Raiders of Scythia game review and comparing her with the Raiders of the North Sea

30.09.2022

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GAME REVIEW RAIDERS OF SCYTHIA

Are the Horsemen of Scythia just a clone of the Raiders of the North Sea? What new will the Scythians show us?

 Recently, we managed to play several games of the game Raiders of Scythia , which is localized in Ukraine by the Lord of Boards publishing house, so we want to share a little about our impressions of the game. Also in this article we will compare Riders of Scythia with the mechanically similar game Raiders of the North Sea. So let's start the review!

 In Raiders of Scythia, the first installment in Garphill Games ' Ancient Anthology series (which includes games like Hadrian's Wall and the recently announced Legacy of Yu), players take on the role of the Scythians (an empire that spanned large swathes of Central Asia and Eastern Europe from at least 1 10th century BC to 2nd century AD) as they advance south in their attempts to expand their power and influence.


 At its core, Raiders of Scythia is a game with a worker placement mechanic. Each player on their turn will place a worker to perform an action and then pick up a new worker to perform another action. At the beginning of the game, the choice of actions will mostly focus on accumulating your resources and building a team. However, during the game, you will send your team to raid different locations of the playing field to earn the most victory points before the end of the game.

 If this sounds familiar, it's most likely because you've played Raiders of the North Sea before. And it's not just a coincidence. Also designed by Shem Phillips, Raiders of Scythia borrows many of its mechanics from its big brother and its expansions. So much so, in fact, that instead of telling you how to play Raiders of Scythia, we're going to talk about the similarities and differences between Riders of Scythia and the games that influenced the Scythians.


WHAT ARE THE SIMILAR CHARACTERS IN THESE GAMES


 In essence, the Horsemen of Scythia function in the same way as the Raiders . As mentioned earlier, you place a worker from your supply into the action area, take that action, then take another worker off the board and take that action as well. Unless you're raiding. Unlike city actions, a raid does not give you a second action.


 A raid requires you to use a worker of a certain color, a certain number of team members and the right amount of provisions to do so. Successful raids will reward you with certain resources, upgraded workers and possibly victory points depending on the overall strength of your team.

 These enhanced workers must visit certain locations and can be used for other purposes if desired. In the city area of the playfield, the results of most actions shown will vary depending on which type of worker is used to perform the action. And for the most part, the actions available are very similar to what you'll find in a settlement in Raiders of the North Sea: stockpile money and/or provisions, draw cards, hire team members, and use team members' unique abilities. Even the team card structure is similar: each team member has a hire cost, a unique raid ability, a unique city ability, and a specific skill.

 In addition to this, raiding units receive wounds that reduce that unit's strength (as in the Raiders: Fields of Glory expansion), and players can artificially increase their team's strength by using koumiss (similar to mead from Raiders: Hall of Heroes ). Another attribute that has been carried over is the concept of quests (introduced in the Raiders: Hall of Heroes expansion).


DISTINCTIONS


 There are some minor differences between the Raiders of Scythia and the Raiders of the North Sea, and some very significant ones. For example, in the Raiders: Hall of Heroes expansion, you had to use a special action area on the expansion field to complete the quest. This feature is now in the Chieftain's Tent (one of the city actions) in Raiders of Scythia. The Chief's Tent also offers one of several ways to obtain kumis. The koumiss equivalent, mead, could only be obtained by taking cards from the expansion field in Raiders: Hall of Heroes and, occasionally, through a team member's ability. Also, in Raiders: Hall of Heroes, quests were added to the field as various raid locations were emptied, and they mostly just served as additional ways to get more victory points. In Riders of Scythia, they are deployed during training and actively function as one of the two endgame triggers. These are just a few minor differences.


 As far as significant innovations go, the first thing you'll notice is the inclusion of horses and eagles. They can be purchased through one of the actions in town and added to your team board above (Eagles) or below (Horses) a specific team member location. Even if that team member dies, the Eagles and Horses will remain on the board and await the next host. Horses give players victory points at the end of the game and increase power during raids. Some Eagles will do the same, while others may double the ability of the added team member, or even provide an additional City Center action that can be performed without discarding a card.

 Another difference is in the way raids are conducted. In Vikings, many raids required certain strength thresholds to be reached before they could be undertaken. In Raiders, this restriction has been removed and replaced with the need for carriages (obtainable through another town action). Thematically, the further inland you go, the longer your supply chain needs to be to drive this activity.



EXPERIENCE FROM THE GAME


 Raiders of Scythia is a great Euro-strategy that will make you strain your brain. The components of the game are simply incredible, which is only worth the wooden kumis tokens). The rules of the game are easy to learn and easy to explain to beginners. Also a big plus is the theme of the game, which fully corresponds to the gameplay and draws you into the events of the game and this era.


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