0:13

Hello and welcome. I'm

0:13

Rachel.

0:16

I'm Jake.

0:17

And we're so bored. The

0:17

Podcast where each episode we

0:22

take a close look at a tabletop

0:22

game and discuss our personal

0:25

experiences with said game to

0:25

help answer the question, Will

0:29

this cure our boredom?

0:30

That's right, we look at

0:30

the mechanics complexity and

0:33

replayability in a game to

0:33

determine if it's the perfect

0:35

alternative to well, let's say,

0:35

trying to keep your sweat off

0:40

your computer while you plan for

0:40

your next podcast episode in a

0:43

90 degree house because the AC

0:43

repair company first broke your

0:47

AC five days ago, and now can't

0:47

come to replace it for another

0:51

five to seven business days.

0:53

Yeah. Love living in

0:53

Arizona.

0:59

Good thing it wasn't 115

0:59

Now yet? No, not yet. We are

1:05

getting there.

1:06

Before we get started

1:06

today, we have an exciting

1:09

announcement. So this is

1:09

something that I've been teasing

1:12

for a couple of weeks now. But

1:12

we are going to start streaming

1:17

board games on Twitch. Yes,

1:17

we've got basically all the

1:21

equipment that we need. At this

1:21

point in time, we have run a

1:26

little like setup and test

1:26

recording, which I did upload to

1:30

Instagram and Facebook recently.

1:30

So you can go and check that out

1:34

and kind of see what things look

1:34

like. But basically, tomorrow,

1:39

Wednesday, April 27, we are

1:39

going to be doing our first live

1:44

stream.

1:45

Yes. And a very, very,

1:45

yes.

1:48

Very what?

1:50

That's it. I'm just very

1:50

Yes.

1:52

Okay. I'm not sure what

1:52

we're playing yet. But it is

1:56

30pm Pacific

1:56

Time, which is 8:30pm. Eastern

2:03

time. So you can follow us on

2:03

Twitch at so board podcast just

2:08

like everything else. Right now

2:08

our goal is to stream a board

2:11

game about once a week, I'm

2:11

hoping that we can increase that

2:16

in the future. But our plates

2:16

are just so full right now. So

2:20

that's what we feel we can

2:20

commit to is once a week. Come

2:23

check us out. And we would love

2:23

to have you guys come interact

2:26

with us and tell us all about

2:26

how we're playing the board

2:29

games wrong or something.

2:30

That's probably true. And

2:30

speaking of streaming, I have

2:33

been streaming video games semi

2:33

regularly on my personal Twitch,

2:38

you can find me at

2:38

twitch.tv/naughty Doc 541.

2:44

That's NAU gh t y d, OC 541. My

2:44

schedule changes each week. So

2:50

every Sunday I update that to

2:50

reflect the coming week of what

2:54

I'll be streaming and when I'll

2:54

be on. So come check me out if

2:57

you'd like to watch video games.

2:57

And if you don't, you can come

3:00

check me out and just make fun

3:00

of me. That's fine, too. So come

3:03

check us out. We're excited for

3:03

this new streaming platform.

3:06

Yeah, that should be

3:06

fun. All right. So today we're

3:09

talking about Root.

3:11

Yes, Root is an asymmetric

3:11

start area control game. It was

3:17

published in 2018. By letter

3:17

games, that's le d e r. It was

3:21

designed by Cole whirl with art

3:21

by Kyle Ferran. And this game is

3:26

pretty impressive. It's been

3:26

nominated for a ton of

3:28

international board game awards,

3:28

and won no less than 13 of those

3:32

nominations since 2018. This

3:32

game is always very high on the

3:36

board game geeks hotness list.

3:36

As of today, it is number 15.

3:41

Which is once again impressive

3:41

for a four year old

3:43

game. It really is.

3:43

Okay, so what is Root,

3:47

bear with us because this

3:47

is going to be kind of a long

3:50

rule section. Probably the

3:50

longest one we've ever done.

3:54

That's probably true.

3:54

But I think you'll understand

3:57

why it needs to be that way as

3:57

we're going through it. So this

4:01

is a game about forest critters,

4:01

basically trying to take control

4:06

or take over or maybe liberating

4:06

the forest and all the forest

4:11

creatures. The goal of the game

4:11

is to either be the first person

4:15

to reach 30 victory points, or

4:15

you can choose to complete a

4:20

dominance card which sets up

4:20

some separate set of victory

4:25

conditions in the middle of the

4:25

game. You can choose to switch

4:28

over to that.

4:29

Yes, so the board is it

4:29

looks like a forest. Honestly

4:33

with a bunch of clearings that

4:33

are connected by these forest

4:36

paths with a river going through

4:36

parts of it. Each clearing is

4:39

assigned one of three suits, I

4:39

guess you would want to call

4:43

them either rabbits, mice or

4:43

foxes. Each clearing has between

4:48

one and three spaces where

4:48

buildings can be constructed.

4:51

Some of those also contain

4:51

ruins, which are only used for

4:55

the Vagabond pretty much, which

4:55

is a playable faction the floor

5:00

stereo between the paths can

5:00

only be entered by the vagabond.

5:03

So all other players have to go

5:03

between clearings via these

5:07

forest paths, unless you are

5:07

either the vagabond, or you have

5:11

a specific expansion that we will talk about

5:13

later. So the cards that

5:13

you have in the game, this is a

5:17

deck of cards, you have a max

5:17

hand limit of five, but you

5:21

don't have to discard down to

5:21

that until the end of your turn.

5:25

And so that becomes important to

5:25

note that you do have the

5:28

ability to access and use more

5:28

than that during your turn as

5:32

long as you discard down later.

5:32

And so these cards contain one

5:36

of four suits. So again, you've

5:36

got the rabbits, mice, and

5:40

foxes. And then now you also

5:40

have birds, the birds act as

5:45

wildcards. So it's essentially

5:45

any of the suits that you want

5:49

it to be for whatever purposes,

5:49

and you use these cards in some

5:54

actions that require you to have

5:54

a suit matching a clearing. So

6:01

for example, crafting some cards

6:01

allow you to craft items and

6:05

gain victory points, if you have

6:05

like crafting abilities such as

6:10

workstations, or each faction

6:10

has their own specific like

6:15

building that allows them to

6:15

craft. Yeah, and so if you have

6:19

those in the specified

6:19

clearings, you can play these

6:23

cards, and like tap those little

6:23

workshops or whatever, to be

6:29

able to craft this item. The

6:29

items themselves are only used

6:33

by the vagabond, but you will

6:33

almost always get victory

6:36

points, I think you always get

6:36

victory points for crafting the

6:39

item. Yes. And then if somebody

6:39

is playing the vagabond, then

6:42

that's something that you can trade,

6:44

some items are worth more

6:44

victory points, and others, with

6:47

the exception of the Eyrie most

6:47

of the time, the Eyrie playable

6:51

faction will only get one

6:51

victory point for grafting most

6:54

of the time.

6:55

And we're gonna go into

6:55

all the factions in much more

6:58

detail later, you'll see, yeah,

6:58

some of the other effects that

7:02

you can have in these cards are

7:02

like ambush cards, these let you

7:06

as the defender do some damage

7:06

before a battle actually starts.

7:11

So it kind of lets you level the

7:11

playing field a little bit. If

7:14

someone comes in with a bunch of

7:14

warriors to attack you, and you

7:17

only have one guy there, for

7:17

example, there are also ongoing

7:21

effects that allow you to take

7:21

extra actions or do more damage.

7:26

There's a whole bunch of

7:26

examples of those that you can

7:29

craft similarly to the items and

7:29

have placed just beside your

7:35

board at something that you can

7:35

do. And then lastly, we have

7:39

those dominance cards that I

7:39

talked about a second ago. So

7:42

those are the new victory

7:42

conditions. When you choose to

7:46

take one of these dominance

7:46

cards, you remove your token

7:50

from the victory point tracker,

7:50

so you're no longer gaining or

7:54

losing victory points, and you

7:54

can no longer win the game by

7:58

gaining 30 victory points, you

7:58

have committed to this new

8:02

dominance card, you can only

8:02

choose to accept a dominance

8:06

card once you've gained 10

8:06

victory points. So that allows a

8:09

couple of rounds of the game to

8:09

have gone by at that point

8:13

before you decide to do that.

