Another new kid on the block. From all appearances, Time Control is the first and so far only release from Thompson Industries, a new company on the gaming scene. It's no surprise that the company was named after the game's designer, Anthony Thompson.

The premise of the game is, of course, time travel. The story line bears some resemblance to the Terminator movies. A future war is destined to virtually destroy mankind. Your objective is to send time agents back into history and alter the past, thereby either preventing the war or giving your faction a formidable advantage in the approaching war. Of course, these alterations in time are not without consequences, as they cause time waves that can disrupt time itself and cause severe problems in the present. Causing these problems for your opponents, while minimizing or preventing problems for your own faction, is the objective.

The storyline is certainly intriguing. Which of us has not contemplated the idea of time travel? Sadly, the game is a convoluted jumble and presents about as many problems as tinkering with the past would cause.

The first thing I must mention is the rules. They're bad. Real bad. Close to being the worst I've ever tried to decipher. There doesn't appear to be much logic behind the presentation of the rules and it is very difficult to find the relevant sections when questions arise during the game. Further, there are many situations that arise during the game that are not adequately addressed or explained by the rules. And, in a grievous error, there are absolutely no examples to help explain concepts and game situations. Heresy!

Fortunately, the designer recognizes the multitude of rules problems and provides an updated version on the company website. The new version does appear to be better organized, but I haven't thoroughly examined them to see if they are more thorough and provide clear examples of play.

I really could stop my assessment here. For me, if a game's rules are unable to adequately and clearly explain the rules and teach the game to players, then the game is very likely a bust for me. A game has virtually no chance of success in the market without clear and concise rules. They are that important and incredibly vital. Time Control fails this most critical of tests.

Sadly, there's more stacked up against the game. Although the designer is to be recognized for injecting some interesting mechanisms, as a whole, the game simply breaks down. It is cumbersome and way too busy. It also doesn't flow well and feels, well, illogical. The mechanisms of simultaneous movement, coupled with the ability of players to interrupt the declared actions of players, may sound neat, but in game play, they break down terribly. The game devolves into a series of declared actions that are quickly voided by another player. It's just not fun.

OK. Let me back off a bit. First, I'll describe the components and then try to explain the game.

The box is a larger version of the bookshelf style game. Inside, however, is a lot of air. The components don't even begin to come close to filling the box, so the "heft" factor is quite low. Included in the box are 4 player mats, each displaying seven periods in time, from Today back to Pre-History. Each player receives a set of colored tokens that represent their twelve time agents and twenty-two time control tokens, which are used to resolve duels. These tokens are made from very thin cardboard, the kind you can run through your computer printer. The "problem" tokens are identical in size and thickness.

Rounding out the components are two decks of cards: the Fate deck, which is used in resolving duels, and the Problem deck, which inflicts a penalty upon the player when a time wave reaches the 'today' location on his player mat. The cards are of reasonable thickness, but don't appear to be laminated. As such, they likely wouldn't stand up to repeated playings. The cards are printed in black and white and extremely plain. Overall, the game has a decidedly "homemade" feel and is sorely lacking when considering what is possible in our present technological age. I've seen better productions using a personal PC & quality printer. I'm certain, however, that this was done in order to save costs and produce the game for a reasonable price.

Each player begins the game with his twelve time agents located on the today slot of his player mat (known as the 'Timeline Board'). He also keeps his 22 time control tokens handy for the upcoming duels.

A game turn is divided into two main "turns": The Time Agent turn and the Time Wave turn. Each is further sub-divided into phases.

1) Time Agent Turn

A) The Launch Phase

Players may send as many of their agents as they desire into the various time zones on their player mat. The idea here is to scatter your agents in order to protect your own time board from assaults by enemy agents, and to position your agents so they can jump to the Timeline Boards of your opponents and cause all sorts of problems. Proper positioning is vital in order to accomplish these two objectives and requires some careful thought.

B) The Alert Phase.

Agent tokens have two sides: alert and busy. Many actions cause an agent to be 'busied', meaning they can take no further actions that turn and are more susceptible to assaults from enemy agents and from troublesome time waves. Sadly, there is no chart that depicts which actions cause an agent to be "busied", so players are forced to either commit this to memory or constantly consult the rules.

During this phase, all agents are turned to their 'alert' side. They are primed and ready for action!

C) The Action Phase.

Here is where the game gets chaotic and breaks down. Agents may each perform a multitude of possible actions ... and there is no turn order to do this. Any player may take any action at any time. Chaos reigns supreme. Actually, silence often reigns supreme. Usually, no one wants to be the first to declare and perform an action. Why? Well, once a player moves some of his agents to other player's timelines and performs actions, this means that his own timeline may well be left poorly defended and susceptible to assaults from his opponents. In fact, this occurs quite frequently. To be sure, moving your agents onto the timelines of your opponents in attempts to form time waves is vital in order to win the game. Players must accumulate a multitude of problems in order to be eliminated from the game. The only way to cause a player to suffer these problems is by sending agents into his timeline and instigating those time waves.

