Anachronism (game)

Anachronism is a tabletop game with aspects of both miniatures and collectible card genres. The creators of the game, TriKing Games and The History Channel, have dubbed it "The Greatest Game in History".

Description

The game is a contest of arms between two warriors from numerous historical periods. Each game lasts a maximum of five rounds. The game is unusual for a card game in that it does not use shuffling as a randomization technique. Anachronism "decks" consist of five cards, and players do not draw cards or have a "hand" of cards. Despite the relatively small number of cards used in each game, card interactions and strategy can become surprisingly intricate, especially in the later rounds. Each player places their chosen warrior card on the playmat and their four support cards, face down, in slots corresponding to the first four rounds. The support cards may be any combination of inspiration, weapon, armor, or special cards. Each player flips their leftmost face-down support card at the beginning of each round. Initiative numbers on the support cards determine which player goes first in each round. The warrior cards may move and be turned (faced) as in a miniatures game. Support cards represent a variety of historical weapons, armor, items, deities, people, places or concepts such as the Norse sverd or Japanese book Go Rin No Sho. The game's name is derived from the ability to mix the various support cards such that the ancient Greek Leonidas wearing a kimono may fight a Japanese ninja who is wielding a gladius. Dice are used by both the attacker and defender to determine the outcome of battles.

Each warrior card has four stats: life, speed, experience, and damage:

• Life indicates the warrior's starting life total. Current cards have values ranging from 5 to 9.
• Speed shows how many actions the warrior can take each round. This is usually 3, but a few warriors have slightly more or less than this.
• Experience has subtle but far-reaching effects as an all purpose tie-breaking stat. It is the most variable of the statistics with current extremes ranging from 1 to 10.
• Damage shows how much damage the warrior deals with a basic attack. This is almost always 1.

Every warrior and weapon card has an attack grid showing what bonus or penalty is applied to attacks rolls to each possible space. Blank spaces on an attack grid indicate that the warrior or weapon can not attack that square. Attack grids are relative to the orientation of your warrior, so skillful management of attack grids becomes very important to successful gameplay.

Multiplayer

Anachronism's standard rules are for two players, but official support and rules have been given for multiplayer battles. Multiplayer Anachronism is usually played with four players, either in teams or as a free-for-all. The standard four by four battlemat is used and additional starting rows are squeezed into the normally unused border rows. This means that each corner has an overlap of two starting rows, making it possible for two warriors to start adjacent to each other. Free-for-all style multiplayer can also be played with only three participants.

First Release

The first release of the game was in three parts. The first part was a free demo consisting of the warriors Miyamoto Musashi, Beowulf, their support cards, and a playmat in the April 2005 issue of InQuest Gamer. The second was a starter set featuring the warriors Spartacus, Achilles, their support cards, dice, and a playmat. The final portion was 16 warrior packs. Each warrior pack consists of one warrior card and their four specific support cards.

Factions

Ancient Greeks

• Achilles
• Alexander the Great
• Herakles
• Leonidas
• Milo of Croton

Feudal Japanese

• Miyamoto Musashi
• Nakano Takeko
• Ninja
• Oda Nobunaga
• Saito Musashibo Benkei

Norse

• Beowulf
• Canute the Great
• Freydís Eiríksdóttir
• Grettir the Strong
• Harald Hardrada

Romans

• Amazonia
• Julius Caesar
• Marcus Claudius Marcellus
• Maximinus
• Spartacus

Promotional Cards

Promotional cards based on the first set have been released. The promos include alternate versions of existing warriors and new inspirations.

The promotional cards of Set 1 are:

• Alexander III of Macedon
• Leonidas I of Sparta
• Bushido
• Nobunaga
• Shinmen Takezo
• Canute I of Denmark
• Geat King Beowulf
• Gaius Julius
• Mars
• Spartacus of Thrace

Set 2

Set 2 was released in June of 2005. It consists of the Britons, Chinese, Egyptians and Mongols. The Promotional Pack associated with this set includes Robin Hood and Yue Fei. The starter set for the 2nd release pits Ramses II against Genghis Khan.

Factions

Britons

• Alfred the Great
• Boudicca
• King Arthur
• Richard the Lionheart
• Robin Hood

Chinese

• Guan Yu
• Hua Mulan
• Jie the Tyrant
• Sun Tzu
• Yue Fei

Egyptians

• Cleopatra VII
• Horemheb the Restorer
• Ramses II
• Seti I
• Srqt the Scorpion King

Mongols

• Attila the Hun
• Genghis Khan
• Khutulun
• Kublai Khan
• Subedei

Set 3

The 3rd Set was released on September the 15th, 2005. The 3rd set features the Scottish, Germanic, Native Americans and French cultures. The 2-player starter set for set 3 features Joan of Arc and William Wallace. The German folk hero Siegfried and Makataimeshekiakiak (Black Hawk), the Native American warrior, were the mail in promotional warrior packs for this set, available through a UPC mail-in similar to the Robin Hood/Yue Fei one done for Set 2.

