For Northwood! Starting The Noisy Year with All the Bills
Convince different animal rulers to become allies across a series of scenarios beginning in summer with For Northwood!
As is a common statement these days, it’s been far too long since I last enjoyed For Northwood! A Solo Trick-Taking Game! This delightful experience of visiting animal fiefdoms and having little conversations is so much fun, and I finally found the inspiration to start playing through the scenario booklet. The Noisy Year was sure to be exciting!
Game Overview
Game Name: For Northwood! A Solo Trick-Taking Game
Publication Year: 2021
Designer: Wilhelm Su
Artist: Wilhelm Su
Publisher: Side Room Games
Solo Mode: Designed for Solo (Included in the Base Game)
A total of 8 animal rulers are visited with card-based conversations that determine whether they join up as allies. In the scenarios, special rules exist to change things up just a little bit in a series of charming vignettes. It’s up to this team to convince animals to do paperwork! Ha ha!
First Play
April 28, 2023
Complexity
2
Latest Play
September 21, 2024
Expansions
0
Setup Time
Almost None
Lifetime Plays
34
Play Time
20 Minutes
High Score
20
Game Area
24" x 18"
Low Score
3
Out Into the Woods
The theme is one of the nicest ones around, focused on simply talking with various animals. A perfect score is the ultimate goal, yet even the failures offer up laughs.
I always like thinking about how my delegation talked about flowers or leaves for far too long, boring an already antsy pony. Or talking about galloping to a duck!
Gameplay never feels like the bad luck is a catastrophe, and that’s coming from someone with dismal scores. Ha!
After playing the standard full game for a long time, it was about time to explore the included scenario booklet at last.
The Noisy Year
In an aptly titled scenario booklet, various challenges throughout the year provide little twists to the rules.
There is a Community Play dedicated to playing through everything throughout the year, aligning seasons along the way. At last, I had the inspiration to play!
The first summer scenario is about convincing rulers to review bills and get through a mountain of paperwork with a clever special rule about duplicate values.
So nice! I had a laugh at the flavor text and figured I would see how the King of Eyes fared with his bat-tastic plan…
Hello, Can You Hear Me?
Upon several visits to the fiefdoms, it was determined that animals were absolutely not interested in paperwork. Ha!
I failed to meet the target number by the slimmest of margins time and time again during one play, leading to a pretty empty forest of allies. But I took it in stride!
Clearly, this was just not the time to bring up going through bills. It was even the Lady of Flowers herself, a duck, who was most resistant… Due to duck bills, I guess!
The play time was quick enough for me to reset so I could try my hardest to get this motion to pass with my allies.
The Trickiest Bunch
Finally, things were looking good! I managed to convince a few rulers early on with sheer luck, thanks to the perfect card coming out during the final round. Would it last?
Somehow, word must have slipped that these bills were not in any sense related to duck bills, thereby allowing me to finally get the Lady of Flowers on my side. Yeah!
My final ruler was the Queen of Eyes, and I had the wrong hand to match up with her requirements. But I had a plan…
With the help of a visiting ally, good luck, and a better bit of planning, the entire woods finally reviewed those bills!
Copycats and Getting Inspired to Play a Game
Throughout this month, I’ve been trying to link up the solo games I play with others posted to the current Solitaire Games on Your Table list. Come on over to read, lurk, or post! Everyone is welcome. Yet I’ve found that this sort of challenge is helping me figure out what to play in a way I hadn’t expected to enjoy as much as I do!
Normally, I steer clear of challenges that set a schedule for playing certain games a certain number of times. I respect those that it works for, and if that’s you, good luck and have fun! I get caught up in feeling like I have to do something, so my hobby time turns into a chore or work. I’m only sharing my perspective to explain why copycatting is working.
Right now, I still get to choose what I want to play, only there is a little incentive to link back to the person who inspired me. And it’s almost like a little scavenger hunt! This play actually isn’t in that chain, although seeing the community play made me interested in joining in. Nope, my next solo game is going to tie into chickens, and I know what that is!
A lot of the time, this hobby can sometimes feel like it’s all about copying the latest buying trends and having everything that everyone else has. But there are also positive ways to be inspired about playing what you already have. I know I’m called the Breaker of Wallets, yet I hope I also help bring older solo games to your table sometimes. Enjoy!
Session Overview
Play Number: 11-14
Solo Mode: Designed for Solo (Included in the Base Game)
Play Details: Summer 1 Challenge
Outcome: 17, 19, 10, 20 (1 Win & 3 Losses)
With a friendly ally standing by to help out if things went wrong, I had the best time with my other animal friends! This conversation flew right on by with the deck of cards and I ended this session with an exciting victory. Now, I definitely plan to keep playing through the seasonal challenges to enjoy every little nuance this game has to offer! So cute, yet also very thoughtful at the same time!
%
30 Plays
Affordability
Price & Value
10
Functionality
Challenges & Mechanics
10
Originality
Design & Theme
10
Quality
Components & Rules
10
Reusability
Achievement & Enjoyment
8
Variability
Distinctness & Randomness
7
+ Pros (Positives)
- All of the artwork is charming and delightful with a very relaxed, carefree sort of atmosphere to make it relaxing.
- Gameplay moves along quickly, yet involves plenty of meaningful choices in order to have a chance to score well.
- Trick-taking doesn’t seem like a solo sort of experience, but it’s presented in an excellent way that works.
- Different rulers bring out different abilities, and it can be quite the puzzle to figure out just when to activate them.
- The scenario booklet is amazing with seasonal challenges that change the rules enough to add interesting puzzles.
- Even the losses are enjoyable since the theme is all about conversing with animals without any conflict or violence.
– Cons (Negatives)
- Bad luck can pop up at any point and isn’t always easily mitigated, making it impossible to reach the highest score.
- It can be a little tricky to keep track of all of the available ally abilities to figure out who might be best utilized.
- The full game can feel repetitive after a little while, and the scenarios seem rather necessary to maintain variety.
- Play time can feel just a touch too long sometimes, especially when conversations are lost early on.
Victory Conditions
Score 20 Points
- Overall Goal Progress 57%
Goals and Milestones
Score 20 points with the introductory game.
Score 20 points with the full game.
Score 20 points in the Summer 1 Challenge.
Score 20 points in the Summer 4 Challenge.
Score 20 points in the Summer 2 Challenge.
Score 20 points in the Summer 3 Challenge.
Score 20 points in the Fall 1 Challenge.
Continue the Conversation
What do you enjoy about For Northwood! A Solo Trick-Taking Game? Have you played through The Noisy Year, or do you plan to? I’m having a blast with this one again, and playing along with the community is an excellent idea! Maybe it will take me a few plays to reach my goal, yet it’s always worth it to see these adorable animals chattering away!
I’m new to your blog. This is a very enjoyable format. I have Northwood and only tinkered with it one time. I need to really try it again.
Thanks for stopping by and commenting! I hope you have a great time when you try this one out again. The full game itself is very enjoyable, but I’m excited to play through these seasonal scenarios. Good luck!