Scythe

The Great War is over, but the consequences are still there, even during the 1920’s. In Scythe, created by Stonemaier Games, it’s up to you to lead your faction, earn resources, gain fame and fortune, establish a new empire, and become a new leader of the devastated Eastern Europa.

Board Set-Up

Before you can call yourself a leader, you’ll need to know the rules for Scythe (designed by Jamey Stegmaier). First of all, go ahead and get information about the game board. The map is divided into territories, and each one has its own resources and/or objects you can use if you have Mechs and/or Workers there.

You’ll notice a bunch of other things all over the map, and here are some basic instructions:

• Encounter Tokens (Green compass) – There are 11 tokens, and each of them should be placed on the designated place in the map.
• Resources and Coins – There are four different resources available (food, oil, wood, and metal), there are coins and multipliers tokens. Take all of them and place them near the board in a supply area.
• Combat Cards (Yellow) – Shuffle these cards and put them on the board. Once you’re out of combat cards, reshuffle the deck and start over.
• Factory Cards (Purple) – Shuffle these cards and place them face-down on the board. You should place one card more than there are players in the game (if there are three players, put down four cards). Put the rest of the cards back to the box.
• Objective Cards (Beige) – Shuffle the deck and put it on the board.
• Encounter Cards (Green) – Shuffle the deck an put it on the board.
• Structure Bonus Tile: Randomly pick one of the structure bonus tiles and face it up below Popularity Track.

Faction Selection

Every player in Scythe will randomly receive a Faction mat and Player mat, and sit near their home base. These mats will indicate their starting cards and track positions on the far right of each mat.

Faction Mat

• Power Token – Put your power token on the indicated level of the Power Track. You spend power during the combat.
• Combat Cards – Draw the indicated number of combat cards. Their number is public information, but the content should be kept as a secret.

Player Mat

• Objective Cards – Draw the indicated number of these cards and keep their content secret. Once everyone took their card, put the deck back in the box.
• Popularity Token – Place this token on the indicated level of Popularity Track.
• Coins – Gain the indicated number of coins and put them on your Faction Mat. These will be important at the end of the game, so keep earning them.

Continue the set-up by placing your Character on your faction’s home base, and two workers on the territories that are connected to your base by land. Workers can’t move across the river, only Mechs that are carrying them can.

You’ll notice there is more information on your Faction and Player mats, so go ahead and read the Quick-start Card, so you can finally begin your conquest.

How to Win?

Your goal in Scythe is to make your faction the wealthiest and most powerful in Eastern Europa. You’ll do this by exploring and conquering new territories, producing workers and resources, deploying Mechs and engaging in combats with other players.

Once you manage to accomplish an achievement, go ahead and place the star on the designated space. The game will end when a player places the sixth star on the Triumph Track. One star will be earned for any of the following:

1. Have 16 power.
2. Have 18 popularity.
3. Win two different combats (earn start for each).
4. Reveal one completed objective card.
5. Engage all four recruits.
6. Build all four structures.
7. Deploy all four Mechs.
8. Complete all six upgrades.

The main goal in Scythe is to generate the greatest wealth at the end of the game. Coins can be accumulated during the game, but the majority of them will be received once the game ends, during the end-game scoring.

There are three scoring categories:

• For every star token placed.
• For every territory controlled.
• For every two resources controlled area.

Keep in mind that the number of coins will depend on your level on the Popularity Track, so try and be nice to your workers.

Closing Comments on Scythe

If you think that this is complex, wait until you open the box and start reading the rulebook. Luckily, it is well written and illustrated, so you’ll be playing Scythe in no time. This game is probably one of the best board games ever made, and you and your friends will enjoy it for a long time.

• Read our review!
• See the full collection!

We were fortunate enough this week to interview Jamey Stegmaier, the creator of the hugely successful board game Scythe! We spoke to him about the unparalleled success of the original game, as well as the (was upcoming) Invaders From Afar expansion.

Here is what Jamey had to say to Zatu Games:

First of all congratulations on the overwhelming success of Scythe. What is your reaction to the amount of success the game had had?

“Thank you! It’s been an exciting couple of years, really—it started with people being excited/curious about Scythe, then the resulting $1.8 million Kickstarter campaign, then the reception after backers (and some retail customers) received their copies. At each state I’ve been elated that people have found joy in Scythe—that’s what’s important to me.”

