Scythe: Modular Board

To set up, randomly select either side of the newly included modular board. Although the layout will appear similar on both sides, the placement of various printed resources will differ. On the large empty spaces, randomly place the double-sided modular tiles into the empty areas, picking a random side for each. Ensure they are oriented to match the rest of the board. If a lake ends up directly adjacent to a home base, flip that tile over, which will always resolve the issue. Next, shuffle and randomly place one of the home base tiles face-up onto every designated symbol on the board, regardless of player count. One area with a specific symbol will always remain inactive. If playing with The Rise of Fenris expansion, there is a slight alteration to setup, which is detailed in the expansion's rules to avoid spoilers.

The primary objective of the game remains consistent with the base game of Scythe: to accumulate the most victory points by placing stars, controlling territories, and collecting resources. The modular board expansion does not introduce new victory conditions but rather enhances replayability by offering a dynamic and varied map layout for each game, which can significantly alter strategic approaches and faction interactions.

Gameplay proceeds exactly as described in the base game rules. However, players should carefully consider the riverwalk abilities of the factions they choose, especially in relation to the resources immediately available around their faction's base on the new random map layout. More experienced players are encouraged to offer advice to newer players regarding their options. During play, if water on a non-lake territory is directly adjacent to a lake, that water is considered part of the lake. Players do not need riverwalk to cross this, but they would need lakewalk to enter it, just as with any normal lake in the game.

Scoring mechanisms remain identical to the base game. However, the expansion introduces eight new structure bonus tiles. These new tiles should be shuffled into the original structure bonus tiles and used in all games of Scythe, not just when playing with the modular board. Details on how each new tile functions are provided in the included rules for the modular board expansion.

The game concludes when a player places their sixth star on the Triumph Track, just as in the base game. Once the sixth star is placed, the current round finishes, and then one final round is played. After the final round, players proceed to calculate their total victory points based on stars, controlled territories, resources, and objectives, with the player having the most points declared the winner.