Expeditions is set in the Scythe universe and although it shares much of the same DNA in terms of the iconography, artwork and style, it is a standalone game with a pretty different feel to his older cousin. This game focuses on doing your own thing more than in Scythe, there is no conflict and the only way you can adversely affect your fellow players is just by blocking the location tile they might want or taking a card before they are able to.
Basic Gameplay
This is a standalone game set in the Scythe universe. It uses the same symbology and artwork but is a much lighter and quicker game than its predecessor. The box is almost as big as Scythe, and if you have the fancy Ironclad version with the metal mechs then it’s about as heavy too!
Expeditions is about world exploration, collecting resources and cards and building up a points gaining engine, but chiefly it’s about getting stars on the board by achieving four of the available objectives. Owing to the diversification needed to get your stars out, you need to do a bit of lots of different things. You’ll be collecting workers, moving around the board collecting resources and playing cards for their effects and resources. As the game goes on you will start melding meteorites and collecting items and completing quests. All of these will eventually lead to you being about to secure stars for your hopeful victory. Where this deviates most from Scythe is probably that there is no combat. Some people love it and some people hate the combat in Scythe, and I will say that I can’t say that I miss it. You are doing much more Euro style gaming, world exploration, worker placement and card management. Additionally unlike in scythe where each faction determines what the special ability is, in this game, the special abilities are randomly assigned.
Components
The artwork and component quality churned out by Stonemaeir Games is second to none in my opinion. Just like with all their other games, the components in the basic retail version are really good, but if you want to you do have the option to “pimp” out your games with a plethora of upgrades. We have sprung for the iron mechs and on my radar are the Scythe metal coins because I really love metal coins like some kind of board game magpie. But I will say that the base game is still super enjoyable to play with, you don’t need to upgrade just if you enjoy the game like I do you might not be able to resist.
Replayability
Although you use all the tiles in each game, the way they are arranged drastically affects the way your game will unfold. Additionally there is a lot of hidden information that will be uncovered throughout the game which will also change the way you play.
Round Up
If you’re looking for a stunning on the table game with some meat to it, but that does not outstay its welcome, then surely look no further than Expeditions. This is a game of tactical completion of challenges and blocking to ensure that you can have a flurry of activity at the final moment to secure yourself the win!
