"My Faithful Companion,

The Master Clocksmith came to speak to me this morning revealing a fabulous secret...We can travel in time, my friend! Not just dreaming about it like my astrologist does, but actually going there. I can hardly believe it! There seem to be periods in our future where the strength of our walls will be nothing compared to the strength of our collective faith. Or an even stranger future epoch where the people will rule themselves. The Master Clocksmith has convinced me that our power is now limitless. Our lands and domains are ours forever.

My opponents will not wait and my Lords have already started preparing for their journeys. My dear friend, come with me, for from this day forward, I will be remembered as the king who forged our own destiny...literally!"

-Hichmat, Great Lord of the Western Lands


Overview:

In Khronos, players are Lords who seek to alter the path of time and establish personal domains which would last for all eternity. In the process, they vie with other Lords to expand the boundaries of their own realms of control and swallow their rivals' kingdoms, while doing their utmost best to ensure that their own legacy does not end up being merely a small part of a rival lord's own dominion.


Components:



The game board, consisting of 3 different smaller boards which depict the different time periods (image uploaded by Zopper-Alf)


The main board comes in 3 sections, and each section is made up of a smaller board which shows a particular setting in time. The 3 boards show the same setting in 3 different ages--the top-most board is the Age of Reason (the latest of the 3 ages), followed by the Age of Faith (middle board) and Age of Might (the earliest) as the lowest board respectively. In line with the traditional logic of time travel, the general rule in Khronos is that the effects of actions carried out in earlier ages will "ripple" forward to the later ages, though there are exceptions. These exceptions are elaborated on in the "Flow of Play" section.



Construction cards


Construction cards are crucial in Khronos because they are almost always required for any action that players want to undertake. There are 3 types of cards: Religious (purple), Military (orange) and Civil (blue) cards. Cards serve a variety of functions, and they are used primarily for actions such as the construction, upgrading, renovation or demolishment of buildings. To construct a purple Religious building, players are required to play Religious cards from their hands. Similarly, the construction of Civil buildings requires blue Civil cards to be played, and so on.

In the Age of Reason only, Civil cards can be used to populate Civil buildings. When this happens, Control cubes (not shown in this review) are placed to denote which buildings are populated, and the size of the population in each building. In contrast, Military and Religious cards can be used to renovate ruins.



Religious (purple), Military (orange) and Civil (blue) buildings


Like the Construction cards, there are also 3 types of buildings in Khronos (Religious, Military and Civil) and their colours correspond to the Construction cards of the same types. The buildings come in 3 different sizes as well--the smallest building of each type is considered a "size 1" building, the next bigger one a "size 2" building, and a "size 3" being the largest building. Due to the difference in their sizes, each building will occupy a different number of spaces on the boards, so players have to pay attention to the positions or locations of these tiles on each board. This is important because scoring will depend very much on the type of buildings and (even more importantly) their placement patterns on each of the 3 boards.

The number of cards required to construct a specific building is denoted at the top-right corner of the building tile. If players wish to upgrade a building, they pay the difference in cards between the numbers displayed on the new and old tiles. However, buildings can only be upgraded if they are size 2 or smaller. Buildings can also be demolished at the cost of 1 card and 1 Ecu. However, players should note that buildings can only be constructed/upgraded/demolished in the Ages of Might and Faith.

There are pictures of ruins on the rear side of the Military and Religious building tiles; these ruins are only used in the Age of Reason (this is explained in greater detail in the "Flow of Play" section).

As this review contains examples to illustrate the points being made, here is a breakdown of the different buildings by type and size. The buildings for each type are listed in ascending order of size:

Religious - Chapel, Monastery, Abbey
Military - Watchtower, Keep, Castle
Civil - Hamlet, Town, City



Money chips


The unit of money in Khronos is the Ecu, and there are 3 denominations provided: 1, 5 and 10. Money plays a very important part in Khronos because the sole victory condition states that the player who amasses the most amount of wealth by the end of the last round wins the game. However, players have loads of opportunities to generate more wealth during gameplay, primarily by constructing and upgrading buildings.



