Ashes & Amber - Cities Will Rise...As Will The Cards
Transcript
Hey there gamers. Welcome back to the Board Game Co channel. And today we have a preview of Ashes and Amber. Hey there gamers. It's Professor Me here and welcome back to the Board Gameco channel. Today we have a preview of Ashes and Amber by David's Games. Now this is a sponsored video. This is a current crowdfunding campaign, so you can check out the link down below for everything that they have planned. And this is also a prototype copy in front of me. So all rules, components, things like that are subject to change. But as you can already tell, Ashes of Amber is going to be a card game where you are building out your own civilizations. So the game is going to take you through our real world history where you are playing through these different ages starting all the way from prehistory taking you to the modern era. So you're going to have five rounds of play representing five different ages. And with that, players are going to be using the cards available from that particular era to augment their different cities.
Now cities are going to be stacks of cards that you have played in front of you. and you're able to play more cards into a city or create other ones. So, they're going to be ways for you to have these multiple cities and they're all going to have to go through these catastrophes because the five different eras have catastrophes that end up affecting all of these cities in a detrimental way and you have to find ways to fortify your cities against it better than other players. So, ultimately, you're trying to get these achievement points for the different things that you are able to do. But in order to do so, you need to be able to figure out which cities to have cards stack together to have them be protected and which cities to spread out so that you have more available to be able to create different situations for yourself when you gain more cards later. Now, every game players are going to play through five rounds representing the five different ages that you can see here. Prehistory, antiquity, middle ages, age of discovery, modern era, and then you're always going to have an achievement card. So here we have we make contact. On August 5th, 1977, the Big Ear radio telescope in Ohio recorded the WOW signal from a 72 second burst from deep space. It has never been repeated or explained. So this is a way that our future kind of ends in us making contact. And there are cards here that players are going to be able to gain based on that. But this is going to be something that will vary game to game depending on which achievement card players are playing with. Now, at the beginning of the game in prehistory, as you would expect, players do not start off with much. And this is one of those
games where you are going to constantly escalate. But it's also one of those things that thematically makes sense as you are progressing through these different ages that I will show you that exactly what I mean in a little bit. But some of these ages feel so thematic with the different things that you are encountering that you really feel like you are in that particular time period during that round. So, all players are going to start off with one city at the beginning of the game. They have their amber as well as their fire and they're also going to have a foresight card. So these are going to be ways for you to add some points at the end of the game for yourself, but you're going to be able to have two choose from one and then that's all you have to start off with. So now I'll explain how you're setting up the board because some things are going to vary depending on the number of players. And then with that I'll walk you through the rounds. Now within the five different arrows that you see set up in front of you, you're going to have some specific cards that you're going to have per the arrow that you have. So, as you can see with antiquity here, there's a catastrophe card that's going to be set up for errors 1 through five. And you're going to have resilience cards as well. And these are going to be cards that players are able to claim, as you can see here.
I'll go over those in a bit. And there are also these wonder cards. So, the wonder cards as well as the resilience cards are going to depend on the number of players that are in the game. And that's how you're going to set up each of the different arrows. And between arrows two, three, three, four, and four, and five, you're also going to have these decisive moments that players are going to have to go through. So, I am going to go go through what all of the cards mean in a moment, but just know when you are setting up the general board, you're going to have that as well as this achievement card here. Now, finally, players are going to have access to a few different decks of cards for the game. You're going to have foresight cards where you're able to draw more. You have the accomplishments as well as the ash and the death which are going to come into play. I'll talk about those when we start talking about the general around structure structure.
