Ascension: Chronicle of the Godslayer - Review

Ascension caught my eye at GenCon 2010, unfortunately their booth was always packed and there was always a new person to run over and talk to about their latest and greatest, so it wasn't until just about a month ago that I was able to sit down and try out a game of it.  It's another take on the deck building games that are currently cropping up, designed by Justin Gary, an ex-Magic The Gathering Pro Tour player.

Everything has its place in the box

So how does this one work?  Well, players receiving starting decks consisting of attack power, and magical power with a heavier emphasis on the magical.  They deal themselves a 5 card hand and then set out to build their deck to accumulate points by either playing magic cards to get new heroes, equipment, or constructs, or by playing combat cards to defeat the monsters that appear on the board.  Only 6 cards are available at a time, and once one is removed, it is immediately replaced with a new card, keeping the game fresh and exciting at all times.

Based on the number of players playing, there is a set amount of points that can be earned before the game ends.  Once the the last points are taken, the round completes and then players add up their accumulated points as well as any points that appear on cards that were taken such as the heroes or the very point heavy constructs.  The player with the highest score at the end wins, simple enough.

A typical board state

Of all the deck building games out there, there's a few things that set this one apart.  For starters, games are always close and always up in the air.  Each game that our play group has played has been a matter of mere points separating the players, where it was felt that anybody could have taken the game.  Secondly, there's very little player interaction.  There's a total of one card in the game that will allow you to steal cards from other players, and it's a monster, so once it's beaten, it goes off once and is gone from the game. Finally, there is always something to do, there's no such thing as a wasted turn in this game, even if it's just attacking the always around cultist for a quick point.

We say we're punching him in the face

Our play group had the very awesome chance to sit down with Justin Gary and play the yet to be released expansion as well as ask him some questions about what direction he was taking the game in.  The big reveal for the expansion are cards that when they come up in the center row, automatically trigger an effect for all players.  Mostly good effects, like draw a card, but there is one bad effect that I won't spoil that the monsters can do.  The points per player in the game has been revamped, and our play group went through most of the deck while trying to score them, so the games do last a little bit longer.  On the plus side, the expansion also upgrades the game to allow for 6 players, to larger play groups like mine can rejoice.

So if it wasn't apparent, we're big fans of Ascension:  Chronicle of the Godslayer, and recommend it for anybody looking to get into fantasy style deck building games.  It's easier to learn than Thunderstone, but having all of the cards in the deck makes for less strategy (but still lots of fun).   We're looking forward to the new expansion, slated for this summer, and the iPhone version of the game, coming out this May for $4.99.  Additionally, you can visit Board Game Geek to pick up The Rat King promo cards, as well as the Ascension website to get any promos that were given away during game days (we here at VG30 are big fans of companies that make their promos easily attainable).  Give this one a try, you won't be sorry.