Before You Buy SAVERNAKE FOREST – Is This Woodland Board Game Worth It?

About Savernake Forest, from BoardGameGeek:

Autumn is coming to an end in the Savernake Forest… Help the animals gather and store food for the winter! Savernake forest is a game where 2-4 players build their own section of the forest with paths where animals and food will appear. To get the highest score, players must ensure that on each path the animals can collect their favorite food. Foxes, hedgehogs, beavers, owls, rabbits, woodpeckers, wild cats... Up to 23 different types of animals live together in the Savernake Forest. At the end of autumn, they all prepare to spend the cold winter with enough provisions and here you are to give them a hand… Or a paw! To play Savernake Forest you have two decks of square cards, one showing the animals and the other with forest paths full of succulent food. Each player is randomly given an animal card, showing how many foods they can store and their preferences. For example, the fox loves eggs, but not berries or nuts. To get the best score, you must try to get each animal to collect its favorite foods. During setup, three road cards and one animal card are laid out for all players to see. Each player, on his turn, will choose one of them and add it to his forest, always respecting three rules: there can never be two animals on the same path; cards must be adjacent and no cards can be placed outside of a 4x4 grid. The game ends when all participants have completed their forest, with a total of 16 cards. Throughout the game, players will have the help of some animals, depending on the card they choose from the central market. The rooster will help you get up early, so you can be the first to choose a card in the next turn. The armadillo teaches you how to dig better shelters to store more food, so you can take a burrow token and add it to one of your animal cards to increase that animal's storage capacity by 1. The goat teaches you to hydrate yourself better, offering a water drop token that can be associated with a food and increase its value by 1. Finally, the rabbit helps you attract new animals to your forest. For players looking for more advanced challenges, the rulebook includes a two-player variant with some modifications that increase the difficulty. Quite a boost if you already master the basic rules! With a dreamy art, Savernake Forest offers a perfect balance between fun and strategy that makes it perfect for any type of playgroup. Family and friends will have a great time helping the animals of the forest, while trying to make the most of their paths to reach the highest score. Stroll through Savernake in the fall and be swept away by the enchantment of its wildlife! -description from the publisher