FAQ
41 answered questions24 official
Rules questions from the BoardGameGeek forum. Answers marked Official were confirmed by Pink Troubadour or the designers.
Common mistakes
- Using a wood with an extra adjustment on a contract that doesn’t ask for it — the wood must match exactly. Ruling · Rule
- Taking any contract on display, or one from the deck, with a sawmill contract building — only the 2 of its own area. Ruling · Rule
- Putting a forester token below the table for 2 VP while a column could still take it. Ruling · Rule
- Fulfilling two task cards with one item — each task card needs its own contract, building or token. Ruling · Rule
- Taking a seedling for every meander crossing — one per different meander in a move. Ruling · Rule
- Taking a wood adjustment with no wood in storage — it can only go under a wood you already have. Ruling · Rule
Showing 41 of 41
How is the spawn deck used during setup with fewer than 4 players? Official
Reveal spawn cards to place the neutral pieces; if a card shows a number outside the range you need, keep revealing. Don't shuffle the revealed cards back yet — only just before step 14 do you shuffle all the spawn cards together, then place the forester tokens.
Source: BGG thread
Setup mentions a meander token and a bridge token from an unused set of player pieces. Which pieces are those? Official
The water structure tokens of an unused colour: the meander and the reservoir with bridge. They aren't tied to any player.
Source: BGG thread
Do we reveal another game round token when the first turn of round 1 begins? Official
No. Player setup steps 17 and 18 are the start of round 1: reveal the round token, place harvesters in reverse turn order, then the first player takes a turn.
Source: BGG thread
How many forester tokens go on the board in setup step 14 — three of each type, or three in total?
Three in total: one token per spawn card turned, one of each type, in the order printed on the card backs. Shuffle all the spawn cards first.
Source: BGG thread · BGG thread
How do double spaces work?
A double space is one large space, not two halves. You can cross it as one step, and only one harvester may stand on it.
Source: BGG thread
May my harvester end its move on the space where it started? Official
Yes. Only your action points limit where you go.
Source: BGG thread
How many seedlings do I get for crossing meanders in one move? Official
One per different meander you cross. Going back and forth over the same meander gives only one seedling; crossing two different meanders in one move gives two. You still pay 1 coin for each crossing.
Source: BGG thread · BGG thread
Technology tile A gives a star after moving the harvester. Is that per space moved?
No — 1 star per move action, whether you move 1 or 2 spaces.
Source: BGG thread
Does a green game round token flip a harvest token that has a harvester on it?
Yes. Only colourful (unharvested) tokens are flipped, and which one is fixed by the order shown on page 21 — nobody chooses — so you can see it coming.
Source: BGG thread · BGG thread
When several forester tokens are missing at the start of a turn, in what order are they placed? Official
In the order shown on the back of the spawn card: thinning, den tree, painting.
Source: BGG thread
The space where a new forester token should go already has a token or a harvester. Where does it go? Official
Check the following spaces one by one in ascending order, looping from 15 back to 1, and place it on the first space with neither a forester token nor a harvester.
Source: BGG thread
When may I put a forester token in the 2-VP space below my forestry table instead of on the table? Official
Only when it can't legally go on your table. If any column can take it, it must go there.
Source: BGG thread · BGG thread
Can the same type of forester token be in more than one column?
Yes. Every token in a column must be the same type, but two or three columns may hold the same type — so three thinning tokens can fill the top row. Each column fills from the top.
Source: BGG thread
Do forester and seedling tokens below the tables count at the end? Official
Yes for river tokens and for the forester majority. Seedlings below the table don't count for a task card that asks for 2 seedlings in a column, because they aren't in a column.
Source: BGG thread · BGG thread
With no forester tokens, do I come second or third in the forester majority? Official
Neither. You need at least one forester token to take part.
Source: BGG thread
Can I take a wood adjustment token when I have no wood in storage? Official
No. An adjustment always goes under a wood token already in your storage, whatever gave it to you; without wood it is lost.
Source: BGG thread · BGG thread
Can a wood token with two adjustments fulfil a contract that asks for only one of them? Official
No. The wood must match the contract exactly; an adjusted wood is changed for good.
