Time of Crisis

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Time of Crisis
Game data
author Wray Ferrell , Brad Johnson
graphic Rodger B. MacGowan
publishing company GMT Games
Publishing year 2017
Art Conflict simulation, deck building
Teammates 2 to 4
Duration 150 to 210 minutes
Age 14 years and older

Time of Crisis is a board game by the US game authors Wray Ferrell and Brad Johnson. The game was released in 2017 by GMT Games , outside the United States it can only be purchased as an import. The combination of deck building and conflict simulation was often positively noted. The game is only available in English.

Theme and equipment

The game is a board game in which each player takes on the role of a Roman dynasty that, at the time of the imperial crisis of the 3rd century, tried to expand its power in the ancient Roman Empire and thereby increase its fame. The players use cards to either build support in their own population, to expand their power politically to the Senate of other provinces or to take military action against resistance.

In addition to the game instructions, the game material consists of:

  • a game board that shows the Mediterranean and the Roman Empire divided into twelve provinces
  • four game aids, with the short rules for each player
  • five crisis tables with which the events of the turn are determined
  • numerous counters to represent the game's armies, barbarians and emperors
  • two decks of 102 influence and 18 event cards
  • six six-sided dice

Style of play

In Time of Crisis, each player chooses a starting province. On the game board, Rome is divided into twelve provinces, Britannia, Gallia, Hispania, Italia, Pannonia, Thracia, Macedonia, Asia, Galatia, Syria, Africa and Aegyptus, from which you can start in all but Italia. The start counter in its color is placed on the governor space, as is the general counter, which is placed in the capital space of the province. Each player receives three cards of all three types of cards of level 1. There are red ones that are used militarily to set up armies, to move armies or to attack with them. There are also blue cards to hold senate elections in other provinces to replace the previous governor or yellow cards to pacify internal problems such as uprisings or to strengthen one's province. There are cards of levels 1 to 4 which, apart from the cards of level 1, cause additional effects.

At the beginning of each turn an event is rolled, which can either represent a reinforcement of the hostile Germanic or Sassanid tribes or an event that is important for Rome, such as the Roman secular celebration or the appearance of a particularly strong military leader who attacks Rome. The adjacent province the enemy tribes attack is also rolled. Since every player has to suffer from the appearance of external enemies, the players may have to fight the barbarian tribes together and liberate the attacked provinces. Fame points are awarded for ruling his provinces, as well as for those who become Emperor of Rome. Whoever has the most points at the end of the game, which is indicated either by drawing the Diocletian event card or when someone has reached 60 fame points, wins the game.

Time of Crisis combines the features of a deck builder with those of a conflict simulation. In contrast to other games with the gameplay principle, you do not get the points with which you buy new cards from the values ​​printed on the cards, but solely from how many provinces you have conquered and how much support you were able to achieve in the respective provinces . The price of the cards is also influenced by the support you get in your provinces. With the points you earn, you can add new and stronger cards to your deck or dispose of old and weaker ones. This support can be increased by building buildings such as an amphitheater, but it can also be reduced by invading Germanic or Sassanid tribes. If this value drops to zero, you will be deposed as governor of the province and replaced by a neutral one. Whoever manages to conquer power in Italy will get more points. But it is also possible to split off your provinces from Rome and to found your own empire and thereby earn points. A special feature is that at the end of your turn you choose the cards from your deck with the cards that have not yet been played for the next turn and do not draw them at random. Because four events or barbarian attacks and three turns of the other players can have occurred in the four-player game up to your own turn, the planning of your own turn is still limited, which is supposed to represent the chaos of the Roman Empire at the time of the crisis.

Game development

Time of Crisis development began in 2014 when Wray Ferrell and Brad Johnson both lived in Chicago. They discussed the possibility of combining a deck building game like Dominion with a conflict simulation (Konsim) in which the events and actions are often controlled with cards. After you had decided on a framework, you agreed on a topic. Wray Ferrell had the idea of ​​making a game about the Roman Empire for a long time. The idea of ​​playing the game over the entire Roman Republic from Augustus to the fall of Rome was discarded because of the expected length of the game. Ultimately, it was agreed on the period of the imperial crisis of the 3rd century from 235 to the inauguration of Diocletian in 284/85 AD.

After the idea of ​​Time of Crisis matured in the course of 2014 and the military part of the game was defused, an agreement was finally reached on a relatively easy conflict simulation with an expected duration of around two to three and a half hours, which can also be quickly understood by beginners , the game should be published by the US publisher GMT Games and was included in the internal "Project P500" in September 2014. Games can be pre-ordered, which will be fully developed and produced when a certain number of orders have been reached. A year later the necessary number of orders was reached and the development of the game could be pushed. After a release date in summer 2016 was initially mentioned, it was corrected several times until the game was removed from the P500 list in April 2017 and published in June 2017. Shortly after the game was released, an expansion and a second edition were announced. Both were finally released in 2019. Since the second edition, the game has been delivered in an extra-large box that offers space for expansion. An Italian edition of Time of Crisis was also published by Ergo Ludo Editions in 2019 .

extension

Shortly after the release of Time of Crisis, a previously unnamed expansion for the game was announced in 2018. While this could be pre-ordered on the website, a competition was called in which name suggestions for the extension could be made. The following year, 2019, it was announced that the expansion would be called Time of Crisis: The Age of Iron and Rust . In the same year it was published and sent to pre-orderers. Three bots are added to the game, each of which can be used to simulate another player. Previously it was only possible to play the game with two or three players by ignoring the provinces of the existing map while playing, it is now possible to play a four-person game alone. It also introduces new Emperor rules that vary the game strategy. In addition, the expansion adds new influence cards, which can either replace the old ones or can be combined with the old ones. Overall, the game material consists of the game instructions:

  • a deck of cards consisting of 102 influence cards
  • three game aids to simulate other players (bots)

supporting documents

  1. ↑ a b muwins: TIME OF CRISIS - ROM DEMANDS… DECKBUILDER!
  2. ↑ theplayersaid.com: The Most Recent Fruits of Wargame Hybridization
  3. ↑ Summary at Boardgamegeek
  4. ↑ GMT Games: Time of Crisis ( Memento of the original from September 24, 2017 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.gmtgames.com
  5. ↑ Inside GMT Games: Time of Crisis Design Diary # 3
  6. ↑ a b c Inside GMT Games: Time of Crisis Design Diary: A Design History
  7. ↑ a b Inside GMT Games: Time of Crisis Design Diary # 2
  8. ↑ The regularly published review of the previous month of the newly published and financed games of the GMT-P500 project

Web links