Forestry: Sustainable Forest Management Strategy Game.

Forestry Board Game Contents

Forestry is a strategy and resource management eurogame where you step into the shoes of a forest manager, tasked with finding the delicate balance between commercial timber exploitation and ecological conservation.

Throughout the game, you must fulfill lumber contracts while managing forest growth, replanting trees, upgrading infrastructure, and controlling water distribution. Every decision impacts the health of the ecosystem and directly influences your strategic opportunities for the rest of the match.

How to Play Forestry

A core feature of Forestry is its dual-worker system. Each player commands a Harvester and a Sawmill Manager, each fulfilling distinct roles within forest management and timber processing.

The Harvester moves across the forest board, executing field actions such as logging trees, reforesting, tending to woodland health, and constructing buildings or water structures. Meanwhile, the Manager works back at the sawmill, managing resource inventories, processing raw timber, fulfilling trade contracts, and upgrading facility infrastructure.

Players manage a limited pool of action points that must be split between both workers each turn. Balancing point allocation between field operations and sawmill processing is vital to achieving your goals without depleting the forest.

Manage the Forest

Sustainable forestry involves far more than simply cutting down trees. After harvesting timber, you must carefully evaluate when to replant seedlings and tend to growing plots to maintain long-term ecosystem productivity.

The main board represents diverse forest sectors through a modular hexagonal grid. Tree positioning, clearings, rivers, and built structures continuously condition your movement choices and tactical possibilities.

Lumber as a Resource

Lumber serves as the primary resource in Forestry, featuring multiple tree species that offer varying commercial values and uses. Harvested wood must be transported back to your sawmill to fulfill contracts and expand operations.

At the sawmill, raw timber is processed into refined lumber products required by high-value contracts. Careful production planning ensures that every harvested log is efficiently converted without wasteful surplus.

Contracts and Objectives

Contracts drive your main economic income during the match. Completing them requires gathering and refining specific timber types, demanding tight coordination between your Harvester out in the field and your Sawmill Manager back at base.

Alongside contracts, various task cards and long-term milestones offer alternative avenues for earning profits and victory points. Adapting your strategy to meet these changing goals is essential as the forest evolves.

Water Management and Sustainability

Water dynamics play a crucial role in overall forest health. Players can build water structures and manage irrigation retention to promote healthy ecosystem growth across adjacent sectors.

Your goal is to build a profitable timber enterprise without causing ecological collapse. Much like real-world forestry management, short-sighted exploitation can jeopardize your long-term capacity to yield resources.

Solo Mode

Forestry features a dedicated solo mode (1 player) that allows you to manage the forest against an automated system. This mode includes specific solo components and rules designed to create a tight, challenging solo puzzle.

Solo play offers an ideal way to explore the forest management engine and experiment with different strategic approaches balancing timber production, contract delivery, and conservation.

Gameplay Impressions

Forestry stands out for tightly integrating its real-world theme with core eurogame mechanics. Resource exploitation cannot be separated from ecosystem preservation, keeping economic growth and environmental stewardship constantly intertwined.

The dual-worker action-point system adds a rewarding layer of planning. Deciding how to distribute actions between harvesting, processing, and reforesting creates a compelling engine-building puzzle.

The result is an engaging strategy game with a rich theme, deep action optimization, and significant long-term planning.

Who Is It For?

Forestry is ideal for fans of economic eurogames, worker movement, resource optimization, and thematic strategy games, especially those who appreciate games where mechanics reflect ecological systems.

It is a great choice for players who love long-term engine building and contract fulfillment, while also offering a robust solo experience. Designed for 1 to 4 players, it is recommended for ages 13 and up, with playing times ranging from 70 to 120 minutes.

Forestry Game Components

• 1 Main Board
• 4 Player Boards
• 40 Contract Cards
• 4 Starting Contract Cards
• 49 Task Cards
• 15 Deployment Cards
• 18 Ranger Cards
• 3 Advanced Ranger Cards
• 4 Technology Tiles
• 2 Reference Tiles
• 10 Round Tokens
• 9 Clearing Tokens
• 8 River Tokens
• 8 Water Structure Tokens
• 40 Wood Tokens
• 30 Wood Treatment Tokens
• 15 Harvest Tokens
• 15 Forester Tokens
• 9 Headquarters Tiles
• 9 Sawmill Tiles
• 20 Temporary Worker Tokens
• 35 Seed Tokens
• 20 Construction Material Tokens
• 63 Coins
• 4 Sawmill Manager Pawns
• 4 Harvester Pawns
• 24 Building Tokens
• 36 Cubes
• 4 Action Point Markers
• 4 Star Markers
• 4 Scoring Markers
• 12 Warehouse Expansion Tiles
• 1 Tree Den Board
• 15 Life Tokens
• 15 Data Tokens
• 5 Reward Tokens
• 1 Ranger Board
• 14 Ranger Tiles
• 21 Solo Mode Cards
• 1 First Player Token
• 1 Rulebook

Related Games

If you enjoy resource management, nature themes, production engines, and long-term strategy games, check out these related eurogames:

• Living Forest – Strategic push-your-luck and deck-building game where players act as nature spirits protecting a burning forest.
• Earth – Open-world engine-building game centered on creating self-sustaining natural ecosystems through card combinations.
• Meadow – Card-drafting and set-collection board game where players explore nature trails to build thriving flora and fauna ecosystems.
• Atiwa – Economic management eurogame focused on building a sustainable fruit bat sanctuary and community in Ghana.
• Barrage – Heavy economic eurogame of dam construction, water management, and industrial power generation.
• Ark Nova – Deep strategy game of designing modern, scientifically managed zoos and supporting global conservation projects.

Conclusion

Forestry combines sustainable woodland management, production processing, contract delivery, and action point planning into a cohesive strategy eurogame.

If you are looking to buy Forestry, this release from Arrakis Games delivers a deeply thematic economic eurogame where balancing timber production with ecological conservation is the key to building a winning legacy.