8:13

And if you use the dominance

8:16

card for it suit, like the fox

8:16

rabbit or mice, instead of it

8:22

getting discarded with the other

8:22

cards, it actually goes on the

8:25

side of the board and other

8:25

players can choose to pick that

8:29

up at any time and gain that and

8:29

so there's a little bit of deep

8:34

consideration that needs to be

8:34

taken before you decide to use a

8:38

dominance card as something else

8:38

and then discard it.

8:41

Yeah, you should hold on

8:41

to those if it's going to

8:44

benefit an opponent to pick that

8:44

up. Yeah, basically.

8:47

Oh, and like an example

8:47

of the dominance card says that

8:50

you need to control three mice

8:50

clearings or three Fox

8:54

clearings, or maybe the two

8:54

corner clearings that are kitty

8:58

corner from each other on the map.

9:00

That's my favorite

9:00

dominance card personally,

9:02

because you only have to hold two.

9:04

Yeah, but you do have to

9:04

get your warriors like across

9:07

the map. So that could be

9:07

difficult. It's difficult in its

9:11

own way.

9:12

So this game is an area

9:12

control and combat game. I don't

9:15

want to say it's a combat game

9:15

necessarily, because you don't

9:19

have to do combat to win

9:19

depending on the faction that

9:22

you're playing. If you play the

9:22

vagabond, you don't have to

9:26

fight. But it is definitely a

9:26

majority of the factions have a

9:30

area control and combat

9:30

component. In order to control a

9:33

clearing, you have to have more

9:33

of your units warriors really

9:37

than anybody else in that

9:37

clearing. With the exception of

9:40

the Eyrie which are the birds,

9:40

they can be tied and they win

9:44

those ties. And in order to

9:44

build any buildings there, which

9:47

is what we're going to be using

9:47

for those crafting elements

9:51

Rachel mentioned earlier, you

9:51

have to control the clearing. So

9:55

in order to start building up

9:55

your resources and really kind

9:58

of gaining ground you want to

9:58

control those clearings. This is

10:02

kind of an interesting take on

10:02

moving your troops as well.

10:06

Because in order to move your

10:06

troops to a clearing, you either

10:09

have to move from a clearing you

10:09

control or to a clearing you

10:13

control. So you cannot move from

10:13

a clearing, you don't have

10:17

control over into a clearing you

10:17

have no control over. For

10:20

example, if there are two

10:20

clearings right next to each

10:24

other one is empty one has a cat

10:24

and a burden, the cat cannot

10:27

move from their clearing into

10:27

the empty clearing because they

10:31

do not control this clearing

10:31

they're moving from nor do they

10:35

control the clearing they're

10:35

moving to however the bird would

10:38

be able to move from the

10:38

clearing because they win the

10:42

tie. They control it into that

10:42

empty clearing.

10:45

I had to read this a

10:45

couple of times when we were

10:47

first going through the

10:47

rulebook, it's confusing to

10:50

understand why they have that

10:50

setup as you're just reading the

10:53

rules. But as you play the game,

10:53

I feel like it balances things

10:58

out or prevents you from

10:58

retreating basically, like you

11:04

have to retreat back to where

11:04

you already are. If you're in a

11:08

clearing that you don't control,

11:08

you have to retreat back to your

11:12

own safety, not just some other

11:12

empty clearing or some other

11:15

clearing that's got less people.

11:15

But still more than you don't

11:18

know, it's really interesting.

11:20

Yeah, it is kind of an

11:20

interesting take on troop

11:23

movement, I don't think I played

11:23

a game that has anything very

11:26

similar to that where you have

11:26

to have control in order to

11:29

move. So battling. As we said,

11:29

this is a combat game. This is

11:34

an action that can be taken

11:34

whenever you have units in a

11:36

clearing with enemy units or

11:36

enemy buildings. So you'll take

11:40

two of these custom 12 sided

11:40

dice, they have numbers ranging

11:43

from zero to three. So there's

11:43

three of each of them on each of

11:48

the dice, and you'll roll both

11:48

of them the attacker the player

11:51

attacking will always take the

11:51

higher number, with the

11:54

exception of a specific faction,

11:54

the woodland Alliance, they will

11:57

take the higher number always,

11:57

the defender will take the lower

12:00

number, each side loses the

12:00

units and buildings, adding it

12:04

to the number on their dice. For

12:04

example, as the cat if I have

12:07

three troops there, and I roll

12:07

it three, I'm able to deal three

12:11

hits to anything in there.

12:12

It's a little confusing,

12:12

and I couldn't find the right

12:14

way to like word this in our

12:14

outline. So sorry, but basically

12:19

like you roll the dice, and the

12:19

number on the dice is like the

12:24

potential hits that you can take

12:24

against your enemy. But you also

12:30

have to have at least that many

12:30

units in order to do that many

12:33

hits, right? If I roll a three,

12:33

but I only have one unit, I can

12:36

only do one hit. But if I roll a

12:36

three and I have three units, I

12:39

can do three hits,

12:41

the defender will also

12:41

deal hits equal to the number

12:44

they roll on their die, assuming

12:44

they have that many troops

12:47

there. So if the cat rolls a

12:47

three and the bird rolls or two,

12:51

and the birds have at least two

12:51

troops there, they will deal

12:54

those full two hits to the cat

12:54

who is attacking. Yeah. Which is

12:58

kind of interesting. It makes it

12:58

so that even as a defender, you

13:01

can still take out enemy units.

13:03

You can but it does

13:03

limit you. I mean, if you have

13:07

only one guy there, you can't

13:07

destroy like three of your

13:11

opponents. Right, which it makes

13:11

sense for like the capabilities

13:15

of what a single warrior would

13:15

be able to do when surrounded by

13:19

a bunch of enemy warriors.

13:20

Unless you're me, then I

13:20

can do as many as I need to.

13:24

Okay, that's true, just

13:24

because you're Jake. Yes. Okay.

13:28

Got it.

13:29

Have you seen me play Dark

13:29

Souls? Okay, so each unit can

13:33

only generate one hit. That's a

13:33

very clear, concise way to say

13:37

that each unit can only generate

13:37

one

13:40

hit. But that's not the

13:40

case for modifying cards. If you

13:44

have only one unit there, but

13:44

you play an ambush card that

13:46

does two hits, you can still do

13:46

that two hits with the ambush

13:51

card. You just can't do two hits

13:51

from the dice after you roll. So

13:56

hopefully that's not confusing

13:56

at all.

13:59

Yeah, well, this game has

13:59

a lot of rules. And we're going

14:02

to talk about those rules later.

14:02

I mean, as far as the rulebook

14:05

goes. So the turns for each

14:05

faction are broken up into three

14:09

phases, Birdsong, daylight and

14:09

evening. And depending on your

14:13

faction, you can only take

14:13

certain actions at certain

14:16

times, sometimes they are in

14:16

specific orders as well. And

14:20

that's why we wanted to go

14:20

really in depth on these roles

14:23

on these factions. Because when

14:23

we say this game is asymmetric,

14:26

this isn't just a typical

14:26

asymmetric Star game where you

14:29

have a unique ability, each

14:29

faction is very asymmetric in

14:34

the way they play. Because

14:34

sometimes you will do things in

14:38

birdsong that another faction

14:38

doesn't do until the evening, or

14:42

the actions that they take are

14:42

completely entirely different

14:45

than the actions that another

14:45

faction would take. Yeah, and

14:49

the way that they complete these

14:49

actions is different from

14:51

faction of faction. So we're

14:51

gonna go through each faction

14:54

from the base game and talk

14:54

about them.

