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Incline Potatoland came through! (Scythe)

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Ulminati

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Kickstarted this ages ago, then forgot about it. https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/169786/scythe

Just came in the mail :love:

Box was very heavy. Lots of cool stuff inside (not all of it pictured by a long shot)
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Sculpted resource tokens. 5 different kinds of metal coin.
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Board takes up most of my sofa table
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Factions are Polania :outrage: (pictured)
Vikings, Soviet, Prussian Reich and Crimean Khanate. :incline:
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Anna, Wojtek and one of the polanian mechs
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The usual suspects will be over in 2 weeks for a test run.
 
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Ulminati

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I'll need to use the dining table for sure. Almost done fetching everything for the solo game vs automata cards

s4TcG5G.jpg
 
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Ulminati

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Looks awesome, let us know how it plays. I'd be interested in knowing how it compares to Clash of Cultures, Eclipse, etc.

I ran a test game vs. the Automa cards (brown stack to the right bof the board, solitaire variant) and it's 'k.
There's a lot less fighting than I expected from a game with giant mechs in it. It adopts the Dune combat mechanic, where you use a spinner (near the edge of table) and optionally tuck "combat cards" to decide how much power you are going to spend, with the one that spends most being the winner. You also lose popularity if you take over a hex with enemy workers on it. (Track on the right side of the board in the picture in the previous post). Popularity acts as a VP multiplier at the end of the game, and is also spent to take some types of action.

Since the agressor is pretty much garanteed to lose resources, you only really attack opponents if they have a very tasty hex.

Resources are generated by placng workers on hexes, and the resources stay on the hex they were made in. (Unless you spend an action to move a worker/mech away from the hex - they can transport resources with them. Either way, resources stay on the board). You spend resources from territories you control, and if an opponent takes one of your hexes, they also gain whatever resources are present.

Upgrades are tracked on the top board, which also lists the actions you can take.
4AZj1GL.jpg


It's a bit hard to see, but some of the squares are indented. You have upgrade cubes that start in the green squares (stuff you gain). Upgrade actions lets you move an upgrade cube from a green indent to a red one - simultaneously making one action give an additional thing and making another action cost one thing less. The action boards have the same actions, but the top/bottom rows are ordered differently in each. You can opt to take either the top action, the bottom action or both in sequence, so each payer will have slightly different abilities each turn. You can't take the same action twice in a row, unless you're playing Soviet. (Each faction has a special ability that breaks one of the rules. EG: Polant gets to pick 2/3 options from event cards instead of just 1). Building each of their 4 mechs (they start on te circles) also unlocks a different ability. +speed and riverwalk are available to all factons (although riverwalk is slightly different for each). The 2 middle abilities are unique for all factions.

You have 6 "victory stars". The track (lower right in previous post picture) lists various victory conditions. (win a fight, max out popularity, max out power, deploy all mechs, get 6 upgrades etc). Once a player places their 6th star, the game ends immediately. Winner is whoever has the most money at the end. On top of mone in hand, you gain money for every hex you control, every VP star you've placed, every 2 trade goods you control and a special VP condition (grey tile below the popularity track, random one is selected from a stack at the start of the game). The number of coins you gain from goods/hexes/vp stars is listed in the columns next to the popularity track. Higher popularity = stuff is worth more coins.

First game vs "ai" took just short of 2 hours because I was learning the rules. It was ok vs the "ai cards", but I'll have to play it vs. people to know how it holds up. I imagine there may be more fighting with 5 (or 7 with the expansion that comes out in 3-4 months) people crowding the map.
 
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Leechmonger

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Thanks for posting your first impressions.

Full disclaimer: I have a problem with games that try to blend euro engine building with just a dash of combat (like Imperial Settlers). The limited combat usually ends up acting as an off-flavor rather than enhancing the main dish. People who are looking for combat will be disappointed by its limited usefulness and people who dislike combat will be disappointed to see it represented at all. Put another way: these games tend to alienate those who despise combat while failing to satisfy those who like it. They have effectively limited their demographic (and therefore who I can play them with) for little gain. That may or may not be the case with Scythe, just pointing out a recurring theme.