But there are also these chronicle cards that all depend on the particular era that you are in. So we have again prehistory, antiquity, middle ages, age of discovery and modern era. And those are the decks that you're going to be drawing from. Normally those decks would be next to the different arrows but for sake of space for you to be able to see this I have them all slotted over there. But just know that um these are the decks that are going to be in play for those eras as well. So now I'm going to go through a round and what your actions are going to look like that you're able to play on your turn because what's going to be most important is playing out cards into your cities and then having them available to do different effects because the cards that you are paying for certain things are all cards that are available in your city and already played. So it's going to be very very important for players to build out their cities paying attention to a whole lot of information on those cards. but most importantly specific tags that are going to help you play into certain things that you know you want to do. So during a round it's going to start off with the income phase. So players are going to have cards that they are going to turn sideways to activate the ability with this symbol here with so during the income phase you're going to ready any exhausted cards that are in your cities.
Now you're going to be able to activate the top card. So that's going to be in play depending on the different things that you're trying to do and we'll get into that in just a moment. But you're going to be able to ready those and then you would reveal the catastrophes for eras 1 through 4. So that's when play all players would see the particular catastrophe that everyone is playing with. And again, as you can see, there are two resilience cards because there are two players in this current game. So after that, players are going to be able to draw two cards for their amber as you can see by this symbol here. So, we would be able to draw two cards from the prehistory deck over here. We'll go over what these mean in just a moment. But then you are also able to draw one card per city. Now, this is very interesting because you were able to claim up to four cards total. Meaning that if you had five cities, you would only be able to draw a total of four cards each round. Really limiting players. In the beginning, it's not so bad, but toward the end of the game, you are limited with what you're able to draw. But you're also able to draw depending on the number of cards in your city. So where we currently have two cards in this city, we would be able to draw two cards and then discard one. So just to clarify, for each city, you're only ever drawing one card, but the number of cards that are within that city give you an option of what to choose from. So luckily for us where we have two, we're able to look at both of these. So they are both basic cards. They do have some flavor text, but that's a bit it where we're able to have one either provide some food or the resource. So, I think
in this instance, we will take the deer card. Uh, but again, this is going into our hand. And then this card would be discarded. Now, the first thing a player is able to do on their turn is claim a card. And you have to do that first before you do other actions. So, you're able to claim one of those resilience cards or the wonder, but you have to be able to pay the conditions to get it. So, you have to be able to afford it. you'll be able to claim that, but otherwise you'll then perform certain actions. So, you're going to be able to claim them later. And once you pass, you have passed for the round. So, play is going to progress around players until everyone has passed and the round will end. So, if you are able to claim one of those cards, that's great. But otherwise, you're going to move on to the general actions that everyone's able to do. Now, the first thing that players are able to do is play a card. And when doing so, you're going to either do it to the top or the bottom of your city.
So with this, we are able to play this one for its ability, but this top one for us actually has something where we're able to exhaust this card for the thing that it does. This one again is also going to pro provide us this resource. So we would be able to play these down here if we wanted to do so. And this one's even able to be played on top. Now again, you're only able to draw a choice of four cards when you're doing that draw ability. So, you can have your cities larger than four cards, but for the drawing aspect, that won't increase. But cards are going to be destroyed from your cities. So, having more in them isn't necessarily a bad thing, but you may not choose to stack them all like this. I'm just doing it to show you what one city would look like. So, we do have these tags here available. And as you can see, we did have a fire ability that we would have been able to exhaust for, but now we have the animal disguises ability showing instead. So this one is a basic discard of something from a city. So this could be any card available from a city and then we would be able to draw a card. So for example, if we wanted to get rid of this one, we would potentially be able to get rid of it and then draw to replace it. Now, another thing that players are able to do, and sorry, just to clarify, when you would do that, you would exhaust the card. So that's a one-time use that you're able to do. And when the arrow refreshes at the beginning of the income phase, that's when this would be refreshed for you. Now, another thing that players are able to do is discard two cards to create a city with any other card. Now, this is very important