14:56

Yeah. So we're gonna

14:56

start with the Marquis de cat,

15:02

as the cat, you start out with a

15:02

keep in one of the corners of

15:06

the map. And this is just kind

15:06

of signifying like your home

15:10

base. And then you get one

15:10

warrior in almost every

15:13

clearing. Basically, every

15:13

clearing except for the one

15:17

corner, that is kitty corner

15:17

from where your keep is, that's

15:20

where you exist. That's one of

15:20

the reasons why you can't have

15:24

dominance cards like right from

15:24

the beginning of the game,

15:27

because the cat would win every

15:27

time. If you had a dominance

15:29

card. If you could just pick

15:29

that from the beginning. Oh, I

15:32

have control of everything,

15:32

because they start with a one

15:34

warrior in every space except

15:34

that one corner. So yeah, it

15:38

wouldn't be okay. And then the

15:38

marquee gets three unique types

15:43

of buildings. It's the only

15:43

faction that does. You have a

15:47

sawmill which is used to produce

15:47

wood, you have workshops, which

15:51

are used for crafting, and then

15:51

you have recruiters, which will

15:55

be the locations where you spawn

15:55

more units. So once you have all

15:59

of that place, and then you go

15:59

through the setup of every other

16:02

faction, but the actions that

16:02

the cat can take are as such. So

16:08

in Birdsong, all you have is

16:08

each of your sawmills produces

16:12

one wood. That's it, that's the

16:12

entirety of your birdsong. And

16:16

then daylight is where the

16:16

majority of your turn is going

16:20

to take place. So you can take

16:20

up to three of the following

16:24

actions you can battle, you can

16:24

march, which is moving. And this

16:31

is also a little unique to the

16:31

cat, the movement includes

16:35

moving to spaces, so that could

16:35

be taking units from one space

16:40

and moving them two spaces away,

16:40

or two units from two different

16:45

spaces and moving them one space

16:45

away. You can also recruit one

16:49

warrior at each recruiting

16:49

station, you can build, which

16:53

consumes wood from your

16:53

sawmills, and the wood from the

16:56

sawmill stays on the board. It's

16:56

not something that you like

16:59

collect back into your hand or

16:59

anything at the beginning or at

17:02

the end of birdsong. And you

17:02

need to have basically a supply

17:06

chain from where those sawmills

17:06

are to wherever you're wanting

17:10

to build, you have to control

17:10

all the clearings between the

17:15

sawmill and the clearing where

17:15

you want to build. So that's

17:19

something to keep in mind when

17:19

you're kind of planning out

17:22

where you're going to be and

17:22

what you're doing. And then the

17:24

last action that you can take is

17:24

to overwork one of your

17:27

sawmills, this cos one of your

17:27

cards, the suit has to match the

17:32

clearing in which the sawmill

17:32

exists. And then you can produce

17:35

one more wood at that saga. And

17:35

so you can take three of those

17:39

actions. And then if you have

17:39

any bird cards in your hand,

17:43

like bird suit cards, you can

17:43

also play those to gain an

17:48

additional action during your

17:48

turn. Once you're done with all

17:52

of that you go into evening,

17:52

where you will draw a card plus

17:56

any number of cards that you

17:56

have uncovered on your board.

18:00

These are uncovered by replacing

18:00

recruiting stations. And so you

18:04

can draw up to three cards at

18:04

the end of your turn. And then

18:07

you have to discard down to five.

18:09

Yes, that is something

18:09

that is I think, typical of

18:12

every single faction, I think

18:12

you do discard down to five with

18:16

each one. Yeah. So the next

18:16

faction is the Eyrie dynasty or

18:20

the birds, the Blue Jays, I

18:20

really like these guys, the way

18:23

that they are set up is very

18:23

interesting. You start with six

18:27

warriors and a roost in the

18:27

opposite corner of the cat's

18:30

keep. So as Rachel was saying,

18:30

the cat gets one troop in every

18:34

single clearing except for one.

18:34

That's your clarity, you get to

18:38

start there, you start with a

18:38

leader, this leader provides a

18:41

special benefit these benefits

18:41

can range from when you remove

18:45

an enemy warrior from battle,

18:45

you get to score a victory point

18:49

or there is one leader that

18:49

allows you to gain extra

18:52

recruits when you take the

18:52

recruit action. So you get more

18:56

troops faster. There's a few

18:56

others. But this leader also,

18:59

when you choose, it requires you

18:59

to place your viziers in

19:03

specific actions for your

19:03

decree. And that's what we're

19:06

going to talk about next. This

19:06

is the way that the area's set

19:10

up that I find really

19:10

interesting. They have something

19:13

called a decree system. These

19:13

are all the different actions

19:16

that they can take. But they're

19:16

also all the actions that they

19:20

are required to take every

19:20

single turn. So we mentioned

19:24

previously, that each of the

19:24

cards and clearings are given a

19:27

specific suit either foxes, mice

19:27

or bunnies. And you're going to

19:31

be using cards from your hand to

19:31

Dino take what actions in what

19:35

clearings you're going to take.

19:35

So you start with two they're

19:39

called loyal visitors. And these

19:39

are your two starting actions.

19:42

So one of them starts with a

19:42

build and move. One of them

19:46

starts with a move and fight.

19:46

There's a few different

19:49

combinations that you start with

19:49

that you can choose from for

19:53

your leaders. You take those

19:53

visitors and put them in the

19:56

required actions have to have

19:56

your four slots to determine

20:00

what you're going to be taking

20:00

each turn each When you take,

20:03

you are going to be putting a

20:03

new action in there using cards

20:07

from your hand. Those actions

20:07

are recruit, move, battle and

20:11

build. And as I said previously,

20:11

the card suits that you take

20:14

from your hand, that is going to

20:14

determine where you are going to

20:18

take these actions. For example,

20:18

if I took a fox card and put it

20:22

in the recruit slot, that would

20:22

mean I need to recruit on this

20:26

turn in a fox clearing. So for

20:26

birdsong for this faction, this

20:30

is when you're adding to that

20:30

decree, you're going to add one

20:33

to two cards in any of those two

20:33

degree columns that you choose.

20:37

And there are bird suit cards.

20:37

And these are considered wild.

20:41

If you put a bird card into one

20:41

of those decree slots, you

20:44

wouldn't have to do that in any

20:44

specific location, it just has

20:48

to be done. So when you add

20:48

those in, you can only add one

20:52

bird card in if you're adding

20:52

multiple cards during the decree

20:55

phase. So during daylight, you

20:55

are able to craft using your

20:59

wrists. So your roofs that you

20:59

have built are what acts as your

21:03

workshops, if you will. So the

21:03

marquee gets these workshops

21:06

that they build throughout the

21:06

forest, your roofs or your

21:10

workshops. And as part of

21:10

playing the Eyrie you have

21:13

what's called a disdain for

21:13

trade. With the exception of one

21:17

leader, every time you craft

21:17

regardless of whether or not

21:20

that card is worth multiple

21:20

victory points, you will only

21:24

get one, unless you have that

21:24

specific leader chosen, then

21:27

you'll get the appropriate

21:27

number. So the second step in

21:31

daylight is literally to just

21:31

resolve your decree moving from

21:34

left to right, recruit, move,

21:34

battle and build. Once again,

21:38

you must do those actions in

21:38

that order in the specific

21:41

clearings matching the card

21:41

suits in the decree slots.

21:45

And so all of this is

21:45

complicated by the other rules

21:50

of the game, right? You can't

21:50

move unless you are moving from

21:55

or to a clearing that you have

21:55

control of you can't build,

21:58

unless you have control of the

21:58

clearing, you can't battle

22:01

unless there's something there

22:01

to fight. So you have all these

22:04

specifications of where you need

22:04

to perform these actions. And

22:09

you need to beat these

22:09

conditions in order to actually

22:12

perform the actions.

22:13

Yes. Now, if you cannot

22:13

complete any one of these

22:17

things, any one in the order

22:17

that they take place, the

22:21

recruit, move, battle build, if

22:21

you cannot do any one of those

22:24

actions in that order, because

22:24

of the suits not matching, or

22:28

you're not having troops

22:28

appropriately. Or even if you've

22:31

built all of your roosts, and

22:31

you no longer have a place to

22:34

build or the actual roost itself

22:34

to build, you go into turmoil.

22:38

So what will happen is you will

22:38

lose victory points equal to the

22:41

number of burned cards you have

22:41

in the decree remember birds

22:44

being wild, you will discard all

22:44

the cards in the decree except

22:48

for the visitors, you'll keep

22:48

those because you'll have to

22:51

choose a new leader and set the

22:51

visitors up in the new decreased

22:54

spots, daylight ends and you go

22:54

to evening, at the end of the

22:58

evening, you will score victory

22:58

points based on how many roosts

23:01

you have placed, you'll draw

23:01

cards based on how many rows do

23:04

you have placed. And if you have

23:04

more than five in your hand, you

23:07

will discard down to five.