However, playing defensively seems to be a viable option. In short, do nothing. Don't send your agents on assaults. Keep your time zones well defended and wait for the other players to attack you and each other. They will very likely be severely weakened and you will probably be left unscathed. Time waves are fairly easy to solve (remove) if you don't have too many of them, so the defensive strategy appears not only viable, but could be superior. If a few players opt to follow this strategy, the game progresses at a snail's pace and is very, very boring. However, there is really no incentive to do otherwise.

Assuming all players don't follow this defensive strategy, then players declare actions for their multitude of agents in a haphazard fashion. So, just what are these possible actions?

a) Move. Players may move their agents on their timeline to the next lower time zone. Does this "busy" an agent, thereby prohibiting him from performing further actions on that turn? I'm not sure ... the rules don't say. Since the rules clearly state that certain other actions "busy" an agent, we assumed that an agent was not busied simply by moving to a lower time zone.

b) Invade. Move an agent to the same time zone, but on another player's timeline. This is usually the precursor for some sort of nastier action. Again, the rules don't state whether this action 'busies' an agent, but we assumed that it does not.

c) Attack Agents. You duke-it-out with an opponent's agent in the same time zone and on the same timeline as your agent. Duels are handled in a rather strange manner, using the time control tokens. I'll explain this a bit later.

d) Aid / Sabotage Attacks. Agents of players not involved in a duel can aid the attacker or defender, but only if that agent occupies the same time zone and timeline. Again, that player accomplished this by using his time control tokens. I'll explain later.

e) Create Time Waves. An agent simply places a time wave token on the opponent's timeline in the time zone where he is located. Any "alert" agent on an opponent's timeline can perform this action.

The time wave tokens have two sides: create and solve. The attacking player decides which side is placed face-up. The purpose of each side will become clear when I describe how time waves ultimately create problems for the players.

f) Attack Time Waves. An "alert" agent may assault a time wave with the express goal of either removing one time wave token, or flipping the token (or tokens) to the other side if they have their special scientist or appropriate historian agent present. This action always succeeds unless it is somehow interrupted by an opponent.

g) Snap. No, not snap your fingers. Rather, a player can move any of his agents from anywhere back to his own 'today'. These agents are, of course, busied and may perform no other action that turn. It is a good way to get vulnerable agents out of harm's way, but usually leaves you open for other attacks at other locations.

To complicate matters, these actions are not performed in turn order. The helter-skelter approach to performing actions sounds neat when reading the rules, but in practice it is severely flawed. Everything is further thrown out of kilter with the rather absurd "interrupt" mechanism. You see, any time a player declares an action for an agent, another player can interrupt that action. This doesn't require any sort of duel, it is simply a statement: "I interrupt your action and take mine instead".

So, you send an agent to another person's timeline and announce an that you are going to place a time wave there. No, you don't, because that player announces that he is moving an agent down one time line and attacking your agent. No, he's not, because you decide to move your agent back out of that timeline and move him instead to the timeline of another opponent. You again announce that you will place a time wave in his timeline. No, you won't, because he will move one of his agents back from another player's timeline and attack you. Get the picture? This could ... and often does ... go on and on and on. Ad nauseum.

There is an escape from this seemingly endless series of events, however. If a player doesn't desire to have his action interrupted, he can declare that he is "seizing control of time". If no one objects, the player may perform an action unimpeded, or force an opponent to perform an action. However, seizing control of time can be challenged, in which case it results in a duel.

So how are duels resolved?

The same way attacks against another agent are resolved.

First, each player either plays one of their time control tokens face-down on the table, or opts to choose a card from the fate deck. Tokens are numbered 1 - 21, with one "fate" token. The "fate" token is really a bluff, and simply allows the player to take a card from the fate deck instead. Weird. The fate deck has cards numbered from -15 to +15. Really, really weird. Once each player either plays a token or selects a fate card, they are revealed and the winner is the player with the highest number. Agents that are "busied", however, have their strength halved.

However, this may not be the end of a battle. You see, after each duel, the losing player has the right to declare a "re-duel". You do the entire process again. Really, really, really weird ... and absurd. Each player can declare one re-duel, so battles often have three rounds before they are resolved. Once resolved, a fate card is drawn and the results of the card are applied. Usually, this involves 'busying' the loser and possible moving him down in time one or two zones. The winner is either busied or gets to perform another action. Yawn. Each player must then discard their highest time control token played during the duel.

Things get even more complicated and tedious if other players have agents in the same zone on the same timeline and opt to aid or sabotage the attacker. Let's not go there.

