Objective of the Game

Welcome to the Woodland, friends! In Root, you're not just playing a game; you're diving into an epic struggle for control of a vibrant, yet war-torn, forest. Each faction has its own unique way of trying to dominate, but everyone shares a common goal: to be the most influential power in the Woodland! You can claim victory in one of two exciting ways:

• Be the first to score a whopping 30 Victory Points!
• Successfully play and complete the objective of a Dominance Card. These special cards can completely change your path to victory, so keep an eye out for them!

Preparation (Setup)

Alright, let's get this forest ready for some action! Here's how to set up your game of Root:

1. Choose Factions: Each player picks a unique faction board and gathers all of their corresponding pieces. The back of each board gives you a quick rundown of your faction's playstyle. Randomly determine the starting player and seating order.
2. Set Scores: Place each faction's score marker on "0" on the score track.
3. Deal Cards: Shuffle the shared deck of 54 cards and deal 3 cards to each player.
4. Place Ruins: Take the four ruin markers and place them on the four slots on the map marked with an "R." These are ancient secrets waiting to be explored!
5. Make Item Supply: Gather the 12 item markers (2 boots, 2 bags, 1 crossbow, 1 hammer, 2 swords, 2 tea, 2 coins) and place them on their matching spaces near the top of the map.
6. Gather Other Pieces: Hand out the 16 faction overview cards as desired, and place the two custom dice near the map.
7. Set Up Factions: Now, each player sets up their individual faction as described on the back of their faction board. This happens in a specific order: Marquise, Eyrie, Alliance, Vagabond. If you're playing with other factions like the Lizard Cult or Riverfolk Company, they'll set up after these initial four.

The Game Turn

Root plays out over a series of turns, with each player taking their turn in order. While each faction has a unique flow, the core concept remains: take actions, expand your influence, and score points! Let's look at some general actions and concepts you'll encounter:

Clearings and Ruling

The map is divided into clearings, each with slots for buildings and a specific suit (fox, bunny, or mouse) representing the local community. You rule a clearing if you have the most combined warriors (meeples) and buildings (square tokens) there. If there's a tie, no one rules it! Ruling clearings is crucial for many actions, especially moving and building.

Movement

A Move is along a Path, and you can move any number of your Warriors. To move, you must rule the clearing you are moving from OR the clearing you are moving to. (Unless you're the nimble Vagabond or Corvids!)

Cards: Suits and Crafting

Cards are your lifeline in Root! Each card has a suit (fox, rabbit, mouse, or bird).

• Birds Are Wild: Bird cards are super versatile! You can always treat a bird card as a mouse, fox, or rabbit card. However, if an action specifically requires you to spend a bird card, you can't substitute another suit.
• Spending Cards: Spending a card represents calling upon the Woodland creatures for help or making a deal.
• Crafting: Many cards have a second use: you can craft them to gain their effect, shown at the bottom of the card. To craft, you need to activate crafting pieces in clearings that match the card's bottom-left corner. Each faction has different crafting pieces (e.g., Marquise/Workshops, Eyrie/Roosts, Alliance/Sympathy, Vagabond/Hammers). You can activate each crafting piece only once per turn.
  • Immediate Effects: If a crafted card has an immediate effect (paper box), resolve it and then discard the card. You often take an item from the supply and place it in your Crafted Items box. If the item isn't available, you can't craft the card.
  • Persistent Effects: If a crafted card has a persistent effect (stone box), place it face up near you. You can use its effect as written. You can't craft a persistent effect if you already have one of the same name.
  • Victory Points from Crafting: Whenever you craft an item, you score the victory points listed on the card!

Battling

Sometimes, diplomacy just won't cut it, and you'll need to resort to battling to remove other players' pieces from the map.

1. Initiate a Battle: Choose any clearing where you have warriors. You're the attacker, and you pick one faction with pieces there as the defender.
2. Play Ambush/Foil (Optional): Before rolling dice, the defender can play an ambush card matching the clearing's suit to deal two immediate hits! The attacker can then foil the ambush by playing a matching ambush card, canceling its effect. Ambush hits aren't limited by your warriors, so even a "defenseless" player can ambush! If an ambush removes all the attacker's warriors, the battle ends immediately.
3. Roll 2 Dice: Both attacker and defender roll one die each.
   • The attacker deals hits equal to the HIGHER ROLL (0-3).
   • The defender deals hits equal to the LOWER ROLL (0-3).
   • *Special Rule:* The Woodland Alliance always gets the higher roll when defending!
4. Adjust Down Results: You cannot deal more hits than your number of warriors in the clearing. (e.g., if you have 1 warrior, a roll of 2 or 3 is capped at 1 hit).
5. Add Extra Hits: Some effects grant extra hits, which are not limited by warrior count.
   • On Attack: If the defender has buildings/tokens but no warriors (defenseless), the attacker deals 1 extra hit. The Eyrie Commander leader also grants 1 extra hit.
   • On Defense: Corvid Embedded Agents grant 1 extra hit if the Corvids are defending a clearing with a face-down plot.
6. Remove Pieces & Score VP: Both players remove pieces simultaneously. The player taking hits chooses which pieces to remove, but must remove all their own warriors before removing any buildings or tokens. Whenever you remove an enemy building or token (even outside battle), you score 1 Victory Point!

Dominance Cards

The deck contains four dominance cards, one for each suit. These can't be crafted but can be spent for their suit. When discarded or spent, they aren't put in the discard pile; instead, they're placed near the map. During your Daylight phase, you can pick up a dominance card near the map by spending a card of the matching suit.

Changing Your Victory Condition

If you have at least 10 victory points during your Daylight, you can play a dominance card into your play area to activate it. Remove your score marker from the score track. For the rest of the game, you can only win by meeting the victory condition listed on your activated dominance card. This card doesn't count against your hand size and cannot be removed or replaced.

End of Game and Scoring

The game concludes immediately when one of these conditions is met:

• A player reaches or exceeds 30 Victory Points.
• A player successfully activates and completes the objective of a Dominance Card.

The player who achieves one of these conditions first is the glorious winner of the Woodland!

Tips for Winning

Root is a complex game with asymmetrical factions, so these general tips will help you get started, but remember to adapt to your chosen faction and the ever-changing board state!

1. Understand Your Faction's Flow: Each faction has a unique "flow" or strategy. For example, the Marquise de Cat focuses on CONTROL & PRODUCTION, building Sawmills for wood, Workshops for crafting, and Recruiters for warriors and cards. The Eyrie Dynasties are all about EXPANSION & PLANNING through their strict Decree. Learn your faction's core loop and stick to it!
2. Control Clearings Strategically: Ruling clearings is fundamental. For the Marquise, this means building up a strong wood economy and protecting it. For the Eyrie, it's about expanding their Roosts. The Woodland Alliance uses Sympathy to spread influence and eventually Revolt to establish bases. Always consider how your actions contribute to ruling the clearings that matter most for your faction.
3. Don't Be Afraid to Battle (or Bait!): Battling is a key way to remove enemy pieces and score points. As the Marquise, you have a legion of warriors to enforce your rule. The Woodland Alliance, with their Guerrilla War ability, can be surprisingly effective defenders, using the higher die roll. Sometimes, you might even want to bait opponents into attacking you where you have an advantage, like an ambush card in hand!
4. Manage Your Cards Wisely: Cards are a precious resource. Whether you're spending them for actions, crafting for effects, or mobilizing them as supporters (for the Alliance), knowing when and how to use your cards is critical. Remember that Bird cards are wild, offering flexibility, but don't waste them if a specific suit is needed elsewhere!