Root, crafted by Leder Games, stands out as more than a mere board game. It’s an excursion into a lively, enchanting forest where players battle for dominance over a sprawling wilderness. Central to Root is its asymmetric nature, meaning each player leads a distinct faction(group) with unique strategies and their own ways of winning. This game masterfully combines strategic depth with a rich narrative, challenging players to forge alliances, engage in battles, and navigate a complex web of power and intrigue.
What is the ROOT Board Game About?
In Root, you enter a world of a big forest where different groups(factions) are trying to win control. Think of it like a game where animals in the forest are fighting for their home. There’s the Marquise de Cat, who wants to build things and control the forest. The Eyrie Dynasties are bird leaders who want to rule again with their strength. The Woodland Alliance are like secret rebels, planning to fight against the others. And the Vagabond is a lone adventurer who tries to make friends and influence things for their own benefit. Each group has its own way of trying to win in this forest adventure.
What are FACTIONS and Their Roles?
In “Root,” each faction(group) brings a unique style and set of challenges to the game, ensuring that every playthrough is distinct and engaging. Every group in the game has its own strengths and weaknesses, strategy, and ways to win, adding depth to the gameplay. The interactions between these factions create a dynamic and ever-evolving game environment, making each session of Root a new and exciting experience.
Let’s take a look at each one of them.
Marquise de Cat
The Marquise de Cat has turned the forest into her own industrial domain. These ambitious cats are all about exploiting resources and enforcing a strict regime of productivity and control. They’re like a powerful corporation, constantly expanding their operations and fortifying their military to maintain their grip on the forest.
Marquise de Cat’s Strengths:
- Resource Management: Excellent at gathering and utilizing resources, particularly wood, for building structures like workshops, sawmills, and recruiters.
- Area Control: Skilled in spreading their control across the board by building and maintaining a strong presence in multiple clearings.
Marquise de Cat’s Weakness:
- Spread Thin: While they excel at area control, they can become overextended and vulnerable to coordinated attacks or uprisings from other factions.
- Resource Dependency: Heavily reliant on wood for building, they can struggle if their supply chains or wood production are disrupted.
Guideline strategy for Marquise de Cat
Playing as the Marquise de Cat in “Root” involves managing a growing industrial empire within the woodland, focusing on resource accumulation, area control, and building. Here’s a guide on how to play the Marquise de Cat effectively:
Starting Position
- The Marquise de Cat starts with a Keep (the central base of operations) and several warriors spread across the map. This initial presence is a significant advantage in early expansion and control.
Early Game: Expansion and Building
- Spread Out: Use your warriors to expand from your Keep to adjacent clearings. Aim to control as many clearings as possible to increase your building options and resource generation.
- Build Sawmills: Construct Sawmills early to start generating wood, the primary resource you need for building. Place them in clearings you can defend easily.
- Protect Your Assets: As you expand, ensure that your warriors are positioned to protect your valuable Sawmills and other buildings.
Mid Game: Resource Management and Military Presence
- Diversify Buildings: Start constructing Workshops and Recruiters. Workshops allow you to craft items and score points, while Recruiters help you generate more warriors to maintain control and defense.
- Maintain Balance: Balance your focus between building your economy (through Sawmills and Workshops) and maintaining a strong military presence (using Recruiters). Don’t overextend; losing buildings can be a significant setback.
- Crafting: Use your Workshops to craft items for points and benefits. Pay attention to the cards in your hand and the clearings you control to maximize your crafting potential.
Late Game: Consolidation and Scoring
- Fortify Your Position: Ensure that your most valuable clearings are well-defended. Losing control of areas, especially those with multiple buildings, can cost you points and strategic options.
- Continue to Expand: If possible, keep expanding to new clearings to increase your resource production and control over the map.
- Score Points: Focus on actions that score you the most points. This can include building more structures, crafting, and removing enemy tokens.
General Tips for Playing Marquise de Cat
- Adaptability: Be ready to adapt your strategy based on the actions of other players. If you’re becoming too powerful, others might band together against you. Be prepared to switch from expansion to fortification as needed.
- Manage Wood Wisely: Wood is your most crucial resource. Protect your Sawmills and plan your wood usage carefully to avoid shortages or overproduction.
- Control Key Clearings: Some clearings are more strategically valuable than others, either due to their resources or location. Identify and control these to maximize your advantage.
- Balance Aggression with Defense: While expanding and building are vital, overextending can leave you vulnerable. Make sure you have enough warriors to defend your key assets.
- Monitor Other Players: Keep an eye on what other factions are doing and be prepared to counter their strategies. For example, if the Woodland Alliance is gaining too much sympathy near your clearings, you might need to focus on removing it.
Playing as the Marquise de Cat is about building a strong economy, expanding your military presence, and maintaining control over the woodland. Success requires careful planning, resource management, and strategic foresight to balance your expansion with defense and adapt to the evolving game state.
The Marquise de Cat offers a robust and strategic experience for players who enjoy managing resources, building an economy, and maintaining a strong military presence. Success with this faction comes from balancing aggressive expansion with careful defense and strategic planning.
Woodland Alliance
The Woodland Alliance is a diverse coalition of forest creatures who’ve had enough of oppression. They band together, using guerrilla tactics and the support of the common folk to undermine the ruling factions. They’re the underdogs, fighting not just for power, but for freedom and equality in the woodland.
Woodland Alliance’s Strengths:
- Guerrilla Warfare: Specializes in surprise attacks and can be more effective in battle, especially when defending.
- Gathering Support: Excellent at gaining sympathy among the woodland creatures, making them a growing threat as the game progresses.
Woodland Alliance’s Weakness:
- Slow Start: They often have a slower start as they work to build sympathy and are susceptible to early aggression from other factions.
- Vulnerability to Attrition: Their strength comes from building support, but they can be weakened significantly if their sympathy tokens are consistently removed.
Guideline strategy for Woodland Alliance
Playing as the Woodland Alliance in “Root” involves mobilizing the oppressed creatures of the woodland to revolt against the ruling factions, using guerrilla tactics and spreading sympathy. Here’s a guide on how to play the Woodland Alliance effectively:
Starting Position
- The Woodland Alliance begins with no presence on the board but has a strong potential to grow quickly through spreading sympathy and inciting revolts.
Early Game: Spreading Sympathy
- Spread Sympathy: Begin by placing sympathy tokens in clearings. Each token spreads your influence and brings you closer to revolting in those clearings. Choose clearings strategically based on the cards in your hand and where you want to influence.
- Gain Supporters: As you spread sympathy, other factions may remove it, but this only strengthens your cause by giving you supporters. Use these supporters to spread more sympathy or prepare for revolts.
Mid Game: Inciting Revolts and Building a Base
- Incite Revolts: Use your supporters to revolt in clearings where you have sympathy. Revolting removes all enemy pieces in the clearing and allows you to place a base and warriors. Bases are crucial for your operation, allowing you to recruit more warriors and craft cards.
- Recruit and Mobilize: Once you have bases, use them to recruit more warriors. Position your forces to defend your bases and prepare for further expansion.
- Craft Cards: Use your bases to craft using the suited clearings you control. Crafting not only provides you with items and abilities but also scores you points.
Late Game: Expansion and Defense
- Defend Your Bases: Your bases are critical to your operation. Protect them at all costs, as losing a base can significantly set back your plans and limit your ability to spread sympathy and recruit warriors.
- Continue to Spread Sympathy: Keep spreading sympathy to clearings where you can potentially incite future revolts and disrupt your opponents’ plans.
- Score Points: Focus on actions that score you the most points. This can include spreading more sympathy, crafting, and removing enemy tokens through battle.
General Tips for Playing Woodland Alliance
- Be Opportunistic: Look for opportunities to spread sympathy and incite revolts in clearings where it will disrupt your opponents the most or provide you with strategic advantages.
- Manage Your Supporters: Carefully decide when to use your supporters for spreading sympathy or saving them for revolts. Timing is crucial.
- Use Guerrilla Tactics: In battles where you are the defender, use your guerrilla warfare to ensure you hit your enemies hard, even if you’re outnumbered.
- Stay Resilient: The Woodland Alliance can often turn enemy aggression into a resource. Even if other players remove your sympathy or attack your bases, you can use the supporters gained to fuel your future actions.
- Balance Offense with Growth: While it’s important to disrupt other players and remove their pieces, ensure you’re also focusing on spreading sympathy, recruiting warriors, and crafting for points.
Playing as the Woodland Alliance is about inspiring widespread support, inciting strategic revolts, and using your limited resources effectively to challenge more powerful factions. Success requires careful planning, patience, and the ability to capitalize on the actions of your opponents. With the right strategy, the Woodland Alliance can become a powerful force for change and control in the woodland.
The Woodland Alliance offers a unique and challenging playstyle for those who enjoy using stealth, strategy, and sudden strikes to overcome their opponents. Success with this faction comes from carefully timing your revolts, spreading sympathy effectively, and making the most of your guerrilla tactics.
Eyrie Dynasties
The Eyrie Dynasties are aristocratic birds with a rigid, hierarchical society. Once the rulers of the forest, they seek to reclaim their lost glory. They operate on a strict code, expanding their territory and rebuilding their roosts to restore their vision of order
Eyrie Dynasties’ Strengths:
- Rapid Expansion: Capable of quickly expanding their territory by building roosts in new clearings each turn.
- Militarily Strong: Possess a strong military presence, which allows them to reclaim and hold large areas of the board.
Eyrie Dynasties’ Weakness:
- Rigid Planning: Their actions are dictated by a decree, which, if not followed, can lead to turmoil, causing a loss of points and disruption of plans.
