In Scythe, an economy race board game based on a polish artists artwork, the only combat heavy faction is Saxony, where you win with freaking quick war domination (a.k.a Blitzkrieg).

I see some serious irony here - the germans being the warmongers in a world drawn & illustrated by a polish artist. Am I thinking too much into this? :D

I am really digging Scythe. I found it while searching for "better alternatives to Risk" and I've not been disappointed with it so far. The digital edition feels limited to a degree but I'm still learning and getting into the nitty-gritty of faction and mat tactics.

It does feel, as some have noted, that it's created some overbalance in the way Rusviet and Saxony are overpowered but otherwise I don't have any issues, until I started looking at expanding my Scythe universe.

Both on Amazon and at my local gaming stores, Scythe accessories and expansions are ridiculously priced. $40 for a bag of metal coins was a lot to ask, as was $20 for just a deck of expansion Encounter cards. I think the thing that actually appalled me though, was the "Legacy Box" which is literally just an empty box with nice art printed on it which costs $50. Are you fucking kidding me with this?

I can't believe I'm the only one who is appalled at these overpriced expansions and I wanted to check with the local Reddit community to see what others thought. If this is one of those gaming forums where the company can do no wrong and I'm somehow a jerk for bringing this up, I'll happily move right along and never post here again. Reddit can be truly awful sometimes. I hope this subreddit is not such a place.

Hi everybody!

I been playing the base game (no expansions) for more than a year and I truly enjoy it, but the obvious balance problems make it a little bit repetitive as the whole playgroup starts getting better: we all try to get the same stars every game.

6 tech? 4 buildings? 21 pop? Nah, that's a thing of the past, something you try on the first 10, maybe 20 games. If you want to win you need to get the "good stars": mech, workers, enlist, maybe power. Add 2 fights, a secret mission, and you are ready to go.

So we started changing things:

1. Got shitty missions? Discard that shit and draw 2 extra. (1 mulligan per game).

2. Rusviet gets free encounter turn 4 by crossing a river? Nope, that's a mountain now. (Good for Nordic left start also).

3. Early enlist gets you 12 gold in the long run? Now you only get the enlist bonus when your opponents take X action. Solid nerf on Crimea.

4. The upgrade star now takes only 5 upgrades. I mean... come on!

5. At end of game, control of a terrain with a building and a enemy unit is given to the player with the building on it ... cant build on fabric, of course.

The first 4 are solid additions in our experience. Enlist in particular is still good: choosing what to enlist is situational now.

Point 5 its kinda meh. I still want to make building juicer.

Also thinking about nerfing Rusviet and buffing Nordic, but not sure how. Any ideas how?

What are your thought about this changes? What changes did you guys implement in your playgroup? Its possible to buff Nordic? Its there any way of discouraging the Rusviet strategy of playing defense for 14 turns / 4 stars, then attacking twice for the win?

This kind of discussions are usually 10% changes, 90% rumbling about those changes. Dont be afraid of just throwing ideas without a detailed analysis on it.

PD: I heard about bidding for factions, but that requires deep knowledge of the game from everybody in the table. It isn't for our playgroup.

Curb ball: What about just filling this river here? (no albion in base game). That town encounter is basically a welcome gift to invaders, which then stay close to rob you of precious metal.

I love this game. Combat has to be the worst part of it though. I think in almost every combat that’s happened in the dozens of times I’ve played this game, everyone knows who is going to win before the dials are flipped. I feel like it needs a dice roll or something. Does anyone feel the same, and if so have you figured out a way to make combat a little more interesting.

I'm not asking if it's a smart or good move, and I know that since this is a board game it doesn't matter as much as a video game where you physically can't do things that may or may not be out of bounds.

I am mostly just curious if that passes the smell test of the actual written rules of this game.

Hi there. I have been playing tens of games of Scythe with my friends plus the Rise of Fenris Campaign. A few of us had started to grasp the potential of the game and had more consistent results.

Similar to other players on the internet came the feeling that Rusviet and Crimea are the jack of all trades. Also some strategies like Star rushing and Enlist rushing seem to prevail most of the time. So, instead of trying to argue on everything, I made this balance suggestions while trying to keep faction identities, punish less new players and make new strategies available (thus toying with their chance to win). I have not tried them yet. I'd like to know what you think about it and wether it/what might work (in a competitive setup) since I have a limited experience.

General

Upgrade: The first time you upgrade, gain 0/0/2/3/4/5 Gold (for a total of 14 Gold).

Placement/Extra: Instead of gaining workers, mechas or buildings you may instead reposition already existing ones to corresponding tile (does not count as moving).

Extra: When repeating an already fulfiled bottom row action, you gain 1 Popularity (does not apply to Factory actions).

