Scythe: Rapid Review
Information:
Mechanics: Point Salad, Area Control, Engine Building, Variable Player Powers
Player Age: 14+Player Count: 1 - 5 PlayersTime to Play: 90 - 115 Minutes
Game Designer: Jamey Stegmaier
Player Age: 14+
Game Designer: Jamey Stegmaier
Rundown:
Scythe is one of Stonemaier Games original grandiose games. It combines a number of mechanisms including worker placement/area selection, resource management, point salad and area control. Players will be upgrading their boards, fighting, constructing workers, building/unleashing mechs and completing objectives all in the quest to earn stars. Once a player has earnt their sixth star the game will end. Each player will score points at the end of the game for every star placed, every territory under their control and every two resources they own. The points for each of these will vary based on the players popularity, the higher the popularity the better each of these categories will score. Players will also add their existing coins to this end score and whoever has the most riches will win the game.
On each turn a player is moving their selector to a different location on their player mat. Each location has an optional top ability and an optional bottom ability.
The top abilities let players move units, increase power and gain resources through trading or producing. The bottom actions will allow players to upgrade their board to then move an initially blocked benefit at the top part of the board. Moving this blockage reduces the cost of an action on the bottom part of the player mat. Creating constructs allows players to gain territories as well as improve their player mat. The last two actions allow players to ‘deploy’ a mech to gain more manoeuvrability on the board and ‘enlist’ to gain an immediate bonus, as well as give the players a bonus any time they (and the players next to them) perform this bottom action.
Alteration:
This game will always play different, as there are 23 objectives and each player will only use two each game. 12 factory tiles add an additional area to be selected and five player mats that each have a randomised order of top actions and different resource cost/coins gained from the bottom actions.
Above this, each faction is asymmetrical with a different special ability and different bonus to be revealed when mechs are deployed.
Production:
The production is great as each faction has differently shaped worker meeples and different miniatures for their individual character and mechs. The board is also designed with expansions in mind with half of the larger version map on the back (a cosmetic expansion available) as well as starting spaces for new factions gained in the expansions.
Interaction:
This is a game that can be highly interactive as players will fight for such things as dominance on the board, resources and placing stars by combat. The game focuses on engine building and developing your own empire so players do not have to focus on area control per se.
Determination:
Pros:
- Great Variability.
- Large game, but easy to learn.
- Asymmetrical factions.
Cons:
- Takes up a lot of table space.
Scythe greatly incorporates many mechanisms that work very well together. These mechanisms create a smooth experience for the players but also allows for large decision space for players to focus on the goals they want as they can set the pace of the game, design their engine and go for dominance of the board. The many factions and large quantity of expansions help make this game an easy staple in your collection, as well as having great replay ability without making the game play too complex. This is a long, grandiose game, and is a beast to setup but the return of these efforts are well worth it.
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