- Overcommitment to Battles: Their focus on military might can lead to neglecting other areas of the game, such as crafting or managing clearings efficiently.
Guideline strategy for Eyrie Dynasties
Playing as the Eyrie Dynasties in “Root” involves managing a regal and once-dominant bird faction that seeks to reclaim its former glory through structured expansion and building. The Eyrie Dynasties are known for their predictable yet potentially brittle decree system that dictates their actions. Here’s a guide on how to play the Eyrie Dynasties effectively:
Starting Position
- The Eyrie Dynasties start with a few roosts on the board and a leader who dictates their initial strategy. They must add cards to their decree each turn to dictate their actions.
Early Game: Establishing the Decree
- Choose a Leader: Select a leader that aligns with your initial strategy. Each leader offers a unique bonus and can influence your early game focus, whether that’s expanding, building, or recruiting.
- Build Your Decree: Start adding cards to your decree. Your decree is divided into four sections: Recruit, Move, Battle, and Build. You must add at least one card to your decree each turn, and you’ll perform all the actions listed in the decree in order. Aim to create a flexible and sustainable decree that allows for growth and adaptation.
Mid Game: Expansion and Building
- Expand and Build Roosts: Use your decree to control more clearings and build roosts for points. Ensure you have enough warriors to carry out your decree and defend your territories.
- Manage Turmoil: If you cannot complete an action in your decree, you’ll fall into turmoil, lose points, discard your decree, and choose a new leader. While sometimes a strategic reset, it’s generally best to delay turmoil as long as possible. Plan your decree and actions carefully to avoid unnecessary turmoil.
Late Game: Consolidation and Scoring
- Adapt Your Decree: As the board state changes, adapt your decree to maintain its sustainability and align with your path to victory. This might involve more aggressive battling or rapid expansion.
- Protect Your Roosts: Ensure your roosts and key territories are well-defended. Losing roosts can significantly impact your scoring potential and board presence.
- Score Points: Focus on maintaining control of clearings with roosts, building more roosts, and crafting to score points.
General Tips for Playing Eyrie Dynasties
- Flexibility within Structure: While the decree provides a predictable set of actions, maintaining some flexibility is crucial. Be strategic about which cards you add and when to add them.
- Avoid Unnecessary Turmoil: Plan several turns ahead to avoid placing yourself in a situation where you can’t complete your decree. Sometimes it’s better to add a card to an action you don’t need immediately to prevent turmoil later.
- Balance Expansion with Defense: Rapid expansion can leave your roosts undefended. Make sure you have enough warriors to both carry out your decree and protect your interests.
- Use Battles Wisely: Battles can be a way to clear out enemy pieces and gain control of clearings, but they can also lead to heavy losses if not calculated properly. Engage in battles with a clear purpose and exit strategy.
- Prepare for Turmoil: Eventually, turmoil is likely to happen. Have a plan for which leader to choose next and how you’ll rebuild your decree.
Playing as the Eyrie Dynasties is about carefully planning your actions, expanding your influence, and maintaining a delicate balance between growth and sustainability. Success requires foresight, adaptability, and strategic use of your decree to navigate the complexities of the woodland and restore the Eyrie’s rule.
Playing as the Eyrie Dynasties in “Root” offers a challenging and strategic experience. Players must balance the rigidity of their Decree with the need for adaptability, all while expanding their influence and defending their territories. Success with the Eyrie requires foresight, careful planning, and the ability to recover and adapt from the inevitable turmoil.
Vagabond
The Vagabond is a solitary figure, a rogue adventurer without ties to any faction. This character thrives on cunning, stealth, and diplomacy, forming and breaking alliances as needed. The Vagabond’s journey is one of personal ambition, utilizing a mix of charm, deceit, and skill to navigate the complex political landscape of the forest.
Vagabond’s Strengths:
- Versatility: Highly versatile, able to adapt to various situations and change strategies based on interactions with other factions.
- Alliances and Betrayals: Can forge and break alliances with other factions, influencing the game’s balance and gaining personal advantages.
Vagabond’s Weakness:
- Item Dependence: Heavily reliant on items for actions. If these items are damaged or if the Vagabond is unable to repair them, it can severely limit their effectiveness.
- Balancing Relationships: While they can forge alliances, balancing these relationships without alienating other factions or becoming too predictable can be challenging.
Guideline strategy for Vagabond
Playing as the Vagabond in “Root” involves navigating the woodland realm as a solitary character, interacting with other factions, completing quests, and managing a personal inventory of items. Here’s a guide on how to play the Vagabond effectively:
Starting Position
- The Vagabond starts with a single pawn on the map, representing their lone wanderer. They don’t control clearings but instead move through them, interacting with other factions and the environment.
Early Game: Exploring and Building Relationships
- Explore the Forest: Move through the woods to explore and uncover items from the ruins. These items, like boots, swords, and bags, are crucial for your actions throughout the game.
- Build Relationships: Begin forming relationships with other factions by aiding them. Give them cards in exchange for items or simply to improve your standing with them. Positive relationships can lead to alliances, while negative relationships can lead to hostility.
Mid Game: Questing and Gaining Power
- Complete Quests: Focus on completing quests that match the suits of the clearings you visit. Quests provide you with victory points and sometimes extra items. Choose quests that align with your current position and goals.
- Manage Your Items: Use your items wisely to move, fight, and interact with the board. Damaged items can be repaired, so keep an eye on your item’s condition and repair them as needed.
- Balance Relationships: Maintain a balance in your relationships with other factions. Being too friendly might limit your options, while being too hostile can make you a target.
Late Game: Strategic Moves and Victory Points
- Focus on Scoring: Now that you’ve built up your abilities and inventory, focus on actions that score you the most points. This might include completing more quests, attacking hostile factions, or forming coalitions with other factions.
- Stay Mobile: Keep moving to stay out of trouble, complete quests, and interact with other factions. Use your boots and other items to maintain your mobility and flexibility.
- Adapt to the Board: As the game progresses, the board state will change. Adapt your strategy to the evolving conditions and opportunities.
General Tips for Playing Vagabond
- Item Management: Your items are your lifeline. Keep track of your inventory, and make sure you’re using and repairing items efficiently.
- Flexibility: One of the Vagabond’s greatest strengths is their flexibility. Be ready to change your plans based on the state of the board and the actions of other players.
- Choose Your Battles: While the Vagabond can be a formidable fighter, especially with a few swords, choose your battles wisely. Fighting costs items and can turn factions against you.
- Form Coalitions: When you’re allied with another faction, you can form a coalition with them, which changes your victory condition to helping that faction win. This can be a powerful path to victory, especially if that faction is doing well.
- Stay Under the Radar: While it can be tempting to take aggressive actions for quick points, remember that becoming too much of a threat can turn everyone against you. Balance your actions to avoid becoming the common enemy.
Playing as the Vagabond is about exploring, interacting, and adapting. You have a unique play style that allows for a lot of freedom and varied strategies. Success requires careful management of your items, wise choices about when to aid or hinder others, and a keen understanding of when to make your move for victory.
Playing as the Vagabond in “Root” offers a distinct and dynamic experience. Players must leverage their wits, manage their items, and navigate relationships with other factions to carve out their path to victory. The Vagabond’s success depends on careful planning, adaptability, and knowing when to keep friends close and when to push for personal gain.
GENERAL RULES: Understanding How to Play Root
Root’s game unfolds on a board showing a forest with various clearings and paths. Here’s how it works:
- Starting the Game: Players pick a faction, like the Marquise de Cat or the Eyrie Dynasties. Each faction has its own rules and ways to win, explained on the faction overview cards.
- Playing the Game: The game goes in rounds, where players take turns. On your turn, you can move warriors, battle opponents, and craft items using cards.
Key Actions in Root
- Moving Warriors: Move your warriors from one clearing to another. This helps you control different parts of the board.
- Battling: When you fight, roll dice. The higher roll decides how many enemy pieces you remove. Sometimes, you get an extra hit.
- Crafting: Play cards that match items or symbols in your clearing. Crafting gets you resources and special effects that can change the game.
Game Dynamics and Strategies
Root is a game rich in strategic depth, requiring players to adapt their tactics according to the evolving game state and the actions of their opponents.
Competitive and Cooperative Elements
“Root” beautifully blends competitive and cooperative elements, creating a dynamic game environment that requires players to engage in both rivalry and alliance. Here’s how these elements come into play:
Competitive Elements
Territory Control:
- Players compete to control key areas of the board. Controlling more territory often means more resources, better strategic positions, and more points. The drive to expand your realm creates direct competition as players vie for the same valuable spaces.
Battles:
- Combat is inherently competitive. You might attack to gain control of a clearing, diminish an opponent’s presence, or simply to thwart their plans. The outcome of battles can significantly impact a player’s ability to win, making them a focal point of competition.
Scoring Points:
- Ultimately, players are competing to score the most points or achieve a special victory condition first. Every action, whether it’s building, fighting, or crafting, is taken with the aim of moving closer to victory and preventing others from doing the same.
Sabotage and Disruption:
- Players can strategically interfere with each other’s plans. This might involve cutting off resource access, initiating battles to weaken an opponent, or playing cards that hinder another’s strategy. These actions create a competitive atmosphere where players must constantly watch their backs.
Cooperative Elements
Temporary Alliances:
- Players may form alliances to achieve mutual goals or to stop a player who’s close to winning. These alliances are usually temporary and based on immediate needs, but they require cooperative strategy and negotiation.
Shared Enemies:
- Sometimes, one player might start dominating the game. When this happens, it’s in everyone else’s best interest to work together to curb that player’s power. This shared goal can lead to cooperative efforts, even among rivals.
