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Player count: 1 – 4 players
Play time: 60 – 80 minutes
Designers: Shem Phillips
Publisher: Garphill Games

The lands of the Greek, Persian, Assyrian empires were vast and plentiful. They had impressive fortifications and imposing armies. But rumours were abound that a formidable foe from lands above the Black Sea were spreading. Fierce & skilled warriors, both male and female, came on horseback brandishing sword, axe and bow. However, these were not mindless savages simply come to raid and plunder, but rather artisans that could craft detailed trinkets made out of gold. They still came to raid and plunder however. They were known as the Raiders of Scythia.

Raiders of Scythia is a worker placement game where players will gather resources, assemble a crew and raid various settlements to gain resources and gold. Players can train animals such as horses and eagles, complete quests and gather provisions and wagons to aid them.

The hook in Raiders of Scythia is that the workers don’t belong to anyone in particular. On your turn, you place a worker and perform an action (all pretty standard stuff) but then pick up any other worker and perform the action of the space the worker was on. Also, there are certain spots that only different coloured workers can go to and some spots that give you different rewards depending on the worker colour.

Points are awarded for completed quests, animals and gold and the player with the most points is the winner.

Final Thoughts

I love worker placement games, it is probably the most represented genre in my collection. But is there room for another one? Does Raiders of Scythia have enough twists to set it apart and make it stay in my collection? Well read on to find out.

The rule set is very simple for this game. Place a worker, perform an action, pick up another worker and perform another action. This mechanism is, in a word, fantastic. It was originally seen (at least by me) in Raiders of the North Sea and Raiders of Scythia is effectively a re-implementation of North Sea with some of the expansion bits added in.

As a worker placement fan this simple twist on the standard mechanisms is refreshing. It can also make for some very interesting combinations and difficult choices. Not only do you need to think about where you are placing but where you are picking up from. Add in to the mix that there are different coloured workers that do different things and you have a very compelling, interesting and engaging game.

The game also has a nice ebb and flow. You will start off building up your crew and resources, then go and do some raiding. Then spend some time building up again to go raiding again and so on.

The crew you assemble have special abilities or bonuses as well as a power rating. The raids can add an element of push your luck as the combat is based on your crew’s power plus any Kumis used and then a dice roll. So you can play the odds and hope that you get lucky with the roll or play it safe and take a stronger crew to guarantee you have enough power. The interesting thing is that you always win a raid, it will just depend on how bad or well you win. How many wounds you take or how many points you gain.

Raiders of Scythia also has a very good solo mode. It is simple to execute, doesn’t involve a lot of admin, various difficulty levels and emulates another player very well by raiding settlements and taking animal cards. It is so smooth and simple and works a treat.

There is a heck of a lot to like in Raiders of Scythia. The twist on the standard worker placement, the ebb and flow of gathering and raiding, the crew abilities, animals to gather and a great solo mode. To answer my original question, yes this is a game that totally deserves a place on my shelf.