Ascension

Vigil, your world, is in peril.  Samael, the Fallen God, has returned with his army of monsters.  You must fight to save your world.  Thankfully, you are not alone.  Powerful heroes and mighty constructs may be summoned to the battle.  Defeat the monsters, gain the most honor, defeat the Fallen One and you shall be known as Godslayer.



Components


Ascension is a deck-building game so the most important components are the cards.  Chronicle of the Godslayer comes with 200 cards.  These cards include the starting decks for four players (8 Apprentices, 2 Militia.) 60 "Always Available" cards (1 Cultist, 30 Mystics, and 29 Heavy Infantry).   The last 100 cards are the Center Deck Cards.

You also receive one game board and 50 Honor tokens.  25 of the tokens are 1 Honor (small clear gems) and 25 are 5 Honor (large red gems). 

Object of the Game:

Players try to collect the most Honor in order to win the game.  They collect honor by defeating monsters and collecting heroes and constructs. 

Set-Up

One of the pluses for Ascension is its set-up.  I haven't timed it but Ascension has perhaps one of the quickest if not the quickest set-up of any deck-building game.  This makes it a great work week game, you can pull it out and play it in just a few minutes.

First, hand each player their start deck and have them shuffle it.  They then draw five cards for their starting hand. 

Second, place the Heavy Infantry, Mystic, and Cultist cards on their spaces on the board.  Shuffle the Center Deck cards and place six face up on the row spaces.  Then for each player place 30 honor tokens onto the board as the supply of honor for that game.

See... simple and fast!

Game Play

 As with set-up, game play is quick and easy. 

1.  Play cards from your hand to gain Runes, Power, and Honor.   

2.  Place played heroes and any cards bought in your discard pile.

3.  Draw five cards from you deck







1.  Play cards from your hand:  There is a symbol on each card.  Runes are represented by a silver triangle and Power is represented by a red shield and sword (see right).  Honor is shown by a black star.

Cards allow you to either acquire a new hero/construct or defeat a monster (and sometimes both). 


Acquire Heroes / Constructs 

Runes (silver triangle) are needed to acquire heroes and constructs from the center row. The amount needed is shown in the upper right hand of the card.  You get Runes from either the heroes from your hand or constructs you already have in play.  For example "Runic Lycanthrope" costs three to buy (and will later give you two runes when played from your hand).

You are not limited to buying just one card, however.  You may acquire as many cards as you can afford with your runes.  The cards available to purchase are the Mystics, Heavy Infantry, and any hero or construct in the Center Row.  When a card is acquired you place it in your discard pile.

Defeat Monsters


Players will use Power (shield / sword) to defeat the monsters.  As with Runes you gain power from your cards. The amount of power needed to defeat a card is shown in the upper right hand of the card.  So "Earth Tyrant" requires six power to defeat him. 

Whenever you are able to defeat a monster you earn the reward written on the card.  If you defeat "Earth Tyrant" you would take five honor tokens and would be able to draw two cards. 

You may defeat as many monsters as you are able to with your power.  When monsters are defeated they are placed in the void, next to the Center stack draw pile. 

The Cultist is always available to be defeated and is never placed in the void. 

An important rule to remember is that as cards are bought or defeated they should always immediately be replaced.  As a result, when a player makes a decision, there are always six cards in the Center Row.

2.  Place played heroes and any cards bought in your discard pile.  At the end of your turn, place all your acquired heroes and constructs into your discard pile.  Any cards played during the turn, except for constructs, are also placed in the discard pile.  Constructs are always left in play (unless put into the deck by a card effect.)  When your draw pile is depleted simply shuffle your discard pile and make a new draw deck.


3.  Draw five cards from you deck.  All you have to do now is draw five new cards and wait for your next turn.

Game End

The game ends when all the honor tokens that were placed out at the beginning of the game are taken.  The game ends that round so that each player has a equal amount of turns.  If a player gains honor and there are no tokens left, you can use extra token or just keep track of the amount.

After the last turn, players count their honor tokens and all honor earned from cards.  You can see how much honor you earn from a card by looking at the black star on the bottom of the card.  Arha Templar earns you 3 honor.  The player who has the most honor wins the game and is given the title: Godslayer.

 

My Thoughts

Ascension has many positives but some negatives.  I'll start with the negatives and end with the positives.

First negative is that as a deck building game I expect high quality cards.   The first edition cards are okay but the expansions "Storm of Souls" and "Return of the Fallen" are lesser quality cards.  While I don't expect linen finish (my favorite type) I do expect a thicker card stock. The rest of the components are nice, well except for something I'll discuss next.

My second and last negative is mostly with "Storm of Souls."  Truthfully my favorite of the three in the series.  But, come on, do we really need more half naked women?  This is coming from a women, but really this is a issue beyond that.  I was excited about the new board that game with Storm of Souls until I saw the artwork of the star child.  She is pretty and not really obscene, but still she isn't wearing any clothes! I can't imagine using this board with children, and I would need to take out some of the cards if I would play with children.  I know Melody Vassel plays Ascension and it was in her top 100 this year.  We gave this game a try partially because she liked it.  Does Tom, a pastor, teacher and father, take these cards out, I wonder?

Okay, enough with the negative and on to why I really enjoy this game.  As I stated before I like the quick set-up and play time.  During the week we don't have a lot of time to play longer games and sometimes just play filler games.  Ascension gives me the feel of a slightly heavier game, but still can be played in 3o minutes.  A definite plus!

Unlike other deck building games I don't feel like I need to choose to either buy just one card or defeat just one monster.  As long as I have the runes or power I can do both.  And, I can do each more than once, without any special cards.  I feel like I'm cheating, or at least being spoiled.  While enjoy that tension and decision making in Dominion and Thunderstone, not having to choose is part of the fun and strategy of Ascension.

I also feel like I have to pay more attention to what my opponent is doing during his turn.  It can start to feel like a solitaire game in some other deck building games.  Not so much in Ascension.  Because of the limit of six cards out, your opponent may take that card you really want, or defeat that monster you finally were going to be able to defeat next turn.  It can become a little bit of take-that as well.  This can become frustrating sometimes. 

I also enjoy some of the added features of the expansion.  I like the "Fate" feature in "Return of the Fallen" that causes things to happen as new cards are placed in the center row.  I really like the events in "Storm of Souls."  The theme isn't really thick in Ascension but the events help.  

So overall a great game that works wonderfully with two players.  I just might have to censor it if I were to play with those under 18.

Quick Stats:

Designers: Robert Dougherty, John Fiorillo, Justin Gary, Brian M. Kibler

Artists: Eric Sabee

Publisher: Gary Games, Arclight
Number of Players: 2-4
Play Time: 30 minutes