Scythe

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Details

Sourced from: https://github.com/crustymonkey/playeraid_modules

Player Aid Author: Jay Deiman

Description

Gather resources and build your empire in this Euro/American crossover [See this on BGG]()

Expansions in Use

Invaders from Afar

Place the board on the table.
Place 1 encounter token on each territory with a matching symbol:
Place the resources and coins near the board.
Shuffle the combat cards and put them in their place on the board.
- If this pile ever runs out, shuffle the discard for a new draw pile.
Shuffle the Factory cards and randomly a number of cards equal to the number of players + 1. Place them face down on their matching spot on the board.
Shuffle the objective cards and put them on the board.
Shuffle the encounter cards and put them on the board.
Randomly select 1 of the structure bonus tiles and place it face up at the bottom of the Popularity track.
Randomly shuffle the Faction and Player mats and deal 1 of each to each player. Each player should sit near their home territory.
Using the Faction and Player mats, each player should take/set their starting resources. This includes objective cards, starting location on the Popularity and Power tracks, combat cards, and coins.
Each player should take their mini and other figures of their color.
On each player mat:
- Put 6 tech cubes on the green boxes with a blank square in the bottom right corner.
- Put 6 of your workers on the rectangles above the produce action.
- Put the 4 structure tokens in their corresponding boxes.
- Place the 4 recruit tokens (cylinders) in their spots along the bottom row of the mat.
- Set your action pawn next to the board.
The player with the lowest number in the starting resources label of their player mat begins and play will continue clockwise from there.
Place your 6 stars on your faction mat.
Place your mechs in their spots on the faction mat.
Give each player a quick-start card and a riverwalk card.

The game is played in a continous fashion until a player places their 6th star on the board, which will immediately end the game. Proceed to final scoring.

Each turn consist of placing your action pawn on 1 of the 4 sections of your player mat and taking either the top action, bottom action, or both.

If both actions are taken, the top action must be taken 1st.
The section of the mat you choose must be different than the selection from your previous turn (you can choose anything for your 1st turn).
The costs!red! and benefits!green! are shown as empty boxes on your player mat.
To take an action, 1st pay the cost!red! and take as much of the benefit!green! as you'd like.
After a turn is completed, the next player in clockwise order takes their turn.

Choose 1:

Move up to 2 different units you control 1 space OR
Gain 1 coin.

Important notes:

Units may pick up/drop off any number of resources during a move action.
Mechs can also carry any number of workers in addition to resource tokens.
- You can "chain" actions in this manner. e.g. A mech could pick up a worker, move 1 space and drop off the worker, and then that worker could move 1 more space.
Rivers and lakes cannot be crossed by default. Some mech abilities allow you to break this rule.
- A river is a body of water on the border between 2 land hexes.
- A lake takes up almost the entirety of the hex.
All territories with a tunnel are considered adjacent.
If your character and/or mech move into a territory:
- Only controlled by opponent's workers: Their movement ends and they cannot be moved again.
  - All of the opponent workers are moved back to their home territory.
  - You lose 1 popularity for each worker moved.
  - Your workers alone cannot move into a territory controlled by opponent workers.
- Controlled by a structure: The player who controls the unit now controls the territory.
- Controlled by characters/mechs: Their movement ends and they cannot move again this turn.
  - Start a combat in this territory.
  - Your workers alone cannot move into a territory controlled by opponent characters/mechs.
No units can ever voluntarily be moved onto a home base, including your own.
If you move your character onto an encounter space, their movement ends and they cannot be moved again this turn.
- After resolving combats, discard the encounter token and resolve the encounter.
There is no limit to the number of units on a territory from the same faction.

Pay the 1 coin cost and choose 1:

Increase your power by 2 on the power track.
Draw 1 combat card.

Pay the 1 coin cost and choose 1:

Gain any 2 resources (any combination of oil, metal, food, and/or wood). Place them on any territory you control with a worker on it.
- You may not take this action if all your workers are in your home territory.
Increase your popularity by 1 on the popularity track.

