One of my favorite things about Scythe is the fact that you don't have to have to be #1 in military to succeed (though it definitely helps). One thing that makes this game unique is neither the game nor the players has a "take that" feel to it. The fact that you don't necessarily have to be the most powerful on the map opens up so much more strategies to win the game.
u said all i think about the mechanisms! But what i truly love in Scythe (besides the Amazing art!!!) is the immersion u managed to put into the game... The mechanisms feels really right with the game progression and immersion, and everything contributes with it, i just love it ^^ Thanks for making all this games! =3
Thank you hahaha! Many people like mechanics the most, but i love bgs in wich i can feel really into the game, i'm starting developing my own games here, and to me its also very very important and challenging to get the sweet spot to where mechanics and immersion converge. I'll keep watching ur videos, playing ur games, and learning a lot from u =)
Hello, I want to thank you very much for creating the game "SCYTHE". I returned to board games after .. 25 years of break (I played last when I was 15 years old - these were games: "Space Trader" and "Battle in the fields of Pellenor"). I am genuinely delighted with the game "SCYTHE" and not only because it is set in a wonderful world close to my heart (I live in Eastern Europe - I am Polish), designed by Jakub Różalski. The game is mechanically very elegant. The use of continuous selection of "action" is a great idea (I do not really like the division of the game into phases: combat phase, phase of movement, trade phase etc. - in fact, at the same time states can perform different "actions"). The game is very complex and at the same time simple to explain (my daughter is 10 years old and has mastered the rules of the game in less than an hour, her favorite character is Akiko ;-) The game involves asymmetric factions, which are well balanced (at first I thought that the two weakest factions were Khanate of Crimea and Kingdom of Nordia, when I played them personally, I noticed their incredible potential). Today, my student informed me that this year, the third supplement to "Scythe" will appear: "The Rise of Fenris". I will be patiently awaiting the Polish version. Knowing the high level of the basic version of the game and additions ("Invaders from Afar" and "Wind Gambit") I have no worries about the high level of "The Rise of Fenris". I wish you many successes and job satisfaction. Thank you again for "Scythe". Yours faithfully Dawid Madejski
Thanks so much for your note, Dawid! I think we share similar tastes in games--like you, I'm not a fan of phases/divisions in game, as I like a more free-flowing game. Phalanx should be releasing The Rise of Fenris later this year. :)
I play with my students in "Scythe", almost every Friday and .. we can not stop! It's amazing how "Scythe" can be an extremely interesting game! Wow! I am in constant contact with PhalanxGames (the Polish publisher of "Scythe"). Together with Mr. Michał Ozon, I would like to invite you to visit Poland: - in connection with the Polish premiere of the supplement to Scythe: Rise of Fernis: - and on the occasion of the 100th anniversary of Poland's independence (our national holiday falls on November 11 this year). We want to meet very much to celebrate our hundredth anniversary of Polish independence, without politicians, without "pompous" officials, but in the company of the author of the great Scythe game. The slogan of the meeting: "We all play in SCYTHE!" Details and place of the meeting (a beautiful place, in the style of the 20's, 30's, so the time when the "Scythe" action happens!) I would describe in an e-mail. My address is: demadejski@gmail.com We would be very honored if Jamey Stegmaier sat down with us at the table to play "Scythe". Is it possible? With words of great respect from Polish fans (my students and not only) "Scythe": Dawid Madejski
Thank you for the invitation, Dawid! I'm honored that you would offer such an invitation on such an important day. It is very difficult for me to travel, as I run the daily operations of my company, but feel free to contact me with your thoughts at jamey@stonemaiergames.com.
Having played Scythe a few times now I can say the reward system and asymmetry is what keeps me wanting to come back for more. A game like Battlestar Galactica seems to keep punching you in the gut and thematically that is very accurate to the show. But losing sometimes feels like a relief. In Scythe I am constantly building my faction in unique and always positive ways. Maybe not as efficiently as another player but always rewarding. That is game mechanic 101. So many games forget to reward players throughout the game. RPG's are built on this concept. Deck builders too. The best Video games have unlocks, point systems, level ups or extra lives (back in the days). To see it come together in a board game so fluidly is just simply a brilliant design.
