Root (a cute forest wargame)
Posted: Tue Jan 05, 2021 8:33 pm
We gave my kids Root and one of the expansions for Christmas, and we're now already on our third game. It's really fun!
If you don't know it, Root is a game where four factions battle for control of the forest: the industrialist Marquise de Cat (i.e. the Evil Empire), the aristocratic Eyrie Dynasties (a rival empire), the upstart Woodland Alliance (rodent Viet Cong), and the Vagabond (a solitary adventurer). The art style is almost too cute for words, but the systems and the conflict they produce are in deadly earnest. Other factions and other maps are available in a couple of major expansions.
The most interesting design element is the game is asymmetric in that each faction has very different rules for their resources and how they conduct actions and combat. In this the game is best described as a lighter, cuter version of the COIN series (Fire in the Lake, etc). The system really works here, and everything feels balanced and intricate without being too much for mid-level gamers to handle.
It's been a real success. My two teen boys and I are dedicated gamers, and my wife is willing to play with us under the right circumstances. (e.g. She enjoys Catan and Root and Scythe and few others, but nothing that takes more two or three hours to play.) But what's most cool is that my 80-year-old mother-in-law actually joined in the last game with us, and she really liked it. I don't think she has ever played a "modern" boardgame before this.
If you don't know it, Root is a game where four factions battle for control of the forest: the industrialist Marquise de Cat (i.e. the Evil Empire), the aristocratic Eyrie Dynasties (a rival empire), the upstart Woodland Alliance (rodent Viet Cong), and the Vagabond (a solitary adventurer). The art style is almost too cute for words, but the systems and the conflict they produce are in deadly earnest. Other factions and other maps are available in a couple of major expansions.
The most interesting design element is the game is asymmetric in that each faction has very different rules for their resources and how they conduct actions and combat. In this the game is best described as a lighter, cuter version of the COIN series (Fire in the Lake, etc). The system really works here, and everything feels balanced and intricate without being too much for mid-level gamers to handle.
It's been a real success. My two teen boys and I are dedicated gamers, and my wife is willing to play with us under the right circumstances. (e.g. She enjoys Catan and Root and Scythe and few others, but nothing that takes more two or three hours to play.) But what's most cool is that my 80-year-old mother-in-law actually joined in the last game with us, and she really liked it. I don't think she has ever played a "modern" boardgame before this.