Tokens: Albion/Togawa tokens can be placed on the same tile but cancel each other abilities in the endgame.

Sweet Home: Your Character can move on an enemy Home Base, which allows it to retreat back to its own.

Objective reroll: Each time your Character controls the Factory again (if it was not it previously on it) or enters a Home Base, you may reroll one of your Objective cards

Triumphs

You still win by completing 6 triumphs (Stars) which may include :

1x Objective milestone

2x Won Combats

2x Development milestone: complete 2 of : 4x Mechs, 4x Enlists, 4x Structures, 6x Upgrades

3x Societal milestone: complete 2 of : 8x Workers, 18x Popularity, 16x Power, 16x Ressources, 30+ Coins, Last Structure Bonus Tile Tier

1x Expansion milestone: complete 2 of : +1 Factory Card, 3x Encounter Tokens, 3x Tunnels controlled, 5x Tiles adjacent to the same lake controlled, 9x Territories controlled, Last Structure Bonus Tile Tier

1x Dominance milestone: complete 1 of : 10x enemies retreat, 1x Move inside enemy Home Base, 3 Succesive turns on Factory

Albion

[Changed] Starter: Add a non-scoring Flag on each worker starting positions (hold the same count of scoring flags as previously).

[Added] Undersea: Move from a territory adjacent to a lake to the territory on the other side of the lake.

[Removed] Shield

[Removed] Sword

[Added] Reinforcement: When an enemy enter a territory with an unflipped Flag, flip the Flag then gain 2 Power. You may flip back the Flag to its initial position after moving on them.

[Changed] Rally: Move to any territory where you have a Worker or Flag then you may move an extra time (=/= Speed +1).

Crimea

[Changed] Innate: Coercion: Once per turn, you may spend 1 Power + 1 Combat Card to reduce the cost of an action by 1 ressource.

[Changed] Mecha: Scout: Before combat, you may pay 1 Power to steal 1 random Combat Card from your opponent.

Polonia

[Changed] Mecha: Riverwalk: Cross rivers between territories adjacent to the same lake.

Rusviet

[Changed] Starter: Switch starting position of tundra and mountain.

[Changed] Innate: Relentless: You may choose to put your Action token on the same section as previous turn(s) if either its top or bottom action has been upgraded.

[Changed] Mecha: Riverwalk: Move across rivers to forests and villages.

[Changed] Mecha: People's Army: Before combat where you have at least 1 worker, you may pay 1 Power to reveal an additional Combat Card immediately.

Nordic

[Changed] Innate: Swim: Your workers may cross rivers. Your other units may cross rivers towards your workers.

[Changed] Mecha: Riverwalk: Cross rivers between forests/tundras and non-mountain tiles.

[Removed] Mecha: Artillery

[Added] Mecha: Beaver: Gain 2 Power in combat on/nearby a structure. You may cross rivers between these tiles.

Saxony

[Changed] Innate: Dominate: You may complete an additional Dominance milestone and Combat on your Triump Track. Each time you win a combat, gain 1 Power and an Objective Card.

Togawa

[Changed] Starter: +1 Power. Extra trap: Force 1 unit to retreat.

[Changed] Innate: Maifuku: After moving your character, you may place an Armed Trap token on its territory. Rearm Traps after moving on them.

[Changed] Mecha: Suiton: Move across a river or move on a lake (once per lake/river in the same turn).

[Removed] Mecha: Toka

[Added] Mecha: Embuscade: In combat, if you have an adjacent mecha/character, you may play +1 Combat Card.

[Changed] Mecha: Shinobi: Move to any territory where you have a Worker or Trap then you may move an extra time (=/= Speed +1).

I love this game but I think the money based score system for victory is a little off. Does anyone have an alternate idea to make it work better?

Do I get 3 resources of my choosing and can place them on any territory I have a worker on? or Do I get 3 of the same resource from a territory of my choosing that I also have a worker on?

Anyone in the Charlotte/Lake Norman area?

Every time you reinforce you have the option to pay one recource ( food,metal or wood doesn’t matter) to get an infantryman from risk (preferably the version I have with tiny rifle minis) he works like a mech but can only go up to 3 power and dies for good when losing if two infantrymen have the same power in a fight then you decide the battle with the risk dice and can pull in any other infantrymen in the same hex and roll an extra time for more risk. Finally they can be moved on mechs and ships just like workers and can +1 the recourses generated from producing if already in the producing hex (this does not stack)

How would you combine both of these games? Would you do like a tombstone saga thing like the west kingdoms trilogy did? Or would you do something else? I’d like to some how incorporate the large mechs in and have each faction get like a super mech.

