Togawa Patriotic is a fun combination! Because of Togawa’s position on the board and all the flexibility the Patriotic player mat offers, it’s easy to do well. So, enough with this preamble, let’s check it out!
Patriotic Mat.
The Patriotic Player Mat starts a player off with 2 Popularity and 6 Coin with a turn priority of 3. It’s strongest column is Produce / Enlist, as players can gain their Enlist Star while performing the second most common top row action. Along with that, a player gains a decent amount of coin from this column, and their Enlist can be discounted down to 2 Food with an upgrade.
Deciding the next strongest column is a bit of a toss up between Move / Upgrade and Bolster / Deploy. While Bolster / Deploy may seem like the easy best choice with Power gain above putting mechs on the board for the best coin gain, it’s also the most expensive a BRA can be for 4 Metal initially.
Meanwhile, upgrades start as the cheapest a BRA can be initially and they drastically cut down on the needed resources for our other strong rows. As well, they fall under the Move action making for a lot of streamlined turns and gain a player some coin. As such, it would seem best to prioritize Move / Upgrade over Bolster / Deploy because the former will make the latter easier to utilize.
With the Patriotic mat, a player would benefit going for the Enlist Star as well as the Mech Star, and as a bonus may be able to pull off the Power Star. That being said, players would be wise to prioritize early upgrades while moving workers to ideal positions for productions.
Togawa Patriotic Star Strategy.
I don’t recommend starting a game without considering what Stars you want to achieve. For those unfamiliar, Stars are Victory Points, and the first player to Six Stars ends the game. So, needless to say, they’re kind of important.
Upgrade Star.
Generally speaking, for any faction or mat combination to go for the Upgrade Star is rare. In this circumstance, we’ll be getting a couple early upgrades. However, it would slow our game down to try beyond that. Thus, no Upgrade Star for us.
Mech Star.
Our Bolster / Deploy column is our most lucrative column. Combine that with being able to discount the cost down, and we’ll definitely take advantage of the Mech Star.
Build Star.
The Build action is under Trade and gives us no coin gain. Plus the cost is steep at 4 Lumber right out the gate, and we have better options. As such, we will not go for the Build Star.
Enlist Star.
Because Enlist is under Produce and gives us some decent coin, we’ll definitely want to make this happen. Yes to the Enlist Star.
Worker Star.
This is one of the easiest Stars to achieve in Scythe, so we’ll definitely be getting it.
Objective Star.
Objectives are always on the table. We should be able to work our game around getting one completed. If not, we’ll know at the start of the game that we have to make some adjustments.
Combat Star(s).
We’ll always have these as a focus.
Popularity Star.
Very rarely has Popularity gotten to 18 in competitive games I’ve seen or played in. So, there’s really no point in having it as a focus. We might try for Tier 2 Popularity for scoring if Encounters make it possible, but not the Popularity Star.
Power Star.
Since Bolster is above our Deploy action, we’ll be getting some decent Power. Add in our mech ability Ronin and it’s entirely possible this Star is on the table.
All in all, for Togawa Patriotic, it would be in our best interest to focus on Mech, Enlist, Worker, Objective, and Combat Stars. We’ll have the Power Star as optional and see where we’re at mid game before deciding.
Togawa Patriotic Objective Strategy.
Objectives are a strong part of any game and should be considered early and thoroughly. For those who don’t know, each player starts the game with two Objective Cards. Then throughout a game, players have the opportunities to complete one of those Objectives for an additional Star. Now, because most Stars are more difficult to get, Objectives can be an optimal choice over an option that takes four or more turns to accomplish. As such, it is highly recommended that we consider our Objectives and see how we can fit them into our play.
This play through, we received “Balanced Workforce” and “Divide and Conquer” as Objectives. Both Objectives are possible, so we need not worry about needing to figure out a better Star option.
Balanced Workforce.
According to this, we must “Have the same number of workers and recruits” in order to complete. Typically, this Objective slows progress down a great deal and isn’t considered favorable. However, with this set up, we have the ability to Enlist twice really early in the game, and it won’t derail our progress. As such, this will be the one we accomplish.
Divide and Conquer.
According to this, we must “Have zero Factory Cards and control at least two territories adjacent to the Factory at the end of our turn” in order to complete. Usually we’d opt for this one, but because Togawa moves slower and the other Objective is easier, we’ll write this one off.
Togawa Patriotic Strategy Overview.
Our overall strategy for Togawa Patriotic with these Objectives is to get a fast Upgrade, move and Enlist twice to get our Objective. From there, we’ll see what the Encounter gives us to decide what we need to do next. Mid game, we’ll want to be close to getting to the Factory and moving our units about a bit. By then we should know if the Power Star is possible or not.
