Game summary:
A game for 1-6 players
Play time 45 – 60 minutes
Designer: Hoby Chou, Vienna Chou
Artist: Noah Adelman, Katie Khau
Publisher: Stonemaier Games
Unboxing
The Game Trayz insert contains the following components:
– Rulebooks for both multiplayer and solo play
– Instruction manual for paiting the Seekers
– 1 Achievement sheet
– 1 Main Board
– 7 Pairs of Seekers
– 7 Action Tokens
– 7 Pie Tokens
– 7 Trophie Tokens
– 7 Friendship Tokens
– 7 Base Camp Tiles
– 5 search dices
– 1 Setup Tile
– 16 Powerd Up Tiles
– 2 Pie Fight Dials
– 6 Player Mats
– 8 Personality cards
– 17 Automountie cards (for Solo play)
Pie in the Sky expansion
– 1 Rulebook
– 1 Achievement sheet
– 1 Airship Kai
– 2 new Pairs of Seekers
– 9 airship mats
– 6 Seek action overlay cards
– 5 airship gadget tokes (not every pair of Seekers receive an gadget token)
– 4 new Power Up Tiles (2 Move and 2 Make)
– 2 new quests cards
– 10 extra Trophy tokens (including 2 for the new Seekers)
– 1 airship die
An overview of the main board in action. This is a game for 2 players including the expansion Pie in the Sky.
A Pie Fight between blue (left) en red (right), they both choose to add a couple of Pies from the Pie track combined with a spell card. In the example Blue wins this fight, so Red returns to his or her Base Camp.
Let’s get it to the table
In my review I’ll explain how you can play with My Little Scythe and with the expansion Pie in the Sky. I will make a not at every rule that has changed the game or made an extra option when you play with this expansion.
First we’re going to setup the main board, place it on the table. Then everyone selects 2 matching Seekers, the matching Action toking and a Base Camp Tile. You have to place this Base Camp tile on a base camp position according to the player count. This is demands with the amount of players where you place your Base Camp. Then place the Seekers and the Base Camp on the board.
A small note; None of the Seekers has special abilities so they only look different! If you like painting, then these really looks really awesome when they are painted! In the box you’ll find examples and instruction to paint them.
Extra note; with the expansion your Seeker has an Airship Gadget, every Seeker has a different ability.
Every player mat receives a player mat, also the other tokens like the 4 Trophies, Friendship token and the Pie token.
– You can place the 4 Trophies on your player mat;
– Place the Friendship token on level 3 of the Friendship Track and
– Place the Pie token on level 3 of the Pie track.
When you play with Pie in the Sky; you also gain an Airship mat corresponding with you Seeker, and 1 airship token and 1 extra trophy token. Place the Airship mat on the left of your player board and place the fifth trophy token on it. You also receive an new Seek action overlay card. Place this one on the Seek action on your player board. This one adds a new die to the different dices.
Shuffle all the Quest cards and place them on the board (right bottom) then shuffle all the Magic Spell cards. Give every player 1 Magic Spell card and then place this deck on the board (left bottom).
When you play with Pie in the Sky; shuffle the 2 new quests cards into this deck.
Shuffle the Power Up tiles into 2 different decks, one blue and one green. And place these 2 piles on the board (top left).
When you play with Pie in the Sky; shuffle the new Power Up tiles into the corresponding decks.
We are almost done with the setup, use the Setup Tile and place this in the middle of the board on the Castle Everfree. This tile are you using to sept the 3 spaces on the board for the active players. You fill these spaces with the resources that are shown on this tile. After this is done, place the Setup Tile back in the box.
Shuffle the 8 personality cards and give 1 to each player, don’t forget to keep this secret!
Now we’re ready to play!
When it is your turn you take an action from your player mat.
On your player mat you got 3 actions (Move, Seek and Make), use your Action Token to show what action you want to take:
An overview of your player board, this one is included with the expansion. So in the middle you also see the new Seek card.