The thing that caught my attention with Scythe was that it felt like looking at the boardgame equivalent of a pocket watch, with lots of moving pieces all doing their own thing, yet coming together as a whole. I find it impressive that a game with so many "sub-mechanics" is even possible without losing either playability or balance.
Hi Jamey! Just got my first copy of the game today. Thank you for doing another printing. I ended up getting it at a local game store luckily. I fell in love with the game over RUclips and by reading reviews online and quite frankly from seeing the art and the encounter cards sold on Ebay. I saw all the online stores were sold out and i must have missed the pre-order for the 2nd printing everywhere. Almost way overpaid on Amazon, but realized brick and mortar stores may have some still. Hurray! Can't wait! Met you at GenCon, but at the time had no clue about Scythe and was focussed on out of print Vitaculture at the time. Put Biddy in a game somehow as an encounter or visitor card! -Rob
I already told you this a few months ago, and still nothing changes! Since I got Scythe dont play ant other Boardgame (with little exceptions) anymore!! The depth of scythe, the complexity! Keeps getting better and better! Jamey this is one of your masterpieces!! Already play over 120 games in about 5 months! Without counting the digital games!! Hahaha Jamey again Thanks from thw bottom of my heart for all the games!!! And anyone who still dont Play Scythe, if you read this, trust me.... You must!!!
Hi Jamey - Re: Scythe, I really like the recessed sections of the player boards, just curious if you designed this especially for Scythe, and whether you had considered for viticulture (or boards too thin?). They would be great for the buildings on player cards with the latter, and for new players to remember what buildings they have bought.
I'm glad you like them! They're quite difficult and expensive to design and manufacture, so I would only use them in games where it's necessary. In Viticulture, players remember the structures they've bought because they put the tokens on their vineyard mat when they buy them (otherwise they're kept in a pile next to the board).
I played Scythe for the first time yesterday and greatly enjoyed it. Since I am in the middle of designing a board game with similar complexity, I had some questions about how you developed Scythe. 1) I love how the different factions are asymmetric, with different abilities and action costs. How did you tune this in play-testing? Did you start with identical abilities/actions and then slowly tune them to be different, or did you start with very different abilities and actions and then balance them to where they are now? We're struggling with how to make our players unique and different while still giving them all an equal shot at victory. 2) What is the primary driver of the cost of Scythe, is it the mechs and character plastic parts, or just the number of components? 3) How did you arrive at all the number of different game components (tokens player mats, score charts, etc.)? Did you start with less and then add them as needed to make the game play flow well? Or start with more and eliminate the ones that weren't necessary? We're trying to find that balance between keeping the game simple with few components and making it flow smoothly and easily with lots of components. Thanks.
Hans: Thanks for sharing these questions here! I'll try my best to answer them. 1. Scythe went through lots of testing before it started to resemble what it is now, so I'll speak to this based on the point when it was close to its final form (though well before blind playtesting happened). At that time, each faction had different mech abilities but no faction abilities. We did an entire wave of blind playtesting before we added the faction abilities, and we fine-tuned them through more blind playtesting. 2. Scythe has a ton of components--they all contribute to the cost. I would say the primary drivers are the miniatures, custom wooden components, and dual-layered player mats. 3. I just designed the game based on what made it fun, and the number of components stemmed naturally from that. The number of components fluctuated over time, but the focus wasn't on the number--it was on the fun. Good luck!