that they must be all cards in play, meaning that other players are going to have a sense of what other players are doing. So, you are going to be able to discard two cards. For example, if we chose to discard both of these, we would be able to use this card to create another city. And now we have two cities. But as you can see, they're only two and one card, making them a bit more vulnerable. So that's something that you would be able to do. And another thing that players are able to do is to discard a card to move any other card in a city from or from city to city. So you would be able to discard one to maneuver cards around, which is really going to come in play as you start gaining more and more cards in your cities throughout the different ages that you're playing. Now, finally, when a player chooses to pass, they will be able to take the first player card if it's available. So, you are able to uh have this for the future rounds. Now, finally, at the end of a round, players are going to discard all Ash cards. Now, those are going to be these cards over here, and the catastrophes are going to be what is affecting those. So, as you can see, this catastrophe over here is going to have players take a death card, as well as burning any of their bottom cards for their cities. So, both bottom cards in this example would be burned, removing our amber, which would be absolutely horrible for us, and you do not want to do that. So, we probably would have want to have left a card below it. But any cards that are burned in such a way, are going to be replaced with ash. And during the end of a round, all of the ash cards will go away. So you could kind of anticipate your ash cards
leaving and they do still stay in your city stack for you to be able to have the benefits of a card in your city for the next round. But then after that your cards are going to leave and this is something that players are just going to have to accept is going to happen throughout the game. But you are going to be able to do certain things to be able to protect your cards as well. But overall this is something that is going to be affecting all players every round. So there is going to be that. These are the death cards here. And death cards are something that you're going to be gaining, but you are also able to use abilities to get rid of them. But if you aren't able to, they are going to remove an accomplishment for you at the end. So these accomplishment cards are going to be placed into your cities as well, and they are victory points for you at the end of the game. Whatever player has the most of these is going to win. But if you have a death card, this is going to count against that. So those will be negated and then anything you have left would be your victory points. Now, another thing that's interesting about these accomplishments is they are played into your cities. But if you ever have to play two next to each other in your city, they will collapse. And that is not good. You want to be able to stagger them and spread them out like this. If they ever touch later, that is okay. But when you're actually playing the card, you are not able to have them touch, otherwise you will then lose one. So, you really need to be able to spread out your cities as well to be able to support these accomplishment cards.
because if you gain it just to lose it, well, that wasn't really worth it for you at all. Now, taking a look at these resilience cards over here that players are able to gain, they are able to discard a card to gain that card. Um, and again, that would be one from one of their active cities, not one from your hand. And this one is going to mean that all of your green cards have shield, which I'll get into what that means in just a moment. But also, the round after that's used, it would also burn. As you can see, that also applies to this one. But for this one, one of your cities with an engineering tag would be able to have shield on all of its cards. So, exactly what shield means is that if this Adira card, for example, had the special ability shield, some of the cards will have it on them as a tag, but you are also, for example, able to add shield to it, uh you would be able to use that shield to protect the card below it. So, in this instance where the bottom card would be burned, um if this was somehow put to the bottom and then another card was placed underneath it, this card would be able to protect this card if you had this ability. So, that's how that would work. But, as you can see, both of these cards also have a shield on it. So, for those when placed, they will shield the card that is directly below it. Now, players are also able to gain the wonders that are available. So, for example, this one is it's going to provide a science tag and you're able to discard particularly a science card again from your cities to
gain an accomplishment. So, this is something where you're going to be able to exhaust it. Meaning that if you do gain round one, you're able to use that five different times in total if you're able to get that many science cards. But, you're also able to see what is available when you are in certain ages. So, you can't really expect to have a science card available to you in prehistory. But either way, that's a pretty strong card for a player to be able to gain at least four points from themselves. Now, when players claim those, they're also able to take the first player card. So, that's also an incentive for you to maybe pace out how you're drawing those different cards because having the first player card is also going to give you a huge advantage. Now, finally, players are going to have these decisive moments between rounds. So, you're going to have an option of what you want to do with certain things.
