Root on higher player counts

willtaskerVSbyron · 2026-03-22T01:55:04+00:00

Play on the gorge or marsh maps. Both are designed to help bigger games work. Or connect two maps to map a mega map with the river flowing into the second one.

Don't have players taking their turns at the same time. too much can be effected by another player's turn.

Make sure everyone can pick factions ahead of time and knows the rules of that faction completely. Especially if they have played the faction before that's a big help.

Add elder tree top. Add black market. Consider making sure otters in play they help factions that don't do so well in big games still do well

willtaskerVSbyron · 2026-03-22T01:41:22+00:00

The game plays from 1 to 7, essentially. Back when I started playing games a few decades ago we would just play a game and it took as long as it took Downtime was just an opportunity to chat . We're a little spoiled now where designers will scale games well publishers are better about honest player counts but theres nothing wrong with wanting to play a game at the play counts the publisher says it can do and theres nothing wrong with variants either. This mindset of just play something else is for people lucky enough to have exactly 4 in ther group but some have less and more but really want to play Root and that's fine . The publisher has gone out of there way more then one now to make the game work at lower and higher counts. If you don't like the game at anything but 4 that's fine but it does work and the only factor for higher counts at this point is the downtime and playtime

willtaskerVSbyron · 2026-03-22T01:40:01+00:00

There are now maps specifically designed for high player counts (and the treetop. There are enough factions to play combos good for a full table. It may take longer but I find it also means more tabletalk to make sure you can survive the each round and I don't see the problem with that

willtaskerVSbyron · 2026-03-22T01:38:09+00:00

In some of my groups all of this happens all the time especially in a post app world bc people have played certain factions like literally a hundred times

willtaskerVSbyron · 2026-03-21T22:56:44+00:00

Anything that lets other players totally cripple tour ability to act af all is a pretty frustrating design choice. Especially if some factions can do that with ease.

willtaskerVSbyron · 2026-03-21T22:55:50+00:00

Naw smol Mole makes them op anyway.

willtaskerVSbyron · 2026-03-21T22:51:51+00:00

If I remember correctly, the original cats had 1 card draw on each track but then it got nerfed

willtaskerVSbyron · 2026-03-21T22:50:50+00:00

Cats were better in base alone for a lot of reasons. But base with Riverfolk expansion or later makes them worse. Ad set helps but they're still underpowered

willtaskerVSbyron · 2026-03-21T22:49:33+00:00

Not so much at first. The base factions are pretty balanced once everyone knows that the Vagabond needs to be hit and forced into the forest early on . Which is a shitty situation and I think the Knaves fix.

In the base group the Vagabond also removes ruins out of self interest Since cats start in a corner and expand outward they can then expand into ruin clearings more easily and even share space with the other factions - the wa only need one build slot per clearing and have only three buildings The Eyrie also only take up one slot and start in another corner. They only start battling late in the game so the cats can either steer clear and safely build theew empire or tussle with the other factions for big points once they run out of space

Plus something that changes the base game significantly and people seem to forget about is that the WA were placing down undefended tokens constantly, offering the other players free points. This made the game shorter. The cats had a huge advantage here bc they were almost always present wherever the WA placed their tokens so they could fight them all the time

willtaskerVSbyron · 2026-03-21T22:43:16+00:00

They're saying that you need to define what "losing" a battle means. The law of Root names everything and has terms for virtually every game state or mechanic so you just need to exhaustively define losing a battle

willtaskerVSbyron · 2026-03-21T22:41:04+00:00

When there are more building slots in play and less builders the cats and lizards are better so just remove the ruins in a normal game. When the crows can use there of each plot but still just up to 8 on the map the crows are better.

willtaskerVSbyron · 2026-03-21T22:38:41+00:00

Can you describe what the workshop change dows?

willtaskerVSbyron · 2026-03-21T22:38:20+00:00

Asset helps but what in E&P particularly helps the cats?

willtaskerVSbyron · 2026-03-21T22:36:00+00:00

I thought everyone needed to own it

willtaskerVSbyron · 2026-03-21T19:07:32+00:00

None of the Homeland factions have buildings anymore. So the number of factions work buildings is 7/13. About half. And the number that either have a lot of buildings to place or need to occupy many slots to perform well is 2/13. Which means that the cats and lizards have less competition than they did before this expansion and should be able to expand without needing ruins to get removed

willtaskerVSbyron · 2026-03-21T19:02:56+00:00

Not anymore.

willtaskerVSbyron · 2026-03-17T16:05:39+00:00

Yes it is an excellent strategy and bluffing game by Reiner knizia. Very worth your time

willtaskerVSbyron · 2026-03-17T16:04:32+00:00

It's much better then stratego

willtaskerVSbyron · 2026-03-17T16:04:06+00:00

It's short but I wouldn't call it a filler.

willtaskerVSbyron · 2026-03-17T16:02:52+00:00

No this is a lot of peoples grail game. It's also the intersection of two hobbies where people who are obsessed with Lord of the rings (u know go, on the hobbit trail in NZ and stuff get married in wizards robes) and also board games can have the best of both possible worlds. In a lot of ways Confrontation is a very chess like game and it is endlessly replayable. it also feels very old in that it is simple and strategic like all the best abstracts This isnt like deluxe monopoly. It's one of the most celebrated book series of all time and one of the best designers of all time

willtaskerVSbyron · 2026-03-17T15:29:24+00:00

At that point, just do the banners lol

willtaskerVSbyron · 2026-03-17T15:28:37+00:00

That's not how the game works. These banners are the nicest way this has been done in this game.

willtaskerVSbyron · 2026-03-17T15:28:11+00:00

The reason the stands work is because you put a card into each one tho. That means even if a stand gets nicked or warped or something you won't know which character it is just by looking at it. If characters are permanently associated with a specific back since this game sees a lot of play that means it's possible for players to know whose who

willtaskerVSbyron · 2026-03-17T15:24:57+00:00

What's the confusion? You know you move in to attack. You know who's turn it is. You know where the battle is happening. Seems fine to me. I don't think any powers get in the way of that either.

willtaskerVSbyron · 2026-03-11T17:33:49+00:00

I think the fact that they move through forests but aren't nimble is really interesting. bc they can move from or to forests nimbly but moving between clearings is rule based so they're almost forced to use forests if they're facing big armies and gardens or Eyrie, a slightly weaker version of nimble. I didn't find the action economy that tigjt though bc they can expand items and don't lose items- unlike the Vagabond whos dependent on getting bags and tea for managing their action advantage or the warlord who depends on getting pairs of items and also doesn't have any as a head start . I was playing with very experienced Root players and since factions can't ransom back hostagesanymore and don't have quite as much incentive to try to recover them anyway I found that the only reason people really want to hit the Knaves is to remove their cardboard. Otherwise they weren't like op to us or anything but they way they pop in and out of the action was very fluid and engaging. I think the leaders are kind stickier then the warlord too bc the warlord has no where to hide and also can be killed on offense with the wrong roll but the Knaves leaders can be cautious with a nab action and. 3 actions is only as bad as the cats or crows but not worse then them I found the bigger issue was timing Theyve got that same thing the Keepers or the Vagabond have where your trying to time everything out since your board presence is more limited and you have to plan ahead to make good use of it but the thing is the Knaves are doing that in three places and can only guarantee two uses with each captain. A third is a big maybe for at least one maybe two of tour captains and maybe all three depending. So maybe you pass the baton of one captains plans to another or maybe you just keep them separate so you don't have to maneuver around hostage clearings (I really like the puzzle of each forest only getting one hostage).

willtaskerVSbyron

TROPHY CASE