Just got this game. Got lost playing the tutorial and even the Rodney video wasn't enough to make things click. Your Root series (and all you videos) is the best at teaching how to play the game. Very straight forward and your delivery is stress reducing. Thanks for making these.
Just opened up this game today for the first time trying to get prepared to play it tonight. You helped SO MUCH! Wish I would have found you an hour ago haha
This is the best video I’ve seen in terms of explaining the rules clearly. The layout of the rulebook that comes with root isn’t easily to read for me so it is very helpful to have it explained thanks so much
So if I already have the “fox base” out on the board, I can no longer revolt in a “fox clearing” for the remainder of the game or until that fox base has been removed?
@@luisvelasquez9234 Thanks! There’s little details that aren’t in the rule book. Another question if you don’t mind: Does “martial law” still apply to the “Organize” action during the Evening phase or only when you pay 2 supporters to “Spread Sympathy” during Birdsong? Thanks!
@@AugustusFloop Martial law only affects when Spreading Sympathy, when you Organize you don't need to spend supporters, it's a different action, remove a warrior and put Sympathy (no pay needed)
It was a genios idea NOT to go phase by phase. I think there's an expectation after reading through the Cat's and Bird's factions that it should be read sequentially, but making sure the concept and mechanics of Sympathy of sympathy are understood first really helped tie this together. Great video!
Tom I can't thank you enough for making these for each faction. You did an awesome job. I asked you about a Root faction walkthrough and you nailed it. I will be having my group watch the individual faction that they will play and rotate factions until we all learn and play them. I love your videos. Keep up the good work.
You are more than welcome! It's something I really wanted to do -- and I am so happy they turned out okay. I know I've made a couple of mistakes here and there -- keep an eye on the comments for each video -- but they were made with a lot of love :D So that has to count for something...... right?
I have been trying for HOURS upon HOURS trying to figure out this damn faction. Woah. "High Difficulty" is an understantment. I would say "extreme." Haha - thank you so much for helping me understand this Faction. Who the HECK comes up with these amazing ideas? I ain't complaining, but holy moly. You're THE best! Thank you - Tabatha - Rhode Island
Thanks a lot for these incredibly well done videos. Hands down the best and most thorough tutorials I’ve seen that explain each faction in a clear and easy to follow fashion. Seen them, love them all, big kudos to you, it was a very easy decision to follow your channel. 😉😊
This is sooo helpful!! After my first time playing last week it i lost so badly (even ended last place) because i didn't know what the heck to do, but now that tomorrow is my group's 2nd game session I'm more than ready to beat the crap out of everyone 😼!!!
I just purchased Root, thank you for this video - it was super great! I'm trying to learn all the factions and this helps quite a bit. The player boards are very helpful, but this helps a lot too.
I'm so glad! And yeah, those boards are seriously extremely well made... in many ways I almost feel like I'm just reading those boards aloud for the video :D But, I am really happy to hear that they've helped you out. Happy root-ing!
It is TOUGH. As I said (and I know others disagree with me) for some reason my brain just does NOT click with this faction.... to this day, I feel like I don't understand them... but I'm really glad that I could help!
same question here basically, when a sympathy token gets removed and put back on the player board, and then the player spreads sympathy again, does that player get the VP points again? This is another example of how a player could exploit VP, by putting sympathy in a weak area late game just so it can get removed again.
Nice job explaining! Trying to learn this game now to play online with some friends. I feel like i have a better idea of how to play them now. Theyre definitely an advanced players faction!
That's definitely how I feel! Though, as you can see in the comments, many people might disagree. I still, to this day, don't know what is so tricky for my brain about this faction..... but my brain still struggles to fully understand how to play them. (Literally and strategically)
True! If only I had the time.... and game group.... Most of my gaming is alone, and I’m often playing whatever new game-I-don’t-need that I most recently got..... it’s a curse.
