I’ve always been a bit of a photography buff. From when I got my first SLR camera in high school, up through college when I had a short-lived stint as a photo major, taking pictures has always been something that has interested me.
While photography is not a new subject for board gaming, Today we are going to look at a unique game in the genre. Redwood sends you into the forest to take pictures of flora and fauna. What makes this one stand out are the movement templates pulled straight out of a war game (here’s looking at you Star Wars: X-Wing Miniatures Game).
Gameplay Overview:
Games of Redwood are played out over five rounds. Each round will give you a chance to move your photographer on the board and take a picture. At the start of each round, the sun moves one position, and a new objective card is revealed. Then each player takes their turn in sequence.
On your turn, you must first move your miniature. This is done by choosing one of the movement templates. If you’ve played Star Wars: X-Wing Miniatures game, these will look very familiar. They clip into your photographer’s base, and then you use a second mature to move to the end of the movement template. After moving, you then choose a photo template (your lens) to take your picture with. The trick with template choosing is that you are not allowed to pre-measure or change your mind. Once you pick a template, that’s what you have to use.
Anything that is complete under your template will be included in your photo. This may include animals, flowers, or trees. And whatever your template is pointing at will be the background of your photos. These all come together in a set collection style of game that will have you taking photos, while also trying to complete goals on the objective cards.
After the 5th round, players total up the points of their 5 photos from a variety of categories. The player with the most points is the winner.
Game Experience:
Despite the dozen-page rulebook with lots of little rules and examples, Redwood is actually a pretty simple game. It boils down to “move your person, record what is under your template” and repeat five times. Now within that is a ton of other things to think about. Do you want to go for the objective card or try to shoot this animal for extra VPs. Do you choose a template that will let you move far to get a different perspective, or move short and stick with what you know? Which lens will let you capture the most options? You have long, telephoto lenses, and short, wide angles.
To be honest, the lens part of the game was pretty great. I really liked how they mirrored using a wide angle vs a telephoto and the decisions that had to be made. Mind you, the depth of field doesn’t really come into play, but this is a board game, so some things have to be abstracted. But for the most part, moving around with the templates and photographing animals was pretty fun. It will definitely test your spatial awareness as you try and guesstimate where you need to move, and which lens will best suit your shot. I’m definitely grateful to the designer for not letting players pre-measure or change their minds. It would have made the game take FOREVER.
Speaking of, this is also a game that I think is best with 2 players. There is nothing to do when it’s not your turn, and watching someone ponder over templates and setup shots is not interesting in the slightest. So at 3 players, the downtime gets a little rough. At 4, forget about it. The game even suggests playing in teams with 4p because you’d be sitting there waiting for way too long. The game does have a solo mode, but it’s not that engaging. I found I’d rather be playing one of my other dedicated solo games. So for me, 2 players is where this one shines. It has someone else to create competition, but the wait doesn’t become interminable.
But I’ve found the game easy to teach with intuitive mechanics. Once you show people how to move their photographer (which has neoprene on the bottom to prevent slipping) and line up shots, everyone is able to grasp it pretty quickly. I do wish the templates were a bit more transparent though. Their shaded translucency makes it a little hard to see what you’ve taken a picture of. Half of the time, we’d line up the lens template, but then have to swing it out of the way to see everything that’s underneath.
My other concern with the game is I’m not sure how much replay value it’s going to offer. It’s unique in its gameplay, but after a few games, things feel somewhat similar. There are 25 objective cards (5 each in levels 1-5), but they aren’t all that different that they are going to change up the gameplay enough for it to feel different from game to game. Most just give you bonus points for having specific things in or out of your shot. But I do give props to designer Christophe Raimbault for a unique game that captures the spirit of photography.
Final Thoughts:
Redwood is a good game, but I’m also not sure how much staying power it has. The first time I played it I really enjoyed it. It felt fresh and unique. But by my 4th or 5th play, I felt like I was doing the same thing as in previous games and the shine had worn off some. It could be that the rules are light enough for just about anyone to pick up. But the trade-off is that there is a somewhat lack of depth in the gameplay. Most turns will boil down to move your miniature and collect tokens to put on a card. And when it’s not your turn, there isn’t much else to do but watch (or fiddle on your phone). I think Redwood will be good to pull off the shelf for a game every once in a while. But I can’t see myself playing it all that often.
Final Score: 3 Stars – A fun use of the photography theme that borrows some mechanics from popular skirmish games.
Hits:
• Easy to learn rules
• Quality components and nice variety in templates
• Good use of its theme
Misses:
• Can feel samey after a few games
• Somewhat hard to see what’s under your template
• Too much downtime at higher player counts
