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Scythe, by Stonemaier Games, became an instant hit when it was released a couple of years ago on Kickstarter. A beautifully crafted, engine-builder, Scythe has remained in the Board Game Geeks’ ‘Top 10’ for some time now. Scythe currently has two popular expansions for the original game and a third is due for release imminently.
Whilst it shares the same name, My Little Scythe doesn’t quite cater for the same age group and certainly isn’t an expansion for the core game. Instead of a dystopian alternate history, My Little Scythe draws inspiration from the more light-hearted world of ‘My Little Pony’.
Whilst they now share a name and company, My Little Scythe wasn’t originally planned or produced by Stonemaier Games. In 2017 My Little Scythe existed as a fan-made print-and-play game which then caught the attention of Stonemaier Games. After winning the BoardGameGeek ‘Best Print-and-Play Game Award’ in 2017, you can see why Stonemaier Games took the decision to develop it further.
Designed alongside his daughter, Hoby Chou has ambitiously condensed Scythe into a child-friendly, competitive, Euro game, of virtually the same name. According to Stonemaier Games, My Little Scythe is for ages 8+ and has an estimated gameplay time of between 45-60 minutes. With an MSRP of $50, it’s pretty reasonably priced too.
The box artwork looks brilliant from a child’s point-of-view. The original Scythe animals have been caricatured in cartoon form and whilst fans of the original artwork might be disappointed, there is no denying that this is more suitable for its target audience.
My Little Scythe Gameplay
The gameplay premise is that you control two animals and adventure around the ‘Kingdom of Pomme’. To win, you are attempting to be the first player to earn four trophies. There are eight possible categories from which to earn the trophies and so there are numerous paths to victory. Derived from Scythe, on your turn you can either: Move, Seek, or Make. With these actions you may upgrade, increase, improve, or complete a range of different character attributes and ultimately set yourself closer to victory.
Mechanically, the games seem very similar. Although simplified, My Little Scythe appears to have harnessed the essence of Scythe with the multiple paths to victory, similar actions, upgrade tiles and resource collection elements. New additions are things like: learning magic spells, dice mechanics and delivering goods to a castle. My Little Scythe has been designed as a stepping-stone from which youngsters can prepare for ‘adult’ Scythe. My Little Scythe provides a taster of the mechanics featured in Scythe, allowing for use of the core mechanics to develop.
According to Stonemaier Games the featured game components include:
- Rule books for both multiplayer and solo mode.
- 14 miniatures (hopefully the miniature quality will mirror that of the original Scythe).
- A painting guide and achievement sheet.
- Five custom dice, 24 apples and 24 gems.
- Over 140 other cards, mats, tokens, tiles and boards.
- A 3three-piece ‘Game Trayz’ custom insert.
My Little Scythe will be suitable for young gamers, play quickly and be reasonable to purchase. It sounds like a great addition to the Scythe universe and will surely help get new people into the hobby. Whilst the retail release isn’t until August 17, 2018, you might be lucky enough to experience it prior to release at Gen Con and Gen Can’t events.
