Redwood: A board game about nature photography

With Redwood, Colt Express author Christophe Raimbault brings Sit Down! released a new nature-themed board game. It's about taking photos, which is rare enough - even rarer is the game mechanism used to take pictures on the game board. Redwood is scheduled to go live on Kickstarter crowdfunded on September 28th. 

Redwood's idea is a rarity: one to four players equipped with cameras trudge through the woods to take photos of wildlife and the landscape. There are points for that at the end. The idea for the board game, which lasts around 45 minutes per game, came from Christophe Raimbault, who previously developed games such as Colt Express and Star Clicker. The publisher Sit Down! shows the title as one of its novelties at this year's Gen Con 2022. 

Redwood: The forest is flat

Not only the "photos" that players of Wild und Wald take should be as beautiful as possible - the board game itself also has to set the bar high when it comes to aesthetics. Edu Valls, the illustrator who was responsible for the visual appeal of Bitoku, is responsible for the graphic implementation. So not much can go wrong - the first pictures of the board game at least promise a great table presence. This is not only because of the illustrations themselves, but because of the unusual game board.

The forest is flat - and up to four players sit around it. The board game about wildlife photographs is an eye-catcher in several respects. The basic theme of animals in the forest does not win an innovation award, the mechanics behind it may well: Redwood is reminiscent of games like Star Wars: Legion or a miniature game à la X-Wing - players use two different plastic tools for movement and for their snapshots. You move your photographer – with an anti-slip base, by the way – in a circle over the game board, which is also circular, in order to position yourself. If you have spotted a motif, you have to take it up. The highlight of Christophe Raimbault's new board game is the simulation of photography using stencils. 

With a transparent viewing cone you finally make your snapshots. Of course, it is important to be guided by various tasks: It may be necessary to record individual motifs or to create collections. As in real photographer life, the light also plays a role - a sun rotates around the playing field and provides various bonuses. Raimbault even thought of the focal lengths, which are represented by different holes in the stencil. At the heart of the board game is the combination of exact positioning and aiming. The board game is reminiscent of a tactical movement game, but with a great look and an overall quite fresh theme. Another detail in the “photo simulator”: the animals also move after you have used them as a motif.

Redwood is to be financed by crowdfunding. The Kickstarter campaign is scheduled to start on September 28th. There are also already concepts for an expansion with new game mechanics. 

Last updated on 26.05.2023/XNUMX/XNUMX / Affiliate Links / Images from the Amazon Product Advertising API. * = Affiliate links. Images from Amazon PA API