The setting is post war 1920s Eastern Europe, and your faction is tasked with spreading its power, by gathering resources and strengthening its forces by building structures, increasing their worker forces, and controlling large mechs to help them take control of the surrounding regions and landscapes. Think, an alternate universe 1920s with Scouts Walkers, like those used by the Galactic Empire in Star Wars and you have Scythe. Scythe is designed by Jamey Stegmaier and published by Stonemaier Games, with magnificent art done by Jakub Rozalski. It plays 1-5 players (more with the Invaders from Afar expansion) and playing in 90-115 minutes.
Overview
Game Information
Mechanics: Action Selection, Engine Building, Area Majority
Time: 30 minutes to 1/2 hour
# of players: 1-5
Age: 14+
Scythe is an action selection and engine building game where players use the various asymmetric powers awarded to them by their faction, to strength their forces on the game board and acquire victory points. They gather resources with their workers to help them take control of various areas on the board buy building structures with these resources, taking control of mechs to help complete secret objectives, and making varied choices during encounters that they may be faced with. The player that can collect the most points is considered the winner and the most powerful faction in Eastern Europa. Points are earned in the form of coins during the game and from end game scoring. During end game scoring points come from players placing up to 6 of their stars out on the board by completing any of the 9 achievements on a triumph track (you can only place 1 star in each of the 9 achievements goals), from controlling territories on the board, and for every 2 resources you control by the end of the game.
Setup
To set the game up, place the game board in the center of the table. Place an encounter token onto each marked encounter space on the board. place the resource and coins into a general supply. Shuffle the encounter card deck, objective card deck, the combat card deck, and then place them onto their respective locations on the game board. Next shuffle the factory cards and without looking select a number of them equal to the number of players plus 1 (ex. select 4 in a 3 player game) and place them into a face down deck onto their spot on the game board. Randomly select a structure bonuses tile and place it face up near the popularity track of the game board. Randomly deal a faction board and action board to each player. Each player places their 6 stars and 4 mechs onto their faction board. They then place their power token onto the space of the game boards power track indicated by their faction board, as well as draw for themselves the indicated number of combat cards. Next players look at their action board and draw the indicated number of objective cards, take the number of indicated coins, and place their popularity token onto the indicated number space of the game board as described on their action mat. Players then fill their action mat with structure tokens, recruit tokens, workers, tech cubs, and grab the action token for their factions color. The player with the lowest indicated number on their action board is declared the first player. They will then place their factions character/animal miniature on it’s home base and each of their 2 starting workers into the 2 adjacent land spaces connected to their home base. Players are now ready to begin.
Gameplay
Players will take turns completing various actions they select on their personal player boards which will determine the actions they get to complete on the main board. Each player board, while containing the same possible actions are different in how their actions are allocated to them. Each player board is divided into four sections with each sections offering players the ability to take up to two actions, a top row action and a bottom row action, thus giving them 8 total actions that are available to take throughout the game. During a players turn they will place their action marker on one of the four available action areas, always selecting a different action area of the four as was selected on their previous turn. At the start of the game all four areas are available. Players then choose to take in sequential order their top action and then their bottom action. The choice to take the top or bottom actions are optional, with players selecting to just do one, both, or none if they so choose. They will then pay the cost, indicated in red to gain the benefit indicated in green. The top row actions available to players are Moving (movie their character or workers throughout the board), Bolstering (gaining power on the power track or drawing combat cards), Producing (producing resources onto territory spaces their workers reside), or Trading (gaining any 2 resources or gaining popularity). The bottom row actions include Upgrade (allows players to upgrade a top row action and decease the cost of a bottom row action), Deploy (place a mech onto the board), Build (build one of their 4 structures and place it onto the game board), or Enlist (simulates gaining new forces which grant a one-time bonus and an ongoing bonus). Players will continue to take turns selecting actions to control territories, gain resource, build structures, hire workers all while trying to complete 6 of the 9 achievement objectives on the board.
While doing so player may run into opposing forces resulting in combat. Here players will use the power they have accumulated during the game in combination with their combat cards to try and defeat their opponents. But don’t let combat fool you. While, winning combats will grant you the combat achievement, it can also force you to lose popularity at times. You can also go the entire game without combating and still win. Players will continue taking actions, coming across encounters, and more until the endgame is triggered and then players will proceed to end game scoring.
There is more in depth gameplay scenarios but they are best understood in the rulebook, or even as we found while playing the game. Such as getting your character miniature to the Factory in the center of the game board before other players. Also the intriguing part of the game is that there are opportunities to form alliances and make bribes throughout the game.
The Game End
The end game happens immediately once one player places their sixth star onto the achievement track. At this time play proceeds into final scoring.
Scoring
During scoring player will calculate the coins they have and then look to the popularity track to find the remainder of the end game scoring. Depending their placement on the popularity track players will gain a certain amount of coins for stars the placed, territories they controlled, and every 2 resources the control. They will lastly look to the structure bonus tile selected at the beginning of the game and gain coins for that. The player declared the winner is the one with the most coins. There are some tiebreakers that can be found in the rulebook.
Final Thoughts
About 3 years ago I had the opportunity to play a friend's copy of Scythe along with a few of the expansions. I will be honest and say that I walked away from that experience feeling two things, overwhelmed and unimpressed. I would hear many people talk about how great the game was, but I just couldn’t see it. I walked away not really being able to explain what the focus and strategy of the game was and to be honest, I didn't know if I could attribute it to just not grasping the concepts or the person teaching the game.
Now this brings us to present day and my opportunity to play Scythe again. Let's just say, it's night and day. I can definitely say that I have a newfound appreciation for the game and walked away from my first play ready to play again, which I did a few short days after. During these plays I played with my 2 younger brothers. My middle brother (completely new to modern board games) and my youngest brother who gladly plays anything I put on the table and tells me that he has enjoyed everything he’s played. What I enjoyed from Scythe are the many paths to victory. The ability to look at the 9 achievements on the achievement track and determine which path you will decide to take is a puzzle that makes the game so intriguing. The ability of figuring out which actions to take on you turn and plan for on following turns is the rewarding part of this game. When your engine falls into place as you plan your actions is satisfying, but it’s also just as satisfying trying to figure out what actions to take depending on how your opponents are playing. I know there are plenty of experienced Scythe players out there who have been able to decipher the most optimal path to victory depending the faction and player boards they have, but I am far from that and play with too casual of players to take that approach. Which leads me to the view of the game from both of my brothers points of view. Both really enjoyed the game and raves about how visually stunning the game looks on the table. They stated the artwork really draws you into the world of the game. When I asked how they thought the gameplay was they both mentioned that even with all the available actions and strategies to take as you play, the game is fairly streamlined offering you to build you strategy as you go and the game unfolds, allowing even newer gamers to have an enjoyable experience. All in all, they enjoyed it enough to say they were ready to play it again to see how their same faction would play with another strategy or even how another faction would play.
So my final take on Scythe is that if you have considered this one, definitely find the time to play it if you can. If you believe this is going to be a heavy combat area control game, ala Blood Rage or Rising Sun change your mindset now. I think that was my biggest mistake the first time I played it years ago. My biggest advice is that even if your first play is not one leaving you wanting more, you owe it to yourself to give it one more chance and appreciate the inter woven mechanisms and decision making, because I’m glad that I did.