Scythe is quite a big game. How many people were involved in the development of the game? 

“In total, somewhere between 600 and 700 people, ranging from the lead designer (me) and the illustrator/worldbuilder (Jakub Rozalski) to lead playtesters to all of the other playtesters and proofreaders who helped both with the multiplayer and solo versions of the game.”

How many changes were made during the blind playtesting stage of the development? Can you share some examples with Zatu Games? 

“A lot of little things changed during the three waves of blind playtesting, but here are the big three:

• Combat: The balance of combat was really hard to figure out, especially since Scythe is an engine-building Euro game. The rules for combat need to give players a reason to attack sometimes, but not all of the time, and there are complementary rules/abilities (like Riverwalk) that factor into that balance. Blind playtesting really helped us figure out the right balance through a series of small changes.
• Structures: The role of structures changed a lot over the course of blind playtesting. Originally, each structure had a spatially-driven ability, but they required a separate reference card, and it was hard to keep track of their abilities (yours and other players). They were often forgotten or unused So eventually I moved structures to the player mats and got rid of any spatial aspects to them – other than end-game territorial control. But playtesters kept asking for some sort of spatial aspect to them and although I resisted at first I then came up with the end-game structure bonus tile system which places value on exactly where you build your structures.
• Faction abilities: For the first wave of blind playtesting, factions had mech abilities but no overarching, faction specific, asymmetric abilities. Playtesters kept asking for them so eventually I came up with some ideas. We tested them and tweaked them and I’m very glad we added them.

In Invaders From Afar we welcome the Togawa and Albion factions to the game. Can you explain a little bit more about these new additions? 

” Thematically, Albion and Togawa have heard about all of this activity happening in the lands surrounding the Factory, so they send some heroes to check it out. Albion comes from the north (England/Scotland) and Togawa comes from the far east (Japan/China). Each comes with a unique set of mech abilities as well as completely new faction abilities. Albion’s character has these Flag tokens they place that are worth a territory for end-game scoring and that allow them (when combined with a specific mech ability) to jump across the board to rally their troops.

“Togawa’s character has Trap tokens to place face down on various territories. When an opponent’s unit moves onto a Trap, the trap triggers, causing that player to incur a penalty. All unarmed Traps grant control of the territory they’re on to Togawa at the end of the game.”

Aside from the new factions, what other new features can Scythe fans expect to see in Invaders From Afar?

“The main focus of the expansion is on the two new factions, but we also included two new player mats. Originally we intended for Scythe to be played with no more than 5 players, but I realised that with the new mats, some people would inevitably play with 6-7 players. So I included two tokens to replace Crimea’s Wayfare ability and Polania’s faction ability, as both of them would have been significantly less useful with higher player counts.

“Also, one of the Automa designers, David Studley, designed a few cards to ensure the expansion integrates well with the original solo variant.”

Invaders From Afar is an interesting title. Where did this name come from?

” I wish I had an interesting answer, but the name just came from a brainstorming session with Jakub!”

You mention Jakub Rozalski. We are huge fans of Scythe’s artwork here at Zatu Game, what has it been like working with him? 

“It’s a real pleasure. He has such a vivid imagination, and he pairs that with his incredible artist talent. Working with him has made me (a) want to work with him more in the future and (b) work with more world-building artists.”

Going forward, can we expect to see any more expansions of the Scythe universe? 

“We’re in the process of brainstorming a new expansion. As a company, my typical strategy isn’t to plan ahead for expansions—I like to put everything in the original game box if it’ll fit. But if I get excited by a new idea and it turns out to be fun, I’ll give it a try.”

Don’t forget that you can get Invaders From Afar right now at Zatu Games as well as the original game and the brand new, The Wind Gambit!

*Credit for the images go to Jakub Rozalski

There are many types of democracy. Jacksonian. Westminster. Liberal. And now Zatu. To exercise it like a well-toned pair of thighs, we asked gamers on the web for their opinions on Scythe, arguably this year’s most successful and sought-after title.

Here’s what they had to say, divvied by tone of response:

The Positive

Codeshark says:

Scythe is a masterpiece. It combines beautiful artwork and great mechanics. I enjoy the tense anticipation of combat that is missing from a lot of Euros. It strikes that perfect balance between a dice chucking luck fest and a low conflict Euro. Combat is possible, but potentially expensive.

nucleomancer says:

Despite its intimidating appearance, Scythe is VERY easy to learn. After your first game you will have a firm grasp of the things you can do, and you are ready to try different strategies for your next game.

