ANACHRONISM: EQUESTRIA Background Anachronism is a simple card game that was released by TriKing Games in 2005. The game was popular and even won the 2005 Origin Award for "Gamer's Choice Best Collectible Card Game of the Year." However, due to financial problems, TriKing Games was forced to go into "hiatus" in 2007 and the last official Anachronism sets were released in 2008. A small and loyal fanbase continues to make sets for Anachronism and they are currently releasing Set 12 (https://sites.google.com/site/anachronismlives/). If you are interested in learning more about Anachronism, please visit www.dystemporalia.org, which has, among other things jpegs of all official cards, rules, playmats, and even the card creator I used to make my cards. Equestria As this document was made to support my Equestrian culture, based on My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic, and examples will mainly be used from that set. My brother and I are fans of Anachronism and have experience making fan cards for it. We decided that it was suited for ponification, and here we are. Overview Anachronism is sort of a hybrid card/tabletop game that simulated arena combat between historic and legendary warriors from a variety of different cultures. The games take about 10 to 15 minutes to play and is usually played by 2 players, although more can join. To play, all a player needs is a deck of 5 cards, a 4x4 grid for a playing surface, and a pair of 6-sided dice (one pair per player). The objective of the game is to bring your opponent to 0 life within 5 rounds of play, or to have the highest life total at the end of those 5 rounds. There are two widely accepted styles of play: standard Anachronism and culture shock. In the standard ruleset, there are no restrictions on what support cards you choose, except that you may only have one copy of any card. These games tend to focus on deck strategy over tactics and can be quite entertaining to imagine (think of Rarity equipped with a 3-sectional staff and Aztec jaguar-armor, intimidating her opponent with the highland bagpipes and fighting in the name of Pope Sixtus IV). In culture shock, each support card must share a culture with the warrior, but are otherwise unrestricted (except for the one copy rule). My brother and I actually prefer this style, as it focus on both tactics and strategy, but can make for longer and less decisive games.
Rules The Cards There are two types of cards: Warrior cards (which are never support cards) and Support cards (which consist of Inspiration, Weapon, Armor, and Special cards). Each card has a unique ability that affects gamplay. There are three types of abilities: Action, Reveal, and normal. Action abilities may only be used as one or more of a warrior's Actions during their turn. Action abilities will have the word "Action" after the ability's name. Some cards have abilities that require 2 Actions to use, such as Twilight Sparkle's "Teleport" ability. EXAMPLE: Resolute -- Action: Once per turn, if you are a Fire warrior, make a basic attack using this weapon's attack grid... Reveal abilities activate immediately after the card is revealed, before any player performs an action. Reveal abilities will have the word "Reveal" after the ability's name. EXAMPLE: Raise the Sun -- Reveal: Your defense rolls this round gain +2... Normal actions have neither the "Action" nor the "Reveal" keyword. The ability text will explain when normal abilities are used (some abilities are continuous). CARD ANATOMY Warrior Card The Warrior represents you in the game. 1) Life: The Warrior begins the game with this much life. Her life total may exceed this number during the game. When this number reaches 0, the Warrior is defeated. 2) Speed: This is the number of actions a Warrior may take during her turn. 3) Experience: This number is used to break ties. The Warrior with the higher experience wins a tied die roll or initiative. 4) Damage: This is the amount of damage a Warrior does with a basic attack.
5) Card Title 6) Attack Grid: This grid indicates the spaces into which the warrior can make a basic attack. The numbers indicate the modifiers that are applied to the attack. Warrior and Weapon grids do not "stack." 7) Element 8) Card Traits 9) Card Abilities 10) Flavor Text Inspiration Card The inspiration represents a Warrior's guiding purpose, whether it is something she admires, fights against, believes, or anything else. 1) Initiative: This is your initiative for the turn in which this card is revealed. The Warrior with the highest initiative number goes first. 2) Element 3) Card Title 4) Card Traits 5) Card Abilities 6) Flavor Text
Weapon Card The Weapon represents the tools used for combat. In normal Anachronism, they are usually swords, axes, and the like. In Equestrian Anachronism, they can be cakes, pies, Elements of Harmony, etc. 1) Initiative 2) Attack Grid: This grid indicates the spaces into which a weapon attack may be made. This grid does not "stack" with a Warrior's grid. 3) Weapon Damage: This is the base amount of damage the Weapon does with an attack. 4) Card Title 5) Card Traits 6) Card Abilities 7) Flavor Text Armor Card Armor generally provide protection for your Warrior. 1) Initiative 2) Card Title 3) Card Traits 4) Card Abilities 5) Flavor Text
Special Card The Special represents any unique factor that might help in a battle. 1) Initiative 2) Card Title 3) Card Traits 4) Card Abilities 5) Flavor Text Elements Aether: Representing spirituality and devotion, this element is most often seen on Inspiration cards. The warriors who do have this element tend to gain bonuses when using certain inspirations. Earth: Representing experience, Earth warriors tend to do better in defensive struggles and try to react to an opponent's strategy rather than press an attack. This element will sometimes also represent those warriors that do not fit well into another element. Fire: Representing speed and passion, Fire warriors tend to bring the fight to the enemy as soon as possible and are generally unrelenting in assaults. Metal: Representing strength and tenacity, Metal warriors can be as aggressive as fire, but will try to concentrate on a fewer number of damaging attacks, rather than a flurry of blows. Water: Representing intelligence and strategy, Water warriors rarely press the attack until they know that they have a clear advantage.