Glen More keeps the resources on the tile that produces them, if you're looking for something else that does that, though the tiles go into your individual player areas. Each one can only have three resources. Out of print, I think, but I believe Lunar Architects is a game that's very similar and coming soon. Doesn't create the same target effect as it sounds like it will do in Scythe, but it does have an impact on flavour as you say. Combinatorial asymmetric setup is done to ridiculous degrees in Roll For The Galaxy - 9 duplex tiles, 9 single tiles, for 81 possible starting combos... And the expansion increases both of those piles, apparently, though they're not as impactful as the faction mats certainly look in Scythe.
+Gizensha Fox You've mentioned some cool stuff in Glen More in the past--I really need to try it! And that's a good nod to Roll for the Galaxy, which does indeed have a lot of starting variability.
+Jamey Stegmaier Rahdo did a runthrough of it a couple of years ago, and it's out of print with no indication there's any chance of it being reprinted, so that might be the closest opportunity to playing it you get unless it's in the the library of one of the cons you go to. ...Either him or myself are playing it wrong, though, so I'm going to need to double check the rules about moving to make sure that can't be done diagonally - it was before mistake annotations started being done, so no clues there. (Or the German rules differ from the English ones - That has happened with games before.)
Keyflower also keeps resources you produce on tiles in your village, while resources produced either on the unclaimed tiles or in other players' villages end up on your starting tile. Then you need to transport those to tiles that you want to upgrade (spending them) or score (leaving them there).
Hi Jamey. I wasn't sure where to post this so might as well on the video. I have a question about Scythe. What made you decide to make it one board with an extension for 6 players instead of say multiple boards per player count ala Smallworld? Was it only production cost? Thanks.
It was mostly for theme: I wanted the game to have a specific sense of place in the alternate history world. In that way, if there are only 2 players, it made sense for the world to feel more vast, while it should feel tighter for more players. I like when games feel different for different player counts. :)
One of my favorite things about Scythe is the fact that you don't have to have to be #1 in military to succeed (though it definitely helps). One thing that makes this game unique is neither the game nor the players has a "take that" feel to it. The fact that you don't necessarily have to be the most powerful on the map opens up so much more strategies to win the game.
u said all i think about the mechanisms! But what i truly love in Scythe (besides the Amazing art!!!) is the immersion u managed to put into the game... The mechanisms feels really right with the game progression and immersion, and everything contributes with it, i just love it ^^
Thanks for making all this games! =3
Thank you so much! Progression and immersion were really important to me in the design.
Thank you hahaha!
Many people like mechanics the most, but i love bgs in wich i can feel really into the game, i'm starting developing my own games here, and to me its also very very important and challenging to get the sweet spot to where mechanics and immersion converge.
I'll keep watching ur videos, playing ur games, and learning a lot from u =)
Hello,
I want to thank you very much for creating the game "SCYTHE".
I returned to board games after .. 25 years of break (I played last when I was 15 years old - these were games: "Space Trader" and "Battle in the fields of Pellenor").
I am genuinely delighted with the game "SCYTHE" and not only because it is set in a wonderful world close to my heart (I live in Eastern Europe - I am Polish), designed by Jakub Różalski.
The game is mechanically very elegant. The use of continuous selection of "action" is a great idea (I do not really like the division of the game into phases: combat phase, phase of movement, trade phase etc. - in fact, at the same time states can perform different "actions").
The game is very complex and at the same time simple to explain (my daughter is 10 years old and has mastered the rules of the game in less than an hour, her favorite character is Akiko ;-)
The game involves asymmetric factions, which are well balanced (at first I thought that the two weakest factions were Khanate of Crimea and Kingdom of Nordia, when I played them personally, I noticed their incredible potential).
Today, my student informed me that this year, the third supplement to "Scythe" will appear: "The Rise of Fenris". I will be patiently awaiting the Polish version.
Knowing the high level of the basic version of the game and additions ("Invaders from Afar" and "Wind Gambit") I have no worries about the high level of "The Rise of Fenris".
I wish you many successes and job satisfaction.
Thank you again for "Scythe".
