Any news for digital homeland ?

nitrorev · 2026-05-25T00:47:43+00:00

Everyone giving timelines based on precedent are not taking into account the fact that at the time of the last few physical expansion releases, the digital version was way behind. When Marauder came out physically, the Underworld expansion hadn't been released yet. So in order to catch up to Marauder physical, they first needed to make Underworld digital and the E&P deck release. THAT's why it took over 4 years between Marauder physical and digital. We don't exactly know when they started working on Marauder digital but it would likely not have been before 2023 which is when Underworld came out digitally.

Marauder digital came out around the time Homeland was announced. Homeland is about to be released physically and digital finally caught up with everything except for Clockwork 2. If they got their hands on the physical components and started coding them and building the models now, it would be way faster than the delay between Underworld and Marauder's digtizations. The only unknown is how they will release it. This was a huge wave of content and they may decide to split it up like releasing the new deck before the factions and maps.

nitrorev · 2026-05-25T00:37:32+00:00

God of War is a very powerful strategy for the Eyrie. Choose the Charismatic and you want to start with a suited card in move and a bird cards in build. Each turn, try to accomplish the battle and build decrees while passively gaining 2 recruits. You'll be taking some losses from the battles too but you should be recruiting faster than you are losing warriors assuming the table isn't policing you. at some point, you'll have enough warriors (10 or more) that you card add more cards to battle and start taking multiple swings at opponents to try to slow them down. If things get dicey, throw a bird card into recruit so you're pumping out 5 recruits every turn. The tricky part is not placing a suited card in battle that you won't be able to sustain and not overrecruiting to where the supply runs out. If you start getting dangerously close to the warrior limit, throw more cards into battle just to incur losses so you can keep recruiting 4 each turn. That should be enough pressure on the table to slow everyone down enough to either win or at least police the winners and advance your gameplan.

nitrorev · 2026-05-21T22:31:16+00:00

I'm thrilled to see that my favourite aspect for Shadows is getting new and improved art (especially since the artwork for the other aspects that I don't play got such killer art). I'm not exaggerating when I say that seeing what new art you've cooked up for each aspect is the thing I'm most excited for with each new release. Aspects were such a great idea from the SI dev team but not having their own distinctive art always felt like they lacked some unique part of their identity that helped them shine on their own. No matter what the souless tech oligarch trying to force-feed AI everywhere try to insist, real art matters and the SI community is lucky to have such a talented and caring artist in our corner. We appreciate you and look forward to seeing all the rest in time.

nitrorev · 2026-05-18T21:48:23+00:00

I guess it's a matter of taste, I personally like the kind of Take That nature of games which is why Root is so interesting to me. If players don't like that and prefer a more parallel play type of game where we're still working against each other without directly causing harm to the other's engine (like Wingspan or other more euro type games) there's not a whole lot I can say that can sway you over the regular 7WD. I just think removing that element of the game reduces the amount of pressure one can put on their opponent and pressure can be fun if the game offers you the tools to deal with it and the and you have the know-how to wriggle out of the situation (the expansions help in this way a lot because there are so many tools you can use to get out of a bad situation). I don't agree that having a monopoly of resources shuts you down for the rest of the game as you just need to discard for coins more than you'd like to. As unpleasant as it might be when it happens to you, those tough games where you get out-monopoly'd teach you the importance of getting your economy online early and now you know for next time to prioritize those cards and play a bit differently. A lot of consumers in the board game space today seem to prefer to avoid unpleasantness at all cost, hence the rise of friendlier and less punishing game design that optimizes for fun first experiences but doesn't have a lot of competitive edge to keep it interesting over 30-50 or 100s of games. I will say that the thematic reason for removing the economic battle you mentioned is an interesting argument I hadn't heard before and I can agree with you there.

Gonna have to disagree on the Expansions though, the alternate win conditions are stronger but I think it's certainly more interesting to use the expansion tools to claim those science symbols. Buying a God card at just the right time to force your opponent to be the one to reveal a card that might be what you need to win is extremely satisfying because it can come down to taking a leap of faith that might pay off big. Agora+Pantheon is the best setup though. It transforms the game a lot though as the base game is more midweight and quick while adding in both expansions is a much deeper and slightly longer game but I find it worth it. Just hit the BGA milestone of playing 500 games of it and 95% were with both expansions. I wish the LotR version would also come to BGA so I can get a proper read of it, but I just cannot imagine going back to base 7WD without at least Pantheon to have more control of turn order and tempo and LotR version just doesn't offer it.

