Behind The Scenes or BTS – 4/26/22 aka Alien Day: Why this post is only now appearing. This post has been written over several days. I started it Sunday. However I’ve been a bit tired or as I like to put it “bloody knackered”. So I’ve been writing a little bit of it each day before tiredness kicked in.

Look if you want to ruin the surprises that await you as you play the Scythe Rise of Fenris expansion then ignore the following warning. Otherwise please pay heed to it.

SPOILER ALERT! The following post contains spoilers for the Rise of Fenris campaign for Scythe. If you haven’t played the expansion and wish to avoid any spoilers you may want to avoid this post and join me in a future one.

Yesterday it was time to get Scythe and the Rise of Fenris expansion back to the table to play the next episode in the campaign.

First thing I did was to call Ben and see if he was well enough to join us. We left it that he’d call me at around 11:30am and let me know if he wasn’t.

I grabbed my bag with “everything” in and left for the Community Centre. As I was picking up the bag I distinctly remembered thinking to myself how nice it was to be able to just pick up a single bag and go. Knowing everything was in that bag.

Sadly that wasn’t entirely true.

It wasn’t until I got to the Community Centre, got out the car, took out the bag, and started walking from the car to the Community Centre, that I realised I’d left the neoprene playmat at home!

No worries we could use the regular board. Which changed to we will use the big board set up.

Whilst setting up Ben arrived.

This episode allowed the Wind Gambit expansion to be used. So naturally we were going to play with the airships. We were also allowed to use either the Doomsday Clock or Backup Plan resolution tiles. Of course we went with the Doomsday Clock. I’d played using that before (it’s the only resolution tile I’ve played with so far, but then again it’s only the second time I’ve played with them) and really enjoyed it. I really do like how the focus changes. It’s much more focused and pressured.

I got Ben to draw the two airship tiles, and we ended up with Toll and Hero. Ben also drew the structure bonus for this episode (see below).

We also got to open the little box marked B. Inside eight little orange meeples! These were Fenris agents. Two went on the Factory tile, and each of the six tiles with a tunnel on them also got a single Fenris agent.

By the time setup was finished, which included leaving the factory cards not drawn for the game to one side for Jeff to finish his Vesna faction setup once he arrived. We still had a little time left before the others were due to arrive.

With my setup bonuses and purchasing the perk for 2 more popularity my starting popularity for this episode was 6.

Our goals for episode 4 were to subdue the Fenris agents, and win the game (in 20 turns).

If there is one flaw I have in this campaign it’s going for the shiny new things like influence tokens, or as in this episode Fenris agents over trying to get objectives completed.

I did manage to get five of them, and there was that alluring promise of unimaginable riches at the end of the episode. Riches that translated to setup bonuses. Which felt a little disappointing when it was revealed at the end of the episode. Although I know that at the start of the next episode I will appreciate their benefit.

One of my tactics this game was a land grab trying to be in control of as many tiles as possible. I was able to utilise my airship as a way to lockdown the factory tile under my control. If you remember we had Toll as one of the airship tiles. Which meant to move through or into a space with an airship you had to pay a toll.

I only managed to get three objectives completed this episode before the Doomsday Clock ran out. So far out of the four episodes played the only objective I haven’t completed is the recruit one. So I need to complete that one next episode to complete a line across the Triumph Track. That’s $25 in the final episodes end scoring.

Jeff romped home with the victory and more than enough cash to buy two of the newly unlocked mech mods.

Shane also was able to purchase one. Whilst Ben and myself could look in the shop window but not buy anything. Maybe next episode.

I’m looking forward to our next game in 3 weeks time and the surprises it brings.