Scythe: Digital Edition

• Scythe Digital Edition Multiplayer
• Scythe Digital Edition Wind Gambit
• Scythe Game Review
• Scythe Digital Edition Faq

Scythe: Digital Edition Asmodee Digital In an alternate reality in 1920s Europa, it's been several years since the 'Great War', but the ashes of the conflict. Scythe is rated as one of the top ten board games of all time at Board Game Geek. Expansions and digital edition. The first expansion, Scythe: Invaders From Afar, was released in July 2017, adding two new factions to the game and increasing the maximum player count from 5 to 7. Scythe: Digital Edition. Asmodee Digital Strategy. Everyone 10+ 201. Add to Wishlist. In an alternate reality in 1920s Europa, it's been several years. Scythe: Digital Edition - Apps on Google Play In an alternate reality in 1920s Europa, it's been several years since the 'Great War', but the ashes of the conflict are still hot and the war is. Well, there's a Friday treat for you. Scythe: Digital Edition is available to play right now if you have an iPhone and live in the UK or Canada. It's a premium release and will set you back £8.99 on the iOS App Store.

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 which produce resources, build economic infrastructure, and use giant dieselpunk war machines called mechs to fight and control territory.^[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 received very positive reviews, with particularly strong praise for the game's artwork, which was produced by Polish painter Jakub Różalski under the name World of 1920+.^[5][2][1] As of 2020, Scythe is ranked 11th among all board games on BoardGameGeek.^[6]

Dungeon escape. The 1920+ universe is also featured in the video game Iron Harvest released in September 2020.^[7]

Gameplay[edit]

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, deploy mechs, enlist recruits for continuous bonuses, build structures, and upgrade their actions to make them stronger or cheaper.^[8]

Each player has six stars that they will place on the board upon completion of certain 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.^[9]

Release and reception[edit]

Scythe was initially sold via Kickstarter, with backers contributing over $1.8 million during the campaign.^[10] It was delivered to backers in July 2016 and released in retail stores the following month.

Scythe won 5 Golden Geek awards for 2016 from BoardGameGeek, winning for Board Game of the Year, Artwork & Presentation, Strategy Game, and Solo Game, and placing as a runner-up for Most Innovative.^[11]Scythe also won the Origins award for 2016 board game of the year.^[12]

The game was featured as one of Geek and Sundry's best board games of 2016, with reviewer Charlie Theel saying that 'Scythe is a fantastic design that will not soon be forgotten.'^[13]Popular Mechanics also dubbed Scythe 'the best game of 2016.'^[14]

Scythe's artwork has received exceptional praise from reviewers for its images of agrarian life juxtaposed with giant war machines.^[15][9]

Scythe: The Wind Gambit won a Golden Geek award for the best expansion to a game in 2017.^[16]

Scythe: The Rise of Fenris is the best received expansion by critics, for its introduction of a cooperative mode, a campaign mode and 8 modules that can be combined or played independently.^[17]

Scythe is rated as one of the top ten board games of all time at Board Game Geek.^[18]

Expansions and digital edition[edit]

The first expansion, Scythe: Invaders From Afar, was released in July 2017, adding two new factions to the game and increasing the maximum player count from 5 to 7.^[19] The second expansion, Scythe: The Wind Gambit, was released in December 2017, adding airships and variable end-game conditions to the game.^[20]The third and final expansion, titled The Rise of Fenris and released in the third quarter of 2018, added an 8 game campaign with 11 modules that can be used in different combinations,^[21] as well as a cooperative play mode.^[22]

Asmodee Digital released Scythe: Digital Edition via Steam in September 2018.^[23]

In December 2018, Stonemaier Games released Scythe Encounters, a mini-expansion containing 32 promotional encounter cards, many of which were created from fan submissions.^[24]

References[edit]

