The second edition, published by WizKids in November 2017, adds 50 brand new expansion cards and now supports up to 4 players.
In this game of tactical card combat, you play as one of the time barons, shadowy figures who have shaped mankind’s destiny since the dawn of time. People are simply pawns in your quest to defeat the other barons and become the ruler of a unified human race. War, religion, technology – all will be used in this ultimate battle.
Only you can decide the best way to exploit your loyal followers and make the most of the many powerful cards you are dealt. Will you upgrade as rapidly as possible, hoping to obtain that technological edge, or punish such folly with primitive weapons and fanatical attacks? Will you be relentless in your aggression or build an economic advantage? A variety of tactics are available to you at every turn, and you may find yourself putting bubonic plague on your opponent’s robotics lab to slowly kill off the workers there, or attaching a computer network to a medieval church to automate the conversion of new followers. In this brutal struggle, many will die… but good planning, quick thinking, and a little luck will carry the day!
alfonzos
The name alone had me thinking about a game where the players would master time and space (an unofficial knockoff of the Doctor Who franchise, perhaps). What is it is your average war of attrition.
arsenal412
Gamecrafter printed: base and expansion Picked up a WizKids edition, plastic opened, but not punched / played Shades of Flow of History (minus the bidding) and Guns n Steel. Enjoyable simplistic artwork. Iconography is pretty intuitive and clear. Played the free for all with four players and it is chaotic, but in a good way. Not sure if the player elimination aspect will go over well (my group only plays one other game that has even a slight bit of player elimination, Red7). The game seemed to go a little long, but that is most likely chalked up to players learning the rules and the strategy. Age 4 wasn't even close to being considered. And only 2 players upgraded to age 3. Hammer seems very powerful, since 3 damage can pretty much destroy any building except base capitals. There is some concern that a bad hand of cards is a definite loss. At least one player in the last 2 games couldn’t seem to get any offensive damage cards. So you end up throwing out buildings like Library or Temple that don’t seem helpful when others are dropping mortars and catapult on you and scoring cubes on their forges. Did finally have a player get an Age 4 card, thankfully it was just Nanobots, so it didn’t swing the game too much. I’m sure there’s a good way to play with these less impressive card draws, but I’m not seeing the way out without more plays and I’m not sure we’ll have the patience to see that through. Elimination still kind of an issue, not enjoyable for us.
mmrempen
Played again, loved it even more. Played Innovation the following day and now I'm putting Innovation up for sale. I'd sell my kidney for a copy of this game. It's just wonderful; from the pulpy art to the snappy, tense play to the in-your-face thematic fun; Time Barons is the cool art teacher that's into underground comics and plays the drums. Innovation is a history robot math problem frowning at you in beige tweed. ————— Loved this! Tragically underrated from what I can see. I haven't played Innovation so I don't know how it compares but I had a GREAT time. The artwork is so weirdly old school that I was convinced my friend's copy was at least 30 years old. It came out in...2014?? I guess that's why it was a dud, it doesn't exactly present itself like a 2014 game. But it has so much charm, and the take-that antics here are weirdly satisfying when you're playing on a team. Would happily play again.