Echoes of Time
Echoes of Time Rulebook
Table of Contents
Table of Contents
Components
- 4 Time boards (one for each player)
- 24 Time tiles (6 per player)
- 105 Fellowship cards
- 6 Source cards
- 1 First Player token
- 8 Action cubes (2 per player)
- 16 Activation tokens
- 40 Victory Point tokens (32 1-VP, 8 5-VP)
Setup
- Each player takes 1 Time board and places it face-up in front of them.
- Each player takes a set of 6 Time tiles (with the back of the same color), places 5 on their Time board as shown, and places the remaining tile next to the board.
- Each player takes 2 Action cubes of the same color and places them next to their Time board.
- Set up a central supply of Victory Point tokens made of 12 Victory Points per player (24, 36, or 48 Victory Points for 2, 3, or 4 players). Return remaining Victory Point tokens to a secondary supply on the side of the table.
- Place the Activation tokens in the center of the table to form a reserve.
- Randomly choose 1 Source card per player and place it face-up in the center of the table (2, 3, or 4 Source cards depending on the number of players). Put the unused Source cards back to the box.
- Choose randomly the first player and give them the First Player token.
- Shuffle the Fellowship cards into a deck and place it face-down in the center of the table.
- Each player draws 7 Fellowship cards from the deck.
If playing with fewer than 4 players, return unused boards, tiles, and cubes to the box.
Overview
In Echoes of Time, you play cards to form your Fellowship. The cards in your Fellowship give you victory points (VP) at the end of the game, as well as effects that you can activate in various ways during the game.
The uniqueness of this game lies in the fact that cards are played from your hand onto the tiles on your board, based on the costs indicated on the card. These cards will be summoned to become part of your Fellowship only when they leave the board. The tiles on the board, in fact, slide at the start of each round (or thanks to special effects), representing the time needed for your cards to become active. You can also move cards on the board to summon them faster. Only when the cards are part of your Fellowship you can use all their characteristics, effects, and icons. Creature cards can be used to conquer available Sources, increasing your power, while Artifact cards help you create a powerful combo-system.
The game ends when the available victory points supply is over, when a player has a Fellowship of 12 cards, or when all Source cards have been fortified.
Components Description
Fellowship Cards show a faction, type of card (Creature or Artifact), specialization (War or Magic), strength (Creatures only), cost (cards to be discarded and position on the board where to place the card), an effect, and Victory Points at the game end.
There are 4 factions: Water, Sky, Wood, and Earth. The Neutral icon is not considered a faction.
Source Cards show a name, the strength to be exceeded to conquer/fortify the Source, an immediate effect available to the player who controls the Source when the Source is conquered/fortified, and the Victory Points at the game end for a conquered/fortified Source.
Victory Point Tokens come in two values: 1 and 5. When you have to take Victory Points due to a card's effect, take the corresponding value in tokens from the central supply. When you have to discard Victory Points, put the corresponding value in tokens back to the central supply (if you don't have all the points you should discard, discard all you've got).
Player Area — your Time Board holds Time Tiles (5 on the board and 1 off-board), cards on the board in their positions, and your Victory Point tokens. Cards summoned into your Fellowship, and any Conquered Sources, sit alongside it.
Gameplay
The game progresses in rounds, continuing until a game-ending condition is triggered.
First Choice of the Game
Before the beginning of the first round, each player chooses 1 card from their hand and plays it on their board, paying all costs.
Playing Cards
To play a card from your hand, you must pay its costs, indicated in cards and time.
- Discard the number of cards indicated by the cards icon on the card you're playing. Place discarded cards in a face-up discard pile.
- Place the card on the Time tile currently in the position indicated by the position icon. If the card shows position 0, play it directly in your Fellowship outside the board.
Summoning Cards
When cards become part of your Fellowship (because they leave the board or are played directly outside the board), you summon them (many effects refer to this concept).
How to Play a Round
Each round consists of three phases, performed in this order:
- A. Time Phase
- B. Actions Phase
- C. End of Round Phase
A. Time Phase
This phase is carried out simultaneously by all players. Follow these steps:
- Each player takes the currently off-board Time tile and inserts it in the left side of the board: the tiles already on the board move to the right. A new tile will come off the board from the right side.
If there are cards on the tile that leaves the board, they are summoned into your Fellowship. If there are two cards, you choose the order in which you summon them.
If a card has an immediate effect, the player can now (and now only) activate it. Permanent effects of cards already in the Fellowship can also be activated by the cards you summon (for a recap of the types of effects, see the Appendix at page 7).
If multiple players activate effects that interact, resolve the effects starting with the first player and proceed clockwise.
- When all players have completed the tile movement and resolved any effects, each player draws 1 card from the deck.
Example: The tiles slide. Arianna summons The Sea Queen and the Shell of Whispers. She decides to summon the Shell of Whispers first. When the Sea Queen is summoned immediately after, she activates its immediate effect: she gains 2 VP (1 for each Water card in her Fellowship, including the Sea Queen). In addition, the permanent effect of the Shell of Whispers is activated, since she has played a Water card, she draws 1 card.
