You've Been Playing That Wrong! Episode 1: Paying Production Costs (Scythe board game)

The first entry in a series of videos that clarify oft-misunderstood rules in the board game Scythe. This episode covers the Produce action; specifically, what costs must be paid before taking that action.

[@Thebestdruid]

Thank you so much for this series! I just played with my friends for the first time last night and I got super embarrassed when I realized I had been making everyone pay a bunch of extra costs to build workers! Kinda deflated the game, but that's ok. Playing even one mechanic wrong throws off the whole balance of this game since every action is supposed to be a counter to some other action. Anyways, thanks again! Very clear. Now time to learn how good the mill actually is :P

[@StevenStJohn-kj9eb]

Great! Glad it was helpful. Have fun with this great game.

[@veerchasm1]

You are “TheWorstDruid” 😉👍🏻

[@TheMillShow]

I've actually been playing that right. How dare you assume... just kidding. This is a terrific series idea! I'm glad you thought to put it together!

[@StevenStJohn-kj9eb]

I'm going to retitle this series "You've Been Playing That Wrong! No, Not You, That Other Guy Over There!" in your honor. Thanks for the kind words!

[@fmoros]

Thanks a lot. There are now tons of review/rules/how to play videos on this game repeating basically the same thing, so I find your serie on mistakes/questions super useful!

[@johntchai79]

I've been playing this wrong, thanks for the clarification.

[@josephvanwyk2088]

Who got that wrong? .....Basically the first 2 villagers are free.

[@StevenStJohn-kj9eb]

Thanks for stopping by and commenting. I'm sorry I'm not sure I understand your question. If you can rephrase it I'll do my best to answer. Everyone gets 2 workers to start the game. More can enter the game if you take the Produce action while a worker of yours is on a Village. These reveal Production costs not just for future workers but for future resources of any type. Does that clear it up for you?

[@josephvanwyk2088]

@@StevenStJohn-kj9eb Yes. I was not criticizing you, I was criticizing whom ever did not figure this out on their own. I was not referring to the starting 2, I was referring to the "first two villagers you can take off your board is for free if you produce with 2 starting villagers at a village. Then if you produce with 4 villagers, you get the next 4, paying only 1 military.

[@StevenStJohn-kj9eb]

@@josephvanwyk2088 Okay. I was confused by your briefer comment, as there's no rule about 2 workers being free. For example, you could get 1 worker on your first Produce on a Village, then move all 3 workers onto a Village, Produce again, and you would now have 6 workers, none of which cost you anything. (So 4 were free in addition to the 2 at the start.) The other reason I wanted to clarify is because the costs of production apply not only to Villages but to any terrain type. I just want to make sure anyone coming to these videos for rules clarifications aren't confused by anything in the comments.

[@MrSpatel12]

Good Video, but Players just should read the rulebook carefully...

[@MrLeonidas0001]

Great video dude!

[@StevenStJohn-kj9eb]

Glad it was helpful!

[@MrLeonidas0001]

@@StevenStJohn-kj9eb I’m gonna watch all the other videos in your series at some point too!

[@Feldingor]

Thank you for clearing this up, but seriously how can people get confused about this? You FIRST pay the cost and THEN produce on hexes, so when you’re paying the cost, the additional workers are still on the board, covering additional costs 🤔 Also rules say to do actions in the chosen segment from top to bottom, so even visually you first have the “pay the cost” row and then you actually produce, so I’m still wondering how people can come to think you have to pay more after having already paid and taken the action 🤔🤔

[@StevenStJohn-kj9eb]

I agree that the rules are clear and the board is laid out in a way that also reinforces the proper sequence. Sometimes people overthink it. Sometimes they were taught wrong and never looked up the rule later. I'm just happy to help clear up confusions however they came about. Thank you for watching and commenting.

[@Feldingor]

Steven St. John Thank you for your answer and most importantly for the time spent to address these wrongly played rules. Game’s been on my radar for a few years but I finally got a copy. Now unfortunately Invaders From Afar is being reprinted (Italian version) so I still have to wait for that 😞

[@StevenStJohn-kj9eb]

@@Feldingor Enjoy!

[@kaljakad]

Been playng this a little wrong, thought that every time you pay the cost you get a free worker, also I thought that you only have to pay the cost thats one worker space behind.

[@doganaykurtul8885]

Thanks a lot!

[@StevenStJohn-kj9eb]

Hope it was helpful!

[@Kojimalosophy]

Very well explained! Thanks 👍

[@mariabountali3686]

Hi, at the beginning when you have all 6 workers on the Player Board, 1. how much do you pay to put the first 2 workers on a territory 2. it has to be a territory you control?

[@StevenStJohn-kj9eb]

Before any workers are placed out, there is no cost for production. Workers are produced by workers on villages, so any workers produced go on the village where they were produced.

[@mariabountali3686]

@@StevenStJohn-kj9eb Great. thank you! Very useful videos!

[@mariabountali3686]

Can a player take all workers (from PRODUCE) on his second turn and put them on a hexagon which has already a worker?

[@StevenStJohn-kj9eb]

@@mariabountali3686 no. If you watch the video you will see that when you produce, you produce 1 resource per worker. So if you have 1 worker on a village, it will produce 1 worker there. If you have 2 workers on the village, you may produce 2 workers there. If you have 3 workers on a village, you may produce 3 workers there. This is exactly how producing any other resource works. 1 worker on a farm = 1 food. 3 workers on a mountain = 3 metal. And so on.

[@saxifragerussell5387]

Thanks a lot, myself and my colleagues were actually quite confused. This is much clearer now

[@StevenStJohn-kj9eb]

Thank you for the feedback!

[@PedroC-hk6po]

How do ppl get confused by this??