Last Updated on October 13, 2025 by The Official Game Rules Team

Number of Players: 1–4 | Playtime: 60–90 minutes | Ages: 14+ | Type: Cooperative Deck-Building, Variable Turn Order

Aeon’s End is a cooperative deck-building game where players take on the roles of powerful mages defending the city of Gravehold from monstrous enemies known as Nemeses. Unlike most deck builders, your deck in Aeon’s End is never shuffled, allowing for precise planning and tactical control.

If you’re learning how to play Aeon’s End, this detailed guide covers setup, gameplay, scoring, and strategy so you can fully understand and master the Aeon’s End game rules.

This post contains affiliate links. For more information, see our disclosures here.

How to Play Aeon’s End (Complete Instructions)

---

TABLE OF CONTENTS

Components | Game Terms | Setup | Turn Order | Turn Overview | Player Phases | Nemesis Turn | Exhausted | Minions | Power Cards | End of Turn | End of Game | Variable Difficulty | Tips & Strategy | Example Turn | FAQ

Game Components

Player Components:

• Player Mats (8): Tracks life, abilities, breaches, deck, discard, and player number.
• Life Tokens: 30 ×1, 10 ×5 for tracking player health.
• Charge Tokens (21): Fuel Breach Mage abilities.
• Fury/Husk Tokens (15): Used in games with Rageborne or Carapace Queen.
• Gems, Relics, and Spells: Enhance player decks.
  • 87 Gem Cards (e.g., Crystal, Emerald Shard, Searing Ruby, Jade, Burning Opal)
  • 30 Relic Cards (e.g., Blasting Staff, Bottled Vortex, Flexing Dagger)
  • 86 Spell Cards (e.g., Spark, Amplify Vision, Essence Theft, Planar Insight)
• Player Aid Cards (4): Quick reference for turn phases.
• Turn Order Cards (9): Determine the sequence of turns.

Nemesis Components:

• Nemesis Mat (4): Tracks life, special rules, difficulty, and Unleash effects.
• Nemesis Life Dial: Tracks nemesis health.
• Nemesis Cards (75): Attacks, minions, and powers.
• Power Tokens (10): Track countdowns on power cards.

Other Components:

• Breaches (16): Double-sided cards used to prep and cast spells.
• Randomizer Cards (27): Determine supply piles.

---

Game Terms

• Breach: Conduit for casting spells; can be open or closed.
• Open a Breach: Pay its cost to flip it open permanently.
• Focus a Breach: Rotate a closed breach 90° clockwise, allowing spells to be prepped there.
• Prepping a Spell: Place a spell onto an opened or newly focused breach.
• Casting a Spell: Resolve the “Cast” effect on the spell and discard it on top of your discard pile.
• While Prepped Effects: Some spells have persistent effects usable while prepped.
• TO DISCARD Effects: Effects from nemesis power cards that can be resolved during a player’s main phase instead of letting the power resolve naturally.

---

Setup

Player Setup

1. Each player chooses a player mat and a player number token.
2. Build starting hand and deck as shown on your mat.
   • Starting deck and hand are arranged according to the player mat, with Sparks on the bottom of the deck if indicated.
3. Place breaches I–IV above the mat. Configure open/closed and orientation as shown.
4. Draw initial hand (5 cards) from your starting deck.
5. Place life tokens on mat and prepare charge tokens.

Nemesis Setup

1. Choose a nemesis and place its nemesis mat near the players.
2. Read all special rules for that nemesis.
3. Set the nemesis life dial to the starting value indicated on its mat.
4. Construct the nemesis deck using tiers:
   • Tier 1 (least dangerous), Tier 2, Tier 3 (most dangerous).
   • Include nemesis-specific cards plus the appropriate number of basic cards.
   • Stack Tier 3 on bottom, Tier 2 in the middle, Tier 1 on top (do not shuffle).
5. Place power tokens on the nemesis power cards as indicated.

Supply Setup

1. Determine the supply piles using either randomizer cards or by selection:
   • 3 Gem piles (7 copies each)
   • 2 Relic piles (5 copies each)
   • 4 Spell piles (5 copies each)
2. Place all piles in the center. Empty piles are not replenished.

Suggested Starting Supply for Learning:

• Gems: Jade, Searing Ruby, Burning Opal
• Relics: Flexing Dagger, Bottled Vortex
• Spells: Amplify Vision, Essence Theft, Planar Insight, Consuming Void

---

Turn Order

Aeon’s End uses a variable turn order determined by the turn order deck:

• Draw a card to determine the next turn.
• Player turn cards correspond to player numbers; wild cards let players choose who acts.
• Add two nemesis turn cards.
• If the deck empties, shuffle discarded turn order cards to form a new deck.

