1. Objective of the Game

In Anachrony, you play as the Leader of one of New Earth’s four ideological Paths – Harmony, Dominance, Progress, or Salvation. Your goal is to prepare your Path for the impending asteroid impact, secure the future of your people, and outmaneuver the other three Paths to become the dominant ideology. The game ends after the asteroid impact and the collapse of the World Capital. The Path whose Capital has the highest total Victory Points (VP) wins. In case of a tie, the Path with the most Water wins, then the most total Resources. If still tied, the victory is shared.

2. Preparation (Setup)

1. Place the Main board in the center of the table. If playing with 2 or 3 players, use the side of the board that has only two Hexagonal slots for the Research, Recruit and Construct spots.
2. Place the two Research dice on the indicated spots on the Main board.
3. Place the Evacuation Action tile on its space on the Main board, with its A (intact) side up.
4. Shuffle the 11 Recruit pool cards and 11 Mine pool cards into two face‑down decks. Place them next to the Main board.
5. Separate the buildings into four stacks by type (Power Plants, Factories, Life Supports, Labs) and shuffle each stack separately. These are the primary stacks. Place them face up next to the Main board. The building on the top of each primary stack will be available to Construct during the game.
6. Place the Anomalies in a face‑up stack. Place the Paradox die and Paradox tokens next to the Anomalies.
7. Place all Resources on the top‑right side of the board, and all Water on the top left. Place all Workers, Energy Cores and Breakthroughs next to the Main board, across the board from the buildings. Workers can be sorted by type and Breakthroughs by shape for easier access. Place the Victory Point tokens within reach.
8. Arrange the Timeline tiles in a straight line left to right below the Main board. This will be the Timeline. Place the Impact tile between the fourth and the fifth Timeline tiles.
9. Shuffle all Superprojects and randomly place one of them above each of the seven Timeline tiles. The first (leftmost) Superproject should be placed face up, the rest face down. Do not place a Superproject above the Impact tile. Return the remaining Superprojects to the box.
10. Place one of each player’s Path markers below the leftmost Timeline tile. These will be their Focus markers.
11. Return the “Most Completed Experiments” Endgame Condition card to the box (it is only used with the Doomsday module), then randomly choose 5 Endgame Condition cards, and place them face up above the Main board.
12. Each player picks a Path, receives the corresponding Player board (all players use the same side), and the colored components matching their Path color (6 Exosuits, 9 Warp tiles, 8 Path markers, and the Morale and Time Travel markers).
13. Place the Path board in front of each player, with a randomly chosen side up. Each side has a different Evacuation condition printed on it, which is scored when the player takes the Evacuation Action.
14. Give all players their starting Resources, Water, Energy Cores and any other items indicated on their chosen Path board. The Path of Progress receives its starting Breakthrough at random.
15. Place the starting Workers in the Active column (unless otherwise indicated) and set the Morale and Time Travel markers to their indicated starting positions.
16. Each player must pick one of the two Leader cards available to their Path. Place the chosen Leader on the designated spot on the Path board.
17. Give each player their Player banners (in their plastic standees), and place them in front of them. The player who most recently had a “déjà vu” becomes First Player: place his Banner on the designated space next to the World Council Action spaces. Finally, players in a clockwise order starting from the First Player receive 0/1/1/2 Water.

3. Flow of the Game

Each game consists of up to seven Eras (rounds). The first four Eras are normal. After the fourth Era, the asteroid Impact occurs, changing how the remaining Eras play out and triggering the countdown to the game end.

Each Era is composed of the following phases, in this order:

1. Preparation phase – Reveal the Superproject above the next Timeline tile, shift the building stacks, fill up the supply of Workers and Resources available for this Era.
2. Paradox phase – From the second Era onward, players who have placed the most Warp tiles on a Timeline tile roll the Paradox die once and receive the rolled number of Paradox tokens (0, 1 or 2). This phase is skipped in the first Era.
3. Power‑up phase – Players may power up Exosuits, which allow their Workers to perform Actions on the Main board.
4. Warp phase – Players may place Warp tiles on the current Timeline tile to bring assets from the future to the present.
5. Action rounds phase – Players alternate taking Actions using Workers on their Player boards or on the Main board until everyone has passed.
6. Clean‑up phase – Retrieve Workers and Exosuits from the Action spaces, check for Impact and game end, and set the players’ Focus marker on the next Era.

After the Clean‑up phase, if the Impact has not yet occurred, the next Era begins. If the Impact has occurred, the remaining Eras are played with the rules for the Collapsing Capital and Evacuation actions.

4. Actions and How to Play

Worker Types

There are four types of Workers: Engineers, Scientists, Administrators and Geniuses. A Genius may be used as any Worker type when placed on an Action space, but it may not be used to pay a non‑Genius Worker cost or to retrieve a Worker Warp tile via Time Travel.

Free Actions

Free Actions may be performed once per Era during any of the player’s turns. When used, cover the Free Action spot with a Path marker. Using a Free Action does not end the player’s turn; the player may also place a Worker (or pass) in that same turn. If a player runs out of Path markers, they may not take any more Free Actions during that Era.

