Ascension: Immortal Heroes is the newest expansion for Ascension. To learn more about how to play the game check out my previous review. This review will focus on the newest elements added to ascension by Immortal Heroes.
Immortal Heroes is a standalone game, but it can also be combined with any previous set. Alone it can support 1-2 players alone. If you combine it with other Ascension sets it can support up to 6 players.
Components
There are 30 Honor token included. 15 large red 5 Honor Tokens and 15 small 1 Honor clear tokens. Those familiar with the game will recognize this as the same honor tokens included with previous sets.
184 cards are also included. These cards include 2 personal starting decks which include 8 apprentice and 2 militia cards. There are also the 35 "Always available" cards: 1 Cultist, 2 Fanatics, 16 Mystics, and 16 Heavy Infantry cards. There are 69 center deck cards which include a mixture of monsters, heroes, events, and constructs. 40 Soul gem cards are included. I explain these in a bit. There are also 20 "New Event" cards.
Soul Gems
Soul Gems are a new type of card introduced in Immortal Heroes. These cards represent the spirits of heroes who fought against Samael in the Great War who were trapped by Kythis when he took control of the Well of Souls. Each Soul Gem shares the art and effect of Heroes from previous Ascension sets, but they are not heroes themselves.
The Soul Gems are not shuffled into the center deck at the beginning of the game. They are shuffled together and set aside in a face down pile with the Always Available cards. When a card effect tells a player to gain a Soul Gem, that player takes the top card of the Soul Gem deck and places it face up in front of him or her. The player may play that Soul Gem to gain its effect at any time during that turn. At the end of that turn all Soul Gems he or she controls are banished.
Ongoing Trophy
In Storm of Souls, all the Trophy Monsters provided a single effect and were banished once used. In Immortal Heroes, some Trophy Monsters have lasting effects, indicated by the word "Ongoing." Just like normal Trophy Monsters, these Monsters provide their Honor reward immediately when defeated and are then placed face up in front of you. They continue to provide their effect for as long as they remain in play under your control. For example with the Growmites, you gain two honor when you defeat another Growmites.
Alternative Event Rule
One of my favorite things added with Immortal Heroes is the Alternative Event rule. This makes the events a more significant part of the game and allows you to control the number of events that occur in your game.
You remove all the Event cards from the center deck and shuffle them together in a separate pile. These are then put in a face down stack near the event zone. Included in Immortal Heroes are 20 "New Event" cards. Five are shuffled into the center deck for each set you are including in the game. So if you are playing with Immortal Heroes only you would shuffle in five events. If you are playing with Chronicle of the Godslayer, Storm of Souls, and Immortal Heroes, you would shuffle in 15 of the cards.
Every time a "New Event" card flips off the center deck, reveal a card from the stack of Event cards and put it into the Event Zone as if it had flipped off the center deck. As an option you can choose to begin the game with a random event already in play.
My Thoughts
If you read my other review for Ascension, you already know that I really enjoy this game. It is one of my favorite games to pull out on a weekend because of the quick set-up and fast play. The base game alone has offered hours of enjoyable game play. And all the previous expansions have added extras things like Fate and Events that increase both the re-playability and variety of the game.
For the most part my husband and I don't mix the expansions together with the base game. We tend to play them alone with perhaps a few promo cards mixed in. Each deck has a different feel and strength and work well alone. Each expansion has felt like a standalone game that could easily be mixed with the base game or enjoyed alone. This won't be the case with Immortal Heroes. It truly feels like an expansion rather than a separate game. So it will probably rarely be played alone. Many of the cards were expensive and it was hard to build up the deck enough to buy them. This slowed the game down and left us buying more Mystics and Heavy Armor than we would have wanted. Because of this and the fact that the basic game play rules aren't
included in the game Immortal Heroes would not be the first Ascension
set I would suggest for new players.
This is really the only criticism I have for Immortal Heroes and it really isn't much of one at that. Some of the new cards may be expensive but I really enjoy the powers that they add. The "World Tree" construct, for example, allows you to gain up to five honor a round, which could quickly drain that honor pool.
Soul Gems add interesting twist to the game and a bit more randomness. You never know what cards you may draw a Soul Gem. What is drawn can make you quickly change your strategy to take advantage of it, or help you defeat that monster or gain that expensive construct you weren't able to with you card hands alone. The Soul Gems are fun to play with and add a new element but they aren't something I will play with every game.
The Ongoing Trophy is also a nice addition. Previous expansion gave up Trophy Monsters with a onetime effect; these new monsters add an ongoing effect for the rest of the game. Kythis, of course, adds the very powerful effect of a Soul Gem gained each turn. I just have to remember use the effect of my trophy monsters each turn. You will also want to make sure you have room to lay your trophy on the table.
I like the addition of the Optional "New Event" cards. I've always liked the event cards and the different bonuses that they give. I enjoy when the change and like the variety during the game. So adding five of the New Event cards to the deck for each game being played with and keeping the events together makes me happy. I see more events come out and I can use every event card from every game no matter what expansions I'm playing with. I know this could be done without the use of the "New Event" cards but it certainly makes it easier.
Overall I really like this expansion. It adds some nice features and awesome new cards but doesn't add a lot of complexity. It keeps the simple quick game play that so endears Ascension to me. But Immortal Heroes is probably best played mixed with other decks, rather than alone. And don't forget it doesn't come with the base rules, just the expansion rules. Anyone looking for some and interesting add-on to Ascension should definitely look into Immortal Heroes.
Quick Stats:
Designers: Robert Dougherty, John Fiorillo, Justin Gary, Brian M. Kibler,
Designers: Robert Dougherty, John Fiorillo, Justin Gary, Brian M. Kibler,
Artists: Eric Sabee
Publishers: Marabunta, Stone Blade Entertainment, Gary Games
Publishers: Marabunta, Stone Blade Entertainment, Gary Games
Players: 1-2
Game Length: 30 minutes
Ages:8 and up
Game Length: 30 minutes
Ages:8 and up
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