Wind: Representing cunning, Wind warriors prefer to outmaneuver or manipulate their opponents. Wood: Representing longevity and vitality, Wood warriors will sometimes make strong attacks like metal warriors but are best at simply trying to outlive their foes. Traits A card's traits are the show how a card is defined by other cards. Each card has at least three traits, two of which are a Culture (Equestrian, Persian, Japanese, etc.) and a Type (Warrior, Weapon, etc.). Most traits are pretty straightforward, but some have special rules: Flying: This trait was created specifically for the Equestrian set. It represents a Pegasus' ability to fly and manipulate the weather. Certain cards can only be used by flying warriors. Mystic: In the original Anachronism, a Mystic card represented an item or ability that was mysterious is origin and function. In the Equestrian set, Mystic was expanded to include a Unicorn's ability to use magic. Stratagem: Before a game of Anachronism begins while the players are still in the process of choosing support cards from their stacks a player may show his or her opponent(s) one or more support cards bearing the stratagem keyword. If the player then reveals that support card in the round indicated in parentheses after the stratagem keyword, that card has been played as a stratagem. A card bearing the stratagem keyword typically has special effects when played as a stratagem. If a player shows his or her opponent(s) a stratagem card but reveals that card in a round other than the one designated in parentheses after the stratagem keyword, that card was not played as a stratagem and the player does not get the stratagem benefits specified on the card. If a player shows his or her opponent(s) a stratagem card but does not include that card among his or her support cards for that game, that player loses the game. (The player is not penalized if the game ends before the round in which the stratagem card would have been revealed.) [text from dystemporalia.org] Element: This trait indicates that the Weapon is an Element of Harmony. Certain cards will affect such Weapons.
PLAYING THE GAME SETUP To begin play, each player sets up on one side of the 4x4 arena (one player "East", one player "West;" "North" and "South" are used for 3-4 player games). All players roll 2 dice and the player with the lowest total places their Warrior face-up in the arena in the row closest to them, followed by the other player(s), in order from lowest to highest. This is "revealing" your Warrior and any abilities keyed to this event take effect at this time. Each player then places their support cards face-down in any order that they choose. GAMEPLAY Once all players have revealed their warriors and placed their support cards, the first round begins. Each player turns their leftmost support card face-up ("revealing" it) and checks their legality (discussed later). Initiative is determined based on the revealed support cards. If any of the revealed support cards have a "Reveal," ability, it is now takes effect, in initiative order. Then, any abilities that occur at the start of the round occur, in initiative order. The player with the highest initiative then takes the first turn. During their turn, a player takes as many consecutive actions as his Warrior's speed. Actions include: *Move/rotate: Move your Warrior one space (you may not move diagonally, though) and rotate her to face any direction (you do not have to rotate). You may rotate without moving, but this uses an action. *Attack: Attack with a weapon or make a basic attack against any opponent in your Weapon's/Warrior's attack grid. You may only make one attack with each Weapon per turn (unless a card allows otherwise), but you may make multiple basic attacks. *Use an "Action" card ability: Use an ability on your Warrior or support card labeled "Action." Some abilities require 2 actions to use -- these actions must be consecutive. *Pass: Do nothing. Once a player has performed a number of actions equal to his warrior's speed, his turn is done and the player with the next-lowest initiative takes his turn. After all players have taken a turn, the round ends and the next round begins, with each player revealing their second support card ("Reveal" abilities on support cards are used only on the round they are revealed; they do not repeat in the next round). If a Warrior's life total becomes zero before the end of the 5th round, that player immediately loses the game. In the 5th round, since all the support cards have been revealed, the players' initiative is considered tied and turns are taken in order of each Warrior's experience. At the end of this round, the player whose