It allows for a great deal of flexibility in achieving victory. Combat is certainly not a requirement for that.

The game is well balanced and victory usually hinges on a difference of less than 10 points (about 10% of the winner’s final score.)

automator3000 says:

It’s a smooth, accessible game. I do like that it rewards a balanced style of play – it’d be difficult to have a win by focusing on a single goal and chasing that to the end. You need some popularity, you need some territory. You need to at least present the threat of military strength. But of course you can’t do everything – so you need, but not too much, and focus, but not too much.

Visually it’s the greatest game (especially with the upgraded resource bits and coins). Gorgeous art on the cards, nice minis, beautiful map that is also clear in presentation.

It’s light. Compared to its looks, it’s light. With all the various decks of cards and minis and map hexes, you can forgive folks for expecting a deep deep game. That’s not a bad thing, it’s just as neutral as saying “this thai food is not very spicy.”

The Negative

Zugare says:

I’ll be a dissenter and say it’s not great. I don’t find the decisions in the game very interesting. It plays longer than it feels satisfying. There are a lot of neat mechanics that end up feeling like you aren’t doing anything exciting. The star system means everyone kind of does the same thing every game. The combat is pretty rare and boring.

beatspores is on board:

I agree. I really, really, wanted to love Scythe but it felt absolutely dead to me. I love upgrades in games and while the top-bottom upgrade mechanism is kind of cool and novel, to me at least, the action doesn’t change the game at all really.

In my opinion, Scythe lacks any kind of satisfaction found in other games from say making a really powerful move yourself or correctly anticipating an opponent’s move. People were saying that there is a kind of Cold War suspense in the looming possibility of war breaking out, which I very much looked forward to. In reality there is little to nothing to carefully consider ahead of or during the fights.

The experience of playing Scythe has neither colour nor contrast.

dispatch134711 has brought some nails for this coffin:

And the relatively neutral

dispatch134711 (again) says:

The factions require different strategies and therefore a few games are required before this is truly possible. I’m only three games in, in my second game I was confused but ultimately relatively successful with Germany but I struggled badly knowing what to do with the Nords in my third game. The clearest path to even starting the game is pretty opaque sometimes.

So there you have it: beautiful artwork, masterpiece, mild thai cuisine, absolutely dead. A comprehensive overview of Scythe.

Fig 01: The story begins right here with this incredible cover…

World-building.

Not a phrase you often see in association with a board game. It’s the kind of terminology usually reserved for movie franchises or fantasy novel series and their tv adaptations. It’s not just backstory, it’s the art design, the environment, the sensation of a deep and rich history. It’s the background details

Again, not something you expect from a board game.

Welcome to Scythe.

There’s a very strong chance that you’ve heard of it. I am very far from the first to write about Scythe – after all, the game was released in 2015 and sold a ton of copies and had a great critical reception (which doesn’t necessarily mean a game is right for you – we still have our personal tastes, don’t we?). So, I’m a tad behind the times. But Monopoly had been around for a fair few decades before I first played it, and is still finding new fans today. The same is true for all games. Yes, we can spend all of our time (and money) chasing the myriad latest releases, but there’s so many games already out there waiting for us to discover them. I only came to this hobby at the start of the year, which means I missed out on some heavy hitters when they were first released. The time has come to grab some and form my own opinions, to view them through my own particular filter, and what matters to me is how far I’m plunged into a story.

Of all the games I’ve played so far, Scythe is quite unusual in that the world-building permeates every part of the product, to the degree that it feels to me like the main point and purpose. As an author (there’s no pressure to check out what I write, none at all, we’re all friends here) I have the deepest interest in the stories board games can tell – and every game you play tells a story to some degree or another. Snakes and ladders would provide a very basic – but still thrilling – story, one where your sister or brother had spent the entire game hitting every snake then fluked a jammy roll to land on the longest ladder, thus robbing you of victory. On another level, Horrified tells the terrible tale of a village attacked by classic monsters and your efforts to defeat them with puzzle solving. Scythe is on the highest level of board game storytelling (in my opinion, dear reader). It is the tale of a world, and your part within it.

