Scythe

Scythe gives you full control over your fate

It is a time of unrest in 1920s Europe. The ashes of the first great war still darken the snow. The capitalist city-state known simply as ‘The Factory’, which fuelled the war with heavily armoured mechs, has closed its doors and has drawn the attention of several nearby countries.

Scythe (1-5 players, 115 minutes) is a board game set in the 1920s. It is a time of farming and war, broken hearts and rusted gears, innovation and courage.

Each player starts the game with different resources (power, victory points, movement options and popularity), their choice of several faction-specific abilities and a hidden goal.

The starting positions are specially calibrated to add to the unique character of each faction and the asymmetrical nature of the game.

Apart from each player's individual hidden objective cards, the only elements of luck are encounter cards that players draw only when they interact with the citizens of newly explored land, and combat cards that give you a temporary boost in battle. Battles are also driven by choices, not by luck or randomness.

In Scythe every player represents a fallen leader

That leader is trying to restore their honour and lead their faction to power in Eastern Europe. Players conquer territory, enlist new recruits, harvest resources, win over villagers, build structures and activate powerful mechs.

Scythe uses a streamlined action selection mechanism (no rounds or phases) to keep the gameplay moving at a smooth pace and to reduce downtime between turns. Although there is plenty of direct conflict, there is no player elimination, and units cannot be killed or destroyed either.

Every part of Scythe has an engine-building aspect. Players can upgrade actions to become more efficient, build structures that improve their position on the map, enlist new recruits to improve character abilities, deploy mechs to keep opponents from invading, and expand their borders to harvest greater types and quantities of resources.

These engine-building aspects create a sense of momentum and progress during the game. The order in which players improve their engine adds to the unique feel of each game, even when playing with one faction several times.

Scythe is complete

After finishing the storyline with three expansions and rounding it off with accessories such as the legendary box, the modular board and the complete rulebook, Scythe is complete. Although Stonemaier Games will keep reprinting and supporting old and new Scythe games, the Scythe game is finished and will not be expanded further.

Components

• 1 box (300x365x98mm)
• 2 rulebooks (multiplayer and solo)
• 1 quick reference guide
• 5 player mats
• 5 faction mats
• 1 game board (624x818mm); the back can be combined with a separate board extension for larger sections
• 80 wooden resource tokens
• 80 coin tokens
• 12 multiplier tokens
• 12 encounter tokens
• 6 structure bonus tiles
• 42 combat cards
• 23 objective cards
• 28 encounter cards
• 12 factory cards
• 2 power dials
• 5 riverwalk cards
• 5 quick start cards
• 5 wooden action tokens
• 5 wooden popularity tokens
• 5 wooden power tokens
• 36 wooden star tokens
• 20 wooden structure tokens
• 20 wooden recruit tokens
• 20 plastic mech miniatures
• 5 plastic character miniatures
• 48 wooden workers
• 36 wooden technology cubes