Fun and folklore
OAK
Designer: Wim Goosens | Publisher: Game Brewer
There’s a grand oak tree in the back alley behind my house.
Well over 200 years old, this gnarled giant calmly kicks up the concrete beneath it, creating a cracked furrow of crisp packets and disposable vapes. In lieu of two garages stands the tree; an inconvenience for the neighbours yet a reminder for everyone else of the oak’s importance and longevity.
Oak invites players to recognise this importance, ludilogically recounting a time when oaks acted as our social and spiritual community hubs, all whilst affording players the joy of ruthlessly competing for victory.
Taking its themes and aesthetic details from a wealth of Druidic folklore, Oak plants players in a fantastical woodland world where people and the landscapes around them live harmoniously. Players are aiming to rack up points by unearthing artefacts, building shrines, brewing potions, befriending mythical creatures, and ascending the central sacred oak – all within the boundaries of worker-placement mechanics – as they compete to be deemed worthy of the mighty tree spirit’s ancient knowledge.
Rather than presenting an overwhelming smorgasbord of action spots, Oak largely relies on a more restricted and considered form of worker-placement. From a starting hand of three, players must choose cards corresponding to one out of the trio of temple areas on the board before further deciding on which of the three spots present there to send their druid to. Each spot will allow for a particular type of action, with different and improved actions being applied to them when new cards are added to players’ hands.
Alternatively, cards can be used to ascend the sacred oak by shoving a nearby druid up the branch-path depicted on the card’s lower half. Partaking in a spot of tree climbing will award immediate points as well as inching the Solar Marker on towards the next Solstice Festival. It’s less exciting than it sounds but nonetheless showers all players with any valuable resources they have currently passed on their way up. Amusingly, once up there, druids never come back down – resulting in a notably reduced recruit pool.
Unique and personal workerplacement spots are also present on player boards and any acquired artefacts and can be activated without the use of cards. On the other hand, many of these spaces will require either the spending of precious victory points or the presence of an Elder-Druid. Unmistakably the stars of Oak’s Kickstarter campaign, the Elder-Druids are an eye-catching bunch, eager to be adorned with one of six accessories, from a satchel to a pair of eye-catching antlers. Aside from the satisfaction of draping a piece of plastic over a meeple, Elder-Druids open up various special abilities and further enrich Oak’s already engaging worker-placement mechanics.
This approach to familiar mechanics culminates in a game that feels consistently tight. The rules are forever playing with ideas of restriction, be that through scarce resources, action spot limitations, weighing up the benefits of shedding victory points, or the absolutely brutal need to toss an additional druid back into the recruitment pool when accessing an occupied temple spot. Thankfully it never feels too cruel, instead coming across as a competitive experience to really sink your teeth into.
Furthermore, and despite the strategic guidance hinted at through the unique player boards, Oak somehow still feels like an open book in regards to how one wishes to pursue their order’s rise to enlightenment. All of this, combined with a charming aesthetic and theme, makes for an excellent game that seems to give more with each play through.
CHAD WILKINSON
WE SAY
With its interesting and brain-burning card-based worker-placement mechanics and a surprising amount of replay-ability, Oak is as solid as its arboreal namesake.
WHAT’S IN THE BOX?
◗ Game board
◗ 5 Druidic order player boards
◗ 36 Druids
◗ 24 Elder druid upgrades
◗ 12 Artefact tiles
◗ 4 Artefact extension tiles
◗ 40 Ingredient tokens
◗ 4 Bard boards
◗ 4 Ancient boards
◗ 15 Potion tiles
◗
15 Completed potion markers
◗ 6 Solar tokens
◗ 1 First-player token
◗ 12 resource markers
◗ 4 Victory point markers
◗ 8 Card limit markers
◗ 24 Moot cards
◗ 4 Heart of the oak moot cards
◗ 6 Briochan moot cards
◗ 35 Creature cards
◗ 24 Shrine/menhir cards
◗ Solar marker
◗ Round marker
◗ Crane bag
◗ 4 Player aids
TRY THIS IF YOU LIKED EVERDELL...
It’s another treebased treat but arguably less cute.