Trade and Negotiation:
- Certain factions, like the Riverfolk Company, introduce formal mechanisms for trade and negotiation. Players can engage in cooperative economic transactions for mutual benefit. Even outside of these formal mechanisms, players might negotiate truces, coordinate moves, or make deals to further their individual strategies.
Balancing Power:
- There’s an unspoken element of cooperative balance in “Root.” If one player becomes too powerful, others will likely cooperate to bring them down a notch. This balance helps keep the game competitive for everyone and requires a level of cooperative policing of the game state.
Balancing the Two
The interplay between competitive and cooperative elements in “Root” is delicate and complex. Players must constantly assess whether it’s in their best interest to compete or cooperate and with whom. This assessment can change from turn to turn, creating a dynamic and unpredictable game environment.
Strategic Adaptability:
- Players must be adaptable, ready to switch from fierce competition to temporary cooperation as the game evolves. The most successful players are those who can navigate this shifting landscape with strategic foresight and flexibility.
Social Dynamics:
- “Root” is not just a game of board maneuvers and card plays; it’s also a game of social interaction. Players must communicate, read intentions, form and break alliances, and sometimes engage in a bit of deception. These social dynamics add a layer of depth that goes beyond the game board.
In summary, “Root” is a game where competitive and cooperative elements are deeply intertwined. Players must engage in both, often simultaneously, to navigate the complex and shifting world of the woodland realm successfully. Balancing these elements is key to crafting a winning strategy and adapting to the evolving game state.
Strategies for Victory
Winning in Root requires more than just understanding your faction’s abilities; it involves adapting to the dynamic game environment and the strategies of other players.
- Dominance Cards: These cards offer an alternate victory condition, shaking up the standard objectives and introducing new strategic considerations.
- Faction Strengths: Each faction has unique strengths. For instance, the Eyrie score victory points by expanding their roosts, while the Marquise de Cat benefits from controlling more clearings with their buildings.
- Adapting Strategies: Success in Root often comes down to how well players can adapt their strategies in response to the actions of their opponents and the changing state of the game board.
Tips for First-Time Players
For those new to Root, here are some helpful tips:
- Start with the Marquise de Cat or Eyrie Dynasties: These factions have more straightforward mechanics, making them great for learning the game.
- Read the Faction Overview Thoroughly: Each faction plays differently. Understanding your faction’s strengths and weaknesses is crucial.
- Don’t Neglect the Rulebook: The walkthrough and rules reference are invaluable resources, especially for understanding complex interactions.
- Balance Strategy and Adaptability: While having a plan is important, be ready to adapt as the game’s dynamics change.
The Law Of Root (pdf)
Beginner’s Guide to Playing Root: STEP-BY-STEP Instructions
Embarking on a game of Root is an adventure filled with strategy and ever-changing dynamics. To help you navigate this journey, we’ve outlined key steps from choosing your faction to concluding the game. Whether you’re a first-time player or looking to refine your understanding, these steps will guide you through each phase of Root, ensuring a captivating and enjoyable experience.
Step 1: Choose Your Faction
Explore Each Faction:
- Begin by reading about each faction in the rulebook. Pay attention to their unique strategies, objectives, and play styles.
- Consider how each faction interacts with others and the overall game mechanics.
Select Your Faction:
- For a more straightforward introduction to Root, start with a simpler faction. The Marquise de Cat, focusing on building and resource control, or the Eyrie Dynasties, with their regal expansion and bird leadership, are great choices for beginners.
- Think about what type of play style you enjoy: strategic building, aggressive expansion, covert operations, etc., and choose a faction that aligns with your preferences.
Prepare Your Faction:
- Once you’ve chosen your faction, find the corresponding faction board and pieces.
- Set up your faction’s pieces on the game board as instructed in the rulebook. This may include placing warriors, tokens, and buildings in specific starting locations.
- Familiarize yourself with your faction’s specific abilities and starting resources, ensuring a solid understanding before the game begins.
Step 2: Set Up the Game Board
Lay Out the Board:
- Find a suitable playing surface and place the Root game board in the center. Ensure that all players can easily reach and see the board.
- Orient the board so that its layout is accessible and clear to all players.
Arrange Faction’s Pieces:
- Start with each player’s chosen faction. Using the rulebook as a guide, place each faction’s pieces in their designated starting locations on the board. This could include warriors, buildings, tokens, and any special pieces unique to that faction.
- Ensure that the placement of pieces is correct according to the rules for each faction, as this will affect the initial phase of the game.
Organize Components:
- Separate and organize the game’s various components. This includes sorting the shared deck of cards, any special cards belonging to specific factions, and various tokens (like victory points, items, etc.).
- Place these components in areas that are easily accessible to all players. If the game includes items like the Vagabond’s equipment or the Woodland Alliance’s sympathy tokens, arrange these in distinct piles.
- Check that all necessary components are accounted for and that each player has what they need for the game start, such as any starting cards or resources.
Step 3: Understand the Basic Rules
Learn Turn Phases:
- Birdsong: Begin by familiarizing yourself with the Birdsong phase, which typically involves preparatory or automatic actions like gaining resources or revealing new orders.
- Daylight: Next, understand the Daylight phase, where most of your strategic actions such as moving warriors, initiating battles, and crafting items take place.
- Evening: Finally, study the Evening phase, which often involves drawing cards, executing end-of-turn effects, and sometimes scoring points.
Review Actions:
- Moving: Learn how warriors are moved from one clearing to another and how control of clearings affects movement.
- Battling: Understand the battle mechanics, including how to initiate a battle, determine outcomes, and apply damage to units and structures.
- Crafting: Familiarize yourself with the crafting process, how to use the cards for crafting items or effects, and the benefits they bring.
Know Your Faction:
- Unique Rules: Each faction has its unique set of rules and gameplay mechanics. Take time to read through your faction’s specific section in the rulebook.
- Victory Points: Pay special attention to how your faction scores victory points, as this is key to winning the game. Each faction has different pathways to accumulate these points.
Step 4: Start the First Round
Initiate Birdsong:
- Begin your first turn by entering the Birdsong phase.
- Perform any start-of-turn actions that your faction requires. This could include things like revealing a new hand of cards, placing warriors on the board, or other unique actions specific to your faction.
- Ensure you understand and correctly follow these faction-specific actions as they set up your strategy for the round.
Proceed with Daylight:
- Move on to the Daylight phase, which is the main phase for executing actions.
- Carry out actions such as moving your warriors across the board to different clearings, engaging in battles with other factions, and crafting items or cards. The specific actions available to you will depend on your faction and the current game situation.
- Use this phase to start implementing your strategy, keeping in mind your faction’s strengths and objectives.
Conclude with Evening:
- End your turn with the Evening phase.
- Complete any end-of-turn actions required by your faction. This often includes drawing a card from the shared deck, which can provide new strategic options for your next turn.
- If your faction has specific end-of-turn requirements, such as discarding down to a hand limit or scoring points, make sure to complete these as well.
- After completing your Evening actions, pass the turn to the next player in a clockwise direction.
Step 5: Play Through the Game
Follow Turn Order:
- Play proceeds in a clockwise direction around the table.
- Wait for your turn patiently and use the time to plan your next move based on the current state of the board and your opponents’ actions.
Adapt and Strategize:
- Stay flexible with your strategy, adapting to the changing circumstances of the game.
- Consider how the actions of other players affect your plans and adjust accordingly. For example, if an opponent moves into a territory you were planning to control, you may need to find a new strategy.
Keep Track of Points:
- Regularly monitor the number of victory points you and your opponents have.
- Be aware of how different actions, battles, and achievements contribute to your victory points.
- Use this information to prioritize your actions and focus on achieving your faction’s victory conditions.
Step 6: Concluding the Game
Watch for Victory Conditions:
- Pay close attention to the game and be alert for any player who might be close to meeting their factions’ victory conditions.
- Each faction has unique conditions for winning, so understanding these for all players is key.
- Once a player reaches the necessary victory points or achieves their faction’s specific victory condition, the game ends.
ROOT EXPANSIONS
“Root” is a game that continuously evolves with each expansion, offering players fresh and exciting ways to explore its intricate woodland realm. The expansions introduce new factions. With additional maps, mechanics, and scenarios, these expansions not only increase the player count but also add depth and variety, ensuring that no two games are the same. “Root” promises a richer, more diverse experience with each addition. For both solo adventurers and groups of strategic minds, the expansions provide new stories to tell and challenges to overcome in the quest for woodland dominance. Let’s look at each one of them.
The Riverfolk Expansion
“The Riverfolk Expansion” for “Root” introduces new dimensions to the game, adding fresh factions, mechanics, and opportunities for interaction among players. Here’s an overview of what this expansion offers:
New Factions
- The Riverfolk Company: A mercantile group of otters who offer services to other players, like mercenaries, transportation, and cards. They thrive on the economy of the game, setting prices for their services and seeking to profit from the ongoing conflict.
- The Lizard Cult: A mystical faction of lizards spreading their religious influence across the woodland. They convert other pieces to their cause, incite revolts, and build gardens to worship and craft.
New Mechanics
- Services and Trade: The Riverfolk Company introduces a new economic layer to the game. Players can purchase services from the Riverfolk using their warriors as currency, adding a new strategic element of trade and negotiation.
- Religious Conversion and Revolt: The Lizard Cult brings a new focus on spreading influence and changing the board’s political landscape. Their ability to convert enemy warriors and incite revolts adds a layer of unpredictability and strategic depth.
Enhanced Gameplay
- Increased Player Interaction: The new factions encourage more bargaining, negotiation, and direct conflict among players, making the game even more dynamic and interactive.
- Fresh Strategies: With the introduction of new factions and mechanics, players must develop new strategies and adapt to the evolving landscape of the woodland.