23:08

The other interesting

23:08

thing about the eyrie is they

23:11

gain victory points much faster

23:11

than any other faction in the

23:16

base game, because they are also

23:16

at risk of losing a significant

23:22

number of victory points from

23:22

going into turmoil. There's the

23:26

kind of this risk balance that

23:26

you have to find of putting bird

23:30

cards in your decree, which

23:30

allows you the flexibility to

23:34

actually perform these actions

23:34

wherever you need to, and then

23:38

still going into turmoil at some

23:38

point. And losing all those

23:42

victory points for each of those

23:42

Bert cards.

23:44

Yes, it is a very

23:44

interesting balance. Because you

23:47

don't want to just throw all the

23:47

bird cards in if you think that

23:50

you're not going to be able to do anything, you're going to lose a bunch of points. But if

23:51

you can maintain all those word

23:55

cards, you'll be fine. Yeah, as

23:55

long as you don't go into

23:58

turmoil or the other

23:58

counterpoint is if you have a

24:02

dominance card that you're

24:02

working on. Victory points don't

24:05

matter anymore. So if you go

24:05

into turmoil doesn't really

24:08

matter.

24:08

The other thing that's

24:08

really interesting about the

24:12

Eyrie is the way that you're

24:12

building up this decree means

24:15

that you can perform more and

24:15

more actions per turn. But then

24:19

once you go into turmoil, you're

24:19

back down to just two actions.

24:23

And so you know, you get to this

24:23

like sweet spot where Oh yeah,

24:27

I'm able to move and I'm able to

24:27

battle and I can do all these

24:31

things. And then you're knocked

24:31

down as like, Oh, now you can

24:35

only do two things and you have

24:35

to build that back up. Right.

24:39

All right, so the next faction

24:39

is the woodland Alliance. These

24:43

are represented by mice. I'm not

24:43

sure I'm not sure they're green.

24:47

They are green, interestingly,

24:47

but they are the ones who are

24:51

trying to liberate the forests

24:51

basically from the control of

24:55

the cat and the birds. So with

24:55

the woodland Mala ANC will start

24:59

with what's called a supporters

24:59

deck. This is five cards that

25:02

goes into a deck that separate

25:02

from your hand, you will use the

25:07

cards in that deck for their

25:07

suits to spread sympathy and

25:10

revolt in matching clearings. So

25:10

during birdsong as the woodland

25:14

Alliance, you have the option to

25:14

first revolt, which would be

25:18

spending to have your supporter

25:18

cards matching a clearing that

25:22

has sympathy in it already,

25:22

right? Doing that will remove

25:26

all enemies and place a matching

25:26

base. If you still have one

25:30

available, you only have one

25:30

base per type of clearing, and

25:33

then you can place a number of

25:33

warriors that are equal to the

25:37

number of sympathetic clearings

25:37

matching that suit. And it's

25:41

really important to note that

25:41

revolt happens first. And then

25:45

it goes on to spread sympathy.

25:45

So you can't in the same turn,

25:49

spread sympathy to a clearing

25:49

and then revolt in it. So after

25:53

you're done revolting, you can

25:53

spread sympathy to new

25:56

clearings. This starts out only

25:56

taking a single supporter from

26:00

your support deck in the

26:00

matching clearing, but it gets

26:03

more expensive, the more

26:03

sympathy that you spread. And so

26:07

there's a little track at the

26:07

bottom of your board that tells

26:11

you how many cards that costs.

26:11

So you will have to spend that

26:15

many according to the track plus

26:15

an additional supporter if the

26:19

clearing has three or more enemy

26:19

units in it. So you'll place a

26:23

sympathy token in one of those

26:23

matching clearings, it doesn't

26:27

have to be anywhere where your

26:27

warriors exist, it doesn't have

26:31

to be anywhere in particular,

26:31

literally anywhere on the board

26:35

with a matching clearing. And

26:35

the tokens for the sympathy look

26:39

kind of like little zombie hands

26:39

because they're green. And so it

26:43

like it looks like little zombie

26:43

hands kind of rising out of the

26:47

ground and like you know, in the

26:47

form of a fist. That's just what

26:51

it makes me think of. So that's

26:51

your birdsong. And then in

26:55

daylight, you're going to use

26:55

cards from your hand instead of

26:58

the supporter deck like we've

26:58

been talking about. That's where

27:02

you can craft and your sympathy

27:02

tokens act as your a little

27:06

crafting stations. So wherever

27:06

you have those, that's where you

27:10

can craft, you can mobilize,

27:10

which will take cards from your

27:14

hand and add it to the supporter

27:14

deck, you can train, which you

27:18

will spend a card matching the

27:18

suit of a clearing where you

27:22

have a base, and then that

27:22

allows you to basically train an

27:26

officer and puts one of your

27:26

warrior units into the officers

27:29

box on your board. So unlike any

27:29

of the other factions, so far,

27:33

not a whole lot is actually

27:33

happening in daylight, the

27:37

majority of your work happens in

27:37

birdsong and an evening, which I

27:41

think is also very fitting for

27:41

the style of like war that these

27:45

type of characters would be

27:45

playing. Right, it says that

27:49

they're masters of guerrilla

27:49

war, which is why they always

27:52

take the dice with the larger

27:52

number on it. But I just think

27:56

that that's an interesting thing

27:56

that, you know, they were able

28:00

to kind of capture the essence

28:00

of that through the mechanics of

28:04

this game.

28:05

Yeah, I really liked that.

28:05

And honestly, these guys are

28:08

dangerous, because you could

28:08

just pop up anywhere.

28:12

Okay, so then an

28:12

evening, this is where you're

28:15

doing stuff based on the

28:15

officers that you have trained.

28:18

So for each officer in your

28:18

officers box, you can do one of

28:21

the following actions, you can

28:21

move your warriors on the board,

28:25

you can battle, you can recruit

28:25

in clearings with a base

28:29

organize, this is my favorite of

28:29

their abilities, you can remove

28:34

a warrior of your own, from an

28:34

unsympathetic clearing to place

28:39

a sympathy card there. So it's

28:39

almost kind of like their

28:41

martyrs. Yeah, is what it sounds

28:41

like. But that's my favorite

28:46

action of theirs to do with the

28:46

officers. And then at the end of

28:49

the evening, you will draw cards

28:49

based on the number of sympathy

28:51

tokens that you've placed, not

28:51

like a one for one, but it's the

28:54

same kind of thing where like a

28:54

number of cards are revealed as

28:57

you're placing more simply

28:57

tokens, and that determines how

29:00

many cards you draw. And then as

29:00

always, you discard down to

29:02

five. Yes. So yeah, my favorite

29:02

thing to do is organize in the

29:08

evening, and then I can revolt

29:08

on my next turn in Birdsong,

29:13

right. And the Organize actually

29:13

doesn't take cards from your

29:17

supporters deck. And that's how

29:17

you can avoid paying these more

29:21

and more expensive prices for

29:21

spreading sympathy.

29:25

Right? I really liked

29:25

these guys, because like I said,

29:28

they could just pop up out of

29:28

nowhere. And if they are taken

29:31

care of very quickly, they get

29:31

very strong very fast, because

29:35

it's hard to kill them in combat

29:35

because they always take the

29:37

higher die. Yep. That being

29:37

said, the number of warriors

29:41

that they have available to them

29:41

is very limited.

29:44

Very, I got to a point

29:44

where I had almost all of my

29:48

warriors in the officers box.

29:48

And there's no mechanic for

29:52

taking them out of that and like

29:52

being able to put them back on

29:55

the board.

29:55

There is is there Yes, but

29:55

it's not you who does Was it

30:00

it's your opponent? Oh, sure,

30:00

they have to do a specific

30:04

action that hurts you in order

30:04

to take half of your officers

30:08

away.

30:08

Yeah. So I wouldn't opt

30:08

for that. No, yeah. It's bad.

