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The Aeon’s End series are cooperative deck building card game, where 1-4 players take on the mantle of breach mages - powerful magic users trained in the mystic arts - to face down a threat from an invading horror (called a Nemesis) and defend Gravehold, the last bastion of humanity. Aeon’s End Return to Gravehold is the first expansion to the 5th standalone set, Outcasts. If you’re thinking of getting Return to Gravehold then you must already know how Aeon’s End plays.
New cards
As with all standalone sets, and expansions, the designers have once again brought out some interesting cards & creative mechanics. This set comes with 2 new spells and 1 new relic. Without spoilers, the spells are one mid and one high cost spell, either of which have a very helpful effect. More interestingly, the new relic card carries a mechanic which I’ve not seen before in the game - though I still haven’t played every expansion. Again, without spoiling details, it’s a fresh mechanic and reasonably powerful if combined well. Overall they are fine cards, but not too powerful or game changing. Continuing the expedition Mode, there are also 11 new treasurers - 3 treasure gems, 3 treasure spells, and 3 level 2 and 3 level 3 treasure cards. As usual they’re pretty well balanced, and so can not only be used with this set & the Outcast nemeses easily, but can also be used on retrospective nemeses in games.
New mages
Really fresh are the 2 new mages which come with the set. It’s difficult to really describe the mages without spoilers, but one is more focused around using spells while the other has a mechanic introduced in War Eternal that means their effect isn’t certain. Describing is spoilers, but the effect can somewhat be picked by some careful play. However, without certain classes of cards available in supplies this can be a binary choice, with no way of going back. I really can’t say anymore without giving it away, but it’s a fun mage to play and after I’d tested them out I went back and fought some old nemeses for the sake of testing it out. Both are very fun, and clearly the designers had fun coming up with some good ideas for this pack. Interestingly, both mages are easy to understand but you feel like you want to play them a few times to really get a hold of them/ develop your strategy with them. This, of course, adds to the replayability factor.
New nemeses
This expansion comes with 2 new nemeses, which are of course compatible with all previous material - not just outcasts. One with a focus on disrupting cards, not unlike the prince of Gluttons in the base set though mechanically different, and the other with a focus on dealing out some hefty damage. One of these is a pretty challenging boss, so if you’re looking for an expansion that can really challenge you, then this boss - and this expansion - is the right one to test yourself.
Final thoughts
I’m always impressed with the designers behind Aeons End, and that they’re able to bring out fresh expansions and standalone sets with innovations even now - after so many standalone sets and so many expansions! If you’re looking for a challenging nemesis then this one is an expansion for you.