Adventurer Pawns (image uploaded by Michel)


Lastly, there are 2 Adventurer Pawns each in 5 colours, which players move between boards. Players must move their Adventurer Pawns to boards for them to be able to engage in actions (e.g. build, upgrade etc) on those boards, or score at specific rounds (refer to the Scoring section of this review for details). Players must pay a fee of 1 Ecu everytime they wish to move any one of their Pawns, regardless of where the Pawns are moved to.


Setup & Flow of Play:

Players begin the game with 4 Ecus and a hand of 4 cards each. The hand limit does not change throughout the game, and players can only use 2 cards in an Age for each Adventurer Pawn that is located there. This means that players will have to move both of their Pawns to an Age to use all 4 cards there.

Players take turns to carry out actions for 7 rounds. During their turn, players do the following in order:


1) Exchange all/part of their Construction card hand (once per turn):

Players can entirely or partially discard their hand and obtain replacement cards from the deck at a total cost of 2 Ecus. This phase is optional and need not be carried out if the player does not wish to.

Edit: For players who are more averse to bad card draws, the game also includes an optional variant to mitigate the inherent randomness in the card draw. At the start of the game, 3 cards (1 of each card type) are laid faceup on the table to form a secondary draw pool, the first being the main card deck. During this phase, the current player can opt to exchange as many cards of the same type from the draw pool with the same number of cards in hand. This ensures that there will always be 3 cards available faceup in the draw pool. This card exchange can be done any number of times during this phase, and can occur before or after the player spends 2 Ecus to obtain replacement cards from the main draw deck.


2) Action Phase:

This is the main phase of the turn. Here, players can travel in time by moving their Adventurer Pawns between Ages at a cost of 1 Ecu per move. Apart from the monetary cost, there is no restriction on the number of moves that can be made. Following this, players can use Construction cards (and Ecus, where required) to construct/demolish/upgrade buildings in the Ages of Might and Faith, or populate/renovate buildings in the Age of Reason. All buildings (with the exception of size 1 buildings) that are constructed in the Ages of Might and Faith are rippled in the later Ages, though the buildings rippled in the Age of Reason are in ruins (the ruin-side of the tiles are placed faceup in this Age). When ruins are renovated, the tiles are turned over to their normal side. As ruins are worth less than their renovated sides, it is often worth the players' efforts to renovate them if the opportunity arises but only if they can score them (more on this in the "Scoring" section).

Lastly, the construction of buildings is subject to 2 rules; the Rule of Hierarchy, and the Rule of Dominion. These rules are collectively known as the Construction Rules, and their effects are explained in the "Construction Rules" section of the review.


3) Draw Construction cards:

Players may choose to discard unused cards and replenish their hand with new cards from the deck. However, the hand limit must be strictly adhered to.


4) Collect earnings from domains:

At the end of their turns in rounds 4 and 7, players collect Ecus from Ages where their Adventurer Pawns are located, provided they are dominant in at least 1 domain in those Ages. For the definition of a domain, refer to the "Construction Rules" section. Details about the scoring process are given in the "Scoring" section.

Once players finish their turns, the player on their left begins his or her turn. The turn marker advances a round once turn returns to the first player. The game ends when the last player's turn is completed when the turn marker is at round 7.


Construction Rules:

The Rules of Hierarchy and Dominion come into consideration whenever a building is constructed or upgraded. Despite the terminology, these rules are actually rather simple to grasp.

To grasp what the Rule of Dominion encompasses, players should first understand the concept of a domain. A domain is essentially a group of buildings that are connected by their horizontal or vertical sides, and can consist of 1 or more buildings. Therefore, the Rule of Dominion simply states that 2 domains can only be connected by the erection/upgrading of a Civil building of any size; Military or Religious buildings cannot be used to connect domains in the same manner. This is all there is to this rule. Simple, isn't it?