30:15

Yeah, but they're very

30:15

strong. But this leads us to the

30:18

final playable faction in the

30:18

base game, my personal favorite,

30:22

the vagabond. Now, the Vagabond

30:22

is very different than these

30:25

other factions. It starts with

30:25

one pond placed in any forest

30:29

base, not a clearing, so it goes

30:29

into a place that nobody else in

30:33

the game can go to the Vagabond

30:33

is given a special deck of

30:36

cards, called a quest deck

30:36

unique to their faction is

30:40

shuffled. And you take four

30:40

specially marked items that

30:43

belong in those ruins that we

30:43

mentioned earlier, shuffle them,

30:47

and place them underneath the

30:47

ruin tiles at each of the ruined

30:50

locations. So there's one person

30:50

there's four on the board. The

30:54

Vagabond also starts with three

30:54

to four items, depending on

30:58

their archetypes that they

30:58

choose. In the base game, there

31:01

are only three archetypes that

31:01

are available. But those items

31:05

are what you're going to be

31:05

using during daylight to

31:08

complete different actions. So

31:08

during Birdsong, you will

31:12

refresh three items, plus two

31:12

per the number of Tea items that

31:15

you have crafted and available

31:15

to you which, at this time, you

31:19

would only have the one or you

31:19

won't have any, you'll be able

31:23

to do what's called slip which

31:23

allows you to move to a clearing

31:27

or forest at no cost. So if

31:27

you're in a forest space, you

31:30

can move to another forest base

31:30

or a clearing doesn't cost you

31:34

anything. But it has to be done

31:34

in birdsong. And once you move

31:38

into daylight, you are now going

31:38

to be completing a bunch of

31:41

different actions depending on

31:41

the items that you have

31:44

available to you. So in order to

31:44

move from clearing to clearing,

31:48

you'll need a boot item each

31:48

movement cost one boot, you

31:52

cannot use these to move back

31:52

into the forest, you can use

31:55

them to move out of into the

31:55

clearings, but not back into the

31:59

forest battle which will cost

31:59

you a sword and you are able to

32:03

deal hits equal to the number of

32:03

undamaged swords you have in

32:06

your satchel. So if I have two

32:06

undamaged swords, I can actually

32:10

do two hits and battle. Because

32:10

I only have the one pawn it's

32:14

not even technically a warrior

32:14

in this game. So when anything

32:18

says to remove warriors that

32:18

does not apply to the vagabond,

32:21

the only time that the Vagabond

32:21

can be affected as far as being

32:25

removed. If any effect says to

32:25

remove all warriors from a

32:28

location, the Vagabond would

32:28

actually just damage three items

32:32

instead, they don't actually get

32:32

moved. So the Explorer action

32:36

this allows you to take one of

32:36

those hidden items from the

32:39

ruins if you are in a clearing

32:39

with a ruin. Doing so will score

32:43

you one victory point, this

32:43

caustic torch, which is the

32:46

other item that you would start

32:46

with on all the archetypes quest

32:50

allows you to take three of

32:50

those quest cards, look at them

32:54

and determine whether or not

32:54

you're able to complete one if

32:58

you're able to complete one.

32:58

These will also cost you items,

33:01

you'll be able to gain the

33:01

victory points or draw cards

33:04

depending on what you'd like to

33:04

do for that quest. The quest

33:08

however, are also suit based, so

33:08

they have to be completed in a

33:12

specific type of clearing either

33:12

a bunny of mouse or a fox

33:15

depending on the quest

33:15

themselves. The next action is

33:19

strike, you will be able to

33:19

remove a piece in your clearing

33:22

starting if there are any with

33:22

warriors. This cost you a

33:26

crossbow. And you'll also be

33:26

able to repair or craft using

33:29

hammers. When crafting all your

33:29

undamaged hammers match your

33:33

clearing. So you'll be able to

33:33

use those to craft small items,

33:36

even for yourself or for some of

33:36

those long term effects

33:40

throughout the game, you'll be

33:40

able to make those as well. And

33:44

the last action that is

33:44

available to you is aid give a

33:47

card matching, you're clearing

33:47

to a player there, you may take

33:51

an item from them. This cost you

33:51

any item, you just have to

33:54

exhaust one item. So when I say

33:54

cost for all the above actions,

33:58

what you'll do is you'll

33:58

actually take the title of the

34:01

item title that you have and

34:01

turn it over to the dark gray

34:05

side, showing that it's now been

34:05

exhausted. So you cannot use

34:09

that again until it's been

34:09

refreshed, which is the first

34:12

action you take during birdsong.

34:12

So Also unique to this faction

34:16

is a relationship tracker. With

34:16

all the other factions playing

34:20

the game, you actually start as

34:20

indifferent with all other

34:23

factions at the beginning of the

34:23

game. And when you take the

34:27

eighth action for the first time

34:27

with a specific faction, you

34:30

move their token up on the

34:30

relationship tracker and gain a

34:34

victory point. There are four

34:34

slots in different two, three

34:37

and four which is allied. In

34:37

order to move them from one to

34:41

two. You'll actually need to aid

34:41

them twice during the same turn

34:45

and then from two to three three

34:45

times and then from three to

34:49

four you'll need to aid them

34:49

four times. So once you have

34:52

completed that and got them all

34:52

the way up. Each time you aid

34:56

them moving forward you will

34:56

gain two victory points. If you

34:59

attack a faction or remove one

34:59

of their warriors with the

35:03

crossbow or the battling, you

35:03

are now hostile towards them,

35:06

there is no way to regain

35:06

relationship with them unless

35:10

you form a coalition which can

35:10

only be done in a four player

35:13

game. If you are hostile towards

35:13

the character, each time you

35:17

remove one of those factions

35:17

pieces in battle, during your

35:21

turn, you will gain a victory

35:21

point. So those are all the

35:24

actions that the Vagabond can

35:24

take during their turn. During

35:28

the evening, you can rest if you

35:28

are in a forest, you will repair

35:32

all your items, you will draw

35:32

one card plus one per coin stack

35:35

item that you have available to

35:35

you, you will discard your cards

35:39

down to five if you have more

35:39

than that. And then if you have

35:43

more than six items, you will

35:43

remove items down to six plus

35:46

two for each satchel item you

35:46

have. And that is the last of it

35:50

for the factions. This is why we

35:50

wanted to go into detail because

35:54

we've been recorded for almost

35:54

an hour now. And we're just done

35:58

with.

35:59

Yeah, yeah. And the

35:59

reason we didn't want to like

36:02

brush over each of the factions

36:02

more is. So this is going to get

36:08

into our experiences section.

36:08

Because each one is so

36:11

different, it feels like almost

36:11

a completely different game that

36:14

you're playing when you choose a

36:14

different faction than you've

36:18

played before. It's totally

36:18

different, totally different

36:21

style technique, strategy. So I

36:21

like that. However, it also

36:28

seems like there's really only

36:28

one right way to play each

36:31

faction, we've played a couple

36:31

of games now, where I've been

36:35

the marquee to cat and one of

36:35

those games, I started out

36:39

really aggressively because I

36:39

had a bunch of warriors, you

36:44

have a warrior that starts out

36:44

in every clearing, except for

36:46

one on the board, I felt like I

36:46

had a huge army, maybe I should

36:50

come in and start trying to just

36:50

take out the eyrie, and just

36:54

reduce them, not let them start

36:54

to gain control of the map. It

36:58

didn't work out well. For me, I

36:58

actually almost got eliminated

37:01

from the game, the cat is the

37:01

only faction that can be

37:05

eliminated. Every other faction

37:05

has a way of like spawning back

37:09

in. But if you lose the keep,

37:09

and you lose all your warriors

37:14

and your recruitment centers,

37:14

you are actually out of the

37:18

game. Yes. And that almost

37:18

happened to me. The second game

37:23

that I played as the cat went

37:23

much better. And I kind of

37:26

followed more of what it

37:26

describes on the back of the

37:29

board, it really kind of tells

37:29

you what their goals are and how

37:33

they're meant to be played. So I

37:33

just focus more on building. And

37:37

I did fight in some cases,

37:37

especially to prevent one of the

37:42

players from meeting the

37:42

conditions for a dominance card.

37:46

But most of my actions were

37:46

actually focused on building and

37:51

gaining victory points that way.

