Ascension: Return of the Fallen
Ascension: Return of the Fallen Rulebook
Table of Contents
Table of Contents
Overview
In Ascension: Return of the Fallen, players take on the roles of great leaders trying to assemble armies to defeat an ancient evil who they had thought vanquished. Each turn, you will play cards from your hand to gain Runes, Power, or other effects (like drawing cards). You can spend Runes to acquire new cards for your deck. Power is used to defeat Monsters, which earns you Honor and other rewards. The cards you can acquire and Monsters you can fight are constantly changing, so you always have different decisions to make!
Contents
- 1 Game Board
- 30 Beads:
- 15 Small 1 Honor clear tokens
- 15 Large 5 Honor red tokens
- 120 Cards:
- 2 Personal starting decks, each containing 8 Apprentice and 2 Militia cards
- 35 "Always available" cards:
- 1 Cultist
- 17 Mystics
- 17 Heavy Infantry
- 65 Center Deck cards
Setup
Ascension: Return of the Fallen can be played as a two-player game by itself, or be combined with Ascension: Chronicle of the Godslayer to play with 2-6 players. To play Return of the Fallen by itself, simply follow the instructions below. To play the combined game, shuffle the center deck from each set together before you begin.
Each player has a personal deck consisting of eight Apprentice and two Militia cards.
Each player shuffles his or her deck and draws five cards (leaving five cards in his or her deck).
Take the Heavy Infantry, Mystic, and Cultist cards and set them to the side in reach of all players. These cards represent characters in your kingdom and are always available to be acquired or defeated on your turn.
Shuffle all of the other cards face down to form the Center Deck.
From the Center Deck, flip six cards face up in a row between all players. This forms the Center Row.
Place the Center Deck on one side of the Center Row.
Reserve space on the other side of the Center Row for the Void. When a Monster in the Center Row is defeated or any other card is banished, it goes to the Void.
Place 30 Honor tokens on the table for each player. Large red Honor tokens are worth 5 points. Small clear Honor tokens are worth 1 point. For games with three or more players, higher Honor totals are used than in Ascension: Chronicle of the Godslayer.
Two Players = 60 Honor Three Players = 90 Honor Four Players = 120 Honor Five Players = 150 Honor Six Players = 180 Honor
Randomly determine which player goes first.
Layout
The game area is arranged as follows:
- Mystic, Heavy Infantry, and Cultist cards sit to the side, always available.
- Center Row: six face-up cards drawn from the Center Deck (Monsters and Heroes/Constructs).
- Center Deck sits on one side of the Center Row; the Void (reserved space) sits on the other side. Defeated Monsters and banished cards go to the Void.
- Honor Tokens (white 1-Honor and red 5-Honor beads) sit within reach of all players.
- Personal Deck (10 cards: 8 Apprentice, 2 Militia) — the remaining 5 cards stay face down as your draw pile after you draw your Starting Hand (5 cards).
Heroes
Heroes are the champions you recruit to aid you in your fight against the Fallen One. You can play any number of Hero cards from your hand each turn. When you play a Hero from your hand, you gain the effect listed on the card. It stays in front of you until the end of the turn, and then it goes to your discard pile.
Each Hero card shows:
- Name — the card's title.
- Cost — the number of Runes you must spend to acquire this card.
- Faction — there are four different factions in Ascension: Mechana, Void, Lifebound, and Enlightened, each representing one of the worlds coming to your aid in battle.
- Effect — what the Hero does when you play it.
- Flavor Text — each faction has its own style of flavor text. Flavor text has no game effect.
- Honor — how much Honor this card is worth. At the end of the game the player with the most total Honor from their cards and tokens wins the game.
- Expansion Symbol — the color of the symbol tells you how many copies of the card are in the deck:
- Unique (silver): one copy
- Two Copies (blue)
- Three Copies (white)
- Four Copies (red)
Constructs
Constructs are the many weapons, magical items, and fantastical devices you may acquire to use in your battles. Unlike Heroes, when you play a Construct, it stays in play and continues to help you turn after turn. You can play any number of Construct cards from your hand each turn. You can use a Construct's effect each turn, including the turn you play it.
Each Construct card shows the same Name, Cost, Faction, Effect, Flavor Text, Honor, and Expansion Symbol elements as a Hero card, but instead of a one-time effect, its text box describes what the Construct does each turn it is in play.