---

Player Turn Overview

A player turn consists of: casting cards, resolving the card’s effect, managing energy or gems, and ending the turn. During the end of your turn, any temporary effects expire, and any new breach gems from your cards are added to the breach. Proper planning of your player turn overview ensures maximum efficiency and damage output.

Player Turn Phases

Each turn has three phases:

1. Casting Phase

• Cast spells prepped in opened breaches at your discretion.
• Cast all spells prepped in closed breaches (must be cast now).
• Order of casting is chosen by the player.
• After casting, place the spell on the top of your discard pile and resolve the “Cast” effect.
• Damage:
  • To minions: remove life tokens; discard minion if life reaches 0.
  • To nemesis: reduce life on the nemesis dial; players win if it reaches 0.

Example:

• Bob has Spark (open breach) and Amplify Vision (closed breach). He must cast Amplify Vision, then may cast Spark or save it for a future turn.

---

2. Main Phase

You may perform the following any number of times, in any order:

1. Play a Gem or Relic: Resolve all text immediately. Gems grant aether, relics have one-time effects.
2. Gain a Card: Spend aether to acquire a card from the supply; place it on top of your discard pile.
3. Gain a Charge: Pay 2 aether to place a charge token on your mat (cannot exceed mat limit).
4. Focus a Breach: Pay the cost to rotate a closed breach 90° clockwise; you may prep a spell there this turn.
5. Open a Breach: Pay the open cost to flip the breach to open permanently; you may prep a spell immediately.
6. Prep a Spell: Place a spell onto an opened or newly focused breach; only one spell per breach.
7. Resolve “While Prepped” Effects: Use the effect once per turn if applicable.
8. Resolve “TO DISCARD” Effects: Optional resolution of nemesis power cards to prevent their effect.

End of Main Phase:

• Place all played gems and relics on top of discard pile in any order.
• Draw until you have five cards in hand. No shuffling; deck is only recycled by placing discard pile face-down as the new deck.

---

3. Draw Phase

• Draw cards from your deck until you have five in hand.
• If the deck is empty, use the discard pile as the new deck (no shuffling).

Notes:

• No maximum hand size.
• Cannot voluntarily discard cards.
• You may view the discard pile at any time; deck cannot be looked at.

---

Nemesis Turn

After all players complete their turns, the Nemesis takes its actions. The Nemesis turn has a specific structure:

1. Draw a Nemesis Card:
   • Draw the top card from the Nemesis deck. This card dictates what the Nemesis does for the turn, which may include attacks, adding new gems to the attack pool, or other effects.
2. Resolve Effects:
   • Perform the actions listed on the card in order. This may include:
     • Attacking players: Deal damage equal to the gem total specified. Players can defend using shield abilities or other card effects.
     • Adding Gems: Insert specific gems into the breach (the central area where players cast spells). Players may have to use certain effects to remove or mitigate these gems.
     • Special Effects: Some cards trigger unique abilities, like drawing additional cards, exhausting players, or modifying future Nemesis actions.
3. Check Breach Status:
   • Certain Nemesis cards may power up or modify the breach. Players should adjust the breach tracker accordingly.
4. Discard:
   • Once resolved, the Nemesis card goes to the Nemesis discard pile, unless the card has a lasting effect.

---

Exhausted

When a player is Exhausted, they cannot gain any additional charges or play cards until their next turn. Exhaustion usually happens when a card effect or nemesis ability instructs a player to skip drawing or taking actions, or if they have no remaining cards in hand during specific phases.

• Recovering from Exhaustion: At the start of the player’s next turn, the Exhausted condition is automatically removed.
• Players should keep track of exhaustion tokens or markers to ensure they don’t accidentally take actions they’re not allowed to.

Exhausted Players

If a player’s life reaches zero:

1. Resolve the nemesis Unleash effect twice.
2. Destroy one of the player’s breaches; discard any prepped spell in it.
3. Remaining breaches stay as is.
4. The player cannot act further until revived (through life-gain effects).

---

Minions

• Enter play with life tokens.
• Persistent effects are resolved in the nemesis main phase.
• When life reaches zero, discard immediately.

---

Power Cards

• Enter play with X power tokens.
• Lose one token per nemesis main phase.
• When zero tokens remain, resolve effect and discard

---

End of Turn Cleanup

After the Nemesis completes its turn:

• Players discard all cards they played unless instructed otherwise.
• Recharge any abilities that have “once per round” restrictions.
• Replenish gems in the breach according to player or Nemesis effects.
• Check for game-ending conditions (see below).

---

Game End Conditions

The game ends when any of the following occur:

1. Nemesis Defeated:
   • The Nemesis has no health remaining. Players win immediately.
2. Players Defeated:
   • If all players have zero life or are exhausted in a way that prevents further actions and cannot recover, the Nemesis wins immediately.
3. Special Nemesis Conditions:
   • Some Nemeses have unique defeat or victory conditions listed on their cards. Always check the Nemesis guide for these specifics.

