The mystical island of Emberheart is home to the last dragons. They lived in harmony with the villagers until poachers from the Far Lands arrived to capture, plunder, and steal. To keep the island safe, the dragon ambassador now seeks the king's support. As one of the king's champions, your mission is to work with the villagers, rescue and protect dragons, and confront the evil poachers.

Emberheart is a fast-paced, medium-level worker placement game for 2–4 players. As one of the king's champions, you recruit heroes, rescue dragons and expand their reserves, train your own dragon companion, and combat roaming poachers.

On your turn, you either take an aide token (which grants you a unique bonus for that round) or send a group of mercenaries to one of the island's locations. The number of mercenaries you send is just as important as the location: the more you deploy to a location, the sooner you get to choose from the scarce rewards, and the less chance your opponents have of outbidding you with a larger group. You have a variety of mercenaries at your disposal: servants are versatile but one-time use, while scouts, woodsmen, and guards are permanent but limited to specific locations. Your dragon companion can also join a mercenary group when deployed, and then grants different bonuses depending on how you've trained it.

The location rewards allow you to recruit heroes with unique abilities, rescue dragons from the poachers' grasp and safely house them in appropriate reserves, and launch counterattacks against the poachers. Some actions, and the poacher raid at the end of each round, can get you burned; advancing too far on the flame trail will take its toll at the end of the game.

Rescuing dragons, recruiting heroes, training your dragon companion, and keeping your flame low will earn you fame at the end of the game. After five rounds, the champion with the most fame wins and inherits the title of dragon ambassador.