All I ever wanted was a single thing worth fighting for.
Let’s colonise a copy of Sine Tempore by Ludus Magnus Studio.
It’s not every day you get an email out of the blue offering to send you an entire Kickstarter-funded game, but that’s what happened to me back in November. An EOG fan named Petr Sorfa gifted me with a copy of Sine Tempore, a tile-based science fantasy skirmish game chock full of miniatures, complete with a huge box of stretch goal extras.
Not only that, but Petr paid the shipping to NZ. It was an exceptionally generous deed that left me reeling in gratitude. Here’s to you Petr! A rules summary is already in the works my friend!
Sine Tempore, as you can see from the video, is an impressive-looking package from a pretty unknown studio, with piles of heroic-scale miniatures, a weird style that mashes together scifi, fantasy, humour, originality and cliché. Miniatures battling on terrain tiles using custom dice is nothing new, but the game has one very original element that intrigues: a large dial called the ‘momentum’ that facilitates the turn order during the game (and when special powers can be activated). It should add an interesting element of strategy to the usual combat shenanigans.
There are, however, a couple of places where Sine Tempore misses the mark. One is the tendency towards big-breasted women and cigar-chewin’ men, which give the visual design a distinctly dated feel. The other is the fact at no point can I detect any self-awareness of the fact that you’re playing violent invaders destroying the peaceful inhabitants of another planet who, and I quote, “live in harmony with nature tolerating technology only when it helps preserve nature”. Hopefully I’ll be proven wrong and the whole campaign ends on a twist as the heroes are revealed to actually be the bad guys, but somehow I doubt it…
Despite these unfortunate style and story decisions, it’s an amazing box of goodies that I’m very happy to add to my collection, and will always be a symbol to me of the kindness and generosity of Petr and his enjoyment of the EOG. Watch out for more coverage of Sine Tempore!