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The forests of Europe have always been a mix of wild nature and human craftsmanship. Trees clean our air, give shelter to wildlife, and provide the wood that ends up in everything from furniture to houses. Forestry takes that balance between nature and industry and turns it into a board game about keeping the forest alive while still making good use of it. You play as a modern forester, harvesting wood, producing valuable goods, and caring for the forest so it can thrive for future generations.
👥 1-4 players, ages 13+
⌛ Playing time: 60+ minutes
📝 Designer: Michal Peichl
🎨 Artwork: Michal Řezníček
🏢 Publisher: Pink Troubadour (review copy provided)
Gameplay Overview
A game of Forestry lasts ten rounds, or nine if you’re playing the advanced version. Everyone shares the main board, which shows the forest and the sawmill areas, but each player has their own personal board to track their resources, upgrades, and development. At the start of each round, the first player flips the top round token and everyone applies its effect, sometimes a small bonus for everyone, sometimes a small change in the forest. Then, in turn order, you spend your action points to do things in the forest or at the sawmill. You start with just a few actions, but you can gain more by developing your abilities, or even buy a couple of extra ones each round if you can afford the coins.
You have two figures to move around: a harvester working in the forest, and a sawmill manager handling production. The harvester walks across hex-shaped forest spaces with different tree species like pine, birch, spruce, oak, and beech. Moving costs action points and sometimes a coin when you cross a river. Later in the game, you can build bridges or reservoirs to make it easier to move around, and they’ll also help with end-game scoring.
Harvesting trees gets you wood tokens, which you store for later use in your sawmill. When a space is logged, you flip its tile to show it’s been cleared. To keep the forest healthy, you’ll need to replant it. Reforestation costs seedlings, but it also rewards you with stars and bonuses on your reforestation table, a nice reminder that keeping the forest alive is part of the job.
You can also spend actions tending the forest, earning forester tokens for things like thinning, protecting seedlings, or looking after wildlife. These go on your forestry table, unlocking upgrades, rewards, or extra points later. Building things like cabins or other forest structures helps you develop your area further, opening up new options and scoring opportunities.
Meanwhile, your sawmill manager focuses on the production side of things. Around the edge of the board, you’ll find sawmill buildings where you can process your wood, gain resources, or take on new contracts. There are three kinds of wood adjustments: pickling, drying, and planing, which make your wood ready for specific contracts. You can even upgrade these buildings to make them more efficient, and when other players use them, you’ll get a few coins out of it.
Contracts are how you turn all that effort into progress. Each one needs specific types of processed wood, and when you complete them, you get victory points, along with other bonuses.
Your personal board keeps track of everything, including resources, upgrades, and your general development. As you collect stars, you move along your reward track and gain bonuses like coins, points, and progress on your development track. Advancing there unlocks improvements and increases how many actions you can take each round.
After the final round, everyone adds up their points from contracts, buildings, river structures, forest care, and technology upgrades. You even get a few points for leftover wood and resources. In the end, the forester who keeps both the forest and the economy ticking along best is the one who wins.
Gameplay & Flow
At the core of Forestry is the action point system. Each round, you’ve only got a handful of actions to divide between your two workers: your harvester in the forest and your sawmill manager in the industrial area. Every move, build, or upgrade costs you actions, so making them count becomes the real challenge.
You can expand your action limit through development, which connects to collecting stars and moving along your tracks. It feels good to see things open up little by little. At first you’re scraping together every action, and then suddenly you realise you’ve got room to breathe and can finally get things done properly.
Your two workers play different but connected roles. The harvester moves through the forest’s hex spaces, chopping, replanting, or building structures. The sawmill manager moves around the edge of the board, visiting buildings to process wood, claim contracts, or pick up resources. Getting their positioning right is important. A few wasted moves might not sound like much, but they can easily cost you a whole turn’s worth of progress.
Wood is the heart of everything. You’ll harvest different species and then process them at the sawmill through three adjustments: pickling, drying, and planing. It’s a logical production chain, and timing those steps is essential if you want to keep things running smoothly.
You can also develop new technologies along the way, which basically give you small upgrades or handy bonuses. Sometimes they give you an instant boost like coins or stars, other times they make certain actions a bit more rewarding for the rest of the game. It’s a simple idea, but it quietly shapes how you play.
Building in the forest earns you clearing tokens, which give rewards like coins or resources. They’re small bonuses, but they really help smooth out your early game. Task cards can be used for quick bonuses or saved for end-game scoring. That constant “do I spend it now or save it for later?” feeling is one of the best parts of the design.
Contracts are where the big points come from. They take effort and planning, but finishing one feels properly rewarding. You’ll need the right types of processed wood, and in return you get a good mix of points and resources to keep things moving.
The first couple of rounds can feel tight, even a bit punishing, while you’re still short on actions and coins. But once the systems click, the game finds a good flow. You’ll notice how one round flows into the next, and by the end, you’re managing production, upgrades, and final scoring decisions without even thinking about it.
Strategy & Luck
There’s not much luck here, and honestly, that’s a good thing. Most of what happens is fully in your control. It’s all about how you plan your actions, when you develop, and how you manage your resources.
