Root

Below rules are meant as a reminder, a quick look-up and to support starting players to get into the game more easily. Read in addition to the faction sheet (and the general rules if you are new to Root). Focus on your own faction and the "Strategy against" parts of the other factions present in the game.

Time:	20-30 min per player (with experienced players)
# Players:	1-6 (2-4 without expansions)
Style:	asymmetric wargame

Table of Contents:

Important glossary
Important general rules
Setup
Scoring/Game End
Hirelings
Factions
Suggested Faction Combinations
- Six
- Five
- Four Players
- Three Players
- Two Players
- Two Player Coop
- Solo
Faction Difficulty
The Standard Deck

Important glossary

Buildings: square tokens that can only be placed in the square spaces in the clearings
Tokens: round tokens that can be placed anywhere on a clearing (any amount of them)
Rule: player with most warriors and buildings (not tokens) rules a clearing

ties imply there is no ruler

Vagabond never rules a clearing
Suit: the non-player faction of a clearing or card (fox, mouse or rabbit)

birds are wild and match any suit

cards can be used for their suit marked on the upper left corner of the card to trigger effects
Place a Warrior: whenever it says "place a warrior", take it from your supply

Important general rules

Turn: initial turn order and starting player is random (only faction setup order - if not using advanced setup - is not)

each player plays their three phases (Birdsong, Daylight, Evening), then the next player follows
Craft: cards can be crafted when the requirements on the bottom left of the card are met (e.g. by owning a piece on the clearings with matching suits on the map, see factions for further detail)

each piece activated for crafting can be activated only once per round!

if you craft an item, take it from the supply (if an item is not available in the supply the card cannot be crafted!)

immediate effect cards are played and discarded (light yellow background)

permanent effect cards stick with the player (light blue-grey background), only one of the same name are allowed per player
Move: only from or to a clearing which you rule (following the paths on the map)

any amount of pawns > 0 can be moved at once
Battle: initiating player chooses defender among factions in the clearing

multiple battle rounds need to be initiated as new battles

defender can play ambush cards matching the clearing's suit -> 2 immediate hits

attacker can react with an ambush card matching the clearing's suit -> no ambush

defenseless defenders can play ambush cards

attacker gets the higher roll, defender the lower

min(warriors present, rolled hits) are taken on each side

extra hits are not limited by, i.e. are independent of, the number of warriors present in the clearing

defenseless clearings (no warriors present) give 1 extra hit to the attacker

extra hits can be added after rolling the dice

warriors are always removed before buildings/tokens

tokens and buildings need to be attacked, the affected players decide which building/token they remove when hit

each player scores 1 point for each removed enemy token or building (also outside battle)!
Dominance cards: in play for 3+ players

can be played for their suit but are not discarded, instead made available to other players (put face-up next to the board)

available cards can be picked up (in hand) in Daylight by spending a card of matching suit (spending a bird card means you can take any)

can be activated only when owning >= 10 victory points

can be activated in Daylight (played from hand) -> put it down face-up before you and change the winning strategy (points won't make you win any more)

activated dominance cards cannot be removed from play or be replaced -> change of winning strategy is permanent
Items: can only be used by the Vagabond or Hundreds

can be crafted for points by anyone if available

if removed, are removed from the game permanently
Simultaneous Effects: if ambiguous, current player decides
Cards: hand cards are face-down for other players, number of hand cards is known

cannot be traded (unless stated otherwise)

discard pile can be inspected any time and is reshuffled if the draw pile is empty

birds are wild, i.e. jokers for all other suits
Forests: adjacent to all clearings without crossing a path (rivers do not count as paths)

adjacent to all forests reached by crossing one path
Placing Buildings/Tokens: take from the leftmost, return to rightmost slot

Setup

Default Setup

select map as group
choose faction
place score marker
draw 3 cards
place ruins (if two Vagabonds: use both sets of "R" items and place two in each ruin, if only Hundreds: place one set of items, else none for hundreds)
form item supply
set up factions in order (if two vagabond: randomly decide which one goes first)

Advanced Setup

select map as group
place ruins (if two Vagabonds: use both sets of "R" items and place two in each ruin, if only Hundreds: place one set of items, else none for hundreds)
form item supply
from last to first player in reverse turn order:
- draw five cards
- set up hirelings (if any left)
deal setup cards (no insurgent for two players - grey name with no sword), first only insurgent, then all the rest to have two cards per player
handle ifs
from last to first player in reverse turn order:
- choose faction (the two cards given)
- place score marker
- set up faction
from last to first player in reverse turn order:
- return two cards to shared deck
shuffle shared deck