Great catch. I did that in so many videos while I was recording, but would catch myself as I was talking and just re-record right then and there. Thanks for catching that. (Also, I still can't get my mouse to catch the difference between "mouse" and "rabbit")
Does “martial law” still apply to the “Organize” action during the Evening phase or only when you pay 2 supporters to “Spread Sympathy” during Birdsong?
Just started learning this faction: Don't Sympathy tokens count toward ruling pieces? I.e 1 warrior and 1 Sympathy token in a clearing > 1 enemy warrior in same clearing? Therefore you would rule the clearing at 12:35, no? Clarification would be great. Awesome video!
@@luisvelasquez9234 Cheers. That makes it simple. While I've got ya; could you tell me what the relevance of using items is when no Vagabond in play? Could you play without items tokens?
@@matvaughan4535 The items track the number of available items in stock, once an ítem its not available (I. E. Two players craft both boots), other boot card can't be crafted, so the card must be used in other way, it limits the player crafts of each ítem and players must find other way to victory vía other points sources
@@luisvelasquez9234 ah that is a decent little mechanic. Much appreciated bro 👌 Have just started playing and have a lot of little mix ups with certain rules
Love the videos! Does anyone else think they made this game just a little TOO cutesy? "Birdsong" drives me nuts only because the other two phases have normal names...They should have just called it Morning. Sun Up would have been better. Birds are already a faction.
I do struggle with a lot of the vocabulary -- not sure if I'd call the vocabulary "cutesy" -- but it sure does feel like it adds a layer of unnecessary complexity to an already tough-to-learn-and-teach game...
IDK, I think Birdsong is a cool thematic name. And since I started paying attention, there is a special time in the morning, just before lights on, when the birds are already up and singing. I like it :P
Please help me out! Our family is new to the game of Root. There is just 3 of us so we play without the vagabond. I have been playing with the woodland alliance. I have been getting killed. There doesn't seem to be a balance of how to gain victory points compared to the other factions. At the end of each game I am using sitting at 10-12 points. I am only getting victory points for going up the sympathy track when I place a sympathy which is only 1 - 2 points a turn. Once I get up the sympathy track a little ways, someone battles me and I go back down the sympathy track. I can barely get to the 2 point area of the sympathy track before someone knocks me back down. At the same time the other two factions are gaining 3 -4 points per round. Is the scoring on the sympathy track perpetual as long as I have sympathy tokens out there on the board? I have only been scoring sympathy victory points to myself when I PLACE a sympathy token.
I am SO sorry for the delay Chad. I'm a teacher and this digital teaching stuff totally took me out of commission..... I really cannot help you out with your questions here..... (1) I suck at strategy at any game..... (2) I only have a few games of root under my belt..... (3) I've never played the Woodland Alliance, nor have I played in a game with them. So I just don't know..... But fingers crossed another view sees this and can help!
I've played as the alliance a few times already and a strategy that seems to work quite nicely is starting sympathy somewhere quite a bit away from the cats or/ and birds starting point and trying to get to a center clearing (best would be the one with 5 paths attached to it). If everything goes well, you can revolt on your second turn already and then do everything possible to protect that one. Remember to keep ambush cards and maybe craft defensive cards. I also like to NOT build the 3rd base so there's a kind of back up to revolt if necessary and it also makes other players not play too aggressive in my opinion. Also, try to get about 4/5 officers (or hoever they are called in English, so you have enough options to maybe spread your defense a clearing or to away from the base. Also that really good working "move warrior-remove warrior to generate sympathy-recruit warrior in base again" sequence can help you gain some big points, especially if you add some crafting. And don't forget you get matching cards everytime someone walks into a clearing with sympathy or destroys sympathy, which would be 2 cards at once! You can use that to lure your opponents away from or to certain clearings. I'm by far no expert myself but I hope I could help and have fun with the game :D
Also, remember whenever you remove pieces from another faction from the board you score points. It doesn't have to be a battle. If I am also reading your comment about losing points, YOU DO NOT LOSE victory points if someone removes the sympathy. Moreover, if the sympathy is placed back on your faction board (I believe you go right to left - inferring this from the rule book) and the next turn you use that sympathy, you also gain the victory points. Example, de Cat removes sympathy and it goes back on your board - you get a card as Tom explained that matches the clearing from their hand, or draw one if they dont. Your next turn, you spread sympathy paying the needed support, you can gain whatever VP is listed under that token regardless if it was removed.