We often say that something can be more than the sum of its parts. What is it about Scythe that got me so excited then? What, aside from the dieselpunk alt 1920s setting? Well…

First Impressions

Wow.

Right, that’s that section done, let’s move on…

What? Okay, alright, I’m happy to go into a bit more detail. And I really should, because this is where my take on the game begins. The world-building starts upon first sight of the box cover. Straight off you’re faced with a great piece of art depicting an agricultural alternative world of farmers and mechs – it actually puts me in mind of a renaissance painting as rendered by a time traveller – and I immediately want to know more about it. I haven’t got far to look to find it. Instead of a fairly dry description of how Scythe will play, there’s a couple of paragraphs of back story. This gives me a feel of where the game will play out, and a strong reason to play – what effect will I have upon this world.

Fig 02: The card art’s not half bad like…

There’s a fair bit of weight to this big box, which gives the impression that there’s plenty of game awaiting inside (it turns out I’m spot on here). Lid off, and look at how well organised this is! I do like it when there’s a place for every piece. The game board is thick and high quality and depicts in luxurious detail the world I’m about to explore. And the epicness continues upon first sight of the miniatures. There’s so much detail on the characters and mechs, so much personality. There is storytelling here too: each player piece is very different (that one’s got a tiger as a pet!), which hints that they may play a little differently too…

The rulebook is an area where a lot of games can stumble, particularly when they’re mixed with people like my fine self. A bit of a worry: this is a fairly chunky rulebook, which means there’s a lot to understand. True enough, but thankfully the instructions are set out clearly and in a sensible order. The information is uncluttered with plenty of illustrations. Thumbs up so far from the Stickler! (This is the name for people who love rulebooks and I’ll keep saying it until it lands in the Oxford dictionary.) There’s even an achievement sheet to record your greatest gaming moments – a neat idea which reminds me of old-school arcade high scores. There is a separate solo rulebook – which I’ll test out later – and a quick reference guide, and it all maintains the same art style and attention to detail throughout. It’s this unity of art direction that can really pull a player into a game and hold them there, as the colour scheme ties everything back to that big glorious board.

As you read, it becomes clear that there’s going to be a lot of choices and many routes to victory, and there’s one piece of advice from the rulebook that I advise you to take to heart: dive in, and don’t overthink it. The player’s guide goes even further, given suggestions for your first few turns and recommending that you take a different top-row action than your opponents do, which is a great way of seeing what the results of these actions are. A single annoyance with the rulebook: no ruddy page numbers despite there being a contents page! I can’t tell you how handy page numbers are when familiarising yourself with the rules during your first few games. Proper slap on the hands for that one.

What else have we got? Dual-layered player mats. Oo, nice. They make it so much easier to keep track of your player pieces and hold them in the right places, excellent when you’re a sausage-fingered clod-hopper. The various card decks are great too. I’ve recently come to really appreciate a good quality set of cards, after reviewing a card-based game which might as well have used the last pack of paper from the pound shop. These have a lovely finish, which is only right considering the artwork they depict. There’s nice and chunky markers and meeples, and once everything is on the table it looks stunning, very dramatic and bold. The map is made of chunky hexes – a good job considering how many figures and tokens they can contain – and littered with detail. I will say that I’ve had a few games push the limits of my dear trembling table, and at three players this one goes beyond. Once players are moving their mechs and characters across the map, it looks (to me) as being up there with the best miniature wargaming I’ve seen… although, as I was about to find out, there isn’t much combat.

Gameplay

Far warning, this is considered a medium-to-heavy euro game which takes a few plays before you really start to see how your available actions stack and work together. Once you’re used to what each action does (it won’t happen straight away), turns will be fairly quick as each player only does one or two actions before the next person plays.

Fig 03: The game in full flow, and someone’s made a break for The Factory.

As I hinted at earlier, I expected this to play out like ye olde Command and Conquer. You know what I mean, gathering resources from a growing map to fuel and upgrade your army before the inevitable war. It came as a big surprise to me, then, that we played our first game of Scythe for over an hour before a battle occurred – and during the entirety of that game, it was the only one. This is more akin to everyone at the table playing The Settlers at the same time, wherein you have a few basic resources to gather and actions to take, and as you venture further into the world more options become available. There’s a strong sensation of progression as the turns cycle past. You’re accessing additional resources, which helps you to develop your mechs or improve your resource gathering capabilities or a myriad of other upgrades that gradually become available.

