by Michal Peichl

Art by Michal Řezníček1. From Small Games to a Big Vision

Before starting work on my first large-scale board game, I had created several smaller titles, each built around a single core mechanism. These were compact designs in which one idea carried the whole experience, but I had long wanted to attempt something more ambitious — something with multiple interlocking systems and a deeper thematic world.

That opportunity arrived in 2021, when I began working on Forestry. At the time, I didn't know exactly what the theme would be, but I started with the concept of a shared, central resource that all players would manage together — similar to how water works in the game Barrage, taking on very different roles throughout the game.

My personal history made the forestry theme a natural fit. As a teenager, I worked part-time at a sawmill where my mother was employed, so I had first-hand exposure to wood processing. I also grew up in a mountainous, forested landscape, which gave me a lasting emotional connection to the setting. This combination of familiarity and fascination made forestry a compelling foundation for a larger design.

There is always a lot to do when you create a big game prototype
2. Core Gameplay and Early Prototypes

The first version of the map used a large number of hex tiles. It felt flexible, but quickly proved unwieldy, so I moved to a fixed layout reminiscent of The Settlers of Catan, a change that would later prompt many playful comments from testers.

First playable prototype
From the start, I needed a resource that all players would value, care about, and interact with constantly. After exploring various options, I chose wood and forests. This gave the game a natural cyclical structure:

• Every hex produces one specific type of tree.

• Players can harvest that tree, making the space temporarily unusable until new trees are planted.

• Overharvesting makes it harder and more costly to get resources; planting restores forest health and grants advantages.

The shape of the main board shifted from circular one to rectangular, containing all kinds of component slots
I divided the board into three distinct regions separated by a river — an element that survived every iteration of the design.

Game Board evolution phases
The early design also explored multiple player objectives: upgrading forestry equipment, fulfilling contracts tied to specific tree types, working through different categories of contracts, and tracking client satisfaction levels on influence tracks. These elements gave players both short-term and long-term goals, while the forest's changing condition created a shared puzzle to navigate.

Contract card evolution – from simple to beautiful
3. Two Workers, Two Worlds

Early in development, I introduced the idea of players controlling two types of worker pieces:

• The Harvester, moving through the forest to fell trees and perform on-site actions.

• The Sawmill Manager, stationed in the sawmill and handling resource conversion, contract preparation, and the processing of wood into the exact form needed for delivery.


This division gave each worker a unique set of actions, but balancing them within a limited number of game rounds proved challenging. For a long time, their turns were separate, but later in development I merged their action pools, letting players decide how to split actions between the two roles. This single change solved numerous pacing problems and gave players more strategic freedom.

The sawmill manager's action set went through many changes, first presented simply as a list of available tasks, then physically placed around the board, and finally tied to specific map regions to create a more dynamic balance. How and when players accessed certain actions became an important layer of the game's strategy.

Back to the focus on the main board — let's make it circular once again
The asymmetry between workers later inspired the addition of four unique playable characters, each tied to a specific forestry-related role and offering a different style of play: the Logistics Manager, the Trade Specialist, the Monitoring Specialist, and the Forest Ecologist. These characters amplify replayability by giving players distinctive abilities that can be leveraged in different strategic directions. Designing those special abilities was great fun as each adds its own unique decision space to each of the characters.

Four characters with special abilites
4. Expanding the Theme and Ecological Depth

Although the game already had a functional core, I wanted Forestry to capture more than just the economic side of logging. I started researching ecological forestry practices, and later began consulting with Radim Löwe and Anna Dolníčková from the Czech University of Life Sciences. Their expert input ensured the game's activities reflected reality — from reforestation to water retention projects.

The green blocks of the rulebook feature a ton of interesting information about real forestry
Water management became a major thematic thread. Across prototypes, players could build bridges, create reservoirs, restore river meanders, or develop wetlands. Each version had its own mechanical impact — changing movement across the board, unlocking new scoring conditions, and improving the landscape's long-term resilience.

Planting trees also evolved into a strategic layer: specializing in one region rewards players with stars (which unlock bonuses), while diversifying planting across regions grants permanent upgrades and multipliers for endgame scoring.

Some early ideas didn't survive. For example, I once included bark beetle infestation tokens, which players could remove for rewards. While thematic, the system introduced too much randomness and upkeep. After discussions with forestry experts, I replaced this element with a set of core forestry activities — each represented by a small token — that players can perform by visiting specific locations and spending action points. This change kept the thematic spirit while streamlining gameplay.

The bugs on the tokens were eating trees in this version
5. Iteration, Redesign, and the Final Player Board

Few components illustrate Forestry's evolution as clearly as the player board, which reached its final form only around version 50. Over the course of development, it was redesigned again and again to better reflect the game's shifting priorities.

Player board evolution
The final version includes:

• An action point tracker.

• A central development track that grants efficiency upgrades and extra actions over time.

• A circular reward track where players collect stars to unlock powerful central bonuses.

• Shared action allocation for both workers, allowing flexible distribution of effort.

• Storage for harvested wood, spaces for building houses or upgrading sawmill buildings, and a dedicated ecological section with forestry activities, planting records, and water projects.

The upper part of the board holds wood storage, the lower part houses building tokens, and the right side contains the ecological systems — now clearly separated after being blended into other areas in earlier prototypes. This clarity makes it easier for players to see their environmental progress alongside their economic one.

Trade specialist board
6. Educational Intent, Collaboration, and Publication

As the theme deepened, I realized the game could carry an educational message. Many people think of logging as purely destructive, but wood is one of the most versatile, renewable resources available — antibacterial, insulating, and flexible while producing virtually no waste. The real challenge lies in balancing harvesting with replanting, which is exactly the balance the game invites players to manage.

To highlight this, the rulebook contains informative side notes, and the contract cards feature short educational texts revealing surprising uses and properties of wood. I wanted players to leave the table not only entertained, but also more informed.

Contract card examples; there are 44 unique cards with interesting facts
Throughout development, I received invaluable feedback — from friends, from other designers, and during intensive testing sessions with CGE. At times, I doubted the game would ever be finished, especially after overhauls in which 60% of the content changed in one go...but each time, I returned with renewed focus.

Initially, I planned to launch the game through crowdfunding. However, after founding Pink Troubadour, it became clear that Forestry would be part of our own publishing line. I'm proud of that decision as it allowed us to give the game the attention it needed from start to finish.

Finished game
I'm deeply grateful to:

• The forestry experts at ČZU for validating the accuracy and meaning of the game's content.

• Michal Řezníček for his illustrations, which are now inseparable from the game's identity.

• My friends and colleagues at Pink Troubadour, especially Tomáš Holek, whose ambitious solo mode adds enormous replayability and depth even for a single player.

Michal Peichl

The Pink Troubadour team discusses the latest design changes
Youtube Video