I don't like eurogames.

Lack of narrative cohesion (Only one worker can go to market? ...seriously?) means consequences often feel abstracted: 'That one time I scored a huge bonus tile' has nothing on 'That time I blew up your entire fleet with a last-ditch superweapon.' There's also that old nugget about player interaction.

Simply put: I like when stories happen in games. Eurogames tend to put a lot of layers between me and the narrative. I therefore dislike eurogames.

Scythe is a eurogame by Jamey Stegmaier (with art and worldbuilding by Jacub Rozalski) that I took the shrink off 5 days ago. I have since played it 6 times.

It's a weapon of war AND a farming implement, see.

Synopsis

It is 1920s Europe, in an alternate history where the First World War was fought with giant mechs. The enigmatic city-state known as the Factory - who armed all sides of the conflict with these marvelous machines - has mysteriously shut down. Your nation has sent you in to colonize the surrounding lands and explore the Factory in search of riches and glory.

The production quality is, frankly, superlative. The cardboard is absurdly thick, the box is sturdy as hell, the resources are molded wood models instead of colored cubes. LOOK AT THIS PLAYER MAT.

Double layered! With slots for your components!

AND THIS TRAY.

MECHS!

Wednesday the cat assists in testing the tray's resistance to gravity. Result: Good.

Systems

Turns in Scythe go like this:

1) Select one of the 4 actions on your player mat.

2) Do the top row action if you want. Then do the bottom row action if you want.

3) Pass turn.

Scythe can be taught in minutes (mostly by reading from the reference cards) and explaining each of the 4 actions. Explain that you can't take the same action twice in a row, and partway through the game, do a mock scoring. That's it.

But at the same time, that's so not it. The design has not been polished so much as sandblasted; nothing here is extraneous. One gets the sense that if it couldn't be simplified down into its most basic form, it was cut. I could ramble for paragraphs about this but I'm going to show it with just two of the game's systems: upgrades, and combat.

When performing an upgrade, remove a cube from one of your upper row actions

...revealing the extra benefit beneath.

The upgrade cube can then be moved to one of your bottom row actions...

...where it permanently reduces the cost of that action.

The upgrade system is a tech tree that players don't have to memorize, does not require additional components, is built right into the player mat, and is incredibly satisfying to physically manipulate as well as take advantage of in-game. It's genius.

(Pay attention to that word, by the way: 'satisfying.' That's the dominant emotion I feel whenever I play Scythe.)

Combat.

Pay power using the dial on the left. Add combat cards which you can draw with your actions. Add the two values together. Highest number wins, attacker breaks ties, and the ratio of combat cards is printed right on the board.

Jamey Stegmaier claims this was the hardest bit to design, and the end result is just like the rest of the game – boiled down so hard you cannot imagine any other way to do it. It's not so much the system as the system's implications: When you lose a combat, units go home rather than die, resulting in a temporary checking of ambition rather than permanent loss – but since they go home you lose all the time you spent moving them out, so winning a combat is incredibly important. You steal any resources on the territory you conquered, but you lose popularity for each worker you drive off, meaning that workers stationed in critical territories act as a buffer to discourage attack – but if your workers are huddled in one spot, you control fewer territories and thus score lower at the end of the game...

(Despite all this, it's common for games of Scythe to end with very little fighting. The most combats I've ever seen in one game is 3. It's more the threat of combat – which can be debilitating – than the actual combat itself.)

Scythe bills itself as a 4X and it ticks every single X in a way which is rewarding on a really primal level. Actions are simple and immediate – I produce, I instantly get resources. I move, I see how my units spread out for future production, or gain access to the Factory, or have an Encounter.

Often whimsical, always gorgeous.

The encounter cards are a huge reason why I enjoy this game. Apart from the fairly large rewards for exploring, encounters create a sense of narrative as you push your way out across the board. Even the board itself creates narrative because as you expand your empire, you're not colonizing random hexes - you're moving through a land with churches and lakes and mountains and a history. Why are there two farms next to each other next to a village? Who lives there? And how do they feel about me parking 100 foot death machines on their fields?