So... one thing that I think confuses players (at least me) is that the game doesn't do ANYTHING to clear up the fact that you don't start with sympathy on the board, and since you can ONLY spread sympathy to adjacent clearings, how you place your FIRST sympathy token is sort of confusing... because obviously you can't place it adjacent to NOTHING... And I don't know why any of the "how-to" videos don't take five seconds to explain this... it boggles the mind. Especially since REVOLT is the first step of Birdsong, not SPREAD SYMPATHY, it gets doubly confusing... Just say "You can't REVOLT on your first turn, ever, because you don't start with a sympathy token in play. So dumb... and yet so simple at the same time...
Just got this game. Got lost playing the tutorial and even the Rodney video wasn't enough to make things click. Your Root series (and all you videos) is the best at teaching how to play the game. Very straight forward and your delivery is stress reducing. Thanks for making these.
Just opened up this game today for the first time trying to get prepared to play it tonight. You helped SO MUCH! Wish I would have found you an hour ago haha
This is the best video I’ve seen in terms of explaining the rules clearly.
The layout of the rulebook that comes with root isn’t easily to read for me so it is very helpful to have it explained thanks so much
17:53 you can't Revolt in a clearing if you had already the matching base in the board
Oh man! 🤦♂️ Great catch! Thank you for pointing that out.
So if I already have the “fox base” out on the board, I can no longer revolt in a “fox clearing” for the remainder of the game or until that fox base has been removed?
@@AugustusFloop Correct
@@luisvelasquez9234 Thanks! There’s little details that aren’t in the rule book.
Another question if you don’t mind: Does “martial law” still apply to the “Organize” action during the Evening phase or only when you pay 2 supporters to “Spread Sympathy” during Birdsong? Thanks!
@@AugustusFloop Martial law only affects when Spreading Sympathy, when you Organize you don't need to spend supporters, it's a different action, remove a warrior and put Sympathy (no pay needed)
It was a genios idea NOT to go phase by phase. I think there's an expectation after reading through the Cat's and Bird's factions that it should be read sequentially, but making sure the concept and mechanics of Sympathy of sympathy are understood first really helped tie this together.
Great video!
Excellent educational video and explained very clearly. Thank you for this! This video should be getting a lot more views!
Tom I can't thank you enough for making these for each faction. You did an awesome job. I asked you about a Root faction walkthrough and you nailed it. I will be having my group watch the individual faction that they will play and rotate factions until we all learn and play them. I love your videos. Keep up the good work.
You are more than welcome! It's something I really wanted to do -- and I am so happy they turned out okay. I know I've made a couple of mistakes here and there -- keep an eye on the comments for each video -- but they were made with a lot of love :D So that has to count for something...... right?
I have been trying for HOURS upon HOURS trying to figure out this damn faction. Woah. "High Difficulty" is an understantment. I would say "extreme." Haha - thank you so much for helping me understand this Faction. Who the HECK comes up with these amazing ideas? I ain't complaining, but holy moly. You're THE best! Thank you - Tabatha - Rhode Island
Thanks so much for teaching this! I'm just getting into Root, and saved this faction for the last to learn out of the core box. You really helped!
Thanks a lot for these incredibly well done videos. Hands down the best and most thorough tutorials I’ve seen that explain each faction in a clear and easy to follow fashion. Seen them, love them all, big kudos to you, it was a very easy decision to follow your channel. 😉😊
This is sooo helpful!! After my first time playing last week it i lost so badly (even ended last place) because i didn't know what the heck to do, but now that tomorrow is my group's 2nd game session I'm more than ready to beat the crap out of everyone 😼!!!