Scoring/Game End

Score: remove enemy building or token: 1 VP each (unless done by hireling)

crafting: VP listed on card (except Hundreds/Eyrie)

unique VP scoring per faction
Win: first player to reach 30 points or fulfill his played out dominance card

Hirelings

general rules:: designed for advanced setup only

can add up to 3 hirelings of any unused faction to a game

first player reaching a hireling marker on the score track chooses a hireling card at their evening and rolls for control

roll for control: place control markers on hireling card equal to the number of gold pips on the die (if they have the most VP or are tied for most), all pips otherwise (also with dominance cards)

at the end of every round, one command marker is taken from the hireling card (backside of hireling marker acts as reminder)

if there are no command markers left on any hireling card, it is passed on to any other player, who rolls for control immediately
special rules that may be unclear:: hireling pieces count towards player rule (even if only hirelings are present in a clearing) but they are not considered the controller's pieces for anything else

uncontrolled hirelings can rule clearings as if they were players

unless under your control, hirelings are enemies to you

hirelings can only act with their own actions and move and battle alone (they do not participate in player battles or vice versa)

hirelings cannot use controller's abilities, cards or ambush cards

as an attacker with hirelings you do not get points for destroying enemy pieces

hirelings trigger outrage (Alliance) and you draw a card when moving a hireling with a ferry

Factions

Faction rules always overrule general rules. If it says for actions "take in any number and order", this is still restricted by your maximum possible actions and special action restrictions like "once per turn" on your faction board.

Marquise de Cat (reach 10)

industrial and military defense power, strong presence everywhere, fixed set of actions

general rules:

you craft with your workshops, activating one workshop gives you its clearing's suit for crafting, workshops cannot be activated more than once per turn
you may take up to 3 actions from a given set of possible ones (take in any number and order), bird cards can grant extra actions
you get card bonus on your recruit building track
you score mainly through buildings
good card crafts: Better Burrow Bank, Cobbler, Command Warren

special rules that may be unclear:

Field Hospitals can be used for multiple warriors (for a single payment)

your Keep does not count as a building

the Keep prevents other players from placing pieces in its clearing, but they can be moved there

move: your two moves can be independent or you can gather/split forces in between or move with the same force twice

build: the clearing you choose to build in needs to be connected by a route of clearings ruled by you to the correct number of wood tokens (again, in a clearing ruled by you)

Strategy:

easy to play, hard to win with (because your actions are extremely limited and you score slowly)

setup:

- bunny cards are good for you, consider placing your keep in any of the top two corners (but won't give you adjacency to two same faction clearings)

- do not place your Keep in the lower right corner

early game:

- use overwork in your first or second turn

- have two recruiters at the end of your second turn, recruit

- amass your cats for defense

crafting:

- you suck at crafting, so you can mostly ignore it

- avoid crafting for points early

- craft cards for more actions, if possible

use bird cards for extra actions or save for late game, if possible (except for bird ambush)

spread sawmills across clearings

carefully consider when to go into combat, rather block your enemies and defend (unless you play against the Hundreds)

protect your sawmills or build many

protect your Keep, to be able to use Field Hospitals! (saves you the recruiting action)

dominance cards: bird dominance can be rather easy for you

Strategy Against:

if they can't build, they have a hard time scoring (mostly ignoring them and not destroying their buildings can be an option)

intervene with their path of ruled clearings between sawmills and building spaces to prevent builds

strike at sawmills

destroy the keep if possible (e.g. through Favor cards)

Eyrie Dynasties (reach 7)

start small but aim at expansion, ever-increasing decree determines actions that need to be taken else Turmoil

general rules:

you craft with your roosts, activating one roost gives you its clearing's suit for crafting, roosts cannot be activated more than once (remember your disdain)
you must take one according action per card in your decree columns (columns determine order of action types, cards within columns have no order) or fall into Turmoil
you get card bonus on your roost building track
you score automatically once per round for your roosts on the map
good card crafts: Tax Collectors, Sappers, Brutal Tactics (pair with Commander), Scouting Party

special rules that may be unclear:

each column of your decree may hold any number of cards

you must resolve each card in each column of your decree but the cards in each column can be resolved in any order

Turmoil happens immediately when you cannot resolve an action in your decree

recruit: place a warrior in any clearing with a roost whose suit matches the card

if there is no leader left after Turmoil, recover all of them

Strategy:

the suits of your cards are important for you

starting leader depends on your cards:

- if you have two cards of your current clearing: start Charismatic with two cards in Recruit, trigger Turmoil, pick Despot next (not in games against Hundreds)