On the other hand, the Rule of Hierarchy states that the most prestigious (i.e. largest-sized) Military and Religious building in each domain must be unique. This means that the size of any newly constructed or upgraded buildings cannot be the same as that of the most prestigious building, though the new building can be smaller or larger. For instance, if the most prestigious Military building in a domain is a Keep, no other player (including the player who controls the Keep) can build an additional Keep or upgrade a Watchtower to a Keep. However, they are still allowed to:

(1) Build a Watchtower;
(2) Build a Castle, or;
(3) Upgrade a Watchtower to a Castle, but not to a Keep.

In the case of points (2) and (3), the Castle now becomes the new unique Military building of that domain. Alternatively, the player controlling the Keep can choose to upgrade it to a Castle if there is no building of that type in the domain, with the same effect occurring. This Rule does not apply to the Age of Reason (since players cannot construct or upgrade buildings in this Age), or to Civil buildings in any Age.


Scoring:

As mentioned in the "Flow of Play" section, players can only score from Ages in which they have at least 1 Adventurer Pawn located there at the end of their turns during rounds 4 and 7. They collect Ecus from the bank to represent the scores they receive. Each Age is scored differently, as follows:

Age of Might - the player with the most prestigious MILITARY building in each domain collects Ecus equal to the sum of the values of the Civil buildings in that domain. For instance, if a player controls the most prestigious Military building in a domain which is connected to 1 City and 2 Towns, that player collects 11 Ecus from the bank.

Age of Faith - the scoring process is similar to that used in the Age of Might, but RELIGIOUS buildings are compared instead.

Age of Reason - this Age has a uniquely different scoring method from its 2 counterparts. In the Age of Reason, the player with the majority of Control cubes in CIVIL buildings in each domain collects an amount of Ecus that is equal to the sum of Military and Religious buildings' values in that domain. Hence, a player that has the most cubes in a domain with a renovated Keep and 2 Abbey ruins collects 6 Ecus for that domain. Since renovated buildings are more valuable, this amount would be higher if the dominant player had spent cards to renovate the 2 Abbey ruins prior to the end of his or her turn in the scoring round.


Establishing Dominance in Connected Domains:

This is probably the most confusing aspect of the game to learn or teach, but it is also the most important gameplay aspect to be aware of. This section follows the "Scoring" section instead of preceding it because the importance of whatever follows here is made much clearer once one understands how scoring takes place. In highly-competitive games, players may decide to enroach upon rival domains by building/upgrading a Civil building that now connects their own domain with the latter (i.e. the Rule of Dominion). Since 2 domains are now connected, they form a single domain for which both Rules must apply as well. This section deals with how the process of ensuring that both Rules are adhered to in the new domain is carried out. In doing so, the Age of Might is used to illustrate the process, though the Age of Faith functions in a similar manner.

When 2 smaller domains are connected in the Age of Might (Faith), there is a possibility that both domains may have a unique Military (Religious) building of the same size. Since the Rule of Hierarchy states that each domain (i.e. the new supra-domain) can only have a single unique building for each type, one of the most unique buildings must be downsized for the new larger domain to adhere to this Rule. To decide which domain this will occur in, the Military (Religious) power of the 2 domains are calculated independently. To calculate the Military (Religious) power of each domain, the sum of the values of all Military (Religious) buildings in that domain are totalled, regardless of building ownership. The most prestigious building in the weaker domain will be downsized. In the Age of Might (Faith), this process is carried out first for the Military (Religious) building, before the Religious (Military) building is compared. In the event that the supra-domain breaks into 2 separate domains as a result of the first downsizing, buildings of the second type need not be compared. These effects are generally rippled into the Age of Reason, though the time shadows of buildings are removed from this Age if the buildings in question are now of size 1 after the downsize.