For example, with this one, you're able to discard a technology card and a death card. And depending on certain conditions, you're able to potentially be able to draw foresight as well or accomplishment cards. So, you will have to choose between the two depending on the conditions that you're able to meet. But again, that's going to be a way for players to gain other victory points for themselves all building toward the end of the game. Now again, depending on the achievement, you're going to have certain card cards slotted here, and there are always two available for each column. So there's going to be a civilization card as well as a card that is specific to that particular achievement. And when you do discard the appropriate cards to be able to claim them, you are able to choose one and discard the other. So you wouldn't be keeping both, but you'd be choosing one and then discarding the other one. And for example, these civilizations, you're able to discard your amber to gain two accomplishments for yourself. Meaning that you if you're able to hold on to it until the end of the game, that's going to be two points for you. And then these we make contact cards are going to be ways for you to have variable ways for you to make additional points for you at the end of the game as well. So now I just want to go through some of the cards that you're going to be drawing from these decks to give you a sense of the escalation throughout the game. So, these are two prehistory cards. Some are going to provide the tags for you, where some are going to be those abilities that you're able to exhaust for. This one, for example, is discarding a card from your city to draw a card. But these are going to be cards from antiquity where you're going to be able to move a
card instead or play a new city. So, those are two things that you're going to be able to do, but again, you're going to be exhausting these cards to be able to have to use those abilities. Now, here are some from the Middle Ages that are extremely thematic because you're going to be gaining death cards. So, this is one where you're able to move two cards, but you also have to gain a death card. And in this example, you're able to draw two cards, but again, gain a death card. So, it's very, very thematic specifically for the Middle Ages. Here we have two for the Age of Discovery. This one's going to be an ability as well as a tag. So, you can see that cards are getting better. This one you're able to discard a card to draw two cards. And again, in this instance, you're drawing two and choosing one. So, you're really only drawing one, but you are choosing from two cards. And that's going to provide two tags for you. So, this is an age4 one where it is providing two tags, but it does not have an ability. And finally, for the modern era, you can see that things are getting a whole lot better. So, this one's going to be providing two tags for you, but one is that science, which is extremely important. And here we have industrialist, which is going to be an ability card where you also have a tag for it. And you're able to get rid of two death cards, which can be absolutely huge, but in order to do so, you need to discard three cards. So, it is pretty difficult to be able to accomplish this, but this is going to be a great way for players to remove those negative points for themselves before the end of the game. Ashes and Amber truly is going to be a civilization building game where not only thematically do you have
yourself going through these different ages, experiencing these catastrophes and trying to claim these different wonders that were extremely important for that age and having these cards that are very thematic for the particular time that you're in. But you're really going to be building out these different civilizations for yourself and protecting your cities. You're going to be growing these cities with huge stacks of cards because some of them are going to be burned for you and some of them are going to be some of those death cards and some of them are going to be that ash that then slips away and makes your cities a little bit smaller. So, all players are going to be affected by the same types of things, but it's going to be how you try to mitigate those things and how you maneuver around it that's really going to change the game for you. There's a lot that you're able to do once you get cards out that you're able to move them around from city to city. you're able to readjust the order and you're able to protect cards. So, a lot of that is really going to come into play with how you maneuver them and really use every action at your advantage because most often you are paying with the cards that you have played into your cities for the different special actions that you're trying to do. Meaning that you need these cards available in your cities.
And even have having multiple cards in your city is really going to be rewarding with how many cards that you are drawing. So, for example, if you had three different cities with three cards each, you would draw those three cards, pick one, draw three cards, pick one, and then draw three cards, pick one. So, you have a lot of choice with what you're able to do. And then you're try you're able to really cultivate your city with what you're working with. So, you're able to find a strategy and really play into it, especially as you start gaining cards in your cities, because then you're really able to strategize as the different angels progress and find what you need to be able to accomplish it by the end. and in this case, make contact with aliens if you're able to. So, if you'd like to see everything that David's Games has planned, you can see the project link down below. Thank you all for watching the Board Game Code channel. I've been Professor Meg and I'll see you all next time. Bye.