Forestry: Growing Forward
Forestry: Growing Forward Rulebook
Table of Contents
Table of Contents
Components
- 10 water monitoring specialist tokens
- 10 fir seedling tokens
- 10 lookout tower level tokens
- 1 tree nursery location tile
- 1 lookout tower construction site location tile
- 1 lake location tile
- 1 detached scoring card
- 3 detached storage tiles
- 6 detached scoring tokens
- 3 infestation cards
- 21 infested wood tokens
- 4 spruce bark beetle reproduction tokens
- 4 van tiles
- 15 wooden harvest tokens
- 12 asymmetric setup cards
Advanced Game Components
- 1 forest road manager player board
- 9 damaged road tiles
- 3 forest road manager setup cards
- 9 technician tiles
- 1 technician player board
- 1 forest worker player board
Expansion Content
In the Forestry: Growing forward expansion, you will find three new characters, each featuring new abilities and play styles. They can be played on their own or combined with any of the existing characters in the base game.
This expansion also includes the bark beetle infestation module. With this module, you must remove infected trees using the harvester and transport them to distant storage sites via the manager. Quarantining these trees produces a new source of rewards and provides for new end of the game scoring opportunities. This module can be played with any game mode from the base game except the solo game.
Game Setup
Before setting up the base game, you may replace the carton harvest tokens from the base game with the wooden ones from this expansion.
Complete the setup for the base game as normal. As described on page 11, you may also include the asymmetric starting cards to determine the starting resources for each player. If you choose to use the characters from the base game, you may include the Forest worker, Forest road manager, and the Technician from this expansion.
Follow these additional steps to incorporate the content for the bark beetle infestation module.
- Place one random detached storage tile between each pair of HQ tiles next to the game board.
- Place one random detached scoring token on the marked space (right side) of each detached storage tile.
- Place a spruce bark beetle reproduction token on the following point values of the score track: 4, 10, 18 and 28.
- Place the infested wood tokens in a supply next to the game board.
- Draw a random infestation card and place an infested wood token on the spaces as shown on the card based on player count.
- Take all three location tiles and randomly place one on the double-hex spaces of each area. For the light-green area, place the tile on the double-hex space near the beginning of the score track. Place the tiles so the harvest tokens on those spaces remain visible.
- Place the detached scoring card near the game board.
- Create a supply of the three new resource types (water monitoring specialist, fir seedling, and lookout tower level tokens) near the game board.
- Each player places a van tile on the character picture of their player board.
Bark Beetle Infestation
Even-aged spruce monocultures have become highly vulnerable to bark beetle infestation due to changing climate conditions. Higher temperatures, prolonged droughts, and uneven rainfall weaken trees over time. As a result, the population of European spruce bark beetle (Ips typographus) is increasing and significantly damaging forest stands.
By feeding on the inner bark (bast), they disrupt the tree's nutrient flow. This leads to large-scale forest dieback and a limited capacity to produce and deliver resin to defend against the beetles. In addition, warm and dry conditions allow beetle populations to grow rapidly and accelerate the infestation. In the past, the beetle mainly attacked damaged or dying trees, but weakened spruces cannot effectively produce resin to defend themselves.
To slow its spread, foresters must act quickly by identifying, harvesting, and transporting infested trees from the forest. If processed in time, the bark beetle's development will not be completed and we will thus protect other trees. Additional measures include removing bark or applying controlled treatments through modern technologies.
Spawning Infested Wood
At the start of the game, several infested wood tokens are added to the forest board according to the infestation card.
Additional ones will enter the game as players gain victory points. Whenever any player reaches or passes a score track space containing a spruce bark beetle reproduction token, you will add one new infested wood token to the board. Draw a spawn card and place the new token on the indicated space. If that space is already occupied by an infested wood token or a harvester, place it on the space with the next highest number without an infested wood token or harvester.
If a player's score marker passes multiple reproduction tokens, a new infested wood token is added for each of them.
