Anachrony: Classic Expansion Pack

To set up the Guardians of the Council module, place the Guardians of the Council side board next to the main game board. Then, place the six advanced Exosuits (either the miniatures or cardboard punch-outs) on the hex spaces of this side board. If you are playing a 2-player game (either solo against Kronosis or with two human players), you must cover up the second World Council space on the main board, making it unavailable. If you are playing solo, add the Guardians solo objective card to the stack of end-game condition cards. This card offers 1, 2, or 4 victory points if you have 2, 4, or 5 Guardians, respectively, at the end of the game.

The Guardians of the Council module introduces six advanced Exosuits that represent powerful entities from an alternate timeline. Players can acquire these Guardians and use them as worker placement options. The primary objective remains to accumulate the most victory points by the end of the game, but these Guardians provide unique strategic advantages and flexibility in worker placement, allowing players to perform actions without committing a worker to the suit itself. This module enhances strategic depth by offering new ways to optimize actions and resource management.

During the Action Phase, when a player places a worker in one of their suits on a World Council space, they can take one of the three capital actions (Research, Recruit, or Construct) as long as all regular action spots for that capital action are filled. After taking the action, the player may optionally acquire one of the available Guardians from the Guardians of the Council side board. To acquire a Guardian, the player places their path marker on the chosen Guardian's cost space and pays the indicated cost (permanently losing a worker plus additional resources or a Paradox token). The path marker remains on the Guardian for the rest of the game, signifying ownership. During the Power-Up Phase, Guardians can be powered up exactly like regular Exosuits by paying the energy core cost. The key difference is that a Guardian, once powered up, does not require a worker to be placed inside it to perform an action; it is treated as if it always has a Genius worker. Additionally, a Guardian can be sent to a World Council space (where the player's path marker is located) to take a capital action by paying one water, regardless of whether the regular action spots are filled. In solo mode, Kronosis will prioritize acquiring Guardians, taking the leftmost available Guardian and paying its worker cost (without additional costs). If the World Council space is unavailable, Kronosis will not acquire a Guardian and will gain 1 victory point instead. During the Power-Up Phase, Kronosis will power up as many Guardians as possible first, then its regular Exosuits. During the Action Phase, Kronosis will place its Guardians last, reserving them for actions if possible.

The Guardians of the Council module does not introduce new general scoring rules for multiplayer games. However, in solo mode, the Guardians solo objective card provides an additional scoring opportunity. At the end of the game, if you have acquired 2, 4, or 5 Guardians, you will gain 1, 2, or 4 victory points, respectively. This encourages solo players to focus on acquiring Guardians as a viable strategy for increasing their final score.

The end of the game conditions remain the same as in the base game. The Guardians of the Council module primarily impacts gameplay during the Action and Power-Up phases by introducing new worker placement options and strategic considerations. In solo mode, the Guardians solo objective card adds a specific scoring condition related to the number of Guardians acquired, which is evaluated during the final scoring phase.