- if you have a bird card and a card of your current clearing or play against Hundreds: start Charismatic (pick fights)

- else: start with Despot (fast growth, aggressive playstyle)

second leader:

- choose Commander to defend and push advantage

- choose Builder to recover troops (if you lost them) and craft

- choose Despot if you turmoiled very early or a lot of your roosts have been destroyed

do not put more than two cards in recruit with the Charismatic leader

keep to your decree as long as possible but be aware that you will be in Turmoil eventually (try to avoid more than 2-3)

plan ahead for Turmoil (balance points gained and lost, try to Turmoil in your build phase and do everything else)

the Charismatic leader makes it easy to pick fights, be careful with the other ones

have one of each type of clearing and defend them heavily (and maybe a backup of each)

place bird cards in recruit (or if not possible use your starting clearing's suit, as it's usually the best defended)

place at least one bird card in battle early in the game - later, other suits can go here

place one bird card in build - this is your hardest to fulfil

place your other cards in move and move your birds back and forth if necessary - this is your easiest to fulfil

sometimes it makes sense to retreat and let your opponents destroy a roost to safe your decree

try to avoid loosing cards

you have the potential to have more actions than other factions, consider placing two cards in your decree every turn

Strategy Against:

force Turmoil (especially effective early in the game), unless they are aiming for that

take out the roosts

Woodland Alliance is a strong enemy to the Eyrie due to card loss

Hundreds are a strong enemy to the Eyrie due to their easy recruiting of warriors, early-game strength and aggressive playstyle

Eyrie vs Woodland Alliance

destroy their sympathy with Despot

do not move into clearings of which you own cards!

invoke martial law (have three warriors in adjacent clearings to theirs)

Eyrie vs Hundreds

choose Charismatic leader and pick fights

Woodland Alliance (reach 3)

works through suits mostly, gains sympathy and supporters, no warriors on the map until base is constructed

general rules:

you craft with your sympathy, activating one sympathy token gives you its clearing's suit for crafting, sympathy cannot be activated more than once
you may take actions by spending supporters (take in any number and order) or by using your officer count (the latter only once you have a base, take in any number and order)
you get card bonus on your base building track
you score mainly by placing sympathy tokens
good card crafts: Armorers, Tax Collectors, Better Burrow Bank, Stand and Deliver, Scouting Cards, Codebreakers

special rules that may be unclear:

Outrage includes bird cards

a sympathetic clearing is one with sympathy tokens, others are unsympathetic clearings

revolt can only be used if a base can be placed

revolt can be used if there is no place for an officer

revolt scores points for removed tokens and buildings as in normal battle

if there are no sympathetic clearings, you can spread sympathy to any, else it needs to be adjacent to a sympathetic clearing

no clearing can have more than one sympathy token

favor card hits Alliance base and sympathy: the active player decides, which is removed first (and whether Alliance keeps the supporter or has to discard it)

supporter stack:

- face-down stack of cards (Woodland Alliance player can look at the cards any time)

- supporters can only be spend for their suit and do not count towards hand size

- the stack size is unlimited if any base is present on the map

Strategy:

early game (1-10 points): spread sympathy, place it in spaces with most connections/movements

first round: spread sympathy three times in central, high-traffic areas

first round: mobilize all your cards into your support deck, unless you can craft something extraordinarily good

build first base up fast (second turn)

get your second base down immediately afterwards in an adjacent clearing

get three officers quickly

cards are valuable for you, craft cards that give you cards and improve battle

disrupt opponents

mid game: dig in, do not loose too many pieces

craft cards (also to lure the Vagabond)

good combo with 3 officers: move, organize to spread sympathy, recruit back for defense

get more officers (4-5)

don't build 3 bases, defend your bases!

late game: craft cards to get points

try to stay under the radar

revolt for your third base only if you can win on this turn

you can turn warriors into sympathy and earn a lot of points in one round once you have pieces on the board

Strategy Against:

trigger Martial Law to make spreading sympathy more expensive

put lots of warriors in clearings with Alliance bases

destroy Alliance bases

prevent Alliance from spreading (do not necessarily attack them)

unite against the Alliance

if Alliance has many officers but few supporters, leave sympathy in place, else take sympathy out

