So the long-awaited Second Edition of Time of Crisis plus its expansion (with new game-box on top!) finally recently arrived. That meant there is excuse to devote one whole evening to playing that game. I first initiated solo play with bots which I will describe separately – just remark here, the bots are very straightforward and well-designed! However, the game with real opponents was also organized and after some debate, we finished playing 4-players game, with two newbies. Please find below the short photo-story from our game!
So we start with above set-up – me and Lukasz more concentrated on East, while Adrian and Pawel focus on WestMy beginnings were really difficult. First Priest King……and immediately after that Zenobia! Both attack were repulsed but with losses ad interrupted build of initial rounds.We played with the card variant where you mix base game and expansion cards seeing only the top one. That was fun and additional suspense element.Here come the first emperor! (me 🙂 ) As we had two new players we decided we will not use the variant with type of emperors – that is planned for next game!Situation in 1/3 of the game (click to enlarge). Barbarians are slow to move but finally attack!In the meantime Adrian takes Italy – which with his army in capital will be hard nut to crack…Pawel gave signal to clear our lands from Barbarian infestation, easily dispatching two Allemanni warbands!We are nearing end of game (click to enlarge). My and Adrian states fares the best, but barbarians are restless – a huge Goth attack is directed at Galatia and Syria. Pawel sends punitive expedition into the Goth homeland while in the meantime Franks grows enormously, Macedonia falls into my hands and in Africa Adrian’s troops are forced to retreat by my red legions. Not for long…Franks finally move, and when they do, the whole Western part of empire weeps…It has to come to this – the clash of pretenders in Africa. Adrian decisively beats my forces (3-0 in losses)And final situation on map (click to enlarge). We switch our capitals with Adrian and he got also most points for turns being an emperor – which gave him victory in the game. Congratulations! Pawel and Lukasz fight for third place till the end of the game, with former one winning the race.
All in all very enjoyable game, with easy-to-learn rules but many options occurring after first couple of rounds. We still need to use full expansion rules – with different types of emperors – but even now I can confirm new events – mixed with old one’s – give completely new, deeper dimension to the game! More Session Reports to come!
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