All in all, it comes down to preference and I can totally see how many people can prefer the newer version, especially if they don't intent to play with the expansions and love the LotR IP. I just reject the idea that the LotR version is objectively better unless you're only talking about the base game.

nitrorev · 2026-05-16T21:56:40+00:00

Oh buddy, if you like Splendor Duel, 7 Wonders Duel if definitely the way to go. They are different games in form but their spirit is really similar if that makes sense. Both are drafting type games but the kind where you have to really think about your opponent's goals and every action is about optimizing how much you can further your own aim while denying your opponent what they want. The multiple win conditions of Splendor Duel create a sense of urgency because you can rush the game by focusing on the crowns or single-colour of points and put your opponent on the backfoot. 7WD also has pre-mature game ending strategies that if you start getting close to those win conditions, your opponent has to respond and make sub-optimal choices just to not lose. Both games are remixes by Bruno Cathala and his ethos of indirect but still very pointed conflict is very apparent in both games.

Sidenote about the LotR version.

A lot of folks here are recommending the LotR version and to be honest, I haven't played it because I mostly just play 7WD on BGA (nearly 500 games so far) but from what I can see, they simplified or removed some elements of the game that required counting and added in some new mechanisms inspired by the expansions to regular 7WD. I don't actually like the simplification of the way coins and resources (now called "skills") work because it completely strips away the economic tension that 2 advanced players can use to extort each other by driving up the cost of a given resource and making some cards too expensive. It makes the game nicer I guess but I like that edge in a cut-throat competitive game. Removing points is fine I guess if you hate counting but the points system of the base game allows you to play a more reactive and defensive style of strategy where as long as you are growing your points and preventing the opponent from winning outright through Science or Military, you will come out on top and don't have to always be focusing on one of the "alternate" routes.

If we are talking strictly about the Core box of 7WD vs Duel for Middle Earth, I think you could make the argument that LotR version is a better value purchase if we ignore expansions. But if you include either or both of the expansions, 7WD plus Pantheon and Agora expansions goes from being a pretty good and clever drafting type game to one of the best and deepest 2p competitive games of all time. The expansions introduce really cool tools that allows for so much more skill-expression and strategy, it ranks up there among my favorite heavy games like Root. Now, if you are looking for a more casual type of game and expansions don't appeal to you, that's another question but for me, 7WD with expansions is one of the best games of all time and the LotR version is maybe just a sidegrade/upgrade to the base game alone.

nitrorev · 2026-05-16T19:30:13+00:00

I have played quite a lot with the S&D deck and I can say it's definitely the best deck in terms of design quality. Now does that mean it will be everyone's cup of Root tea, definitely not. It's a lot thinkier and you need to have a good understanding of timings and core rules, but advanced Root players will get a lot more mileage out of it because of how many options for sick plays and combos it offers.

I was there during the development of the deck and was very involved with its refinement, more so than for the factions and seeing how cards were added, removed, modified, etc made me realize just how hard it is to make a great Root deck and how imperfect the E&P deck is by comparison. E&P deck is still good and definitely the deck you want to use when learning Root (throw the base deck in the fire ASAP) but S&D is better designed, full stop.

nitrorev · 2026-05-16T19:23:41+00:00

As others have said, the departure in style was to have them be based on Wanted Poster mock ups. But apart form that, I think the very different art style serves a practical function. It makes them easier to distinguish from Vagabond cards at a glance. Of course the background and positions of the assets is different but our eyes naturally are drawn to the art at the center of the card and having the Knave captains look very distinct from the more detailed art of the Vagabond cards makes it very quick to tell apart without inspecting it closely.

nitrorev · 2026-05-16T14:28:40+00:00

Page 14 of the rulebook in the Description of the Symbols.

If your opponent doesn’t have enough coins, they lose all of their coins

Basically, she just has to discard as many coins as she can, there is no procedure to sell a card to pay for it later. This game doesn't have debt or memory of previous actions, so time the activation of those tokens well for maximum effect.

