Scythe (2016 Stonemaier Games First Edition, Kickstarter)

Scythe (2016 Stonemaier Games First Edition, Kickstarter): The Alternate-History Strategy Game That Changed EverythingWhen Jamey Stegmaier launched the Scythe Kickstarter campaign in October 2015, he was building on the foundation of a modest but well-regarded publisher (Stonemaier Games, known for Viticulture and Euphoria) and a game concept that seemed almost too ambitious: an alternate-history 1920s setting featuring massive mech warfare, resource management, area control, and faction asymmetry, wrapped in artwork by Polish artist Jakub Rozalski that was unlike anything else in hobby board gaming. The campaign raised over $1.8 million -- then one of the largest sums in board game Kickstarter history -- and the physical copies delivered to backers in July 2016 became the most discussed strategy game of the year. Nearly a decade later, the 2016 first edition Kickstarter copy occupies a specific and valued position in the board game collector community.### The Game: What Scythe DoesScythe is a competitive strategy game for one to five players set in an alternate 1920s Europa, a fictional Eastern Europe where the aftermath of an unspecified conflict has left the land scarred and technology has advanced toward diesel-powered mechs -- massive machines deployed by competing factions as both workers and weapons.Each player controls one of several asymmetric factions, each with distinct abilities, starting resources, and power combinations. The factions -- the Nordic Kingdoms, the Rusviet Union, the Crimean Khanate, the Polania Republic, and the Saxony Empire in the base game -- have different starting positions on the board, different special abilities, and different strategic approaches that make them play distinctly from each other.The game's core mechanism is a rondel action selection system. Each player's board shows a series of action pairs, and players move a pawn around this rondel, selecting a different section each turn (the key constraint is that you cannot select the same section two turns in a row). Each section allows two actions: a top-row action and a bottom-row action, and players may take either or both, paying resources for the more powerful ones.This system creates a game where turns flow quickly and decisions are constrained in interesting ways. You always have options, but you cannot repeat yourself immediately, which forces planning and adaptation. The result is a game that plays more quickly than its visual complexity suggests -- despite the large board, the many faction components, and the substantial strategic depth, Scythe games frequently finish in two to three hours with experienced players.Scoring in Scythe is hidden until the end game. Players accumulate stars (achievement tokens) for completing specific goals (winning combat, deploying all mechs, completing all structures, etc.), and at game's end, territory, resources, and stars are all scored together based on the player's popularity track position multiplying different scoring categories. This end-game reveal creates the satisfying uncertainty that characterizes the best euro-style strategy games.### The Kickstarter Campaign: A Model for CrowdfundingThe Scythe Kickstarter campaign is studied in board game design and publishing circles as a model for how to run a successful crowdfunding project. Several factors distinguished it:The art came first: Jakub Rozalski had already created his "1920+" digital art series before the game existed. The images -- massive mechs looming over pastoral Eastern European landscapes, folk-dressed peasants tending fields in the shadow of industrial warfare -- had developed a significant following online. When Stegmaier announced a game based on this setting and art, there was already a community that knew and loved the visual world.Transparent communication: Stegmaier documented his process in detail on the Stonemaier Games blog, sharing design decisions, playtesting notes, and production challenges with complete transparency. This built trust with backers in a crowdfunding landscape where many campaigns had disappointed.Realistic fulfillment planning: Stegmaier had shipped Kickstarter games before with Viticulture and Euphoria, and he applied lessons from those campaigns to Scythe's logistics. The campaign funded in October 2015 and delivered physical copies in July 2016 -- a nine-month turnaround that was, and remains, fast for a game of this production scale.Multiple pledge tiers with meaningful differentiation: The Kickstarter offered multiple versions of the game, from the base game through the Collector's Edition with upgraded components, each providing genuinely different value rather than just cosmetic differences.### First Edition Kickstarter vs. Later Retail EditionsScythe has been through multiple production runs since the original Kickstarter delivery, and the base game remains actively in print through retail channels. For collectors, the distinction between the Kickstarter first edition and later retail printings matters in specific ways.Kickstarter-exclusive content: The original campaign backers received items not included in the standard retail release:- Four exclusive Kickstarter promo cards (added to the Objective deck)- Automa (solo mode) rules and materials- Specific content unlocked through stretch goals during the campaign*Component quality: Kickstarter campaign versions were produced with the goal of showing backers the highest quality version of the game. Metal coins (in place of cardboard coins), dual-layered player mats, and other premium component upgrades were available through Kickstarter pledge tiers that weren't reflected in initial retail versions.Edition identification: First edition copies can be identified by production markings, the presence of Kickstarter promo content, and the specific component quality associated with different pledge tiers. Stonemaier has maintained detailed documentation of what was included in each edition on their website.### Value at a Glance| Version | Condition | Value Range ||---|---|---|| Standard Kickstarter Edition (complete) | Excellent/New | $70 - $120 || Premium Kickstarter Edition with upgrades | New in shrink | $150 - $300 || Collector's Edition (highest KS tier) | New in shrink | $300 - $600 || Current retail base game | New | $50 - $70 || Complete with all expansions (KS origins) | Varies | $400 - $800+ |The value premium for the Kickstarter edition over current retail is meaningful but not extreme, partly because Stonemaier Games has maintained close component parity between Kickstarter and retail versions over time and because the game is in print and readily available. The collector premium is primarily for the Kickstarter-exclusive content, specific component upgrades, and the provenance of owning the original campaign delivery.