The only real bit of randomness comes from the task cards. You might draw one that fits your plan perfectly, or one that doesn’t help much right now, but you can almost always find a way to use it. They’re flexible enough that it never feels unfair.
River tokens, on the other hand, are something you can plan around from the start. They can give a strong boost at the end if you build your strategy around them, but it takes commitment. Focus on them too much and you might end up short on contracts or development, so they’re best treated as a secondary path rather than your main focus.
Contracts are your real main long-term goal. They take effort and planning, but they’re worth it. They also give you those satisfying moments where all your earlier choices pay off at once.
Player Interaction
Because everyone’s sharing the same forest, there’s quite a bit of interaction going on. It’s mostly indirect, but you’ll still need to pay attention to what others are doing.
The forest side is where you’ll feel it most. Only one harvester can stand on a forest hex at a time, so it’s common for someone to take the space you were planning to move into. It’s not the kind of game where you can just ignore the others and do your own thing. When someone blocks your path, you’ll have to adjust and maybe rethink your turn a little.
The sawmill feels a bit more relaxed in comparison. Players move their managers around there, and the number of people already present affects the bonus you get when you go. You can also upgrade these buildings, and every time someone else uses one you’ve improved, you earn a coin. It’s a small thing, but it keeps the game from feeling too solitary.
The forest itself keeps shifting as players harvest and replant, which means the board never stays the same for long. You might find that the perfect spot for your next action is suddenly cleared or replanted by someone else. It’s not mean-spirited, just part of how the game naturally flows.
Theme & Atmosphere
It’s honestly refreshing to play a eurogame about something as real as forestry. You’re not trading spices or building medieval towns here; you’re managing a forest in a way that feels grounded and practical. Every system ties back to that idea of sustainable growth.
When you harvest a space, it stays empty until you replant it. The more you cut, the more you have to care for what’s left. That balance between cutting trees and keeping the forest alive is really what the game’s about.
The theme feels authentic, not just decorative. Even the contract cards show real-world wood products and mention how they’re used sustainably. The colours and artwork are calm and realistic, with lots of greens, browns, and natural tones. It doesn’t try to romanticise the forest, and that actually makes it feel more genuine.
You won’t exactly feel like you’re walking among the trees, but the design captures the mindset of forestry really well: steady, careful, and long-term.
Components & Art
There’s a lot in the box, which isn’t unusual for this kind of game, and it all looks great on the table. The quality is solid, similar to what you’d expect from other Czech publishers like Delicious Games or Czech Games Edition.
The board is bright but grounded, full of detail without being overwhelming once you know your way around. The colours look natural, and the forest hexes, rivers, and sawmill areas are clear to read.
The artwork leans realistic, showing everyday tools, workers, and buildings that could easily exist in real life. It fits the tone of the game perfectly. The wooden bits look great on the table, especially the harvester and sawmill manager pieces.
The player boards are well laid out, and while you’ll need to glance at the rulebook a few times during your first game, everything becomes second nature after that. Once it’s all set up, the table looks full and alive, just like a real working forest.
Accessibility & Complexity
This isn’t a game you explain in five minutes. The 13+ age recommendation feels fair. The rules take a round or two to fully sink in, but once you see how the forest and sawmill sides connect, it clicks into place nicely.
The box says 60+ minutes, but to be fair, you should plan for about half an hour per player, especially during your first few plays. It speeds up a lot once everyone knows the system.
The rulebook is great. It’s clearly written, full of examples, and easy to follow. There’s even an icon reference and a list of clarifications at the end. It only includes two reference tiles, which is a bit of a shame for a four-player game, but honestly, you won’t need them after a couple of sessions.
Replayability
Each play feels slightly different. The setup changes with new round tokens, task cards, and contracts, but the real variety comes from player choices. The forest changes every game because everyone plays differently, and that’s what keeps it fresh.
The advanced mode adds a small twist, giving each player a unique ability. It’s not a huge shift, but it’s enough to make you rethink how you approach the game.
It’s not a game you play for wild surprises. The replayability comes from trying new strategies and reacting to what others do in the shared forest.
Final Thoughts
Forestry has grown on me a lot. At first, it felt a bit dry, but the more I played, the more it clicked. It has this steady flow that’s really satisfying, and I like how it makes you think a few steps ahead. If you enjoy games that don’t rush you and let you build up something meaningful, you’ll probably enjoy this one.
It’s definitely not for everyone. If you like lots of interaction, quick rounds, or swings of luck, this might feel a bit too restrained. But if you enjoy the feeling of building something solid and efficient over time, you’ll appreciate how well this game captures that.
For best results, focus on development early; it’s the key to everything. Keep your contracts flowing, use task cards smartly, and don’t underestimate river scoring if it fits your plan. Three players is probably the sweet spot, with enough competition without too much downtime.
Forestry grows quietly, layer by layer, until you realise how deep it actually is. And that’s kind of fitting for a game about forests, isn’t it?
👉 If you’re heading to Spiel next week, you can try or buy Forestry at the Pink Troubadour booth in Hall 4, stand 4-G515.
📝 We received a review copy from Pink Troubadour.