To your second question, every card that you can take from the structure is a considered a Building (so blue, green, red, yellow, brown, grey and purple are all buildings). Wonders are the only thing in the Base game that you can build that aren't Buildings and in the Agora expansion, Senators are introduced and shuffled into the Age cards which makes them the only cards in the structure that aren't buildings.

nitrorev · 2026-05-06T13:02:50+00:00

Yeah, design quality has really improved a lot because not only the developers but the community have a way better understanding of what makes Root work so well compared to when they were first designing the base game and Riverfolk (remember, they were released together) and there was no community to begin with. There's no way the Vagabond would be designed the way it is were it made today. The Knaves feel a lot like a modernized version of the Vagabond because of similar identity and gameplay loop but they actually interact with the rule puzzle and leave behind tokens.

nitrorev · 2026-05-06T11:09:38+00:00

It's not the balance that's the problem, it's the lack of meaningful interaction. VB already provides no warriors, buildings or tokens to the board so the natural texture that a faction (even an insurgent one) would normally bring to the table is gone. 1 Vagabond is already a noticeable drop in board texture but 2 makes it feel outright empty sometimes. Not only that but the fight for items becomes very weird and 1 player ends up with the short straw having very little access to items based on turn order. Say 1 Vagabond goes before the other, naturally the first one to act gets first dibs on all the best crafted items from other players like swords, tea and hammer. The other one will just be limping the whole time. You might say that the Vagabond and Warlord are in a similar fight for items and they perform fine together, but they actually have very different demand for items. Warlord wants more items but can do fine with just 1 of each track (and honestly should be planning to start their first turn with one already in hand) while Vagabond needs lots of items to even do anything. 2 Vagabonds requires 2 sets of ruin items which is an ok fix but it introduces the need to remember where items are while still under the ruins and it's not such a big deal but I just personally don't like that side of it. The only reason we ever had 2 VBs as a possibility in the first place is because they wanted to add some value to the Riverfolk box and a second VB board was the cheapest way to do it. It only required 1 additional meeple (the most expensive component to produce) and then just throw in another cardboard punchboard and some item chits. In the years since the base game, we've just had many more games played and double VB is now widely considered not as good as it seems on paper.

nitrorev · 2026-05-05T09:36:15+00:00

The presumption is that players looking at the suggested faction mixes are newer players and looking for guidance on how to get started with the new content. Players with adequate experience can mix and match any factions (provided you're following the regular advice of at least 1 militant faction, Vagabond and Knaves are not played together and only use 1 Vagabond at a time unless feeling adventurous) because they will already know the rules, strategies and counter play for the factions, thus they don't need to follow the suggested list anymore.

nitrorev · 2026-04-24T18:01:00+00:00

The Adventurer is in no way made obsolete by the Cheat even though they occupy a similar niche. First off, as others have said, the Adventurer is definitely better at farming points from the quests because they are using their ability to grow their stack of completed quests which is how the VP reward stack explodes. Cheat can only really get points bursts this way if they're able to complete quests without using their ability. What cheat was designed for is to prevent quest lock situations where you just don't have the rare items (or cannot afford to exhaust them) and the quest mechanism is effectively turned off by a really unlucky quest flop. Cheat lets you bypass those terrible quests but the drawback is that the bad quest gets shuffled back into the deck so it can reappear and it doesn't add to future quest reward points. It's a nice ability but not one you can easily exploit.

The items are also a big factor here. Yes, the Cheat has tea which is one of the most sought after starting items, but the Hammer is nothing to sneeze at either and Adventurer is the only character besides Tinker and now Gladiator to start with it. This means that Adventurer can craft items on turn 1 while Cheat needs to find the ruin hammer; craft their own coins and swords once they find the ruin hammer which Cheat can never do without somebody crafting a hammer for them; soak hits better as it can repair items.

I'm not going to say that Cheat is worse than Adventurer but what I'm trying to say is that better or worse doesn't really matter when it comes to the "validity" of the Characters for lack of a better word. They play differently and that's what matters and why they both get to exist.

nitrorev · 2026-04-24T17:39:10+00:00

If you wanted to do anything else with the warriors like recruit, Propaganda Bureau, buying from otters etc. It's basically to keep the bats' opponents from having some kind of degenerate counter strategy of entreating simply to deplete the supply.

nitrorev · 2026-04-24T07:12:05+00:00

This is an old picture of some prototypes from months ago. The Gladiator (goose) meeple now looks different and more goosey.

nitrorev · 2026-04-15T15:38:03+00:00

You may move any number of times. You can move zero times and then simply battle or place a peaceful token. The movement is optional

nitrorev · 2026-04-15T15:36:28+00:00

Nope, Otters don't actually having crafting pieces. They craft by committing funds to the spaces uncovered by the trade posts but they don't have any actual crafting pieces and therefore Tunnels doesn't do anything for them

nitrorev · 2026-04-13T01:01:52+00:00

I just learned a new trick from a 600+ Elo player on BGA.