Alliance vs Vagabond

Vagabond ignores your sympathy token effect and can make you an enemy for extra points, also his crossbow ignores your Guerilla Warfare

craft items to stay friends with the Vagabond

Alliance vs Riverfolk

Riverboats allows the Alliance to spread sympathy across rivers

Vagabond (reach 5, second Vagabond reach 2)

makes allies and enemies among players (helping, trading, fighting), fulfils his quests, takes actions based on items, has only one figure that cannot die

general rules:

you craft with your hammers, all of your hammers match your current clearing's suit, you cannot craft multi-suit cards
you may take actions by exhausting the items in your satchel (take in any number and order)
you get card bonus through coin items in your coin track
you score mainly by improving relationships, battling and questing
good card crafts: Bake Sale, Brutal Tactics, Sappers, Armorers, Scouting Party

special rules that may be unclear:

you never rule a clearing nor can you stop others from ruling

you have no warriors and are no warrior (you cannot use whatever would require these and you are not affected by warrior targeting, e.g. Alliance sympathy tokens)

you can slip into an adjacent forest (also from a forest into an adjacent forest) and slip or move out of a forest to an adjacent clearing

slip ignores all effects preventing movement, including the Corvid's snare, and ignores the extra cost of hostile clearings

removing the last item from a ruin removes the ruin

there is one quest deck, from which three cards are drawn for setup and these three are replenished during the game

quest suits need to match your clearing

exhausting the torch allows you to take the action on your character card

gets a point for each hostile piece removed during battle (warriors, buildings and tokens)

resting repairs and refreshes the broken items, it does not refresh the unbroken ones; repairing with a hammer does not refresh an item

items:

- exhausting an item flips it face down (and moves it from its track to the satchel), refreshing it flips it face up, damaging it puts it in the damaged slot, repairing it puts it in the satchel or its track

- teapots, coins and bags are put face up in their respective item tracks when gained, they are not exhausted

- face-up, undamaged items can be freely moved from item track to satchel and back

- all other items are put face up into the satchel when gained

- the damaged item box is part of your satchel

- items removed because your satchel is full leave the game permanently

- exhausting one hammer repairs one item

battle:

- your maximum hits are capped by your undamaged swords (exhausted or not does not matter) plus all present allied warriors you want to battle with (if any)

- for every hit taken you need to damage an item or remove an allied warrior (check hostility for the latter!)

- you are defenseless if you have no undamaged sword

relationships:

- aiding a hostile player does not improve relationships (but you can aid them to take items)

- aiding players cannot be stacked, you'll need a total of six cards to get an ally

- moving with or attacking with an ally only works as part of your own pawn's movement/attack

- sacrificing more allied warriors than damaging items in a fight makes your ally hostile at the end of the battle

- else, removing a warrior of a non-hostile player immediately makes this player hostile (this warrior does not yet yield the extra point)

- removing non-warrior pieces of a non-hostile player does not change the relationship

dominance card coalition (with 4+ players):

- you can activate any dominance card and coalition with the player with the least VP (Vagabond chooses if tied), placing your score marker on their board (only if that player has not activated a dominance card yet)

- if that player wins, you win

- the chosen player still plays toward 30 points but may also play their own dominance card (all you do with the dominance card is remove your own scoring and win with that player)

- if you choose a hostile player, put the relation marker back to indifferent

if two Vagabond in play:

- you can choose the first item explored in a ruin and explore again to take both if they are different but each of you can only own one "R" item of a certain type

- quests are shared (either Vagabond can complete any of the three)

- exploring without taking an item does not give a VP but exhausts the torch anyway

Arbiter Ability:

- if enlisted, the defender in a fight adds the number of the Arbiter's undamaged sword to their warrior count to determine hits (e.g. with only 1 warrior and a defense 3 roll, they make three hits, but they never make more hits than rolled)

- defenseless clearings still count as defenseless (attacker gets 1 extra hit) but the defending player may hit back with min(rolled hits, Arbiter undamaged swords)

- the Arbiter does not fight, i.e. the relationship status does not change, the Arbiter gets no points for destroying buildings/tokens, nor will the Arbiter take any damage

Strategy (general):

be aware of the map and other faction boards each turn, use opportunities for points

pick starting clearing based on ruin path, getting to each faction quickly if they craft but be non-aggressive with Tinker, stay away from factions that profit from more building space like Marquise

sometimes it may be beneficial to leave ruins on the board

get a second teapot quickly

get ruins early but if a player has an item you really need, get this first

refresh torch early game

avoid spending nights in a forest (you can play a game without ever doing so), instead get a hammer and be careful with fights (avoid high casualties)

only give aid for items

do not be friendly with everyone (get those building destroyed points and do not waste your weapons), do not be enemy with everyone (get those aid points)

getting an ally is neat but hard, you will need heavy card draw

do not break tea pots, bags may be a good choice, depending on your satchel size and amount of items, next boots may be fine or coins, try not to damage weapons, damage exhausted items first!

