Gamers who can’t get enough of the Scythe universe that Stonemaier Games has built, will be excited to get their hands on Gears of Corruption, the first expansion to Scythe’s “sequel,” Expeditions.  The expansion adds more of all the good stuff, including some much needed Quality of Life upgrades, while also bringing a brand-new module to the table. Read on for descriptions and a few of my thoughts on how each of these additions helps (or hurts) the base game.

I would venture to say the first things anyone notices who looks at Expeditions (or Scythe by extension) are the Mech Miniatures.  Whether or not this is a positive for the game, I’m not so sure as I’ve read plenty of seething reviews revolving around how the presence of Mechs makes the game seem like a “war game” when the reality of the game is far from it.  But I tend to believe the miniatures do more help than harm in getting people interested in the game.

Base Expeditions came with five playable Mechs and Gears increases this by adding two more to the mix. This time around, players can choose to climb into the cockpits of either Scarecrow or Mole.  Both Mechs have Special Abilities centered around trashing Map Tokens to gain an advantage. If a player of Scarecrow trashes a Map Token during a Refresh turn, they can choose to do one extra Move, Play, or Gather action when the Refresh is over.  On the other side, players of Mole can trash a Map Token in order to Gather an action even if it covered by Corruption Tokens. 

Both of the new Mechs fit in well with the original group, both figuratively and literally, given the original Expeditions insert was made to house two additional figures. And as usual with Stonemaier Games products, the miniatures are wonderfully crafted.  Now, on the topic of Map Tokens…

New Double-Sided Map Tokens

Expeditions was billed as a game of “exploration” and while players do “explore” the Siberian countryside by flipping over hidden tiles, there was never a huge incentive to do so.  If your opponent flipped a hex, it was still going to get Corruption added and be available for use by all players. The new Map Tokens aim to change this.

On one side of each token, there is now a bonus printed. For any player who takes a Move Action to discover an unflipped hex, they will be awarded the bonus on the underside of the Map Token. The bonuses are in line with Gather Actions, so they aren’t wildly game changing, but they do add just enough motivation to explore around the board in Gears of Corruption.

New Character and Companion Cards

One of my favorite parts of playing Expeditions is getting the chance to play as characters from the Scythe universe in a new and varied way from how I interact with them in Scythe. For this reason, I am so happy that Gears gives us four more characters and their matching companions to master.

Those familiar with Scythe will instantly recognize Bjorn and his pet ox, Mox.  Joining him is another familiar face in Zehra and her hawk, Kar.  New to the fold is Bjorn’s daughter Freya with her beautiful lynx, Loki.  All of these character cards are in line with the cards from the original game in that the character can take a Solve action while the companions can take a Vanquish action.

For those players who are looking for a little difference in how their characters work, they can look to the new addition Baaliahon and its alien companion, Zephon.  This character stands out first for utilizing purple Workers which none of the original characters used.  Secondly, this duo stands out because they can’t use the normal Solve or Vanquish actions but have other ways to get rid of Corruption and to tuck Quest Cards.  Both of these cost components to be Trashed but can be used with less restrictions than the normal Solve/Vanquish.  I’m not entirely sure if the game is easier or harder with this pair, but they definitely take a different strategy to perfect.

Corrupted Mech Module

This module is where Gears really brings something new to Expeditions. Unfortunately, I’m not fully convinced that the execution is as good as the idea is on paper. This module is supposed to introduce an “antagonistic” force to the board, in the form of a Corrupted Mech that is controlled by a Corruption Deck.  When a player has placed their first Glory Token, the Corrupted Mech makes its introduction to the board. Five cards from the Corruption Deck are dealt out in a column and now the Corrupted Mech is slotted into the regular turn order.

When it is the Mechs turn, another Corrupted Card is drawn and placed at the top of the column.  The top left corner of the card depicts either a single or two Cardinal Directions.  The Corrupted Mech Wil attempt to move a single hexagon in the first direction. If it can’t, possibly because there is no hexagon present, the Mech needs to try the next direction, moving in a clockwise direction.  If there is a second direction on the card, the Mech then moves according to it.

If at any point, the Corrupted Mech needs to move in a direction where a player is already present, it then “attacks” this player.  The player must pay the resource or card that is printed on the Corruption Card, beneath the Cardinal Directions.

All of this sounds really great, especially since in the base game, there is really no danger of losing resources (unless you choose to pay) or being punished in any way.  The problem, at least in all of my plays with the Corrupted Mech so far, is that the Mech can spend the whole game just stomping around its own corner of the game, without ever presenting any real danger.

By no means am I a game designer, nor a play tester, so I’m sure there is a reason why this was executed in the way it was, but I would have loved to see some way for the Mech to be influenced to hunt down players, so it felt like a true enemy in the game.

Hero Worker and Starting Mech Cards

The last additions really center around on getting players up and running much quicker in the early game than base Expeditions allowed. Depending on the Mech a player is using, they are given the matching Starting Card.  This card gives players a number of either Guile, or Power, or both, to start the game with.

The card also gives the player a Golden Hero Worker to start with. This Hero meeple can be used in place of any color worker when activating an action on a played card.  Both the Starting Card and Hero Worker are great changes as they allow players to start Vanquishing and playing cards almost immediately.

I’ve been really happy with the Gears of Corruption expansion, especially at this price point.  Even though I will continue to utilize the Corrupted Mech Module in all of my games, I definitely feel that it should bring more fun to the game than it does.  Other than that, all of the changes or additions are a positive and I strongly recommend this expansion if you own Expeditions.

Ratings are based on 5 main criteria: rulebook, setup, components, art & graphic design, and gameplay.  The first 4 criteria are rated 1 to 5 and the gameplay is rated 1 to 10.  These scores culminate in an “overall satisfaction” score that is rated from 1 to 10.  If the reviewed game has both a solo and multiplayer mode, I have assigned scores separately to give context to which mode we enjoy more.