1. ^ ^abcZimmerman, Aaron (July 30, 2016). 'Scythe review: The most-hyped board game of 2016 delivers'. Ars Technica. Retrieved August 12, 2017.
2. ^ ^abGuarino, Ben (September 16, 2016). 'The Most Hyped Board Game of 2016 Earned It'. Inverse. Retrieved August 13, 2017.
3. ^Oide, Thomas (March 8, 2017). 'Fueled by love of games, MU professor creates successful board game of his own'. Columbia Missourian. Retrieved August 13, 2017.
4. ^Fenske, Sarah (March 26, 2016). 'St. Louis-Based Company's Kickstarter Rakes in $1.5 Million (Seriously)'. The Riverfront Times. Retrieved August 13, 2017.
5. ^Plunkett, Luke (July 12, 2016). 'Scythe: The Kotaku Review'. Kotaku. Retrieved August 13, 2017.
6. ^'Browse Board Games | BoardGameGeek'. boardgamegeek.com. Retrieved 2020-02-27.
7. ^'Painter's Art Turns into Video Game with Dieselpunk Robots'. Culture.pl. Retrieved April 11, 2019.
8. ^East, Oliver (June 16, 2017). 'Scythe Review – Strategic Turn Based Brilliance'. Just Push Start. Retrieved September 22, 2017.
9. ^ ^abHall, Charlie (August 12, 2016). 'In Scythe, my buffalo fights for the people'. Polygon. Retrieved August 13, 2017.
10. ^Paez, Danny (December 18, 2015). 'Crowdfunded board games surge despite video market'. CNBC. Retrieved September 30, 2017.
11. ^Hall, Charlie (March 9, 2016). 'The best board games of 2016'. Polygon. Retrieved August 13, 2017.
12. ^'Scythe named Game of the Year at Origins Awards'. Tabletop Gaming. June 19, 2016. Retrieved September 30, 2017.
13. ^Theel, Charlie (December 28, 2016). 'The Best Board Games of 2016 – Scythe'. Geek and Sundry. Retrieved September 30, 2017.
14. ^Herkewitz, William (September 29, 2017). 'The 50 Best New Board Games'. Popular Mechanics. Retrieved October 7, 2017.
15. ^Bolding, Jonathan (December 22, 2016). 'Our favorite board games for PC gamers'. PC Gamer. Retrieved August 13, 2017.
16. ^Hall, Charlie (March 14, 2018). 'The best board games of 2017, as chosen by the Board Game Geek community'. Polygon. Retrieved March 17, 2018.
17. ^'The Best Scythe Expansion?'. Board Game Theories. Retrieved 6 October 2020.
18. ^Francis, Eric (June 19, 2018). 'This Board-Gaming Craze Comes With $2,700 Tables'. Bloomberg. Retrieved June 27, 2019.
19. ^East, Oliver (July 31, 2017). 'Scythe: Invaders From Afar Review - New Factions, New Fun'. Just Push Start. Retrieved August 25, 2017.
20. ^Hall, Charlie (April 17, 2017). 'This expansion will completely change the best board game of 2016'. Polygon. Retrieved September 11, 2017.
21. ^Hall, Charlie (January 3, 2018). 'Scythe will get a campaign expansion this year (update)'. Polygon. Retrieved February 22, 2018.
22. ^Heller, Emily (January 24, 2019). 'The best strategy board games to mix up game night'. Polygon. Retrieved February 15, 2019.
23. ^Law, Keith (September 15, 2018). 'Review: Mega-hit boardgame Scythe goes digital on Steam'. Ars Technica. Retrieved November 23, 2018.
24. ^Elderkin, Beth (October 23, 2018). 'Galactic Scoundrels and Teddy Bears Rise Up in the Latest Tabletop Gaming News'. Gizmodo. Retrieved June 27, 2019.

External links[edit]

• Scythe at BoardGameGeek

Three years ago, in the crowded Exhibitor's Hall and bustling gaming rooms of GenCon 2016, a copy of Scythe could be seen everywhere, stuffed under attendee's arms, poking out of shopping bags, sprawled out on gaming tables and convention floors. Its sheer ubiquity that year should give some evidence of its quality. To be the 'game of the Con' at the largest tabletop convention in North America is no simple thing, but Scythe earned this spot by delivering on the entrancing aesthetic style — the pastoral diesel-punk landscapes of artist and worldbuilder Jakub Rozalski — that garnered it so much attention, while at the same time packaging it with a legitimately well-crafted tabletop experience.

Scythe Digital Edition Multiplayer

Airships conquer the skies tips. Easy to learn, reasonably fast to play, and sporting some high quality, gorgeously designed boards, mats, and pieces, the original version of Scythe is worthy of the praise that was heaped upon it at launch, and has remained a go-to comfort food for many a tabletop group even to this day, as evidenced by its steady position consistently near the top of BoardGameGeek's 'The Hotness' chart.

Two years after its physical release, Scythe moved to Steam with Scythe Digital Edition, essentially a straight port of the original tabletop board game. Both editions are set in the world of Rozalski's 1920+, a sort of quasi-alternate history post-First World War Europe that emerged out of Rozalski's distinctive paintings depicting idyllic scenes of eastern European rural life juxtaposed with enormous Mechs looming ominously in the background.