Playing with the Expansion
- Integrating New Factions: You can mix and match the new factions with the old, creating diverse and unpredictable game setups.
- Adjusting to New Dynamics: The expansion’s new mechanics will change the flow of the game. Even veteran players will need to rethink their strategies and adapt to the new opportunities and threats.
“The Riverfolk Expansion” significantly enhances the world of “Root” by introducing new ways to play and strategize. Whether you’re engaging in trade with the Riverfolk Company or spreading fervent faith with the Lizard Cult, this expansion offers a deeper and more nuanced experience for all players. It’s a must-have for fans looking to explore new aspects of the woodland realm and enjoy fresh and exciting gameplay.
The Riverfolk Expansion (pdf)
Closer look at the 2 new additional factions and their gameplay
Riverfolk Company
The Riverfolk Company are shrewd traders and mercenaries. These entrepreneurial otters see opportunity in chaos, offering various services to other factions for a price. They’re not interested in conquest but in profit and influence, leveraging their unique position to become a commercial hub in the midst of war.
Riverfolk Company’s Strengths:
- Economic Power: They excel at trading and dealing with other players, offering services like riverboats and mercenaries for a price.
- Flexibility: Their ability to interact with and benefit from other factions’ actions gives them a unique position in the game’s economy and strategy.
Riverfolk Company’s Weakness:
- Dependency on Trade: Their strength is heavily reliant on other players buying their services. If other players choose not to engage in trade, it can significantly hinder their progress.
- Vulnerability to Isolation: If isolated or ignored, they may struggle to gain the necessary funds to execute their strategies effectively.
Guideline strategy for Riverfolk Company
Playing as the Riverfolk Company in “Root” involves using your mercantile skills to influence the other factions and profit from the ongoing conflict in the woodland. Here’s a guide on how to play the Riverfolk Company effectively:
Starting Position
- The Riverfolk Company starts with a few warriors and a presence on the river. They don’t control specific clearings but instead focus on providing services to other players in exchange for payment.
Early Game: Establishing Your Services
- Set Up Services: Determine the services you’ll offer. These can include selling cards from your hand, transporting warriors along the river, or even offering your warriors as mercenaries. Set prices that are attractive enough to encourage other players to buy from you but also reflect the value of your services.
- Expand Trade Posts: Place your trade posts strategically to expand your reach and influence. This not only allows you to perform more actions but also becomes a source of victory points.
Mid Game: Adapting and Profiting
- Adjust Prices and Services: Monitor the needs of other players and the state of the game. Adjust your prices and services accordingly to stay competitive and desirable.
- Leverage Your Funds: Use the funds (warriors) you’ve acquired from other players to perform potent actions, recruit more otters, or move strategically to control vital areas. Your ability to use these funds flexibly is a key strength.
Late Game: Securing Influence and Points
- Maintain a Strong Presence: Ensure your trade posts are well-protected and continue to offer crucial services. Your goal is to be indispensable to other players while securing your own objectives.
- Score Through Services: Focus on providing services that not only help others but also score you points, like crafting and completing objectives.
General Tips for Playing Riverfolk Company
- Adapt to the Market: The needs of other players can change rapidly. Stay attuned to these changes and adapt your strategy accordingly.
- Build Relationships: While you’re providing services, you’re also building relationships. Keep track of who owes you what and use that to your advantage in negotiations and alliances.
- Protect Your Investments: While you’re focused on trade, don’t neglect your defense. Keep your trade posts and warriors safe from aggressive factions.
- Be Opportunistic: Look for chances to capitalize on the conflicts and needs of others. The more turmoil there is in the woodland, the more opportunities you have to profit.
- Balance Expansion with Caution: While expanding your reach is important, spreading too thin can leave you vulnerable. Balance your growth with a strong defense to protect your assets.
Playing as the Riverfolk Company requires a keen sense of business and strategy. You’ll need to balance providing valuable services with protecting your interests and expanding your influence. Success comes from being adaptable, understanding the needs of the other players, and capitalizing on the ever-changing dynamics of the woodland. Your unique position as a trader and service provider allows for a varied and dynamic gameplay experience.
Playing as the Riverfolk Company in “Root” offers a game experience focused on economic strategy, negotiation, and adaptability. Success with the Riverfolk requires a keen understanding of the game’s dynamics, the ability to predict and respond to other players’ needs, and a savvy approach to pricing and service provision
Lizard Cult
The Lizard Cult is a mystical and enigmatic group of lizards who believe deeply in their ancient and divine right to rule the forest. They use their religious influence to convert the disenchanted and expand their sacred sites, known as Gardens. Their society is steeped in tradition and rituals, and they see the turmoil in the woodland as an opportunity to spread their faith and restore what they believe to be the true order.
Lizard Cult’s Strengths:
- Conversion: They can convert other factions’ warriors into their acolytes, gradually expanding their influence.
- Resilience: Their ability to place warriors back on the board after battles and the spread of their gardens (bases) make them resilient to attacks.
Lizard Cult’s Weakness:
- Predictable Revolts: Their revolts are planned a turn in advance, making it easier for opponents to anticipate and counter their moves.
- Complexity in Conversion: Managing the conversion of enemy pieces and balancing between crafting and spreading influence can be challenging.
Guideline strategy for Lizard Cult
Playing as the Lizard Cult in “Root” involves spreading your religious influence throughout the woodland, converting the disenchanted, and strategically using your sacred rites to control the board. Here’s a guide on how to play the Lizard Cult effectively:
Starting Position
- The Lizard Cult begins with a small presence on the board. Their primary strength lies in their ability to spread their faith (sympathy) and incite uprisings (revolts) through careful planning and manipulation.
Early Game: Spreading Faith
- Place Gardens: Begin by establishing Gardens in various clearings. These sacred sites allow you to craft and spread your faith further. Choose clearings strategically based on their suit and your hand of cards.
- Build a Following: As you spread your influence, gather Acolytes (warriors) through conversions and when other players remove your warriors. These Acolytes are crucial for performing your conspiracies.
Mid Game: Inciting Revolts and Crafting
- Incite Revolts: Use your Acolytes to incite revolts in clearings where you have a strong presence. Revolting lets you remove enemy pieces and replace them with your own, including more Gardens, which are central to your strategy.
- Craft and Convert: Take advantage of your Gardens to craft items and cards for points and benefits. Use your conspiracies to convert enemy warriors and spread your influence further.
Late Game: Defending the Faith and Maximizing Influence
- Protect Your Gardens: Your Gardens are the heart of your operation. Defend them to maintain your crafting capabilities and presence on the board.
- Maximize Your Conspiracies: Use your Acolytes to perform high-impact conspiracies, disrupting your opponents’ strategies and securing your dominance on the board.
General Tips for Playing Lizard Cult
- Understand the Outcast: The Outcast is a critical aspect of your strategy, determining where you can most effectively spread your faith and incite revolts. Monitor the discard pile and plan your turns accordingly.
- Balance Faith with Force: While spreading your faith is vital, be ready to use your warriors and conspiracies aggressively when the opportunity arises.
- Adapt to the Board: The state of the board and the actions of other players can significantly impact your strategy. Be flexible and ready to change your plans as needed.
- Craft Wisely: Crafting not only provides you with useful items and points but also strengthens your presence on the board. Prioritize crafting that aligns with your strategy and the current state of the game.
- Manage Your Acolytes: Acolytes are a valuable resource. Decide carefully when to use them for revolts, conversions, or other conspiracies.
Playing as the Lizard Cult is about spreading your influence through faith and strategic action. Success requires careful planning, adaptability, and a balance between subtle growth and aggressive expansion. Your ability to convert and disrupt makes you a unique and potentially powerful presence in the woodland.
Playing as the Lizard Cult in “Root” offers a game experience focused on covert expansion, strategic conversions, and opportunistic revolts. Success with the Lizard Cult requires a deep understanding of the game’s flow, the ability to adapt to the shifting Outcast, and a cunning use of conspiracies to disrupt and dominate the woodland.
The Underworld Expansion
“The Underworld Expansion” for “Root” deepens the game’s narrative and strategic complexity by introducing new factions, a pair of challenging maps, and additional game elements. This expansion broadens the scope of the conflict and the ways players can interact with the woodland and each other. Here’s what you can expect:
New Factions
- The Underground Duchy: A mole civilization that uses its tunneling ability to quickly move across the board. The Duchy focuses on building and defending strongholds and swaying ministers to use their special abilities.
- The Corvid Conspiracy: A mysterious and cunning faction of crows known for their guerrilla tactics. They place face-down plot tokens on the board, which can be traps, bombs, or other disruptive actions, causing confusion and chaos among other players.
New Maps
- The Mountain Map: Features a single pass, making it a critical and highly contested route. The map challenges players to control and navigate the limited pathways effectively.
- The Lake Map: Introduces a ferry that moves around the lake, offering a unique method of transport and strategic mobility. Controlling the ferry becomes a key objective.
Additional Mechanics
- New Items and Effects: The expansion includes new items that can be crafted, offering more variety and strategic options.
- Unique Faction Mechanics: Each new faction brings unique mechanics that change the game’s dynamics. The Underground Duchy’s ability to sway ministers and the Corvid Conspiracy’s secretive plots introduce fresh strategic considerations.
Enhanced Gameplay
- Increased Strategic Depth: With the addition of the new factions and maps, players will encounter a wider array of strategic choices and challenges. The expansion encourages adaptive thinking and innovative strategies.
- Varied Player Interactions: The new factions encourage different types of player interactions, from subterfuge and deception with the Corvids to strategic mobility and area control with the Duchy.
