Root · Reference sheet

Root reference sheet

Overview

2–4 players, ~60–90 min, asymmetric factions competing for the Woodland [p.2 — Introduction]
Win by reaching 30 victory points OR completing a dominance card [p.2 — Victory]
Each turn: Birdsong → Daylight → Evening, then pass left [p.2 — Flow of Play]
Marquise: scores by building; Eyrie: scores by roosts each Evening; Alliance: scores by spreading sympathy; Vagabond: scores by quests, aid, and removing hostile pieces [p.2 — Introduction]
3 players: remove Vagabond; 2 players: remove Vagabond and Alliance [p.4 — Setup]

Each player chooses a faction board and takes all matching pieces [p.4]
Place all score markers on '0' of the score track [p.4]
Shuffle the 54-card shared deck; deal 3 cards to each player [p.4]
Place 4 ruin chits on the 4 'R' slots on the map [p.4]
Place 12 item chits on their matching spaces near the top of the map [p.4]
Hand out faction overview cards; place 2 custom dice near the map [p.4]
Factions set up in order: Marquise → Eyrie → Alliance → Vagabond (see back of each faction board) [p.4]

Each player's turn follows three phases in order [p.2 — Flow of Play]

Birdsong — Faction-specific upkeep (place wood, add Decree cards, revolt/spread sympathy, flip Vagabond items)
Daylight — Main actions: craft cards, then take faction actions (move, battle, build, recruit, etc.)
Evening — Score points (Eyrie), take military operations (Alliance), draw cards (+1 per draw bonus), discard to 5

Shared actions available to most factions during Daylight:

Action	How	Effect
Move	Rule origin or destination	Move any number of own warriors along a path
Battle	Have warriors in clearing	Roll dice; attacker = higher die, defender = lower die (max = warriors)
Craft	Activate crafting pieces	Gain item or persistent effect; score VP if item crafted

Marquise Daylight (up to 3 actions) [p.10]

Action	Cost	Effect
Battle	—	Initiate a battle
March	—	Take two moves
Recruit	—	Place 1 warrior at each recruiter (once/turn)
Build	Wood equal to cost	Place 1 building in a ruled clearing with open slot
Overwork	1 matching card	Place 1 wood at one sawmill of matching suit

Vagabond Daylight (exhaust items) [p.18]

Action	Cost	Effect
Move	Exhaust 1 boot	Take a move
Battle	Exhaust 1 sword	Initiate a battle
Strike	Exhaust 1 crossbow	Remove 1 warrior (or building/token if no warriors) in clearing
Explore	Exhaust 1 torch	Take item from ruin; score 1 VP; remove ruin
Aid	Exhaust any item + give matching card	Give card to player in clearing; take 1 item from their Crafted Items
Quest	Exhaust 2 listed items	Claim quest; draw 2 cards OR score 1 VP per completed quest of that suit
Repair	Exhaust 1 hammer	Repair one damaged item

Trigger: Attacker chooses a clearing where they have warriors; picks any faction with pieces there as defender [p.8]
Step 1 — Ambush: Before rolling, defender may play a matching ambush card → deal 2 hits immediately; attacker may cancel with their own matching ambush card [p.9]
Step 2 — Roll: Roll 2 dice; attacker takes higher, defender takes lower; each capped at their own warrior count in the clearing [p.8]
Extra hits: Not capped by warrior count; attacker gets +1 extra hit if defender is defenseless (no warriors) [p.8]
Step 3 — Remove pieces: Simultaneously; player taking hits chooses which pieces to remove; must remove all own warriors before buildings/tokens [p.8]
Alliance exception: Guerrilla War — Alliance uses the higher roll when defending [p.14]
Vagabond: Max hits = undamaged swords; takes hits as damaged items; defenseless if no undamaged swords [p.20]

Marquise: Score VP shown on faction board each time a building is placed [p.10]
Eyrie: Score VP each Evening equal to rightmost empty space on Roosts track [p.12]
Alliance: Score VP each time a sympathy token is placed (per Sympathy track) [p.14]; also score VP for enemy buildings/tokens removed during revolt [p.15]
Vagabond: Score VP when improving relationships (Aid); score VP per quest of same suit when completing quests; score VP removing hostile faction pieces [p.17–19]
Any faction: Score VP when crafting an item (shown on card) [p.7]
Vagabond Explore: Score 1 VP per ruin explored [p.18]

Instant win: Reach 30 VP at any point during any player's turn [p.2]
Dominance win: Play a dominance card (requires ≥10 VP); remove score marker; win by meeting that card's condition instead [p.21]
Dominance cards cannot be crafted; pick one up by spending a matching suit card when it is near the map [p.21]
Vagabond coalition: Vagabond plays dominance card to share victory with the lowest-score player; wins if that player wins [p.21]
2-player games: no dominance cards; play two games, swap factions, add scores to determine winner [p.22]

Clearing: One of 12 map spaces; has a suit (fox/rabbit/mouse), 1–3 slots, and may have a path connection [p.5]
Rule: Having the most combined warriors + buildings in a clearing; ties = no ruler; required to move from/to [p.5]
Slot: Space in a clearing that holds one building; clearings with no open slots cannot receive more buildings [p.6]
Suit: Fox, rabbit, mouse, or bird; cards and clearings have suits; bird cards are wild [p.6]
Supporters: Alliance-only stack of cards spent to place sympathy or revolt; separate from hand [p.14]
Outrage: When a sympathy token is removed or warriors enter a sympathetic clearing, that player gives a matching card to Alliance's Supporters stack [p.14]
Decree: Eyrie's mandatory action list; failing to complete any action causes Turmoil [p.12]
Turmoil: Eyrie penalty — lose 1 VP per bird card in Decree, purge Decree, depose leader, end Daylight [p.13]
Defenseless: Defender has no warriors in the battle clearing; attacker deals +1 extra hit [p.8]
Exhaust: Vagabond flips an item face down to use it for an action [p.17]
Damaged: Item moved to Damaged box; cannot be exhausted; repaired by Repair action or by sleeping in a forest [p.17–18]
Coalition: Vagabond shares victory condition with a chosen player via dominance card [p.21]