This is one in a series of posts regarding the board game Aeon’s End: The New Age. You can access all my other “AE: The New Age” posts HERE. This post offers Hints & Tips before the third Game, and will contain **spoilers from the first & second games**. You have been warned.
Deck 2B
Deck 2B is opened after after the second battle, adding more cards to the Barracks. 4 x level 2 Treasure cards are the first new items. Unlike level 1 Treasures, these give a communal bonus, that benefits all players. The players decide on one of these to be used at the start of the remaining battles.
Envelope 2b
The Envelope contains a new Mage, Soskel. Deck 2B contains his unique starter card, and another Spark, so there are enough starter cards for any 4 Mages.
Soskel starts the game with the gem Lucky Coin. This is a 1 aether gem, but you have the ability to refund a charge to get the 2 aether back. This seems to be of limited use, but at the right time it can help to buy an expensive card, or pay off a Power card.
His ability requires only 4 charges, and you can do 1 of 2 things. First, you can add an Energise token to any players breach, as long as that breach doesn’t already have one. When a spell is cast from a breach with an Energise token, that player gains a charge. The other ability that Soskel can trigger, is to remove an Energise token from a players breach. That player then gains 4 life.
New Market Cards
The remainder of deck 2B is new Market Cards, which are to be placed into the Barracks. When setting up for the Market for the next Battle, you must choose your 9 supply piles from the 12 that are available. Those not chosen will be placed in front of the Banished Supply Divider, and not used for the rest of the expedition.
Bouncing Boom contains the first instance of the new keyword, Echo. This means that a spell is cast twice, including all modifiers. If Bouncing Boom is cast from a +1 Breach, it will deal 3 damage, twice. If it is cast from a Breach with an energise token, that player will receive two charges.
Battle 3
The rest of this post is about the prep required for fighting the next Nemesis. Deck 3A and Envelope 3a contain the mat, cards, etc for the next Nemesis. I will keep those elements under Spoiler Tags, for those that don’t want to know before they have opened those parts in the game. When you are ready, read card 8 of the Expedition Deck to continue with the story.