Togawa Patriotic Step by Step Strategy.
Objectives: Balanced Workforce. Divide and Conquer.
- TRADE: 2 Oil.
- MOVE: Heroine to Tundra, Worker from Tundra to Farm. UPGRADE: Move / Enlist.
- PRODUCE: 2 Food. ENLIST: Enlist / Power reward.
- TRADE: 2 Oil.
- PRODUCE: 2 Food. ENLIST: Upgrade / Popularity reward. [Objective Star].
- MOVE: Heroine to Encounter, Worker from Farm to Village. UPGRADE: Bolster / Deploy.
- Encounter: We’d prefer and Enlist, Food, Oil, or Metal.
- We received Encounter 27. Though it’s tempting to take the mech deployment for 2 Popularity, getting 4 Metal allows us to use the Bolster action to Deploy.
Mid Game.
- BOLSTER: 3 Power. DEPLOY: Ronin Mech on Village.
- TRADE: 2 Oil.
- PRODUCE: 1 Worker and 1 Food.
- MOVE: Heroine to Village Tunnel, 1 Village Worker to Mountain. UPGRADE: Produce / Deploy. [Combat Star].
- Combat: Before our next turn, Nordic attacked our Heroine on the Tunnel Village. We gained 2 Power before the combat from Ronin so we could spend a bit. As such, we put down a value 3 Combat Card and 1 Power and ended up winning!
- PRODUCE: 1 Worker, 1 Metal, and 1 Food. ENLIST: Deploy / Combat Card reward.
- BOLSTER: 3 Power. DEPLOY: Suiton Mech on Mountain.
- Typically I’d recommend Suiton last, but Nordic was on both Lake hexes near us. Because of this, fighting them one on one has the added bonus of getting to use an additional Combat Card on Lake combat.
- MOVE: Heroine to combat with Nordic on S. Factory Lake. Mech from Mountain to Tunnel Village. Worker from Village to Mountain. [Power Star] [Combat Star].
- Combat: We ended up gaining our Power Star from Ronin, so we bid two value 2 Combat Cards and 6 Power for the win.
End Game.
- PRODUCE: 1 Worker, 2 Metal, and 1 Food.
- MOVE: Spread mechs and workers out. 3 workers on Village hex.
- Combat: Saxony attacked us on our Forest before our next turn. They had 7 Power and 12 Combat Cards, so it was likely we’d lose. We put down a value 4 Combat Card and 2 Power to ensure they bid high enough to win. They maxed out their bid, so we lost.
- PRODUCE: 3 Workers, 1 Oil, and 1 Food. ENLIST: Build / Coin reward. [Worker Star] [Enlist Star].
End Game Stats.
- Stars: Power, Enlist, Objective, Combat (2), Worker.
- Round 16; 51 Coin.
Thoughts & Tips.
There were quite a few things that went our way, starting with a solid Objective and Encounter. Thanks to those early Enlists we took advantage of gaining a lot of Power from our own and our neighbors’ Upgrades. As such, by the time the first combat was upon us, we didn’t have to worry.
Once it was clear we’d be getting the Power Star, it became a matter of making the most of our final Produce action to win. Everything in between came down to moving ourselves about to take up more hexes.
Along with the joy of a streamlined strategy, I must make my obligatory rant about playing against Scythe bots. They’re not comparable to real players, not even moderate players. So, if you really want to test your chops out with these strategies, I’d recommend finding other players. It’ll make you far better and more flexible with the game if you do that. Just my two cents.
Togawa Patriotic Strategy Video.
With the great content creators out there, we’re fortunate to be able to throw in a video to this strategy that you can follow along with and learn from as well. This one is by FOMOF who is a fantastic Scythe player and the June 2020 Scythe Discord Tournament winner! Enjoy it!
Thanks for checking this strategy out! I hope it was informative and helps to enhance your playing style. If you’re a newer player or want to brush up on some general rules, check out our Quick Tips and Strategy overview of Scythe. If you want to catch up on some general Togawa concepts, check out our Togawa Strategy overview. And feel free to peruse our entire catalog of Faction and Mat Strategies.
Additionally, if you’re just getting into Scythe and looking to purchase the game, you can find the tabletop version at Stonemaier Games. If PC gaming is more your thing, Steam typically has some great deals on the Digital Edition.
As always, feel free to comment below on any thoughts or concerns or successes you have with this strategy!
Happy gaming!
- Norman