I just purchased Root, thank you for this video - it was super great! I'm trying to learn all the factions and this helps quite a bit. The player boards are very helpful, but this helps a lot too.
I'm so glad! And yeah, those boards are seriously extremely well made... in many ways I almost feel like I'm just reading those boards aloud for the video :D But, I am really happy to hear that they've helped you out. Happy root-ing!
Fabulous job. It was like listening to myself from the future. 🤖
This was really good nice work
Best teach ever. Couldn’t figure out the crafting part. Thank you.
It is TOUGH. As I said (and I know others disagree with me) for some reason my brain just does NOT click with this faction.... to this day, I feel like I don't understand them... but I'm really glad that I could help!
Thank you so much! This was so helpful!
You are amazing.
Thank you so much again
Good job explaining this.
same question here basically, when a sympathy token gets removed and put back on the player board, and then the player spreads sympathy again, does that player get the VP points again? This is another example of how a player could exploit VP, by putting sympathy in a weak area late game just so it can get removed again.
Yes, if the token is removed it is placed back on the faction sheet; this will allow the controlling player to score those points again.
Nice job explaining! Trying to learn this game now to play online with some friends. I feel like i have a better idea of how to play them now. Theyre definitely an advanced players faction!
That's definitely how I feel! Though, as you can see in the comments, many people might disagree. I still, to this day, don't know what is so tricky for my brain about this faction..... but my brain still struggles to fully understand how to play them. (Literally and strategically)
@@TomTeachesGames maybe you need to play them more and take some beatings till you understand! Who knows? At least its a fun game to try :)
True! If only I had the time.... and game group....
Most of my gaming is alone, and I’m often playing whatever new game-I-don’t-need that I most recently got..... it’s a curse.
I have a question about military operations. How many do we have for each officer? Only one of the four or each set of the four per officer ?
You can use a bird card to do a Train action in any of your bases, right?
At 9:00 you say "fox clearings" but, while it's a fox-suit, the card has mouse clearing symbols on, so I think you meant "mouse clearings".
Great catch. I did that in so many videos while I was recording, but would catch myself as I was talking and just re-record right then and there. Thanks for catching that. (Also, I still can't get my mouse to catch the difference between "mouse" and "rabbit")
Thanks for the video. But pretty sure you are NOT able to move your base once is down.
Thank you! This faction is a mind melt for me.... still....
Does “martial law” still apply to the “Organize” action during the Evening phase or only when you pay 2 supporters to “Spread Sympathy” during Birdsong?
Hmmm..... it's been too long for me to give any kind of definitive answer here.... but I think my answer would be "no"....
No, it is a different action. Just remove a single warrior and place the token. This is what makes it such an appealing option :)
Just started learning this faction: Don't Sympathy tokens count toward ruling pieces? I.e 1 warrior and 1 Sympathy token in a clearing > 1 enemy warrior in same clearing?
Therefore you would rule the clearing at 12:35, no?
Clarification would be great.
Awesome video!
Only Warriors and Buildings count for ruling a clearing
@@luisvelasquez9234 Cheers. That makes it simple.
While I've got ya; could you tell me what the relevance of using items is when no Vagabond in play? Could you play without items tokens?
@@matvaughan4535 The items track the number of available items in stock, once an ítem its not available (I. E. Two players craft both boots), other boot card can't be crafted, so the card must be used in other way, it limits the player crafts of each ítem and players must find other way to victory vía other points sources
@@luisvelasquez9234 ah that is a decent little mechanic. Much appreciated bro 👌
Have just started playing and have a lot of little mix ups with certain rules
Love the videos! Does anyone else think they made this game just a little TOO cutesy? "Birdsong" drives me nuts only because the other two phases have normal names...They should have just called it Morning. Sun Up would have been better. Birds are already a faction.
I do struggle with a lot of the vocabulary -- not sure if I'd call the vocabulary "cutesy" -- but it sure does feel like it adds a layer of unnecessary complexity to an already tough-to-learn-and-teach game...
