Root: Landmark Pack

Woodland Warfare

Cole Wehrle’s megahit Root is a woodland war-game like no other. It’s incredibly cute, asymmetric factions fight to be the first to 30 points. Each playing a very different game. Everything about this game oozes charm with incredible illustrations from Kyle Ferrin. Since its release in 2018 there have been a multitude of expansions and accessories. Even a new RPG set in the blood soaked forest itself hit the shelves this year. Until now, clearings were only dominated by players’ warriors and buildings. They did not offer much variation beyond a few ruins that could only be interacted with by two specific factions. Well now comes the Landmarks Pack which throws some more interactivity into the game.

Gotta Love A Landmark

There are four different landmarks that come in the box. Each one, represented by a beautiful, screen-printed wooden piece, is in the classic ‘Root’ style. There is also a small deck of cards that explain set up and game rules for each one. But what are they?

The Black Market creates a much needed way to exchange cards form you hand. When visiting, you can exchange one of your cards for one of three set aside the board. This is done blind so you don’t know what you are getting. But as the three cards are kept in a line, you can seed the black market how you want. This can be a fun way to help your allies early in the game, or a way to try and sabotage your enemies by filling it with suits that are useless to them. This can be a really useful location but it will be down to the luck in that first draw of cards.

The Lost City turns a clearing wild. Throughout the game it can be counted as a fox, mouse or rabbit clearing for all purposes. This will be incredibly powerful for certain factions in the game and relatively useless to others. The vagabond could run away with Quest points just by sitting here turn after turn.

The Elder Treetop adds a new space to any clearing where buildings can be placed. This is a fantastic addition for any factions, like the cats, that need to build as much as possible. Once again, for someone like the Eerie, this will add nothing of use to the game. However, if buildings here are destroyed (in the usual way) then the victor takes two points instead of one. So be careful if you build up there.

The Legendary Forge is perhaps the most complicated addition. When placed, you will take a number of crafted items from the board and place them on the Legendary Forge card. These items can now only be crafted if you have a player piece in the same clearing as the new forge. You still need to satisfy the needs of crafting etc and so this simply makes it more difficult to craft.

However, if you manage to craft something at the forge then as a reward you get an extra point and get to draw a card. This might slow down someone like the Rats who need items but really help the Eerie as they would get that extra point despite their ‘distain for trade’.

Worth The Fight

The quality of the cards and pieces are fantastic, exactly what you would expect from Leder Games. The size of the meeples are also significantly big enough to stand out when on the board. Do you need this expansion? No. However, if you play a lot of Root and don’t want to fork out another £30-£40 for another faction, then this very affordable little box offers a lot of variety to keep you busy.