Scythe is the most anticipated boardgame of the year. Was it worth the hype?

I finally got my copy of Scythe, I’ve seen the Watch it Played video read all the KickStarter posts and was finally ready to play this game that’s been in the boardgame geek hotness list for what seems like forever.

Opening up the very large cardboard box, it was delivered in, I was delighted to see that my game was so cushioned that there was not even the slightest dent in the beautiful Scythe box.

The lid with its foil letters and amazing art, which we are now very familiar with, graced me first and I was eager to tear the cellophane off and open this treasure trove of beautiful components.

On sliding the lid off I saw a box truly using all of its size, with bags full of wooden bits and lots of plastic wrapped cards.

Pulling these aside I spied the tray holding the plastic miniatures, snuggled safely under foam.

Each faction has a character with an animal and a set of four mechs. The sculpting on the characters is good, though not as high quality as say something from Cool Mini or Not. The faces in particular aren’t heavily defined but with the coloured bases it’s easy to identify who belongs to whom.

Each faction’s mechs and even the wooden worker meeples all have their own unique sculpts which just adds even more character and charm to the game.

Then the five player and five faction mats all feature more of the wonderful unique artwork by Jakub Rozalski and still more stuff is being pulled out of the box. There’s a combat dial in each factions colour again with that beautiful art. Then the rules book, a handy quick reference sheet and the Automata rules for solo play. Last but not least is the double sided board. Now I only have the Special Edition of the game so I do not have the board extension but I will say that you would need a sizable table to fit it all if you do. The standard board is 6 panels and looks amazing, the icons are clear and easy to read. Each faction’s starting area is marked for ease; all in all the size is perfect for 2-5 players and won’t feel cramped.

Oh and if you happened to back at a higher level than me you also get some metal coins, they’re alright I guess (no jealousy here at all I promise you).

Enough about all the amazing bits, you want to know what happens when you get them on the table.

The game is played until someone has completed 6 of the possible 9 objectives. You have little wooden stars to put on the board for this. Knowing which 6 you are going for is key to strategizing and something best to work out early on. Also depending on which faction you are, which player mat you get and your starting objectives the game offers a lot of asymmetry and replayability.

If it’s not already clear I was definitely warming to this game before it even hit the table. A watch of Rodney Smith’s how to play video and I was also feeling confident that, while daunting to look at, this was a simple game to play.

Luckily some other people I knew had also backed this and were keen to try it out. So my first game was with three people (including myself). I was the plucky Crimean Khanate vs the Nordic Kingdoms and the Republic of Polania. As we were all new there were lots of checking and double checking of the rules, so the game went slightly longer than the box time of 115 minutes. During this time we used our player mats top row actions to Move, Produce, Bolster and Trade. These are the main actions you use to get around the board, create resources and increase your combat power and popularity.

Once you have enough resources you can then use a bottom row action to Upgrade your player mat, Construct a mech, Build a structure or Enlist a recruit. These actions allow you to move all those wonderful wooden and plastic pieces to increase what you can do and build towards those endgame stars.

The challenge of what to do next when you can’t repeat an action (well one faction can) means you have to think a few moves ahead to maximise your turns. Combat takes a back seat, well in the games I’ve played so far, to resource management and filling the board up with more bits. Though I imagine with the full complement of 5 combat will be more frequent.

The gameplay is very smooth and turns are quick and satisfying, after the first few you will often be able to take a top row and a bottom row action.

I almost forgot that you can give your character and mechs new powers to make them even better and your character when landing on certain tiles gets you an encounter card. These cards offer you three varying choices to get rewards and either increase or decrease your popularity depending upon your choice.

To win you are going to want to get as many stars as you can, hold a load of territories and resources. Oh and the more popular you are the bigger your multiplier for these will be. All these give you coins and the one with the most coins at the end wins.

There’s a lot going on here and it’s all presented in a delightful way. At first it does seem overwhelming but after a few turns (and the handy suggested action card) you’ll be taking your faction into fields to harvest food, chopping down trees for wood and mining ore in no time.

I’ve enjoyed my play-through’s of Scythe so far and cannot wait to try with the larger player counts to see how I fare.

You will no doubt know someone with a copy who wants to play so give this game a go and don’t be scared by all the moving part, besides they are lovely to look at.