Pay the cost (if any) shown in the red boxes with exposed costs (where workers are/were placed on your player mat).
Choose a number of different territories up to the number of exposed green boxes!green! on the action and produce on those territories.
- See the territories section for what each type produces.
On the selected territories, produce 1 resource per worker on the territory.
- If you are producing on a village, the new worker is placed from the left-most spot on your player mat.
- There are no limits to the number of resources/workers on a territory.
- Workers placed on the board can never be returned to your player mat.

These actions can be taken even if some of the actions can no longer be taken. e.g. the Upgrade action with nothing more to upgrade.
If recruits (cylinders) have been enlisted (removed), you will also gain those benefits for the bottom row action when you or your neighbors take it. See the enlist action for more info.
Players must announce their bottom row actions as it may trigger bonuses for other players due to their removed recruits (cylinders). See enlist for more info.

Pay the cost.
Pick up a tech cube from any green box!green! and place it on any empty red box!red! with bracketed borders.
- You cannot place cubes on red boxes with solid borders.

Pay the cost.
Deploy 1 mech from your faction mat and place it on a territory you control with a worker on it.
From now on, your mechs and your character gain the now exposed benefit.

Pay the cost.
Take 1 building from your player mat and place it on the board in a territory you control with a worker on it.

Important notes:

Only 1 structure can be built on each territory.
Opponents cannot use your structure abilities.
A territory with a structure on it is under your control even if there are no units there. If an opponent has any units there, they control the territory instead.
Structures cannot be moved or destroyed.
You may build on the Factory territory.
You cannot build on your home base.
You cannot build on lakes.
The exposed area on your player mat is an additional benefit you will now gain for that top-row action.

Benefits:

NameBenefitMonumentWhen taking the bolster action, gain 1 popularity.MillWhenever you take the produce action, you may also produce on the territory with the mill in addition to the other territories you selected.MineThis acts as a tunnel only you can use. You may move units to/from your mine like a tunnel, even if an opponent controls the territory the mine is on.ArmoryWhenever you take a trade action, gain 1 power.

Pay the cost.
Pick up a recruit token (cylinder) from your player mat and place it on a 1-time bonus spot on your faction mat.
Immediately gain the covered bonus on your faction mat.
The 4 bonuses are:
- Gain 2 power
- Gain 2 coins
- Gain 2 popularity
- Draw 2 combat cards
The uncovered space on your player mat reveals an ongoing bonus.
- For the rest of the game, when you or the player to your immmediate right/left take the bottom row action matching the action the recruit was taken from, you gain the specified bonus.
- If more than 1 person would gain one of these bonuses, they are gained in clockwise order.
  - This is done because a 6th star could be placed due to this bonus, which means that subsequent players would not receive the bonus.
  - In a 2 player game, you only get the bonus once when your opponent takes the action.

Combat occurs at the end of a move action, but before the player takes their bottom row action. This occurs when the active player's mechs/character share a space with an opponents mechs/character.

It's possible for combat to occur on multiple territories. In this case, the active player chooses the order of resolution.
Whoever wins the combat will gain a star.
Other players may try to influence the combat by bribing them with coins.
If the attacking player has a mech ability that affects combat, they use that ability 1st.
If combat results in a tie, the attacking player wins.

Combat Phases

Players simultaneously select the power they want to spend.
- You cannot choose more power than you currently have.
- You cannot spend more than 7 power in a combat.
(optional) Secretly add combat card(s).
- You can add 1 card for each of your character/mechs in the battle.
- You do not have to reveal the number of combat cards played (0+).
Both players reveal their power dials and combat cards simultaneously.
The player with highest total power wins, with ties going to the attacker.
- Both players spend the power they bid.
- Both players discard all used combat cards.
- The winner gains or maintains control of the territory.
- The winner places 1 star on 1 of the 2 combat spaces of the triumph track (if both haven't been filled already).
- If the winner was the attacker, they lose 1 popularity for each worker they've forced back to their home base.
- If there's an encounter token on the space, the winner can now perform the encounter.
- The loser must retreat all their units to their home base.
- All resources remain on the territory, regardless of the winner.
- If the loser revealed at least 1 power via their dial or combat cards, they gain 1 combat card.