Reproduction tokens apply to all players — the infestation spreads whenever any player reaches or passes a reproduction space.
Do not remove the tokens when a player passes them.
Removing Infested Wood
If your harvester is on a space with an infested wood token, you cannot perform any harvester actions except for movement or the harvest action to remove the token. As indicated, removing it costs one action point.
Place the removed token in your storage instead of turning the token over to its other side as you would do with harvest token. It takes up a space in your storage, but it cannot be used to fulfill standard contracts.
After removing the infested wood token, you may continue performing standard harvester actions on that space.
Example: The pink player is on a space with an infested wood token. They would like to tend to the forest on that space, but they must harvest the infested wood token before they can do any other harvester action there.
They spend 1 action point to move it to their storage. With their next action point, they tend to the forest to gain 4 points as shown on the forestry table.
These additional points cause their score marker to pass a spruce bark beetle reproduction token, so they must spawn another infested wood token on the map at the end of their turn. They drew hex number 5, but because a brown harvester is present there, they place the infested wood token on hex number 6 instead.
Note: The infested wood tokens are intentionally smaller than regular wood tokens to better fit the spaces on the game board.
Detached Storages
Whenever you move your manager, as described in the base game, perform these additional steps for passing a detached storage tile:
- Choose one of the resources shown in the top left of the detached storage tile and add it to your van tile.
- [Optional] Deliver one or more infested wood tokens to that tile by placing the token(s) above the detached storage tile. The token remains there for the rest of the game. Upon delivery, you receive the reward shown on the bottom left of the detached storage tile for each infested wood token you delivered for this movement action.
Example: The blue player spends one action point to move their sawmill manager to the HQ tile in the light green area. From the detached storage they pass over, they choose to gain one lookout tower level token. They may place the resource token on their van tile as the tile only has one resource on it.
They also place one of their previously collected infested wood tokens above the detached storage. As a reward, they gain 3 coins and 2 points. They keep the second infected wood token in their storage for a different detached storage tile.
Growing forward introduces three new resource types to use on the new location tiles: water monitoring specialist, fir seedling, and lookout tower level. When you gain one from a detached storage tile, they are not stored on your player board. Rather, you may store up to two of these resources on your van tile. If you need to add a third one to your van tile, you may discard one of the stored resources to replace it with the new one.
Each new resource is used for a specific location tile as described on the next page. The van tiles have two slots for new resources.
New Location Tiles
Each of the new location tiles provides rewards whenever you deliver the resource required by that tile. Each location tile has specific restrictions regarding which spaces you may place a resource token to gain the indicated reward.
Each double-hex space containing a location tile is still considered one space for the purposes of movement and other harvester actions.
If your harvester is on one of these double-hex spaces at any time during your turn, you may immediately deliver one or two resources required by the space's location tile without spending any action points. Gain the reward covered by the delivered resource(s).
TREE NURSERY uses fir seedling tokens to grow a new tree type, which diversifies the tree species in the forests.
You must place fir seedling tokens in the rightmost column first. You may place tokens in the rightmost column in any order. You may only place a token in the middle column if both of the connecting spaces to its right contain a token. You must place a token on each space in the middle and rightmost columns before placing a token in the leftmost space. You may only place one token on each of the spaces in the middle and rightmost columns, but you may place an infinite amount of fir seedling tokens on the leftmost space with a 3-point bonus.
Example: Since the two connecting spaces in the rightmost column are filled, you may now deliver a fir seedling token to the space in the middle column and gain its reward, 2 resources.
LOOKOUT TOWER CONSTRUCTION SITE uses lookout tower level tokens to build a vantage point for tourists to better view the forest.
You must deliver lookout tower level tokens in order from the bottom to the top. You may only place one token on each of the lower spaces, but you may place an infinite amount of lookout tower level tokens on the topmost space with a 3-point bonus.
Example: The next available space offers 2 task cards as a reward. You may not choose any other space to place a token.