37:51

And that was a much closer game,

37:55

I was one turn away from winning

37:55

by the end of that. And so it's

37:59

a little disappointing that it

37:59

really seems like there's only

38:02

one right way to play each

38:02

faction. But the fact that

38:05

there's so many different

38:05

factions, you know, you've got

38:08

four in the base game, and then

38:08

there's a bunch of expansions.

38:11

There's so many different

38:11

factions. I feel like that kind

38:13

of makes up for it.

38:15

Yeah, I agree. So I also

38:15

don't like the fact that it

38:19

really feels like there's only

38:19

one real way to play each

38:21

faction effectively, with the

38:21

exception of a couple, there's

38:26

not a whole lot of different

38:26

strategies that each one brings.

38:29

But there are 10 playable

38:29

factions available right now. So

38:32

with that you have a lot of

38:32

different variety on normally

38:36

what faction you're going to

38:36

play. But then the combinations

38:39

of factions in each game will

38:39

make very different games each

38:42

time. The rules in this game are

38:42

horrible and terrible. And we're

38:46

going to talk about that a

38:46

little bit later. But they're

38:48

bad. Really, really, really bad.

38:51

Not that the rules are

38:51

bad like the game plays well.

38:54

It's the rule book is written

38:54

poorly.

38:57

Both of the rule books are

38:57

written. Because this game comes

39:00

with two, depending on how you

39:00

want to learn, and they're both

39:04

bad. Horrible.

39:05

Yeah, so I would

39:05

definitely recommend, I mean,

39:08

obviously, you're listening to

39:08

this podcast. So hopefully, our

39:11

explanation of the rules is

39:11

helpful. You may also need to

39:15

watch a video, I would recommend

39:15

it and or reach out to forums on

39:19

like Board Game Geek to answer

39:19

specific questions that are

39:23

simply not in the rulebook.

39:26

That being said, so the

39:26

game Rachel was talking about

39:29

where she was one turn away from

39:29

winning, that game came down to

39:32

all three players playing down

39:32

to one turn whether or not they

39:36

would win. I was playing the

39:36

vagabond. And so the goal is to

39:40

get to 30 points I went from, I

39:40

think 16 or 18 to 29 in one

39:46

turn, just basically by becoming

39:46

a trainer and deciding that

39:50

Okay, well I'm not going to be

39:50

friends with this person

39:53

anymore, and I'm just going to

39:53

eliminate everything I can from

39:56

them. Yeah, and complete a bunch

39:56

of different quests.

40:00

Up until that point,

40:00

Jake had been playing as

40:03

friendly to both me as the cat

40:03

and then our friend who was

40:06

playing the Eyrie. And so he was

40:06

like helping us out and giving

40:10

us cards and trading items with

40:10

us up until that point, and then

40:14

that last turn, he betrayed both

40:14

of us. He like swept across the

40:19

board and destroyed a ton of

40:19

eyrie warriors took out a bunch

40:22

of my stuff completely cleared a

40:22

clearing that I had took on all

40:27

my worries, and all my

40:27

buildings, like the flip of a

40:30

switch all of a sudden were enemies.

40:32

Yep. And I needed it. I

40:32

was literally one card away from

40:36

winning just one card. Or if

40:36

Rachel had stopped the other

40:41

player from gaining control of

40:41

the clearing that they were

40:45

going for a dominance victory on

40:45

if she just moved one more

40:48

person in there. One more.

40:51

Yeah. So it basically

40:51

got to a point where I was also

40:54

at 29 points, and I couldn't

40:54

find a way to gain that one last

40:59

victory point.

41:00

So of course, because she

41:00

could, I couldn't win,

41:03

I decided to allow our

41:03

friend to claim his dominance

41:09

victory, rather than stopping

41:09

him and then letting Jake win on

41:13

his next term.

41:14

It's not okay. Right.

41:18

That's why I can't let you win.

41:22

So I really liked this

41:22

game. I've had a lot of fun

41:25

playing it. There are some small

41:25

gripes about it, like the

41:29

factions only having one real

41:29

way to play them. The rulebook

41:33

being horrible. It's actually

41:33

not super long either, which I

41:36

was pretty impressed with, I

41:36

think, yeah, we played a three

41:39

player game in like, an hour,

41:39

hour and 15 minutes, I think,

41:42

yeah,

41:43

maybe an hour and a

41:43

half. But for like an area

41:46

control game, I was expecting it

41:46

to take longer. Yeah, our two

41:50

player game that we played

41:50

definitely only took an hour.

41:53

Yeah. But speaking of two player

41:53

game, so this is one of those

41:57

games, it's honestly not great

41:57

at only two players. And at

42:02

three players, it's okay. It's

42:02

really optimized for four or

42:07

more, I think, just because of

42:07

the way that the different

42:11

factions play. There are certain

42:11

combinations of factions that

42:15

you can't have in a two player

42:15

game. Like if you played a two

42:19

player game with the woodland

42:19

Alliance and the vagabond. I

42:23

don't even know what that would

42:23

look like. It wouldn't make

42:26

sense. It wouldn't. No, it

42:26

wouldn't. The game does have in

42:30

the back of the rulebook, like

42:30

recommendations for setup for

42:34

different player levels. So that

42:34

is nice. But it does limit you

42:39

and what you're allowed to play

42:39

or what really will be effective

42:43

to play in smaller games.

42:46

Right. So, I mean, let's

42:46

talk about some of the

42:50

expansions because as we said,

42:50

there are a bunch and the

42:53

expansions add up to six more

42:53

playable factions. The first

42:58

released one was the river folk

42:58

expansion that was released in

43:01

2018. It does add two new

43:01

factions, the river folk company

43:06

and the cult of the lizard, I

43:06

have not played with either of

43:09

these, I do know that the river

43:09

folk company has an open hand

43:13

and they have a function where

43:13

you are able to as another

43:17

player, not them purchased cards

43:17

from their hand, so that if you

43:21

see something that oh, I need

43:21

that you can take it from them

43:24

at a cost and use it. You can

43:24

also pay them to be able to

43:28

travel using the river instead

43:28

of the forest paths, they can

43:31

travel for free, but you as

43:31

another player need to pay them

43:35

to do so. I don't know hardly

43:35

anything about the color of the

43:39

lizard, other than they

43:39

sacrifice something to get more

43:42

warriors. I know that much. This

43:42

expansion does allow for up to

43:46

six players per game. It adds

43:46

another Vagabond token. And I'm

43:50

not sure why it adds another

43:50

token. I don't know if you get

43:53

to or what's going on with that.

43:53

This also introduces some Co Op

43:57

scenarios so you can turn the

43:57

game into a cooperative

44:00

experience instead of a

44:00

completely competitive. This

44:03

also adds three new Vagabond

44:03

archetypes that you can choose

44:07

from from the beginning, the

44:07

underworld expansion was

44:10

released in 2020. This adds two

44:10

new factions, the great

44:14

underground duchy and the corvid

44:14

conspiracy. This adds two new

44:19

playable maps as well. We have

44:19

this expansion. We have not

44:23

played with it yet. But that's

44:23

something next time we play I

44:26

think we will be busting out to

44:26

play with the clockwork

44:29

expansion. This was also

44:29

released in 2020. We also have

44:32

this expansion. This adds an

44:32

ability to add NPC factions to

44:38

the game so that as Rachel was

44:38

saying earlier, this game was

44:42

not great with two people. This

44:42

will allow you to put NPC

44:45

factions into the game for a

44:45

four player game with only two

44:49

actual players. This also adds

44:49

some Co Op scenarios as well.

44:54

Yeah, so we have those

44:54

expansions or we're you know, we

44:57

have a couple of expansions but

44:57

happening had the opportunity to

45:00

play them yet, but honestly, I'm

45:00

super excited to. And I really,

45:04

really want to get the river

45:04

folk expansion, not only because

45:08

it advances the game to a six

45:08

player game, but I've heard that

45:12

the river folk are just awesome

45:12

and pick them every time is what

45:16

I've heard. There is

45:18

actually an expansion that

45:18

was released this year in 2022.