use the quests when you have nothing else to do or it is convenient, or start quests early to allow for high-VP quests later

do not give away bird cards, give away item cards others may want to craft

favor cards: only the Tinker can craft them

play styles:

- Tinker (friendly play, most self-sustained Vagabond due to special action, can craft favor cards)

- Ranger (aggressive play)

- Thief (stealth, balanced)

- Arbiter (strongest start for fighting, choose enemy faction quickly, stick to clearings with likely fights)

- Vagrant (alliances and disruption)

- Scoundrel (disruption, high mobility)

quests:

- fox: needs torch, tea pot, boots, hammer, bag, coins

- mouse: needs torch, bag, 2x sword, 2x boots, crossbow

- rabbit: needs torch, tea pot, 2x sword, boots, crossbow

Strategy (friendly):

aid weak players and those that don't attack you

get coins early to get cards to aid other players

have at least two friends

get points in late game by raiding other players' infrastructure

Strategy (aggressive):

choose weapons from the start, crossbows are very helpful for fights

have at least one friend

get points by destructing infrastructure

Strategy Against:

strike Tinker early

avoid ruin clearings if you do not want to fight the Ranger

attack Vagabonds that come close to being your ally

avoid crafting items the Vagabond needs (like the bag and tea pot), e.g. craft coins

attack the Vagabond when he gets to 20 points

Vagabond vs Marquise

avoid making them your enemy early, as you'll need extra boots for every clearing

Vagabond vs Alliance/Corvids

revolts from Alliance and bombs from Corvids hurt you a lot, because they damage your items

Vagabond vs Hundreds

get the ruin items before the Hundreds can

get items from other players before the Hundreds can loot (Hundreds cannot loot you)

Vagabond vs Riverfolk

you pay for services by exhausting items, the Riverfolk place the same number of their own warriors in the payment box

you cannot purchase merchenaries

Lizard Cult (reach 2)

seeks followers and executed rituals to gain power, heavily restricted in movement and battle except for radicalized fighters that disrupt the board

general rules:

you craft with your gardens in outcast suits only!, activating one garden gives you its clearing's suit for crafting, gardens cannot be activated more than once, you cannot craft multi-suit cards
you may take actions by revealing cards from your hand or discarding them (rituals, take in any number and order) or by spending acolytes during Birdsong (conspiracies, take in any number and order)
you get card bonus on your garden building track (one per suit)
you score mainly by building gardens and performing a scoring ritual there
good card crafts: Command Warren, Cobbler, Better Burrow Bank, Stand and Deliver, Royal Claim

special rules that may be unclear:

Pilgrim overrides the Eyrie's Lord of the Forest

cards revealed cannot be reused during that turn and acolytes spent go back to the Lizard supply

place cards you revealed in front of you

convert and sanctify need to be completed (you need to be able to place a warrior/garden of matching suit to do them)

you can recruit in any matching clearing (no further restriction)

you only get acolytes for warriors removed in battle as defender, not through other removals outside battle (e.g. Vagabond crossbow) or as attacker

outcasts/lost souls:

- you collect ALL player's discarded and spent cards in your lost souls, including Dominance cards and your own cards

- every player can check your lost souls any time

- if suits tie for outcast, the current outcast stays outcast and becomes hated

- once you discard your Lost Souls to the discard pile, the Dominance cards become available

Strategy:

you have a lot of constraints on what you can do: slow and annoy your opponents, you're slow to win

cards are your power, keep a large hand, consider having at least 5 in your hand before you spend any

have different suits in your hand to stay flexible

start building gardens and scoring early on to not fall behind but do not draw too much attention

try to score every turn

defend your gardens

build 2-3 gardens of each suit (you can already get far with two stable gardens of two factions each)

focus your gardens, i.e. try to build two in one clearing

craft cards that give you cards and/or more actions

you rule every clearing with a garden, use this to disrupt other player's movements and ruling

get players to fight you, so you get acolytes by the dead defenders

use sanctify only for key buildings, maximizing damage or rule disruption

aim for hated outcast as much as possible

promise players to not convert their pieces if they discard to your benefit

manage your cards for actions and your discards (for few players) for outcast actions

craft cards for points in late game

try to use conspiracies with hated outcast

favor cards: with some planning ahead, you can craft a favor card comparatively easily

dominance cards:

- dominance is a viable option for you

- you can trade bird cards for non-bird dominance cards to use them for their faction

