Root: Marauder Expansion - First Impressions / Review

- Check out the Game on BGG -

- Game Description: BGG -
Root: The Marauder Expansion introduces two new factions to the Woodland⁠—the Lord of the Hundreds and Keepers in Iron—alongside four hirelings and a new setup draft suitable for both casual and competitive play.

Play as the:
- Lord of the Hundreds – Oppress the Woodland and burn it to the ground if need be. You suffer no dissent.
- Keepers in Iron – Lead your exiled order of devout knights into battle to recover ancient relics. For glory!

Discover unique strategies and make the Woodland wilder by adding hirelings! These small factions can be used at any player count and introduce surprising new power combinations as well as a chess-like tension to lower player count games of Root.

- Forest Patrol & Feline Physicians – Secure your realm and heal deadly injuries with Marquise elites.
- Last Dynasty & Bluebird Nobles – Crush your foes and prove your legitimacy with the last Eyrie regiment.
- Spring Uprising & Rabbit Scouts – Revolt against despots and fight for freedom with Alliance sympathizers.
- The Exile & The Bandit – Stalk the forests and steal what you need with these Vagabond mercenaries.

00:00:00 - Welcome
00:00:45 - Overview
00;03:00 - Thoughts
00:06:49 - Are You Missing Anything?

#Boardgames #Quackalope #Root

[boxcarbuddha]

Advanced Setup is one of the best things brought to Root. Even if you would rather choose your factions, as opposed to drafting them, you should still use the ADSET cards for setup instructions. They added way more variety to the possible board states and gave some starting buffs to the factions that needed it

[thedeltastrat]

6:49 imho, this expansion is the most essential expansion for me because I can primarily play solo or occasionally 2 player, having 2 more red factions and the Hirelings is a must for me now. In contrast, I have found myself rarely using the extra maps from Underworld, because I haven't reached the saturation point of the base ones yet. And I still haven't even bought E and P yet lol.
Just thought I would share a contrasting opinion - as this is by far my favourite expansion.

[shanerion]

Even if you don’t use the random factions, always use advanced setup. It includes buffs to the Cats, Lizards and Corvids

[matissmatiss]

Yeah, do faction reviews, comparisson, etc. It would be awesome.

[daninanestean]

I would say ADSET is essential, since it boosts some factions who need it (Cats, Lizards, Corvids).

[sethwinslow]

I just got the shipping notification for my copy. Should arrive Wednesday!!!!

[shanerion]

There is something essential here. Without these factions, the only high reach factions are the Cats, the Birds, and the Moles. 2 of those three were in every four player game. Now that there’s 5 high reach factions, there will be some variety.

[gornothdragnbone]

Advanced setup is pretty huge for the game once you've got an experienced group IMO. Even if you let people choose their factions, the buffs to weaker factions in the adset really improve the root experience and I can't see myself playing without it!

[michaelmadden]

Faction strategy guides would be great. Thx for the Root coverage.

[leventedoleviczenyi]

Well, it's not a musthave for new Root players. But it's 100% essential for seasoned players. Landmarks and complex faction for variability, the advanced setup cards are huge and the hirelings are super fun also.

[BenjaminH_]

Getting my copy tomorrow. Very excited about this, especially advanced set up!

[thedeltastrat]

Hey you guys have almost the same game set up as I did for my first game with Marauders! I had Keepers, Warlord, Corvids with Forest Patrol, Warm Sun Prophets and Bunny Scouts, and the Treetop and Ferry landmarks.

[nitrorev]

This expansion is the most important since the games Launch. You guys are right that it was definitely designed with the more competitive communities in mind though it's still fun for more casual players. The new factions demand more immediate policing so their inclusion in a game makes any Root game more entangled and interesting.

Advanced Setup is low-key the most important inclusion in the box but it gets no love outside the competitive community because it's not as exciting on paper as the factions and hirelings. With Advanced setup, the faction draft is more equitable, weaker factions are boosted and the choice of starting location is gameified which opens up a lot more strategic considerations of which faction you choose knowing the turn order and your hand of cards, etc. If you prefer to just choose factions, that's totally fine but it doesn't really work for competitive play. Root has a vibrant competitive community (we just wrapped up a tournament of 70+ games) but we sometimes forget that we are the minority and want different things from Root than most people who play the game.

Keep pumping out the Root content and I look forward to more!

[lainvohndyrec]

The hirelings solved a lot of problems for 2 or 3 player games and it makes it more balanced, fun and fast. but I think I wont add the hirelings during 4+ players for it will add too much clutter, unless the group are willing to have a niche experience.

[RiHa_Games]

Would you keep the game if you can only play with 2? I'm at the point selling all my root stuff because it seems 2 is just not the way to go, even though it works for some.

[williamblack]

Hasn't arrived yet because the Post Service is a little bit stupid around here but I hope it will be here on monday.

[jcwable]

I found the Keepers of Iron a little weird at first then they clicked in my head. They’re probably better for higher player counts. An interesting game would be Keepers, Hundreds, and Marquise

[HalloikbenJim]

0:35 Sadly I have to agree on the ugly part, long hair was much better, this bald with beard is kinda creepy

[JosephDeRubeis]

I would definitely watch faction strategy guide videos from you. Love the Root coverage! Probably my favorite game of all time (if not at least a high contender). Still waiting for my expansion content to come though...

[intrusivemoose]

Gosh I wanted to focus on the material being shown, being as I am a massive fan of Root and you two lovely people, but the video said 10:01 and I just…I just can’t. One extra second spent watching, not playing. ;)