In Arixia: War of Essence, players take on the role of a god/goddess. Select one of five thematic and asymmetric factions consisting of multiple tiered units including: common, elite, specialist, general, and a mighty avatar unit class. Throughout the game, players will destroy each others’ units and accumulate their “essence” as well as fight over control points, known as Essence Wells. Harnessed essence is used to activate unique, faction-specific abilities. With enough essence, your god will be able to manifest in the physical realm in the form of a massive avatar. Empowered avatars gain access to once-per-game Act of God abilities to swing the tide of battle in your favor. If you destroy the enemy’s avatar, you are victorious! Gameplay is turn-based and consists of several phases. First, each player rolls an Essence Storm die to determine which way the Essence Storm will blow and which variable effect it will take on during that game round. Next, player one will take their turn. During a player turn consists of two phases, the movement phase and the activation phase. The movement phase allows your entire army to move up to their maximum speed stat. The activation phase allows up to two units to attack and use the active special abilities of those units. Thus, interesting situations arise where some units get into position for future turns, contest Essence Wells from opponents, or keep your options open on the fly. However, because only two of your units can attack each turn, you must carefully plan not only your current turn, but think about how future turns might play out. Players roll unique-faced dice to simplify gameplay and avoid having to memorize combat tables. Additionally, most powerful units have access to faction-specific Divine Dice, providing a boost to damage, defense or annoying tricks. Additionally, players have the option to complete their turn phases in either order they wish, opening up further tactical options as needed! After players have taken their turns, a new game round begins, repeating this process until one side defeats the enemy avatar! -description from designer