A Player's Guide To The Scythe Automa

A Player’s Guide to the Scythe Automa
Robert Konigsberg [rkonigsberg] - [bgg] Image credits here.

This guide is for the players who need to know just enough about how the Automa thinks without knowing how to
control it. This can be useful in games with multiple human players. Only one of those players needs to know how
to control the Automa. This is still no substitute to fully understanding all the rules. [link]
What The Automa Doesn’t Have or Use

● A player mat
● Resources
● Special abilities from its mechs or faction
● Recruits, structures, and upgrades
● Objectives
● Encounters
● Factory cards
● Popularity. Well, it starts at 10 and stays at 10 all game.
What Controls The Automa

The Automa is controlled by a deck of 19 automa cards that describe its behavior during a turn, and also determines
its strength during combat. Each card has two sides, known as Scheme I and Scheme II. The Automa starts the game
using Scheme I, which focuses more on movement and expansion. About half-way through the game, the Automa
moves to Scheme II, which has an increased interest in combat, and starts collecting stars.
Next to the deck is one of the four star tracker cards. The star tracker card describes the Automa’s difficulty level, and
determines when the Automa may cross rivers and enter lakes, when it moves to Scheme II, and when it gains stars.
An Automa Turn
On the Automa’s turn it will do up to three things, sometimes all three:
1. Move one unit, not more than one. More on that below.
2. Gain some things. These can be units like mechs or workers, or coins, combat power or combat cards. It
often gains more than one type at a time.
3. Provide an Enlistment Bonus for its neighbors. These are generally random.
Automa Deployment
Automas do not deploy units like humans deploy units. Human players put new workers in villages, and mechs with
workers. Automas deploy all units to the Automa's home base before moving to a more tactically valuable territory.
Automa Unit Movement
Automas do not move like units controlled by human players. Essentially, they expand out from their home base,
typically occupying no more than one unit per territory. (Automas get a lot of points from territories.)
Here’s the important thing: Automa units don’t move adjacent to their current territory. They can move to any
territory they control, and also to any territory adjacent to the territories they control. And so the Automa is almost
always expanding the territory it controls. Be wary of occupying a territory adjacent to any automa unit, even a
worker; under that condition the Automa could attack you using any combat unit on the map (even its home base.)
Automas don’t use tunnels. They can’t cross rivers or occupy lakes for the first several turns - as dictated by the star
tracker card - after which they cross rivers and occupy lakes like it’s no big deal.
Generally, Automas strive to occupy the factory and its neighboring territories.
Automa Resources
While Automas don’t collect resources, if you defeat an Automa in combat under certain conditions, you may be
allowed to claim up to four resources. If an Automa defeats you in combat, it discards all the resources you had.
Automa Combat
Humans always choose their combat strength and combat cards prior to the Automa. Only after the human is settled
does the Automa reveal its attack strength. Even though automas won’t use more than one unit in combat, it might
play as many as three combat cards. It could also play no cards, and commit no strength. But that’s the game. The
rulebook gives a hint as to how often it might play zero, one, two or three combat cards.
If the Automa loses, it does not retreat units to its home base, but all the way back to the faction mat. Like all automa
units, the first move for units lost in combat is from the faction mat to their home base.
Encounters and Factory cards

When automa characters land on encounter spaces, they discard the encounter token, and don’t draw an encounter
card. When they land on the factory for the first time, they take a random factory card unseen.
Automa Stars
Automas get stars for 16 power and winning up to two combats (even if the Automa plays Saxony.) But mostly
they get stars, “just because” their star tracker card dictates it. The Automa will not earn any stars this way until
Scheme II, and then gains more at an increasing rate. It is possible then for an automa to get 6 stars just by the game
running long enough, even without 16 power or combat victories.
It does not get stars for any other typical behavior, even though it can gain 8 workers and 4 mechs.
Scoring
Since The Automa’s popularity is fixed at 10, it scores for stars placed and territories controlled at that rate.
Humans are limited to scoring 6 resources per territory, and cannot use resources for tie-breakers.

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A Player’s Guide to the Scythe Automa

Robert Konigsberg [rkonigsberg] - [bgg] Image credits here.

What The Automa Doesn’t Have or Use

What Controls The Automa

Encounters and Factory cards

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