Warrior has the highest life total wins. If the life totals are tied, the Warrior with the highest experience wins. If these tie, the game is considered a draw. CARD LEGALITY Your deck may contain any type of support card (i.e. you may have multiple weapons, inspirations, etc. in your deck), but only one of each type may be in play (face-up) at any one time. If you reveal a card that shares a type with one you already have in play, you must discard one of those cards (of your choice). In addition, almost all weapons, most armors, and some specials take up an area of your body, listed in the traits. Your warrior is assumed to have one head, one torso, one leg space, and two hands and may not use cards that would exceed this capacity. If such a card is revealed, you must discard one of the offending cards (once again, your choice). Note that due to equine anatomy, many Equestrian Warriors have the Hooves ability, meaning that they may not use cards with the hands trait (unicorns do not have this restriction because of their telekinesis, and Pinkie doesn't have it because she's Pinkie). Finally, some support cards are placed in the arena. While in the arena, they are considered face-up and in play and may be targeted by card abilities. They may not be attacked or moved by any player unless a card ability allows it. They also do not hinder movement unless specified on the card. ATTACKING During your turn, you may make an attack against another Warrior as an action. There are two types of attacks: basic and weapon. Basic attacks are made without weapons and you may perform as many of them as you have actions in a turn. Weapon attacks are made with a Weapon card and each Weapon you have in play may only be used to attack once per turn, unless a card allows otherwise. The attack grids at the top of Warrior and Weapon cards tell you which spaces you may attack into and that bonuses or penalties those attacks receive. The red triangle in the grid represents the space that your Warrior is currently in and the direction she is facing. Attack grids do not "stack," meaning that your basic attack grid and those of any Weapons you have in play are independent of each other. Your Warrior may only use her basic attack grid for basic attacks, and Weapons may only use their own attack grids (again, certain card abilities may change this).
EXAMPLE: Rarity may make a basic attack against warriors that are in either her right side space at -1, he rightfront-diagonal space at +1, or her left-front-diagonal space at +0. If she were using the Apple Pie Weapon, she may attack with it into her left-front diagonal space at -1, her front long-range space at +1, or her front far-ranged space at +0. To make an attack, choose an opponent in one of your attack grid spaces and declare your attack. State the attack type and roll 2 dice (this is your attack roll), and add/subtract your modifiers. The defender also rolls 2 dice (the defense roll) and adds/subtracts her modifiers. If the attacker has the higher result, the attack hits and deals damage. The defender has the higher result, the attack misses. If the attack hits and the attack roll was doubles, this is a critical hit and the base damage for the attack is doubled. When damage is dealt, the defender lowers his life total by an amount equal to the base damage of the Warrior or Weapon (doubled if the attack was a critical hit). Damage modifiers (if any) are then applied. If the defender's life total is reduced to zero, he loses the match immediately (if more than two people are playing, the defeated Warrior leaves the arena and play continues without her).
ADDITIONAL RULES Ties Ties are always won by the Warrior with the higher experience. If two Warriors' experience scores tie, then the winner is determined by another roll of 2 dice (this roll cannot be modified). If tied, rolling continues until there is a winner (Exception: if two Warriors are tied for life and experience at the end of the game, it is considered a draw). Abilities Card abilities that use the word "may" will always allow a player to not use it if they so choose. Abilities with the word "must" or simply do not say are non-optional and must be used when activated. Card abilities that say a player "cannot" perform an action always override the both the rules and other cards that allow that action. In the event that two card abilities are activated simultaneously, the player whose turn it is (the active player) may choose to use his ability first, or to pass it on to the other player. If the second player passes, neither ability is used. If the second player uses his ability, the active player may choose to use his own ability afterwards. Attacks Many cards have abilities that allow you to make an attack. These attacks cost no action unless the card says otherwise (e.g. "when you make an attack" or "take an action to attack"). If a card ability states that you may make an attack "if possible," this means that you may only make the attack against a valid opponent who is in your attack grid, using those modifiers. If the ability simply says "make an attack," the target does not have to be in your attack grid and the card will tell you what modifier to use. A card ability that allows you to make a weapon attack does not count against your single attack per Weapon per turn and may be used even if you have already attacked with that Weapon in that turn. Movement You may not move into or through a space containing another Warrior. If a card ability allows you to move another Warrior, you may not rotate them unless the card ability allows it.
Credits Anachronism Game Designer: Michael A. Brown Lead Developer: Steve McLaughlin Authors of this work and Designers of Equestrian cards: Trivial1888 and Whiles34 Anachronism TriKing Games, in assoc. with the History Channel. My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic Lauren Faust and Hasbro, Inc. I would like to thank: The developers and producers of both My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic and Anachronism, The fans of Anachronism- especially Dr. Heard and those who are keeping it alive, Bronies everywhere, Those who are following and favoriting my work, and, most importantly, my brother Whiles34. Trivial1888