Combat card distribution

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**Only characters (not mechs/workers) can trigger an encounter.
When moving your character onto a territory with an encounter token on it, their movement ends for this turn.
After movement and combat are complete, but before you take your bottom row action, discard the encounter token and draw an encounter card.
- If the character moving into the territory loses combat, the encounter token stays on the board and the encounter is not resolved.
Show the art and read the encounter out loud, then select one of the options and resolve it.
- If you cannot pay the cost for an option, you cannot take that option.
- Any resources/structures/mechs/workers you gain from the encounter go on the same territory as your character.

The factory does not produce resources.
The factory counts as 3 territories if you control it at the end of the game for the purposes of end game scoring.
The 1st time your character moves onto the factory, you can look through the available factory cards and choose 1. Return the rest to the board face down.

Factory cards

Each factory card acts as a 5th section of your player mat.
You may place your action pawn on the card to take the top and/or bottom actions on that card in the same fashion as other action spaces.
All factory cards have a move action on their bottom row that works differently.
- Move 1 unit up to 2 spaces.
- All other movement rules apply.
- If you have a mine, you can move through the mine.
- If you've unlocked the "speed" mech ability, 1 of your mechs or character may move up to 4 spaces.
You can only have 1 factory card. You get this only the 1st time you visit the factory.
You can never swap your factory card for another.

Each player starts the game with 2 objectives.
You may reveal a completed objective any time during your turn.
If you have completed an objective, place a star in the objective spot on the triumph track and discard both of your objective cards to the bottom of the deck.
The Saxons can complete 2 objectives.

Players may make informal agreements.
The only tangible thing that can be exchanged is coins.
You can't negotiate your way out of combat that has already begun.
Agreements between players are non-binding.

Complete all 6 upgrades
Deploy all 4 mechs
Build all 4 structures
Enlist all 4 recruits
Have all 8 workers on the board
Reveal 1 completed objective card
Win combat (2x)
Have 18 popularity
Have 16 power

When you achieve any of these, place a star in its spot. You cannot lose a star after it has been placed. By default, each spot can only be completed 1 time by each player.

The game ends immediately when anyone places a 6th star on the board (even mid-turn). If this happens as part of a bottom row action, gain the primary benefits before placing a star.

The person with the most coins wins the game. You get coins for:

The coins in hand at the end of the game.
Using your place on the popularity track:
- Gain coins for stars placed.
- Gain coins for territories controlled.
  - The factory is worth 3 territories.
  - Home bases do not count as territories.
  - You must have a worker/mech/character in a territory to control it.
  - You control a territory with your structure and no enemy units on it.
- Gain coins for every 2 resources you control. Workers are not resources.
- Gain coins according to the structure bonus tile.

If there is a tie, it is broken in this order:

Number of workers, mechs, structures
Power
Popularity
Number of resource tokens controlled
Number of territories controlled
Number of stars on the board

Riverwalk: Your character and mechs can move across rivers onto forests and mountains.
Underpass: For move actions for your character and mechs, all mountains you control, tunnels, and your mine are considered adjacent.
Disarm: Before combat on a tunnel, your opponent loses 2 power. Set this on the power track. This can only be done once per combat.
Speed: Your character and meches may move 1 additional space per move action.
- If they move onto a territory containing an opponent's charater/mech, their movement ends.
- Moving through tunnels (including "underpass") counts as 1 space.
- Your mech can pick/drop off resources in the middle of a move action.