Playing with the Expansion
- Mixing Factions: You can mix the new factions with those from the base game and other expansions, creating a wide variety of potential matchups and strategies.
- Exploring New Terrain: The Mountain and Lake maps offer new challenges and require players to adapt their strategies to the unique features of these terrains.
“The Underworld Expansion” significantly enriches the “Root” experience by introducing new layers of intrigue, conflict, and strategy. Whether you’re navigating the treacherous pathways of the Mountain map or engaging in secretive warfare with the Corvid Conspiracy, this expansion offers new narratives and challenges for both new and experienced players. It’s a compelling addition for anyone looking to explore deeper into the captivating world of “Root.”
The Underworld Expansion (pdf)
Closer look at the 2 new additional factions and their gameplay
Underground Duchy
The Underground Duchy is a disciplined society of moles emerging from beneath the earth. With a highly structured government and a drive to expand, they use their tunneling skills to surprise and outmaneuver their opponents. They’re strategists and defenders, aiming to establish a widespread and fortified presence above ground.
This faction is represented by moles. They focus on building a strong underground network and influencing the politics of the forest from beneath.
Underground Duchy’s Strengths:
- Strong Defense: Moles build strongholds that make their clearings difficult to attack, providing a solid defensive advantage.
- Political Influence: They can sway the outcomes of battles and other actions through their formal and informal governance mechanisms, affecting the game’s broader strategy.
Underground Duchy’s Weakness:
- Susceptibility to Turmoil: Their complex political mechanics can backfire, leading to turmoil if not managed carefully, which can disrupt their game plan.
- Mobility Limitations: While strong defensively, they can sometimes struggle with expanding and exerting influence rapidly across the board.
Guideline strategy for Underground Duchy
Playing as the Underground Duchy in “Root” means leading a noble society of moles who are expanding their influence from underground tunnels to the surface of the woodland. Here’s a guide on how to play the Underground Duchy effectively:
Starting Position
- The Underground Duchy starts with a few warriors on the board and a Citadel in one clearing. They have a unique ability to build and use tunnels for rapid movement across the map.
Early Game: Building Infrastructure
- Establish Tunnels: Begin by constructing tunnels in strategic locations. These tunnels are crucial for your mobility and ability to respond to threats or opportunities quickly.
- Recruit Warriors: Start building your military strength by recruiting more warriors. You’ll need them to defend your tunnels and expand your influence.
Mid Game: Expanding and Mobilizing
- Expand Your Influence: Use your tunnels to move your warriors and expand into new clearings. Aim to control key areas that will provide strategic advantages and resources.
- Sway Ministers: As you gain more noble titles (citizens), you’ll have the opportunity to sway ministers to join your cause. Each minister provides unique abilities that can significantly enhance your strategy and actions. Choose ministers that align with your current goals and situation.
Late Game: Securing Control and Scoring
- Fortify Your Positions: Make sure your strongholds and key tunnels are well-defended. Losing these can significantly impact your mobility and control.
- Maximize Minister Abilities: Use the abilities of your ministers to maintain control, disrupt opponents, and score points. Whether it’s bolstering your military, improving your economy, or enhancing your mobility, your ministers are key to your success.
- Score Points: Focus on maintaining control of key clearings, building more structures, and utilizing your ministers’ abilities to score points.
General Tips for Playing Underground Duchy
- Manage Your Tunnels: Your tunnel network is both a strength and a potential vulnerability. Keep it well-defended and be strategic about where and when to expand it.
- Balance Expansion with Defense: While expanding your reach is important, overextending can leave you vulnerable. Make sure you have enough warriors to defend your key assets.
- Choose Ministers Wisely: The ministers you sway can dramatically impact your strategy. Consider your long-term goals and current board situation when choosing which ministers to bring into your council.
- Use Mobility to Your Advantage: Your ability to move quickly through tunnels allows you to surprise opponents and react swiftly to changing situations. Use this to maintain pressure and control.
- Plan for Setbacks: Be prepared for other factions to target your tunnels and strongholds. Have a contingency plan for when things don’t go your way.
Playing as the Underground Duchy is about strategic expansion, mobilizing forces through your tunnel network, and leveraging the unique abilities of your ministers. Success requires careful planning, adaptability, and a balance between aggression and caution. Your ability to quickly maneuver and control the board makes you a formidable and strategic presence in the woodland.
Playing as the Underground Duchy in “Root” offers a game experience focused on strategic expansion, military dominance, and careful management of unique abilities. Success with the Duchy requires effective use of their tunneling network, strategic sway of ministers, and a balanced approach to expansion and defense.
Corvid Conspiracy
The Corvid Conspiracy is a mysterious and elusive group of crows, masters of deceit and disruption. They plant hidden traps and spread misinformation, thriving on the chaos they create. Their strategy is one of confusion and subterfuge, always keeping their enemies guessing and reacting to phantom threats.
Corvid Conspiracy’s Strengths:
- Espionage and Trickery: They specialize in deception, using face-down plot tokens to keep opponents guessing and wary.
- Disruption: Their ability to spread misinformation and traps allows them to disrupt the strategies of other factions effectively.
Corvid Conspiracy’s Weakness:
- Exposure to Risk: Their plots, once revealed, can make them vulnerable to targeted attacks from other players.
- Reliance on Deception: Their effectiveness diminishes as players become more familiar with their deceptive tactics, making it harder to surprise experienced opponents.
Guideline strategy for Corvid Conspiracy
Playing as the Corvid Conspiracy in “Root” involves embracing the role of a cunning and disruptive force within the woodland. As the leader of this mysterious faction of crows, you’ll spread confusion and chaos, using guile and deception to outmaneuver your opponents. Here’s a guide on how to play the Corvid Conspiracy effectively:
Starting Position
- The Corvid Conspiracy begins with a few warriors on the board. Their main power lies in their ability to place and reveal secret plot tokens across the woodland.
Early Game: Planting the Seeds of Disruption
- Place Plot Tokens: Start by placing your face-down plot tokens in strategic clearings. These plots represent various disruptive actions, but their true nature remains hidden until they are revealed or exposed. Choose clearings that are important to other players or where you can cause the most disruption.
- Build Your Forces: While your plots are your primary weapon, having a mobile force to protect them and to capitalize on their effects is crucial.
Mid Game: Sowing Confusion and Reaping Chaos
- Reveal Plots Strategically: Decide when and where to reveal your plots for maximum impact. Your plots can do things like spread fear, eliminate enemy pieces, or score you points. Revealing a plot at the right moment can significantly disrupt your opponents’ plans.
- Adapt and Deceive: As the other players become more aware of your potential for disruption, they’ll start trying to predict and counter your moves. Stay one step ahead by being unpredictable and using your plots in creative ways.
Late Game: Masterminding Turmoil
- Maintain Pressure: Continue to place and reveal plots, keeping your opponents on their toes. The constant threat of your plots can significantly impact their strategies and decision-making.
- Score Points and Disrupt: Focus on scoring points through your more aggressive plots and disrupting the other players’ attempts to secure their objectives. Keep them reacting to you, rather than the other way around.
General Tips for Playing Corvid Conspiracy
- Embrace Deception: Your strength lies in the unknown. Keep your opponents guessing about where your real threats are and what your true intentions might be.
- Protect Your Plots: While it’s important to spread your influence, ensure your plots are protected until you’re ready to reveal them. Losing a plot before it’s revealed can be a significant setback.
- Choose Your Plots Wisely: Different plots are useful in different situations. Be strategic about which plots you place based on your current goals and the state of the board.
- Adapt to Exposure: Be prepared for your plots to be exposed before you’re ready. Have a backup plan and be ready to shift your strategy on the fly.
- Balance Aggression with Subtlety: While causing chaos is your main goal, too much aggression can turn everyone against you. Find a balance between being a threat and being an asset to other players.
Playing as the Corvid Conspiracy is about embracing chaos and using cunning to disrupt and control the game. Success requires a keen sense of timing, strategic foresight, and an ability to capitalize on the confusion you create. Your unique playstyle offers numerous opportunities to shape the game’s narrative and keep your opponents perpetually on edge.
Playing as the Corvid Conspiracy in “Root” offers a game experience focused on deception, strategic plotting, and psychological warfare. Success with the Corvids requires a keen understanding of your opponents, the ability to manage and protect your plots, and a flair for timing and bluffing. Their ability to disrupt and destabilize makes them a uniquely challenging and rewarding faction to master.
The Marauder Expansion
“The Marauder Expansion” for “Root” introduces new factions, mechanics, and additional content that further enrich the game’s world and strategic possibilities. This expansion adds more variety and depth, offering players new ways to explore, fight, and strategize within the woodland. Here’s an overview of what “The Marauder Expansion” includes:
New Factions
- The Lord of the Hundreds: A faction of militant rats who are all about rebellion and destruction. They focus on spreading quickly, inciting uprisings, and burning down enemy buildings to score points and disrupt the established order.
- The Keepers in Iron: A secretive order of badgers dedicated to protecting ancient relics with mysterious powers. They focus on uncovering these relics and using their abilities to control the board and influence the game’s outcome.
New Mechanics
- Revolution and Ruin: The Lord of the Hundreds introduces a playstyle focused on aggressive expansion and destruction. They can quickly mobilize forces and incite revolts, aiming to tear down the structures of other factions and create chaos.
- Relic Control: The Keepers in Iron bring a new element of mystery and power to the game with their relics. Each relic has unique effects that can significantly impact the strategy and interactions of all players on the board.
Additional Components
- New Warriors and Pieces: Each new faction comes with its unique warriors and tokens, reflecting their distinct themes and strategies.
- New Cards: The expansion include new cards to support the new factions’ abilities and strategies, adding more variety to the deck and the options available to players.
