Scythe
- Setup
- Concepts
- Game Turn
  - Actions
  - Combat
- Goal
- Game End

Scythe

1-5 players

Setup

Each player picks a faction.
Place encounter tokens on the board.
Shuffle and place combat, encounter & objective cards on the board facedown.
Shuffle factory cards and select # of cards equal to # of players + 1 and place on the board facedown.
Randomly place 1 structure bonus tiles face up on the board.
Each player:
- Selects a faction and pieces and a player board (random?).
- Places their character on the home base and 1 worker on each of the land space adjacent to the home base (2 workers total).
- Place technology cubes (6), workers (6), recruit tokens (4), and structures (4) on your player board.
- Keep the player token handy.
- Place star tokens (6) and mechs (4) on your faction mat.
- Place the power token on the board matching the faction's power level.
- Draw a number of combat cards displayed on the faction mat (keep secret).
- Draw a number of objective cards displayed on the player mat (keep secret).
- Place the popularity token on the board matching the player mat's popularity level.
- Take coins equal to the value shown on the player mat.
- Take a power dial.
- Player with the lowest value on the player mat goes first.

Concepts

Map is labeled with 1 of the 7 terrain types: villages, tundra, forest, lakes, farms, mountains. The 7th type is the factory in the middle of the board.
Units are unique character, mechs and workers.
- Structures also control a territory as long as no enemies are in that space.
- Units cannot move across rivers or into lakes unless they have or gain that ability.
- Only mechs and the character can take part in combat.
- If you have any unit in a territory, you control that territory and have access to the any resources on that territory.

Game Turn

Place your player token on one of the 3 sections of your player mat that it wasn't on previously. (Place on any section for the first turn).
Optionally perform the top action, paying the costs (red background) and gaining the benefit (green background). Ignore covered up slots.
Optionally perform the bottom action, paying the costs (red background) and gaining the benefit (green background). Ignore covered up slots.
You don't need to take all of the benefits.
If at any point during your turn you satisfy the conditions of an objective card, reveal it, place a star, and discard both objectives. You can only complete 1 objective during the game. You don't need to reveal the object card right away but the conditions must still be met in the future to reveal it.

Actions

Move / Gain
- Either move up to 2 units 1 space or gain money (changes after technology cube is moved).
- Units cannot move across rivers or into lakes unless they have or gain that ability.
- Units can bring any number of resources along with them.
- Mechs can bring any number of resources and/or workers with them (not the character).
- You cannot enter your or any other home base as a move action.
- Tunnels are connected and considered adjacent.
- Any number of resources/units/structures can be in a single territory.
- Workers cannot move (by themselves) into territories that have opponent units. They can move into territories with opponent structures and then gain control of that territory.
- If a mech or characters moves into a territory with opponent workers they must stop and at the end of the turn the workers flee to their home base. You lose 1 popularity for each worker that flees.
- A mech can carry workers into a space with enemy units.
- Control of a territory stays until after combat.
- Combat is resolved only after all moves are done. Attacker determines territory combat order.
- If a character enters a territory with an encounter token it stops and after any combat, discards the token and draws an encounter card resolving it.
- If a character is on the factory for the first time and after any combat, secretly take 1 factory card.
Bolster
- Pay 1 coin and increase power or draw combat cards.
Trade
- Pay 1 coin and increase popularity or take any 2 resources and place them on a territory with one of your workers.
Produce
- Pay the cost (free for first turn) and then choose up to 2 different territories you control and all workers produce 1 resource of the type shown on the territory.
- Villages produce new workers per worker producing on that territory. Place new workers on that territory.
Upgrade
- Pay the cost and move a technology cube from the top row actions to a dashed line spot on the bottom row actions. Also gain 1 coin.
- Deploy
  - Pay the cost and take 1 mech and place it on a territory with at least 1 of your workers. (Not lakes).
  - All deployed mechs and your character gain the ability revealed on the faction mat.
- Build
  - Pay the cost and choose 1 structure to place on a territory with at least 1 worker on it.
  - Cannot build on lakes, home spaces, or a territory with another structure (yours or another players).
  - Reveals an additional benefit on the player mat.
  - Your tunnels can only be used by you.
  - When choosing Produce the mill acts as an additional territory to produce with and produces as if it's a worker along with any other workers you have there.
  - Structures control a territory as long as no enemy units are there. You don't lose the benefit of the structure though.
  - Structures give bonuses at the end of the game depending on the bonus structure card.
- Enlist
  - Pay the cost and place 1 round recruit token on one of the bonus space on the faction mat and gain the benefit.
  - It reveals a bonus benefit that is gained when you or a player on your left or right takes the same bottom row action.
  - Recruit benefit order is: active player, player to the left, player to the right.
  - If a 6th star is place the game ends immediately before other recruit benefits are received.
  - The active player can finish their bottom row action before any stars are placed.

Combat

Take the combat wheel and secretly select how many power points to spend. (Points are always spent)
Play # of combat cards from their hand equal to number of character + mechs they have on that territory. They are placed secretly under their power dial.
Reveal cards/dials and highest amount wins with ties going to the attacker.
Combat cards are discarded face up.
Winner of the battle places one of their stars on the combat star spaces. Only 2 available.
Loser retreats all units back to the home base.
If attacker wins, he loses 1 popularity for each worker caused to retreat. If defender wins, popularity is not lost.
If the loser had revealed at least 1 power (card or dial) they draw another combat card.
If a star is gained during a combat, other combats are cancelled and units go back to where they moved from.

Goal

Once all 6 stars are place by a single player, be the player with the most money.
Stars:
- Place all 6 upgrades (technology cubes).
- Build all 4 mechs.
- Build all 4 structures.
- Place all 8 workers.
- Complete 1 objective.
- For winning 2 different combats.
- For reaching 18 on the popularity track.
- For reaching 16 on the power track.
Scoring
- Money you currently own
- Look up the coin value depending where you are on the popularity track and get that many coins times the number of stars you placed.
- Using the popularity coin value you get that many coins per territory you currently control.
  - The factory counts as 3 separate territories when counting this.
- Total all the resources you currently have control over and divide it by 2, rounding down. Multiple that by popularity coin value.
- Gain any coins from the structure bonus card.
Most coins win.
- Ties go to who has the most workers, mechs & structures in play, then to the greatest power level, then greatest popularity, most resources controlled, most territories controlled, and finally the most number of stars placed.

Game End

The game ends as soon as someone places their 6th star.

Table of Contents

Scythe

Setup

Concepts

Game Turn

Actions

Combat

Goal

Game End