Aeon Trespass Odyssey

ATO is split into three cycles, each of up to 80 turns. In most turns you will just explore the map, but in about 1/6 turns there’s a scripted fight. Story events can also add fights on other turns.

Following from the tutorial where the Argo ended up in Knossos, I decided to sail south in my first turn. This tile had no special actions or story events, so the only thing to do was the random exploration deck which always happens every turn.

I managed to draw a once-in-a-game event where I had to battle the end of cycle boss. In other words, the monster I’m supposed to be able to take on in about 80 turns time. The card is removed from the game after being drawn, but the damage was already done. I got to fight this guy with my almost-naked Titans.

The battle was painfully slow. Having left it a couple of weeks since doing the tutorial I’d forgotten all the combat basics and it seemed every action required me to look up a new rule or keyword in the rulebook. It didn’t help I was fighting an end of cycle boss who is clearly intended to be fought by more experienced players.

This guys specific mechanics are interesting, in that he slowly fills the board with a labyrinth causing your Titans to become more lost as the battle progresses.

In the end though my four Titans were doomed to die horrible deaths. My four Argonauts survived, although one suffered a mental trauma and became selfish (unable to provide teamwork bonuses to the others) and the other has become scared of labyrinths (a story effect likely to kick in later). Argonauts remotely “pilot” the Titans, a bit like a fantasy version of Mechs being remotely piloted by a cyberpilot.

However just fighting this guy automatically unlocks access to cycle two, meaning I could bypass the first third of the game. I’m not going to. I’m playing this game for the journey not just to get to the end.

The whole session took two and a half hours, which wasn’t bad considering how much rules looking up was required. I reckon going forward I can easily do several turns of map exploration and a battle in a few hours.

Before my next session I’ll sort through the box again and separate out the cards and tokens I now know I’ll need in cycle one. That will also speed up the gameplay.

Here’s the final scene where Temenos has killed all my Titans.