When you’re playing without it the expansion, just remove the left player board and the fith trophy.
Move:
Move both of your Seeker miniatures. You got 2 options for moving;
– Move without carrying apples or gems, then your Seeker can move up to 2 spaces. : Move your Seeker up to 2 spaces.
– Move with carrying apples and/or gems: Move your Seeker up to 1 space while transporting any number of apples or gem tokens. You can move any resources on the Seeker’s space to another space, but if you take 1 resource with you then you may only move 1 space.
If you move to an occupied space by an opponent’s Seeker, then there will be a Pie Fight but I’ll tell you more about that later in my review.
Seek:
Roll dice to discover (generate) apples, gems, and quest tokens on the map. When you place your Action Token on one of the 2 options on your player board. You choose those die and roll them. On the dice you see the result where you place an apple, gem of quest token.
Red die; for an Apple.
Blue die; for a Gem.
Gold/ Yellow die; for a quest token.
When you place an apple or a gem on a space where there’s an opponent, you receive 1 friendship per apple or gem that you place on that space. When there aren’t any more resources, you can’t place anything till there has been a delivery, through an action or by using a quest token.
When you play with Pie in the Sky; you can also roll the airship die. On this die you got 2 results,
1. A trophy Symbol; you can move the Airship equal to the number of remaining spaces of trophies that are left on your board.
2. Boost, you can move the Airship up to 6 spaces (also 0 spaces is an option)
When the Airship lands on a space, you can take a gem or an apple (if available) and place it in your Cargo hold. Lose 2 friendship if you take it from another player or perform you Airship ability.
Using you Cargo hold;
you can place gems and/ or apples that you take from the board into you Cargo. Whenever you have to spend these items, you can choose to get them from the board and/ or from you Cargo hold. This way you save some for special quests or just for delivering Castle Everfree. You can store any limit of apples and gems into your Cargo and none of the player can take them from your Cargo!
There are a few extra rules for using the Airship:
The Airship is for everyone and it’s not for just one player! The Airship moves above the board and not on the board.
– It’s not required to stop when it enters a space that’s occupied by a Seeker;
– It doesn’t start or defend in any pie fight like a normal unit;
– It cannot pick up or attend any quests on its own;
– It cannot move apples or gems unless enabled by a player’s Airship ability;
– It cannot deliver any apples or gems at Castle Everfree
– It cannot teleport through portals, but can stay on a portal;
– The Airship space is not a space that’s occupied, because it moves above the board;
Make:
Spend apples and gems to gain pies, magic spell cards, or power ups.
– Bake Pies;
Remove 2 apples from each place where your Seeker stands and receive 2 pies and move forward on the Pie Track.
– Spell;
Remove 2 apples from each place where your Seeker stands and gain a Magic Spell card from the top of the deck.
– Power Up;
Remove 1 apple and 1 gem from each place where your Seeker stands to purchase a Power Up Tile for a new Move or Make action.
1. Select the top 3 files from one of the 2 Power Up decks and select 1 tile. Place the rest back to the bottom of the deck.
2. Place your chosen tile on top of the corresponding section on your player mat.
This tile remains on your board permanently and you can use it over and over again. But you may only replace both actions Make and Move with a Power Up tile.
A few examples of new cards that replace the old Make action. You just place these on top of the other Make action.
A few examples of new cards that replace the old Move action. You just place these on top of the other Move action.
Deliver
In your turn you may delivery at Castle Everfree a total of 4 apples or 4 gems, this is the only time that you may move onto Castle Everfree. With your move action, you have to take the 4 apples or 4 gems with you!
When it’s your first delivery, you’ll also earn a Trophy. So place your trophy immediately on trophy track on the correct level. You may not repeat the same type of delivery, you may only make 1 delivery for apples and 1 delivery for gems!
When you delivered apples or gems to Castle Everfree, the Seeker that delivered those items is immediately teleported back to your Base Camp. When one of your Seekers is returned to the Base Camp you’re also rejuvenated, but for this information please read ‘Base Camp’.