---

Variable Difficulty

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

• BEGINNER Each player starts the game with 12 life (2 more). Gravehold starts with 35 life (5 more). The nemesis starts with 10 less life.
• EXPERT Use the Increased Difficulty rules shown on the nemesis mat. These rules may affect Setup, Unleash, or Additional Rules section of that nemesis.
• EXTINCTION Use the Increased Difficulty rules. Also, each player starts the game with 8 life (2 less). Gravehold starts with 25 life (5 less). The nemesis starts with 10 more life

---

Tips & Strategy

• Coordinate Abilities: Certain mage abilities are stronger when combined. Planning player turns in advance can prevent overloading the breach.
• Manage Gems Carefully: Ignoring gem placement can quickly lead to exhaustion or overwhelming damage.
• Use Turn Order Wisely: The order in which players cast spells can mitigate Nemesis effects significantly.

---

Example Turn: Aeon’s End (Full Walkthrough)

Game Setup for Example

• Players: 2 (Player A: Pyre Mage, Player B: Brute Mage)
• Nemesis: The Nameless
• Breach Gems: Empty at start of turn
• Player A Life: 15, Player B Life: 12
• Nemesis Life: 30

---

Step 1: Start of Player A’s Turn

1. Draw Phase:
   • Player A does not draw; Aeon’s End uses pre-set decks and hand sizes, so draw phase is skipped unless a card says otherwise.
2. Energy & Resource Management:
   • Player A checks charge gems available from previous turns.
   • Pyre Mage has 2 energy gems.

---

Step 2: Casting Cards

Player A plays cards in this order:

1. Card 1: “Fireball”
   • Cost: 1 energy
   • Effect: Deal 5 damage to the Nemesis
   • Player A spends 1 gem → Nemesis loses 5 life → Nemesis Life = 25
2. Card 2: “Mana Surge”
   • Effect: Gain 2 energy next turn, add a 2-gem to the breach
   • Player A adds a 2-gem to the breach → Breach = [2-gem]
   • Energy next turn is now 4 gems

---

Step 3: End Player A Turn

• Player A discards played cards unless they have a lingering effect.
• Exhaustion is checked; none applied.
• Turn passes to Player B.

---

Step 4: Player B Turn

1. Draw/Check Resources:
   • Brute Mage has 3 energy gems, no new draws needed.
2. Cast Cards:

• Card 1: “Ice Shield”
  • Effect: Place a shield to reduce next Nemesis attack by 3 damage
  • Shield active → reduces damage by 3
• Card 2: “Lightning Strike”
  • Cost: 2 energy gems
  • Effect: Deal 6 damage to Nemesis, plus 1-gem to breach
  • Spend 2 gems → Nemesis Life = 19
  • Add 1-gem → Breach = [2-gem, 1-gem]

3. End Player B Turn:
   • Cards discarded
   • Energy tracked for next turn

---

Step 5: Nemesis Turn

1. Draw Nemesis Card: “Wrath of the Nameless”
   • Effect: Deal 7 damage to the player with highest life, add a 3-gem to breach
2. Resolve Attack:
   • Player A has 15 life (highest), so takes 7 damage → Player A Life = 8
   • Player A’s exhaustion? None applied
3. Breach Management:
   • Add 3-gem to breach → Breach = [2-gem, 1-gem, 3-gem]
4. Check Special Effects:
   • Card does not trigger additional effects → discard Nemesis card

---

Step 6: End of Round

• Players check life totals: Player A = 8, Player B = 12, Nemesis = 19
• Breach is now [2, 1, 3]
• Players plan for next turn:
  • Pyre Mage can use energy to remove breach gems or cast stronger damage spells
  • Brute Mage can reinforce shields or add to breach control

---

Key Notes from This Example

1. Breach Management:
   • Ignoring gems leads to faster exhaustion and damage. Removing gems or controlling their value is crucial.
2. Turn Order Strategy:
   • Pyre Mage started first, which allowed placing a gem to prepare for Brute Mage’s turn.
3. Damage Mitigation:
   • Ice Shield reduced Nemesis attack from 7 → 4 (next attack only)
4. Nemesis Scaling:
   • Adding a 3-gem increases future damage and resource management challenges

---

Aeon’s End FAQ

---

Final Thoughts

Aeon’s End is a cooperative deck-building game that challenges players to work together against a formidable nemesis. By carefully managing your play area and optimizing your set of cards, each player can contribute to the group’s strategy and survive the nemesis’s attacks. From the first turn onward, every decision matters, making planning and teamwork essential for victory. With its unique mechanics and strategic depth, Aeon’s End offers a rewarding experience for both new and veteran players alike!