LAKE uses water monitoring specialist tokens to investigate if the ecosystem is healthy or if it needs to be protected or supported.
You must place the first water monitoring specialist token on one of the bottom spaces. Subsequent tokens are placed along the connecting arrows on that side. Once all 3 spaces on any side are filled, you may either place the next token on the middle space for 4 coins or place the next token on the other side. If placing a token on the other side, you must place them in the same way as the first side (i.e., along the arrows). You may only place one token on each of the outer spaces, but you may place an infinite amount of water monitoring specialist tokens on the middle space with a 4-coin bonus.
Example: With the next token you deliver, you choose between the left space to gain a forester token or the middle one to gain 4 coins.
Detached Storage Scoring
The detached scoring tokens on the detached storage tiles provide new scoring opportunities at the end of the game. The scoring tokens show the criteria for scoring. At the end of the game, determine which players rank first, second, and third place for the criteria shown.
If a tie exists between players, award them the sum of the points for the tied places divided by the number of tied players and rounded down.
The number of points for first, second, and third place for each criterion depends on the number of infested wood tokens delivered to that scoring token's detached storage tile throughout the game.
- The storage with the most infested wood tokens awards 10/6/2 points for its criterion.
- The storage with the second-most tokens awards 7/4/1 points.
- The storage with the fewest tokens awards 5/3/0 points.
See the detached scoring card for an overview of how many points the criteria are worth.
If two detached storages have the same amount of tokens, the rightmost rows on the detached scoring card show the new point spread for the criteria of the tied storage tiles.
If all three detached storage tiles have the same amount of infested wood tokens, each criterion scores 6/4/2 points, as indicated on the bottom row of the detached scoring card.
Tip: During the final scoring, score the detached scoring tokens last. Start with the detached storage tile near the beginning of the score track and continue clockwise. You may also flip the scoring token to keep track of which one(s) you have already scored.
Example: In this example, the upper storage has the most infested wood tokens, so its scoring criterion (most seedlings planted) awards 10/6/2 points for first/second/third place, respectively. The other two storage tiles are tied for second-most tokens, so their scoring criteria (highest water structure multiplier and most task cards fulfilled) both award 6/3/1 points.
Pink player gets 10 points for the most seedlings, but they only get 2 points for tying for the second highest water structure multiplier (3 and 1 points were summed up and divided between pink and blue player). They fulfilled the least amount of task cards, so they gain 0 points for finishing in fourth place.
Detached Scoring Token List
- Have the most open storage spaces on your player board.
- Have the highest sum of sawmill buildings you improved and forest buildings you built.
- Have the most fulfilled contracts.
- Have the most task cards fulfilled.
- Have the highest water structure multiplier.
- Have the most seedlings planted.
Asymmetric Starting Cards
These cards let each player start the game with a different combination of resources, stars, task cards, and coins for a variety of starting strategies.
If you decide to incorporate these cards, replace step 16 from the base game setup with the following step:
- Shuffle all 12 asymmetric setup cards. Each player draws two and chooses one to keep. You begin the game with the depicted resources and coins based on player order.
In other words, you will gain depicted resources instead of 3/4/4/5 coins and 1 seedling as in the standard game. After gaining what is depicted on your setup card, return the setup cards to the box.
Example: The third player drew these two cards. They decide to choose the one with the stars. They gain two stars (start the game on position 4) and a stone token. They also start the game with one coin as they are the third player. They return both cards to the box.
Solo Game Compatibility
You may add the asymmetric setup cards and any of the advanced characters to the solo game, using the same rules as in the base game. If you do, only you choose from the two cards. The forester has always the same starting resources.
The bark beetle infestation module is incompatible with the solo game. You cannot add any components of the module (e.g., the infested wood tokens or location tiles) to the solo game.
Advanced Characters
Forest Worker
The Forest worker focuses on forest cultivation, regeneration, and overall health. They achieve this by supporting natural renewal through seedlings from existing stands, and, where necessary, complementing the natural renewal with targeted planting to ensure a balanced and resilient forest composition.