45:22

This adds two new factions, the

45:22

Lord of the hundreds and the

45:26

keepers in iron, the Lord of the

45:26

hundreds from what I read, likes

45:30

to burn down the clearings. And

45:30

so you can actually clear out

45:32

clearings by setting them on

45:32

fire. And the keepers and iron

45:36

are kind of like a vagabond, in

45:36

the sense that you are going to

45:40

be working and making alliances

45:40

with other factions in order to

45:43

find specific relics. But they

45:43

are also difficult to kill it

45:47

says because they're, they're an

45:47

armor. So I'm very interested in

45:51

this expansion. This also

45:51

introduces hirelings. And these

45:55

are units that can be used in

45:55

any player count game. So I'm

45:59

not entirely sure what they do.

45:59

I wasn't able to find a lot of

46:03

information on that. But

46:04

I would imagine that

46:04

that's like extra units,

46:07

essentially, that you can hire

46:07

cost something obviously.

46:11

So Can my Vagabond hire an

46:11

army? Maybe that could be

46:15

interested? If that's the case?

46:15

That would be awesome. Or I

46:18

was thinking like the

46:18

woodland Alliance, can you send

46:22

in a hired goon to be a martyr

46:22

for your organized stability in

46:27

the evening?

46:28

I don't know. I'm not

46:28

sure. All right.

46:31

So let's talk about

46:31

ratings real quick. On Board

46:34

Game Geek. You know, we already

46:34

mentioned in the beginning that

46:37

this is a game that's pretty

46:37

consistently on the hotness list

46:39

on BGG. And as such is reflected

46:39

in the ratings. So the base game

46:47

is rated at 8.1 was 34,000

46:47

reviews, that solid, the river

46:54

folk expansion is 8.45 with 5300

46:54

Reviews, the underworld

47:00

expansion is 8.76 with 2700

47:00

Reviews. Now, yes, that's less

47:06

reviews. But that is a really

47:06

high rating. Yeah, I'm very

47:11

interested to see what that

47:11

plays like and why people think

47:14

that the clockwork expansion is

47:14

8.03 with 1300 Reviews. And then

47:21

this Murata expansion that just

47:21

came out only has 134 reviews so

47:25

far. But it has a rating of 8.7.

47:25

I'm guessing that the number of

47:30

reviews is gonna go up. It just

47:30

hasn't been out for very long

47:33

yet.

47:34

Yeah, I agree. This is

47:34

only been out a couple months, I

47:37

anticipate that number to come

47:37

down as far as the overall

47:40

review. But I don't anticipate

47:40

it to drop below eight just

47:43

based on everything else like this is?

47:45

Yeah, every single one

47:45

of these is above eight. Yeah.

47:49

Which is really good. I mean,

47:49

it's a little impressive that

47:54

they haven't released a single

47:54

expansion. That was like, kind

47:57

of a flop.

47:58

Yeah, this is a very

47:58

highly rated game people like

48:00

it, it seems

48:01

I do for sure. Mm. Hmm.

48:01

Yes. Okay. All right. So let's

48:07

move on to our rating section.

48:07

First, easy versus difficult.

48:12

This is talking about how easy

48:12

is it to understand how well is

48:18

the rulebook written?

48:19

horrible, terrible, one of

48:19

the worst I've ever experienced?

48:24

You don't even read the

48:24

rulebook? Nope. And that's

48:28

telling you something.

48:29

So I wouldn't say that.

48:29

It's horrible. The rules are in

48:34

there. Mostly. The thing is, is

48:34

that the game presents you with

48:39

two rule books. And they make it

48:39

seem like it's a choice. Do you

48:43

want to read this one that's got

48:43

like pictures and diagrams and

48:48

stuff? Or do you want to read

48:48

this one that's literally just

48:51

text in everything is written

48:51

out. And they make it seem like

48:54

based on your learning style,

48:54

you can pick one of these to

48:58

read, you need to read both. And

48:58

there are mostly the same. But

49:04

there are things in one rule

49:04

book that don't exist in the

49:07

other, and vice versa. So I

49:07

can't recommend one particular

49:11

rule book to read. You got

49:12

to read both of them.

49:12

Yeah, unfortunately, they do be

49:16

that way.

49:16

And also, unfortunately,

49:16

there are still questions on top

49:21

of that things that need

49:21

clarification that are just

49:24

really not thoroughly explained.

49:24

Crafting, for example, we ended

49:29

up having to go to a Board Game

49:29

Geek forum to figure out what

49:33

the heck is crafting about.

49:33

Because it doesn't really make

49:38

sense in the one sentence when

49:38

they're explaining that the

49:41

sympathy tokens also act as your

49:41

crafting stations for the

49:45

woodland Alliance. And also

49:45

those tokens need to be in

49:49

matching clearings based on

49:49

what's at the bottom of the

49:51

card. And what you see at the

49:51

bottom of the card may be

49:53

different than the suit on the

49:53

card. And it's just like there's

49:59

not exact tuples of how the

49:59

crafting works, it's not

50:02

thoroughly explained, it's not

50:02

it's pretty bad. Other things

50:06

that we had to go to

50:06

BoardGameGeek about or the

50:08

woodland Alliance bases, because

50:08

it tells you that every time you

50:13

revolt, you should place a base

50:13

in the clearing. That makes it

50:17

sound like either you should

50:17

have multiple bases that will

50:20

fit in multiple clearings. Or

50:20

maybe you're supposed to move

50:24

the base from its previous

50:24

clearing into the one you just

50:29

revolted in. Yeah, I couldn't

50:29

find an answer on that. I think

50:33

we're going with you do that the

50:33

first time in place the base,

50:37

and then it stays there. And you

50:37

kind of just ignore that

50:40

sentence after you revolt again,

50:40

in a same clearing

50:43

to see I'm okay playing

50:43

either way, as long as it's

50:46

clearly defined. Yeah, at the

50:46

beginning of the game. But yeah,

50:49

there's no clear rule in the

50:49

book that says whether or not it

50:53

moves or not. So

50:55

yeah. And then one of

50:55

the other big things that we

50:57

were confused about is what

50:57

happens to buildings that get

51:01

removed or destroyed. Does that

51:01

go back on your board? Because

51:04

in some cases, that affects how

51:04

many victory points that you

51:07

gain that affects how many cards

51:07

that you draw at the end of your

51:10

turn? Are they like destroyed

51:10

and removed from the game? Or do

51:13

they go back on your board? And

51:13

you have the opportunity to

51:17

build them again, essentially?

51:20

Or are they off your

51:20

board, and you just play them,

51:22

and you've already progressed to

51:22

the point where you get X number

51:25

of victory points per turn,

51:26

right? Because for the

51:26

cat, you gain at least one

51:32

victory point for every building

51:32

that you build. If it goes back

51:35

on your board, then you're

51:35

double gaining victory points

51:38

for building the same building.

51:38

You know, if I build a

51:41

recruitment station, and that

51:41

gets me two victory points, and

51:43

then you come destroy my

51:43

recruitment station, and then I

51:46

build it again, that's another

51:46

two victory points.

51:49

Right. That's not very

51:49

clearly defined in the rules.

51:52

Yeah, I think what we've

51:52

gone with for that, again, we

51:55

didn't get a super clear answer

51:55

from Board Game Geek. But what

51:59

we're going with is yes, it goes

51:59

back to your board, because

52:02

it'll cover up additional cards

52:02

that you might get to draw that

52:06

might have been revealed

52:06

previously, but you do get to

52:08

gain those victory points again.

52:08

So that's kinda what we're going

52:12

with, we don't know for sure if that's the answer.

52:14

So how easy or difficult

52:14

would you rate this,

52:18

because of also just the

52:18

difficulty of like, every

52:23

faction playing differently, and

52:23

it being difficult to like,

52:26

assist a new player, if you

52:26

haven't played that faction

52:29

before? I'm gonna read this,

52:29

like, eight, I think on the

52:33

difficulty scale.

52:34

Yeah, I'm just trying to

52:34

decide between seven or eight,

52:37

I'm gonna go seven.

52:38

Okay, that's fair. All

52:38

right. So next, we'd like to

52:41

talk about simple versus

52:41

complex. So if that's confusing

52:46

when compared to easy versus

52:46

difficult, this is more talking

52:49

about the strategy of the game.

52:49

Are you able to employ a variety

52:53

of strategies to win? Is there

52:53

multiple ways of going about it?

