This game looks busy, so many little pieces, so many little actions. However, it's not as it seems. I don't like overcomplicated games with convoluted rules. If I buy a game then I expect to learn it and play it, not spending time a college course equivalent of reading through and learning the rules. For the longest time, I avoided this game because of how busy it looks. Eventually, after hearing the praises by others and a 30 dollar price drop I decided to buy it. I was surprised to find a very engaging game with an efficient rule set.
The system is what makes it work. If you have played enough games over the years one thing you will notice is how a few of the mechanics are borrowed. Little bits of other working games fitted in just right, like a recipe for a good meal. With that in mind, I would describe this game as a two-course meal. The action mats like the appetizer with the actions playing out on the game board like the main course. During the game, you will primarily interact with these two mechanics.
First the action boards. They are laminated cardboard, unlike whole pieces, this makes them feel heavier and longer-lasting. Most of your bits and bobs fit into these mats. The small squares, most of the figures and buildings start or stay on this matt. As you play you only be interacting with parts of this mat making things much more easier to manage. Each section is just two actions so you will never have to deal with more than these two actions. The main actions on the top will either give resources or allow you to perform an action on the game board while the bottom the optional action will always cost something but will upgrade something, making things easier later or allowing you to deploy something. The player mats are mainly for reference and will be interacted with only when needed, like deploying a mech or using an inlist action giving a quick bonus or stat upgrades.
The game board, this sucker is huge. Not only that but they have a larger board on the bottom that you can add to. On the game board, there are resources, tunnels, lakes and even a central factory. Using your action board you interact with the game board. Choose a move action and move a piece, choose a deploy action and deploy a worker. Using a secondary action to build/place a mech. Moving your workers onto a resource allows you to use the produce action to create resources that you can use any time to pay for costs on your action board. Doing this creates a cycle of production and paying costs to improve your possibilities. You're never doing more than one normal interaction with the game board at any one given time unless you start combat. By moving your character or mechs into spaces with your opponent's pieces starts combat. In this case, worker pieces will flee and or you fight your opponent's characters and mechs using combat cards and the combat dial. During gameplay, you will draw cards with numbers bonuses and gain power with the bolster action. Combat is easy, spend power using your dial and add power cards to add bonuses to it. Each player has the dial and cards face down, reveals them and the highest numbers win. That simple. The loser takes their peace and places them at the home base. The cost is though if you force workers to flee you will lose popularity, apparently, the people of your employer don't like seeing you bully unarmed people. Lastly on the game board are encounters. These are represented by tokens and if your player peace runs into one you draw an encounter card. These are great. Each one has three choices that are tied into one another and will put you in the situation to gain something and lose something depending on what you do. They represent great extra flavor and things that can mix things up.
Combat vs peace. Despite using mechs the game is only one part combat. The other two parts being production and popularity. Combat can be useful but it's not the endgame method. The game is balanced nicely to make it so that no one player can dominate in any one given area, instead of its all about taking what you can do to push past your opponents. In this way, combat is more of a tool used only when you really need to instead of an end-all solution. A player can initiate combat just with the idea of placing a star on the victory track or just when you really need to push out an opponent from a strategic spot. The same goes for resources, you can't win just doing what an econobox does. You will need to fight sooner or later and worrying about resources gives no direct advantage.
Popularity, the final component is how popular your character becomes, despite seemingly small, this is the last third of the game. In this case the more your people like you the more bonuses you get at the end of the game. The end goal is to end up the richest among your peers. You will earn some gold during the game but most of it will come from the popularity track. The multipliers on this track is a make it or break it, mechanic. Being down just one tier on this track can break a win. So popularity is very important and you need to keep in mind throughout the entire game.
One thing I want to bring up though is how the game is balanced so it's very difficult for any player to truly know if they are winning. No single player during this game will be able to say they are absolutely winning. Only at the final moments of calculations will anyone truly know. In the manual, it is stated that this is done on purpose. This is great because it makes for an enjoyable experience throughout the whole game. It makes it harder for those power gamers of the world to create bad situations and makes it easier for new players to enjoy themselves. There is a rule in the game that states that at no time should any player attempt to take their turn calculating the other players. If any player takes more than 30 seconds gauging the other players they automatically lose 10 popularity. A very large penalty considering that's more than half possible.
Overall I have really enjoyed this game despite my previous fears and recommend the base game for any player. For people who end up a fan than buying the expansions is definitely worth it. I got this game for 60, a great buy for a game you can easily spend 90 to 100 for at your local shop. The components despite being cardboard, plastic and wood are well made. The components even play into the rules a little to help smooth certain things over. This game is best for serious board game players but definitely accessible for people who are more casual. So give it a try and play on.
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From the brand
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Our games seek to capture the imaginations of all types of people, as our goal is to build games and communities that include everyone and bring joy to tabletops around the world.
We also believe in constantly evaluating and improving our creation process to improve the environmental sustainability and accessibility of our games.
