Leder Games | Root: A Game of Woodland Might & Right | Board Game | Ages 10+ | 2-4 Players | 60-90 Minute Playing Time

Product Information

Root has been touted as the spiritual successor to Vast, a popular game released in 2016. Though the games have different designers, both are published by Leder Games, and both feature brilliant art from Kyle Ferrin, whose name quite rightly appears on the front of the box alongside Wehrle. Both Vast and Root share a feature that's rare in popular board games: complete asymmetry. One of the challenges in designing a completely asymmetrical game is balancing it. How do you make sure that every player has a fighting chance when they're all following different rules? I can't answer that question, but it appears that Cole Wehrle can. The games I've played so far have all been close, with no runaway leader. If you’ve played Cosmic Encounter as the Zombie you’ll know what I’m talking about. Of course, if you found the kingmaking and ‘bash the leader’ flavour of the original not to your taste, then Riverfolk is not going to alleviate those problems for you. In fact, the introduction of the wheeling-dealing Riverfolk Company adds even more opportunities for table-talk and petty negotiating! The nefarious Marquise de Cat has seized the great woodland, intent on harvesting its riches. Under her rule, the many creatures of the forest have banded together. This Alliance will seek to strengthen its resources and subvert the rule of Cats. In this effort, the Alliance may enlist the help of the wandering Vagabonds who are able to move through the more dangerous woodland paths. Though some may sympathise with the Alliance’s hopes and dreams, these wanderers are old enough to remember the great birds of prey who once controlled the woods. If you're teaching people Root for the first time, make sure they know what to expect. If they can read the rules beforehand, even just for a single chosen faction, even better. The game gives you two rule books - one 'Learning to Play' walk through and one complete rules guide, the 'Law of Root'. It even gives you a walk-through to follow on your first two turns. Even so, you won't work out all the rules until you see them in action and that first play through is likely to go wrong. If you accept that and press on, you'll find that this game is truly excellent. Components And Art

Along with these exciting new factions the Riverfolk Expansion brings in a second Vagabond player board and three new Vagabond variants, allowing up to two players compete as the wily outcast. As well as this, this expansion comes with a robotic version of the Marquise de Cat, balancing out game play in smaller groups and allowing players to explore new factions. This box also offers some hireling factions. These smaller factions will change hands throughout the game, but whilst under your control they can be moved at your whim and you will be immune from their negative effects. Introducing these factions will help your lower player count games shine with a new brighter light. Best For Those Love To Play The Vagabond With other faction combinations, it’s always going to be a limited solo experience. The smaller, insurgent factions of Root such as the Woodland Alliance always work better when they have several players to bounce off, so I can’t really recommend the bot for solo play if your favourite faction isn’t the Eyrie Dynasty. As an addition to a two or three player game, I tend to just pass on it. Root is such a political game that it just feels weird playing with a mix of people and the bot. The Marquise have such a crucial role in Root as the forest policewomen that leaving it to a bot gives the game a slightly empty feeling. Final Thoughts Sometimes the hype over a new release is overdone but I can't think of a game more deserving than Root. The Riverfolk Expansion is now also available, featuring two new factions and a solo/co-op mode! Bring on more Root; it's a fantastic game. However, the beautiful design of the asymmetric factions means there’s more depth here than almost any game on my shelf. I simply cannot see myself getting bored of it. I want to play every faction and I want to play them again and again in all the different combinations you available.Every conflict encourages opportunists who travel around trying to make a profit and a name for themselves. In Root, this role is played by the Vagabond, a lone wanderer who is allied to no one and everyone. The Vagabond is just a single pawn that can move freely around the board, no matter who’s in control. However, if you manage to craft something at the forge then as a reward you get an extra point and get to draw a card. This might slow down someone like the Rats who need items but really help the Eerie as they would get that extra point despite their ‘distain for trade’. Worth The Fight One of the challenges in designing a completely asymmetrical game is balancing it. How do you make sure that every player has a fighting chance when they’re all following different rules? I can’t answer that question, but it appears that Cole Wehrle can. The games I’ve played so far have all been close, with no runaway leader. Say the first card you reveal for the Marquise is a fox card with a crafting cost of two foxes. At the end of that turn, you will add 2 warriors to every fox clearing in the board, each of which already started with 1 warrior during setup. In her next turn, if you haven’t taken out any of her warriors, she will score 8 points. Plus one per human player playing, so 1 in a solo game. She will go from 1 to 10 points before you’ve had your second turn. And she will recruit every single time. If she recruits at rabbit or mouse clearings next, the game can end in 3 or 4 turns. Your Ways To Score Are Slashed

