Root

The woodlands have been ruled by the Birds for sometime, however the ambitious Cats have now taken over all but one clearing and are gearing up the forest for an industrial revolution, speaking of revolutions the Woodland Alliance (mice, rabbits and Foxes) have had enough of the foul rule of the birds and the hair-raising antagonistic cats so are trying to get local support to bring forth their own rule and whilst all this is going on there's a Racoon wandering about, stealing, fighting and generally making a nuisance of himself.

If that all sounds delightful, then you'll be well and truly up for trying out Root: A game of Woodland Might and Right where you take on the role of one of the aforementioned factions and will attempt to get 30 Victory points before anyone else. But this isn't your regular game of dudes on a map as each faction plays very differently. Here's a brief summary of them all.

The Cats

These critters are the easiest faction to wrap your head round, they're all about building things. Once they've build something, they'll immediately score victory points. You have a tonne of resources at your disposal but you need to make sure you don't stretch yourself too thin

The Birds

If you'd like to ruffle some feathers, the Eyrie Dynasty is a really fun and tactically interesting faction. They score victory points by placing roosts in clearings they control. At the end of their turn, they get VP's depending on how many Roosts are out on the board, however, what makes the birds interesting is their Decree. The Decree has 4 sections "Recruit", "Move", "Battle" and "Build" and at the start of each turn you need to place 1 or 2 of your cards into these sections and each of your cards has a suite which corresponds to a clearing type or a wildcard which can be any. Then when you begin your turn you have to do each action in order and as many times as you have cards assigned, so if you have three cards (2 foxes and a wildcard for instance) in Recruit, you'll recruit 2 warriors into Fox clearings with a roost and 1 onto any clearing you have a roost in on the board. If you can't do one of these actions, your leader is deposed, you lose all the cards in your decree and also victory points for each wildcard you have in your decree!

The Woodland Alliance

The most under funded faction have only a handful of warriors so they score victory points by spreading their influence by discarding cards, around the woodland. When they have enough support, they can rebel in areas and put their own forces in charge there - removing all enemy warriors in that clearing in the process. With only 10 odd warriors in your control though you need to be careful to pace yourself otherwise you can easily take the lead early on and will be targeted by the others, the best way to play is to make sure nobody thinks you're a threat until it's too late!

The Vagabond

There is only one unit for the Vagabond, and it's a cute little racoon. You'll spend your time slipping in and out of the forest, trading with the other factions to gain items that you can use on your turn to perform actions, you'll be completing quests and making/breaking alliances with the others. This faction always feels the most removed from the others but still involved enough that you can have a big impact on the game.

Components + Cards

The artwork is always top notch for Leder Games, and Root is no exception. You'll have chunky wooden units to move around, thick cardboard tokens, and the art is so fun and dripping with theme. There are two large dice as well that you'll use to resolve combats, and the deck of cards is so varied and thematic that it'll keep you immersed in the game.

Card play is really important in Root as you can use the cards in your hand to craft items (to give to the vagabond for something in return), gain Victory points from them, use their abilities to overcome your enemy or discard them to activate faction specific abilities.

Overview

There's a lot going on in Root, and it can be tougher to teach because each faction whilst playing the same game is ultimately playing their own version of it and have slightly different rules. Each player needs to be familiar with their faction before play to ensure that it's a balanced experience, but once you've played a game you have a much better idea of your factions strengths and weaknesses.

Root is one of the best strategy games out there in my opinion and the theme makes it accessible for anyone, throw into this the variety of cards, different factions and a doubled sided map, and you've got a game that will never outstay it's welcome.