Review - Temporum (2014) - Rio Grande Games

Do you like history? Do you like alternate history? Do you like movies about gladiators altering history? Do you like changing alternate history back into regular history? Step inside Temporum.

The Blurb

In some of the best versions of reality, the Egyptians discover America, the industrial revolution happens early, and eventually robots take over. In others, the Renaissance produces a plutocracy, which leads to a utopia — or perhaps to anarchy; it's all in the subtle details. As a time-traveler, you've seen it all, and it all has its place. What's important is who's in control in the long run when time travel is invented. With other time-travelers mucking with things for their own reasons, your course is clear: you will tamper with history as much as is needed, stepping on however many butterflies it takes, to get a perfect world under your own benign rule.
In Temporum, the board shows the possible paths history can take and the actual path it currently takes. On your turn, you can change history, travel through time, and visit a point in history. You draw cards, play some of them for money and abilities, and score some of them to advance your power through history. Having more power in a time period gives you abilities, but your goal is to have all of your power in the last time period, the time from which you come.

The Gist

Alter the time line to your advantage and bring all your meeples to the future...future....future...

The Play

Both of us stocked up heavily on money and cards early. There was not much timeline altering, but rather a mad dash to acquire gold and cards that on the next turn (with enough money) you could pay for to move the meeples down the scoring track. If you have the majority of meeples in an era, sometimes the cards on the board give you an extra bonus, but Tyler and I pretty much just kept stopping each other from getting that bonus. In the end, it was a quick play (around 25 minutes), and I managed to eke out a victory.

The Bits

Dad:

"Police State is a great card that can help you block your opponent from getting to certain cards. And, Kill Your Grandfather?? How great is that!?"
    






 

Ty:

"It's funny to think that there could be a world ruled by cats. Also, I know about the butterfly effect, so I think this is a perfect themed card for this game."

The Good, the Bad and the Rating

The game was really close. One more turn, and Tyler would have beaten me. I always like the games better that are right down to the wire!

Dad:

"I feel, without a doubt, this game would be better with more people. The artwork is great, and I am a sucker for timeline altering. That being said, the way you move the meeples down the scoring track is far too easy in my opinion and I wish there was more to it than what it is. It feels like a card-driven backgammon to me."
2.5/5

Ty:

"I really like the start of the game where you first draw the ages. There are so many different ones, both real and made up. The game will be different every time you play it. I also like the mechanic of altering the timeline and activating different cards on the board."
4/5