IDK, I think Birdsong is a cool thematic name. And since I started paying attention, there is a special time in the morning, just before lights on, when the birds are already up and singing.
I like it :P
thanks man '
Please help me out! Our family is new to the game of Root. There is just 3 of us so we play without the vagabond. I have been playing with the woodland alliance. I have been getting killed. There doesn't seem to be a balance of how to gain victory points compared to the other factions. At the end of each game I am using sitting at 10-12 points. I am only getting victory points for going up the sympathy track when I place a sympathy which is only 1 - 2 points a turn. Once I get up the sympathy track a little ways, someone battles me and I go back down the sympathy track. I can barely get to the 2 point area of the sympathy track before someone knocks me back down. At the same time the other two factions are gaining 3 -4 points per round. Is the scoring on the sympathy track perpetual as long as I have sympathy tokens out there on the board? I have only been scoring sympathy victory points to myself when I PLACE a sympathy token.
I am SO sorry for the delay Chad. I'm a teacher and this digital teaching stuff totally took me out of commission.....
I really cannot help you out with your questions here..... (1) I suck at strategy at any game..... (2) I only have a few games of root under my belt..... (3) I've never played the Woodland Alliance, nor have I played in a game with them. So I just don't know..... But fingers crossed another view sees this and can help!
th-cam.com/video/18on4zO9J-Y/w-d-xo.html
I've played as the alliance a few times already and a strategy that seems to work quite nicely is starting sympathy somewhere quite a bit away from the cats or/ and birds starting point and trying to get to a center clearing (best would be the one with 5 paths attached to it). If everything goes well, you can revolt on your second turn already and then do everything possible to protect that one. Remember to keep ambush cards and maybe craft defensive cards. I also like to NOT build the 3rd base so there's a kind of back up to revolt if necessary and it also makes other players not play too aggressive in my opinion.
Also, try to get about 4/5 officers (or hoever they are called in English, so you have enough options to maybe spread your defense a clearing or to away from the base. Also that really good working "move warrior-remove warrior to generate sympathy-recruit warrior in base again" sequence can help you gain some big points, especially if you add some crafting.
And don't forget you get matching cards everytime someone walks into a clearing with sympathy or destroys sympathy, which would be 2 cards at once! You can use that to lure your opponents away from or to certain clearings. I'm by far no expert myself but I hope I could help and have fun with the game :D
Also, remember whenever you remove pieces from another faction from the board you score points. It doesn't have to be a battle. If I am also reading your comment about losing points, YOU DO NOT LOSE victory points if someone removes the sympathy. Moreover, if the sympathy is placed back on your faction board (I believe you go right to left - inferring this from the rule book) and the next turn you use that sympathy, you also gain the victory points. Example, de Cat removes sympathy and it goes back on your board - you get a card as Tom explained that matches the clearing from their hand, or draw one if they dont. Your next turn, you spread sympathy paying the needed support, you can gain whatever VP is listed under that token regardless if it was removed.
So... one thing that I think confuses players (at least me) is that the game doesn't do ANYTHING to clear up the fact that you don't start with sympathy on the board, and since you can ONLY spread sympathy to adjacent clearings, how you place your FIRST sympathy token is sort of confusing... because obviously you can't place it adjacent to NOTHING...
And I don't know why any of the "how-to" videos don't take five seconds to explain this... it boggles the mind.
Especially since REVOLT is the first step of Birdsong, not SPREAD SYMPATHY, it gets doubly confusing...
Just say "You can't REVOLT on your first turn, ever, because you don't start with a sympathy token in play.
So dumb... and yet so simple at the same time...
Yeah, just start explaining from birdsong and mention that revolt is impossible on your first turn
Just one little thing I think you missed. Woodland Alliance also gets a card from sympathy if they ever get removed.
Thank you so much!
My god this is... a lot lol
You sure said it!
Why in the world would one play this game without knowing the fundamentals of each faction?
The game rule said Training officers will also let you recruit new warriors and place sympathy tokens without spending supporters� how does it work?