One would think that the idea behind this constant series of re-duels is that it will ultimately force players to lose their most valuable time control tokens. True. However, the game provides a mechanism known as "cashing out" to get those tokens back. A player may remove one of his time agents and re-claim up to 20 points worth of tokens. Further, a player may discard 20 points of tokens to re-claim an agent. So, using tokens in battle really isn't a devastating loss as they are recoverable. More weird.

Eventually, after all of these actions, interruptions and duels are resolved, all time agents will either be 'busied' or players will simply grow weary and decide they've had enough of this phase of the turn. At that point, it is time for the Time Wave Turn.

2) Time Wave Turn.

A) The Advance Phase.

Any time waves on player timelines are moved one zone closer to "today". Simple enough.

B) The Resolve Phase.

Time Waves begin wreaking havoc. If they reach "today", there are serious repercussions. If the time wave contains any tokens displaying their 'create' side, these are removed in sets of two, with the player being forced to draw a problem card for each set of two removed. Any odd create token is then removed, giving the player yet another problem card. Problem cards come in three types - technology, culture and society -- and usually hamper the player's actions in some fashion. Further, if a player accumulates three problems in each category, his faction is destroyed and he is out of the game.

Out of the game? Yes, indeed. Did I mention that this was an "elimination" game? Oh, yes. In order to win, a player must be the "last man standing". All other players must be eliminated. This mechanism alone sends shivers down the spines of many gamers. But one need not worry too much, as it seems to take forever to accumulate problem cards. Further, the odds of getting three of each type of problem before players toss in the towel on the entire game seem longer than then the New Orleans Saints winning the Super Bowl this year. We never came close to this occurring before we unanimously opted to abort our game. The designer has modified this 'end game' rule by also calling for the elimination of a player if he obtains four problems of the same type (technology, society or culture). That, too, would take a long time to occur.

If the time wave contains any 'solve' tokens, these tokens are removed in sets of two as well. However, instead of causing a player to incur a problem, it forces the player to discard a problem . from another player! So, allowing a time wave that contains solve markers to reach your "today" actually forces you to help an opponent. This is a clever mechanism and one of the few bright spots in the game. Any odd 'solve' tokens are converted to create tokens, forcing the player to receive a problem card.

Time waves in zones other than "today" assault any agents located there. This is resolved by players playing a time control token for each of their agents present in the zone. A fate card is drawn to determine the strength of the Time Wave. Successful agents suffer no ill effects, while agents who are defeated by the time wave must draw a fate card and suffer the results.

Unlike a normal agent vs. agent duel, or a duel for time control, players do not lose their time control token in these battles. So, it makes no sense whatsoever not to play your highest valued tokens in a battle with a time wave. The designer has clarified that players do not get these tokens back until after all time wave attacks have been resolved, but that doesn't alter this "play your highest valued token" painfully obvious strategy one iota.

C) The Grow Phase.

All time waves on the board receive a new create token. They begin to get a bit more difficult to remove, so the lesson is to deal with these pesky time waves early.

Once the three phases of the Time Wave turn are completed, a new round is held. This entire procedure repeats itself over and over and over again until only one player is left alive. I honestly have no idea how long this would take as we opted to abort our game after just a few turns ... and we had already played for well over an hour. No one had received a problem card and there was only one active time wave on the board. I cannot even begin to imagine how long it would have taken us to play the game to completion.

The game has even more rules, but I'll spare you the details. As am example, each player has three different types of special agents. Each of these agents have special powers and can alter the rules somewhat. It becomes confusing to know what each of these agents can do, forcing the player to consult the rules, which is a very difficult and frustrating chore.

Enough

For me, Time Control is a throw-back to games of yesteryear, with an abundance of fiddly rules, exceptions and convoluted mechanisms. The confusing and incomplete rulebook makes the game extremely difficult to decipher. I must have read the rules four or five times before I began to understand how the game was supposed to work. The company does have an tutorial on their website which helps, but that really shouldn't be something that is necessary to learn a game.

Further, the game did not contain any useful player aid charts. The chart on the back of the rulebook didn't provide enough information and was actually missing a complete phase. There are simply too many things going on in the game and too many options to contemplate to play easily without a concise player aid chart for each player.

I can't help but wonder just how extensive the play-testing and subsequent development for this game was. Surely, if this game was sent out for play-testing to just a few of the established game groups in the U.S., most, if not all of the problems I mention would have been identified and hopefully corrected. I have a strong suspicion that this was not done and that the game was playtested and developed by a handful of folks with little or no outside input. That's just a suspicion, mind you, but the game surely suffers from a lack of thorough outside review and testing. That is truly a shame, since the designer clearly had some clever ideas, but they just don't work properly in the game's current form.