Echoes of Time

• Designers: Simone Luciani, Roberto Pellei 
• Publisher: Cranio Creations
• Players: 2-4
• Age: 12+
• Time: 30-60 mins
• Amazon affiliate link: https://amzn.to/3LzL38l
• Played with review copy provided by publisher

In a fantastic and untouched land, four factions govern different aspects of this world: the ocean depths with their dark abysses, the gentle hills with windy meadows and protected forests, the vast and endless expanses of the night skies, and the mysterious and unexplored underground tunnels.  An ancient and powerful energy flows through these places, concentrating in hidden, inexhaustible sources. Controlling this power allows one to bend to their will life’s most important aspect: time, and the rhythms it imprints on the environment and every being.

Echoes of Time is a strategic game for 2-4 players in which you attempt to create the best-equipped fellowship of characters from different factions to conquer the sources of power. Try to control and modify the flow of time to outshine your opponents. The game includes more than one hundred cards with unique effects that you will use to build a new deck each game, and a “sliding tile” system guides you in managing the time needed for your cards to become usable, while simultaneously controlling the activation rhythm of their effects.

To set up the game, each player is given a Time board and a set of Time tiles – 5 placed randomly on the spaces on the board and the sixth one off to the side.  One source card per player is chosen and placed in the center of the table. 

The deck of Fellowship cards is shuffled and players start with a hand of 7 cards.  All players will simultaneously play one of these cards to their board, discarding cards as shown on the left and then placing it on the appropriate time slot of their board.  Finally, a supply of VP chips, 12VP per player, is placed on the table.

In each round, there are three phases:

A] Time Phase – all players take their Time tile which is off the board, and slide it into the left side of their Time row, thus pushing the rightmost tile off the board.  If there are any cards on this tile, they are summoned into your Fellowship – place them above your player board.  Once summoned, cards can have an effect on the game, either a one-time effect on summoning or an ongoing effect.  After all cards have been resolved, everyone draws one card from the deck and adds it to their hand.

B] Actions Phase – Each player has 2 Action cubes to use, and going clockwise from the start player, players place one of their cubes on an action space at the bottom of their player board and then execute the associated action. You can do the same action twice in a round.  The main actions include:

• Draw 2 Cards
• Play 1 Card – you must discard a number of cards from your hand as shown on the card you wish to play, and then you place it on the Time Tile indicated on the card.  You may have up to 2 cards on any Time tile.   Note that this action could be affected by modifiers on your active cards, possibly reducing the cost or allowing you to place to the right of the usual placement slot.
• Advance 2 Cards – Twice, move a card to the Right on your Time board.  You can pass through tiles with 2 cards on it as long as you end your movement on a legal stopping point.  If a card moves off the right edge of your board, it is summoned, and immediately comes into effect
• Conquer a Source Card – At the bottom of the Source card are two areas (I) = Conquer, (II)=Fortify. The number next to the flag tells you the minimum number of Creature card strength needed to Conquer/Fortify that card.  If it has already been conquered by another player, you must play more Strength than the owner has on it.  The cards used are placed underneath the Source card so that you can see the icons on the top.  These cards no longer have any effects that are usable, but their icons can be referenced by other cards.  Now, resolve the immediate action as shown on the Source card.  (If you took the Source card from another player, the cards used by that player return to full effect in that player’s Fellowship area).
• Fortify a Source Card – If you have a Conquered Source card in your area, as a separate action than Conquering, you can Fortify it if you have more Strength on the card that stated in the Fortify area.  All cards used to Fortify are placed completely underneath the Source card and will remain there for the rest of the game.  Their icons and effects are out of play until final scoring. Now, resolve the immediate action as shown on the Source card.  

There are also a few Free Actions which can be done during this phase

•  Activate the Flame Effect of a Card – this must be a card already in your Fellowship.  If that card has a flame icon whose color matches that of the Time Tile off your board, you can resolve that action once per round.  Place an Activation marker on the card to help you remember that you’ve already used the action.
• Increase Control over a Source card – you can move cards from your Fellowship partially under an already Conquered Source card.  This increased strength level can either be used to prevent opponents from Conquering the card OR to give you enough strength to Fortify that Source card.

C] End of Round Phase – players discard down to 10 cards in hand and remove the Action tokens and activation tokens from their area.  The start player rotates to the left.

Continue playing until one of 3 things happens at the end of a round: the supply of VP tokens is exhausted, a player has 12 or more cards in their Fellowship or all source cards in the game have been fortified.  When this happens, the game is now scored:

• VP chips collected during play
• VPs from source cards – different points whether Conquered or Fortified
• VPs from individual cards in your Fellowship (including those underneath Fortified source cards) – most have a flat VP value while others have a scoring rubric on them.

The player with the most points wins.  Ties broken in favor of the player with more Fortified Sources.

My thoughts on the game

So when I read the description of the game and the designers (specifically Luciani), I was floored to see that the predicted game length was only 30-60 minutes!  I was immediately intrigued to learn more, and my meeting with Cranio was among my most anticipated of Spiel 2025.  My games of Echoes of Time have so far definitely fit into the timeframe suggested on the box, and this has quickly become one of my favorite designs from Luciani.

The actions in the game are simple, and the whole timetable setup intrigues me (just as a similar mechanism did in Ancient Knowledge).  Trying to get cards onto the board and then off into your Fellowship is a big thrust of the game.  You only get to use the cool actions on the cards once they have graduated off your timeline, so this is always a focus of my turn.

Further, you need to have cards in your Fellowship in order to conquer Source cards – and the bonus action from these can be quite nice.  Of course, you lose the benefit of the cards that you’ve tucked underneath them, so you’ll have to weigh the costs and benefits of this.  That being said, there are a bunch of cards that only have one-use effects, so these are easier to bury under the source card.

The Flame effects on cards can sometimes be quite useful, but the timing is the tricky thing. Make note that the different colors have different prevalence on your board – so this may incentivize you to get a card off your board sooner so that you don’t miss the window to use its flame power (or else have to wait 3 or more turns to get a chance to use it!)

Echoes of Time has a nice multilevel puzzle here of choosing the right cards to work together combined with the puzzle of getting them onto your board and then off the end into your fellowship.  The deck of cards is so large that you’ll see new cards each game and likely find new combinations to explore.  I have only played a few times, and I know that I still have much more to learn about how to play the game, and I’m looking forward to more plays this winter.

Thoughts from other Opinionated Gamers

(Ben B) — I finally got my copy and got it to the table and I have semi-mixed feelings. While I do appreciate the the 45 minute game, we felt the game was slightly at odds with itself. It is to be made clear, this is not an engine builder like my Magic playing friends struggled with. This game is a race. The game makes you feel like right when you get some cards and an engine out, the game ends. The source cards encourage you to take them back and forth from each other and this game wants you to do the back and forth trading as a form of interactivity and fun (by conquering your opponents sources) and forcing them to re-attack to take them back. I think I would also have liked some more variety in the source cards because there arent enough for repeatability in my mind. 

Ratings from the Opinionated Gamers

• I love it!
• I like it. Dale Y; Ben B, John P
• Neutral.
• Not for me…

Amazon affiliate link: https://amzn.to/3LzL38l