Yours faithfully
Dawid Madejski
Thanks so much for your note, Dawid! I think we share similar tastes in games--like you, I'm not a fan of phases/divisions in game, as I like a more free-flowing game. Phalanx should be releasing The Rise of Fenris later this year. :)
I play with my students in "Scythe", almost every Friday and .. we can not stop!
It's amazing how "Scythe" can be an extremely interesting game! Wow!
I am in constant contact with PhalanxGames (the Polish publisher of "Scythe").
Together with Mr. Michał Ozon, I would like to invite you to visit Poland:
- in connection with the Polish premiere of the supplement to Scythe: Rise of Fernis:
- and on the occasion of the 100th anniversary of Poland's independence (our national holiday falls on November 11 this year).
We want to meet very much to celebrate our hundredth anniversary of Polish independence, without politicians, without "pompous" officials, but in the company of the author of the great Scythe game. The slogan of the meeting: "We all play in SCYTHE!"
Details and place of the meeting (a beautiful place, in the style of the 20's, 30's, so the time when the "Scythe" action happens!) I would describe in an e-mail. My address is: demadejski@gmail.com
We would be very honored if Jamey Stegmaier sat down with us at the table to play "Scythe". Is it possible?
With words of great respect from Polish fans (my students and not only) "Scythe": Dawid Madejski
Thank you for the invitation, Dawid! I'm honored that you would offer such an invitation on such an important day. It is very difficult for me to travel, as I run the daily operations of my company, but feel free to contact me with your thoughts at jamey@stonemaiergames.com.
Having played Scythe a few times now I can say the reward system and asymmetry is what keeps me wanting to come back for more. A game like Battlestar Galactica seems to keep punching you in the gut and thematically that is very accurate to the show. But losing sometimes feels like a relief. In Scythe I am constantly building my faction in unique and always positive ways. Maybe not as efficiently as another player but always rewarding. That is game mechanic 101. So many games forget to reward players throughout the game. RPG's are built on this concept. Deck builders too. The best Video games have unlocks, point systems, level ups or extra lives (back in the days). To see it come together in a board game so fluidly is just simply a brilliant design.
Thanks Leon, I'm glad you like the rewarding system in Scythe--that's what I was aiming for! :)
The thing that caught my attention with Scythe was that it felt like looking at the boardgame equivalent of a pocket watch, with lots of moving pieces all doing their own thing, yet coming together as a whole. I find it impressive that a game with so many "sub-mechanics" is even possible without losing either playability or balance.
+Magnus Mercury It took a lot of playtesting for it to get to that point. :)
Hi Jamey! Just got my first copy of the game today. Thank you for doing another printing. I ended up getting it at a local game store luckily. I fell in love with the game over RUclips and by reading reviews online and quite frankly from seeing the art and the encounter cards sold on Ebay. I saw all the online stores were sold out and i must have missed the pre-order for the 2nd printing everywhere. Almost way overpaid on Amazon, but realized brick and mortar stores may have some still. Hurray! Can't wait! Met you at GenCon, but at the time had no clue about Scythe and was focussed on out of print Vitaculture at the time. Put Biddy in a game somehow as an encounter or visitor card! -Rob
I already told you this a few months ago, and still nothing changes! Since I got Scythe dont play ant other Boardgame (with little exceptions) anymore!! The depth of scythe, the complexity! Keeps getting better and better! Jamey this is one of your masterpieces!! Already play over 120 games in about 5 months! Without counting the digital games!! Hahaha Jamey again Thanks from thw bottom of my heart for all the games!!! And anyone who still dont Play Scythe, if you read this, trust me.... You must!!!
I'm glad you're still enjoying Scythe so much--thank you! :)
Hi Jamey - Re: Scythe, I really like the recessed sections of the player boards, just curious if you designed this especially for Scythe, and whether you had considered for viticulture (or boards too thin?). They would be great for the buildings on player cards with the latter, and for new players to remember what buildings they have bought.
