Earlier development reference. Use the current card catalog for updated costs, stats and abilities, or play the seven-faction release.

The Hourglass Covenant is playable.

Experimental prototype 0.1. Both companions, all 16 card designs, the full 30-card deck, four first paths and two Ascensions are implemented in a separate laboratory. Revelwild and Prismforge are playable in the seven-faction laboratory; all expansion balance remains experimental. This is not a balanced release. The laboratory has a separate saved match from the standard four-faction game.

Quick start

1. Open the laboratory. It defaults to Hourglass Covenant against Ironmaw.
2. Choose Orryx for discounted planning or Saela for optional repositioning. Choose an opponent and practice AI or local shared-device play.
3. Select a Foretell Tactic in your hand. Use a scheduling button to pay now and, when required, lock a normal Route.
4. Both players can see the pending plan above the board. Your opponent gets a turn to react.
5. At your next turn, ready, refill and draw normally; the scheduled effect then resolves before ordinary actions. Complete any healing or Companion choices before continuing.

Exact prototype timing

1. Foretell Tactics are scheduled face up during your main phase, paying their printed Charge cost immediately. Choose a normal Route if the card requires one. Scheduling is playing a Tactic, not an Explore or Challenge.
2. Each player may have only one pending Foretell Tactic. A full slot prevents scheduling another; it cannot be replaced or voluntarily discarded. The scheduled card remains a separate public card zone until it resolves.
3. At the start of your next owner turn, close expired realms and resolve existing start-step maintenance, then ready units, refill Charge and draw as normal. Next resolve your pending Foretell before main-phase actions. Choose its targets at resolution from the current board.
4. A foretold effect uses its locked Route even if characters moved away. If there is no legal target, that part does nothing; the card still resolves and goes to your discard. Delayed resolution does not count as playing the Tactic a second time.
5. Foretell does not grant extra turns, ready units or skip opposing turns. These abilities are implemented in the experimental Hourglass laboratory only.

Prototype trigger order: resolve the Tactic; discard it; apply Sentinel and automatic path healing/draw; then offer Age of Ruin damage, Chronarch Force, Saela normal movement and Witness movement where applicable. Each optional effect may be skipped. Recovering Companions do not receive these triggered choices or Orryx’s discount; Pendulum Warden’s continuous conditional Force still works. Victory remains checked at end of turn.

What to try

• Orryx schedules The Coming Fracture for 2 Charge. The opponent can evacuate valuable ready Allies, spending their normal movement and exhausting.
• Keep Secondhand Sentinel in position for its +2 Force after a scheduled card resolves.
• Use Vesper Clock to redirect a locked plan; its resolution time never extends.
• Try Future Claim at a contested Route: a ready opponent prevents its bonus. It awards no Journey mark.
• Saela can reposition after resolution, but her free normal move still exhausts her.

Implementation checks

16 targeted rule groups cover payment, one public slot, save/resume, empty-hand timing, locked Routes, missing targets, blockers, private ordering, redirection, recovery, all path/Ascension branches, actual upgraded effects and legal AI evacuation. Ten minimal-DOM interface groups execute the compiled scripts and real launch, schedule and resume handlers.

Both Hourglass Companions against both Companions from all five laboratory factions, including Hourglass mirrors; both seat orders and starts; all four scoring/aggressive combinations; two fresh seed blocks 81000–81001. Full 30-card decks. Every action is save-roundtripped and exact card inventories checked, including public pending and resolving Tactics. This is implementation and policy coverage, not a conclusive balance experiment; mirrored records and seed blocks are dependent.

640 completed games; 1760 Foretell schedules; 136 delayed healing choices. Exact 30-card conservation includes scheduled and currently resolving Tactics. Negative Charge, unresolved defeats and action loops were checked after every action.

These small-seed heuristic results measure implementation coverage, not human strength or final balance. The AI schedules delayed cards and can evacuate valuable Allies from a lethal public Fracture, but it does not plan optimally. Browser layout has not been tested in this environment.

Illustrations and motion

Browse all 69 expansion illustrations

All 22 Hourglass card/form references now have individual illustrations: 16 card designs, four first paths and two Ascensions. Every upgraded form has its own pose and image. Browse the complete three-faction illustration gallery for all 69 paintings. Existing short action effects remain; bespoke articulated Hourglass animations are not yet produced.

Complete card rules

Download all 640 match records · New art assets and prompts · Character stories and upgrade specifications