Leder Games - Root: The Underworld Expansion - Board Game, green, LED01002

Product Information

Austin, James (2022-12-05). "The Best Strategy Board Games". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331 . Retrieved 2022-12-16.

The Marquise de Cat builds a mighty industrial war machine to subdue the forest. Each time the Marquise builds a Workshop, Sawmill, or Recruiter, you score victory points. The more of the same building she has on the map, the more points scored. However, to fuel ongoing construction, the Marquise must maintain and protect a strong, interconnected economy of Wood. While it may be tempting to overwhelm your opponents with sheer numbers, this leaves you at great risk of spreading yourself too thin and ultimately not being able to keep up. Criminal syndicate? Machiavellian manipulators? The Corvid Conspiracy is many things, and nothing if not secretive. Like the Alliance, the Corvids are terrifying because you never know their true plans. They operate by hatching plots—raids, bombs, extortion, and snares—which turns the Woodland clearings into minefields, leaving the other factions unsure whether to stay put or run. After all, the bomb is as powerful as an Alliance revolt, destroying everything except the Corvids in its clearing. Stopping an unrevealed plot through military might alone can be unwise, though, as the Corvid agents lurking in the shadows will always draw blood. However, if the Corvids’ plots go ahead unchallenged, the Corvids grow more powerful and notorious. Along with these exciting new factions the Riverfolk Expansion brings in a second Vagabond player board and three new Vagabond variants, allowing up to two players compete as the wily outcast. As well as this, this expansion comes with a robotic version of the Marquise de Cat, balancing out game play in smaller groups and allowing players to explore new factions.Root: The Underworld Expansion takes the middle spot on the list of the best Root expansions because it has tons of great content that you will love, but there just happens to be one other better. Similar to what you would expect, this lets you delve deeper into the world of root with the Underworld Expansion, which adds two new factions and a new board. Finally, I must add, I am actually good at Root. I lost 2 of perhaps the last 30 games I played. I have my preferred factions, but I can play as any of them and give anyone a run for their money. Having said that, I have never won a solo game against the Mechanical Marquise that came with the Riverfolk Expansion, and that’s both what this piece will focus on and also what I would rather no one brought up in my presence ever. Root: The Riverfolk Expansion is the first expansion of the base game Root. Now, up to six players can fight it out to see who is the strongest in all the woodland. The expansion brings two brand new factions to the mix: the Riverfolk Company, a trading band of otters, and the Lizard Cult, fanatical acolytes who build gardens to control the board. Now I run away from the mormon analogy as these are not nice people, of course this is a war game after all. You will be converting other pieces to become your followers with your wily ways, sacrificing warriors to gain more actions and ramp up your “spreading of the creed” engine. This expansion offers new types of factions that feel nothing like any of the base game ones, but are definitely best suited to groups you love to have a bit of negotiation and fun with their Root games. Perhaps not so much for the quiet and serious groups. It also brings into the foray three new vagabond characters for use with the base game material, and instructions for both cooperative and competitive bot play for those smaller player count games. With all the content from this game, Root can now be played with up to 6 players, although I am not sure I could sit at the table long enough for such a huge game to run its course. Best For Those Who Love To Be Devious

STAFF. "Root dominates winners at 2019 Origins Awards". tabletopgaming.co.uk . Retrieved 28 August 2021. The obvious draw of the Riverfolk Expansion is the two new factions it introduces. These are the titular Riverfolk Company and the devious Lizard Cult. Both come with delightful screen-printed wooden meeples, cardboard tokens, player boards and reference cards. Even before we get into playing the game itself, I have to say that the Riverfolk and Cult warrior designs are my favourite across the whole Root series. Those little grinning Lizards are adorable.Like the Marquise de Cat, the Duchy can muster a huge army of warriors and become a formidable military power. But the Duchy makes its home in the Burrow, located deep under the Woodland. To establish a foothold in the forest above, they must dig tunnels, which can appear in any clearing on the map. The other factions will never see it coming! They can’t stay passive in their homeland below—only by building Markets and Citadels in the Woodland can they gain enough allies and warriors to pose a threat. On par with Root, the components are excellent. Kyle Ferrin’s artwork is intriguing as ever, and the color contrast between the 2 maps is refreshing. I particularly enjoy the wooden tower and the wooden raft. Leder Games could have easily made these cardboard, but they didn’t, and that shows how committed they are to product quality. Besides, a wooden tower is much more stable for holding your victorious warriors as they look upon the peasants groveling before the pass! Jones, Shelly; Pobuda, Tanya (2020-12-06). "An Analysis of Gender-Inclusive Language and Imagery in Top-Ranked Board Game Rulebooks". Analog Game Studies . Retrieved 2023-09-03. You like the Lizard Cultists because battling them can actually help them, but you want more control over your army Oath: Chronicles of Empire and Exile, Pax Pamir, and John Company, other board games designed by Cole Wehrle

What changes and upgrades come with the new box?• How accessible is the content compared to existing goodies?• Does the expansion do anything to mitigate some of the negatives folks have against Root? The nefarious Marquise de Cat has seized the great woodland, intent on harvesting its riches. Under her rule, the many creatures of the forest have banded together. This Alliance will seek to strengthen its resources and subvert the rule of Cats. In this effort, the Alliance may enlist the help of the wandering Vagabonds who are able to move through the more dangerous woodland paths. Though some may sympathise with the Alliance’s hopes and dreams, these wanderers are old enough to remember the great birds of prey who once controlled the woods. The stage is set for a contest that will decide the fate of the great woodland. It is up to the players to decide which group will ultimately take root.If you’ve played Cosmic Encounter as the Zombie you’ll know what I’m talking about. Of course, if you found the kingmaking and ‘bash the leader’ flavour of the original not to your taste, then Riverfolk is not going to alleviate those problems for you. In fact, the introduction of the wheeling-dealing Riverfolk Company adds even more opportunities for table-talk and petty negotiating!