I'm glad you like them! They're quite difficult and expensive to design and manufacture, so I would only use them in games where it's necessary. In Viticulture, players remember the structures they've bought because they put the tokens on their vineyard mat when they buy them (otherwise they're kept in a pile next to the board).
I played Scythe for the first time yesterday and greatly enjoyed it. Since I am in the middle of designing a board game with similar complexity, I had some questions about how you developed Scythe.
1) I love how the different factions are asymmetric, with different abilities and action costs. How did you tune this in play-testing? Did you start with identical abilities/actions and then slowly tune them to be different, or did you start with very different abilities and actions and then balance them to where they are now? We're struggling with how to make our players unique and different while still giving them all an equal shot at victory.
2) What is the primary driver of the cost of Scythe, is it the mechs and character plastic parts, or just the number of components?
3) How did you arrive at all the number of different game components (tokens player mats, score charts, etc.)? Did you start with less and then add them as needed to make the game play flow well? Or start with more and eliminate the ones that weren't necessary? We're trying to find that balance between keeping the game simple with few components and making it flow smoothly and easily with lots of components.
Thanks.
Hans: Thanks for sharing these questions here! I'll try my best to answer them.
1. Scythe went through lots of testing before it started to resemble what it is now, so I'll speak to this based on the point when it was close to its final form (though well before blind playtesting happened). At that time, each faction had different mech abilities but no faction abilities. We did an entire wave of blind playtesting before we added the faction abilities, and we fine-tuned them through more blind playtesting.
2. Scythe has a ton of components--they all contribute to the cost. I would say the primary drivers are the miniatures, custom wooden components, and dual-layered player mats.
3. I just designed the game based on what made it fun, and the number of components stemmed naturally from that. The number of components fluctuated over time, but the focus wasn't on the number--it was on the fun.
Good luck!
Glen More keeps the resources on the tile that produces them, if you're looking for something else that does that, though the tiles go into your individual player areas. Each one can only have three resources. Out of print, I think, but I believe Lunar Architects is a game that's very similar and coming soon. Doesn't create the same target effect as it sounds like it will do in Scythe, but it does have an impact on flavour as you say.
Combinatorial asymmetric setup is done to ridiculous degrees in Roll For The Galaxy - 9 duplex tiles, 9 single tiles, for 81 possible starting combos... And the expansion increases both of those piles, apparently, though they're not as impactful as the faction mats certainly look in Scythe.
+Gizensha Fox You've mentioned some cool stuff in Glen More in the past--I really need to try it! And that's a good nod to Roll for the Galaxy, which does indeed have a lot of starting variability.
+Jamey Stegmaier Rahdo did a runthrough of it a couple of years ago, and it's out of print with no indication there's any chance of it being reprinted, so that might be the closest opportunity to playing it you get unless it's in the the library of one of the cons you go to.
...Either him or myself are playing it wrong, though, so I'm going to need to double check the rules about moving to make sure that can't be done diagonally - it was before mistake annotations started being done, so no clues there. (Or the German rules differ from the English ones - That has happened with games before.)
+Gizensha Fox cool, I'll see if Geekway has it.
Keyflower also keeps resources you produce on tiles in your village, while resources produced either on the unclaimed tiles or in other players' villages end up on your starting tile. Then you need to transport those to tiles that you want to upgrade (spending them) or score (leaving them there).
+Tor Iver Wilhelmsen It's been a while since I've played Keyflower, but you're right--that's a great example!
I think you should make a follow up video to this now that backers have their copies!
Hi Jamey. I wasn't sure where to post this so might as well on the video. I have a question about Scythe. What made you decide to make it one board with an extension for 6 players instead of say multiple boards per player count ala Smallworld? Was it only production cost? Thanks.
It was mostly for theme: I wanted the game to have a specific sense of place in the alternate history world. In that way, if there are only 2 players, it made sense for the world to feel more vast, while it should feel tighter for more players. I like when games feel different for different player counts. :)