There's a lot less fighting than I expected from a game with giant mechs in it.

That seems to be a common complaint on BGG. The game bills itself as a "4X board game set in an alternate-history 1920s period" and claims that "While there is plenty of direct conflict for players who seek it, there is no player elimination." But the manual itself (which I checked out just now) indicates that the designers were going for a cold war feel (the threat of war). I would certainly be disappointed if I went it expecting a bloodbath only to find that there are important disincentives to waging war.

You also lose popularity if you take over a hex with enemy workers on it.

Ugh. At least attackers win ties.

Upgrade actions lets you move an upgrade cube from a green indent to a red one - simultaneously making one action give an additional thing and making another action cost one thing less.

Neat. Though I'm concerned that if there's an engine building element to your actions you'll end up using the same ones over and over to maximize the benefit. This isn't Puerto Rico or Race for the Galaxy where you also try to leech off of other's actions. Then again, if you need to use a majority of your actions in order to actually accomplish something it's probably not an issue.

Once a player places their 6th star, the game ends immediately.

I wonder how that compares to a fixed round limit. Variable game length means that you can gamble on the game running long or short, which I like. I wonder if a player could get into a position where they need 1 more star to end the game but would lose if they get it, therefore preventing them from taking the corresponding action.

Higher popularity = stuff is worth more coins.

Neat.
 
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Ulminati

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Thanks for posting your first impressions.

Upgrade actions lets you move an upgrade cube from a green indent to a red one - simultaneously making one action give an additional thing and making another action cost one thing less.

Neat. Though I'm concerned that if there's an engine building element to your actions you'll end up using the same ones over and over to maximize the benefit. This isn't Puerto Rico or Race for the Galaxy where you also try to leech off of other's actions. Then again, if you need to use a majority of your actions in order to actually accomplish something it's probably not an issue.

There's a specific kind of upgrade (Lieutenants) that give you a bonus when the players to your left or right take specific actions.
 
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Ludo Lense

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It is so nice to have something that lives up to the hype. Also nice to have a relatively complex 4x-ish game that takes under 2 hours.
 

Galdred

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Steve gets a Kidney but I don't even get a tag.
From the Stonemaier website.

Unofficial Variants
We’ve read about some neat variant ideas on BoardGameGeek. These aren’t official variants, but these ideas in particular intrigue us:

  • Team Variant: Play Scythe in teams of 2 (decide teams at the beginning of the game). Play everything as normal, except each team has 10 stars to place (instead of 6 per player), and they may only place 1 star on each section of the Triumph Track (the Saxony player does not have this limitation for objectives and combat). At the end of the game, count up each player’s coins, add them to their partner’s coins, and compare each team’s total to determine the winner.
  • End-Game Variant: When a player places their 6th star, their turn immediately ends, and each other player may take one final turn. However, those players may not take Move actions.
  • Rusviet Variant: In 2-3 player games (where each player is likely to get more encounters), the Rusviet player cannot use their faction ability to place their player token on the their Factory card on sequential turns. Also, do not allow Rusviet to use the Industrial player mat

Wouldn't the team variant solve the problem of the game not having enough conflict? I find team games usually promote direct conflict (while "FFA" promotes all kind of metagame social behaviour I am not too fond of, unless you play with strangers, but that's just my personal experience).
 

Lazing Dirk

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I can heartily recommend Scythe. Along with Viticulture, Euphoria, and Betrayal at House on the Hill, it's one of the games regularly played when I visit some friends of mine. The various factions and whatnot seem fairly balanced, with the exception of the blue guys whose faction name I forget; no one really likes them. We rarely seem to engage in combat much, it's more the threat of combat and controlling an area. Invariably when someone does decide to initiate, it's because they're going after their last 2 stars in one go. If not, then it's probably to steal some poorly-protected resources, which usually results in much swearing and promises of retaliation. Jolly good fun none the less.
 

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