My name is Alexander Huemer and I was born in 1975. I grew up in Raab (a very small village in Upper Austria). Because of my studies, I moved to the city Linz, where I currently live. I work as a teacher in a school for children with special needs in Wels, a town next to Linz.

First signs of designing games:

During my childhood, I did what a child most likes to do: play, play, and more play (thanks to my parents)! Eventually, I got bored of the regular children’s games, so I started to change the rules. Of course, my friends weren’t always amused. These were the first steps of designing games.

First contact with the theme:

Working with my grandfather in his small workshop was my other favorite thing to do in my childhood. He was a joiner, and he taught me a lot about wood. Since then, the smell of fresh-cut timber reminds me of the wonderful time with my grandfather. Eventually, many things have changed in my life, but my passion for playing and designing games has not.

Design and the theme come together:

In 2010, I participated in a competition from spielmaterial.de. The task at hand was to design a board game that had to incorporate some uniquely shaped wooden tokens. These tokens reminded me of a lumberjack with an axe on his shoulder, so the idea of Lignum was born.

Basic idea of Lignum:

During the designing process, I read up on annual timber harvesting. As it turned out, in former times, the collaboration of the working groups was very important for the woodworking companies. They tried to figure out how they could organize the groups and make the working process as efficient as possible. The more they optimized the process (from marking and cutting the wood, to selling it) the more profit they made. This was a very interesting part in the history of woodworking, which became the heart of Lignum. During the whole designing process, I tried to focus on this aspect.

What's Lignum about?

Lignum is about running a sawmill in the 19th century. You start with only $5 and try to run your burgeoning woodworking company as economically as possible for two years (eight seasons / rounds), managing temporary workers and different acquisitions throughout the game. You need to optimize the woodworking process (cutting, transporting, sawing) in the best possible way, and eventually start making a profit. You should reinvest wisely, secure lucrative tasks, and plan for the upcoming seasons. However, always keep in mind you’ll need plenty of food and firewood during the cold, winter months. Eventually (and hopefully), your small company will blossom, and you’ll have generated the most income after two years to win the game.

How would you describe the “gaming experience”?

Basically, Lignum is a tight, medium-heavy board game. Players control the level of complexity by planning for the upcoming seasons (rounds). The more you plan, the more complicated your game gets since every plan needs preparation, but once it works out, your efforts will be rewarded lucratively.

Final words:

Lignum was published in 2015 by Mücke Spiele. Because of the limited print run, I had to leave out some layers of the game. That´s why the “joinery and the buildings” idea has never seen the light of day. Fortunately, Clay Ross from Capstone Games was interested in publishing Lignum and incorporating these play elements. It’s truly an honor to work with Clay. You can sense his passion for board games and that’s why the new version of Lignum will be dramatically improved. I´m very happy about it. Now the game feels complete to me.