Enhanced Gameplay
- Diverse Strategies: With the introduction of the new factions, players must adapt to new threats and opportunities. The expansion encourages innovative thinking and new approaches to the game.
- Increased Replayability: The additional factions and mechanics increase the game’s replayability, offering new combinations of factions and interactions in each playthrough.
Playing with the Expansion
- Combining Factions: The new factions can be mixed with those from the base game and other expansions, creating a wide array of potential matchups and strategies.
- Adjusting to New Dynamics: The expansion’s new mechanics will change the flow of the game. Even experienced players will need to rethink their strategies and adapt to the new challenges and opportunities presented by The Lord of the Hundreds and The Keepers in Iron.
“The Marauder Expansion” is a compelling addition to “Root,” bringing fresh narratives, strategic depth, and dynamic interactions to the woodland realm. Whether you’re leading a fiery rebellion with The Lord of the Hundreds or uncovering ancient powers with The Keepers in Iron, this expansion offers new adventures and challenges for all players looking to claim their place in the forest’s ever-evolving story.
The Marauder Expansion (pdf)
Closer look at the 2 new additional factions and their gameplay
The Lord Of Hundreds
The Lord of the Hundreds leads a zealous army of rodents in a relentless crusade against the established powers. They are revolutionaries at heart, inciting uprisings and leaving a trail of destruction in their wake. Their approach is aggressive and uncompromising, seeking to dismantle the current order and replace it with their own.
The Lord Of Hundreds Strengths:
- Aggressive Expansion: They excel at quickly spreading their influence and disrupting the board with their rebellious nature.
- Destruction for Points: Capable of burning down enemy buildings, they can rapidly accumulate points while weakening their opponents’ infrastructure.
- Momentum Building: Success in their revolts and destructive acts can create a snowball effect, making them more formidable as the game progresses.
The Lord Of Hundreds Weakness:
- Dependence on Chaos: Their strategy relies heavily on successful rebellions and can falter if they are unable to sustain the momentum of destruction.
- Vulnerability to Coordination: Organized opposition from multiple factions can stymie their expansion and limit their ability to score points through destruction.
- Potential Overextension: In their rush to spread and destroy, they can overextend, leaving their own territories and forces vulnerable to counter-attacks.
Guideline strategy for The Lord Of Hundreds
Playing as The Lord of the Hundreds in “Root” means leading a fervent and aggressive army of rodents, focused on rebellion, destruction, and spreading chaos throughout the woodland. Here’s a guide on how to play The Lord of the Hundreds effectively:
Starting Position
- The Lord of the Hundreds begins with a presence on the board, ready to mobilize and incite rebellion. Their primary power lies in their ability to rouse the masses and create chaos through aggressive actions.
Early Game: Raising the Armies
- Recruit and Mobilize: Start by recruiting more warriors and spreading them strategically across the board. Position them in clearings where you can disrupt other players and prepare for rebellious actions.
- Incite Unrest: Focus on clearings where you can effectively challenge the existing control. Your aim is to create zones of anarchy where you can further your agenda.
Mid Game: Fanning the Flames of Rebellion
- Burn and Pillage: Utilize your ability to burn down enemy buildings and tokens. Each piece destroyed not only weakens your opponents but also scores you points. Choose your targets carefully to maximize disruption and point gain.
- Expand Influence: Continue spreading your warriors across the board, maintaining pressure on other factions and preparing for further rebellious activities. Control of clearings can be less important than the ability to disrupt and destroy.
Late Game: Dominating Through Chaos
- Maintain Aggressive Presence: Keep up the pressure on your opponents, ensuring they can’t comfortably build up or execute their strategies. Your constant threat can significantly influence their decisions.
- Secure Victory: Focus on actions that will secure you the most points in the final rounds. This might involve targeting more buildings to burn, engaging in battles to remove enemy pieces, or spreading your warriors to threaten multiple areas.
General Tips for Playing The Lord of the Hundreds
- Embrace Destruction: Your faction thrives on chaos and destruction. Embrace this by being aggressive and always looking for opportunities to undermine your opponents.
- Balance Risk and Reward: While aggression is key, overextending can leave you vulnerable. Assess the board carefully and choose your targets strategically.
- Expect Retaliation: Your actions will likely provoke a response. Be prepared to defend your warriors and retaliate when necessary.
- Stay Unpredictable: Keep your opponents guessing about your next move. The more unpredictable you are, the harder it is for them to formulate a counter-strategy.
- Leverage Momentum: Your faction can quickly gain momentum through successful rebellious actions. Capitalize on this by continuing to apply pressure and expand your influence.
Playing as The Lord of the Hundreds is about embracing your role as an agent of chaos and disruption. Success requires a bold and aggressive approach, constantly seeking to undermine and overpower the established order. Your ability to incite fear and disorder, coupled with strategic planning and risk management, makes you a formidable force in the woodland.
Playing as The Lord of the Hundreds in “Root” offers a game experience focused on aggressive strategies, disruptive tactics, and maintaining relentless pressure on your opponents. Success with this faction requires a keen sense of timing, strategic foresight, and the ability to capitalize on the chaos you create. Their ability to incite fear and disorder makes them a formidable and thrilling faction to master.
The Keepers In Iron
The Keepers in Iron are a secretive order of badgers, guardians of ancient relics with mysterious powers. They move quietly across the forest, seeking these artifacts to prevent their misuse and to wield their power judiciously. They are the stewards of the old ways, hoping to restore balance and stability to the woodland through wisdom and restraint.
Keepers In Iron Strengths:
- Control of Powerful Relics: Their ability to uncover and use ancient relics gives them unique powers and strategic options not available to other factions.
- Defensive Prowess: With a focus on protection and strategic positioning, they can create strongholds that are difficult for enemies to breach.
- Versatility: The variety of relics available offers multiple paths to victory, allowing them to adapt their strategy to the current game state.
Keepers In Iron Weakness:
- Reliance on Relics: Their strength is closely tied to the relics they uncover. A lack of valuable finds or an inability to protect them can significantly weaken their position.
- Slow Build-Up: Their strategy often requires a more deliberate pace to gather and utilize relics, which can be a disadvantage if other factions accelerate the game’s pace.
- Complexity of Strategy: Balancing the protection of relics with the need to expand and score points requires careful planning and can be challenging, especially for newer players.
Guideline strategy for Keepers In Iron:
Playing as The Keepers in Iron in “Root” involves leading a secretive and ancient order of badgers who are determined to uncover and protect powerful relics scattered throughout the woodland. Here’s a guide on how to play The Keepers in Iron effectively:
Starting Position
- The Keepers in Iron start with a presence on the board and a unique mission to uncover and utilize ancient relics to assert their influence and protect the woodland.
Early Game: Unearthing Relics
- Discover Relics: Begin by moving to various clearings to uncover and secure relics. These relics are central to your strategy, providing unique abilities and advantages that can significantly impact the game.
- Strategic Positioning: Use your movement abilities to position your forces effectively, protecting your relics and preparing for potential conflicts or further exploration.
Mid Game: Wielding Ancient Powers
- Utilize Relics: Start using the relics to their full potential. Whether for defense, offense, or scoring, ensure you’re leveraging their unique abilities to shape the game to your advantage.
- Expand and Protect: While maintaining a defensive posture, look for opportunities to expand your influence and control, securing more areas to find additional relics and protect your interests.
Late Game: Cementing Your Legacy
- Maximize Relic Usage: Continue to use the relics to disrupt opponents, defend your territories, and score points. Be creative and adaptive in how you use them.
- Fortify and Secure: Ensure your territories, especially those with relics, are well-defended. Focus on solidifying your control and completing objectives that align with your strengths.
General Tips for Playing The Keepers in Iron
- Understand Your Relics: Each relic has unique powers and applications. Understand them deeply to maximize their potential and strategically plan your moves.
- Balance Offense with Defense: While your relics can provide powerful offensive capabilities, remember to defend your territories and relics. Losing them can significantly hinder your strategy.
- Stay Mobile: Use your movement abilities to stay flexible and respond to threats or opportunities quickly. Mobility is key to protecting your relics and asserting your influence.
- Plan for the Long Game: The Keepers in Iron may have a slower start as they gather relics. Plan for a gradual build-up and aim for a strong position in the late game.
- Monitor Opponents: Keep an eye on other players’ strategies and positions. Understanding their intentions can help you decide where to focus your efforts and how to use your relics most effectively.
Playing as The Keepers in Iron is about strategic exploration, defense, and the unique utilization of ancient relics. Success requires careful planning, a strong defensive strategy, and the ability to adapt and leverage the unique powers provided by the relics. Your capacity to influence the game through these ancient artifacts makes you a deeply strategic and rewarding faction to master.
Playing as The Keepers in Iron in “Root” offers a game experience focused on strategic exploration, defense, and the unique utilization of ancient relics. Success with this faction requires careful planning, a strong defensive strategy, and the ability to adapt and leverage the unique powers provided by the relics. Their capacity to influence the game through these ancient artifacts makes them a deeply strategic and rewarding faction to master.
The Clockwork Expansions
“The Clockwork Expansion” for “Root” introduces automated versions of various factions from the game, allowing for solo play or filling in for players in multiplayer games. These automated factions, known as “bot” factions, follow specific programmed rules and strategies to emulate human players. The expansion enhances the game by providing a robust set of automated opponents, adding depth and replayability, especially for those looking to play solo or with fewer players. Here’s what you can expect from “The Clockwork Expansion”:
Automated Factions (Bots)
- Mechanical Marquise 2.0: An automated version of the Marquise de Cat, focusing on building and spreading its influence across the woodland while maintaining a defensive posture.
