As mentioned previously Living Forest: Kodama increases the required wining conditions to 13. BUT when all the Kodama of a particular type have been removed the winning condition of that particular spirit is increased to 15. This means if someone appears to be racing towards victory you can attract these Kodama to make the finishing post stretch off into the distance. Draw Guardian Animals. If you draw 3 solitary symbols (top-left of the Guardian Animals cards) you cannot draw anymore (unless you've drawn gregarious symbols). You only get to use 1 standard Action (there are ways in the next phase to get bonus Actions). If you stop at a point where you have less then 3 solitary symbols, you get to use 2 standard different Actions. Solitary symbols can be canceled by gregarious symbols . So 3 solitary symbols - 1 gregarious symbol = 2 solitary symbols = 2 different standard Actions. The Kodama expansion adds a Kodama market and symbols, new trees, new guardian spirits, the Onibi standee, and new element tiles. Mainly, this expansion gives a new use for the pink flower symbol aside from the win condition. Additionally, the new win condition is set to 13, and not 12. To me, this shows that there are multiple ways to win, and it’s just a matter of playing the group maybe more than the game. In general, if you are the only person going down a path, you’ll have less competition – though in a 4p game, you’re guaranteed to have some sort of fight as there are only 3 paths. Otherwise, you have to do what you can to limit the ability of the other players to do things. Maybe it’s camping out on the tree space on the circle so someone else can’t use it. Maybe it’s not buying cards on the turn prior to the fire collector going first – so that they don’t get the best run at the fire tokens. Maybe it’s just playing your own game, collecting cards and fragment tokens and making a huge one-time dash at the 12 lotus flowers.

Be the first to extinguish 12 fires. Take that, Onibi! (Onibi doesn’t even feature in the game as a component, which, while could be an opportunity missed, goes to show what true cowardice is. Too scared to show its own face!) One of your primary goals in Living Forest is to stop the woods from burning down (Image credit: Future) You can find both the solitary and gregarious symbol in the top left corner of a Guardian Animals card. The box comes complete with a solo mode which sadly I haven’t had time to fully explore, but looks pretty comprehensive with difficulty being easy to adjust.

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You can keep drawing Guardian cards, but if you reveal 3 Guardians with ” solitary” symbols printed on them in a row, you must stop. A “gregarious” or “neutral” symbol will cancel out a solitary symbol. You can use any Lotus tiles you have acquired to discard a card just revealed with a solitary symbol card to enable you to keep drawing if you like. With 3 take an element tile – these give a bonus whenever you play them. Immediately add 2 suns/ 2 water droplets/ 2 trees/ 1 scared flower/ 1 move. The tile is discarded after use.

Each turn has 3 phases and up to 2 actions to perform. Your main task is to choose the winning way! Phase 1: Guardian AnimalsYou are a Nature Spirit and you have been appointed to save the forest and its Sacred Tree from the flames of Onibi.You are not alone in this mission, the Guardian Animals have gathered around the Spirit Circle where you are progressing, and are providing you with valuable help. J'avoue que j'étais un peu réticent, je ne serai vous dire pourquoi, il y a des jeux comme ça... Mais heureusement, j'ai eu la chance de le tester. The production value and artwork in Living Forest are without a doubt gorgeous – the colours are so vibrant on the table. Having said that, the player tokens don’t stay on their little stands very well (but that’s just a minor niggle). The rule book also has some nice examples of actions and phases and is pretty easy to follow. The art on the cards is nice, and we have a good time asking for cards from the tableau by describing what we see. The rest of the graphic design is good, though you do need to make sure that the players remember to count up their tree and board bonuses. The player standees are not long for this world though as the smallish bases don’t fit well and they constantly fall over. I will probably try to find some plastic stands to jam the character parts into. Put out a fire – Use any water drops collected you can extinguish fire tiles that are on the circular spirit board. When done, these tiles go face down next to your board and contribute towards your target of 12.

If your Help Line shows less than 3 solitary symbols (not counting the ones canceled by gregarious symbols), you can then perform 2 different Actions. For example, in your Help Line are 3 solitary symbols and 1 gregarious symbol, then only 2 solitary symbols count and you get 2 Actions. Whilst we will do everything we can to meet the delivery times above, there may be factors outside of our control and we cannot guarantee delivery within this time frame. After seeing the varied responses to my initial internal mini review, I was definitely interested in playing it again, and being more aware to the situational nature of the strategy, it most certainly played differently. I tried for the fire strategy myself, but I was definitely denied extra fire tokens near the end of the game – the other players simply stopped buying cards; so I could set myself up for fire tokens occasionally, and otherwise a few fell in my lap due to the autorefill if things were empty – but it was not a runaway strategy by any means. Living Forest doesn’t have a set number of rounds. Instead, when one (or more) player(s) triggers one win condition, that signals the final round of the game. It’s a race, then, in that regard. There are three different win-conditions that you’re all shooting for:In Living Forest, players play as one of the four Spirits of Nature, trying to become the Grand Protector of the Forest. The Four Spirits of Nature – Winter, Spring, Summer and Autumn – have been called to rescue the Sacred Tree of the Forest facing the devastating flames of Onibi… First, place the Circle of Spirits Board in the middle of the table. Sit the Guardian Animal Board next to it, with the fire chits (valued 2, 3 and 4) close by. Place one 2-value fire chit into the centre of the Circle of Spirits Board.