Anachronism, from Tri-King Games, allows players to pit legendary warriors of history against each other in a four-round cage match to the death. And even better, you can send Sun Tzu into battle wielding Ramses II’s axe and wearing armor made for Genghis Khan. And even better than that, it’s not blind-purchase – you always know what you’re buying when you put another notch in your collector’s belt.
The Cards
If you took the greatest visual components from five of your favorite card games, tossed them in a pot and stewed up a potion of super-aesthetics, then poured it out to make uber-gorgeous playing cards, you might come close to achieving the beauty of the design on the face of the Anachronism cards. Gold foil cards are not a surprise – until every single card in a game features stunningly-rendered backgrounds on metallic paper. The matte finish on the cards is beautifully offset with spot varnishes that make some parts shiny and others smooth and flat.
The art on the front of the cards is also very nice. Very professional artists have created incredible representations of ancient warriors and their gear. Everything about the cards oozes class. In short, the card faces are without a doubt the best-looking cards I have ever seen.
Curiously, however, the backs of the cards are kind of plain. They are black, with the name of the game and the logo for the History Channel. It seems to me that if Tri-King were going to go to all the trouble to make the front of the cards rival museum-quality fine art, a little more attention would have been paid to the back. The back isn’t ugly, or anything, and it’s still quite classy. It just isn’t as lavish as the front. The combined effect is still quite striking, however, and these are the kinds of cards you could buy just because they’re incredibly pretty.
The cards are exceptionally thick, which is only feasible because decks are not shuffled. These are sturdy, beautiful cards that will last a long time.
One nice feature of the game is the historic facts written on the front of each card. For example, the hand axe associated with Ramses II describes how the weapon was used on enemies weakened by archers to cut them to ribbons as they ran away. That’s a nice educational touch.
The Game
Anachronism combines aspects of card games with tabletop miniatures, by using a combination of card play and maneuvering. Each ‘deck’ consists of five cards, including weapons, armor, inspirations and other means of support. Four cards are placed face-down at the beginning of the match, and turned up as the game progresses.
At the beginning of the first turn, the warriors are placed on a 4X4 battle grid. They then reveal their first cards, which may grant bonuses for the entire game or just as they are revealed. These cards might be weapons, which can only be used once per turn, armor that applies its bonuses throughout the game, or inspirations that provide more esoteric benefits. Each card has an initiative score, which determines which warrior acts first. In the early rounds, initiative is not as important; by the last turn, initiative could be the difference between winning and lying in a puddle of your own blood.
Each warrior has a speed score, which indicates how many actions that warrior can take on a turn. This number is usually three, which means that a warrior could move once, turn once, and attack once, or any combination. Actions can also be spent on special abilities granted by cards, which might do anything from cause damage to improve your speed next turn.
Warriors also have life scores, experience, and damage scores, in addition to their speed. Damage is the default number subtracted from life on a successful strike, and experience is used for a few different purposes.
Warriors also have an attack grid at the top of each card. This grid indicates the surrounding spaces that are subject to an attack, and what bonus or penalty the warrior gets when he attacks an opponent in that space. For example, Genghis Khan enjoys a +2 attack bonus directly in front of him or to his diagonal front, and may not attack other spaces without a weapon card. Sun Tzu, on the other hand, suffers a -1 penalty to enemies in front of him, a +0 to any space diagonally behind him, and cannot attack other spaces. Warriors use many of their three actions per turn attempting to maneuver into position to strike.
When a fighter is in position to attack, each combatant rolls two dice and adds the result. If the attacker’s roll is higher after adding bonuses for his attack grid, he deals damage to his opponent. If the scores are tied, the attacker hits if his experience is higher.
The game ends after four turns, or when one combatant is reduced to zero life. The entire affair takes longer to describe than it does to play – a standard game can last less than five minutes, and entire tournaments could be played in half an hour.
Observations
The first time a player dives into Anachronism, he may not understand its allure. It has a bit of a learning curve, as it is important to understand the powerful abilities provided by the various cards. A huge part of the strategy is placing the cards before the game, so that the best cards are available when you need them. This can be difficult to master in the first game, and may turn some gamers away from Anachronism without giving it a good long try. That would be a shame – if you play this game a few times, you will start to see combinations and strategies, and it becomes so much more interesting and compelling.
Several factors combine to make Anachronism worth more than its asking price. The amazing cards could almost be framed and used to decorate an office – they are that nice. The fact that you don’t have to guess which sets you’re buying is a huge plus – if you want Alexander the Great, just buy Alexander the Great. The game is good, and plays incredibly fast, so you can just play a couple games in ten minutes of dead time or set up a whole tournament with ease.
Anachronism combines incredibly stylish and beautiful cards with deep and strategic game play. The ability to see Greek champions battle Chinese warlords is just gravy.
Style: 5 – The only reason this gets a 5 is because this is as high as the scale goes. Easily the most beautiful cards I have ever seen in a card game.
Substance: 4 – Compelling and strategic game play in five-minute packages.
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