Having the huge pack with great ROOT goodies (Marauder Expansion, Hirelings Box and Clockwork Expansion 2) delivered recently, it did not took long to bring them to the table! I tested couple of set-ups – solitaire and multiplayer, and would like to share them with the Dear Readers. But before Sessions itself, couple words on those new expansions!

The Game

Full unboxing of the Marauder expansion, together with Hirelings Pack and Clockwork Expansion 2

Root: The Marauder Expansion introduces two new factions to the Woodland⁠—the Lord of the Hundreds and Keepers in Iron – alongside four hirelings and a new setup draft suitable for both casual and competitive play.

So we can play in following way:

As Lord of the Hundreds – Oppress the Woodland and burn it to the ground if need be. You suffer no dissent!
Keepers in Iron – Lead your exiled order of devout knights into battle to recover ancient relics. For glory!

What is more we can add unique strategies and make the Woodland wilder by utilizing hirelings! These small factions can be used at any player count and introduce surprising new power combinations as well as a chess-like tension to lower player count games of Root.

  • Forest Patrol & Feline Physicians – Secure your realm and heal deadly injuries with Marquise elites.
  • Last Dynasty & Bluebird Nobles – Crush your foes and prove your legitimacy with the last Eyrie regiment.
  • Spring Uprising & Rabbit Scouts – Revolt against despots and fight for freedom with Alliance sympathizers.
  • The Exile & The Bandit – Stalk the forests and steal what you need with these Vagabond mercenaries.

OK, let me know invite you to the picture-rich session reports. You can always click on images to enlarge them in new window!

The Sessions

Solitaire #1

I started playing with Solo Mode – me leading Lord of Hundreds vs. Drillbit Duchy (Moles)
The Moles were developing pretty quickly but good use of Mob multiple times allowed me to destroy their tunnels.
Once my Command and Prowess developed, I was able to do large recruitment plus multiple moves & battles each turn. Example above: whole Duchy presence will be eradicated in a matter of seconds.
Final situation on the map at the end of the game. 30-21 victory by Rats over Moles. The result was not in doubt since the moment the Lord of Hundreds significantly developed its Prowess and Command!

Solitaire #2

Another test with new bot (Moles) and new faction (Badgers). I messed a little the relics placement (making it harder for me). As I will mention below, that faction needs some time before you start to fully grasp how to play it.
A juicy target for Moles but sorry, not this time. 3 VP relict will be recovered and the points will go to Badgers!
Ach, those nasty Moles – each time you think you have it under control they appear suddenly with the tunnel. At least the number of my warriors is enough to survive – and I do not need to rule to place buildings.
Final situation on the map at the end of the game. That was a really tough and close fight, with Moles winning barely 30-28. I was in the lead most of the game but run out of options to quickly Delve and Recover the relics at the end of the game.

Multiplayer

The two solo games gave me enough experience to propose a full multiplayer session to my boardgames buddies. Of course, the main goal was to test new factions and Hirelings. We played in following set-up:

  • me – Keepers in Iron
  • Kuba G – Lord of Hundreds
  • Kuba J – Marquise de Cat (first game of ROOT for Kuba)
Set-up of our game – everybody has its corner, the map is full and packed of troops!
And these are Hirelings we decided to use – they are not connected to any faction, the sides (Promoted / Demoted) chosen randomly
Kuba G and his Lord started very aggressively, immediately attacking Marquise. It completely backfired and only lucky roll saved his Warlord!
Pretty soon we got first hirelings (Hedgehogs) who were blocking the paths. Marquise had to pull back on some fronts, I was slowly testing how Keepers work in multiplayer game while Lord of Hundreds was gradually rebuilding its strenght.
The things finally started to speed-up – poor Marquise was multiple times attacked, new hireling appeared and I started to recover relics en mass.
It had to come to this finally – once poor Marquise was beaten, the Red Menace attacked me. But the Keepers are tough and ignore one hit when with relic so the battle – many times – was fierce.
In the final moments of the game Kuba G (Lord) again attacked poor debutant and scored additional points, winning the game.
Final situation on the map at the end of the game. We usually play in a way that we finish the round and check the points as visible above.

The final scores were:

  1. Kuba G – Lord of Hundreds – 36 VPs
  2. me – Keepers in Iron – 33 VPs
  3. Kuba J – Marquise de Cat – 25 VPs

First Impressions

  • Lords of the Hundreds – I feel in love with that faction from the start; a pure aggressiveness, death and destruction – all its abilities are focused on attacking others; the cards and crafting are not so important, territory and area control is key. Love it! Allow them to develop Command and Prowess and you are done!
  • Keepers in Iron – very specific faction, which works on relics; is not attached to particular cleanings as they can dismantle their buildings and does not need to rule to erect them; pretty cumbersome mechanics to score points which is not obvious initially but once grasped, gives a lot of fun!
  • Hirelings – in general, great balancing mechanism which on top spices-up the game. Still, they vary significantly between themselves – form a very useful to completely useless or with minimal impact. Of course, a lot depends which factions are playing and which map is used.
  • New Bots – good to see another 4 factions; so far I played only few and unfortunately, there are still some small questions or not-so-optimal moves. However, they give a good addition to 2 and 3 player games.

Summary

Wow, with the newest expansions ROOT really reaches new heights. Two new factions have very high reach thus are ideal for low player count plays – especially duels. You will love Rats pretty quickly, you will need to learn Badgers – but once this is done, a lot of interesting play awaits you. Highly Recommended!