Stefan Feld, creator of The Castles of Burgundy, is back with a new euro title and, just like his other games, Druids of Edora is packed with things to explore and plenty of ways to score points.
It’s quick to pick up, easy to set up, and has a fantastic table presence. Get ready to take a trip into the druidic forest, place dice, and manage some very tight provisions. Every turn gives you somewhere to go, but it might not be the action you want.
Setting the Stones
To begin with, Druids of Edora can feel a little daunting. There is so much cardboard to pop. After your fingers are almost blistered from punching out tokens, you can finally start getting everything in place.
Stefan Feld, creator of The Castles of Burgundy, is back with a new euro title and, just like his other games, Druids of Edora is packed with things to explore and plenty of ways to score points.
It’s quick to pick up, easy to set up, and has a fantastic table presence. Get ready to take a trip into the druidic forest, place dice, and manage some very tight provisions. Every turn gives you somewhere to go, but it might not be the action you want.
Setting the Stones
To begin with, Druids of Edora can feel a little daunting. There is so much cardboard to pop. After your fingers are almost blistered from punching out tokens, you can finally start getting everything in place.
The main board is made up of nine tiles that slot together to form the forest. These tiles add a lot of replayability, as the board changes every game, altering the routes you can take and where actions appear. The board is also double sided, letting you set it up for two, three, or four players.
Once the forest is built, you place dolmens around the board. These coloured stones, reminiscent of Stonehenge, act as scoring opportunities later in the game. You just need to make sure they are placed two spaces away from another dolmen of the same colour.
After that, the overview board goes in the centre where everyone can see it. This board does a lot of heavy lifting. It tracks player scores and knowledge multipliers, stores amulets and dice, and holds three plain dolmens that become bonus scoring objectives.
Next up are the potions, laid out in numerical order, and the oracle site. The oracle site is a tower of stone tablets, with two facing up on each side. It serves as a place where players can pick up final scoring objectives and a few useful resources as the game unfolds.
But wait, that’s not all. Each player still has a setup to complete.
Every player gets a personal board with six standing stones and six rune stones. These pieces can be placed onto the main board to gain resources and score big points. Players also place their scythe token onto the medicinal herb track, then mix up their herb tokens and place them randomly onto the tracker.
Finally, each player rolls four dice and adds them to their personal supply, along with fifteen provisions and a stone tablet. The player with the highest total becomes the first player and places their druid on a space along the edge of the board. Everyone then rolls their remaining nine dice and adds them to the overview board. This becomes the general supply, which players will later claim through specific actions.
Now, that may sound like a lot, and at first it really is. I was genuinely overwhelmed by the number of pieces and cardboard. But after the first setup, later games are surprisingly easy to get ready. One thing I really love about Druids of Edora is that there are no cards to shuffle, which so often slows things down. And despite having so many components, it’s not a table hog.
But looks aren’t everything. So, the real question is, is it worth playing?
Rites of the Forest
When it comes to gameplay, Druids of Edora immediately hooks you with its constant tension and the feeling that every choice costs something. That said, the iconography takes a little getting used to, and with only one shared player aid and limited instructions, you’ll be reaching for the rulebook during your first few plays. Once you’ve settled in, the game reveals itself to be intuitive and surprisingly smooth.
On your turn, you’ll guide your druid along the forest pathways to reach a shrine, where you then take one of the available actions. Here’s the twist. Movement costs provisions, and actions cost dice. For every pip on the die you place, you must also pay provisions. For example, moving along a lit path to a shrine and placing a four-value die for an action would cost five provisions that turn. That’s costly! You’ll constantly find yourself torn between taking powerful actions to score points and simply trying to survive by gathering provisions.
While each shrine has enough spaces for all players, competition still matters: if another player takes the action you wanted at a nearby shrine, you may have to spend a painful amount of provisions to reach the next option, forcing you to rethink your turn
It becomes a delicate balance between careful planning and reacting on the fly.
Almost every action scores points, but you cannot do it all. Each player has only thirteen turns, which isn’t a lot given everything available. If you run out of provisions or dice, you can take the druid in distress action to keep going, but it comes at a cost. Once a player has used all their dice, the game ends, with each remaining player getting one final turn. Falling into distress can leave you with fewer turns than your opponents, which is something you want to avoid
This is very much a point salad game. Everything gives you points. You can link up coloured dolmens around the board, collect amulets and stone tablets, and unlock medicinal herbs. You can even score points from campfires by surrounding them with dice.
At the end of the game, each shrine is also scored. The player with the highest die value at a shrine claims it, scoring points for their dice as well as any standing stones or rune stones placed there.
Placing high value dice is essential, but limited provisions and the luck of your starting rolls can make it tricky. Yet dominating shrines only truly pays off when paired with an advanced knowledge track to multiply your scores. With so many mechanics working together, the game could feel complicated, but they’re woven in so smoothly that it all makes sense. Each way of scoring links to another, so you’re never left trailing in someone else’s wake
And that’s only scratching the surface of what players can do in this sprawling forest.
Final Thoughts
I’ve really enjoyed my time with Druids of Edora. Even though it’s my first Feld game, it’s easy to see why his designs get so much praise. The combination of tight resource management, dice placement, and multiple scoring paths creates a compelling and strategic experience. Each play feels different thanks to the modular board, which keeps the game fresh and engaging.
Despite the complexity, it’s easy to pick up and doesn’t overstay its welcome. Sessions feel satisfying whether you’re carefully plotting each move or reacting on the fly to what other players do. Its table presence has that wow factor, with beautiful RE-wood components that make the forest come alive, even if the theme is somewhat abstract.
That said, it’s not without flaws. The rulebook is frustratingly unclear in places due to a poor translation, and it took a few plays before I was playing correctly. Some pivotal rules are buried in long paragraphs, and others are just plain wrong—yes, I’m looking at you, mistletoe! I recommend checking the FAQ on BGG beforehand to avoid the same hiccups.
Some strategies feel stronger than others, so I often skip actions whose benefits don’t measure up, leaving me to wonder why they exist at all. Early dice rolls or the placement of medicinal herbs can also put players at a disadvantage from the very start, creating some balancing issues. For those who find this frustrating, variant rules exist to put all players on equal footing at the beginning.
Player count can significantly change the feel of the game. At two players, it’s calmer and almost meditative, while at four it becomes competitive and tactical, with area control playing a much bigger role. Some may prefer the higher player count for a meatier, more intense experience, but it can also slow the game down as players get caught up in analysis paralysis.
Overall, Druids of Edora is a strategic and visually stunning game that delivers a satisfying euro experience. It balances calm, contemplative play with tense, competitive decision-making, making it a versatile and rewarding addition to any collection. After my first Feld experience, I can confidently say it lives up to the hype. The shrines are waiting, and the forest is full of choices.
About the Author:
*Sophie is a gamer, blogger, podcaster, and book lover with a passion for solo narrative video games. When she's not immersed in games or writing, she's probably out hiking. Her favourite board games feature worker placement, nature themes, and smart tableau-building mechanics.
