Leder Games | Root: The Underworld Expansion

First of all, Root is a phenomenal board game. As asymmetrical strategy games go, it’s tough to beat. I’ll be honest, it’s complexity is on the higher side (3.81/5 BGG weight rating) so if you’re inexperienced with hobbyist board games and are simply reading Amazon reviews to decide whether you’ll like it, Root might not be the best place to start. For more on Root’s fundamental merits as a board game, visit its page on BoardGameGeek. If you’re coming from BGG and wondering about this box as a physical product: man this game is a pleasure to interact with. Everything about it is endlessly charming. The artwork is superb - maybe my favorite of any game, ever. The print quality is extremely high across the board (no pun intended). Just opening the box feels luxurious. This game has excellent replay ability value due to the asymmetrical factions (which also make it more difficult to learn, but the payoff is worth it), which just makes you want to interact with all the lovely little bits even more. As you move your army of cats through the forest bent on extinguishing the critter rebellion, you’ll see the adorable vagabond exploring caves and collecting cute little items and you’ll think “Gee I want to do that” and you’ll be excited about your second playthrough before your first is even complete. This is a staple of my board game group for a good reason. If you’re a seasoned board game hobbyist, or a new gamer ready for a challenge, I highly recommend Root.

Our family’s favorite game!- we love this expansion!

Root is a truly original game design. It's part area-control, part card/action selection and part war game with an amazing set of four totally different factions, and I do mean TOTALLY different factions! Each factions is almost playing an entirely different mini-game with the larger game! I kid you not. And as strange as that sounds, it all works...brilliantly!In principle, Root is simple: the first faction to gain 30 victory points wins. The board is a giant forest with several clearings marked by a 'suit' (fox, mouse, bunny, birds). Players compete to control these clearings. Players play suited cards to do actions in said clearings that match the suit of the card they're playing (i.e. need to play a bunny suited card to do an action in a clearing with a bunny suit.). Some cards also can be 'crafted' to gain a special ability, again matching suit of the card to the suit of the clearing where you want to do the action!Movement is based on area control. You can only move into or from a clearing you control (i.e. having the most units/buildings).Combat is super simple: the attacker rolls two dice and takes the higher total, eliminating that many of the defenders units; the defender does the same with the lower numbered dice. However, the attacker/defender can never eliminate more units then the size of his attacking/defending force. For example-attacking with 4 units and rolling a '5'. You only get to kill 4 units, not five. The same applies to the defender. Furthermore, there are cards and various faction abilities that can modify battle results in interesting ways.That in essence is how root plays....simple....but....the factions turn all this on it's head!At its heart, Root is a war game between the ruthless denezins of a fairy tale-like forest setting:THE CATS: The Cats run the forest as a vast labor camp. They score victory points by developing structures within the forest clearings and keeping the 'status quo.'THE BIRDS (EYRIE): The Eyrie used to run things until the cats came along, and they want their power and control back. They're fast, ruthless and are the strongest military power! They gain VPs by expanding their influence! They can spread like wildfire and crush the mightiest of foes! BUT....they have one great flaw: Their government is highly unstable! One wrong move can bring down their entire power structure and thwarting their plans!THE WOODLAND ALLIANCE: The Alliance represents all the other woodland creatures suffering under the yoke of the cats. They're the rebels! They want the Cats overthrown, and they want the Birds gone too! POWER TO THE PEOPLE! The Woodland alliance fights a guerilla war to free the forest of tyranny! They get VPs by overthrowing the Cats and the Birds.THE VAGABOND: The shifty Vagabond are the allegedly "neutral" raccoons. They've decided to become the merchants of death and profit from the growing war in the woodlands! They can 'aid' and/or hinder each faction for their own selfish reasons, hoping to become wealthy from the chaos! They can gain VPs by helping the various factions at crucial moments, and even side with a faction and ride their coat tales to victory!To win, you HAVE to be ruthless! There's no room in this game for care bears! The first faction to get a VP engine going can run away with game if the other players are not careful! Such VP leaders must be crushed! And the asymmetricral design of the game really brings this to life. The factions really to play that differently and have their own special way to victory. No two are even remotely similar!The game has only two downsides. 1) It's MEAN as heck. You can show no mercy in this game. 2) It's incredibly hard to teach because it is so different. Watching videos is pretty much mandatory.

This would be by far my favorite board game ever with so many different expansions to add on and variety of play, massive community backing up the game and by design a really fun time around the table. It has battle, area control, politics, tactics and more. 10/10

It's about the empire of the Marquess de Cat, which has just taken over the forest, doing battle with the Eyrie Clans of birds who're trying to restore their power while facing internal collapse. Except it's also about the Woodland Alliance which is starting a revolution against them both. And about the Vagabond who's wandering around doing odd jobs and helping the other factions. And with the (first) expansion, it's also about a Lizard Cult and the capitalist otters of the River Company. It's Gambit Pileup, the Game, where everybody's schemes collide.Every faction plays differently and has different ways to get victory points, and it's possible to claim certain special goals. I did pretty badly as the Alliance, spreading unrest throughout the forest and launching one successful uprising and a raid but never establishing a second base or building items besides a crossbow. Meanwhile there were giant armies of cats and birds fighting each other. The Vagabond was absent (3-player game), so we didn't get to see his gameplay, but it involves collecting items made by the other players and then using them to complete quests like "give a speech" or "fight some bandits". The cats rely on building structures to get more stuff, while the birds make increasingly bold Decrees to take more and more actions but inevitably crash at some point. In a second playthrough I was the Vagabond playing against the cats and birds, finding myself playing kingmaker and attacking both to stop either from winning. I finally gained enough gadgets to invoke a devastating one-beaver uprising that someone on BoardGameGeek compared to that supervillain with the doom gauntlet. So I've had two very different experiences already, and bought the game.It's a little intimidating to get started, but the current edition comes with not just a rulebook and a How To Play booklet but an extra sheet that walks you through two full turns. I see that BGG has a printable rulesheet to let you play solo against the cats even without owning the expansion.Seemed like fun despite the tricky intro process. Because there are asymmetric goals, I don't greatly mind that it's focused on an abstract notion of VPs. I can kind of feel like I'm doing something interesting and creating some sort of story, even if I'm not winning. The fact that each side has different rules isn't too hard to understand, because there are common features like crafting and movement that can help you understand other factions, and cards to remind you what the others are trying to do.The board and pieces are well made and pleasant, I should add. Deceptively cute for what is potentially a brutal game.Would I recommend this to people new to modern board games, ie. people who've never heard of Settlers or Pandemic or Dominion or Splendor? No, I'd probably start them off with something a bit simpler. If someone like that does want to play, I suggest starting them off with the cats. It's definitely worth playing if you're familiar with modern gaming though!