Ascended Kings is a Battle Royal game (free for all fight to the death) with a twist: there is no player elimination. There are Fire Walls that push players closer and closer into combat, increasing the intensity at the end of each round. Players use gemstones as forms of power to perform actions to move, attack, and defend themselves. In short, it is a miniatures, card and dice fantasy action arena combat game.
It is thematic, when you start the game you are playing as one of the 5 kings of Empyrnea, called forth by the Enclave to the arena for the Battle Royal. Once a king dies, he is DEAD, having fulfilled the aspect of Battle Royal. There is no player elimination because players continue to return as entities known as Revenants, which are completely different characters.
The Enclave is a syndicate of Ylem Priests who rule over Aeterna in place of the late High King Apsu. Since the High King has died, the bloodstones have lost their power, therefore making the Kings mortal again. They have recently learned that the bloodstones can regain their power through willing sacrifices of the Kings (in a fight to the death).
Read the graphic novel to find out!
Because they believe that by uniting all 4 of the bloodstones through willing sacrifice it will rejuvenate them thereby restoring the victor’s immortality.
Foci are forms of focus power born within, and are all derivative of Ylem: the original substance from which all things are made. Foci represent a surplus of innate motivations or instincts of the character in the form of gemstones, which can be used to execute the will and behavior of that character (actions). Each focus gem shows a small piece of what the character is capable of, and most likely to do.
There are 5 Focus Gemstones – they are:
Dire |die-ur|– The Energy of Death and Destruction; color BLACK
Aria |ahr-ee-uh| – The Force of all Creation; color WHITE
Egis |Ee-jis| – The Innate Force of the Natural World; color GREEN
Pyre |pie-ur| – The Burning Force of Mens’ Willpower; color RED
Ylem |ahy-luh m| – The Underlying Energy of All Thing; color BLUE
The Latent Combat System is an original innovative gameplay mechanic that separates a player’s turn into one of two states, the Latent State and the Active State. The Latent State involves rolling dice to attain gemstones. The gemstones attained can then only be used while in the Active State.
When it is not a player’s turn, they are in the Defensive State. Players are in a passive mode during this state where they react to Active players by blocking attacks using Egis gemstones.
There are two ways a card can be used, 1) “cash it in” for the gemstones displayed on the top margin at any time , and 2) be used to cast spells called “Focus Abilities” during a players Active State. Nearly all cards have a target and effect described on the card.
You must attack them with Pyre gems and/or focus abilities to inflict Dire Wounds. If a player takes too many Dire gems they will perish and return as a Revenant.
Revenants are mysterious beings that get called forth from the Traverse when a massive amount of Focus Energy passes through realities (the Traverse is the conduit space between life and death). When a player is returned to the board as a Revenant they have powerful new ways to play the game.
The objective is to claim all 4 of the bloodstones. Each player starts with a bloodstone and, if they are defeated, they will drop those bloodstones on the tile they were slain allowing other players to pick them up. Once all 4 bloodstones have been united, the Omega Stone appears. If the player with all bloodstones cannot be stopped from claiming Omega, they win the game.
The omega dial is a device used to create Immolation Events on the board, and it is also used as a countdown timer (if players wish) to artificially initiate the Omega War if nobody can claim all 4 bloodstones within the chosen number of rounds.
The Omega War is the endgame period of the game wherein players are attempting to prevent others from claiming the Omega Stone and in turn, attempting to claim it for their own. The period before this is called the Bloodstone War, wherein players are still battling for the bloodstones.
Aside from it having original innovations like the Latent Combat System, the Fire Walls that push players closer into combat, and no player elimination in an arena combat game. It’s also very fun, sign up to play it with the designer during your time at GenCon!