Savernake Forest
Savernake Forest Rulebook
Table of Contents
Table of Contents
Goal of the Game
Savernake Forest is a game about placing cards and building paths. Each turn, you'll add a card to your 4×4 forest. Cards can have either animals or the forest paths where they'll find food. You need to make a path for each animal, making sure they collect only the best food.
Game Contents
- 64 Forest cards:
- 45 Path cards
- 19 Animal cards
- 34 tokens:
- 15 Lair tokens
- 15 Water drop tokens
- 4 player Score markers
- 1 1st Player pawn (Rooster)
- 1 double-sided board / score track
Setup
Divide the cards into two decks: Path cards and Animal cards. Shuffle each deck separately, face down.
Randomly give each player 1 Animal card from the top of the deck. Place yours face up in front of you.
Place the board in the middle of the table with the animal side facing up.
Place the Lair tokens above the armadillo, the Water drop tokens above the goat, and the deck of Animal cards above the rabbit.
Give each player a marker of their chosen color.
Decide who goes first randomly and give them the 1st Player pawn.
Understanding the Animal Cards
Animal cards show the following:
- The 4 kinds of food that animals can store (berries, worms, eggs, and nuts) and how many points each food is worth to that animal.
- The start of that animal's path.
- How many points the animal itself scores if it's in your forest.
- How much food the animal can store.
Each animal awards points based on the path that starts on its card. Animals will store the first food they find along their path until they reach their maximum capacity, regardless of how many points each type of food scores.
Example:
The fox can store 3 food. It stores the first 3 food items it finds along its path: the worm (1 point), the nut (0 points), and the egg (2 points). But there's no room for the other egg or the other worm, unless you can expand its ability to store food!
Playing the Game
The game is played over a series of rounds. In each round, every player will take a turn choosing 1 card to add to their forest. When everyone's forest is full (16 cards), the game ends.
Beginning of a Round
Before each round, place 4 cards below the board: 1 Animal card below the rabbit and 1 Path card below each of the other animals.
Then, the player with the 1st Player pawn takes the first turn, and the game proceeds clockwise.
Your Turn
On your turn, you must take one of the remaining cards from the board and place it in your forest. You must follow these rules when placing a card:
- It must be adjacent to at least 1 other card already in your forest.
- Your forest must form a 4x4 square—you cannot place a card that would be outside of that area.
- You may rotate your card (including Animal cards).
- You don't need to follow any existing paths, and dead ends are ok.
- There can never be 2 animals on the same path.
What is a Path?
A path is a series of one or more cards that have an unbroken forest path connecting them together. A path can have any number of twists and turns, but will never branch or intersect another path.
Example:
- You cannot have 2 animals on the same path!
- You cannot place here because it wouldn't fit in a 4×4 square!
- You cannot place here because cards need to be adjacent!
- You can place here even though the path doesn't connect to an existing one and it creates a dead end.
Back to our previous example:
The fox has increased its storage capacity to 5. This means that it can store all 5 food items that are currently on its path. Also, it gathered some water while looking for eggs and worms. This means the eggs are now worth 3 points, and the worms, 2. The nuts are still scoring zero. The fox is now scoring a total of 10 points, compared to only 3 points before!
Taking a Card
When you take a card, do not refill the board yet. There will be fewer options for the next player.
Each card you take belongs to an animal advisor: the rooster, the armadillo, the goat, or the rabbit. Each advisor gives you a benefit that will be important for the development of your forest.
Rooster
The rooster helps you wake up early next morning so you can be the first to choose a card. When you take a card from the rooster, you also take the 1st Player pawn. If no one takes a card from the rooster—only possible in games with less than 4 players—the current 1st Player keeps it.
The player who has this Pawn at the end of the game will score 1 extra point.
Armadillo
The armadillo teaches you how to dig holes to store more food. When you take a card from the armadillo, you also take 1 Lair token and place it on any of your animals. This token increases that animal's storage capacity by 1.
Goat
The goat teaches you to hydrate better. When you take a card from the goat, you also take 1 Water drop token and place it on the corner of one of your animal cards, next to one of the 4 food items. This token increases that food's value for that animal by 1. You can only place a maximum of 1 Water drop token on each corner of the Animal card.
Rabbit
The rabbit is a social animal who helps you bring new animals to your forest. The only way to get new animals is by taking a card from the rabbit.
End of the Round
Once all players have taken 1 card each, the round ends. If there are any cards left (only in 2 or 3-player games), discard them. Then, refill the board with 1 Animal card below the rabbit and 1 Path card below each of the other animals.
The player holding the 1st Player pawn starts the new round.
End of the Game
The game ends as soon as everyone completes their 4×4 forests (by gathering 16 cards). Check to see if 2 Animal cards in your forest are sharing the same path. If so, choose all but 1 of them to discard: They won't score.
Now, flip the board to the other side to show the Score Track. Count your points, scoring each animal individually. Use your player marker to track your score. Don't forget to score each animal's own points (from 1 to 3)!
The player who finished with the 1st Player pawn gets 1 extra point.
Whoever has the most points wins! If there's a tie, the tied player closest to the one who finished with the 1st Player pawn (in turn order) wins the game.
Scoring Example
- Titmouse: Scores 2 points per egg and 1 point per worm; Can stock 4 food: Takes 2 eggs and 2 worms. Total: 6 points.
- Squirrel: Scores 1 point per nut and 1 point per worm; Can stock 5 food: Takes 1 worm, 3 nuts, and 1 berry. Total: 4 points.
- Fox: Scores 3 points per egg and 2 points per worm; Can stock 5 food: Takes 2 worms, 2 eggs, and 1 nut. Total: 10 points.
- Badger: Scores 2 points per worm, 1 point per berry, 2 points per egg, and 1 point per nut; Can stock 2 food: Takes 2 worms. Total: 4 points.
- Animals: Badger (3), Fox (2), Squirrel (1), Titmouse (1). Total: 7 points.
- 1st Player pawn: 1 point.
- Grand total: 32 points.
2-Player Advanced Mode
If you're playing a 2-player game and you want to make it a little more "meaty," you can use the following rule changes:
- Instead of a 4×4 forest, you must make an 8x4 forest (can be vertical or horizontal).
- Each player starts with 2 random Animal cards at the start of the game instead of 1. Place them side by side. You may freely rotate each one of them.
- Each round, you take 2 cards: The first player chooses first then their opponent goes next. The first player takes the third card, and their opponent takes the last one.
The Animals
Hamster, Hedgehog, Badger, Beaver, Fox, Blue Jay, Magpie, Mole, Raven, Owl, Mouse, Shrew, Squirrel, Woodpecker, Chipmunk, Titmouse, Wildcat, Pigmy Possum, Chickadee, Rooster, Armadillo, Goat, Rabbit.
Credits
- Game designer: Rodrigo Rego
- Illustrator: Núria Aparicio
- Layout: CeciRC
- Text proof: William Campbell
- English proof: William Niebling
- Editor and developer: David Esbrí