52:58

What are the mechanics you use

52:58

for that, etc. So, again, if

53:03

that's confusing, think about

53:03

chess. Chess is an easy game, in

53:08

that you have all the pieces at

53:08

the beginning, each piece has

53:12

its own specific moves that you

53:12

do. And that's it. But it's very

53:15

complex, in that you can employ

53:15

a wide variety of strategies to

53:21

go about winning and using those

53:21

moves. So that's the difference.

53:26

For simple versus complex, I'm

53:26

going to say that this is a

53:30

decently complex game. Also,

53:30

because of the fact that each

53:34

faction plays so differently. It

53:34

was difficult in the beginning,

53:38

when we got together with my

53:38

sister and her husband, my

53:42

sister wanted to play the

53:42

vagabond. And that was not a

53:45

faction that we had played yet.

53:45

And so we didn't completely

53:49

understand it. And there was a

53:49

period of time where we were

53:53

reading the rule book about the

53:53

vagabond, looking up a video

53:56

about the vagabond, and going to

53:56

Board Game Geek to Google some

54:00

things about the vagabond, just

54:00

so we could figure out how she

54:03

should play it.

54:04

Exactly. That being said,

54:04

now that I've played it, it's

54:07

legitimately my favorite

54:07

faction.

54:10

Yeah, I mean, it's

54:10

great. It's just it's difficult

54:14

to get started. And it is, I

54:14

think, complex, the fact that

54:19

each faction plays so

54:19

differently, but with that said,

54:22

you know, we already mentioned

54:22

that there really is only one

54:26

right way to play a faction, it

54:26

seems, maybe I'm just not

54:30

imaginative and seeing outside

54:30

the box, but it's described on

54:34

each of the faction boards, like

54:34

how they're meant to be played.

54:38

So I think I'm gonna give it

54:38

like a six on the complexity

54:42

scale.

54:43

Yeah, I think I'm gonna

54:43

give it a five only because we

54:47

kind of talked about this

54:47

previously, that each faction

54:50

only has a specific way that

54:50

they're designed to play it

54:53

feels like so I'm gonna give it

54:53

a five because they don't feel

54:56

like each faction has multiple

54:56

strategies or Hmm, many viable

55:02

strategies.

55:03

Yes. So you can try

55:03

other strategies, it just

55:06

doesn't seem like it's effective

55:08

right there there, I'm

55:08

sure. But there's nothing that

55:11

immediately jumps out that says

55:11

this is a viable strategy to do

55:14

as well. So I'm gonna give it a

55:14

five. Now, the last category we

55:19

like to write is our wrote

55:19

versus random, what game

55:23

mechanics make each play a

55:23

unique experience. And I feel

55:27

like this is a pretty random

55:27

game, because there are 10

55:30

playable factions available,

55:30

there are only four to six slots

55:34

available in the game itself. So

55:34

you have a lot of mixing and

55:37

matching that you can do as far

55:37

as combinations of what is being

55:41

played in the game. Not to

55:41

mention there is some dice

55:44

rolling involved, there's a

55:44

shuffled deck of cards, I do

55:47

feel like this is a pretty random game,

55:50

I kind of disagree,

55:50

there is a decent number of

55:54

factions if you go get the

55:54

expansions. But that's not

55:58

randomized. It does add variety,

55:58

I would say. But I think this is

56:04

actually quite low. On the

56:04

randomness scale. We've talked

56:08

about how each faction has its

56:08

specific way of being set up.

56:13

Marki is always going to start

56:13

with a warrior in every

56:16

clearing, the area is always

56:16

going to start with six warriors

56:20

in that one opposite clearing,

56:20

the cards are shuffled, but I

56:24

don't know.

56:25

But the way that the

56:25

different factions will interact

56:27

with each other. For example,

56:27

the marquee doesn't have to be

56:30

in the game at all, and then

56:30

immediately changes the setting

56:33

of the game. If you don't have

56:33

that faction, you have something

56:36

else, that game is entirely

56:36

different. It is a different

56:40

game at this point. That's true,

56:40

not to mention the fact that all

56:43

those abilities are going to

56:43

interact differently. Yes, with

56:47

the base game, you are kind of

56:47

limited. I agree. But if you

56:50

have even just one expansion

56:50

that adds two factions, it can

56:54

change it drastically.

56:56

Yeah, I guess I just

56:56

don't know if I agree that

56:58

that's randomness. So I'm gonna

56:58

give it a three on the random

57:02

skill. I'm gonna give it six.

57:02

Okay. You're perfectly welcome

57:06

to have your opinion. Yeah,

57:08

I'm allowed to have my

57:08

opinions. I'll allow it.

57:12

Okay, so that's our

57:12

rating section. So it's time to

57:17

answer the question, Jake, would

57:17

you rather play this game over

57:21

trying to keep sweat off your

57:21

computer while planning for your

57:25

next podcast episode and a 90

57:25

degree house because the AC

57:29

repair company already came and

57:29

broke it five days ago? And they

57:33

can't come and replace it for

57:33

another five to seven days?

57:36

Yeah, that was miserable.

57:36

I'd rather do pretty much

57:39

anything than that.

57:41

Yeah, I agree. But in

57:41

all seriousness, this is a very

57:46

fun game, I highly recommend it.

57:46

It is a little bit of a learning

57:51

curve. And the rulebook does not

57:51

help with that. But if you can

57:55

get past that, it's a ton of

57:55

fun.

57:58

I really agree. Like, give

57:58

it a chance. The rules are

58:01

terrible. Ask somebody who's

58:01

played it before to to explain

58:04

it. Give it a chance, though.

58:04

It's so good. Yeah.

58:07

All right. There you

58:07

have it. That's Root. So thank

58:11

you all so much for listening.

58:11

As usual, hit us up on Facebook,

58:15

Twitter, and Instagram at so

58:15

bored podcast. That's S O B o ar

58:21

D podcast. And hey, you can go

58:21

check us out on Twitch now to

58:25

Sam handle twitch.tv/snowboard

58:25

podcast, we love hearing from

58:30

you interacting with you hearing

58:30

about your fun experiences

58:34

playing this game or house rules

58:34

that you have. You will also be

58:38

able to find pictures and short

58:38

stories from the games that

58:42

we've been playing recently, and

58:42

interact with us all things,

58:46

tabletop gaming. If you don't

58:46

want to do it on social media,

58:48

you can also email us at We are

58:48

so bored. That's w e a r e s o b

58:54

o a r [email protected]. And make sure

58:54

that you subscribe to us,

59:00

wherever you're listening to

59:00

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59:02

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59:02

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59:06

go ahead and leave us a rating

59:06

that would be super helpful as

59:09

well. You can do it on Spotify

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and you can help other people

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59:17

way, hey, tell a friend about

59:17

this podcast if you really enjoy

59:21

it, just a thought maybe

59:23

that'd be great. Actually,

59:23

word of mouth is awesome. Really

59:25

appreciate it. We also want to

59:25

give a shout out to the people

59:28

who knew we were reviewing Root based on the picture we posted

59:30

last week. So congrats to David

59:34

Rathbun. David Patrick Harris,

59:34

Eric giome. David, Greg black

59:38

and white, Frank Ortiz and grand

59:38

abolish are on Twitter. Awesome.

59:43

Thank you for participating. We

59:43

appreciate that. We also want to

59:47

thank Mitchell Mims, the

59:47

designer of our art he is

59:49

currently accepting commissions.

59:49

So go ahead and check him out at

59:52

M I M S C O SAR a on Instagram

59:52

or on his website Michel Mims.

59:58

That's mi ch e l mi m s dot c AR

59:58

ar d.co We are going to be on

1:00:04

Twitch tomorrow can check us out

1:00:04

at so bored podcast. I am on

1:00:08

Twitch on a semi regular basis

1:00:08

as well. I'm naughty Doc 541 and

1:00:13

a new gh t YDOC 541. We'd love

1:00:13

it if you guys came to hang out

1:00:18

with us. That'd be great.

1:00:19

Yeah, especially can

1:00:19

play board games of this course,

1:00:23

like video games or whatever.

1:00:23

But come play board games with

1:00:25

us.

1:00:26

I mean, we have also been

1:00:26

streaming together on my

1:00:28

channel, so it's true. Well,

1:00:28

that's it. Thank you all so much

1:00:33

for listening and we will see you next time.

1:00:35

Bye bye