Rio Grande Games 222 User Manual

1

The game is played over 7 turns and on 3 game boards, each representing
the same region, but during three successive time periods:

The age of Might
The age of Faith
The age of Reason

Each player controls two time traveling adventurers, each voyaging to
allow him to construct military, religious and civil buildings. They give
players a chance at becoming the richest player by the end of the game.

Certain constructions produce money, Ecus, and that is one way to gain
wealth. As these buildings are grouped they form domains. This allows
players to establish dominant positions. In function of the period, the
criteria for dominion will be either military, religious or civil. Domains
allows players to earn tax and tithe revenue on turns 4 and 7 if they control
them. Earning Ecus in this manner is the second way to gain wealth.

The players also have the power to destroy certain buildings or attempt to
connect domains in an effort to change their overall ownership within an
epoch. Depending on their size, certain constructions cast time shadows
and are “rippled”, or copied, from one game board to the next, expanding
a player’s domination forward through time.

But beware; the echoes of time are difficult to hear and might surprise.
An edifice constructed during the age of Faith might very well disappear,
never to be remembered, if its geographical footprint is replaced by an
older structure. Time can be a most difficult river to navigate.

At the end of the 7th turn, the player holding the largest pile of wealth is
declared the winner.

GAME MECHANICS

AND OBJECTIVE

Place the game boards in the center of the table as shown on page 2.

Turn Indicator

Place the “Turn Indicator” pawn on the first square of the game turn
counting ruler, found on the bottom of the Age of Might board.

Building Tiles

Organize the 155 tiles by color and place them in the compartments
found in the box:

• The Military buildings are orange; 20 Watchtowers, 24 Keeps
and 9 Castles.

• The Religious buildings are fuchsia; 20 Chapels, 20 Monasteries,
and 9 Abbeys.

• The Civil buildings are blue; 20 Hamlets, 24 Towns and 9 Cities.

10 Hamlets are already printed on each of the three game boards.

The value indicated on each tile corresponds to both its building’s
construction cost and the number of Ecus yielded during the revenue
phase of the 4th and 7th game turns.

The Keep, Castle, Monastery and Abbey tiles also have a back side
representing vestiges of the same building gone to ruins.

SET-UP MATERIAL

“ 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

12+ 90 min. 2-5

Ludovic Vialla, Arnaud Urbon • Art : Jean-Claude Adelmand, Geoffrey Stepourenko

© 2006 Editions du Matagot

Watchtower Keep Castle Chapel Monastery Abbey Hamlet Town City

2

Decide who goes first in a random manner. Players take turns in a
clockwise fashion.

The following phases are played by each player during his turn.

I. Exchange all or a part of his Construction Card hand.

II. The Action Phase:

1. Travel in time.

2. Use Construction Cards to construct, demolish, upgrade,
populate or renovate a building. Note: certain buildings award an

immediate Ecu bonus when they are constructed.

III. Fill Construction Card hand to 4 cards.

IV. Collect Earnings from domains (only on turns 4 and 7).

When a player finishes a game turn, the player to his left starts his
turn.

When the turn comes back to the first player, that player moves the
Turn Indicator pawn up a notch.

During his turn, a player that is dissatisfied with his hand can discard
it entirely or partially. Once all the chosen cards are discarded,
he draws new Construction Cards until he has a hand of 4 cards.

This action costs 2 Ecus.

This may only be done once per turn.

The following 2 actions (Traveling in Time and Using
Construction Cards) are optional and can be done in any order, and
several times.

1. TRAVELING IN TIME

By spending 1 Ecu, a player can use the Time Machine to travel in
time. Each time it is used, the player moves one of his Adventurer
Pawns to one of the other two game boards.

A player can use the Time Machine as many times as he wants, with
either the same Adventurer or both.

Adventurer Pawns

Each player takes two Adventurer Pawns of the same color and places
them on their corresponding locations on the Age of Might board.

Control Cubes

Each player takes 25 Control Cubes in the same color.

Ecus

Each player starts the game with 4 Ecus, using 1 Ecu coin pieces.

They can be kept face up or down in front of each player. Place the
remaining Ecus in the 4th compartment in the game box.

There are thirty 1 Ecu coins, fifteen 5 Ecu coins, and fifteen 10 Ecu
coins.

