07/11/2025 Forest Shuffle: Dartmoor

Forest Shuffle: Dartmoor was new to both of us, I'd played the base Forest Shuffle a couple of times in the past but Dartmoor with new Terrain cards would be a little different.

In Forest Shuffle you draw cards to form a hand with a maximum of 10 cards or play one or more cards for potential immediate benefit and for end game points. The winner has is the player with the best developed tableau in front of them at the end of the game - note that I've yet to win so please disregard any tips I might proffer.

You have to play a tree or shrub against which you can play 1 creature or plant both above - below - right - left of the card, this is enhanced by the Moor terrain cards which allow you to play 2 cards above or 2 cards below as well as occasionally being able to pop cards into your cave. The caves have different profiles which all give you 1 point per stored card at the end of the game.

The image shows the cost top left, 1 for the Goat Willow shown and different costs for the creatures placed around it. As you can see creature cards are split in two and require you to place one of those splits in the appropriate position. The Otter card beneath cost 2 cards to play, allowed me to draw 1 card either from the central area or from the top of the draw pile - at the end of the game it's worth 3 points for each lizard you have in play. The Nuthatch to the right also costs 2 cards, but if each both cards are green (leaf symbol) then you get a free turn immediately following the end of this one and at end of game it's worth 10 if it's host shrub or tree is fully occupied.

The game continues until the 3rd winter card is drawn (see top right) and then scoring is done. Why haven't I shown the score pad, an oversight entirely on account of the drubbing I received during this game! Congrats Alex on your victory!

I enjoyed Forest Shuffle so it was unlikely I'd feel differently about the Dartmoor version and I don't - if anything the Moor gives a slightly different challenge and the creatures native to Dartmoor were well represented.

If you wish to sleeve and I'm probably going to then you'll need standard American sleeves for the 180 cards in this set. I'm probably going to use 2 packs of the 110 x Sleeve Kings for this purpose.