Games Like Ashen Marches

Ashen Marches is a turn-based tactical RPG that plays like a tabletop campaign. Two heroes stand on a hex board, their stats written on a character sheet, and every swing is a handful of six-sided dice. Ahead lie three stretches of burned borderland, a fortified keep at the end of each, and a dragon waiting in the cave beyond.

Roll the dice

Attack, parry, dodge, even who acts first: each one is a pool of six-sided dice, rolled and counted for successes. Skill adds dice. Good gear adds dice. Taking aim adds dice. Then you throw and see what the table gives you. When the enemy swings, its dice land first, and you choose to parry, dodge, or take the hit.

Pick your weapon

Many weapons, and none of them play the same. The rapier finds the gap in the guard. The two-handed hammer leaves a man reeling. Bolas tangle the legs of a charging wolf. A shield turns aside arrows, and the arquebus hits like a cannon until it backfires. Throw a spear, sling a stone, or loose a bolt from the back line. Each weapon changes how you spend your turn, and who you want standing next to you.

Enemies with a plan

Wolves circle whoever is bleeding. Bandits hold a line in front of their archers. Ratmen pour in from every side. A lone werewolf knits its wounds shut as it hunts, and at the end of the road a dragon breathes fire down a whole line of hexes. Some battles ask you to cut down every foe. Others ask you to hold out four rounds, or to get both heroes to the exit alive.

Two heroes, no classes

Pick a human, an elf or a dwarf, then spend your experience on whatever the road demands: marksman, duelist, brawler. The two heroes share one purse, so the plate armour you buy for one is the crossbow the other goes without. They also share one fate. If either falls, the run is over.

Better with a friend

Play both heroes yourself, or bring a friend in online co-op and take one each. Plan your turns together, argue over the gold, and guard each other's flank.

A new road every time

Each run lays out a fresh branching road across the Marches. Pick your fights, reach a city before the potions run out, and decide which loot is worth carrying home. Finish a run to unlock new ways to start the next one, and harder roads to try. Unlocks add options, not power.

Features

Two heroes. One purse. One dragon. Roll well.