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Showing 1 of 12 conversations about:
Scythe Board Game Bundle
glennac
1363
Oct 27, 2018
Alright, enough about price. How about some talk about game play. What's it like? How long is a game. Best with other Geeks, or will I be able to talk my wife into playing?
ilta
16
Oct 27, 2018
glennacThe game is excellent. But there are a lot of interlocking parts to the gameplay. This is medium weight— much more like Axis and Allies than Risk.
cassidoodledoo
577
Cassidoo
Oct 29, 2018
glennacShortest game I've played of it is probably around 40 minutes. It's really, really fun though. Lots of moving parts, but fairly simple to understand what you're doing once you start playing. Strategy is different every time, which I like the most!
AaroniusH
21
Nov 2, 2018
glennacThis game was the #1 hottest game on boardgamegeek in 2017 for a reason. There's a lot of moving parts that you begin to appreciate as you play the game more, but all those parts come together in a way that makes a lot of sense.
At it's core, it's an engine building game. You make moves to improve your abilities, which causes future moves to be better / easier to make. By the end of the game, everyone should be able to do some pretty cool stuff, but the game escalates to the point that every move you make feels incredibly important. So, trying to optimize how quickly your engine is built is a huge part of the game.
On the other hand, the game is elegant in that you always have a fairly limited set of moves you can make. Each person has a move sheet that determines the 4 moves they can take, and you generally can't do the same move twice. That makes the game pretty easy to pick up because it avoids a lot of analysis paralysis. That, and the game comes with a reference card that you use for your first game that gives you hints on how to succeed.
The theme is really awesome though. I believe it's like an alternative-history post-Great War Europe, but with mechs. All the factions are reminiscent of the european countries they originate from. Each has a leader and have some sort of identity that anchors them to the history they relate to. The setting is charming overall, and the art is amazing.
In terms of ease to pick up, I know a guy who plays with his fiance and she does a pretty good job at playing herself.
One thing I've run into is that I don't personally own the game. And since this is a game with very little RNG and secret information, you can succeed with raw strategy that you can either have a knack for, or have played a lot and learned from. Of all the times I've played with him, he's never lost. It can be fatiguing to play the game and get the feeling that you might not win because your opponent is very good at the game and there's no rng that can offset it. But that's just how scythe works!
glennac
1363
Nov 2, 2018
AaroniusHThank You folks. All good information. Game drops like this need more game play discussion. Much appreciated.
Caimbeul
1
Nov 15, 2018
glennacThis is actually in my top 3 games. You probably won't be able to talk the wife into playing. I tried with mine but probably better suited for other geeks. The shortest game I've played was near a hour but it's typically 2-3 hours. Once you and your group of friends get into a rhythm with it the game plays faster. While one person is on the second step of their turn the next up should be starting the first action of their turn (it's good to play with people you trust not to cheat or take advantage of people spreading their attention around). The re-playability is amazing and strategy changes based on the character your dealt and even that changes based on the secondary movement board you receive (it's best to always randomize both of these boards). I find that if the red character board is played correctly they have a bit of an edge over the others but when playing with multiple people who know the game you can put a stop to that advantage. The expansions really add cool elements to the game and it is such an amazingly developed game. I will always recommend this to anyone who loves big board games.
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