In the game, players take command of one of the five factions (seven, if you have the Invaders from Afar DLC) in order to gather resources, build structures, deploy Mechs, and fight for control of the board. The world is abstracted into a hex-grid board, with each player in a corner and the Factory, the source of the Mechs in the games lore, at the center. Play proceeds as each player goes around the board, selecting a 'top row' simple action from their playmat: either moving, producing resources, trading, or gaining one of the various currencies types. Each of these top-row actions corresponds to a stronger 'bottom row' action, based on the playmat you are assigned at the start of the game, that allow you to perform more powerful abilities like building structures or deploying mechs for a set resource cost.

Different mats align different top and bottom row actions, so that in one playthrough you can only deploy a Mech after using the move action, while in another you can only do so after bolstering your military power. This makes it so you can't necessarily play in the same style every game. You have to use what resources are available to you based on your starting position to make the best of synergizing your actions. With the exception of the Rusviet faction, players can't take the same top row action twice in a row, forcing you to perform a delicate dance of gathering and spending resources while also dealing with enemies who might be trying to disrupt the careful rhythm you've worked yourself into.

Scythe was initially sold via Kickstarter, with backers contributing over $1.8 million during the campaign.^[10] It was delivered to backers in July 2016 and released in retail stores the following month.

Scythe won 5 Golden Geek awards for 2016 from BoardGameGeek, winning for Board Game of the Year, Artwork & Presentation, Strategy Game, and Solo Game, and placing as a runner-up for Most Innovative.^[11]Scythe also won the Origins award for 2016 board game of the year.^[12]

The game was featured as one of Geek and Sundry's best board games of 2016, with reviewer Charlie Theel saying that 'Scythe is a fantastic design that will not soon be forgotten.'^[13]Popular Mechanics also dubbed Scythe 'the best game of 2016.'^[14]

Scythe's artwork has received exceptional praise from reviewers for its images of agrarian life juxtaposed with giant war machines.^[15][9]

Scythe: The Wind Gambit won a Golden Geek award for the best expansion to a game in 2017.^[16]

Scythe: The Rise of Fenris is the best received expansion by critics, for its introduction of a cooperative mode, a campaign mode and 8 modules that can be combined or played independently.^[17]

Scythe is rated as one of the top ten board games of all time at Board Game Geek.^[18]

Expansions and digital edition[edit]

The first expansion, Scythe: Invaders From Afar, was released in July 2017, adding two new factions to the game and increasing the maximum player count from 5 to 7.^[19] The second expansion, Scythe: The Wind Gambit, was released in December 2017, adding airships and variable end-game conditions to the game.^[20]The third and final expansion, titled The Rise of Fenris and released in the third quarter of 2018, added an 8 game campaign with 11 modules that can be used in different combinations,^[21] as well as a cooperative play mode.^[22]

Asmodee Digital released Scythe: Digital Edition via Steam in September 2018.^[23]

In December 2018, Stonemaier Games released Scythe Encounters, a mini-expansion containing 32 promotional encounter cards, many of which were created from fan submissions.^[24]

References[edit]