Enough of that though, how does it feel to play against them? In a 1 v 1 game (playing as Eyrie as recommended), it’s a pleasingly tight affair. The Mechanical Marquise doesn’t use building tokens, so the focus is on taking down hordes of feline warriors. This makes it good practice for an aggressive Eyrie player. You have to work hard to stop clusters of Marquise warriors accumulating (which allow it to score points). There’s a nice ebb and flow to the two player game which I’ve always been fond of. Soup Kitchen’, (a bird card), allows for your tokens to be counted toward rule. Not just counted, but counted twice. For someone like the Badgers or the Duchy where rule is so important in their scoring, or the Cats that need a route for their wood so they can build, this could be priceless. My problem with the Underworld Expansion is that neither of the new factions is balanced to work in a 2-player game. I was super excited to play the Corvid Conspiracy. Sadly, I will not be able to get a group of friends together to enjoy the full game experience any time soon. Those sneaky looking corvids are calling to me. All factions can also gain victory points in a couple of ways to help them get to the winning total of 30. Removing an opponent’s buildings in battle will always earn you points, as will crafting certain items. As well as these methods, each faction has unique abilities that grant them other, more effective ways to gain points. The player controlling the cats benefits from a big starting presence on the board. Their goal is to maintain control. They will score points by building different kinds of buildings in the clearings that they rule. To do this, players spend three action points on any combination of actions that are designed to allow the cats to fight off competition, keep their numbers high, and build increasingly expensive – and rewarding – buildings. The EyrieThe Marquise and her feline legion are in control of the woodland. They start with a warrior in every clearing except one. They pushed out the forest’s previous rulers and now subjugate its denizens – the foxes, mice and rabbits. Meanwhile, the Vagabond plays all sides of the conflict for their own gain, while hiding a mysterious quest. Explore the board, fight other factions, and work towards achieving your hidden goal. My only difficulty with the Grand Duchy is that, without any swaying ministers, their actions are limited to two per round. This really isn’t enough when you have markets to make and enemies to slay. So, swaying ministers that grant extra actions is advisable from the start! Factions that require intentional player interaction to score are also virtually useless. The Riverfolk Company will never sell any services, since the Mechanical Marquise never does anything other than those three actions in sequence: battle, move, recruit. Likewise, she won’t be trying to guess plots from the Corvid Conspiracy, although this is easier to excuse, as the Underworld Expansion, which introduced the crows, came after. But I would expect a faction introduced in the same box as the Mechanical Marquise to be somehow fitted to work with or against her. The Lizard Cult is also affected by her gameplay, since one of their most game changing abilities is to Sanctify – that is, replace an enemy building with one of their own. This causes such bombastic effects when used against other factions, possibly immediately forcing the Eyrie Dynasty into turmoil, or destroying one of the Woodland Alliances precious bases, but against an enemy that builds nothing, it’s impossible to use. Who Can Threaten The Marquise?

The Learning to Play book suggests combinations for two and three-player games, indicating what each player should try to do in those scenarios. Essentially, any combination of factions can be used for lower player counts except the Vagabond, who can't be played at two. The second time I played, however, I was playing a two-player game with my wife. I'd seen the rules in practice and was able to avoid the traps I'd walked into previously. It was much easier to teach the game to just one other person.The Grand Duchy gain points by swaying ministers. To sway a minister, you must match your suits of cards to the clearings you control and have built within. Less influential ministers allow you to take extra actions, whilst more prestigious minsters grant you victory points. For those that can craft with ease then the mouse’s ‘Master Engravers’ can give you an extra point every time you do so. This can mean a whopping four points for those precious coins.

Card management and building placement are particularly important when playing as the Grand Duchy. Certainly not a complicated faction to play, but still very engaging and fun. In the base game, four factions battle for supremacy in the woodlands. I'll introduce them here. I don't have space to go into their mechanical nuances, but I'll give you an overview of how they work. The Marquise de Cat Finally, I must add, I am actually good at Root. I lost 2 of perhaps the last 30 games I played. I have my preferred factions, but I can play as any of them and give anyone a run for their money. Having said that, I have never won a solo game against the Mechanical Marquise that came with the Riverfolk Expansion, and that’s both what this piece will focus on and also what I would rather no one brought up in my presence ever. Point scoring ministers may generate points every round per particular type of building on the board,or by discarding any number of cards of the same suit to score that many victory points. If you’re teaching people Root for the first time, make sure they know what to expect. If they can read the rules beforehand, even just for a single chosen faction, even better. The game gives you two rule books – one ‘Learning to Play’ walk through and one complete rules guide, the ‘Law of Root’. It even gives you a walk-through to follow on your first two turns. Even so, you won’t work out all the rules until you see them in action and that first play through is likely to go wrong. If you accept that and press on, you’ll find that this game is truly excellent. Components And ArtIf you are familiar with playing the base game of Root then you will be able to start playing Root: The Underworld Expansion immediately. The base rules are the same, with only a few new additional rules depending on which new map you play.