I won’t go into great detail about every single rule in the game – I should imagine that’s been done countless times since Scythe’s release and we don’t need a rehash here. There are a few key elements and mechanics that make the storytelling work, however. In the base game there are five factions to choose from, and the choice can shape how the game turns out. Each faction has their own starting position on the map, and their own player mat which has subtle differences to the others – top actions will be paired up to different bottom actions – urging you to lean into a specific play style to take advantage of the alternative benefits on offer.

Combat plays an important role in Scythe, even when it doesn’t actually happen. Some of those vital stars can be won from winning combat, however it isn’t always worth engaging in,andight not fit in with your strategy at all. The threat of aggression can push an opponent away from you, or it can steer you in a different direction to a tooled up opponent. There are stars to be gained from fighting, but there are plenty of stars to be earned in other ways too.

I didn’t miss the constant combat that I’d initially expected, because I was so busy making decisions and chasing along tracks. The low amount of fighting does make for a low level of in-game player interaction (I suspect that four or five player games may be a tad livelier in this respect, although I haven’t been able to play at that player count to confirm this). However, the actions of other players will affect your decisions. For example, rather than going that way towards a player who has gained a little more strength than you, you could go the other way and get yourself some much-needed oil. There are some other interactions that can come up as you play, such as making deals using coins, but it didn’t come up much when we played. There was plenty of discussion, though, often triggered by the encounter cards or reminding each other what the many actions do.

Fig 04: All the miniatures are top notch – and the mech types are different for each faction.

Obviously I like the game: the question is, how much?

A hell of a lot, is the answer.

I’ve talked about categories of games before, and I’ll give you a new system of categorisation now. There’s the board games that you simply don’t like or bond with, and they won’t be sticking around for long. There’s the ones that you quite enjoy, but you know that at some point you’ll get bored of them and they’ll find their way into eBay eventually. There’s the ones that stay because they come out at Christmas. You have games that remain in your collection just because. And there’s the ones that you know for a fact you’ll never part with because they’re simply too damn good. Scythe has landed smack-bang in the middle of this category. It’s too good, too deep, too rich to let it go.

There are plenty of options to consider whenever you play. Should you get your mechs on the board asap? Should you make a beeline for the factory? Which track should you focus on completing first? Should you get your Mill built before anything else? Every choice you make changes your path – just as it would in real life, if in real life you were a farmer in a 1920’s dieselpunk version of Europe with a clutch of huge mechs at your disposal. I love getting to the end of a game of Scythe and looking back over my actions, seeing which were the major milestones, where were the crossroads in my decision-making, where could my strategy have improved. There are other versions of that story that could be told, and next time we play I’ll definitely tell another of those versions. The choices made by other players will alter my own actions, the Encounter cards will boost me in ways I didn’t anticipate, and the aspect of all this that I find most interesting? Very little is down to luck. It is player choice that drives the narrative. Scythe, then, is emergent storytelling.

Every time I play, I’m there. What I’m trying to say is, I bought into the part that I was given. I lived the role. I was a farmer in a world of strange technology, I was telling the story of my own development. Those Encounter cards I just mentioned serve to boost the immersion as well: they treat you as a character in a story with a decision to make, with each option providing a different outcome, much like an encounter in a book can alter the story’s path. Each card has its own beautiful illustration that tells a little chapter in your progress, and they’re perfect for changing the flow of the game, a punctuation of interest. They can get your opponents riled up as well, as they watch you land some juicy rewards dependent on the choice you make.

Fig 05: Time for a decision. Choose wisely…

This isn’t the cheapest game out there (also far from the most expensive) and it does represent a bit of an investment if you’ve never played before, but quality-wise the value is definitely there, and it feels to me like a blockbuster story with wide-screen ambitions. Where it does require a lot of investment is in time, because you need to give this game the room to show all of its elements and nuances and to win you over – you’ve got no hope of mastering Scythe in a single playthrough.

Scythe proved to be a step above what I’ve been playing up until this point complexity-wise – which was initially a bit scary – but it does three things that let me know it would be worth persevering. It looks amazing, the rulebook is as clear as it can be, and it promises you that you’ll get there in the end with its encouraging player guide. If I feel like I’m getting it, then I guarantee that you can get there too.

Scythe, then, lands the joint-highest score I’ve given to any game. Am I fanboy? Yes. Yes I am.

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