Standard Actions

Standard Actions are performed by placing a Worker on an Action space. The Worker may be placed on the Player board (on buildings, Superprojects or Anomalies) or on the Main board (in a Hex space or Hex Pool space). The Worker must be in the Active column to be used.

Recruit

Place a Worker from the Recruit pool into the Active column. The Worker receives a bonus based on its type: Scientist – 2 Water; Engineer – 1 Energy Core; Administrator – 1 Victory Point; Genius – any one of the above three bonuses.

Research

Set one Research die (shape or icon) to the face of your choice, roll the other die, and take a Breakthrough tile with the shape and icon shown by the dice. The “?” on the icon die stands for any icon of your choice. You may not set the icon die to its “?” face.

Construct

Choose a building from the top of any of the eight building stacks (primary or secondary). Place the building on the leftmost empty spot of its row on your Player board, paying the costs indicated on the spot. If the building was selected from the primary stack, the building underneath becomes immediately available. If it was selected from the secondary stack, the building underneath (if any) becomes immediately available.

Other Main Board Actions

• Purify Water: Take 3 Water from the supply. If activated by a Scientist, take 1 additional Water.
• Trade with Nomads: Exchange resources according to the options listed in the manual. If activated by an Administrator, you may choose from the options twice.
• Evacuation: Available only after the Impact. May be taken once per game if the player meets the condition on their Path board. Place a Path marker on the uppermost free numbered slot on the tile and receive the Victory Points specified on the Path board under the Evacuation condition.
• Mine Resource: Take 1 Resource of your choice from the Mine pool. If activated by an Engineer, the Worker is kept Motivated. The three Hex spaces on this action provide additional Resources (Uranium, Gold, Titanium).

World Council

Players may choose a Capital Action (Construct, Recruit, Research) with no more available spaces and perform its associated standard Action. The World Council has two available Hex spaces: Left – pay 2 Water and become First Player; Right – pay 1 Water.

Exosuit Power‑up

During the Power‑up phase, each player may place up to 6 Exosuits on the Hex slots of their Player board, paying 1 Energy Core for each one placed on the three bottom slots. Then the player receives 1 Water for each remaining empty Hex slot.

Warp Phase

During the Warp phase, each player may place Warp tiles on the current Timeline tile to bring assets from the future. The assets appear immediately. Warping costs 1 Water per Worker warped in. Warped Workers are put in the Active column. Warped Exosuits are placed on a Hex slot of the Player board, even on an Exosuit Hex Unavailable tile.

Action Rounds

Players alternate taking Actions in clockwise order starting from the First Player. On their turn, a player may perform any number of Free Actions, then do one of the following:

1. Place one Worker on any empty Worker space on the player’s own Player board (typically on buildings, Superprojects or Anomalies) and perform its Action.
2. Place one Worker with an Exosuit on a Hex space or Hex pool space on the Main board and perform its Action.
3. Pass, not placing any more Workers during the Era.

Once all players have passed, proceed to the Clean‑up phase.

5. End of Game and Scoring

The game ends at the end of the Era when the last Capital Action space becomes unavailable or when the final Era (7th) is finished.

Untangle the Continuum

At the end of the game, players must remove every outstanding Warp tile from the Timeline. These removals do not count as Time Travel and do not score points or advance the Time Travel marker. For each Warp tile that a player is unable to remove, they score –2 Victory Points.

Endgame Conditions

Look at the five Endgame Condition cards above the Main board. Each player scores 3 VP for each of these conditions they meet. In case of a tie, all players involved in the tie score the full amount.

Final Scoring

Count points from the following sources (use the scoring pad provided):

• Buildings (including Superprojects)
• Anomalies (each remaining Anomaly tile at the end of the game is worth –3 VP)
• Breakthroughs (each individual Breakthrough is worth 1 VP)
• Sets of three Breakthroughs with different shapes (Circle, Triangle, Square) are worth an additional 2 VP per set.
• Time Travel (each step on the Time Travel track is worth VP at the end of the game)
• Morale (each step on the Morale track is worth VP at the end of the game)
• Victory Point tokens (including the –3 VP token)
• Timeline penalties (Warp tiles that could not be removed)
• Endgame Conditions (3 VP each)

The Path Capital with the most Victory Points becomes the new seat of the World Council and wins the game. In case of a tie, most Water, then most total Resources decide the winner. If still undecided, players share victory – the Council will rotate between them.

6. Tips for Winning

• Balance your Build‑out: Construct a mix of Power Plants, Factories, Life Supports and Labs early to keep your Workers productive and to unlock powerful Superprojects later.
• Use Exosuits wisely: Power up as many Exosuits as possible in the early Eras to maximize the number of Actions you can take on the Main board. Remember that each Exosuit placed on the bottom three slots costs an Energy Core.
• Plan your Warp tiles: Place Warp tiles on the current Timeline tile to bring in valuable Resources and Workers, but be mindful of the Paradox risk. Use Power Plants to send assets back to the past and advance your Time Travel marker for extra VP.