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Product Description
Designed by Jamey Stegmaier | Art by Jakub Rozalski
Featured Components
- 1 game board, 5 player mats, 5 faction mats, 5 character minis, 20 mech minis
- 80 resource tokens, 5 action tokens
- 5 popularity tokens, 36 star tokens, 20 structure tokens, 20 recruit tokens, 48 workers
- 80 coins tokens, 12 multiplier tokens
- 12 encounter tokens, 36 tech cubes
- 6 structure bonus tiles, 42 combat cards, 23 objective cards, 28 encounter cards
- 12 factory cards, 5 riverwalk cards, 5 quick-start cards, 2 power dials
- 2 rulebooks (multiplayer and solo), 1 quick reference guide
Scythe
Five factions vie for dominance in a war-torn, mech-filled, dieselpunk 1920s Europe.
Scythe is an engine-building game set in an alternate-history 1920s period. It is a time of farming and war, broken hearts and rusted gears, innovation and valor. In Scythe, each player represents a character from one of five factions of Eastern Europe who are attempting to earn their fortune and claim their faction's stake in the land around the mysterious Factory. Players conquer territory, enlist new recruits, reap resources, gain villagers, build structures, and activate monstrous mechs.
- 1-5 Players
- 115 Min Playtime
- Ages 14+
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ScytheEach player begins the game with different resources, a different starting location, and a hidden goal. Starting positions are specially calibrated to contribute to each faction’s uniqueness and the asymmetrical nature of the game. Scythe uses a streamlined action-selection mechanism to keep gameplay moving at a brisk pace and reduce downtime between turns. While there is plenty of direct conflict for players who seek it, there is no player elimination. |
Choose Your Top Row ActionYou have 4 actions to choose from: move (move your mech, hero, or workers), bolster (increase your power), trade (purchase different goods), and produce (gain resources depending on where your workers are). |
Take Your Bottom Row ActionOnce you've taken an action on the top row, you can now choose to take the correlating action on the bottom row: upgrade (improve your efficiency), deploy (pay for and send out a new mech), build (pay to place a building on a space you control), and enlist (gain a one time and ongoing bonus). |
VictoryThroughout the game, you will place stars on the board upon achieving goals. The game ends when a player places their 6th star. Score for coins, stars, territories controlled, resources, and structure bonuses. This score is multiplied by your popularity throughout the game, and the player with the most points is declared winner. |
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| Scythe (Base Game) | Scythe: Invaders from Afar Expansion | Scythe: The Rise of Fenris | Expeditions | Tapestry | Euphoria: Build a Better Dystopia | |
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| Customer Reviews |
5,266
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| Price | $80.00 | — | $38.99 | $82.44 | $89.99 | $74.96 |
| Number of Players | 1-5 | 1-7 | 1-5 (or up to 7 with Invaders) | 1-5 | 1-5 | 2-6 |
| Average Playtime | 115 mins | 115-140 mins | 75-150 mins | 60-90 mins | 90-120 mins | 60 mins |
| Game Objectives and Theme | Five factions vie for dominance in a war-torn, mech-filled, dieselpunk 1920s Europe. | Adds 2 news factions and the ability to play with up to 6 or 7 players to the Scythe Base Game. | Features an 8-game replayable campaign and 11 interchangeable modules to add to the Scythe Base Game. | Venture to the dangerous north in this tile-exploration game | Lead a unique civilization to greatness through cultural and technological advances. | Place worker dice strategically to build your authority and take over a dystopia. |
| Game Mechanisms | Area Majority/Influence | Area Majority/Influence | Campaign, Area Majority/Influence | Engine Building | Area/Majority Influence | Worker Placement |
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My thoughts after owning Scythe for several years
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Is This Like RISK? Fun Gameplay? Fast Paced?
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Scythe - My honest review - and unboxing
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My top critical review Scythe Board Game
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Unboxing Scythe the epic dieselpunk board game.
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Best board game I’ve ever played!
If Catan and Risk had a baby it would be named Scythe! This board game is a ton of fun and my families new favorite game! The board game pieces are very good quality and the gameplay is just unreal and exhilarating! The first game takes a long time and it’s hard to learn all the rules at once but don’t give up because after that it’s a breeze. I recommend you YouTube the tutorial on how to play and or play the Steam version, both of those helped us learn faster and easier. In this game you farm materials and can go to war against other players, there is so much more to it then that though. I’ve owned the game for a year and I now own all expansions because I’m in love. If you want a game you can get addicted to, then this is the one!
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Excelente juego y de mucha calidad
Reviewed in Mexico on June 26, 2024Style: BaseVerified Purchase
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Reviewed in Mexico on June 26, 2024
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Excelente jogo
Reviewed in Spain on December 27, 2023Style: BaseVerified Purchase
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Artwork in the form of a board game
Reviewed in India on December 16, 2023Style: BaseVerified Purchase