Monsters
Monsters are the minions of the Fallen One that are trying to break through and destroy your world of Vigil. Whenever you defeat a Monster you get its reward immediately. Monsters do not go into your personal deck.
Defeating Monsters gives you rewards, including Honor, which is the victory condition of Ascension. When you earn Honor for defeating a Monster, simply collect the appropriate number of Honor tokens and place them in front of you.
Each Monster card shows:
- Name — the card's title.
- Power — how much power you must spend to defeat this Monster.
- Reward — what you get and/or penalties your opponents suffer when you defeat this Monster.
- Expansion Symbol — the color of the symbol tells you how many copies of the card are in the deck (Unique, Two Copies, Three Copies, Four Copies, as above).
Gameplay
General Rules
At any time, if your personal deck is empty and you need to draw a card, reshuffle the discard pile to replenish your deck. If the Center Deck runs out, reshuffle the Void to replenish it.
Hero cards played during your turn go into the discard pile at the end of your turn. (In other words, don't reshuffle Hero cards you've played this turn if you need to reshuffle your discard pile in the middle of your turn.)
Cards you acquire during your turn are placed in your discard pile.
Whenever a card leaves the Center Row, replace it immediately from the Center Deck. This happens before anything else occurs. Any time a player is making a decision, there should be six cards in the Center Row.
Some cards have effects when they enter the Center Row. The effects of these cards occur immediately, including at the start of the game when the Center Row is first dealt. These are called Fate cards, and their effects are written in white text within a black textbox, labeled with the Fate keyword.
Many cards will have text that contradicts these rules. If card text ever contradicts the rules, follow the card text instead.
Turn Breakdown
- Play cards from your hand to gain Runes, Power, and Honor. Acquire Heroes and Constructs and put them in your discard pile for future turns. Defeat Monsters for rewards and Honor.
- Place played Hero cards in your discard pile after you are done acquiring and defeating cards.
To play a Hero card from your hand, simply place the card face up in front of you, announce its effect, and follow the instructions on the card. Any Runes or Power gained remain available until the end of the turn unless spent. You do not have to pay any costs to play Heroes from your hand.
Example: Black Watch Elite says "Gain Power 3. You may banish a card from your hand or discard pile." When you play the card, you must decide what card you want to banish immediately, but you can wait until later of the turn to use the Power generated.
Constructs are played just like Heroes, except Constructs remain in play and can be used every turn. If a Construct has multiple abilities, each one may be used once per turn.
Example: Serpentcall says "Once per turn, gain Rune 2. Once per turn, you may acquire a Hero from the Void by paying its Rune cost." You may use the Construct to produce Runes and later in the turn use its second power to acquire a Hero from the Void, or vice versa.
Acquiring Heroes and Constructs
You need Runes to acquire Heroes and Constructs. Runes come from Heroes played from your hand or from Constructs you have in play. You may acquire any number of cards as long as you have enough Runes. To find out how many Runes you get from a card, look in the text box of the card. If a card provides Runes, there will be a Rune symbol with a number.
Example: Lunar Stag costs three Runes to acquire. Its text reads "Gain Rune 2 OR Honor 2." You can get two Runes from playing it.
You may acquire any Hero or Construct in the Center Row as well as Mystics and Heavy Infantry, which are always available. When you acquire a card, place it in your discard pile and replace the card in the Center Row.
Defeating Monsters
To defeat a Monster, a player must have enough Power (generated by cards with a Power icon in their text box — e.g., Heavy Infantry). A card's Power is found in its game text box. Cards that generate Power will have a Power Icon with a number.
The Defeat Cost of a Monster is listed in the upper-right corner of the card. This cost has a Power Icon behind it.
When you defeat a Monster, you gain a Reward. Most rewards include Honor, and how much Honor you gain is equal to the number indicated on the Honor symbol. If the Monster has another effect as part of its reward, that effect occurs immediately after the card is replaced in the Center Row. (It cannot be saved until a future turn.)
After defeating a Monster, place it in the Void and replace it in the Center Row (see Acquiring Heroes and Constructs on pg. 9). You may defeat any number of Monsters as long as you have enough Power.
The Cultist is always available to defeat and is never banished to the Void. There is no limit to how many times you can defeat the Cultist in one turn.