- Electric Eyrie: A bot that simulates the Eyrie Dynasties, using a programmed decree to expand and build roosts while trying to avoid turmoil.
- Automated Alliance: Represents the Woodland Alliance, spreading sympathy and revolting against the oppressors through a set of automated rules.
- Vagabot: An automated version of the Vagabond, moving around the map, completing quests, and interacting with other factions.
New Mechanics
- Automated Actions: Each bot faction has a specific set of rules and behaviors that dictate its actions. These are designed to mimic the strategies and priorities of human players, providing a challenging and somewhat predictable opponent.
- Adaptive Difficulty: Many of the automated factions come with difficulty settings, allowing you to adjust the challenge level to suit your experience and desired game complexity.
Enhanced Gameplay
- Solo and Cooperative Play: The Clockwork Expansion makes it possible to play “Root” solo or with fewer players than required for a full game. You can face off against one or more bots or team up with friends to take them down.
- Training and Practice: Playing against the bots is a great way to learn the game, try out new strategies, or get to know the ins and outs of different factions without the pressure of a competitive multiplayer environment.
Playing with the Expansion
- Flexible Game Setup: You can mix and match bot factions with human players, allowing for a wide variety of game setups and scenarios. Whether you’re missing a player for a four-player game or want to tackle a solo challenge, the bots provide flexibility.
- Adjusting to Bot Behaviors: While the bots are designed to emulate human strategies, they also have predictable patterns once you understand their programming. Learning these can help you anticipate their moves and plan your strategy accordingly.
The Rules Of ROOTBOTICS (pdf)
Facing the Clockwork: Strategies Against Root’s Bot Factions
In “Root’s” Clockwork Expansion, players encounter automated bot factions, each with distinct strategies and behaviors. Understanding these bots’ mechanics is crucial for devising effective counter-strategies. The key to success lies in exploiting their predictable patterns while maintaining focus on your own faction’s objectives. Let’s explore the strategies to effectively play against each of these intriguing bot opponents.
Mechanical Marquise 2.0
Playing against the Mechanical Marquise 2.0 in “Root” involves strategizing around a bot that simulates the Marquise de Cat faction. This automated opponent focuses on building a strong economic and military presence, much like its human counterpart. Here are strategies to effectively play against Mechanical Marquise 2.0:
Understanding Mechanical Marquise 2.0’s Gameplay
- Building Focus: The Mechanical Marquise 2.0 prioritizes building structures, particularly Sawmills, Workshops, and Recruiters, across the board. It systematically expands its reach and tries to maintain control over its buildings.
- Recruitment and Expansion: The bot steadily recruits more warriors and seeks to control more clearings to support its building efforts.
Strategies for Playing Against Mechanical Marquise 2.0
Here are strategies to effectively play against the Mechanical Marquise 2.0:
- Early Disruption: The Mechanical Marquise 2.0’s strategy relies on building momentum through its structures. Disrupting its building plans early on can significantly slow its progress. Focus on attacking its Sawmills to hinder its wood production, which is crucial for building.
- Control Key Resources: If the bot can’t access resources like wood, it struggles to execute its building strategy. Controlling clearings with wood or denying access to them can be an effective way to limit its capabilities.
- Exploit Predictable Expansion: The Mechanical Marquise 2.0 follows predictable patterns in its expansion and building. Anticipate where it’s likely to build next and position your forces to contest those areas or prepare for a swift response.
- Balanced Aggression: While it’s important to challenge the Mechanical Marquise 2.0’s expansion, be mindful of overextending your forces. Balance your aggressive moves against it with maintaining your own board presence and objectives.
- Score from Battles: Given that the Mechanical Marquise 2.0 often has a strong warrior presence, engaging it in battles (where you have an advantage) can be a good way to remove its pieces and score points, especially for factions that benefit from combat.
- Monitor Its Card Play: The Mechanical Marquise 2.0 can also craft using its Workshops. Be aware of its potential to gain points or special abilities through crafting and consider strategies to disrupt or counter this aspect of its play.
By focusing on hindering the Mechanical Marquise 2.0’s building strategy and exploiting its predictable patterns, you can effectively counter this bot’s strengths. Balancing disruption of its plans with progress towards your own victory conditions is key to winning against this automated opponent.
Electric Eyrie
Playing against the Electric Eyrie bot in “Root” requires understanding and exploiting its programmed behavior based on the Eyrie Dynasties’ playstyle. The Electric Eyrie follows a set decree, which dictates its actions and can lead to predictable patterns.
Understanding Electric Eyries’ Gameplay
- Programmed Decree: The Electric Eyrie bot follows a decree that determines its actions each turn, including where it moves, recruits, battles, and builds roosts.
- Expansion and Building Roosts: The bot focuses on expanding its territory and building roosts to score points, much like the human-controlled Eyrie Dynasties.
Strategies for Playing Against Electric Eyrie
Here’s how to effectively play against the Automated Alliance:
- Induce Turmoil: The Electric Eyrie, like its human counterpart, is vulnerable to turmoil if it cannot complete the actions in its decree. Creating situations where it cannot fulfill these actions (e.g., blocking moves or clearing warriors from a required battle location) can force it into turmoil, disrupting its strategy and costing it points.
- Contest Territory: The Electric Eyrie will try to expand to new clearings to build roosts. Controlling key clearings and limiting its expansion opportunities can hinder its ability to score and grow.
- Predict Its Moves: Since the Electric Eyrie’s actions are dictated by its decree, you can often predict where it will move, battle, and build. Use this predictability to your advantage by positioning your pieces accordingly and setting traps.
- Limit Its Recruiting: The bot needs warriors to fulfill its decree actions. Attacking its warriors and limiting its ability to recruit can make it more challenging for the Electric Eyrie to complete its decree.
- Remove Roosts: Focus on removing its roosts when possible. Since the Electric Eyrie scores points primarily through its roosts, reducing their number can significantly impact its scoring potential.
- Monitor the Decree for Opportunities: Pay attention to the order and types of actions in its decree. This can give you insights into its next moves and how best to disrupt its plans.
Playing against the Electric Eyrie requires a balance of offensive and defensive strategies, exploiting its predictability while managing the broader game state. By carefully observing its decree and anticipating its moves, you can effectively counter this bot and gain an advantage in your quest for control of the woodland.
Automated Alliance
Playing against the Automated Alliance in “Root” requires a strategic approach tailored to countering a bot that simulates the tactics of the Woodland Alliance. This bot aims to spread sympathy, incite revolts, and leverage guerrilla warfare.
Understanding Automated Alliance’s Gameplay
- Spreading Sympathy: The Automated Alliance focuses on placing sympathy tokens on the board, which is key to its strategy for gaining supporters and setting up for revolts.
- Revolt Mechanism: This bot will aim to gather enough supporters to incite revolts, removing enemy pieces from a clearing and establishing a base.
- Guerrilla Warfare: When defending in battles, the Automated Alliance uses guerrilla tactics, ensuring it hits hard despite potentially being outnumbered.
Strategies for Playing Against Automated Alliance
Here’s how to effectively play against the Automated Alliance:
- Control Sympathy Spread: One of the most effective strategies is to limit the spread of sympathy. Removing sympathy tokens when possible can slow down the bot’s momentum and limit its ability to gain supporters and incite revolts.
- Anticipate Revolts: The bot follows certain patterns in placing sympathy and inciting revolts. Try to predict where revolts might occur and either remove sympathy from those clearings or ensure you don’t overcommit pieces that might be removed in a revolt.
- Limit Battles in Sympathetic Clearings: Engaging the Automated Alliance in battle can be costly due to its guerrilla tactics, especially in clearings with its sympathy. Be tactical about when and where to engage in combat.
- Disrupt Its Bases: If the bot successfully establishes bases, disrupting these can be key. Bases are central to the bot’s ability to recruit more warriors and spread sympathy.
- Balance Aggression with Opportunity: While it’s important to prevent the bot from spreading sympathy and revolting, don’t get so focused on this that you miss opportunities to advance your own board position and objectives.
- Adapt to Its Predictable Behavior: The Automated Alliance has a set of rules it follows for actions, making its behavior somewhat predictable. Use this predictability to plan your counter-strategies effectively.
Playing against the Automated Alliance requires a careful balance of disrupting its plans while advancing your own position on the board. Focus on controlling its spread of sympathy, predicting and preventing revolts, and choosing your battles wisely to effectively counter this bot.
Vagabot
Playing against the Vagabot in “Root” requires understanding and countering its unique, solitary play style that simulates the Vagabond character. The Vagabot operates differently from other factions, focusing on completing quests, interacting with other players, and using items to gain advantages. Here’s how to play effectively against the Vagabot:
Understanding Vagabot’s Gameplay
- Quest Completion: The Vagabot focuses on moving around the board to complete quests in various clearings, which is its primary method of scoring points.
- Item Usage: The Vagabot collects and uses items to perform actions, similar to a human player controlling the Vagabond. These items are crucial for its mobility, combat effectiveness, and quest completion.
- Interactions with Factions: The Vagabot may form alliances with other factions by aiding them, and it can also engage in combat, particularly when other factions become hostile towards it.
Strategies for Playing Against Vagabot
Here’s how to play effectively against the Vagabot:
- Monitor Quest Locations: Pay attention to where the Vagabot’s quests are located. Controlling these clearings or making them costly to enter can hinder its ability to complete quests efficiently.
- Limit Item Access: The Vagabot relies on items to perform various actions. If possible, control clearings with ruins to limit its ability to acquire new items and complete quests.
- Engage Carefully: While the Vagabot might not have a large army, it can be surprisingly effective in combat due to its items, especially swords. Choose battles strategically, particularly if the Vagabot is hostile or has many attack capabilities.