Riverwalk: Your character and mechs can move across rivers onto farms and villages.
Township: For move actions for your character/mechs, villages you control and the Factory are considered adjacent.
People's Army: In combat where you have at least 1 worker, you may play 1 additional combat card.
- There must still be a character/mech to engage in combat.
Speed: Your character and meches may move 1 additional space per move action.
- If they move onto a territory containing an opponent's charater/mech, their movement ends.
- Moving through tunnels counts as 1 space.
- Your mech can pick/drop off resources in the middle of a move action.

Riverwalk: Your character and mechs can move across rivers onto forests and mountains.
Seaworthy: Your character and mechs can move to/from lakes and retreat onto adjacent lakes.
- You cannot leave workers/resources on a lake.
- Workers may not move off of the lake without a mech.
- You cannot build a structure on a lake.
- You cannot deploy a mech on a lake.
- If 2 factions have the lake movement ability, it's possible to have a combat on a lake.
Artillery: Before you engage in combat, you may pay 1 power to force your opponent to lose 2 power.
- This is done on the power track.
- You may only do this once per combat.
Speed: Your character and meches may move 1 additional space per move action.
- If they move onto a territory containing an opponent's charater/mech, their movement ends.
- Moving through tunnels counts as 1 space.
- Your mech can pick/drop off resources in the middle of a move action.

Riverwalk: Your character and mechs can move across rivers onto farms and tundra.
Wayfare: Your charcter and mechs may move from a territory or home base to any inactive (not in the game) faction's home base.
Scout: Before you engage in combat, steal 1 of your opponent's combat cards at random and add it to your hand.
- You may only do this once per combat.
Speed: Your character and meches may move 1 additional space per move action.
- If they move onto a territory containing an opponent's charater/mech, their movement ends.
- Moving through tunnels counts as 1 space.
- Your mech can pick/drop off resources in the middle of a move action.

Riverwalk: Your character and mechs can move across rivers onto villages and mountains.
Submerge: Your character and mechs may move to/from lakes and move from any lake to another (like tunnels).
- You cannot leave workers/resources on a lake.
- Workers may not move off of the lake without a mech.
- You cannot build a structure on a lake.
- You cannot deploy a mech on a lake.
- If 2 factions have the lake movement ability, it's possible to have a combat on a lake.
Camaraderie: You do not lose popularity when forcing opponent workers to retreat after winning combat as the attacker.
Speed: Your character and meches may move 1 additional space per move action.
- If they move onto a territory containing an opponent's charater/mech, their movement ends.
- Moving through tunnels counts as 1 space.
- Your mech can pick/drop off resources in the middle of a move action.

Burrow: Your character and mechs may cross rivers into or out of any adjacent tunnel territory.
- A territory containing your mine is included in this.
- A territory containing an opponent's mine is not included in this.
Sword: Before you engage in combat as the attacker, the defender loses 2 power.
- This is done on the power track.
- This is done only once per combat.
Shield: Before you engage in combat as the defender, gain 2 power.
- This is done on the power track.
- This is done only once per combat.
Rally: When moving your character/mechs, they can move to any territory that contains at least 1 of your workers or a Flag token.

Toka: Once per turn when moving, either your character or 1 mech may move across a river.
- A mech can transport workers.
- The character/mech cannot move across multiple rivers when using a move action on a factory card.
Suiton: Your character/mechs can move to/from lakes.
- If combat occurs on a lake, you may play 1 additional combat card.
- You cannot leave workers/resources on a lake.
- Workers may not move off of the lake without a mech.
- You cannot build a structure on a lake.
- You cannot deploy a mech on a lake.
- If 2 factions have the lake movement ability, it's possible to have a combat on a lake.
Ronin: Before combat where you have exactly 1 unit (0 workers and either 1 charactor or 1 mech), you may gain 2 power on the power track.
- Do not count airships or workers on airships.
Shinobi: Your character/mechs can move to any territory with a Trap token.
- If your character/mech ends their movement on a space with a disarmed trap token, you can arm the trap.
  - If the movement initiates combat, the trap can only be armed if you win.