Root rules

Asymmetric woodland warfare and politics.

Players: 2–4 (more with expansions)
Time: 60–90 min
Ages: 10+
Goal: Up to four very different factions fight for the woodland. The first to 30 points wins instantly — or win with a Dominance card instead.

How to play Root

Assign one faction to each player (not every faction suits every player count) and pick a random starting player; turns go clockwise and never change order.
Set score markers to 0 and put ruins on the 4 slots marked R. Fill the item supply at the top of the map: 2 boots, 2 bags, 1 crossbow, 1 hammer, 2 swords, 2 teas and 2 coins. Place the 2 dice nearby.
Deal everyone 3 cards (remove the 4 Dominance cards first in a 2-player game).
Set up factions in setup order, the letter on each faction board (base game: Marquise, Eyrie, Alliance, Vagabond).
Marquise: Keep in a corner clearing, 1 warrior in every clearing except the opposite corner, plus a sawmill, workshop and recruiter in or next to the Keep's clearing. Other buildings go on their tracks, leftmost spaces empty; keep 25 warriors and 8 wood in supply.
Eyrie: a roost and 6 warriors in the corner opposite the Keep, a chosen leader, and its 2 Loyal Viziers placed in the Decree. Your other 6 roosts go on the Roosts track; keep 20 warriors in supply.
Alliance: 3 cards face down as Supporters, your 3 bases in the Bases box, 10 sympathy tokens on the Sympathy track, and 10 warriors in supply.
Vagabond: a character card, its starting items, the pawn in any forest, and 3 quests face up. Put a relationship marker for each other faction on Indifferent.
Vagabond ruins: take the 4 ruins and the bag, boot, hammer and sword marked R. Put one item under each ruin, shuffle each stack and return the ruins to their slots.

Birdsong: your faction's start-of-turn steps.
Daylight: you may craft (when depends on your faction), then take your faction's main actions.
Evening: some factions score or act first. Then draw 1 card plus any bonuses, and discard down to 5 cards.

Move any number of warriors from one clearing to an adjacent one. You must rule the clearing you leave, the one you enter, or both.
Ruling a clearing means having the most warriors and buildings there. The Vagabond ignores rule when moving.

Suits: fox, rabbit, mouse and bird. Bird cards are wild when you spend, discard, give or play a card.
Crafting: activate your crafting pieces in clearings matching the card's suits, once each per turn.

Choose a clearing with your warriors and a defender there. The defender may play an Ambush card first.
Roll: the attacker deals the higher die in hits, the defender the lower, each capped by their warriors there. A defender with no warriors takes 1 extra hit.
Remove pieces, warriors first. Removing an enemy building or token scores you 1 point.

Each faction plays its own way; tap its name for the full rules.

Marquise de Cat: sawmills make wood; take up to 3 actions (more with bird cards) and score by building.
Eyrie Dynasties: add cards to the Decree and resolve all of it each Daylight, or fall into Turmoil. Roosts score each Evening.
Woodland Alliance: spread Sympathy, Revolt, and take Evening operations with officers.
Vagabond: exhaust items to move, battle, explore, Aid and complete quests.

30 points wins at once, even mid-turn. If several players reach it together, the player whose turn it is wins.
Dominance: from 10 points, you may play a Dominance card to win by ruling clearings instead of by points.

Every faction scores differently, so the leader is rarely obvious from the map. Check the score track each round and gang up on whoever's ahead.

Only needed if you play with the expansion named on each heading.

Adds two factions and lets a second Vagabond join the game.

Setup: Lizard Cult: 25 warriors in supply. In the corner opposite the Keep or the Eyrie's roost, 4 warriors and a matching garden, plus 1 warrior in each adjacent clearing. Choose the Outcast suit and fill the Gardens tracks with your other 14 gardens.
Setup: Riverfolk Company: 15 warriors in supply, 4 warriors in clearings on the river, the 9 trade posts on their tracks, 3 warriors in Payments, and a service marker on each Services track.
Setup: with two Vagabonds, put two R items under each ruin and randomly choose which Vagabond sets up first.
New factions: the Riverfolk Company (reach 5), which sells services, and the Lizard Cult (reach 2).

Adds two factions and two maps.

Setup: Underground Duchy: 20 warriors and 3 tunnels in supply, the Burrow board nearby. In a free corner (opposite another start if possible), 2 warriors and a tunnel, then 2 warriors in each adjacent clearing.
Setup: Underground Duchy board: 3 citadels and 3 markets on their spaces, the 9 ministers face up as Unswayed, and the 9 crowns on their spaces.
Setup: Corvid Conspiracy: 15 warriors and the 8 plot tokens face down in supply; 1 warrior in a clearing of each suit.
Setup: Lake map: put the Ferry in the corner clearing that is also coastal. Mountain map: cover the 6 darker paths with closed path markers and put the Tower in the central clearing.
New factions: the Underground Duchy (reach 8) and the Corvid Conspiracy (reach 3), plus the Lake map and the Mountain map.

Adds two factions and hirelings (4 in the box, 3 dealt per game).

Setup: deal 3 hireling cards.
Setup: Lord of the Hundreds: 20 warriors, the warlord and 6 strongholds in supply. In a free corner (opposite another start if possible), the warlord, 4 warriors and a stronghold. Put the 4 R items under the ruins if not done, and start with the Stubborn mood.
Setup: Keepers in Iron: shuffle the 12 relics face down and put 1 in each forest. 15 warriors in supply: 4 in a free corner, 4 in an adjacent map-edge clearing.
Setup: Keepers in Iron: spread the other relics among forests not next to your warriors, tuck a Faithful Retainer in each Retinue slot, and put the 3 waystations on your board.
New factions: the Lord of the Hundreds (reach 9) and the Keepers in Iron (reach 8).
Hirelings: the first player to reach 4, 8 and 12 points takes the matching marker, and with it a hireling.

An alternate shared deck of 54 cards.

Setup: use the Exiles and Partisans deck instead of the base deck; the two are never mixed.

More Vagabonds to play.

Automated opponents for solo, small or co-op games.

Setup: for each bot choose a difficulty and 0 to 4 trait cards. Bots draw no cards.
Setup: Mechanical Marquise 2.0: 25 warriors; the Keep in a random corner; a warrior in every clearing but the opposite corner, 2 in the Keep's; a sawmill, workshop and recruiter randomly in or next to the Keep's clearing (one per clearing); the rest on their tracks, leftmost spaces empty.
Setup: Electric Eyrie: 20 warriors; a roost and 6 warriors in a random free corner (opposite another start if possible); the 2 Loyal Viziers in the rightmost Decree column; the other 6 roosts on the track, leftmost empty.
Setup: Automated Alliance: 10 warriors, 3 bases in the Bases box, 10 sympathy tokens on the track.
Setup: Vagabot: a bot character card, the pawn in the forest next to the most clearings, 1 quest face up for it alone, the R items under the ruins and 4 S items in its Satchel (3 for the Tinker).
Clockwork bots: each turn a bot reveals an order card and follows its own faction steps.