- Counter Alliance Benefits: If the Vagabot forms alliances with other factions, be mindful of how it aids them and how they might aid it in return. Disrupting these alliances or the benefits they provide can be an effective strategy.
- Exploit Predictable Movement: The Vagabot has certain patterns in its movement and actions based on its quest objectives and item availability. Use this predictability to anticipate and counter its moves.
- Adapt to Its Role as a Wild Card: The Vagabot can sometimes play a wild card role in the game, aiding some factions while hindering others. Be adaptable in how you interact with it based on the current game state.
Playing against the Vagabot requires a mix of tactical foresight, strategic disruption, and opportunistic engagement. By closely monitoring its quest objectives, controlling item access, and engaging it judiciously, you can effectively counter this unique and unpredictable bot.
“The Clockwork Expansion” significantly enhances the “Root” experience by providing a robust and challenging set of automated opponents. Whether you’re looking to play solo, fill in for missing players, or just practice and explore the game, this expansion adds depth and replayability to the world of “Root.”
Clockwork Expansion 2
Clockwork Expansion 2 adds an automated twist to Root with versions of the four factions from both the Riverfolk and Underworld expansions. Additionally, it introduces fresh trait cards that enhance the gameplay dynamics of the factions featured in the original Clockwork expansion. Let’s look at the automated factions…
Riverfolk Robots
The Riverfolk Robots in the Clockwork Expansion 2 for “Root” bring the cunning and mercantile prowess of the Riverfolk Company to the automated world of bots.
Understanding Riverfolk Robots’ Gameplay
- Economic Influence: The Riverfolk Robots focus on economic growth by providing services to other players and gaining benefits from these transactions.
- Warrior Placement: They place warriors strategically along the river and at trade posts to maximize their influence and control.
Strategies for Playing Against Riverfolk Robots
Here are strategies to effectively play against the Riverfolk Robots:
- Engage with the Market Carefully: Interacting with their market can be a double-edged sword. While you can gain benefits, it also strengthens them. Be strategic about when and what services to purchase.
- Control River Clearings: Since they place warriors on river clearings, controlling these areas can limit their spread and influence.
- Disrupt Their Economic Engine: Aim to disrupt their economic plans by strategically removing trade posts or contesting clearings important for their trade.
- Utilize Their Services Wisely: Their services can be beneficial, so use them to your advantage but be cautious not to overly strengthen the Riverfolk Robots in the process.
- Adapt to Their Protectionism Mechanic: Be aware of their Protectionism conditions and how it influences their actions. This knowledge can help you predict and counter their moves more effectively.
Playing against the Riverfolk Robots requires a balance of strategic engagement with their market and disrupting their economic mechanisms. Controlling key clearings and being judicious about when to use their services are crucial to countering their strategy effectively.
Logical Lizards
The Logical Lizards in Clockwork Expansion 2 for “Root” are an automated version of the Lizard Cult, designed to replicate their conversion and revolt mechanics.
Understanding Logical Lizards’ Gameplay
- Conversion Tactics: The Logical Lizards focus on converting enemy warriors into their own and replacing enemy buildings with gardens.
- Influence of the Lost Souls: Their actions are heavily influenced by the Lost Souls pile, dictating their conversion targets and expansion strategy
Strategies for Playing Against Logical Lizards
Here are strategies to effectively play against the Logical Lizards:
- Control Their Conversion Targets: Since their actions depend on the Lost Souls pile, try to influence this pile to limit their conversion options or make conversions less beneficial for them.
- Remove Gardens: Gardens are crucial for the Logical Lizards’ influence and scoring. Focus on removing these to hinder their expansion and scoring potential.
- Disrupt Their Rituals: If possible, disrupt their rituals by engaging in battles in clearings where they have a strong presence or are likely to target for conversions.
- Limit Their Spread: The Logical Lizards will try to spread across the board with their gardens and warriors. Controlling key clearings can limit their ability to expand and score.
- Anticipate Their Moves: By understanding the pattern of the Lost Souls pile, you can anticipate where they are likely to focus their efforts and plan your strategy accordingly.
Playing against the Logical Lizards requires a strategic approach that focuses on controlling their spread, disrupting their conversion rituals, and influencing the Lost Souls pile to limit their effectiveness.
Drillbit Duchy
The Drillbit Duchy in the Clockwork Expansion 2 for “Root” represents the Underground Duchy faction, focusing on emerging from tunnels and securing a foothold in the Woodland. This bot faction uses its ministers to enhance its capabilities on the board.
Understanding Drillbit Duchy’s Gameplay
- Tunnel Emergence: The Drillbit Duchy bot focuses on surfacing from tunnels to expand its presence in the Woodland, securing territories and growing its influence.
- Minister Mechanic: As the Drillbit Duchy secures its position, its ministers grow bolder, adding to the faction’s capabilities and making it a more formidable opponent
Strategies for Playing Against Drillbit Duchy
Here are strategies to effectively play against the Drillbit Duchy:
- Target Tunnels and Buildings: Focus on disrupting their expansion by targeting their tunnels and buildings. Destroying these can significantly hinder their ability to spread and score points.
- Control Key Clearings: Pay attention to clearings adjacent to their tunnels. Controlling these can limit the Drillbit Duchy’s expansion and reduce their influence on the board.
- Engage in Strategic Battles: Engage the Drillbit Duchy in battles, especially in clearings where they have a strong presence or are trying to establish control. This can push them back and slow their expansion.
- Monitor Their Ministers: Keep an eye on the actions and capabilities of their ministers. Understanding what each minister does can help you predict and counter their moves more effectively.
- Adapt to Their Expansion Tactics: The Drillbit Duchy bot will try to secure as much territory as possible. Be adaptable in your strategy, and focus on areas where you can effectively disrupt their expansion and control.
Playing against the Drillbit Duchy requires a balance of offensive and defensive tactics, focusing on disrupting their tunnel-based expansion while advancing your own faction’s objectives. Controlling key territories and engaging them in battles where they are vulnerable can effectively counter this bot faction.
Cogwheel Corvids
The Cogwheel Corvids in Clockwork Expansion 2 for “Root” replicate the guileful and disruptive gameplay of the Corvid Conspiracy. This bot faction specializes in secretive plot placements and cunning strategies, making it a unique challenge to play against.
Understanding Cogwheel Corvids’ Gameplay
- Strategic Plot Placement: The Cogwheel Corvids are adept at placing and revealing plot tokens across the board, which can be bombs, snares, raids, or extortion plots, each with its distinct effects.
- Nimble and Unpredictable: They can move freely without the constraint of ruling clearings, allowing them to spread their influence and plots effectively across the board
Strategies for Playing Against Cogwheel Corvids
Here are strategies to effectively play against the Cogwheel Corvids:
- Stay Alert for Plots: Keeping track of where the Cogwheel Corvids place their plots is crucial. Uncovering or removing these plots before they are revealed can significantly disrupt their strategy.
- Predict Their Movements: While they have the freedom to move easily, their plot placement can give clues to their next moves. Use this information to anticipate and counter their actions.
- Limit Their Scoring Potential: Focus on clearings where they might score points, especially with face-up extortion plots, and try to remove or prevent these plots from being successful.
- Be Cautious in Battles: Engage them in combat carefully, particularly in clearings with their plots, as they may have set traps or other defensive mechanisms.
- Disrupt Their Spread: Regularly contesting clearings where they have a strong presence can limit their ability to execute their plans effectively.
Countering the Cogwheel Corvids involves a balance of vigilance, strategic disruption, and anticipatory actions. Understanding their plot mechanics and staying one step ahead of their secretive strategies are key to effectively challenging this bot faction.
What are HIRELINGS and their Role?
Hirelings in “Root” are special cards that represent additional, smaller factions or characters that players can recruit and use during the game. They each come with their own abilities and rules, offering players new tactical options. Hirelings can help in battles, provide resources, or assist with movement across the board, and they are designed to integrate with both the base game and expansions, enriching the gameplay with more strategic depth and narrative elements.
Hireling Rulebook (pdf)
Riverfolk Hirelings
The Riverfolk Hirelings Pack introduce additional characters. These characters, such as the Riverfolk Flotilla and Otter Divers, bring unique abilities and tactical options to the game. They are designed to enhance gameplay by providing services like transportation or combat support, enriching the strategic choices available to players.
Underworld Hirelings
The Underworld Hirelings Pack introduces new characters, each with distinct abilities that enhance gameplay. This pack features the Sunward Expedition and Mole Artisans, offering tactical advantages like striking from underground or protecting crafts. It also includes the Furious Protector and Stoic Protector for aggressive or defensive strategies, and the Corvid Spies and Raven Sentinels for gathering intel or defending assets.
Marauders Hirelings
The Marauder Hirelings Pack introduces unique characters, features hirelings like the Flame Bearers and Rat Smugglers, each offering different strategic options, such as aggressive actions or covert operations. It also includes the Street Band and Popular Band for influencing the Woodland’s areas, and the Vault Keepers and Badger Bodyguards, providing options for either safeguarding valuable resources or protecting your own pieces on the board.
Root RULEBOOKS (pdf downloads)
Click image to download pdf rulebook
The Law Of Root
Riverfolk Expansion Rulebook
Underworlds Expansion Rulebook
The Marauder Expansion Rulebook
The Law Of ROOTBOTICS
Hireling Rulebook
Wrapping Up
As a player of Root, I can say it’s a game where every strategy tells a story and each game play is always a new tale, always unique. May this guide jumpstart your journey at Root’s rich and wonderful realm. Again, Big thanks to Leder Games for creating a truly awesome and unique game. Let your Root adventure begin!