Synergy

Everything you do in this game is enormously satisfying. Mechs give special abilities to your entire faction. Buildings, recruits, and upgrades permanently improve your player mat. Gathering power, popularity, and resources let you set up for future turns as well as improving your shot at endgame scoring.

Each system feeds into each other system: because resources are kept on the board rather than on your mat, area control and positioning are important because quick-witted opponents can swoop in and steal your stuff. Adding workers gives more resources but increases the cost of production. Upgrading your player mat costs resources but increases efficiency…

Playing this game was like opening a watch to look at the gears in motion. Scythe's systems spiral and coil and interlock, and none are wasted. Everything here has earned its place. Every symbol on every card and mat has been meticulously placed. A stunning amount of thought has been put into its design, and it shows so strongly in every aspect.

Symmetry

Nordic artillery mechs walking on water. Saxon troops barricaded deep in the mountains. Crimean raiders appearing seemingly from nowhere. Each of the game's five factions – with their unique faction powers, mech abilities and starting location – will have something for everyone. Variety is further introduced by the player mats, none of which are the same.

Note the different combinations of upper and bottom row actions, and the variations in rewards.

Because of this, a Rusviet player with the Industrial mat has to play very differently than a Rusviet with Agricultural or Mechanical – greatly influencing your path to victory. Continuing to muddy the strategic waters are, of course, your opponents, who will be doing different things each game as well, leading to tons of variety over the game's lifespan.

Nitpick: Even though each faction has an adorable animal companion, said animals are distinctly underused. One has the impression they were included as part of the design but were streamlined out over time. The game is probably better off without extraneous 'pay 2 to move your animal 1 space' rules, but come on, don't tell me you don't want to sic a muskox on someone. Expansion module plz, Jamey.

Animal friends!

Synchronicity

Scythe’s immediacy makes it very clear to see if your turn was good or not, and this strong sense of feedback removes that common Euro problem where you feel like you were doing okay only to find out you lost by a mile.

Having a series of good turns means you can maintain a broad play structure, allowing you to pivot into different plans as needed. Tunnel-visioning on one strategy can work, but you have to be prepared for disgruntled opponents marching across the map with murderous intent.

Hallo! Which way to IKEA, please?

At the same time, being laser-focused on efficiency can bouy you across the finish line before the other players have even gotten a good run down the straight. By allowing broad styles of play combined with the large amounts of variety mentioned earlier, Scythe has potential for incredible depth and replayability. I once won a game where I never visited the Factory. It's definitely possible to win without building a single mech.

And if you do win, you get to fill in your name on the achievement sheet next to the deeds that you accomplished that game. (Some are extremely difficult.) It seems like a gimmick at first, but like just about everything else in this game, the achievements are about getting players to experiment with different play styles. Is it worth never building any mechs in order to get that endorphin hit of writing your name on a high score screen? More importantly – can you actually do it?

Symbols

Nitpick: Language independence took priority over ease of use. I had to stare at a couple of cards to try and figure out exactly what the iconography meant, but the symbols are universal and explained in the rulebook, so I got it eventually.

“Pay 2 resources which are not the same: Build a Mech or a Building on a territory with a worker.”

While we're nitpicking, the board unfolds in a very unintuitive way. Given how flipping huge the board is (six folds!) and how popular this game is going to become amongst my group, I have the irrational fear that I'm going to rip the seams every time I unfold it.

Synopsis Redux

There's still so much to peel back. I haven't properly come to grips with any of the factions. I want to try every player mat/faction combination. I haven't come close to touching the solo mode. I've yet to play with 5 players. There's 2 more factions coming soon in the Invaders From Afar expansion. (Japan! Britain!)

I like to keep my collection small, but Scythe is going onto my shelf with a thunk (oh man is that a heavy box) and staying there. I heavily dislike most Euros, but this game isn't most Euros. I mean, which Euro lets you do this?

Frolicking AND Bear Cavalry. In one card.

So sold.

Calvin's Corner - Scythe

Calvin Wong

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