Example: Arianna plays the Builder. She discards 1 card from her hand and places the Builder on the Time tile in position 2.
B. Actions Phase
In this phase, players take turns in clockwise order, starting with the first player.
On your turn, you place 1 Action cube on one available action space on your Time board to perform the corresponding main action.
There are two action spaces for every main action, so you can perform the same main action twice during the same round. Before or after placing the Action cube, you can perform any number of Free Actions (see Free Actions below).
When all players have performed two turns, the Actions phase ends.
Main Actions
There are 4 main actions:
- Draw 2 cards
- Play 1 card
- Advance 2 cards
- Conquer or Fortify 1 Source card
Draw 2 cards
Draw 2 Fellowship cards from the deck and add them to your hand.
Play 1 card
Follow these steps:
- Discard the number of cards indicated by the cards icon on the card you're playing;
- Place the card on the Time tile currently in the position indicated by the position icon.
Each Time tile can hold a maximum of 2 cards. Place them offset so both are visible.
If a tile already has 2 cards, you may place the card on the first available tile (with less than two cards on it) to the left.
Cards on the board are not considered part of your Fellowship yet, so you can't consider all their icons and effects for any purpose.
IMPORTANT: There are 5 Artifact cards in the deck that have two copies of each. You cannot have two copies of the same card in your Fellowship.
Advance 2 cards
Move 2 cards on your Time board one position to the right or 1 card by two positions.
- Cards cannot finish the movement onto tiles that have already two cards on them but may pass through to reach tiles that can hold them.
- If a card moves past the far-right tile in position 1, you summon it into your Fellowship.
Example: Arianna performs this action to advance twice the Thief currently in position 2. With these two movements, the Thief comes into play in her Fellowship.
Conquer or Fortify 1 Source card
Conquer 1 Source card
To conquer a Source, you must commit a certain number of Creature cards from your Fellowship. You can try to conquer Sources in the center of the table or those conquered by an opponent.
To conquer a Source, follow these steps:
- Choose one or more Creature cards to conquer with. You may only choose cards without Activation tokens on them.
- If you are attacking a Source in the center of the table, the total strength of the Creatures you commit must be greater than the strength indicated next to the strength icon on the lower left side of the card.
- If you are attacking a Source conquered by an opponent, your total strength must be greater than the total strength of the Creatures your opponent has under the Source card.
- Take the Source card and place it in your Fellowship. Immediately activate the effect indicated next to the icon in the space on the lower left side of the card (this effect is activated every time the Source is conquered).
- Place the Creatures you used to conquer underneath the Source card, ensuring the top part is visible. When a card is underneath a conquered Source, you can no longer use its effects. However, all the icons in the top part (cost, faction, type, specialization, strength) are still active and you can still use them to enhance effects of other cards. Victory Points of the cards under a Source will be normally calculated at the end of the game (see Final Scoring below).
When you lose control of a Source, the Creatures that controlled it remain in your Fellowship and their effects are available again.
There is no limit to the number of Source cards you can conquer.
Many Source cards show an effect on the top left corner. If you control a Source in your Fellowship, you have this effect available to you.
For the purpose of end game conditions (see End of the Game below), Source cards take up the space of 2 cards in your Fellowship, while Creature cards underneath it don't count.
Example: Arianna decides to conquer the Source of Cycles in the center of the table. Using the Thief, the Explorer, and the Princess, Arianna's total strength is 4, enough to overcome the strength 3 required. Arianna moves the Source to her Fellowship, places the Creatures used beneath it, and immediately activates the effect (she moves her tiles). From now on, if another player wants to conquer this Source, they should attack it with a strength higher than the total strength of the Creatures beneath it.
Fortify 1 Source card
You can fortify 1 Source card you have conquered to ensure your control over it for the rest of the game.
To fortify a Source, follow these steps:
- Choose a Source you have already conquered and ensure that the total strength of the Creatures underneath the Source is greater than the strength indicated next to the icon on the lower right side of the card.
- Immediately activate the effect indicated next to the icon in the space on the lower right side of the card.
- Slide the Creatures completely beneath the Source card so they are no longer visible. For the rest of the game, you can no longer use their effects and their icons. VP will still be calculated at the end of the game.
Fortified Source cards cannot be conquered by other players.
IMPORTANT: Conquering and fortifying are two separate actions, so you cannot fortify directly a Source that you have not previously conquered.
Example: Arianna has conquered and controls the Source of Cycles with 5 Creatures and a total strength of 10. She decides to fortify it: she moves all the Creatures under the Source card and activates immediately the effect (she takes 5 VP).
Free Actions
During your turn, you may perform the following free actions without needing to place an Action cube. There is no limit to the number of free actions you can perform and you can perform a free action before or after performing the main action.
There are 2 free actions:
- Activate the Flame effect of a card in your Fellowship
- Increase control over a Source you have conquered
Activate the Flame effect of a card in your Fellowship
You can activate the Flame effects (on Fellowship cards or on Source cards you control) of the same color of the Flame icon on the Time tile currently off your board.
Place an Activation token on the Flame icon of the cards you activate. Each Flame effect can be activated only once per round.