Factions

The names listed are those which appear on the cards, common Anglicized names follow them in parentheses:

Scots

• Calum III (Malcolm III)
• Raibeart Brus (Robert the Bruce)
• Rob Ruadh MacGriogair (Robert Roy MacGregor)
• Sgàthach an Eilein Sgiathanaich (Scathach of Skye)
• Ullium Uallace (William Wallace)

Germanic Tribes

• Alarich
• Arminius
• Fredegunde
• Siegfried
• Theoderich Der Grosse (Theodoric the Great)

French

• Charlemagne
• Charles Martel
• Roland Le Paladin (Roland the Paladin)
• Sainte Jeanne D'Arc (Joan of Arc)
• Vercingetorix

Native Americans

• Maĥpíya Lúta (Red Cloud)
• Makataimeshekiakiak (Black Hawk)
• Tecumtha (Tecumseh)
• Tĥašúŋka Witkó (Crazy Horse)
• Tĥatĥáŋka ĺyotake (Sitting Bull)

(Note: The names of the Native American Warriors appear to be printed in Americanist phonetic notation. This list uses an h marked with a circumflex to represent an h with a caron.)

Promotional Cards

A second batch of promotional cards for tournament players was released for Set 3. This set of promos added additional new warriors and support cards to existing cultures rather than adding alternate versions of existing warriors. The Set 3 promotional cards are:

• Hattori Hanzo
• Seth
• Chan Zhang
• Stone of Destiny
• Batu Khan

Set 4

Set 4 was released in late November, 2005. It features warriors from the Māori Islands, Russia, Ireland, and Persia. The starter set features Irish King Brian Boru vs. the Russian Tsar Peter the Great. The mail-in promotional warriors for this set are the Māori Maui Tiki-tiki, and the Persian Darius the Great. The mail-in offer began on December 1st, 2005, and ended March 10th, 2006. Starting with this set, the number of UPCs required to be mailed in has been increased from 3 to 4 per warrior, but the shipping and handling cost of $1.99 US remained the same.

Factions

Māori

• Ariki Te Wherowhero
• Hatupatu
• Kupe
• Maui Tiki-tiki
• Te Raupraha

Persian

• Apranik
• Cyrus the Great
• Darius the Great
• Mithridates VI
• Shapur I

Russian

• Catherine the Great
• Ivan the Terrible
• Prince Mikhail Skopin-Shuisky
• Peter the Great
• Saint Alexander Nevsky

Irish

• Benrig Medb
• Brian Boru
• Cu Chulainn
• Donal McCarthaigh Mor
• Finn MacCumhaill

Promotional Cards

The Set 4 tournament promos added additional new warriors and support cards to existing cultures rather than adding alternate versions of existing warriors. With the addition of the first promotional Armor card, a player could theoretically make an all-promo deck. The Set 4 promotional cards are:

• A'Phìob Mòr
• D'Artagnan
• Allt A'Bhonnaich
• Šspw
• Donor-Eiche
• Rapière
• San Jie Gun
• Völkerwanderung
• Wakíηyaη
• Tĥahé Huhúwanap'iη

Set 5

Set 5 was released during the last week of February, 2006. It features the Aztecs, the Spanish, the Saracens, and a revisiting of the Japanese. The starter set for Set 5 features Moctezuma II vs. Hernán Cortés. The promotional warriors for Set 5 are Sanada Nobushige and Tariq ibn Ziyad. They are obtainable via a mail-in offer like that of Sets 2, 3, and 4.

Set 5 Warriors

Aztec

• Auítzotl
• Cuitláhuac
• Itzcóatl
• Moctezuma II
• Tlacaelel

Japanese

• Hijikata Toshizo
• Minamoto no Yoshitsune
• Sanada Nobushige
• Takeda Shingen
• Uesugi Kenshin

Saracen

• Amr ibn al-A'as
• Harun al-Rashid
• Maowvia
• Salah ah-Din
• Tariq ibn Ziyad

Spanish

• Charles V
• El Cid Campeador
• El Gran Capitán
• Hernán Cortés
• Isabella I of Castile

Promotional Cards

The Set 5 tournament promos continued in the pattern of Set 3 and 4, adding new warriors and support cards to existing cultures rather than adding alternate versions of existing warriors. The Set 5 promotional cards are:

• Sagaris
• Baba Yaga

Set 6

Set 6 is scheduled for release in May, 2006. It will feature Romanians, the Turks, a revisit of the Chinese, as well as Pirates. This last culture will feature warriors from existing cultures, but also with the "Pirate" designation. The starter set for Set 6 features Vlad Tepes Dracula vs. Beyazid I the Thunderbolt. The promotional warriors for Set 6 are unknown at this time, though they will be from the Pirate and Chinese cultures. They will probably be obtainable via a mail-in offer like that of Sets 2, 3, 4, and 5.

Set 6 Warriors

Chinese

• Cáo Cāo
• Lü Bu
• Ma Chao
• Zhang Fei

Pirates

• Anne Bonny
• Black Bart
• Gráinne Ní Mháille (Grace O'Malley)
• Sir Francis Drake

Romanians

• Burebista
• Michael the Brave
• Mircea the Old
• Stephen the Great
• Vlad Tepes Dracula

Turks

• Mehmed II the Conqueror
• Murad IV the Cruel
• Selim I the Brave
• Suleiman I the Magnificent
• Beyazid I the Thunderbolt

Competitive Play

Anachronism features a series of tournaments with high-profile prizes, such as a trip to one of various destinations in Europe. However, in September 2005, Mattieu Brochu won a new MINI Cooper as the grand prize of the first Anachronism World Championship held at Dragon Con in Atlanta, GA.

External links

• The Official Anachronism site
• Largest Anachronism Yahoo Group
• Dystemporalia -- A very handy Anachronism site
• Brazilian Anachronism Forum