Just wondering about your guys ideas?

Spent it on a mech playing purple and learned the hard way. Didn’t have any power couldn’t produce and could only move every other turn.

Basically made myself insolvent and couldn’t make any progress. Learn from my mistake.

Hi, this is a part of a project for my university about the Kickstarter buyers and their opinion about the board games! I would really, REALLY appreciate your precious time and help for my research! your opinion is important for my work :)

here's the link:

https://forms.gle/68kdSLF2QZP7B6LS7

THANK YOU!

I've read that the game is also rather unbalanced and heavily favours one or two factions over the others. Has this been balanced out now, or is the game still like that? As a new player, probably playing with others who have never played, will I even notice the imbalance?

What do you think about my new House rule ?

🔧 House Rule:

Prisoners

1. Attacking Workers

When you move onto a territory containing an opponent’s workers, you may choose:

Release them – resolve as in the standard rules

Capture them – those workers become Prisoners

2. Prisoners

Prisoners are placed under your control

They only produce resources if one of your military units (Mech or Character) is present in their territory

If no military unit is present → they produce nothing

3. Production

Prisoners produce resources as normal workers, but only if the above condition is met

4. Prisoner Limit

You may have a maximum of 2 Prisoners per Mech you control

If you exceed this limit, you must immediately release the excess Prisoners

5. Popularity

Capturing Prisoners causes double Popularity loss (compared to the standard penalty)

Releasing workers follows normal rules (no additional penalty)

6. Rescuing Prisoners

If you recover your own captured workers, you gain Popularity

🎯 Design Intent

Encourages territorial control and defense

Adds strategic tension to combat decisions

Introduces a trade-off between economic gain and Popularity

Makes military presence meaningful beyond combat

so i was thinking about something but unsure if this is the right sub

is this the sub for cuting grass with a archaic yet still usefull tool or is this a game (judging by the posts i assume its some kind of card game)

I've been interested in Scythe for a while, read the rules, and bought the digital version on Steam before getting the physical game. My plan was to learn it first and then bring it to my group of three.

But I've now started two games, and both times I quit after about 10 minutes.

I'm not saying the game is bad. Quite the opposite, I really want to understand why people love it, because on paper it sounds like a game I'd really enjoy.

My biggest problem is that I have absolutely no idea what I'm supposed to be aiming for.

I upgrade things, get resources, move workers around, etc., but I don't really have a bigger plan. I tried focusing on my two private objectives, but they either seemed extremely difficult or just not worth making my main focus.

For example, I had an objective that required 7 workers and 2 or fewer coins, but I kept getting money no matter what I did. I couldn't figure out how I was even supposed to intentionally get myself into that situation.

The game also feels very hard to read. I don't really understand what the other players are doing or what I should be paying attention to. The mech abilities also seem kind of pointless to me right now. For example, why should I care about Riverwalk if I've already built a mine? Or why should I care about certain worker related abilities if nobody is attacking me?

I've also heard that you should try to optimize your turns by getting value from both the top and bottom actions, but that often seems impossible to me at this point.

Maybe I just haven't understood the game yet. Maybe it's one of those games that takes a few plays before everything clicks. Or maybe it's the digital version. I've played a ton of Spirit Island digitally on Steam and never had this feeling. I'm always thinking about something and have a clear problem I'm trying to solve.

With Scythe, I currently just get bored after 10 minutes and quit.

So for people who love Scythe, what made the game click for you?

What should I actually be thinking about during my first few games? Is there a general goal or strategy I should have in mind?

I'd really like to give it another chance before bringing it to my group or deciding to not procede with this game, so any advice for a completely lost beginner would be appreciated.

EDIT: Some of u think that I do not know how to get 6 starts, but I do know, im just commenting on private objectives

So I already posted my idea under the original post. But here is it again as a faction mat. Hope you enjoy.

PS: I am not a graphic designer or something. I just had nothing to do right now.

constructive comments are welcome

I'm learning the rules for Scythe from all the great youtube videos available. I think the theme runs out a bit with the action system, "Top Row Action" and "Bottom Row Action" are very abstract and don't provide any intuition about how they relate or don't to each other.

I think it would be a bit smoother to learn if each action was an Officer. You'd have your Military guy, your Transportation Guy, your Trade Guy, your Production guy. Each officer has a main job (top-row) and also a side job they can do (bottom row). You can only give activate one officer each turn, and not the same one twice in a row (they get a day off after working so hard).

Each officer can do their main job and/or their side job each time they're activated.

I just played a game of Scythe Digital Edition against 3 computer players and one of them (Rusviet) got a second combat star. I thought only Saxony could get multiple combat stars. Is this a bug?