We heard about Tempus before we went to Essen 2006.
A Martin Wallace game usually means this is a must-buy for our group.
A Civ game - A must buy for our group (especially me)

We saw the prototype set up at the Pro-Ludo stand but nobody was around it. We just looked really - it wasnt really advertised and there was nobody demo-ing it. We came away from Essen slightly disappointed that it hadnt been released yet.

Then everything I heard about the game was bad which was a bit of a shame. Rules not clear, differences in the versions, horrible artwork and colours in the german version, etc. But then came Essen 2007 and we saw copies going cheap at the Warfrog stand. At least I think it was, Martin and Geoff were there, so it must have been them.

It was the German version, but we decided to risk it (20 euros). Three of us bought a copy. We got it home, german rules. No rules anyway. Oops. Ah well, we had about 30 other games from Essen, so no real rush.

We saw straight away however the problem with the artwork. On the player cards (which we wouldnt use anyway because its full of german text), the yellowy-brown background is so intense, it makes anything on the card difficult to read. The cards are also not great quality.

Finally, an email to Cafe / Pro Ludo got me the rules. Woohoo!

So I took the rules to our games club, got one of the other copies there aswell, and we had 2 games of it running. My group of 4 played it correctly - the other group not quite correct.

And since then, I've played it about 5 times. The verdict - a very good game. It was what I was expecting, but my expectations were low because of the things that had been said. Once you get a proper copy of the rules, there is nothing wrong with the game. It is Civ-lite. It does take around 2 hours, and it plays really well.

There are no 'technology trees' as such, there is a shared tree, and each round everyone is set to the same and then you bid for who gets to move ahead 1 step. Next round, everyone catches up and then you bid again. So, for example, you win the bid to get "trains", you get them for 1 turn, then next turn, everyone has one.

You have a number of actions, and need to decide carefully what you do with them to grow and expand your empire. Combat is rare in some games, but the mechanics for that work well. I enjoy playing as do most other people in our group when it gets suggested.

The only downside is that initial placement is really important, which can hinder new players unless you help them out by advising them on initial placement. Because this is done in player order, player 1 usually chooses the 'best' place on the board.