Scales of Fate Board Game Review

Over the past month or so, we’ve been playing a ton of IV Studios current Kickstarter project, Scales of Fate. We are working with a prototype copy of the game, so a few things might have changed since we played it, however great communication from the development team meant we had the most up to date rules and iconography throughout our review process. As with all IV Studios titles, the production of this one was phenomenal – you can read about it in our components overview and impressions article. Alright, let’s head down to the table!

In Scales of Fate, two players will control different sets of deities and attempt to score points by the end of the game. There are numerous numbered positions around the board, and during the game, various actions will cause deities to move forward or backwards from the center. By the end of the game, players will score points equal to the distance between their two deities, or should their deities be on the same space, they will earn that number of points.

Players will perform various actions by placing deities out onto the ever changing central board and either collecting tiles to use later, or performing tasks like banishing a deity. If players instead have a servant tile to play out on the board, they can use them in conjunction with symbols on the board to increase or decrease the value of specific deities. Working to just move your own pawns, however, is a poor choice because you ultimately want to keep the identity of your characters secret. If your opponent can guess both of your deities by the end of the game, they will earn additional points. Stump them and they guess nothing? They lose points!

It’s not all guessing work, however. At the end of each of the rounds, players will have to answer a specific question known to all players before the round starts. For example, you might have to indicate if you have at least one deity at 10 points or higher, or perhaps if you have at least one deity off the board. Using this information, and looking at what your opponent has done over their various turns, you can hopefully identify at least ONE of their deities so you don’t lose points. If you are good enough to identify both, you’ll gain points!

There are one time use powers as well which will allow you to do some pretty amazing things, but alas you will incur a -1 point penalty per tile you use. In most of our games, these were basically ignored because both players always felt they had a chance to win, and were concerned with a -1 or -2 point penalty to lose them the game. I like this tension as it really speaks to how balanced a game of Scales of Fate can be. Sure, a player who is poor at deduction and strategic isn’t going to do well, but when you get two people evenly matched, I’m not sure I have a more enjoyable 2-Player experience.

What I do like about the one-time-use abilities is that they are a great way for someone to get back into the game if they think things are falling off the rails. Call it a hail mary perhaps, but when you get that feeling that things are not going well, or the point spread you’ve created for yourself is obviously the lowest at the table, it’s nice to have a lifeline that might – and usually it won’t – get you back into contention. It’s a great addition to the game, and while not utilized as much as I might have thought when first playing, it’s wonderful that it’s available.

The entire creation of this game is rather clever. The way the central tiles move each round keeps each game relatively fresh. How you place the various tiles during each round will have a huge impact on scores. With two different tiles impacting various quests, how you use them is VERY strategic.And yet, Scales of Fate can be taught and played in less than 45 minutes.

Once you are familiar with the system and how it works, you can easily knock out a game in 25-30 minutes. I’m a huge fan of quick-to-learn, quick-to-play 2-player games, especially those that provide as much strategic maneuvering and decision making as this one. I’ve loved almost everything IV Studios has done over the past few years, and this is yet another well crafted, well thought out hit.

You can check out the Kickstarter for this game LIVE right now!