Portals
On the board you’ll see 6 spaces with pink borders, that are the portals. You can use them to move quicker to another space on the board. A move from portal to portal is like moving from one space to another space.Besides the spaces with pink borders, there’s also a 7th portal and that’s Castle Everfree. But you may only use this when you’re going to make a delivery
Pie fight
When you’re move and to a space that’s already occupied by an opponents Seeker(s) your move ends. Then there will start a Pie fight.
– The attacking player immediately loses 1 friendship (if that’s possible)
– Both players choses a separate Pie Fight Dial and they each determine the amount of pies to throw at the other player. You can choose from 0 (zero) to 7 (seven) pies, but you can’t throw more then the total of pies shown on the Pie Track.
– For each of your Seekers that are with you on this fight (no matter if your attacking or defending) you can add a Magic Spell Card on the Pie Fight Dial. The value of this card is added to the number of Pies that you’ve chosen on you Dial to throw.
– Then both player simultaneously reveal their pie fight scores. The player with the highest score wins! When it’s a tie, then the attacker will win this fight. The winner earns also a Pie fight trophy and can place a trophy from his player board to the board, but only if it’s the first one!
– When you’ve lost the fight, your Seeker(s) also returns to their Base Camp. You leave the resources on the space you’ve just left.
– By returning to the Base Camp, the losing player is also rejuvenated, but for this information please read ‘Base Camp’.
– The last action is to adjust the Pie Track, based on the amount of Pies every player has spend in this fight. The Magic Spell cards that has been used are placed faced up on the discard pile.
Quests tokens
When you discover a Quest token in a region, place that token on a space that is unoccupied
unoccupied by Seekers and other quest token. Every space may only have 1 quest token. If it’s not possible to place a token, then you can ignore the quest.
When you complete a Move action and land on a space with a quest token you have to resolve the quest. Take that quest token from the board and draw a quest card. Then you can choose to resolve the quest by using option 1 or 2 or just say No Thanks.
When you resolve the quest, take the action and place the card below your player board. When you choose to not resolve the quest, place it on the bottom of the quest pile.
Trophies
The goal of the game is to earn trophies, there are 8 different trophies you can earn during the game. When you’ve earned a trophy, place one of the 4 (or 5 with the expansion) from you player board onto the Trophy Track.
The 8 different trophies are;
1. Reaching number 8 on the Friendship Track. When you’ve reached this one and at some point you lose any friendship this doesn’t undo the trophy!
2. Have 1 of each Power Up tiles, so one new Move and one new Make tile on you player board;
3. Having 3 or more magic spell cards at any point during the game. Whenever you use one of these cards, you don’t lose the trophy;
4. Resolve 2 quests, after you’ve placed your trophy you still can resolve quests but you cannot place a new trophy!
5. Deliver 4 apples to Castle Everfree, you have to place it directly after your turn;
6. Deliver 4 gems to Castle Everfree, you have to place it directly after your turn;
7. Win a pie fight as either an attacker or defender, you have to place it directly after your turn;
8. Reaching number 8 on the Pie Track. When you’ve reached this one and at some point you lose any pies this doesn’t undo the trophy!
Low Friendship
When your friendship is below 3, you may not earn trophies even if you’ve met the criteria for earning a trophy. When your friendship is restored to 3 or higher, you may earn trophies again.
Trophy Limit
Until the grand finale (last turn), you may only earn up to 1 trophy per turn. If you are able to earn more than 1 trophy, you must choose 1. In your next turn you can try to earn it again but only if you meet the criteria.
Base Camps
Your base camp is where your Seekers start the game after the game it’s only been as a rejuvenation. A Base camp is no space that you can reach by moving around and they can’t contain any resources and/ or quests. Seekers can only return to your base camp when they are lost a pie fight loss or when they have successful delivered 4 gems or 4 apples. When at least one of your Seekers is returned to base camp, you are immediately rejuvenated (max 1 per turn):
Immediately you gain either 1 magic spell or 2 pies and remove your action token from your player board, you now have access to any action on your next turn.