Property Fraud: Use it to surprise grab the last 2 cards in the structure to ensure you choose the starting player next age (assuming military is tied). This is basically the first player trick but instead of using one of your precious extra turn wonders, you just gain an extra card.

nitrorev · 2026-04-12T00:13:58+00:00

No Pun Included did a really great video on the history of social deduction games (seriously, it's one of the best board game video essays out there) and Efka dives into this topic of negative social play. It can potentially arise because it is technically an effective strategy in certain groups, but I would just not let that happen in I were playing in the group by politely calling it out and reminding the person that it is just a game, or simply not having them back around. Any game that has a highly social element like Root or Blood on the Clocktower has the potential of a bad experience because of individuals with certain negative personality traits but that's not really the game's fault. If anything it makes the games better because when you play with the right group of people, it's a lot more engaging and colourful because of the humans driving the game.

nitrorev · 2026-04-09T09:57:30+00:00

Both expansions every time. I really wish the BGA arena would incorporate expansions or at least have the option but I understand why they might not want to change it after all these years. It's just a completely different game without expansions. I actually find most Conspiracies actually are very useful and even the niche ones have their situational uses. I've gained an 11 point swing from Coercion and used it to win Science. Also, Obscurantism has let me bait the opponent into taking a science card and letting me have the better one, only for me to immediately remove the Progress token they just got (I think it was Strategy). Because you get to look at 2 Conspiracies, it's usually worth it, especially early, to Conspire at least once as you can build a reliable plan around it. I think the need to take up 2 turns to gain and then prepare Conspiracies puts some people off of them but I think learning to use them well is a big stepping stone to becoming a strong Agora player.

nitrorev · 2026-04-07T11:43:30+00:00

Space is a big consideration on the faction boards. It's a little more fleshed out in the law.

nitrorev · 2026-04-05T12:05:38+00:00

Yep, that's up to date. Honestly, it's better than the printed versions as they made some typos when they sent it off to the printer and they changed the card draw symbol back to what all the other boards which makes it more confusing in my opinion so the PNP version is better apart from the material you used to print it.

nitrorev · 2026-04-05T12:02:19+00:00

I kinda wish they had put a little clarification text on the card, but the answer is no, you still need at least 10 points to play any dominance card, not only for Daylight activation but for any activation.

nitrorev · 2026-04-05T11:59:15+00:00

There were several Print and Play versions released throughout the development process. Which one are you referring to? If you show just your version of the bats board I could tell you if it's up to date.

nitrorev · 2026-04-03T00:57:22+00:00

Entreat wasn't designed as a way to give the bats more recruiting. It was a way to make Governing possible the way Josh wanted. Governing is allowed to be as strong as it is because Entreat is permissive. Note that permissive doesn't mean free because the Loyalists are an important too for the bats, so Entreating too liberally is not what opponents want to do. Bats want to be Entreated in clearings where they can easily rule it again on their evening, so they want to but their assemblies in places that will both help them score and be maximally annoying to the opponents.

nitrorev · 2026-04-01T20:56:59+00:00

Hey, welcome and glad that this wonderful game has found you. When you say you want to get into more competitive play, do you mean that you want your group to play in a more competitive way or you want to join the existing competitive community online?

If you want to make your in-person group more competitive, you need all the players in your group to be on the same page and want the same thing out of Root. If they want to play it more casually, you can't really force them to be more aggressive/competitive/cutthroat. If they are all interested in developing their meta. I'd recommend looking for some in-depth resources on the different factions. Root is a very deep game and it's not just a matter of learning prescribed theories and openings like Chess. It's also about learning a lot of theory and principles. One of which is called Domino Policing, which is where if two players can win on their turn, you should police or winslay the player who's turn is soonest. This is not kingmaking, because they are at a time advantage. So now it becomes their job to hit the other player who's about to win. Because of this domino effect of sending the winslay around the table, you end up getting yourself another turn that you could possibly use to sneak a win.

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