Legacy: Gears of Time First Impressions
Time Travel is a very hard concept to portray in a tabletop game, Legacy: Gears of Time tries to…
It does it ok… but the important thing is the game puts the ‘Fun’ in ‘FUNDamental’.
Legacy: Gears of Time is a strategic card game, mechanically rooted in its time travel theme.
So you’re inventing things through time. As you invent advanced or basic ‘things’ you gain influence if you control them. Advanced things need basic things to exist earlier in time in order for them to score points. Most points win.
Confused? I’ll try to explain better.
The game last 4 rounds each with 4 turns and each player has 4 actions on their turn. You’re only taking 64 actions, most of which will be drawing cards but it seems like you’re doing a lot.
Out of the 4 actions you can…
Move back in Time
Time is shown on a long board. Your person starts in the present day. You can move back any number of spaces in time but never forward. Each time period is numbered starting at 1 and going back to a number based on the number of players.
This number not only represents the time period but also shows how many cards can be played at that age.
Moving back far enough but not so far back that you’re too far back in time is the first strategic element of the game.
Draw Cards
Draw 2 and keep 1. Simple. Cards in hand is important as they are used to play a Technology card.
Play a Technology
This is the main part of the game. Technologies come in different states. ‘Fundamental’ technologies such as Basic Science or Fire may only cost 1 or 2 cards from your hand to play and are only worth 1-2 points.
Advanced stuff such as Space Flight cost 4 cards but gains you 1 points IF they are successful.
You see the Fundamental technologies score each round if you have the most influence on them. Spaceflight has a lot of prerequisites.
In order to score 12 points for Space Flight, the following has to happen…
- Flight has to be earlier on the timeline and have its own prerequisites fulfilled
- Telescope has to be earlier on the timeline and have its own prerequisites fulfilled
- Combustion Engine needs to be earlier than a flight with its prerequisites filled
- Basic Sciences needs to be earlier than Flight
- The wheel needs to be earlier than Combustion Engine
- Fire needs to be earlier than Combustion Engine
- Basic Tools need to be earlier than Telescope
So a lot has to happen…
Not to mention that whoever controls each of the other technologies will get bonus points for ‘piggybacking’ off their invention to score a more complex invention in the future.
Legacy: Gears of Time Summary
This is a tough tough game, a real brain burner.
Having control of many of the Fundamental technologies really keeps your score ticking over.
The other action you can perform is to “Influence an Existing Technology” which is to take a cube and place it on a technology to influence it in the hope of scoring. This means you are battling with the other players to control certain technologies.
I loved this game, it’s a bit pricey at £40+ so it’s not one I will be buying but I enjoyed playing Legacy: Gears of Time.
Jesta ThaRogue
