Emberheart (EN)

On the mystical island of Emberheart, the last dragons of the kingdom lived in peace alongside the villagers, until poachers from the Distant Lands arrived to capture, raid, and plunder. To keep the island safe, the Dragon Ambassador calls on the King, who sends his bravest champions to the rescue. As one of these champions, you'll join forces with the villagers, rescue and protect the dragons, then stand against the poachers.

It's a quick-playing worker placement game of intermediate difficulty, where every turn counts. Rather than simply claiming a spot, you form a Party of one to five hirelings and place it on a Common Location: the bigger your Party, the earlier you get to choose from the rewards on offer, but the more you risk being outbid by an opponent willing to commit more. You have several types of hirelings at your disposal: Grunts, versatile but single-use, and Experts (Scouts, Rangers and Wardens), permanent but limited to specific locations. Your Dragon Companion can also join a Party to grant it bonuses, depending on how you've trained it.

The rewards from the various locations let you recruit Heroes with unique abilities, snatch dragons from the poachers' grasp to bring them to safety in their matching Preserves, and launch counterattacks from the Garrison. Watch out, though: certain actions, as well as the Poachers' Raid at the end of each round, can push your Flame higher, which will cost you dearly at the final scoring. After five rounds, the champion with the most Glory wins the game and becomes the new Dragon Ambassador.

Emberheart is for you if you love worker placement games that reward boldness and smart timing, if you enjoy building a strategy that evolves round after round, and if the idea of rescuing dragons and standing up to poachers in a fantasy adventure makes you smile. Groups who like to commit big to come out ahead, all while keeping an eye on their long-term goals, will feel right at home.

Released in 2025, Emberheart quickly won over the board game community, earning an average rating above 7 out of 10 from more than a thousand voters on BoardGameGeek. The game also features an original two-player mode, where a special deck of cards simulates the actions of a fictional third champion to preserve the full tension of the bidding system.

Emberheart was designed by Welsh game designers Adam Porter and Rob Fisher, the duo behind several family games such as Kompromat and Qwuzzle. The artwork comes from Andrew Bosley, the illustrator known for the warm visual world of Everdell and Tapestry, who brings to life an island full of dragons and courageous champions here. It's published by Mindclash Games.

BOX CONTENTS
1 main board
4 player boards
4 Dragon Companion meeples
20 Crest tokens (5 per player color)
50 Grunt tokens
35 Scout tokens
30 Ranger tokens
30 Warden tokens
35 Gear tokens
4 Flame markers
4 Aide tokens
12 Attribute markers
1 first player marker
1 round marker
1 scoring pad
27 Hero cards
15 Tavern cards
15 Captive Dragon cards
30 Mountain Dragon cards
15 Preserve cards
15 Garrison cards
10 Raid cards
12 two-player mode cards
1 rulebook

Number of players: 2 to 4
Duration: 60 to 90 minutes
Age: 12+