From: TriKing Games
Reviewed by: Ron McClung
Anachronism is a new Card Game from TriKing Games.
Anachronism is somewhat of an oddity to me. It is like a collectible card game, but not really. It is also kind of like a miniature game, but not really. After playing it a couple of times, I found it to be simple and fast but also somewhat dissatisfying as a game. It is a joint effort between TriKing games and the History Channel, and the cards themselves as well as the packaging and overall presentation are fantastic.
From website: “The greatest game in history.”
In Anachronism , your hand is 5 cards. One is your character. This character is a historical or mythological figure from the past. The set I have includes Sparticus, Achilles, the Norse Warrior Freydis Eriksdottir, the Greek warrior Leonidas, the Japanese heroin Nakano Takeko, and many more. In my review package, I received a variety of Roman, Greek, Norce and Japanese heroes and warriors. There are currently 5 sets released representing a wide range of historical cultures including Aztecs, Persians, Germanic Tribes, Irish and Scots.
The other four cards in your hand are the support cards. They represent weapons, supporting characters, and other artifacts for the warrior. These can be weapons, armor, inspiration, or special. A warrior can only have one of each of these down on the board at any given time. Each card has special abilities, bonuses, and functions. They also have initiative for that round. Each round, the players flip one of their support cards over. After 5 rounds, they check for victory.
From website (downloadable instruction book): “There are two ways to win a game of Anachronism: Reduce your opponent’s life to 0 or less OR have more life than your opponent after the end of the fifth round.”
Game play is fairly straight forward and very quick. It is a knock-down drag-out fight between two historical figures. It is a miniature combat game in the form of a card game. Basic game flow is flipping a support card, determining initiative, and taking actions. Each warrior has a number of actions based on speed and they can include move, attack, special ability and pass.
On each warrior card is a combat grid that determines which of the 12 squares around the warrior he can attack and how much of an attack bonus he gets. It counts 12 because it extends 2 squares in front and includes that row of three that is two squares away. This is where facing comes in and every grid is different on each warrior. The warrior card basically acts as your miniature. Weapons add to this attack bonus with their own grid, expanding a warriors ability to attack and having their own damage. They can only be used once per round. Combat is basically rolling 2d6, adding modifiers and totaling it all up. The higher role wins the combat and damage is dealt. The strategy lies in position your warrior in an advantageous position over your opponent and using your support cards strategically to create the biggest bang for your buck when you need it.
In conclusion, this is a fairly simplistic game with a lot of flair. It is hard for me to get overly excited about it because it is fairly two dimensional. Miniature game players would love it because of the variety of attacks and characters. There are multiplayer rules as well as tournament rules downloadable on the web site and they do have their own demo team (who doesn’t?). The presentation of the game is brilliant. The play of the game is quick and very easy to learn. However, not being a hard core miniature player, I was hard-pressed to feel driven to play this game. Of course, one of the major values of the game is the history lessons behind each character. This alone is a good value because the characters are much more than your regular heroes of history you hear about every day.
For more details on TriKing Games and their new Card Game “Anachronism ” check them out at their website http://www.trikinggames.com, and at all of your local game stores.
Anachronism
From:TriKing Games
Type of Game:Card Game
Game Design by:Triking Games
Art by:http://www.trikinggames.com/HTML_ENG/artistgallery.html
Game Components Included: Starter Deck: Combat Map, dice, and two warrior packages.
Number of Players:2+
Player Ages:13+
Play Time:30 minutes
Item Number:Type Manufacture’s Item Number
ISBN:7522800017
Website:www.trikinggames.com
Reviewed by: Ron McClung