Example: Heavy Infantry costs 1 Rune to acquire and, when played, gives +2 Power.
Example: Ravenous Gorph has a Defeat Cost of 3 Power. Fate: When this enters the Center Row, banish all cards adjacent to it. Reward: Gain 3 Honor. You may banish a card that was adjacent to this.
Ending Your Turn
After you are done playing cards from your hand, acquiring Heroes and Constructs, and defeating Monsters, place any remaining cards in your hand and any Heroes played during your turn into your discard pile.
Draw five cards to replenish your hand. If you run out of cards in your deck and need to draw more, simply reshuffle your discard pile into your deck. When you end your turn, play passes clockwise around the table.
Game End
The game ends when a certain amount of Honor has been earned, depending on the number of players.
Two Players = 60 Honor Three Players = 90 Honor Four Players = 120 Honor Five Players = 150 Honor Six Players = 180 Honor
Set this much Honor aside in Honor tokens before starting the game. When the final Honor token is earned, the game ends at the end of the current round (after the last player to start the game takes a turn). Thus, each player will play the same number of turns during the course of the game (not counting any extra turns taken through the use of cards like Tablet of Time's Dawn). Players can still gain Honor even when the set number of Honor tokens is gone. Use additional Honor tokens left over to track any Honor earned by players before the game ends.
Cards in each player's deck are also worth Honor, indicated by the number in the Honor symbol on the bottom, left-hand corner of the card. When the game is over, count the Honor from Heroes and Constructs (this includes your hand, deck, discard pile, and played Constructs), along with all Honor tokens acquired during the game. The player with the most total Honor is the winner!
If multiple players have the same number of Honor Points, the last player to start wins (i.e., the starting player loses all ties, the second player loses to third and fourth, etc.).
Gameplay Variants
Team Play
Number of Players: 4 or 6 (in teams of 2)
Rules:
- Set aside 30 Honor tokens per player.
- Teammates sit across from one other.
- Your teammate is not harmed by the rewards from any Monsters you defeat (e.g. if you kill a Vaultbreaker Wurm, your teammate does not have to lose a Construct).
- You may spend one additional Rune when you acquire a card to add that card to your teammate's deck instead of yours.
- At the end of the game, combine your Honor total with that of your teammate's to determine the winning team!
Solitaire
Number of Players: 1
Rules:
- Set aside 50 Honor tokens.
- Lay out the Center Row as normal, but whenever a card leaves the Center Row, the replacement card always enters on the left-hand side and the remaining cards slide over to the right.
- You take the first turn of the game. At the end of each of your turns, Samael is considered to acquire or defeat the two cards furthest to the right in the Center Row.
- All cards acquired by Samael are set aside and only used to determine his Honor total at the end of the game.
- Any Monsters defeated go to the Void, and Samael receives any Honor from their reward. All other effects are ignored.
- Continue playing this way until the last Honor token is gone, then compare your score to the total Honor earned by Samael. If you have more Honor, you win!
Glossary
Heroes: Heroes are the champions you recruit to aid you in your fight against the Fallen One. When you play a Hero from your hand, you gain the effect listed on the card, and then it goes to your discard pile at the end of your turn.
Constructs: Constructs are the many weapons, magical items, and fantastical devices you may acquire to use in your battles. After you play a Construct from your hand, you can gain an effect from it every turn it remains in play.
Monsters: Monsters are the minions of the Fallen One that are trying to break through and destroy your world. Defeating Monsters gives you rewards, including Honor that wins you the game.
Runes: Runes are one of the two main resources of the world of Ascension. Runes are used to acquire Heroes and Constructs so you can add them to your deck.
Power: Power is the second resource in Ascension. Power is used to defeat Monsters and earn rewards.
Honor: Honor is the key to victory in Ascension. Whoever earns the most Honor wins the game.
Banish: When a card is banished, it is placed in the Void pile. Defeated Monsters are also banished to the Void. Players cannot interact with anything in the Void unless they have cards that allow them to do so. Banishing weaker cards like Apprentices and Militia from your personal deck can increase your chances of drawing more powerful cards that you acquire during the game.
Have questions about Ascension strategies and gameplay? Wondering what happens if both Askara of Fate and Arbiter of Fate are flipped onto the opening board?
Check out the official Ascension F.A.Q. at www.AscensionGame.com/FAQ