War … war never changes.
Our past and present are filled with conflicts, large and small, to the point of thinking that war is an intrinsic aspect of our nature.
And perhaps for this reason there are so many novels, films, TV series and war-themed games: they’re a way to exorcise fear, sensitize ourselves to tragedy, vent this “natural feeling” in a safe environment, and teach us that in the midst of horror there can be heroism, kindness and a spirit of sacrifice.
Board games are not immune to the charm of war and there is a whole strand of wargames, in which one or more factions fight to achieve their goals: surely we are all familiar with Risk, which extends the conflict on a worldwide scale with a mix of strategy and (very much) luck with dice and cards.
Since 1957, the year of Risk’s release, much time passed by and the genre radically evolved by proposing the most different scenarios and mechanics: one of the most creative and exciting examples of recent years is Root, a woodland might and right board game.
This game, created by Cole Wehrle and originally published by Leder Games, fits into asymmetric titles genre, those in which each player has a faction with mechanics, abilities and objectives different from one another.
The beauty of this kind of board game is that each game is practically unique, because a whole series of interactions between gameplay and people come into play; these interactions are nearly impossible to repeat the same way on other matches.
For this reason, even if you can play Root with only 2 players, this title is best blayed with 4 people at the table, who can also become 6 with the first expansion of the game, Riverfolk.
In Root, woods are controlled by the Cats faction, whose goal is to consolidate their dominance by building structures.
Meanwhile, the nest and its hawks try to reclaim the land of their ancestors, conquering area after area of the woods and openly challenging the order imposed by the felines.
But the threat does not come only from above: the undergrowth creatures have formed an Alliance to lay the Cats, adopting a long-term strategy that involves the recruitment of new forces, the accumulation of resources and the use of subterfuge and conspiracies to hinder opponents while waiting for revenge.
Finally, the Wanderer… wanders. More than a faction, he is a single character who pursues inscrutable goals and offers his loyalty where needed; his unpredictability makes him a fearful opponent, who can unexpectedly seize victory and blow up the careful plans of all the others woodland creatures or team up with one of the factions and win together.
With Riverfolk two other factions are added: the Cult of the Lizards, which represent the religious group intent on converting the settlements already established by the adversaries, and the Riverfolk, beavers who bargain with other races to find a way towards victory.
The first player to reach 30 points wins. Points are gained by pursuing the objectives and exploiting the mechanics that characterize each faction.
How is this uniquely complex complexity managed? With dice, cards and many, many, many meeples and tokens!
Part of the charm of Root is precisely in the care taken for the graphics and the game elements, with over 100 cards, over 50 troops to deploy, dozens of structures to build and various markers for objects and resources. And we’re only talking about the base game, with the expansion these numbers grow further!
For this reason we have created an organizer specifically dedicated to Root, which also allows you to also house the elements of Riverfolk, to quickly setup your game and start the match without downtime, in order to establish who will be the king of the woods.
Find out the other organizers in our catalogue and contact us if you have any request or question!
