I have an on-and-off-again relationship with boardgaming based mostly on the fact that I have nobody to play boardgames with. I used to be part of a boardgaming circle, but then I missed a fateful opening round of Twilight Imperium, and then the pandemic started, and then everybody lost patience with Tabletop Game Simulator.
As such, I’ve been unwilling to invest in new boardgames, and unable to play one particular awesome-sounding creation, Root, an asymmetrical strategy affair in which different factions of animals vie for control (mostly) of a storybook forest. Good news, me: I’ve just learned that Dire Wolf adapted it into a PC game a whole four years ago. I know this because somebody’s just sent me a mail about a new Marauder expansion on Steam.
Root, as I understand it, is excellent because the factions are effectively playing different games side by side. You’ve got the birds, who used to rule the woods and must keep up a steady momentum of territory capture or else fall into squabbling. You’ve got the cats, who are currently in charge, have the biggest army, and are trying to chop it all down for profit. You’ve got a guerrilla alliance of other critters, who don’t have a base to begin with and must build sympathy in the shadows. And you’ve got the Vagabond, a travelling ragamuffin who plays all sides while undertaking a quest for fame and plunder.
That’s the base offering. The Steam edition has received a bunch of expansions. The latest one introduces two more factions: Lord of the Hundreds, who will “oppress the Woodland and burn it to the ground if need be”, and the Keepers in Iron, a group of exiled knights searching for relics.
The digital adaptation’s 3D visuals and presentation feel a teeny bit lacklustre next to the woodcut storybook vibes of the original boardgame – this feels like a case of more is less. Still, I am very keen to play. Perhaps it’ll fill the hole left in my life by the collapse of my Armello habit. The predictable question I have, as a filthy hermit, is whether the bot AI is any shop. If it’s cobblers, I may have no choice but to visit my old boardgaming group, cap in hand, and beg for another chance. I think they’re done playing Twilight Imperium now? It’s been years, but this is Twilight Imperium.
