By now you’ve probably heard of Scythe, board game geek’s 2016 pick for Game of the Year, and the many accolades it has received since taking our collective consciousness by storm with its fun strategy mechanics and wild theme. If you haven’t, you should probably rectify that. That said, stepping out from the shadows of Scythe we now have 1920 + Expeditions, a game that is reminiscent and reverent to its older brother, but daring enough to do something different.

The game retains its alternate Russian history aesthetic with the sculpted steam-punky mechs and animal companions but ditches the previous game’s combat. Personally, I find that to be refreshing. While the art is largely similar with the beautiful painted sprawling landscapes occupied by farmers, bears, and strange machines, this time around we have the opportunity to investigate and vanquish local corruption caused by a meteoric impact.

The game is played over several rounds determined at the speed of the players. Once a player has accomplished any four combinations of the end goals, everyone gets one more turn and then we count our money. Money in this instance is completely analogous to victory points.

The game itself is one part tile exploration and resource management and one part deck builder. Players pilot their mechs into the unknown regions of Siberia collecting workers and cards to various effects and values before eventually venturing further to vanquish the corruption spread by the meteor. Remember the Orlando Jones and David Duchovny movie Evolution? Similar in concept, though execution is far less comedic in tone.

Players use the things they collect along the way to create an engine before setting off on completing objectives. Objectives lead to money, better engines, and of course the end of the game. There is a lot of options available to you, so replayability is very high.

I absolutely love the lack of combat. It’s not that I dislike games with a combat feature, I just sometimes prefer to casually play an engine builder. That is not to say that players aren’t directly competing for engine resources, because they certainly are.

As always, Stonemaier delivers a beautiful package with quality materials inside. the mechs are incredible and sturdy. The art is beautiful and haunting.

There are plenty of game companies out there, but no one does games as cool as this. Stonemaier has time and time again delivered a product that will hit my table over and over again and this is no exception.

-Ryan Miller