Login
Start Free Trial Are you a business?? Click Here

Scythe Reviews

4.9 Rating 44 Reviews
Read Zatu Games Reviews

Scythe is a game by Stonemaier Games, designed by renowned auteur Jamey Stegmaier. Set in an alternate reality 1920’s Europe, the game focuses on expanding your faction’s dominance across territory whilst harvesting resources, creating upgrades and battling your enemies. Whilst not exclusively a game about conflict, Scythe rewards players for conducting many different types of engine building leading to great variety in play styles. Each of the five factions in the box have different special abilities and these are paired each game with a different economic player board. During the turn each player chooses one of four unique actions from the player board, which also gives a secondary bonus action. These actions move the faction workers, launch mechs and leader across the board, adding buildings and even upgrade their own options by manipulating the player board. The game is surprisingly swift, even at higher play counts due to the pairing down of actions per turn. As players complete goals, such as bringing all four of their mechs onto the board they begin to collect stars. After a faction has laid down their sixth star this triggers the end game. The winner of the game is faction with the most coins. Scythe also contains a fully realised single player module, where the player competes against an ‘Automa’ A.I. A deck of cards controls the A.I. player faction and offers a compelling experience as an alternative to the multiplayer game. Visually, Scythe looks stunning on the table. From the sweeping lands on the board to the faction leaders design, all the artwork is dramatically evocative. The leaders and mechs are all unique sculpts for each faction. Workers and materials are made up of wooden markers. Whilst complete, the game is upgradable with expansions that increase the player count, add more game modules, event cards and most recently a legacy campaign mechanic. Player count: 1-5 Time: 115 minutes Age rating: 14+
 

About Zatu Games:

Seek Your Adventure With Zatu!

Zatu Games is the UK’s No. 1 independent board game retailer. Our mission is to sell top quality board games, TCGs, video games, Miniatures and collectables at affordable prices to spread the word that table top gaming is back big time!

We stock over 80,000 games (our goal is to have one of everything!), ship worldwide, offer next day delivery and 60-day returns. Not only that, but we also offer guest blogging spots to board game lovers, if you're interested about writing for us simply email blogs@zatu.co.uk!

For any customer service queries, contact:
team@zatu.co.uk

Visit Product Page
Chuffed with this, looks amazing and easy to get to grips with. Kind of a cross between Risk and Catan. Looking forward to trying the Rise of fenris expansion.
Helpful Report
Posted 2 years ago
Scythe is complicated, there are a lot of moving parts and can seem a little daunting at first, but once you've played your first game it falls into place and is great fun. Would definitely recommend
1 Helpful Report
Posted 2 years ago
Came on time and in great condition
Helpful Report
Posted 3 years ago
Certainly a game you'll be thinking about for a long time. I bought it purely because of the box artwork. I'm not overly invested in artwork, but the world created inside the box is fantastic, the drawcards are beautiful and the character and mech models are a joy to move around. The setup and learning process is pretty heavy. It will take you at least 2 play throughs to really get the hang of it. Setting up the board takes 10 mins even if you know what you're doing. But it's worth it. There are so many paths to take - you can fight or hide, build structures or hoard supplies, it feels like there are dozens of ways to win the game, and that's what keeps it interesting. The 1 player mode is very interesting but gruellingly tough! I played it 6 or 7 times and only won 3 of those. In a 5 player game with any players who have played it 0-2 times, expect to take at least 1.5 hours, probably 2, and maybe 2.5 hours to play a game! I also have the air gambit and travellers from afar expansions and together these 3 occupy and entire storage chest! If you have several players and get into, the larger map board may be worth is as tiles can end up containing many characters and supplies and get cramped for space. If you are considering this as a battle oriented game think again: Battles are rare. You can win a game without any aggression and even in the most aggressive game you'll be unlikely to see more than 3 battles. This is because battles put a heavy strain on your resources and losing 1 can set you way back, maybe even losing you the whole game. This puts a refreshing stance on territory control where you posture mechs to scare people away even if you have no intention of fighting with them. On the downside is that you'll need a couple of hours and a few geeky friends who are invested enough to enter the world and deal with the set up - this isn't Gloomhaven, but nor is it Pictionary! I consider it to share the title 'best board game I've ever played', alongside a few simpler games in totally different categories.
5 Helpful Report
Posted 3 years ago
Best board game my girlfriend and I have ever played. We have a review channel, and you can see our full thoughts on Scythe here: https://youtu.be/FXfqcyHjEfs
1 Helpful Report
Posted 4 years ago
Amazing quality components and one of those games that's easy to pick up but has endless strategic possibilities to uncover. A brilliant game, combining workd building, strategy and combat to great effect.
1 Helpful Report
Posted 4 years ago
The most strategic game I've played. After learning how to play, you can start getting to know the strategies to use, but still enough variation each time to keep the game fresh. The relative lack of combat prevents it from becoming a war game, which is nice. The artwork and miniatures are beautifully designed - the cat approves too!
1 Helpful Report
Posted 5 years ago
Amazingly high quality game. Scythe is unlike pretty much any other game out there. Great fun to play as a group or solo. The solo player mode has had a great deal of thought put into it. So good I made a review about it! https://youtu.be/8Xjmsgvyh58
Helpful Report
Posted 5 years ago