Strategy Against:

discard to prevent hated outcasts

strike undefended gardens

Lizard vs Eyrie

you may want to trigger their Turmoil when it gives you a good outcast

Lizard vs Alliance

destroy their base to get fitting supporters in your lost souls

Riverfolk Company (reach 5)

raise economy, build trade posts, gather funds, defend your treasures and move along the river freely

general rules:

you craft not by clearings but by emptying your trading post spaces and committing warriors from the fund block to these spaces (you have no crafting pieces)
you may take actions by committing or spending funds (yours and other player's warriors, take in any number and order)
you get no card bonus (you can commit fund to draw cards)
you score mainly by placing trade posts and scoring dividends (but you can also craft very easily)
good card crafts: Cobbler, Command Warren, Better Burrow Bank

special rules that may be unclear:

you hand cards are displayed publicly above your faction board

when you loose a trade post, you do not loose your crafting ability

score dividends only works for funds, not payments and committed warriors

committed funds go to the committed box (except for crafting) and spent funds go to their owner's supply

trade posts can go anywhere where there is no trade posts and any faction rules the clearing of which you have two funds (no further restrictions)

place yourself in clearing with Marquise's lumbermills, they'll have to pay you for using them, or Alliance, as others will pay you for fighting them

make your hand cards very expensive when you draw a card you want to keep

build up troops if noone buys from you

raid the rivers if you get the opportunity for points

services:

- players buy services with as many warriors from their supply as the service costs, placing them in your payment box

- the Vagabond pays by exhausting items - for each item they exhaust, the you place one of your warriors in the payment box

- service costs need not be changed in Evening

- hand card: they take one of your hand cards into their hand (this can be bought multiple times)

- riverboats: they can use the river as a path this turn

- mercenaries: during daylight and evening of this turn, the Riverfolk warriors are the paying player's for ruling and battling (not Dominance)

- hits in battle must be split, odd hits go to the paying player's pieces, but buildings and tokens are destroyed after all warriors are dead (including Riverfolk)

- the Vagabond cannot buy Mercenaries

- Mercenaries can be used without being in the same clearing

Strategy:

remind players to use your services, point out opportunities

place your initial pieces in spaces along the river, defend these

price everything at 2 initially, keep things affordable for most of the game

commit other player's warriors before yours, spend yours

do not spawn your trading posts quickly (will get you lots of points but then?), try not to have more than 3 and protect them

get down 1-2 trading posts per suit for crafting if necessary

make sure you have five cards in hand every turn

craft for points (the cards that will not be bought by other players), crafting is your strength

try to store up to 2 warriors of each opponent to get trade posts out easily in late game

attack players in spaces where you have no trading post to avoid losing funds

you can leave outskirts trade posts easy to get to win by dividends

get units in your fund to score points, taking less actions gives you points next round (dividends)

Strategy Against:

starve them of resources (everyone needs to participate)

if there's many units in the fund box, cut them in half by removing a trading post

if you buy, buy when prices are low

Riverfolk vs Alliance

Riverboats allows the Alliance to spread sympathy across rivers

Underground Duchy (reach 8)

establish a political system and keep your power among the suits

general rules:

you craft with your buildings (citadels and markets), activating one building gives you its clearing's suit for crafting, buildings cannot be activated more than once per turn
you may take 2 actions (take in any number and order) plus those of your swayed ministers (take once in any order)
you get card bonus on your markets building track (and additional warriors to your barrow on your citadels building track)
you score mainly by swaying ministers, some of which give you victory points each round for tunnels and buildings on the map
good card crafts: Command Warren, Cobbler, P&E: Eyrie Emigre, Charm Offensive

special rules that may be unclear:

you rule the Burrow even with no pieces there

nobody else can place or move any pieces to your Burrow

if you have multiple ministers of equal rank, you choose which to return as Price of Failure

you must have a crown of a matching rank on your faction board in order to sway a minister of that rank (if you loose a crown, you loose the option to sway a minister)

swayed ministers are placed above your faction board, the crown used to sway it is put on that card