1. ^ ^abcZimmerman, Aaron (July 30, 2016). 'Scythe review: The most-hyped board game of 2016 delivers'. Ars Technica. Retrieved August 12, 2017.
2. ^ ^abGuarino, Ben (September 16, 2016). 'The Most Hyped Board Game of 2016 Earned It'. Inverse. Retrieved August 13, 2017.
3. ^Oide, Thomas (March 8, 2017). 'Fueled by love of games, MU professor creates successful board game of his own'. Columbia Missourian. Retrieved August 13, 2017.
4. ^Fenske, Sarah (March 26, 2016). 'St. Louis-Based Company's Kickstarter Rakes in $1.5 Million (Seriously)'. The Riverfront Times. Retrieved August 13, 2017.
5. ^Plunkett, Luke (July 12, 2016). 'Scythe: The Kotaku Review'. Kotaku. Retrieved August 13, 2017.
6. ^'Browse Board Games | BoardGameGeek'. boardgamegeek.com. Retrieved 2020-02-27.
7. ^'Painter's Art Turns into Video Game with Dieselpunk Robots'. Culture.pl. Retrieved April 11, 2019.
8. ^East, Oliver (June 16, 2017). 'Scythe Review – Strategic Turn Based Brilliance'. Just Push Start. Retrieved September 22, 2017.
9. ^ ^abHall, Charlie (August 12, 2016). 'In Scythe, my buffalo fights for the people'. Polygon. Retrieved August 13, 2017.
10. ^Paez, Danny (December 18, 2015). 'Crowdfunded board games surge despite video market'. CNBC. Retrieved September 30, 2017.
11. ^Hall, Charlie (March 9, 2016). 'The best board games of 2016'. Polygon. Retrieved August 13, 2017.
12. ^'Scythe named Game of the Year at Origins Awards'. Tabletop Gaming. June 19, 2016. Retrieved September 30, 2017.
13. ^Theel, Charlie (December 28, 2016). 'The Best Board Games of 2016 – Scythe'. Geek and Sundry. Retrieved September 30, 2017.
14. ^Herkewitz, William (September 29, 2017). 'The 50 Best New Board Games'. Popular Mechanics. Retrieved October 7, 2017.
15. ^Bolding, Jonathan (December 22, 2016). 'Our favorite board games for PC gamers'. PC Gamer. Retrieved August 13, 2017.
16. ^Hall, Charlie (March 14, 2018). 'The best board games of 2017, as chosen by the Board Game Geek community'. Polygon. Retrieved March 17, 2018.
17. ^'The Best Scythe Expansion?'. Board Game Theories. Retrieved 6 October 2020.
18. ^Francis, Eric (June 19, 2018). 'This Board-Gaming Craze Comes With $2,700 Tables'. Bloomberg. Retrieved June 27, 2019.
19. ^East, Oliver (July 31, 2017). 'Scythe: Invaders From Afar Review - New Factions, New Fun'. Just Push Start. Retrieved August 25, 2017.
20. ^Hall, Charlie (April 17, 2017). 'This expansion will completely change the best board game of 2016'. Polygon. Retrieved September 11, 2017.
21. ^Hall, Charlie (January 3, 2018). 'Scythe will get a campaign expansion this year (update)'. Polygon. Retrieved February 22, 2018.
22. ^Heller, Emily (January 24, 2019). 'The best strategy board games to mix up game night'. Polygon. Retrieved February 15, 2019.
23. ^Law, Keith (September 15, 2018). 'Review: Mega-hit boardgame Scythe goes digital on Steam'. Ars Technica. Retrieved November 23, 2018.
24. ^Elderkin, Beth (October 23, 2018). 'Galactic Scoundrels and Teddy Bears Rise Up in the Latest Tabletop Gaming News'. Gizmodo. Retrieved June 27, 2019.

External links[edit]

• Scythe at BoardGameGeek

Three years ago, in the crowded Exhibitor's Hall and bustling gaming rooms of GenCon 2016, a copy of Scythe could be seen everywhere, stuffed under attendee's arms, poking out of shopping bags, sprawled out on gaming tables and convention floors. Its sheer ubiquity that year should give some evidence of its quality. To be the 'game of the Con' at the largest tabletop convention in North America is no simple thing, but Scythe earned this spot by delivering on the entrancing aesthetic style — the pastoral diesel-punk landscapes of artist and worldbuilder Jakub Rozalski — that garnered it so much attention, while at the same time packaging it with a legitimately well-crafted tabletop experience.

Scythe Digital Edition Multiplayer

Airships conquer the skies tips. Easy to learn, reasonably fast to play, and sporting some high quality, gorgeously designed boards, mats, and pieces, the original version of Scythe is worthy of the praise that was heaped upon it at launch, and has remained a go-to comfort food for many a tabletop group even to this day, as evidenced by its steady position consistently near the top of BoardGameGeek's 'The Hotness' chart.

Two years after its physical release, Scythe moved to Steam with Scythe Digital Edition, essentially a straight port of the original tabletop board game. Both editions are set in the world of Rozalski's 1920+, a sort of quasi-alternate history post-First World War Europe that emerged out of Rozalski's distinctive paintings depicting idyllic scenes of eastern European rural life juxtaposed with enormous Mechs looming ominously in the background.

In the game, players take command of one of the five factions (seven, if you have the Invaders from Afar DLC) in order to gather resources, build structures, deploy Mechs, and fight for control of the board. The world is abstracted into a hex-grid board, with each player in a corner and the Factory, the source of the Mechs in the games lore, at the center. Play proceeds as each player goes around the board, selecting a 'top row' simple action from their playmat: either moving, producing resources, trading, or gaining one of the various currencies types. Each of these top-row actions corresponds to a stronger 'bottom row' action, based on the playmat you are assigned at the start of the game, that allow you to perform more powerful abilities like building structures or deploying mechs for a set resource cost.

Different mats align different top and bottom row actions, so that in one playthrough you can only deploy a Mech after using the move action, while in another you can only do so after bolstering your military power. This makes it so you can't necessarily play in the same style every game. You have to use what resources are available to you based on your starting position to make the best of synergizing your actions. With the exception of the Rusviet faction, players can't take the same top row action twice in a row, forcing you to perform a delicate dance of gathering and spending resources while also dealing with enemies who might be trying to disrupt the careful rhythm you've worked yourself into.

