WBG Score: 7.5/10
Player Count: 1-5
You’ll like this if you like: Tobago Clank Ticket to Ride
Published by: Stonemaier Games
Designed by: Hoby Chou, Vienna Chou
If you are looking for a good family game to take your younger children's gaming to the next level, then My Little Scythe reviewed here, could be the one for you. If you have played My Little Scythe and love it, then you may be looking for ways to extend your fun beyond the ample game within the base box. The Wind Gambit is a brilliant expansion for Scythe, bringing ominous air ships to the table. Pie in the Sky does the same for My Little Scythe introducing one giant bright pink Airship into The Kingdom of Pomme.
The airship is the center piece of this new expansion. It looks very impressive towering over the miniatures. This is done not just for aesthetics, but also as the ship is allowed on spaces occupied by the Seekers, flying over their heads. The size and tall stand allows for the Airship and Seeker miniatures to be placed on the same hex quite comfortably. The Airship comes into effect when players decide to 'Seek'. There are new cards to lay over the existing player mats which change the 'Seek' rules. In short, a new purple dice is now rolled along with the existing dice that moves the Airship.
The dice will either land on a 'Six' allowing the active player to move the airship six spaces. Or, on a trophy symbol, allowing the active player to move the airship the same number of trophies they currently have remaining on their player mat. The Airship can go anywhere on the board, the only rule is that it must end on a space with either an Apple or a Gem. The players who moved the Airship, once moved, can then take the Apple of Gem from the space the Airship is on and move it to their Cargo hold space of their own personal Airship container. Or they can use their factions new power.
Each fraction now comes with its own asymmetric power. Players can choose to use this when moving the airship. Other than the airship itself, this is the biggest change to the game, and it's awesome! There are ten new powers, one for each faction. Here are my favorites.
There is a Telescope that lets you attempt any quest within the region that the Airship is currently situated in.
Utilising the Spotlight allows you to place your token where the Airship is. On any later turns when you take the 'Make' action in the region that the Spotlight token is situated, you gain an extra Friendship or Pie.
The Harpoon lets you place your token on the airship space. Then on later turns when taking the 'Make' action, if any Apples or Jewels have been placed on the Harpoon space, you can use these items as if they were your own.
Using the Magic Vortex allows a player to discard a Magic Spell card to move up to three Apples or Jewels from other spaces onto the Airships current space.
As the game plays quicker now with these additional powers, there are now five trophies required to win the game, rather than four. A three player game of this can still be completed in under thirty minutes. This is not a long game. The additional trophy requirement is a welcome one, not just for the game length, but also the challenge, and overall enjoyment of the game. With only four trophies required, I found My Little Scythe could end a little abruptly at times.
The Airship itself looks great on the board. It adds some real presence and will look even better once painted! Any offers? (Joke) It has lovely detail and works very well in keeping with the existing art and miniatures.
My Little Scythe is a great game for families. Set up it looks like a proper game. The game has cute art and brightly coloured components. But this is a 'gamer's game'. Simple and easy enough for my six-year-old to play. But also bringing enough to the table for my own enjoyment. I don't like it when family games aimed at younger players dumb down the game too much. It's not an attractive quality for me either when the game looks childish as well as playing that way. I have found that my children think the same. My Little Scythe finds the balance perfectly. It offers a proper gaming experience with attractive art and styling that is neither intimidating to the younger player, nor off putting to the adults at the table.
With Pie in the Sky added, you have a few new rules. But nothing that adds any complexity to the game. I found my children loved playing with and moving the Airship. Although they did take a while to understand it was not their's throughout the game, but a universally shared component. An interesting concept for younger gamer's to grasp.
The two new factions are fantastic. They fill the spots in the original box nicely. In fact the entire expansion fits into the original box well. Although the depth in the insert for the faction tokens is a little too short so these are now a little loose when packed up. But other than that, this is an expansion that has clearly been thought through from the beginning.
I can highly recommend this expansion to anyone who enjoyed the base game, and would encourage any gamer with a young family to give this a try.