### Jakub Rozalski and the Art World of ScytheOne cannot discuss Scythe without giving appropriate attention to Jakub Rozalski, whose artwork is the visual soul of the game. Rozalski is a Polish digital artist who developed the "1920+" series as a personal creative project -- imagining what 1920s Eastern Europe would look like if the technological trajectory of the twentieth century had gone differently, producing not nuclear bombs or jet planes but diesel mechs.The resulting images are some of the most striking in contemporary genre illustration: a hunter in traditional clothing leading hounds through a winter field, with a massive mech visible on the horizon; a farmer harvesting with horses while a battle between mechs rages in the middle distance; scenes of rural life interrupted by the presence of giant industrial machines that are simultaneously threatening and matter-of-fact in their coexistence with everyday village life.This combination -- pastoral and industrial, historical and alternate-historical, familiar and strange -- gives the Scythe artwork a quality that pure fantasy or pure science fiction cannot achieve. The world feels like it could almost be our own, distorted in one specific direction. It is a visual concept of unusual depth, and it drives collectors to seek out not just the game but Rozalski's prints, books, and art objects derived from the 1920+ series.### The Expansion EcosystemLike Root, Scythe has an extensive expansion ecosystem that Stonemaier Games has developed through subsequent campaigns:The Wind Gambit: Adds airships as a new game element, with eight random airship abilities creating significant variability.Invaders from Afar: Adds two new factions (Albion and Togawa), expanding the player count to seven.The Rise of Fenris: An eight-episode campaign expansion that introduces new mechanisms, modular elements, and narrative story content.Encounters: Additional encounter cards.Promo packs*: Various Kickstarter and retail promo materials.A complete Scythe collection including all officially released expansions represents a substantial investment and a large physical footprint. Collectors who acquired everything through Kickstarter campaigns from the beginning have first-edition versions of each expansion alongside their first-edition base game.### BGG and the Community ReceptionScythe entered BoardGameGeek at extraordinary heights upon release, reaching the top 10 overall rankings within months of its 2016 publication. It remains in the BGG top 20 to 30 consistently, though like many highly anticipated games, initial enthusiasm has settled somewhat as the player community has developed a more nuanced understanding of its strategic depth and limitations.The BGG discussion threads for Scythe are extensive and cover everything from strategic analysis to the visual design to comparisons with other games in the resource management and area control genres. The game has a large, active community of players who have produced tutorials, strategy guides, and faction tier lists that help new players understand the game's depth.### The Stonemaier Method: Transparency as Business PracticeJamey Stegmaier's approach to building Stonemaier Games is worth examining in the context of Scythe's Kickstarter edition collecting, because it directly affects how the game was produced, delivered, and received.Stegmaier writes extensively about his design and business decisions on the Stonemaier Games blog, which has become a resource for other designers and publishers as much as for players. He shares manufacturing costs, details about production decisions, mistakes made in previous campaigns, and his philosophy about working with backers as partners rather than customers.This transparency extends to how he treats Kickstarter exclusivity. Stegmaier has been explicit that Stonemaier Games does not lock content behind Kickstarter exclusivity that would make the game less complete for retail purchasers -- the Kickstarter-exclusive items in Scythe are genuine additions (promo cards, upgraded components) rather than content that was withheld from the retail release. This approach respects both Kickstarter backers (who get something genuinely extra) and retail buyers (who get a complete game without feeling penalized for missing the campaign).For collectors, this policy means the Kickstarter edition has real but bounded exclusivity -- it is meaningfully different from the retail game, but not so different that retail buyers are playing a lesser version. This balance is relatively unusual in the Kickstarter board game world and is one reason Stonemaier Games has maintained strong community trust across multiple campaigns.### Scythe and the Polish Art Renaissance in Board GamesThe success of Scythe's art direction opened a door for Eastern European visual artists in the board game market. Rozalski's work was already known in digital art circles before the Kickstarter, but Scythe brought his aesthetic to an audience of hundreds of thousands of board game players worldwide.The game's visual world -- which Rozalski has continued to develop through prints, art books, and continued 1920+ series development -- represents a specific cultural perspective that differs from the American and British genre illustration traditions that had dominated board game art. The Eastern European setting, the specific visual references to Polish countryside and craft traditions, the tension between peasant life and industrial power -- these elements resonate differently with different audiences and give Scythe a cultural specificity that generic fantasy or science fiction art cannot achieve.For collectors interested in the broader cultural significance of their board games, Scythe represents one of the clearest examples of a game where the art is genuinely inseparable from the game experience.### Acquiring a First Edition Kickstarter Copy TodayThe Scythe first edition Kickstarter copies circulate on BGG's marketplace, eBay, and Facebook board game groups. Because Stonemaier Games has been transparent about edition differences on their website, buyers can verify what they are acquiring with reference to Stonemaier's official documentation.For the standard Kickstarter tier, condition and completeness are the primary value drivers. Component wear, missing tokens, and damaged cards all reduce value. Boxes in very good condition with all components present and the Kickstarter promo materials included are the most desirable for collectors.For higher-tier Kickstarter versions with premium components (metal coins, premium wooden pieces, art book), documentation of the original pledge tier and complete component lists matters more.### The Scythe LegacyScythe's significance in board game history is multidimensional. It demonstrated that a Kickstarter campaign could execute at a large scale with minimal compromise in quality or timeline. It brought an unprecedented level of visual sophistication to a complex strategy game. It showed that asymmetric faction design could be executed with sufficient balance to create competitive play without requiring years of revision. And it created the foundation for Stonemaier Games to become one of the most respected publishers in the hobby.The 2016 Kickstarter first edition is the original statement of all those achievements -- the physical object that backers held in their hands in July 2016 when Scythe arrived, before the reviews, the awards, the expansions, and the ten years of community discussion that followed. That's what the first edition preserves.Browse all Collectible Toys and Games →

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