Some cards activate Flame effects of other cards. In this case, you must place an Activation token on that Flame icon too (you can't activate a Flame effect that has an Activation token on it).
Example: Arianna has the Time tile with the red Flame icon off the board. She activates the red Flame effect of the Miner, which allows her to draw 4 cards. She places an Activation token on the card.
Increase control over a Source you have conquered
You may move Creature cards from your Fellowship beneath a Source you already control to increase the total strength you control it with (either to defend it from opponents' attacks or to meet the strength needed to fortify it).
You cannot move cards that have an Activation token currently on them.
Always remember that you need to perform the main action with your Action cube (or due to a card's effect) to fortify a Source card.
Example: Arianna decides to move the Rider of the Meadows beneath the Source of Cycles she controls.
C. End of Round Phase
When all players have placed their Action cubes and taken their turns, the Actions phase ends.
Follow these steps:
- Each player with more than 10 cards in hand discards down to 10 cards. They choose which cards to discard;
- Each player takes their Action cubes back from their board;
- Remove the Activation tokens from all cards (Source cards too) that have one and place them back in the reserve;
- The player with the First Player token passes it to the player to their left.
End of the Game
The game ends at the end of the round in which any of the following conditions are triggered (even if the condition is no longer satisfied later during the same round):
A. The central supply of Victory Point tokens is depleted. B. A player has 12 cards in their Fellowship (conquered or fortified Sources count as 2 cards; Creature cards under them do not count). C. All Sources in play have been fortified.
Finish the round and calculate the points. If a player gains Victory Point tokens during the final round, you can use the secondary supply if the central supply is empty.
You can now proceed to the Final Scoring.
Special Effects
As a general rule, all the effects can have consequences and take into consideration only the cards already in your Fellowship. The only exceptions are the effects that make opponents discard cards or VP tokens. For example, with the effect "Activate 1 effect" you can only activate the immediate effect of another card in your Fellowship.
Remove Cards
Some effects ask you to remove a card to obtain a bonus. You can remove only cards in your Fellowship, even Creature cards currently placed under a conquered Source (not if the Source is fortified). If you remove the last card under a conquered Source, put the Source card back to the center of the table; you no longer control it. You can never remove the card that shows this effect; you have to remove another card. You can always choose not to remove any card and not to obtain the effect.
Discounts
Many effects allow you to play cards with a discount.
- -2 cards: When you play a card you get the indicated discount on its cost in cards; in this example, if you are playing a card that costs 3 cards, you discard only 1.
- -1 position: When you play a card you get the indicated discount on its cost in time; in this example, if you are playing a card that should be placed in position 2, you place it in position 1. If you have discounts to play a card in position 0, summon it directly in your Fellowship.
Appendix
Icon reference:
- Draw 1 card from the deck
- Play 1 card from your hand, paying all its costs
- Advance 1 card on your board one space to the right
- Insert the off-board Time tile to the left and push all other tiles to the right
- VP token
- Conquer a Source card
- Strength
- Fortify a Source card
Types of effects:
- Immediate: activate it when you summon the card into your Fellowship
- Permanent: from the moment the card is summoned in your Fellowship, activate it in the indicated condition
- Scoring: activate it when you calculate the scoring at the end of the game
- Blue Flame effect
- Yellow Flame effect
- Red Flame effect
Final Scoring
Sum up the following values:
- Victory Point tokens accumulated during the game;
- Victory Points from Sources (indicated in the left space for conquered Source or in the right space for fortified Source);
- Victory Points from cards summoned in your Fellowship, including those underneath the Sources. Cards with a scoring effect have a variable value depending on the indicated condition. Cards still on the board or in your hand don't count.
In case of a tie, the player who has fortified more Sources wins; if there's still a tie, the victory is shared.
Example: Arianna has collected 10 VP in tokens. She adds 10 VP for the fortified Source of Extinction and 4 VP for the conquered Source of Immutability. Finally she adds a total of 18 VP from the cards summoned in her Fellowship (the Resonant Stone is worth 4 VP because she has summoned 4 Water cards). Cards on her Time board and in her hand don't count. Arianna's final scoring is 42 VP.
Variant with Low Interaction
If you want to play a game where the effects that have an interaction between players are reduced, remove from the game all Fellowship cards and the Source card with the icon before the setup. This type of effects (they usually make opponents discard VP tokens or cards) is not completely removed from the game, but its occurrence is reduced.
Credits
Authors: Roberto Pellei, Simone Luciani Illustrations: Giovanni Calore Art Direction: Arianna Santini Graphics: Giada Lo Duca, Arianna Santini Editor: Giuliano Acquati
Thanks: Roberto would like to thank Sted association and all the friends who helped him during the playtest of the game. Simone would like to thank all who tested the game during the development, in particular Ido Traini, Paolo Prioretti, Claudio Ciccalè, Sauro Parissi, Samantha Milani, Simone Colombo, Martino Chiacchiera.
Cranio Creations S.r.l. Via Ettore Romagnoli, 1 20146 - Milano - Italy www.craniocreations.it/en