What's the difference between Cthulhu Wars and Scythe?
Cthulhu Wars is Petersen Games' cosmic-horror area-control war: four factions push colossal Great Old One miniatures across a shared map, fighting directly over gates and territory. Scythe is Stonemaier Games' alternate-1920s engine builder: five factions grow an economy with mechs and resources, and combat stays optional rather than the main road to winning. Both are premium, asymmetric, and built for serious tables. They ask very different things of a game night.
I designed Cthulhu Wars, so take my read with that in mind. I'll still give Scythe its due below. It's a well-regarded game from a different publisher, and it earns its reputation honestly. It just isn't chasing the same experience.
What do Cthulhu Wars and Scythe actually have in common?
Both put asymmetric factions on a shared map and both look fantastic doing it. Neither hands every player an identical toolkit: in Cthulhu Wars, each faction has its own units, its own spellbook, and its own path to victory; in Scythe, each faction starts with a different combination of starting resources, a unique player mat, and a faction-specific ability.[1]
Both are also full evening centerpieces, not fillers. Scythe ships gorgeous mech miniatures and a painted map that draws eyes from across the room. Cthulhu Wars answers with the largest miniatures in the genre, several inches tall for the Great Old Ones themselves. Neither game apologizes for taking up the whole table.
How do Cthulhu Wars and Scythe differ in theme and mechanics?
Theme is the clean split. Cthulhu Wars runs on H. P. Lovecraft's cosmic horror mythos: players control monstrous Great Old Ones racing to dominate Earth before it collapses, using gates, spells, and cultist armies to get there. Scythe is set in an alternate 1920s Eastern Europe, a "1920+" world of diesel-punk mechs and rival factions rebuilding after a great war, designed by Jamey Stegmaier and published by Stonemaier Games in 2016.[1]
Mechanically, the two games solve "asymmetric area control" from opposite directions. Cthulhu Wars runs on a power-and-spell economy: gather power each round, spend it to summon monsters and cast spells, and fight over gates with dice-resolved battles. Combat is frequent and it's the point. Scythe runs on engine building: each turn you pick one of four actions on your player mat to develop your economy, produce resources, or upgrade your abilities, and combat happens when someone chooses to trigger it rather than as a built-in phase every round.[2] A Scythe match can end with barely a skirmish. A Cthulhu Wars match rarely does.
Cthulhu Wars O4 Edition, at a glance
- Factions in the core box: 4 (Great Cthulhu, Crawling Chaos, Black Goat, Yellow Sign) — all core, none are expansions.
- Great Old Ones in the core box: 5.
- Faction spellbooks in the core box: 4, one per starting faction.
- Miniatures: 72 total, including roughly 24 cultists and 35 monsters across the core factions.
- Players: 2-4.
- Theme: Lovecraftian cosmic horror, direct faction-vs-faction warfare.
- Price: $249.00 as listed on the O4 Edition product page.
Scythe, at a glance
- Designer / publisher: Jamey Stegmaier, published by Stonemaier Games in 2016.
- Players: 1-5 in the base game (expansions extend this to 7).
- Theme: alternate-history 1920s Eastern Europe, diesel-punk mechs.
- Core mechanics: engine building, resource management, area control, optional combat.
Worth noting: component counts and prices above for Cthulhu Wars come from the O4 Edition product page itself. Scythe's designer, publisher, and general mechanics are sourced from Wikipedia and cited below; we're not quoting a Scythe price here since Petersen Games doesn't sell it and hasn't verified a live figure.
Is Cthulhu Wars more aggressive than Scythe?
Yes, by design. Cthulhu Wars puts conflict at the center of every round. You gather power, and that power gets spent fighting over gates, because gates are how you generate the doom points that win the game. Sitting back and building quietly isn't really an option; someone will eventually park a monster on your gate and force the issue.
Scythe leans the other way. Reviewers and players regularly describe it as a game where combat is "tense but rare," where most matches resolve through economic development, territory expansion, and achievement completion rather than repeated battles.[1] A cautious Scythe player can go an entire game without triggering a single fight and still win. Try that in Cthulhu Wars and you'll get run over by round three.
Which game has deeper asymmetry, Cthulhu Wars or Scythe?
Cthulhu Wars pushes it further. That's not a knock on Scythe's faction design, which is genuinely well built and widely praised in the hobby press. The gap comes down to how far each game bends its own rules per faction. Scythe factions differ in starting position, resources, and a signature ability layered onto one shared action-and-combat system. Cthulhu Wars factions differ more structurally: separate spellbooks, separate summon costs, separate win conditions, all stacked on top of the shared map and battle-dice combat.
That depth is also why the Cthulhu Wars expansion ecosystem keeps growing outward. The O4 core box seats 2-4 players across four factions, and additional faction expansions, neutral Great Old Ones, and Terror units keep extending what the table can support. If your group already owns a mid-tier area-control game and wants to step up to something with more faction identity and colossal-scale miniatures, that's exactly the gap the Cthulhu Wars O4 Edition is built to fill.
Who should buy Cthulhu Wars, and who should buy Scythe?
Buy Cthulhu Wars if you want direct god-vs-god warfare, cosmic horror theming, and the biggest miniatures on the shelf. It rewards players who like fighting for territory every round and don't mind a table that looks like a battlefield by the midgame. Buy Scythe if your group prefers building an economic engine at its own pace, with combat as a threat in the background rather than a constant demand on your attention. It rewards patient, efficient play and punishes players who pick fights they don't need.
Owning both isn't redundant. They don't compete for the same slot on the shelf. One is a war game with spells and gates. The other is an engine builder with mechs. A collector who wants both flavors of premium asymmetric design ends up better served owning each than picking just one.
Frequently Asked Questions
Is Cthulhu Wars similar to Scythe?
They share a category more than a design. Both are premium, asymmetric area-control games with distinct factions and standout miniatures. Cthulhu Wars runs on a power-and-spell economy built around direct combat over gates, in a Lovecraftian cosmic-horror setting. Scythe runs on engine building and resource management in an alternate-1920s setting, with combat as an optional threat rather than a required phase.
Does Petersen Games make Scythe?
No. Scythe was designed by Jamey Stegmaier and published by Stonemaier Games in 2016. Petersen Games does not make, own, or sell it. It's referenced in this article only as a comparison point for readers choosing between two premium asymmetric area-control games.
Which game has more direct conflict, Cthulhu Wars or Scythe?
Cthulhu Wars. Combat over gates is central to every round, since gates generate the doom points that win the game. Scythe is built the other way: combat stays optional, and many matches are decided mostly through economic development and territory expansion rather than repeated battles.
How many factions does Cthulhu Wars O4 Edition come with?
The Cthulhu Wars O4 Edition core box includes 4 factions: Great Cthulhu, the Crawling Chaos (Nyarlathotep), the Black Goat (Shub-Niggurath), and the Yellow Sign (Hastur). All four are part of the core game, not expansions. The box also includes 5 Great Old Ones and 4 faction spellbooks, one per starting faction.
How many players do Cthulhu Wars and Scythe support?
Cthulhu Wars O4 Edition supports 2-4 players in the core box. Scythe's base game supports 1-5 players, with expansions extending that to 7. If your group runs larger than 4 on a regular basis, Scythe's expanded player count is worth factoring in.
Ready to see the difference on your own table? Check out Cthulhu Wars O4 Edition at Petersen Games for the full faction breakdown, component list, and current price.
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