Source: BGG thread · BGG thread · BGG thread
Does the order of two adjustment tokens under one wood matter?
No.
Source: BGG thread
When I exchange a wood token, what happens to its adjustments?
They are discarded with it; the new wood arrives untreated.
Source: BGG thread · BGG thread
Can one storage space hold two wood tokens?
No — one wood token per space.
Source: BGG thread
What if resource tokens or wood adjustment tokens run out? Official
They are meant to be unlimited: use a substitute.
Source: BGG thread
Where can I take a contract card from? Official
With the contract building of a sawmill area (tiles 1, 4 and 7), only from the 2 contracts on display in that area. From any other effect, any of the 6 on display. Never from the top of the deck.
Source: BGG thread · BGG thread · BGG thread
Is a contract replaced when someone takes it? Official
Yes, at once, from the deck.
Source: BGG thread
Where can I take a task card from? Official
The top of the deck or the face-up card — replace the face-up card at once. The game round token whose task card shows a question mark is the exception: each player takes the top card of the deck.
Source: BGG thread · BGG thread · BGG thread
I move my sawmill manager to an HQ tile where another manager already stands. What do I get?
One reward: the one for the number of managers now on the tile (here the second). The first manager on a tile may choose either reward instead.
Source: BGG thread
Who pays the coin when someone uses an upgraded sawmill building?
Nobody: the owner takes 1 coin from the general supply. Buildings upgraded during setup with an unused colour pay no one.
Source: BGG thread
Is there a limit to how many contracts I hold?
No (only the solo forester holds one at a time).
Source: BGG thread
Do my action points reset each turn?
Yes, to the number your development track shows.
Source: BGG thread
Can one fulfilled contract count for two task cards with the same symbol?
No. Each task card needs its own item — two furniture task cards need two furniture contracts. One item can count for a task card and also for a river token.
Source: BGG thread · BGG thread · BGG thread
How many points do fulfilled task cards give?
By the number fulfilled, from the reference tile: 1 card 1 VP, 2 cards 3, 3 cards 5, 4 cards 8, then +3 for each further card. Unfulfilled task cards count as unused resources.
Source: BGG thread · BGG thread
A task card wants a forest building next to a given harvest token. Can one building fulfil two such cards? Official
No — the building is the condition, not the tree. Two buildings fulfil at most two cards. It doesn't matter whether the hex is harvested.
Source: BGG thread
Does the symbol on a river token count as one of the matching items?
No. It only names what you score; the matching items are your contracts, buildings and tokens.
Source: BGG thread
Does the logistics manager earn the storage bonus for the starting wood? Official
No.
Source: BGG thread · BGG thread
When does the forest ecologist flip a life token? Official
Each time an action reaches a feather (life token) symbol on the ecologist's board — on the buildings track, the reforestation table and the water structures track — or passes space 3 of the reward track. The icons on the board are right.
Source: BGG thread
What happens when the den tree board is full? Official
Nothing more: the board is a hard limit.
Source: BGG thread
The forester's cube is several tiles ahead of mine. Does it get every dark-bar reward it is ahead on? Official
No — only the reward of the section its cube is in.
Source: BGG thread
May I complete forester tile objectives out of order, or two at once? Official
No. Only the next tile is active; an action counts only for that one, even if it also matches a later tile.
Source: BGG thread
How many seedlings does the forester spend to reforest a space with two trees? Official
One, as it harvests only one wood from such a space.
Source: BGG thread
Some forester cards show a grey sawmill area, or a crate icon. What do they mean? Official
Misprints in the first print run. The grey area (S1, and S7–S12) is dark green; the crate on S13 and S17 is a construction material.
Source: BGG thread · BGG thread · BGG thread
Does the forester gain seedlings from meanders or bonuses from game round tokens?
No to both: it never pays or gains for crossing rivers, and it takes no game round or clearing rewards.
Source: BGG thread · BGG thread
How does the forester score its task cards?
All of them count as fulfilled; score them by number from the reference tile, as for a player.
Source: BGG thread