Scythe (board game)

Scythe

Designers	Jamey Stegmaier
Illustrators	Jakub Różalski
Publishers	(2016)
Players	1-5
Playing time	90-115 minutes
Random chance	Low to moderate
Age range	14+
Skills required	Strategy, tactics, logic

Scythe is a board game for 1 to 5 players designed by Jamey Stegmaier and published by Stonemaier Games in 2016. Set in an alternate history 1920s Europe, in Scythe players control factions that produce resources, build economic infrastructure, and use dieselpunk war machines called mechs for combat and to control territories.^[1] Players take up to two actions per turn using unique player boards, with the game proceeding until one player has achieved six achievements, at which point the players receive coins for their achievements and territories controlled, with the player with the most coins winning.^[2]

The game was originally released via Kickstarter, raising over $1.8 million.^[3][4] Scythe was positively received critically and commercially, with praise for its gameplay, mechanics, theme and the game's artwork, which was produced by Polish painter Jakub Różalski under the name World of 1920+.^[1][2][5] Three major expansions have been released for the game in addition to several spin-offs.

Gameplay[]

Scythe gameplay.

In Scythe, players represent different factions in an alternate history 1920s Europe recovering from a great war, where each faction is seeking its fortune. Players build an economic engine by choosing one of four main actions each turn, listed on the top of their personal player board, which cannot be the same as the main action they selected in their previous turn. They can also take a corresponding second action listed on their player board. These actions allow them to move units on the board, trade for or produce goods, bolster their military for combat, deploy mechs, enlist recruits for continuous bonuses, build structures, and upgrade their actions to make them stronger or cheaper.^[6]

Each player has six stars that they will place on the board upon completion of specific goals, such as deploying all four of their mechs.^[1] When one player has deployed all their stars, the game immediately ends, with each star and territory controlled granting a certain amount of money depending on how much popularity the player has achieved during the game. The player who has the most money is the winner.^[7]

Development and release[]

Painting by Różalski, 1920 – Before the Storm, used as the cover for the board game Scythe

Scythe was designed by Jamey Stegmaier, CEO of Stonemaier Games, and revealed as a Kickstarter campaign on October 13, 2015, with backers contributing over $1.8 million during the campaign.^[8][9] It was delivered to backers in July 2016 and released in retail stores the following month.

Stegmaier discovered Polish artist Jakub Różalski's work in August 2014 while browsing Kotaku and was interested in a series of alternate history artwork titled World of 1920+. After this interest, Stegmaier contacted Różalski and requested the rights to make a board game within the fictional world in which.^[10][11] During the early stages of developing the game, the designer pitched the game as "Agricola meets Kemet".^[11]

Różalski's initial design for his World of 1920+ art was primarily focused on two factions that were based on the Polish–Soviet War.^[11] Stegmaier collaborated with Różalski and requested to improve gameplay such as adding a factory and additional factions to add into the game to allow more players to play while respecting his vision for the World of 1920+.^[11][12] Stegmaier initially wanted each faction to be more card-based with individual card deck but changed the design during development.^[11] The designer was also using the Polish-Soviet War for inspiration, particularly from the real Polish bear and wanted to add bear units for each faction. However, during development, Stegmaier played Dead of Winter and wanted to implement the same depth and diversity of the characters. This led instead to each character from each faction being accompanied by a single animal unique from the rest.^[13] Morten Monrad Pederson developed the single-player mode and expressed that Scythe was one of the most difficult single-player projects he developed.^{[14][better source needed]}

Multiple names for the game were conceived and proposed, but both Stegmaier and Różalski agreed to the name "Scythe" with Różalski designing the logo himself and incorporated a scythe as the letter "C". The name was conceived by Stegmaier and was chosen because the tool of the same name represented the themes of the game; being used for harvest and combat.^[10]

Reception[]

Scythe received praise from critics for its mechanism, gameplay and art. The game was featured as one of Geek and Sundry's best board games of 2016; with reviewer Charlie Theel commenting that "Scythe is a fantastic design that will not soon be forgotten."^[15] Similarly, Popular Mechanics also dubbed Scythe "the best game of 2016."^[16] Ars Technica also named the game one of the best in 2016, describing it as a "deep, puzzly, interactive Euro-style board game" and praised the simplicity of the turn structure which complements with the "many complex, interlocking parts" as well as the engine building mechanics.^[1] The game's balance of depth and accessibility was further commented on Tabletop Gaming, as well as the encounter mechanism, which was said to "round out Scythe’s in-game universe and offer a more micro-level human edge", and the "cleverly designed" player mats with upgrading systems showing an example of engine building.^[17]