Luck-Skill Balance:

Khronos involves very little luck but loads of skill. The only random factor that emerges during gameplay is the card draw; every other action done in the game remains within the control of the players. Expansion strategies play a huge role in Khronos; as their opponents seek to construct buildings and maximize their own influence within domains, players have to constantly be on their toes to avoid having their domains being taken over by a stronger rival domain. Having a domain (that has been constructed during multiple turns) become part of another player's domain (thus providing him or her with more potential scoring points) is really a pain and should be avoided as much as possible. Direct conflict in this form tends to happen less in 2 or 3-player games because there is a lot of room for expansion and players do not have to jostle for space as they construct and upgrade their buildings. However, in games with larger numbers, it is inevitable that boundaries will meet and players will attempt to take over their opponents' domains. It is in such cases, though, that I find the gameplay to be more challenging and enjoyable.

Some key decisions to be made during the game include:

- Which Age can I score the most points during the scoring rounds, and should I persist in expanding in that period? If so, how can I further raise its scoring potential? If not, which other Age can I work on?
- How should I expand domains which I currently control? Should I expand aggressively towards other domains owned by my opponents and hope to take over them, or should I retreat to the corners of the board to avoid confrontation?
- If I am being outplayed in a certain Age, should I cut my losses and start building (and scoring) in a different Age, or remain in the current Age to try and maintain my domain(s) and scoring capabilities there?


Rules Book - Layout & Complexity:

Due to the incredible depth and amount of detail, I did not harbour expectations that the rulebook would be extremely well-organized, or least in a way that could help me understand the game after just one read. Even in this review, there is a lot of cross-referencing which is unavoidable simply because of the high level of inter-dependency of the different aspects. Having said that, the rulebook is generally well-written, though it could certainly include an index of key terms for easier referencing. Beautiful diagrams and illustrations are available throughout the rulebook to drive the points home, which I found to be really useful in facilitating my understanding of the rules and details.


My Thoughts:

As evidenced by the long review, I have attempted to illustrate how the game plays to enable readers to get a feel of its intricacies and what gameplay entails. Even then, I have only managed to explain about 90% of all there is to know, with the remaining 10% being finer details which do not significantly impact the flow of play. I have also tried to capture the major points of the game and the various considerations that players must take into account in their strategies, since these will inevitably affect their scoring potential.

Yet, I hope that this review can clearly illustrate the depth of this game. On the surface, the multitude of details that the rules stipulate may appear to be overwhelming; I certainly felt this way after my first read of the rules. However, I begin to realize that most of these details have slowly become second-nature as time passes, while some actually are rather intuitive from the get-go once I think about them. As I mentioned earlier, explaining the process of determining the establishment of dominance in a supra-domain is probably the most difficult aspect when it comes to rules explanation, so the best way to do that would be to use a typical gameplay scenario on the gameboard.

What are my feelings about the game? Simply put, I love Khronos because of the amount of strategic and tactical planning involved in the game. At the frontline, the card draw presents a challenge in hand management on its own. Thoughts like "How can I use the cards in my hands?" and "Should I discard my unused cards and hope I get the ones I need, or keep them for later in case I need to modify my strategy?" fill my mind throughout the entire game, even when it is not my turn. Secondly, the problem of what and where to build follows. Building away from the domains of others minimizes the risks that others will attempt to take over my domain; conversely, this also reduces my ability to take over those of others if I am in a position to do so. "To build toward or away from?" is merely one of many questions that I constantly ask myself during gameplay. Lastly, anticipating my rivals' strategies is the second primary aspect of the game. It is not enough in Khronos to concentrate on my own strategy because the frequency of hostile takeovers is often in proportion with the number of players involved in the game. Knowing when to adopt a defensive or aggressive expansion stance is key to ensuring that I retain control of my "hard-built" domains to score them during rounds 4 and 7.

Granted, there will be some individuals for which Khronos is a game with rules that are easy to grasp, so the following caters to those (like me) who do not feel this way. As the rules alone can easily overwhelm more experienced gamers, Khronos is certainly not suitable for newer gamers as a gateway game due to the incredible amount of detail involved. Moments of frustration and confusion arising during rules explanation and the first few rounds of gameplay are numerous and generally unavoidable, so players are strongly advised to stay the course and be patient. However, those who are willing to spend the time and effort to experience the game will find that Khronos can be a gem if it is given a real chance. I did, and I have.