
- BGG rank
- BGG #1,576
- BGG rating
- 8.0
Tamashii: Chronicle of Ascend
- 1–4 players
- 60–180 min
- Complexity 3.0/5
- 2023

Rules assistance for The Great Wall: Ancient Beasts
Plain-language explanations of turns, card effects and disputed situations, with official source references and saved question history.

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Answers come from the official rulebook, with the page to check.
The Great Wall: Ancient Beasts is an expansion for The Great Wall released in 2021 for 1–4 players, 120–180 minutes per game, and ages 14 and up. It was designed by Kamil 'Sanex' Cieśla, Łukasz Włodarczyk, and Robert Plesowicz and its main mechanics are Income, Secret Unit Deployment, and Worker Placement.
12 new Advisors 4 of the new Advisors are based on mythical beasts and come along with meeples/miniatures, depicting statues of these fantastic creatures. Player, who buys one of them, may place the miniature in a dedicated place on the board to gain new, powerful benefits. The location it will be placed is crucial, so it's essential to plan it right! Qilin, as a symbol of prosperity, allows gathering additional wood, gold, stones, or Meditation from a chosen Location. Qilin is like an extraordinary Clerk - it doesn't need any empty slot, and when it is removed from the board, you may place a regular Clerk in its place for free. Yinglong, a mighty winged dragon, will inspire your soldiers. You place Yinglong on a chosen Wall Section - it allows you to gather your forces in this place instantly. Additionally, Soldiers under Yinglong presence fight with great zeal, counting as two when gaining Honor for defeated Hordes! Spirit Turtle, a sacred shelled beast, blesses your army with resilience, lowering your losses on one of the Wall Sections. How? Your Soldiers won't die here! Finally, Fenghuang, a blessed bird, is a symbol of virtue. Exchange all your Overseers for Fenghuang and place it on a chosen Location. It acts as triple Overseer of the maximum level in this Location. Additionally, your former Overseers go back to your pool, so you can recruit them again in the Barracks! Other 8 Advisors are similar to Advisors from the core game, but in the case of the essential mechanics, the more the better - more choice and more replayability (but the base game offers tons of options). Here are a few examples: Allow your Cavalry to move freely between Walls! Gain more precious Honor if you are a leader! Take 1 Artifact and make it your own! Ignore the Honor penalty when you activate Location on your own! 8 new Tactic cards 2 new types of Tactic card (4 copies of each) will change your strategy. Here's your new options during battles: Hold the Line! - it rewards cooperation: all players that defend the Wall Section gain additional Honor. But, of course, you will gain the best benefit ;) Wipeout - raise the stakes! If you win, your Soldiers may attack again this turn! If not, they will die. “Ancient Chronicle” Game Modes 6 new “Ancient Chronicle” Game Modes bringing further challenges for your game. Plan on how to gain an advantage against other clans using new rules introduced during each Year of the game. More themes and background stories, more exciting new special rules, buildings, setup changes and so on. 10 Relics Players gain a new option of scoring - they may use new type of cards: Relics. Relics are similar to Artifacts, but: You can upgrade them, so they will grant better benefits for all (but you also give a signal to your opponents that you're interested in this Relic), You gain the rewards according to the place won on this Relic - the first place will gain the best bonus, the second a little worse, and so on. Some of the Relics may activated in each Year, not only at the end of the game —description from the publisher
The Great Wall: Ancient Beasts supports 1–4 players according to the catalogue. This range comes from the publisher’s listed player count, so the game can be set up for any group size within it. Some setups, rules and scoring details may still vary by player count, so check your edition’s rulebook for the exact configuration.
The listed playing time for The Great Wall: Ancient Beasts is 120–180 minutes. This is the publisher’s estimate for a full game. The actual duration depends on the group, the player count and familiarity with the rules: first sessions usually run longer, while experienced groups often finish faster. Setup and teaching time are not included in this estimate.
The catalogue lists The Great Wall: Ancient Beasts for ages 14 and up. This is the publisher’s recommendation and reflects reading demands, rule complexity and small components rather than theme alone. Younger players can often join with help from an adult, so check the age guidance on your edition and consider your group’s experience with board games.
The Great Wall: Ancient Beasts has a complexity rating of 3.5 out of 5 from BoardGameGeek players, which makes it a medium-weight game. The rating reflects how much rules knowledge, planning and decision-making a typical game demands. Expect a longer first teach for heavier games, and use a preparation guide before game night.
The Great Wall: Ancient Beasts belongs to these categories: Animals, Economic, and Territory Building. Its main mechanics are Income, Secret Unit Deployment, and Worker Placement. Categories describe the theme and setting of a game, while mechanics describe what players actually do on their turns. Each mechanic links to a catalogue hub with similar games, which helps when you want something comparable.
The credited designers of The Great Wall: Ancient Beasts are: Kamil 'Sanex' Cieśla, Łukasz Włodarczyk, and Robert Plesowicz. These credits come from the published game data and name the people responsible for the game’s design, not its illustrators or publishers. Designer pages on MeepleRules collect other titles by the same designers, which helps when you enjoy a game and want to find similar ones.
The catalogue lists The Great Wall: Ancient Beasts as an expansion for The Great Wall. Expansions add new content, rules or scenarios to the base game and usually cannot be played on their own, so you need The Great Wall to use it. Check that your edition of The Great Wall is compatible, as some expansions were revised between editions.