Construction Cards

Shuffle the 55 Construction cards are and placed them in a pile face
down. The pile is made up of 18 Military Construction cards

(orange), 18 Religious Construction cards (fuchsia) and 19 Civil

Construction cards (blue).

All players draw four cards to form their starting hands. They are kept
hidden.

GAME TURN

II- ACTION PHASE

I- EXCHANGING ALL OR

A PART OF HIS HAND

SUMMING IT UP

Each player starts with :

• 2 Adventurer Pawns

• 25 Control Cubes

• 4 Ecus

• 4 Construction Cards.

Age of Might Age of Faith Age of Reason

Turn Indicator

Adventurer Pawns

3

Having a pawn on a board allows one to:

• Take actions on that game board (see 2).

• Collect the Earnings on that game board on turns 4 and 7 (see IV).

2. USING
CONSTRUCTION CARDS

Each player starts with 4 Construction Cards in hand.

A player may only use Construction cards on a board where at least one
of his Adventurer pawns is present.

Only two cards may be played per Adventurer pawn. The player may
use these two cards on the same board or on two different boards if he
decides to move the Adventurer pawn after playing the first card.

Depending on the position of a player’s two Adventure pawns, the
player may, therefore, use 4 cards on the same board or on different
boards, before or after travelling in time.

If the Adventurer pawns are on the same board, the player may combine
his cards to build a construction costing 3 or 4 cards.

If the player does not wish to use all 4 of his cards, he may discard the
unused cards or keep them for the next turn.

On the Might and Faith game boards, a player may use the
Construction Cards to :

2.1. Construct a building.

2.2. Upgrade a building.

2.3. Demolish a small building.

These three actions must take into consideration:

A- Construction Rules.

B- Time Rippling Effects.

C- Domain Transformation.

On the Age of Reason game board, it is possible to use Construction
Cards to:

2.4. Populate a Civil Building.

2.5. Renovate a ruin.

A Player may construct, upgrade, demolish, populate, and renovate as
many times as he wishes during the same turn, limited only by the
number of Construction Cards in his hand, and respecting the rules
linked to each action.

2.1. Constructing a building

(during the Ages of Might and Faith only)

The player must use Construction Cards in order to build a building.

• This can only be done during an epoch where at least one of the
player’s Adventurers is present.

• In order to construct a building, Construction Cards of the same color
type for the chosen building, and only that type, must be spent. Orange

cards are used for Military buildings, fuchsia cards for Religious

buildings and blue cards for Civil buildings.

• The number of Construction Cards necessary to build a building is
indicated on each tile.

A building may be constructed on the Might and Faith boards

but it is forbidden to construct a building during the Age

of Reason.

A building must be constructed on empty squares on the game

board and respect geographical, dominical, and hierarchical rules

for construction (see A – The 3 Construction Rules).

When players construct Military or Religious buildings, they place one
of their Control Cubes on the tile to show ownership.

Control Cubes are not placed on Civil buildings when they are created,
as they belong to no one.

Construction bonuses

The construction of a small building (size 1: Hamlets, Watch
Towers, Chapels) awards no bonus. The construction

of bigger buildings (size 2 & 3: Towns, Cities, Keeps, Castles,
Monasteries, or Abbeys) awards, at construction, 1 Ecu on the Age
of Might board and 2 Ecus on the Age of Faith board.

A building can only be constructed if the building tile is available in
the stock pile.

2.2. Upgrading a building

(during the Ages of Might and Faith only)

A player uses Construction Cards to upgrade a Religious or Military
building that he controls or any Civil building.

• The number of cards necessary for the upgrade is the difference in the

cost of the original building and the newer version.

• To upgrade a building, Construction Cards of the appropriate building

color must be played.

The blue player moves her first Adventurer Pawn from the Age of Might
board to the Age of Reason, for a cost of 1 Ecu.
She also moves her second adventurer from the Age of Might to the
Age of Faith board by spending another 1 Ecu.

The construction
of a Keep
requires two
Military
Construction
Cards.

The Monastery is
controlled by the Red
player; the Watch Tower
by the Green player.

The green player builds a Keep
on the Age of Might board and
immediately collects 1 Ecu.