Regular visitors here in the Loners Lounge knew this post was coming. I just had to share my first few plays with the modular board expansion!! It's been a weekend of Scythe!! 😎 (Sorry this is a longer post because I'M SO EXCITED!! I did include lots of pics though)
Saturday - GAME #1
I went for a tight map immediately for my first playthrough with the modular board, against one Automa opponent. Check this out...
There are very few things rule wise with the modular board expansion.
1) If you're playing the Rise of Fenris campaign, it's recommended to use the main board, as some of the episodes were designed with that map in mind.
2) When setting up the map, you can't have a lake adjacent to a home base.
3) Put all the faction home bases on the board... DUH! 🤣 As you can see, in game-1 I was so excited, I didn't. But it didn't matter...
.... I got PUMMELED!!!!!
I reached the factory quickly. However, as you can see (above), Polania's Automa moved in fast! They also deployed all their mechs very quickly in this game which didn't help.
Then they moved in to take control of the factory and began to keep me pinned into my South-West corner. 😮
Then ... Polania's Automa just kept pressing... ⬇️ Anna & Wojtek took my tunnel territory!!! 😥 Yikes...
Relentless... 😫
The game ended very badly for me as you can imagine.
Saturday - GAME #2
Despite losing in the worst way in a long time, I immediately setup for game 2. This time with 3-map tiles...
I played against Polania again, but this time using Saxony (random draw). I still lost pretty badly granted not AS bad as game 1. Since I now had a play under my belt with the modular board, it really hit me in this game how differently you have to think, especially when it comes to utilizing tunnels.
On the standard Scythe map, the tunnel territories surround the factory, with one space between a tunnel and the factory. With the modular board, tunnels are all over the place! Cool right? Well, maybe... but when you don't pay attention it can trap you! 🤔 Notice I have access to a tunnel right in my village territory next to my home base (bottom left). Part way into this game, as Polania was (slowly) moving in to corner me again, I decided to utilize my tunnel to head to the North-East corner and pop up in the tundra. I had my riverwalk ability unlocked, which allowed me to cross rivers into forests or villages. Using that tunnel allowed me to access the encounter token in the top right of the map. THEN I REALIZED I WAS TRAPPED. Based on where Polania was and the fact that I couldn't cross to any forest or village without heading towards Polania's home base, I was screwed. I had to take the next few turns hoping the Automa would leave me alone up there, as I worked to unlock the underpass ability so I could tunnel from the mine up in the corner.
Lesson learned. Pay attention more closely to the map!! Ideally... BEFORE you make your moves. 🤣
Sunday - GAME #3
I made the decision early in the day after hockey and shovelling that after lunch I was going to get the modular board to the table, use all-four map tiles and play against two Automa (*insert dramatic movie music here*). And it was the most fun, focused (yet thinky) game in a long time! It was also my longest game in quite a while (lasting approximately 70-75min) I absolutely loved it!!!
Here's today's board: Randomly chosen I ended up with Polania, against the Crimean and Rusviet Automa's.
This game had a little bit of everything AND several battles. Six battles in total actually!
Each faction had their moments of pressing the opponents today. Here you can see the Rusviet's took control of the factory after taking out the Crimean forces.
It was a day of lucky card draws as well. The Rusviets later in the game were getting handcuffed and weren't moving their star tracker up as often as they'd like, which at least gave me more time. There was also a first (at least that I can remember) where the Crimean Automa kept drawing cards to move their character to the factory/encounter territories, but didn't have their character deployed from their mat (due to a lost battle). Usually, they'll get deployed reasonably quick. But not today.
Very late in the game, Zehra & Kar finally were deployed to their home base. With some anger issues I think... 😯
Here is the end of the game. Look at the star tracker at the top left of the picture!!! That's wild! Crimean Automa ended the game placing their 6th star, while myself and Rusviet Automa had 4-stars each. Not sure I've had a game quite that tight in a long time!
Speaking of tight, the final scoring was:
Polania (me): 85 Crimea (Automa): 85 Rusviet (Automa): 68
The first tiebreaker in Scythe is based on number of workers, structures and mechs a faction has. Well, Automa don't build structures so I assumed that tiebreaker was void in a solo game. Tiebreaker number 2 is whomever has the most power. AND THAT WAS ME!!!!! I had 3-Power to the Crimean's 2-Power. Talk about close!!!
What a weekend at the table!
As I replied to fellow ST member, @Gloomknight on another post, I'm simply blown away that after 122 plays at the table now + 70ish digitally, I'm still as excited about Scythe as I was when it first arrived. And I'm still only touching on the variability that having all the expansions brings.