Playroom Entertainment Ascension Tactics Miniatures Deckbuilding Game for Ages 10 and Up; 1-4 Players

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Impressively, the scenarios use the simple ruleset to create a dynamic and interesting experience that elevates the limited tactical scope of the card play. The decision space is often tense and vibrant. The structure and setup of many scenarios achieves a MOBA-like feel, pushing champions down lanes and creating direct engagements. It’s just a very crafty overall suite on offer. The structure and setup of many scenarios achieves a MOBA-like feel. Ascension Tactics Inferno introduces you to the hellscape called Deofol, the long-corrupted realm where the god of love once dwelled. The stand-alone sequel includes a new map, themed tiles, scenarios, and a campaign that bring the infernal realm to life. In Ascension Tactics, players still acquire cards from a central row to gradually build up and customise their desk, but the cards are used to control champion miniatures on a hex-grid map board. The champions - which include a number of characters from the card game - compete to control the board by equipping items, using boosts and defeating monsters. One of the great things about working with the Ascension universe is that we can pull from its rich lore of characters and popular mechanics. Dual faction champions, originally introduced in Realms Unraveled, now make their way into Ascension Tactics. Dual faction champions also helped us solve a key design challenge. Because this set focuses so much on the new Fallen champions, we didn’t have as many designs available to reinforce the original four factions. Dual faction champions give us a “two for one” design slot to ensure all factions are evenly represented in the game. It’s been over 13 years since I began working on the first version of Ascension. At that time, I had no idea what a huge impact the game would have and the community that would develop around it. With over 16 standalone expansions and a million units sold, including an app and a VR version, Ascension is the game I am most well-known for. When it came time to celebrate the 10th anniversary of Ascension, my team and I wanted to do something special, so we set out to create Ascension Tactics.

It was an epiphany of mechanics! The art was a bit wobbly, but the way things escalated and flowed… I’d never played anything like it before. I needed more. And more. And more. Ascension: Tactics can be played by one to four players and the way to win is by gaining a certain amount of Honor points first (pleasingingly, these are still the lovely translucent clear and red crystals – mmmm, tactile tactics). These can be gained in different ways depending on what scenario you are playing, but the most common method is to control ‘beacons’ on the battlefield (stand on next to them) – yes, battlefield. This is not just about the cards any more. Things just got standee. Quests! Each player will be given a Quest to complete during the game. Once completed, it transforms into a powerful Construct that can be equipped to your Champions! I did indeed, because as well as a rule book, you get a scenario book, the board doesn’t just come with one map set up, it has a blank side too. With plenty of terrain tiles to create one of the many maps and scenarios in the scenario book. Or you can make up your own. Or if you have a regular set of players, you can go for a co-operative campaign. Building the co-operative campaign in Ascension Tactics was the hardest and most time-consuming part of the entire project. In essence, each scenario is a game in itself, and all of these scenarios needed to connect together in a way that allowed for player progression and a cohesive story.I am incredibly excited to be partnered again with Playdek on the Ascension app,” said Justin Gary, CEO of Stone Blade and lead designer of Ascension, “We know fans have been asking for new content and features for a long time and we can’t wait to bring this all to life for our community.”

Late winter is good for one thing: spending time inside, warm and dry, playing new board games. We’ve rounded up the best new titles on sale right now, and narrowed in on some of the most interesting new crowdfunding campaigns launching in March.If you hadn’t guessed already, I really, really like this game. But, for a balanced view, a few minor critiques: The universe of Ascension Tactics is expanding once again with Ascension Tactics Inferno, which promises to bring more than 50 new miniatures, new gameplay mechanics and rules, a new faction called The Fallen and new dual faction champions. Secondly, there are a lot of rules and sometimes they feel a bit… uncertain, especially when it comes to treasure token modifiers and what you can or can’t do with your Cultists. Personally, I hate having to disrupt the flow of the game to query a player’s use of the Cultists, so I have probably inadvertently created house rules every time I play it. Progress through transformation is not just represented in Champions. The other major mechanism using transform is quests. Quests can be acquired in various ways, including quest giver tiles, scenario rules, and center row cards. Yes, the Cultists aren’t just there for beating up anymore – you can actually recruit them to fight for you! I mean, they’re pretty weak sauce but don’t overlook the chip-chip-chip effect of the little guys…