Ability: The Forest worker uses a combined forestry and reforestation table unique to this character.
Whenever the Forest worker takes a forester token, they place it on any space in a row that does not already contain a token of that type. Gain the reward depicted on that space, as normal. The tokens may be added to a row in any order.
Whenever the Forest worker takes the reforestation action, they always gain 3 stars for each seedling they place. Seedlings are placed in the row matching the color of the area where the action is taken (as shown at the end of the row).
Whenever the Forest worker has placed a forester token directly above a seedling (or vice-versa), they immediately gain the bonus shown between those two tokens.
Their water structure multipliers are only unlocked when a seedling row for an area color is completely full. Instead of providing a water structure multiplier, their buildings track provides more points for building a fifth or sixth building.
During the end of the game scoring, the points from having the most forester tokens are scored as normal.
Example: The Forest worker did a thinning and placed the token on their player board to gain 3 coins. Since they already have a seedling below the placed token, they also receive 1 wood adjustment and 2 victory points.
Forest Road Manager
The Forest road manager repairs damaged roads to improve transportation across the forest. Their infrastructure investments enhance forest management while also improving access for emergency services and public recreation.
Game setup: Draw one Forest road manager setup card. Place one random damaged road tile on each highlighted border as shown on the card.
Ability: Whenever the Forest road manager moves across a damaged road tile and spends the resource shown on that tile, they may collect that damaged road tile. Flip the tile to its repaired side and place it on any repaired road tile space of their board to immediately gain the reward depicted on the space.
The Forest road manager scores additional victory points from the roads they repair. At the end of the game, the Forest road manager scores 1 victory point for each direct connection between repaired road tiles on their player board.
Example: The Forest road manager moved through two damaged road tiles. They spent the required resources for both (2 coins and 1 temp worker) and placed the repaired road tiles on their player board to gain the rewards depicted on those spaces. The rewards include activating a sawmill building and gaining 3 stars. Placing the tiles also formed 2 new connections with the repaired road tile already on their board. At the end of the game, they will score 1 additional victory point for each direct connection (2 total) between the repaired road tiles. If they connect more road tiles, they will receive additional points at the end of the game.
Technician
The Technician ensures all forest buildings function properly by diagnosing issues and implementing adjustments and innovations. They improve the efficiency of sawmill operations, maintain the process workflow, and uphold sustainability principles to minimize environmental impact.
Game setup: Place one random Technician tile on each sawmill building tile, with the diagnostics (split) side face up.
Ability: Whenever the Technician moves their manager to a different HQ tile, they may gain the reward from a Technician tile on one of the sawmills in the area they just entered. After gaining the reward, flip that tile to its optimized green side. They do not need to spend additional action points to flip the tile.
Flipping a Technician tile does not count as using an upgraded sawmill building, so the building's owner does not gain a coin.
They may also flip a Technician tile to its optimized and gain its reward after they use the sawmill building the tile is on.
If the Technician would flip a Technician tile with its optimised side up, they instead take it from the sawmill building tile and place it on their player board above the bottom part bar.
Example: The pink player moves to the light green HQ tile and gains 2 stars from the tile. Then, they flip the Technician tile on the middle building to its optimized side to gain 1 additional star. Next, they spend another action point to activate the middle sawmill building. In addition to gaining 1 coin and 1 seedling for activating the sawmill building, they take the optimized Technician tile from that sawmill building and place it on the leftmost available slot of the certification track on their player board.
After a player upgrades a sawmill building and flips the building tile, place the Technician tile back on the building without changing which side of the tile is face up.
Collecting optimised tokens provides the Technician with additional victory points. At the end of the game, gain points based on the number of Technician tiles collected as depicted below the rightmost collected token on the optimization track.
The Technician tokens have a resources, stars or coins on front diagnostic side. The optimized back side is always the same and shows tools.
Only the technician may change the orientation of the Technician tokens.