Review of Scythe Legendary Box

Blurb from the publisher: 'The Scythe Legendary Box is designed to hold the Scythe core game plus all 3 expansions (components, not the boxes), the various accessories, promos, and a custom insert.

While the Legendary Box does not include any game components, it contains 3 large tuckboxes to fill unused space and store tokens, cards, and other loose pieces.'

What you get: Your USD 40 or equivalent will buy you the Scythe Legendary Box, an accessory for the Scythe game line. For those who haven't read the review of the base game, it is a 4x game that lasts from two to three hours and accommodates from one to five players. Scythe is a persisting sensation, has won a few dozen nominations and awards, and enjoys the spotlight from BGG's top-12 four years after its initial publication.

Contents: This is a sturdy box at a size of 373 x 300 x 205 mm, in other words it is almost the same length and width as Scythe's base game, but double the height. It boasts of Scythe scenery, with enormous military machines passing around traditionally dressed farmers. Inside the box one finds three light cardboard boxes at a similar size as Scythe's two small expansions Invaders from Afar and The Wind Gambit. Each is printed in a different colour (green, blue, red), and depicts a different scene. The box also includes two inserts of harder cardboard, in order to keep everything in place, as well as store smaller components inside them.

The strong points: Scythe needed a much bigger box, and that's just it. Having all the game's elements in one place facilitates set up and clean up, frees space in your library, and overall keeps things tidier. I wouldn't have expected a game to come up with such a big box in the first place, seeing how, if it held the base game's materials only, it would have been practically empty. That would have been terrible marketing.

The box holds everything it promises to, so no surprises there. Obviously enough, it becomes heavy when you fill it up. The box is sturdy, as in extremely sturdy. In fact, it is so sturdy, that I will never place it on top of other games with all its contents inside. It will very likely make any other game collapse under its weight. On the other hand, it is likely to resist a ceiling-high stack of games on top of it. Did I mention that it is sturdy?

The inner boxes do their job. They are much lighter that I would have wanted them to be, admittedly however they didn't need to be heavier. You won't have any trouble distinguishing between them in order to find the components of each expansion. If you enjoy keeping the expansions' components separate, you will definitely enjoy the setup, and even more so if you have painted the game's miniatures. Seeing how you are expected to use the original boxes' inserts in this box, your paintjobs will last forever.

The artwork brings forth the quintessence of Scythe. Don't be afraid that you will no longer be able to recognize the game in your library. Forget its gigantic size for a second. The drawing style, the cold machines walking along huge armies while the peasantry watches, this is as Scythe as it gets.

The weak points: The box does a good job of keeping everything in the same place, yet this doesn't mean that it ultimately facilitates set up. Keeping the expansions' components separate has a couple of advantages, yet the disadvantages are many, many more. I do not understand the approach. If I were the publisher, and knowing that I have pretty much finished with the line's expansions, I would have designed the box's interior so that setup becomes instantaneous. It is definitely not the case here. Thankfully, if you are all into Scythe and want to pimp your favourite game even further, the e-Raptor Insert Scythe - Legendary Box can be of help.

Forty dollars for an almost empty box before tax?! Oh, man. I won't suggest that the box is not worth it if you make frequent use of Scythe, yet not at this price level and not with the sole objective of putting everything in the same box. One of my playtesters found it for EUR 20 in 2019's Essen Spiel, and he was mighty pleased. That's what the MSRP should have been in the first place.

Conclusion: The Scythe Legendary Box will relieve your bookshelves when it comes to storing Scythe and all its expansions. It doesn't however try to reduce your setup and clean up times. Considering its price, that should have been a given.

For more info on Scythe Legendary Box visit Stonemaier Games at http://stonemaiergames.com/.

Shameless plug: for more gaming news and content (including, for example, pictures of Scythe Legendary Box that I am unfortunately not able to upload on RPG.net for the time being), and to better keep track of my reviews, subscribe to my Antonios S facebook and twitter page.