Root Review – I’ve Played the Mice Thrice and Still Don’t Know What They Do

Root sat on my shelf for two years before seeing its first play. Despite my love for Kyle Ferrin’s artwork and the nostalgic, Red Wall-ian idea of animals fighting to rule the forest. I never got around to playing it. Partly because I’m lazy, but more so, Root terrified me.

Root is an asymmetrical board game where each player is a different animal faction fighting for control of the forest.

To begin with, the Marquis De Cats play your standard build, move, and attack commands. Moreover, they are the current rulers of the forest and begin the game with outposts in every clearing.

The Eyrie (birds), on the other hand, have a set program of moves to fulfil. They begin the game stuck in one corner of the map but grow in strength throughout the game.

Meanwhile, the Vagabond (raccoon) is a single unit instead of the army. Unlike the other factions who primarily fight, the Vagabond slip through the battlefield making alliances, and trade items.

Lastly, there’s the Woodland Alliance (mice), representing the people’s militia. Sick of the birds and cats fighting, they’ll strike in any clearing without warning. They sound great but I’ve played them three times, and yet I’m still not sure what they do.

Now, as a game owner, I took a solemn oath to learn the rules of Root before our first game. But when looking at all these different factions, it’s a daunting task.

Fortunately, my apprehension was unfounded – the rules to Root aren’t so bad.

Telling the story of the forest

While it looks scary to learn, a lot of effort went into making Root as easy as possible to play. Most of the factions are quite simple rules-wise, with almost all of a faction’s rules presented on their player boards.

To make such a complicated system so easy to learn is simply wonderful game design.

But that’s just the tip of the iceberg.

What makes Root stand snout and shoulders above the competition is its forced narrative. Each of the factions was built with a story arc in mind. For example, the Marquis de Cat starts strong but weakens as the other factions populate the forest.

Given the attack the leader gameplay that Root subscribes to. This starts the cats off as the villains of the forest, where if left unchecked – they’ll win the game. Meaning they’ll be the first target on everyone’s list. But once thwarted the balance of power shifts to another faction.

This rising and falling of power affects every faction throughout the game. Creating these organic and compelling story arcs makes Root as fascinating to watch as it is to play.

Figuring out the puzzle

Mechanically, each faction has two to three simple ways of scoring points. The challenge becomes figuring out ways to earn these points and stop others, in a complex and evolving environment. You’ll often find a strategy that works well in one game and falls flat in the next.

Victory requires you to be adaptable, and read the flow of the battle. And if things get dire, always have a Dominance card in your back pocket.

Dominance cards allow you to throw away your points-based victory condition. Replacing it with a new objective of owning all clearings of a specific type.

Having the ability to change your victory condition is amazing. I wish more games would do this because it brought about my board game highlight of the year:

The Cats were on the back foot, but still strong. Taking advantage of their waning power, they played a Dominance card. From then on, the whole battle shifted. From factions fighting each other to everyone zoning in on the cats.

It then took several players collaborating, and an edge-of-your-seat dice roll, to stop them from winning. Even though I lost that game, it was an incredible experience I won’t soon forget.

While my other many plays of Root didn’t reach the same heights, they’ve always been incredibly engaging. Both as a player wanting to win and as an observer watching the control of the forest flow from one player to the next.