Strategy:

defend 2-3 clearings in early game, focus on multi-building clearings to be able to defend better

get ministers out early (all shires are useful to extend actions)

start building citadels early

protect your buildings, as you have to remove your strongest minister for every lost building

craft cards that give you cards and actions

raid for points if you have the opportunity

craft for points

Strategy Against:

prevent them from spreading so they can't sway their ministers

destroy their buildings

Corvid Conspiracy (reach 3)

subdue the suits with criminal power, fulfill plots and misdirect through careful recruiting to avert exposure

general rules:

you craft with your plot tokens (face up or down ones), activating one plot token gives you its clearing's suit for crafting, plot tokens cannot be activated more than once
you may take up to 3 actions and an additional by sacrificing card draw (take in any number and order)
you get card bonus by face-up Extortion plots on the map
you score mainly by revealing plot tokens (you score more for each)
good card crafts: Sappers, Stand and Deliver, Favor Cards, P&E: Master Engravers, Coffin Makers, Swap Meet

special rules that may be unclear:

you can only flip a plot token if you have a warrior in the same clearing

plot tokens on your faction board are always face down

you can inspect your face-down plot tokens on the map or on your faction board any time

players get a VP by removing your plots through exposure

Embedded Agents works even if you are defenseless

you can flip plot tokens any number of times, score one VP also for the newly flipped one, then resolve effect

Recruit has no restrictions, bird cards let you choose the suit in the clearings of which you place warriors

you cannot swap one face-up with one face-down token with trick (or vice versa)

Raid triggers also, if it is removed while face-down (but not through Exposure)

craft for points

Strategy:

keep under the radar

get snares and extortions down early in safe locations, so they cannot be removed easily

get raid down early (no need for safe location)

keep track of plot tokens and in which order to reveal them, as you score points for each open one on the map (reveal bombs last)

moving with groups of three allows for many options

put plot tokens into multiple clearings of the same suit and player, so they won't be able to remove them all

raid for points if you have the opportunity

defend your plot tokens

Strategy Against:

work together to extort or destroy undefended plot tokens before they are revealed

remove Corvid warriors in critical clearings before they can lay down new plots

try to guess plots and use Exposure to remove them

Corvids vs Riverfolk/Lizards/Duchy:

keep track of the cards they show you to put plots in places where they cannot remove them

Corvids vs Hundreds

their mobs destroy your plots before they have any effect (unless you can place raids effectively)

they have a lot of movements and battles while you have a lot of trouble moving and battling

try to keep under the radar, join with other players and put down snares in protected spots to prevent mobs from spreading to your valuable plots

Lord of the Hundreds (reach 9)

battle to destroy your enemies and loot their items to recruit more warriors

general rules:

you craft with your strongholds
you may take one action (move, battle, build) for each of your commands, you can repeat actions and use them in any order; then you may take one action (move and battle with warlord) for each of your prowess
you get no card bonus
you score each turn for every clearing you rule with no enemy piece of any kind on it
good card crafts: Scouting Party, Better Burrow Bank, Stand and Deliver, Armorers, Royal Claim, Tax Collector

special rules that may be unclear:

you can score extra VPs when crafting that do not come from the crafted items themselves

items that do not fit in the hoard are removed permanently

you cannot loot the Vagabond and you can only loot players with items in their item box

when looting, you can still deal extra hits (just none from the dice)

clearings with multiple strongholds get as many warriors as strongholds during Recruit

if you are lavish and cannot change to another mood, stay lavish

Advance allows you to move and battle, move only, battle only or do neither for each Prowess

Strategy:

start Jubilant to spread your race

craft items early

get items from ruins with mobs early

loot players for items

protect your warlord with warrior presence if you have higher prowess to spawn more warriors

get Rowdy early and Coins late to have more cards

Strategy Against:

the Hundreds are extremely aggressive and can wipe single players early, all players need to fight them early (e.g. each battles them in one clearing each round)

prevent them from getting items (from ruins or otherwise)

craft only late in the game to avoid looting or pass on items to the Vagabond

prevent them from spreading

kill the warlord, if possible

add/leave single pieces in(to) clearings to force them into battle or prevent oppress

Hundreds vs Vagabond

you cannot loot the Vagabond

try to get the ruin items before the Vagabond can

Keepers in Iron (reach 8)

travel around the forest and establish local rule to gather relics

general rules:

you craft with your waystations (any type)
you may take the specified actions for each of your cards in retinue (in a matching suit clearing)
you get card bonus by having waystations on the map
you score by gathering relics fro clearings (you get points equal to their value) and by gathering all relics of a type
good card crafts: Scouting Party

special rules that may be unclear:

if ambushed and hits are ignored, ignore one hit from the first ambush only

if forced to move, your warriors can still carry one relic each

waystations can be placed face-up or face-down

Strategy:

encamp twice during the first round for card draws

save high-value relics quickly and protect them with more Keepers

use low-value relics as defence when moving about

Strategy Against:

make it hard for them to move about and rule clearings

fighting warriors with relics can be hard, so focus on weak spots with no relic or weakly protected relics

destroy unprotected relics for extra points

Attribution: Strategies for most factions gained from own games and thanks to Lord of the Board and Legendary Tactics on Youtube

Suggested Faction Combinations

General rule: Add up faction reach to get to at least 17 (challenging) or to at least...

