Not just the Dwarves, but the Humans and Elves too.

This expansion to the amazing worker placement extravaganza Caverna (see my review here) adds asymmetrical races that shake up the cave dwarf ranching game.

Instead of playing as dwarves building up their farms, players can choose from 8 new different races, such as the vanilla humans to classic fantasy races like elves, trolls, and cave goblins. Each race twists the game slightly, with their own unique strengths and weaknesses. For example, humans are excellent at farming and getting food for harvests, but struggle with building caves and mines. Trolls are terrifyingly effective adventurers, but need a lot of food to feed their workers. Some even make more foundational changes to the game, such as changing how their interact with resource accumulation spots, or even changing how they feed. Each of these races also come with a set of 4 new room tiles that replace some of the original ones from the base game. These are available to everyone – not just the race that those tiles “came from”.

As if Caverna wasn’t already bursting with unique resources, Forgotten Folk introduces two new things to grow: gem fruits and mushrooms. Mushrooms work just like vegetables, but are sown into caves rather than fields. Gemfruits are sown like vegetables, but are amazing because they can be converted into rubies at any time – growable rubies! These new resources can be converted into old ones from the base game (vegetables, food, rubies). This means that they did not have to redo/rebalance old tiles to allow for these new resources to dance with old components. It makes the new stuff blend well with the old.

However, only a few buildings and races actually implement these new resources in the game. As there are no worker spots to get these resources, players are restricted to getting them via the new room tiles or as part of the new racial abilities. This means that only a few players in each game can really tango with these new elements, which can be a bit of a bummer for those who can only watch. The other minor gripe is that these resources are cardboard chits rather than wood. Although the art on these is good, it does feel weird to have wooden and cardboard plants growing on your tableau. This makes things look a little weird, as it makes your game board look a little less consistent.

Another thing that needs to be considered is the balance of the races. So far, I haven’t noticed any race being particularly powerful, but choosing races needs to be done carefully. If, for example, there are three races who all prefer working in the mountains and only one that likes the forests and fields, that sole forest/field player is at an advantage as they don’t have to compete for the same worker spots as the others.

Forgotten Folk is interesting, as it can make playing the game easier for new players. By giving players an obvious area of strength, players are less overwhelmed by choice. As a human farmer, I know that I should focus more on farming and getting my engine going that way. I have an area to focus on, rather than being pulled in multiple directions.

Although Forgotten Folk isn’t a must-buy expansion, it adds welcome variability and flavour to the world of Caverna. Not only that, but I also cannot wait to see what the next expansion for Caverna, Frantic Fiends, will add to this gem.