What To Buy - PvP

Ashes 1.0 vs Ashes Reborn 1.5

Ashes: Rise of the Phoenixborn was the original game developed by Isaac Vega in 2015. This game has been supplanted by Ashes Reborn: Rise of the Phoenixborn, developed by Nick Conley and released in 2021.

Differences

Ashes (2015) is common referred to in the community as "1.0". All products (master set and expansion) are sold in white boxes

Ashes Reborn (2021) is commonly referred to in the community as "1.5" or simply "Reborn". All products are sold in orange-red boxes. The ruleset was completely revamped, and a large portion of the original card base were replaced, therefore 1.0 and 1.5 are incompatible with each other. For details on what changed, see the Plaid Hat Games "Ashes Reborn Primer" document on https://www.plaidhatgames.com/board-games/ashes-rise-phoenixborn/

The upgrade kit will replace cards from the Master Set through all the original expansions to make them playable for 1.5. The only exception to this is the Jericho 1.0 deck which was completely retired and eventually replaced by The Breaker of Fate expansion.

In general, 1.0 is no longer played in any form.

If you own (or buy on the secondary market) the 1.0 collection (and any number of expansions), you should buy the 1.5 Upgrade Kit. This will update the cards in your collection to be 1.5 compatible, and is often cheaper than re-purchasing all 1.5 products from scratch.

If you do not own any original products, you can jump straight in with the Ashes Reborn Master Set.

Which expansions

Once you've purchased the Master Set the common advice is to pick whichever expansions appeal, either art style or card-wise. Most expansions require either Divine, Sympathy, or Time** dice and therefore it is strongly recommended that the Deluxe Expansions (which introduce those dice) are purchased earlier.

**The Time magic (introduced in Jericho, Breaker of Fate) doesn't begin to "shine" until the later expansions (Hope, Dimona, Tristan, Rowan) when status tokens have more uses and impact.

Visual Buying Guide