17 for 2 players
18 for 3 players
21 for 4 players
25 for 5 players
28 for 6 players

(ignored with advanced setup)

Six

Marquise, Duchy, Eyrie, Alliance, Corvid, Vagabond
Marquise, Eyrie, Lizard, Riverfolk, Vagabond, Vagabond

Five

Duchy, Eyrie, Alliance, Lizard, Vagabond
Eyrie, Lizard, Riverfolk, Vagabond, Vagabond
Hundreds, Keeper, Alliance, Riverfolk, Vagabond
Hundreds, Keeper, Corvid, Riverfolk, Eyrie

Four Players

Marquise, Eyrie, Duchy, Corvid
Duchy, Eyrie, Corvid, Vagabond
Duchy, Eyrie, Riverfolk, Lizard
Marquise, Eyrie, Alliance, Riverfolk
Marquise, Eyrie, Alliance, Vagabond
Hundreds, Keeper, Marquise, Alliance
Keeper, Duchy, Marquise, Riverfolk
Hundreds, Lizard, Corvid, Riverfolk

Three Players

Marquise, Duchy, Corvid
Duchy, Eyrie, Marquise
Marquise, Eyrie, Riverfolk
Marquise, Eyrie, Lizard
Marquise, Lizard, Riverfolk
Marquise, Lizard, Alliance
Marquise, Lizard, Vagabond
Marquise, Alliance, Riverfolk
Eyrie, Lizard, Riverfolk
Eyrie, Lizard, Alliance
Eyrie, Lizard, Vagabond
Marquise, Vagabond, Vagabond
Marquise, Eyrie, Vagabond
Marquise, Eyrie, Alliance
Eyrie, Alliance, Vagabond
Eyrie, Keeper, Alliance
Vagabond, Hundreds, Marquise
Hundreds, Keeper, Corvid

Two Players

Marquise, Duchy
Marquise, Eyrie
Marquise, Alliance
Eyrie, Alliance
Eyrie, Vagabond
Hundreds, Keeper (optional hirelings: Marquise, Alliance, Eyrie)
Hundreds, Marquise (optional hirelings: Vagabond, Alliance, Eyrie)

Two Player Coop

Mechanical Marquise, Vagabond, Vagabond
Mechanical Marquise, Eyrie, Alliance
Mechanical Marquise, Alliance, Vagabond
Mechanical Marquise, Vagabond, Eysir

Solo

Mechanical Marquise, Eyrie
Mechanical Marquise, Vagabond
Mechanical Marquise, Lizard

Faction Difficulty

This is the difficulty based on our own experience and varies slightly from the game designer's assessment.

Complexity

From low to high:

Marquise

Hundreds/Eyrie

Corvids

Vagabond/Duchy/Alliance

Riverfolk

Keeper/Lizards

Chance to Win

From high to low:

Hundreds

Duchy/Eyrie

Vagabond/Riverfolk

Alliance

Corvids/Keeper

Marquise

Lizards

Best for Beginners

Hundreds

Eyrie

Alliance

Duchy

Vagabond

The Standard Deck

Fox (14 total)

Crafting: 12 - 1: Armourers, Anvil (2 VP), Crossbow (1 VP), Tax Collector (with 1 of the other's each) - 2: Brutal Tactics, Sword (2 VP) - 3: Favor
Ambush: 1
Dominance: 1

Mouse (13 total)

Crafting: 11 - 1: Sappers, Codebreakers, Tea Pot (2 VP), Satchel (1 VP), Tax Collector (with 1 of the other's each) - 2: Scouting Party - 3: Favor, Stand and Deliver
Ambush: 1
Dominance: 1

Rabbit (13 total)

Crafting: 11 - 1: Shoes (1 VP), Tax Collector (with 1 of the other's each) - 2: Better Burrow Bank, Command Warren, Cobbler, Coins (3 VP) - 3: Favor
Ambush: 1
Dominance: 1

Bird (14 total)

Crafting: 11
Ambush: 2
Dominance: 1

Extra Cards (draw or steal)

Tax Collector
Stand and Deliver
Better Burrow Bank

Extra Actions

Command Warren (battle)
Cobbler (move)

Extra Hits

Sappers (as defender)
Brutal Tactics (as attacker)

Extra Points

Royal Claim (4 of any suit)

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