Tempus

About this board game

Tempus is a strategy board game for 3–5 players, with games lasting about 120 minutes, in which players guide their people through ten eras of growth, competition, and progress.

The game begins with a developing map made from hexagonal tiles featuring five terrain types: grasslands, farmlands, mountains, woods, and hills. Players place their people contiguously, then compete to expand their presence, establish cities, and advance through the eras.

On each turn, a player chooses one available action. They may move people, increase their population by having babies, initiate a diceless fight against another player, draw chance cards by having an idea, or build a city by replacing people tokens with a city tile.

• Expand across a changing map of interconnected hexagonal tiles.
• Use terrain, cities, and eligible Idea Cards to earn Progress Points.
• Compete to advance through the eras and gain the advantage of a newer ability.
• Finish with Victory Points based on occupied non-mountain hexes, cities, and final-era advancement.

At the end of each era, players compare their Progress Points. The scoring terrain changes by era, while city tiles and eligible Idea Cards can add to a player’s total. The leader or leaders advance, and after the first round the other players’ Era Cubes catch up to the current level of the leader or leaders.

After ten eras, final scoring determines the winner. Players gain points for the non-mountain hexagons occupied by their tokens, the values of their cities, and a bonus for reaching the final era. In Tempus, every expansion, development, and contest contributes to a long-term race for supremacy.