Stonemaier Games is mashing up two of its biggest titles. The publisher has confirmed a small-box, two-player Scythe vs Expeditions duel game for Q3 2026, where one player controls a Scythe faction and the other an Expeditions character, racing across a trimmed-down map to score four stars. For anyone who owns both games, this is a clever way to get more out of a shelf they've already paid for.
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Set up your group for freeIf you've not bumped into either yet, Scythe is Jamey Stegmaier's 2016 alt-history 1920s mech wargame, sitting at 8.1 on BGG with over 100,000 ratings and a permanent fixture on best-of-decade lists. Expeditions arrived in 2023 as a standalone successor set decades later in the same world, where the Tunguska meteor has woken something nasty under Siberia. Both share the same broader continuity, but they've never really shared a table. Until now.
The duel box is fully standalone. Everything you need to play is included, plus a brand-new Scythe faction and at least one new Expeditions character. All components also slot back into your full-sized copies of either game, so your existing collection gets a quiet expansion at the same time. Optional add-ons cover the dragon-hoarders too: metal mechs and a plastic airship.
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Start organising for freeStonemaier has been clear this is a small-box experiment rather than a flagship release. It sits in the same 2026 lineup as a quick-play Wingspan and Namiji, the Tokaido sequel landing in Q4. No price or runtime confirmed yet, but Stegmaier has said the smaller releases are a deliberate choice rather than a tariff response.
If you've played Scythe to death and want a faster two-player option, round up a regular opponent and get ready for autumn.
Sources: Stonemaier Games | BoardGameWire | BoardGameGeek thread
