Teach the Game

A table-ready introduction to running a sawmill through two years of seasons.

How you win

We each run a sawmill for two years: 8 seasons, about 2 hours. Every season we walk a supply path to hire workers and grab equipment, then cut, haul, saw, dry and sell wood. Each winter we must have food and heating ready. Most money at the end wins.

Each season, the supply path decides what you can do in the wood work phases: workers and equipment taken there are what you work with. Turn wood into money now, or dry it and fill tasks for bigger payouts later, while keeping enough back for winter.

The boards

• a Phase track: the seven wood work phases, and the six winter phases on the right.
• b Starting player order: who travels the supply path first.
• c Forest clearing: arrival order A–D, which is the wood work turn order.
• d Supply path locations: one equipment token each.
• e Year track: the season marker and planned-work tokens.
• f Bearers, location 4.
• g Cutting areas 1–6, where wood and food appear.
• h Market, location 19.
• i Year 2 of the year track.
• j Fodder, location 6.
• k Winter card for year 1.
• l Planned Work, location 8.
• m Woodcutters, location 10.
• n Tasks, location 13.
• o Sawyers, location 16.
• p Winter card for year 2.
• q Hut construction reminder.

• a Fodder storage: fodder on 3, then on 2.
• b Worker area: your mill worker and hired workers.
• c Hut effects: drying, food, extra mill worker.
• d Food storage, for feeding and sledges.
• e River: wood floated here arrives next round.
• f Equipment and craftwork tokens; at most 4 saws.
• g Prices of each wood, disk and milled.
• h Firewood storage: milled wood for heating.
• i Sawing area.
• j Sale area.
• k The three drying areas, +0, +1 and +2.

A round

1. Fill the supply path: workers on 4, 6, 10 and 16, tokens elsewhere. Details
2. New wood and food from placement cards. Details
3. Pick a cutting area secretly, reveal together. Details
4. Travel the path: move forward, take one location’s offer, pay where a coin is shown. Details
5. Wood work, in clearing order: cut → arrival by river → transport → saw → tasks → sell → dry. Details
6. New player order: last into the clearing starts next. Details

Every fourth round is winter: a bonus wood, then cut, sledge, saw, tasks (year 2), feed and heat.

How the game ends

After the second winter, the final sale: sell the wood in your sale and drying areas and one kind of wood on your river. Collect completed tasks, repay loans. Most money wins; ties share the win.

Ways to score

What each resource is for

Resource	Why you need it	How you get it	How you use it
Mill worker	A free extra worker each round.	You start with it.	As one woodcutter, bearer or sawyer.
Woodcutters, bearers, sawyers	Each moves one piece of work.	Supply path, $1 each (first sawyer free).	Cut, carry, saw.
Wood	Your income.	Woodcutting, winter bonus, Overtime.	Sell, saw, dry, fill tasks, heat.
Saw	One per disk sawn.	Path or market ($1).	Returned when you saw.
Transport	Move more wood with fewer workers.	Path tokens.	Wagon + fodder, raft (river), sledge (winter).
Fodder	Powers wagons.	Location 6, $1.	3 wood, then 2.
Food	Winter feeding, extra sledge loads.	Forest, path tokens, market ($1).	Hand in at winter.
Craftwork	Money and huts.	Path tokens.	Sell sets, or build huts.
Task cards	Big payouts at game end.	Location 13, $1.	Fill with matching dried wood.
Planned Work	A strong one-season bonus.	Location 8.	Plan 1–3 seasons ahead.

Teaching tips

• Walk the supply path once with the actual equipment: players learn by seeing what each token does in the wood work.
• Stress the two one-way choices: sawing area or sale area, and nothing comes back.
• Point at the winter card before the first fall, so nobody arrives in winter with no food.
• In the first game, play the wood work phases one player at a time in clearing order.