How to Play Ascension

Every game of Ascension starts with eight Apprentices and two Militia, which is a small, polite army with no particular talents. Six cards sit face up in the middle of the table. Over the course of the game, you trade those Apprentices for heroes, build an engine and fight monsters for the honor of saving a world that has been in trouble since 2010.

Ascension has 18 sets, a story that has run for more than fifteen years, and a Kraken. This guide covers how it plays, how the sets fit together, what each one adds and where the story has gone. At Bat City Games & Comics in South Austin, you do not need to know any of it before you sit down. We will teach you at the table.

What is Ascension?

Ascension is a deckbuilding game, which means nobody begins with a deck. Everyone gets the same ten cards and builds a better one during play, buying new cards from a shared row.

Stone Blade Entertainment published the first set, Chronicle of the Godslayer, in 2010. Stone Blade says it was designed by Magic: The Gathering Pro Tour champions. The main designers were Justin Gary, Brian Kibler, Rob Dougherty and John Fiorillo. The base game plays two to four people, up to six when you combine sets, and it has a solo mode.

The current core game is Ascension, 4th Edition, with 181 remastered cards, 50 Honor tokens and a premium board.

How does a game work?

This is the core of the game as the rulebooks describe it. The rulebook in your box is the last word.

• Your deck. Eight Apprentices and two Militia. Shuffle them and draw five.
• The Center Row. Six face-up cards drawn from the Center Deck. When one leaves, a new one takes its place.
• Always Available. Mystics, Heavy Infantry and a Cultist sit beside the row. Anyone can take a Mystic or Heavy Infantry on any turn, and the Cultist can be defeated as many times as you can pay.
• Honor. A pool of tokens, 30 for each player. They're triggers for how the game ends and how you win.

On your turn, you play cards from your hand. Heroes and Constructs give you two resources: Runes and Power.

• Runes buy Heroes and Constructs from the row. The new card goes to your discard pile.
• Power defeats Monsters. You collect the reward, usually Honor, and the Monster goes to the Void.

At the end of your turn, you discard what you played and draw five new cards. Any unspent Runes and Power are gone. When your deck runs out, you shuffle the discard pile and keep going.

That's the whole idea. The card you buy today is a card you will not hold until your deck has cycled, so a good turn is partly about what you will draw in a few turns.

What are the card types?

• Heroes do their thing once, when you play them, and then go to your discard.
• Constructs stay in play and work for you every turn. They can be destroyed by card effects.
• Monsters are fought with Power. Each one pays a reward and then goes to the Void.

Who wins?

Honor comes from Monsters you defeat, from Heroes and Constructs that carry it, and from your red and white crystal Honor tokens. When the last token is taken, the round finishes so that everyone has the same number of turns. Then you count the Honor on your cards, wherever they are, plus your tokens. The highest total wins. Ties go to the player who started last.

What are the four factions?

• Enlightened draws cards, improves what you already own and shapes the Center Row.

• Lifebound plays many Heroes in one turn, makes Runes and gains Honor without fighting.

• Mechana builds a machine out of Constructs. It also makes special Runes that only pay for Mechana Constructs.

• Void fights Monsters and banishes cards. It is the faction for anyone who likes the dark, and bats approve.

Heroes with Unite get an extra effect when you play them in the same turn as another Hero from the same faction.

Banish is the other trick to know. Banishing a weak starting card removes it from your deck for good, which makes your good cards come around sooner.

How do the large and small sets work?

Ascension has been expanding since 2011, and the sets come in three kinds. Stone Blade calls them stand-alone sets, small sets and add-ons. Players often say big box and small box.

• Stand-alone sets are a complete game in one box. You can play one with nothing else. Most of the 18 sets are this kind.
• Small sets can be played on their own with fewer players, and they are designed to pair with a partner set. Return of the Fallen pairs with Chronicle of the Godslayer. Immortal Heroes pairs with Storm of Souls. Darkness Unleashed pairs with Rise of Vigil.
• Add-ons need another set to play. Alliances is the only one. It is for teams of two.

