Aeons End The Nameless 2nd Edition by Indie Boards and Cards, Strategy Board Game

My wife and I decided to get some cooperative board and card games to play after our son goes to bed. This game was perfect. I did some research and bought Aeon's End and Spirit Island. We decided that Spirit Island is a bit too complex and the games are a bit too long for us now. We hope to play Spirit Island eventually, but it is a tough entry point into cooperative games. However, Aeon's End is perfect for us!Pros:- The game comes with separately packaged cards so we could set up our first game in just a few minutes and get started right away. We just set up according to the instructions and read the guidebook on how to play.- Games take about an hour, so we can play 1-2 games in the time it takes to watch a movie.- Gameplay is intense and thinky.- The game lasts another 10-15 minutes after play because we tend to discuss our future strategy.- The game has some randomness that could swing in your favor. Even if you are on the brink of failure, a few lucky breaks can save the game.- The game cards and pieces seem like they are very high quality.Cons:- The instructions weren't as clear as I'd prefer. We made several mistakes on the first playthrough that I think the instruction manual should have anticipated since it gives the prearranged first game setup. But after our first playthrough, we had a firm grasp on how to play.My wife and I really enjoyed Aeon's End. She already wants the expansions and says we should play it at least once a week! Not bad for our first coop game!! Some reviews say the game takes a long time to set up. I don't really mind the 3-5 minute setup time.

This is my favorite board game!! The mages you play as are all intriguing and have backstories, have different abilities, and pros and cons to each. But every one that we’ve played so far has ended up being useful in their own way to claim a win. Setup takes a little bit, but otherwise the game is so fun that we have a hard time walking away from it! They even provide cards too to keep the box well-organized so you don’t have to spend an hour picking out the cards for your starting decks! We can’t wait to play it in a larger group soon, we only play it two player right now! We also love the game so far because we aren’t winning by any large margin and every game is won by the skin of our teeth, so there’s decent strategy involved in it and it keeps us engaged.

I like to play co-op strategy games and am always looking for one that has a high level of strategy and variability. I can comfortably say that Aeon's End has these qualities in spades. I play with one other person very often and this is the best co-op game I have played yet. It requires serious teamwork and is also complex enough where one player cannot rule over the entire game. In other co-op games I've played, there's generally an optimal strategy that all the players must start following, so it's ends up less of each player contributing and more "this is the optimal strategy, do it". This is not the case in Aeon's End. The core mechanic of "never shuffling your deck" means that you must keep very close track of the order you purchase things, play things, and discard things. Even with two people, it becomes very complicated for one person to keep track of everything. Add in that each mage has a variety style of play, that each market opens up different play options, and each Nemesis requires different strategy, this mechanically simple game becomes very strategically complex. Playing with others actually requires each player to have their own strategy and intuition about the game, and winning requires communication and coordination that I haven't seen from other co-op games. Aeon's End is truly a masterpiece, and I'm looking forward to getting all the expansions!

This game is simply amazing. The artwork is great, the variability of the mages is fun, the nemeses are interesting. There is a lot of game in just the core box, BUT, once you play it you will most likely want the expansions for more options. I really cant say enough good things about this game. Coop or solo, it is a blast and feels different every time!

Aeon's End has a steep learning curve. There are, conservatively, about two million different sets of cards and a thousand rules to keep track of. The first setup took forever, and my wife and I were frustrated on our first play-through trying to figure everything out. We had to watch a 30 minute Youtube video because the included rules weren't particularly helpful.But once we got the hang of it, we really enjoyed it. My criteria were that I wanted a game that worked well with just two people, had a lot of replay value, and was cooperative instead of competitive. Aeon's End works well on all three counts. You can tailor each playing experience for different characters, enemies, levels of difficulty, and card decks, which means developing new strategies every time. Keeping track of every detail can be tough (in two turns the enemy unleashes four times its usual level of attack, don't forget!!!), but it also requires players to stay on top of things and work together.It's a great game for a rainy day when you've got time to master the rules and go for a couple of play-throughs. I'm glad we spent the money, I think we'll enjoy it for a long time to come.