A few examples of Spell cards, on the left top and right you’ll see the number of Spells you add during a Pie fight.
A few examples of Quest cards, on the right you’ll see the different options you get to choose from.
The Airship mats that you add next to your player board.
Game ends
The games ends when one player has earned his or her 4th Trophy. Then the final turn starts for each player without having a 4th Trophy.
But now they aren’t limited to 1 trophy per turn! Once all final turns are resolved, the player with the 4 trophies is crowned as the winner and the new ruler of Pomme!
When there’s a tie, the winner is determined by the one that has the most friendship.
When you play with Pie in the Sky, the game ends when one player has earned his or her 5th Trophy. Now the final turn starts for each player without having a 5th Trophy.
Final Conclusion & rating:
Weight: 2/5
Replayability: 9
My rating: 🎲🎲🎲🎲🎲🎲🎲🎲
Set up of the game
The board can be set up quickly. The parts are already well stored in the box by the use of Game Trayz insert. I am a huge fan of this because it really adds something to the game. The instructions are also very clearly explained in the rules, and I think it is a very good addition that you are not bound to 1 fixed spot on the board. This makes it very easy when you are with less players and you can just sit opposite each other or next to each other, for example with children very easy in the beginning.
Everything is well explained on the board and the icons speak for themselves.
Quality of the components
I don’t know what to say about this, it’s a game from Stonemaier Games and like the other games, it’s done with quality! So this is a very big plus, I would like to see a small improvement and that is a thicker player board. Because it is really a game for children, this could really add something. The use of Game Trayz ensures that the game can be used very well, but also that the parts are well placed in the box and remain very neat. The chamois and apples are of solid quality and fortunately not made of cardboard, this makes it even more fun for children to play with. But also the Seekers look very nice and I think that if you paint them, they will be even more fun to play with.
Overall impression of the game
My little Scythe is a very fun game to play with the children. I am a huge fan of Scythe and when you start playing this game you will recognise a lot of it, yes it is definitely adapted to play with children including just the use of the various components such as the apples or the apple pies. But also the fans of Scythe will find this an entertaining game but I do think that for them it can be finished too soon but fun is definitely at the top in this game! The expansion makes it even more fun and I think also a bit more difficult because everyone also gets an ability that allows you to do something more and you can store apples or gems in your cargo hold.
Adjusting your player board by adding new Move or Make actions makes it even more fun and varied, but also the search for quests tokens and fulfilling them makes the game very enjoyable. You will still have to think carefully about which action you are going to perform and which one after that, so also think a bit ahead but at the same time you might want to fulfil a trophy. The addition of the Airship makes it more fun because it gives you a new Search Action and the dice makes it more exciting.
Would I recommend the expansion? Yeah definitely, it belongs to the game, you got the extra space already in the insert. But you receive also extra cards that gives you more options but also the Airship is really a nice addition to the game. Instead of leaving the apples or gems on the board, you now got the possibility to place then on your player board. The game also takes a bit longer because you now have to collect 5 trophies instead of 4 and that can make it a bit more challenging. Finally, I would almost forget that there is also a solo mode in the game! So if you or your kids want to play Solo with My Little Scythe, that’s also an option. But be carefull if your kids are going to play this a lot, they will only get better and one day they will win from you.
I’ve bought the game myself because I am a fan of Scythe and I was very curious about this version but also to get it on the table more often soon when my son is a bit older. Despite the fact that this is a game for children, I noticed that it is for children who have played games more often, because there are quite a few options they can choose from, but also in terms of game duration, about 45 to 60 minutes per game. If it is for the beginning ‘adult’ players then it is certainly a nice game to play but there is not much depth in it, if you want that then I would look further. At Stonemaier Games they have some nice games for that as well!
I really want to thank Stonemaier Games for sending me the review copy of Pie in The Sky and gave me the possibility to review it with the base game that I’ve bought!
