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Where to Buy Root: Amazon US | Amazon CA
How to Play Root: A Simple Guide for Board Gamers
What is Root?
Root is an asymmetric strategy game where different animal factions battle for control of a forest. Each player takes on the role of a unique group with its own rules, goals, and actions. It’s a mix of war, politics, and adventure all in one box.
If you’re the person who reads the rulebook for your group (like I usually am), Root can look a little overwhelming at first. But once you break it down, everything fits together in a clever and satisfying way. Let’s walk through how to play this game so you can spend less time puzzling out the rules and more time controlling the forest.
What You Need to Play
- 2 to 4 players (expandable to more with other versions)
- Base game box of Root
- Main game board (double-sided)
- Faction boards and pieces for each player
- Deck of shared cards
- Dice, tokens, and Vagabond items
- Score trackers and rulebook/reference sheets
Setup time: Around 10 minutes once you know what you’re doing.
Main Goal of the Game
The goal is simple: Be the first to reach 30 victory points. Each faction earns points in different ways, so don’t worry if your strategy doesn’t look like someone else’s. That’s part of the fun.
Basic Game Structure
Each round of Root has all players taking turns in clockwise order. On your turn, you’ll follow this three-part structure:
- Birdsong: Prepare your board and pieces.
- Daylight: Do your actions.
- Evening: Draw cards and clean up.
Every faction uses this structure, but the actions within each part will change depending on the group you’re playing.
Overview of the Four Base Game Factions
The Marquise de Cat
Style: Area control and engine building
You start with control over most of the forest and lots of pieces already on the board.
Goal: Build buildings (Sawmills, Workshops, Recruiters), keep them safe, and gain points by expanding your reach.
How they play:
- Spend wood to build stuff
- Recruit more troops
- Score points by constructing buildings
This faction is good if you like building up a strong economy and holding the board through steady growth.
The Eyrie Dynasties
Style: Programming and expansion
You’re a bird empire with a rigid command system. Your turns are powerful, but easy to mess up.
Goal: Place and protect roosts across the map to gain points every turn.
How they play:
- Each turn, you add a new command to your “Decree” (your rulebook of actions)
- Your birds must follow the Decree exactly, or your government falls into turmoil
- Score more points the more roosts you have on the board
This faction is wild once it gets going. You’ll either dominate the board or crash hard trying. It’s a fun ride either way.
The Woodland Alliance
Style: Guerrilla tactics and subversion
You start with nothing, but you stir up sympathy among the locals and strike from the shadows.
Goal: Spread Sympathy tokens, revolt, and build bases to train officers.
How they play:
- Score points by spreading Sympathy
- Revolt to suddenly take over clearings
- Use officers for bonus military actions
For players who like underdog strategies and clever timing, this one’s a blast.
The Vagabond
Style: Questing and diplomacy
You control a single character that moves around the forest, helping or harming whoever suits your plan.
Goal: Gain points by completing quests, aiding or attacking other factions, and fixing up your gear.
How they play:
- Trade cards or items with players to improve relationships
- Explore ruins and complete quests
- Pick fights or backstab anyone getting too strong
The Vagabond feels like its own mini-game and adds a great layer of unpredictability to everything.
How a Turn Works
Draw and Craft (Birdsong)
Depending on your faction, you might:
- Gain resources (like wood or cards)
- Trigger abilities from your faction board
This part is often automatic. You’re just setting up for action.
Do Your Stuff (Daylight)
This is where most of the game happens. Common actions across factions include:
- Move: Send units to connected clearings
- Battle: Fight other players for control using dice
- Build: Place buildings using resources
- Craft: Spend matching suits of cards to create powerful items or score points
Each faction uses these differently. Like the Eyrie will be forced to do moves or attacks in certain suits of clearings, while the Vagabond doesn’t build at all but gets points another way.
Clean Up (Evening)
Draw cards from the shared deck (usually 1-2), place timers or remove temporary tokens, and archive anything used up.
If your faction has an “Officer” system or programmed moves like the Eyrie, you’ll check for special conditions or clean up here.
Combat Made Simple
When a battle happens:
- Pick the attacker and defender
- Roll two dice and match the higher die to the attacker’s max number of warriors in that clearing and the lower to the defender’s
- Each player removes warriors or buildings based on dice results
The defender always rolls the lower die, but if either side has no warriors at the start, they do no damage.
There’s also a rule for Ambush cards, so keep an eye out when attacking clearings that hold one faction with high Sympathy or trickery potential.
How You Score Points
Every player earns points differently, but here are the most common methods:
- Building stuff: Marquise and Eyrie earn points this way
- Placing tokens: Woodland Alliance uses Sympathy for this
- Completing Quests or crafting: Vagabond and others can turn cards into points
- Fighting: Some crafted items and cards give points for clearing enemies
Once you get to 30 points, the game ends right away and you win. But there’s a twist — you can also declare a Dominance card if you’re falling behind on points. This replaces your goal with a new one, like controlling three specific clearings. It’s risky, but if no one stops you before your next turn, it’s an instant win.
Tips for Teaching First-Timers
- Play with the suggested factions: Marquise, Eyrie, Alliance, and Vagabond work best for a balanced 4-player game
- Use walkthrough cards: The game includes reminder sheets for each turn. Hand those out freely
- Don’t be afraid to help mid-turn: Root isn’t obvious at first, but helping others early keeps the table playing smoothly
- Expect a long first game: Plan for 2-3 hours the first playthrough. It’ll speed up once folks know their factions
Expansions and Replayability
Once you’ve learned the base game, Root has tons of replay value. Add-ons like the
