Savernake Forest

Overview

Savernake Forest is a tile-placement game by Devir Games (designed by Ruben Monteiro) where 2-4 players build their own section of the forest with paths, animals, and food. Autumn is ending, and forest animals are gathering food for winter. Players draft road and animal cards to build a 4x4 grid forest, placing animals along paths where they collect their favorite foods. Each animal has a maximum storage capacity and food preferences. The player who best arranges their forest to maximize animal food collection earns the highest score and wins.

Components

• Road cards (showing path segments with food icons)
• Animal cards (each showing an animal with food preferences and storage capacity)
• Burrow tokens (increase storage capacity)
• Water drop tokens (increase food value)
• Special helper animal tokens (rooster, armadillo, goat)
• Score pad

Setup

Lay out three road cards and one animal card face-up for all players to see. Each player is randomly given one animal card showing their starting animal’s storage capacity and food preferences. Determine the first player.

Turn Structure

On each turn, the active player:

1. Choose a Card: Select one of the available face-up cards (road or animal).
2. Place the Card: Add the chosen card to your personal forest grid (maximum 4x4).
3. Refill Display: Replace the taken card with a new one from the appropriate deck.

Play continues until all players have completed their 4x4 forest (16 cards total).

Actions

Card Selection

• Choose from the available face-up road and animal cards.
• Consider which foods appear on road cards and which animals can benefit from them.

Placement Rules

• Cards must be placed adjacent to existing cards in your forest.
• There can never be two animals on the same path (a connected set of path segments).
• Cards cannot be placed outside the 4x4 grid boundary.
• Path segments on adjacent cards should ideally connect, though dead-end paths are allowed.

Animal Food Collection

• Animals automatically collect food found along their connected path.
• Each animal stores food up to its maximum storage capacity, regardless of how many points each food type is worth.
• Animals earn more points for collecting their favorite foods versus foods they are indifferent to.

Special Helper Animals

• Rooster: Grants first-player initiative for the next card selection.
• Armadillo: Provides a burrow token that increases one animal’s storage capacity by 1.
• Goat: Provides a water drop token that increases one food item’s value by 1.

Scoring / Victory Conditions

After all players complete their 16-card forests, calculate scores:

• Each animal scores points based on the food it collected along its path.
• Favorite foods are worth more points than non-preferred foods.
• Food beyond an animal’s storage capacity is wasted.
• Bonus points from water drop tokens and other effects are added.

The player with the most total points wins.

Special Rules & Edge Cases

• Path Connectivity: A “path” is a connected sequence of path segments. Animals on the same connected path would violate placement rules – this is not allowed.
• Grid Limit: The 4x4 grid is a hard boundary. All 16 cards must fit within it.
• Storage Overflow: Animals cannot collect food beyond their storage capacity. Plan paths to match capacity.
• Dead-End Paths: A path that leads to a dead end is valid but limits food collection potential.
• Two-Player Variant: Includes modified rules that increase difficulty.
• Food Variety: Different food types appear with different frequencies on road cards. Matching animals to abundant food types is strategic.

Player Reference

Helper Animal	Benefit
Rooster	First player choice next turn
Armadillo	+1 storage capacity for one animal
Goat	+1 value for one food item

Placement Rules: Adjacent, within 4x4 grid, no two animals on same path.

Victory: Most points from animal food collection.