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Uwe Rosenberg is known for his structured, puzzle-like games where everything links together. He’d already experimented with a shared resource wheel in Ora et Labora, but Glass Road took that idea further, introducing personal rotating production wheels that automatically track and convert your resources.
Now Black Forest takes that system and spreads it across a map. You’re still in medieval Germany, managing small glass huts that pop up in the woods, burn through trees, and move on when the area’s stripped bare. It’s a mix of production, travel, and expansion. Think less epic adventure, more rural grind, but in a good way.
👥 1-4 players, ages 14+
⌛ Playing time: 60-120 minutes
📝 Designers: Tido Lorenz & Uwe Rosenberg
🎨 Artwork: Lukas Siegmon
🏢 Publisher: White Goblin Games (Dutch version, review copy provided) Originally published by Feuerland Spiele.
Gameplay Overview
Everyone starts with a small estate, a glass hut, and two production wheels, one for glassmaking and one for cooking. They hold your resources like wood, sand, water, charcoal, porridge, meat, and provisions. When certain spots on the wheel are empty, it automatically rotates, transforming your basics into refined goods like glass or provisions. You can’t stop it. It just happens, which can be great, or absolutely ruin your timing.
Players travel across five villages, two big and three small, all connected by paths. Moving along a path costs one provision, and entering a village where others already are means paying each of them one basic resource. In a two-player game, you also pay if the neutral pawn’s there, so you can’t just dodge everyone forever.
Once in a village, you visit one or two tradespeople to collect or convert resources, build something, or advance your glass-hut progress track. Planning your movement is key, since every trip eats up food.
Jobs show up when your cooking wheel produces for the second time. You also get one free basic resource then, and reveal a new job. There can be up to three jobs in play, or four with four players. Some sit in fixed spots on the map, others belong to certain tradespeople.
When you reach the top of the glass-hut track, your hut relocates to a new estate, which you add to your domain along with two forests. It represents your glassmakers moving on to fresh woods. This opens more space for buildings and livestock.
Buildings are the big development part of the game. Small ones cost between zero and two glass, large ones always three. Some give instant bonuses, others ongoing conversions, and some are purely end-game scoring. You can also raise livestock, but you’ll need the right space for them: pigs live in forests or pastures, cows in pastures or stables. Fields, ponds, and pastures improve your land and sometimes combo with buildings or tradespeople.
The game ends when someone’s cooking wheel reaches the end symbol. Everyone gets one last turn. Then you score points for glass, the position of your cooking wheel, estates, livestock in pastures, and buildings. Whoever has the most points wins, simple as that.
Artwork, Components, and Design
The look of Black Forest feels familiar if you’ve played Rosenberg’s other games. It’s neat, earthy, full of tiles and icons, but still cozy.
The board shows dense forests and winding roads linking the villages. Tradespeople spaces are easy to read, and the personal player boards are nicely laid out with two chunky production wheels surrounded by small forest clearings. Turning those wheels feels satisfying, like you’re physically running a little workshop.
The components are solid. Wooden pieces for your pawns and animals, thick cardboard for tiles, clear iconography. The artwork by Lukas Siegmon leans on warm greens, browns, and yellows, giving everything that calm woodland feel. Ponds shine a bit, fields look freshly plowed, and the glass huts feel grounded and believable.
There’s a good variety of buildings too, so each game has different combinations and chains to explore. It’s a big plus for replayability.
Honestly, there’s nothing extravagant here, but it feels complete and thought through.
Our Experience
In play, Black Forest starts quietly. You’re just figuring out how to balance your two wheels, trying not to trigger production too soon. Once you start to see the flow, it becomes quite engaging.
It mixes the economic core of Glass Road with a shared map. You still get the tricky wheel timing, but now you’re also managing movement and paying tolls to others when you bump into them. It’s subtle, but it keeps the game from feeling like everyone’s playing alone.
The wheels are both brilliant and punishing. You can’t choose when they turn, so planning is everything. Produce too early, and you waste resources or clog up your storage. Produce at the right time, and everything flows. It feels good when it clicks, but it can also be frustrating if you misjudge.
Getting around the map sounds simple, but it’s where the game quietly bites. Every path costs provisions, and entering a village with other players costs resources. It may be small, but it stings when you’re short. Positioning becomes a game of soft blocking, and being “in the way” is a subtle kind of power.
The traveling merchant is another fun piece. By spending one commodity, you can swap it with any other tradesperson on the map. That single move can open new opportunities or completely throw off someone else’s plan. It’s a neat little twist that gives the map some life.
As your domain grows, the story of your little area develops too. Some players focus on glassmaking, others on animals or buildings. The wide mix of buildings and jobs keeps each session fresh without overcomplicating things.
In two-player games, things feel tighter, more tactical, and that neutral pawn keeps you on your toes. Three or four players make the map busier and the interaction stronger, though four can drag a bit, especially if people are reading every tile for the first time. Personally, two or three feels best.
Our Thoughts
So, what do we think? Black Forest is a structured game for players who enjoy planning ahead and finding efficient sequences. If you like the feeling of slowly tuning an engine rather than reacting to chaos, this one fits nicely.
The rotating wheels are the core of the experience, and they’re still a great piece of design. They act as both storage and timer, forcing production whether you’re ready or not. That can be satisfying or stressful, depending on how you play.
Strategically, the game’s built around three things: keeping both wheels balanced without hitting resource caps, expanding your domain at the right time to avoid running out of space, and timing your movement and tradesperson visits before others block or tax you.
If you’re teaching the game, make sure new players understand three key things: production is mandatory and it changes your economy whether you want it or not, provisions are mobility and running out means you’re stuck, and entering a crowded village costs you, so plan your routes.
In early turns, a blue conversion building like the clay pit or cooperage helps smooth out the resource swings. Building a small loop for provisions keeps you moving, and timing your first hut relocation avoids being trapped later.
There’s a fair bit to think about, and it can cause some analysis paralysis, especially with all the interlocking systems. But if you like careful, thoughtful play, that’s part of the charm.
To be fair, Black Forest won’t appeal to everyone. It’s not flashy or fast, and it doesn’t try to surprise you. It’s steady, mechanical, and occasionally punishing if you misplay. But for those who enjoy the logic and flow of Rosenberg’s designs, this one feels like a confident continuation.
For us, it’s a satisfying puzzle that pays off when you plan well. Not a game for big table laughs, but one that leaves you nodding at how neatly everything fits together.
And let’s face it, making medieval glass is hard work. At least here, no one’s burning actual trees.
📝 We received a review copy of Black Forest from White Goblin Games.
