Northern Branch: Firm With Brownies

About this board game

Northern Branch: Firm With Brownies is a 2–4-player board game with a 30-minute play time, in which players establish new firms in the north.

As the Brownies head north, players develop a range of businesses, including farms, pubs, factories, and merchant exchanges. The game continues the production and buy/sell action system from Firm With Brownies, giving players a new setting and an additional challenge to manage.

The key new complication is the introduction of Dung cards. These cards are worth negative points if they remain in a player’s hand, so leaving them unused can hurt a player’s result. However, Dung cards are not simply a burden: they can be used to make fuel or fertilizer and gain other benefits.

• Establish new firms in the north
• Build farms, pubs, factories, and merchant exchanges
• Use the production and buy/sell action system
• Convert Dung cards into fuel or fertilizer, rather than leaving them in hand

This balance between avoiding negative points and making productive use of Dung cards adds a distinct complication to the established system. Players must consider how to handle these cards while developing their northern businesses.

Northern Branch: Firm With Brownies is the third game in the Brownies series from Studio GG’s Shun and Aya Taguchi. It follows Firm With Brownies while adding new firms, a northern setting, and a fresh card-based concern to the production and trading framework.