All of the sets share the same core rules. To combine two, shuffle their Center Decks together and add Honor tokens to the pool for any extra players, up to six.

Each set keeps its own card types and keywords, so read each rulebook before you mix them.

(Curse of the Golden Isles is built to run on the ship system from Skulls & Sails.)

Every set, in order

Here is each set with the year it came out, what kind it is and what it adds.

• Chronicle of the Godslayer, 2010. The base game. Samael leads an army of Monsters, and you recruit Heroes and build Constructs to stop him. It introduces Runes, Power and Honor.
• Return of the Fallen, 2011. A small set. Samael returns. Its Fate effects trigger when a card enters the Center Row.
• Storm of Souls, 2011. Stand-alone. Kythis arrives. It adds Events, Trophy Monsters, which you keep after defeating them, and the Fanatic.
• Immortal Heroes, 2012. A small set. Kythis steals the spirits of heroes. It adds Soul Gems, Ongoing Trophy Monsters and 20 Events.
• Rise of Vigil, 2013. Stand-alone. It adds Treasure, Energy Shards and the Energize keyword, and every player starts with 11 cards.
• Darkness Unleashed, 2013. A small set. Erabus escapes his prison. It adds Transform and Dark Energy Shards.
• Realms Unraveled, 2014. Stand-alone. The realms collide and the factions form new alliances. It adds cards that belong to more than one faction, plus Multi-Unite and Transform.
• Dawn of Champions, 2015. Stand-alone. It is set in New Vigil, and each player leads with a Champion. It adds Reputation, Rally and more multi-faction cards.
• Dreamscape, 2015. Stand-alone. Pasythea guards a dream realm. It adds Insight, Dreamborn, Visions and a private Dream deck.
• War of Shadows, 2016. Stand-alone. Aklys leads a dark legion. This set adds Day and Night mechanics and cards with dual costs.
• Gift of the Elements, 2017. Stand-alone. Elementals awaken. It adds Empower, Infest Monsters and Transforming Events.
• Valley of the Ancients, 2017. Stand-alone. Players fight over ancient Temples and Keystones, with the Echo and Serenity keywords.
• Alliances, 2017. An add-on. It is team play for pairs, with a shared Honor pool, Banners and Ally Unite.
• Delirium, 2018. Stand-alone. The Dreamscape spills into the world. It adds Recur, Fate Auctions and the Delirium Die, and Insight returns.
• Deliverance, 2018. Stand-alone. Pasythea is reborn. It adds Phantasm, Dreambind Monsters and Dreamseeker.
• Skulls & Sails, 2019. Stand-alone. Pirates sail the Severed Sea. Each player gets a ship with a Crew dial, and the set adds Anchor, Raiding and Thukal the Kraken.
• Curse of the Golden Isles, 2021. Stand-alone. It is a race for cursed treasure. It adds Cursed Treasure, the Ghost Pirate and the Navigator.
• Legends, 2025. Stand-alone, funded on Gamefound in 2024. It adds a Legendary Track, Legendary Characters, Boons and Renown thresholds.

The story so far

Ascension's story has always been loose, and that's part of the charm. The world is Vigil, which a Great Seal has protected for millennia. The Seal was made after a war with a corrupt god, Samael the Fallen. Now it is failing, and forgotten Monsters are breaking through. You lead a small band of Apprentices and Militia, and you want to become the Godslayer.

The Samael years, 2010 to 2012

In Chronicle of the Godslayer, Samael returns with an army of Monsters. In Return of the Fallen, he comes back again, meaning a Godslayer has to fight him twice.

In Storm of Souls, Kythis, the missing Gatekeeper, steps in after Samael's fall. In Immortal Heroes, Kythis steals the spirits of heroes from the Well of Souls.

Erabus, 2013

Rise of Vigil is set years after Kythis is defeated. Darkness Unleashed brings Erabus, the son of Samael and Nyx, out of the crystal prison where he was held.