The combination of Euro-style resource management and combat mechanics were also commented. Ars Technica wrote that the simplicity of the combat is similar to the systems in Kemet and Dune and described it as a "tense exercise", but also wrote about its relative infrequency.^[1] Tabletop Gaming positively praised the "quick and highly strategic" system, but also described that producing resources is instrumental for victory.^[17] Kotaku also stated that the resource management and construction aspect of being more significant compared to the combat.^[18]

The Automa, which is an artificial opponent for a single-player game of Scythe, was also generally well received. Kotaku positively described its functionality as "a great way to learn the ropes before getting a crew together" but commented on the major differences compared to the multiplayer mode.^[18] TechRaptor agreed, stating that it was "slickly designed" and suitability to be used as a non-player faction in multiplayer games.^[19]

The game's artwork has also received extremely positive reviews from reviewers, with Polygon commenting that the game utilises the art as a thematic core for the objective and encounter cards, stating that "Each one of them is a treasure".^[7] In addition, PC Gamer commended the art quality, noting that "The cards have fascinating scenes of agrarian life juxtaposed with smoking dieselpunk mechs and war machines".^[20] Ars Technica also praised the artwork and said that the game is "tied together through the stunning art".^[1]

Scythe received 5 Golden Geek awards for 2016 from BoardGameGeek, winning for Board Game of the Year, Artwork & Presentation, Strategy Game, and Solo Game. It also placed as a runner-up for Most Innovative.^[21][22] The game was also well received commercially with 382,102 copies sold as of April 2021. It was the product with the highest number of copies sold from Stonemaier Games until being surpassed by Wingspan in 2021.^[23]

Expansions[]

Scythe received three major expansions, Invaders of Afar, The Wind Gambit and Rise of the Fenris. The first expansion, Scythe: Invaders from Afar, was released in 2016 and added two new factions into the game that increased the player count from 5 to 7 and additional player mats. It was praised for the variety of the new factions that also maintains the balance of the original game, the new mechanics and components, but was also criticised the increased downtime with more players.^[24]

Scythe: The Wind Gambit was released in 2017 as the second expansion to Scythe, adding airships and variable end-game conditions to the base game.^[25] The expansion won the Golden Geek award for the best game expansion in 2017.^[26] Kotaku also praised the expansion's components and the victory conditions enhancing the end game, but said that the appeal of the airship abilities decline despite its improvement during the early game.^[27]

Scythe: The Rise of Fenris, the third expansion published in 2018, introduced 11 modules featuring an 8-episode campaign and cooperative mode.^[28] The expansion received acclaim, winning the 2018 Golden Geek for best expansion.^[29] Polygon stated that the expansion as of "an incredible value, and represents board gaming’s new state of the art", praising the enhanced replayability; storyline and the art.^[30] TechRaptor described the campaign as "flavorful, exciting, memorable and, most importantly, extremely fun" and each module as "mind-blowing.^[31]

Several promotional packages and upgrades were also released for the game. Scythe Encounters, which was published in December 2018, included a set of 32 promotional encounter cards primarily designed from fan submissions.^[32][33] The new encounter cards was praised for enhanced replayability but also received criticism for its limited purpose.^[34] Scythe Modular Board, which alters the board map, was released in July 2019.^[35]

Spin-offs[]

In 2017, a stand-alone spin-off, My Little Scythe, was published by Stonemaier Games, originally based on a print and play designed by Hoby Chou and Vienna Chou.^[36] The game was inspired by Scythe and has similar mechanisms but re-themed and simplified to a more casual, family-friendly version. My Little Scythe received positive reviews and won the 2017 Golden Geek Print and Play award.^{[37][38][39][40]} The game was praised for its artwork, mechanics and accessibility as an entry to the original game.^[41][42] An expansion for the game, My Little Scythe: Pie in the Sky, was released in June 2020, introducing two new factions and airships.^[43]

Several digital video games based on Scythe have been published, including Scythe: Digital Edition, which was released in September 2018 via Steam by Asmodee Digital.^[44] The visuals for the digital game was praised, but the artificial opponent and rules guide were criticised.^[45][46] Iron Harvest, a real-time strategy video game inspired by Scythe's 1920+ setting, also released in September 2020 and was positively received for its artwork and thematic setting.^[47][48]

References[]

External links[]

Scythe at Stonemaier Games