When two players find their Mechs or character units occupying the same hex, a battle ensues. Combat is fairly simple: players secretly wager between one and seven combat points, alongside one of the combat cards that can be picked up over the course of the game. Both players reveal what they've wagered and whoever has the highest point value wins, with the loser being forced back to their starting position (puzzlingly, it is the attacker who wins in the case of ties). It's a fairly basic combat system, but one that forces you to think carefully about when to engage and when to withdraw, as even with maxxed out combat points, a player can only really have two high value fights before becoming utterly exhausted and exposed, which even in this fictional dieselpunk alternate history, feels period appropriate.

While it's not an overly complicated system, if you're new to Scythe than the tutorial is pretty straightforward in explaining how the different parts of the board operate. Once you know what's happening, it's fairly easy to keep track of what's going on across the board and to start planning two or three moves ahead. The resulting gameplay loop is a satisfying tug-of-war that constantly pulls you between playing it safe in order to optimize resource management and taking risks by exploring outwards to put pressure on your opponents and get bonuses by snagging up the event tokens that are littered around the board.

Once a player has acquired six stars — awarded for completing objectives, performing certain bottom-row actions a number of times, winning battles, and maxing out particular currencies — the game ends and points are calculated. All of these factors, plus a host of other bonuses for controlling territory or placing structures near certain objectives, are tallied together to decide the winner. This means that a player could initiate the endgame without actually winning the game, adding an extra layer to consider while racing to the finish.

Art and Design

As solid as the nuts-and-bolts gameplay is, the allure of Scythe has always been largely aesthetic. It's no exaggeration to say that Rozalski's art and the craftsmanship of the miniatures is what allowed the tabletop version to raise the princely sum of almost two million dollars on Kickstarter from nearly twenty thousand backers. There has long been an unsatisfied niche audience for western-style mecha, more tank-like and realistic than their lithe, humanoid eastern counterparts, and Scythe delivers with some really well designed war machines that feel distinctive and appropriate for each faction.

Unfortunately, one of the few complaints worth mentioning is that on the game board itself, Scythe's Mechs, the lumbering and awesome colossi from Rozalski's paintings, are downright visually puny, too small to even appreciate the fine craftsmanship that no doubt went into making the original pieces. Take, for example, the Crimean Khanate's Mech, a big, two-wheel, lumbering tractor-like thing, based on the bizarre-but-real Russian prototype Tsar Tank from the First World War. A solid choice for the still-nomadic, only recently industrialized faction that the lore establishes the Khanate to be. When holding a miniature in your hand, it's easy to appreciate these finer details, but in Scythe Digital, the mechs are crowded out by worker and resource pieces of the same size, all stuffed onto a tiny tile. Bumping these models up just a bit in size, and maybe adding a bit more spit and polish, could go a long way to making them feel as visually imposing as they should rightfully be.

A similar complaint could be lodged abound Scythe's sound design. While the soundtrack is a really solid mix of rustic and rural eastern-European inspired tunes, military marching tracks, and rising orchestrals that feel fitting for each faction, the sound design more generally could use some work. Not all actions have an accompanying sound effect and it's a bit jarring when an opponent is executing their turn in dead silence with only the background track playing as cover. There are sound effects when pieces move or get deployed, but the soft taps of plastic-on-cardboard are more there to remind you that this is a port of a board game, rather than conveying anything meaningful about the world of 1920+.

The sound design would have been better served if it had abandoned completely the skeuomorphic board game sounds for something that better captured the brooding atmosphere and dark mood of Rozalski's paintings. Obviously, this would have required quite a bit more work and some extra resources, but little details like absent sound effects reveal the seams of the game in a very unbecoming way.

Conclusion

With that said, Scythe Digital is still an extremely satisfying port of one of the best tabletop games of the past decade. Built on steady foundations with a nail-biting gameplay loop and sporting some gorgeous art, it's well worth the relatively low price of admission, especially if you can grab it during one of Steam's frequent sales. While some visual and sound design elements don't totally land, these small grievances don't seriously detract from an otherwise solid experience. If you're a fan of the original Scythe and have trouble nailing down flakey friends for an in-person game night, or are a solo strategist looking to drop a few hours into a mechanically sound game that's fun to pick up and play but difficult to master, Scythe Digital Edition is a great option to have.

A fine-tuned game with some absolutely gorgeous visuals. Despite some minor hiccups, it's an experience well worth the low price of entry.

Comments

Related Posts from Strategy Gamer

Featured

Scythe Digital Edition Wind Gambit

Scythe Game Review

Scythe Digital Edition Faq