charge tokens.

The Exhausted player continues to take part in the game as normal, with the following changes:

Exhausted players cannot increase their Health.
When a card deals damage to the player with the lowest Health, it always targets the non-Exhausted player with the lowest Health.
When an Exhausted player would take damage, instead deal double that damage to Gravehold. This also applies to excess damage dealt when a player first becomes Exhausted.

If all players become Exhausted, the game immediately ends in a loss for the players.

Exhaustion example

Bob has the most expensive card in hand. After discarding 3 cards, Bob has two cards left that cost 2 or more, so Bob takes 4 damage. Bob now has only 3 Health left. The first 3 damage exhausts Bob. As a result of becoming Exhausted, he resolves the following steps:
Resolving Maggoth's Unleash effect twice, he puts 4 Maggot tokens on the Hive board, resolving any effects of filled rows in the process.
He destroys his Breach III and discards the Spell that was prepped on it.
He discards all of his Charge tokens.
The remaining 1 damage is doubled and deals damage to Gravehold: its Life is reduced from 23 to 21.

Game Terms

Ally

An Ally is any player other than you.

Destroy

Destroyed cards leave the game (are removed to the box).

"OR" effects

When a card offers two options separated by "OR," you may choose either one; however, if you cannot fully carry out one of them, you must choose the other, and must carry it out fully.

TO DISCARD:

Unleash

Some Nemesis deck cards bear the Unleash keyword. Each Nemesis has a unique effect (shown on its board) that resolves whenever this is triggered.

Banished

When a card is banished, place it in the banished-cards section of the game box. Banished cards are no longer used during the current Expedition.

Barracks

Between games, the Barracks is where players store everything they have access to for their current Expedition. This includes player cards, player mats, and Treasures.

End of Game

Whenever a game-ending condition is met, the game ends immediately without resolving any further effects.

Players win if either of the following conditions is met:

The Nemesis deck has run out, and there are no Minion or Power cards in play.
The Nemesis's Health has been reduced to "0".

Players lose if either of the following conditions is met:

All players are Exhausted (Health "0").
Gravehold's Life has been reduced to "0".

In addition, a Nemesis may have a specific win condition listed on its board that causes the players to lose.

Solo Mode

You do not lose the game when you become Exhausted, and only lose when Gravehold's Life is reduced to "0". Otherwise, play the game as normal.

You may also play solo mode as multiple mages. If you do, setup should be the same as if real people were playing each mage. It is recommended that you not play as more than two mages.