Adayu and New Vigil, 2014 to 2017

In Realms Unraveled, Adayu, protector of the realms, is losing his mind, and the realms begin colliding. The factions form new alliances to stop him. Dawn of Champions is set in New Vigil, after the Unraveling. War of Shadows brings Aklys, the Scourge, and a dark legion. Gift of the Elements wakes the Elementals, Valley of the Ancients sends everyone to fight over the Temples, and Alliances teams players up.

The Dreamscape, 2015 and 2018

In Dreamscape, Pasythea becomes guardian of a dream realm. Three years later, in Delirium, the corrupted Dreamscape floods through a gate in the Valley of the Ancients. In Deliverance, Pasythea is reborn and seals the gate. A story that ran from 2015 and ends in 2018.

The Severed Sea, 2019 and 2021

Skulls & Sails takes the game to sea. A Kraken waits in the Deep, and pirates want what it guards. Curse of the Golden Isles sends everyone after cursed treasure while the Ghost Pirate of the Crimson Askara hunts them.

Legends, 2025

The Muses of Malevolence threaten Vigil. Legendary Characters from Ascension's past return to guide a new generation of heroes.

There is no required reading order. Each stand-alone set tells its piece of the story in one box, and the rest is for the people who like to know.

Which set should you start with?

• You are new. Start with Ascension, 4th Edition and learn the core game.
• You want a different engine. Choose the stand-alone set that sounds the most fun. Rise of Vigil has Energy Shards, Dreamscape has a private Dream deck and Skulls & Sails has ships.
• You have two players and want more. Pair a small set with its partner.
• You play in teams. Alliances is built for it, and it needs one other set to work.

Not every set is in print, and our online shelf right now shows Ascension, 4th Edition. Stock changes, so ask at the counter about any set you are curious about.

If you like Ascension, try these

Deckbuilding is a big family. These are on our shelves:

• Dominion. Many players call it the game that started the genre. See Dominion, 2nd Edition and the expansions Menagerie, Nocturne, Allies and Rising Sun.
• Clank! You sneak into a dragon's lair to steal treasure, and every mistake makes noise. See Clank! and the expansions In! Space! and The Mummy's Curse.
• Star Realms. A Star Trek version of the fast, ship-battling deckbuilder. See Star Trek Star Realms and Borg: Invasion.
• Star Wars. The Deckbuilding Game and its Clone Wars edition.
• Dune: Imperium. Deckbuilding mixed with worker placement. See Dune: Imperium and Uprising, and read our Uprising staff pick.
• Slay the Spire: The Board Game. The video game, on a table.
• Attack on Titan. If anime is more your speed, try the Attack on Titan Deck-Building Game.

Where can you play Ascension in South Austin?

Board Games Night runs every Saturday, 6 to 10 PM, except the last Saturday of the month, when we host a Warhammer tournament. Demo games are free to play in the shop. Tell us you want to try a deckbuilder, and we will find a table and teach you the rules.

Frequently asked questions

How many people can play Ascension?

Two to four in the base game and up to six when you combine sets. There is also a solo mode.

Do I need to play the sets in order?

No. The stand-alone sets are complete games, and you can start with any of them.

What are Runes, Power and Honor?

Runes buy Heroes and Constructs. Power defeats Monsters. Honor is how you score, and you win by having the most.

Is there a digital version of Ascension?

Yes. Stone Blade offers Ascension for iOS, Android, PC and Mac.

Where can I play Ascension in Austin?

Bat City Games & Comics hosts Board Games Night every Saturday except the last of the month, 6 to 10 PM, at 5001 Highway 290.

Ready to take a seat?

Visit us at 5001 Highway 290, Austin, Texas 78735. We are open every day, 10 AM to 10 PM. Bring a friend, and we will teach you the rest. Come on a Saturday and you will be right on time for Board Games Night.

Browse online: Ascension, 4th Edition · All games · Strategy games · Events at the shop