Learn to Play Root in 24 Minutes (with updated rules)
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- Опубліковано 6 лют 2025
- How to play the Root base game with all factions and updated rules in 24 minutes (there's some silliness in the front and back ends)
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Watch The Brothers Murph's Adventures in Board Gaming: • Playing Root at Amir's...
Updated Rules: boardgamegeek....
Want to buy this game? Get it here amzn.to/2FEHbNE (or at your friendly local game store, that's cool too)
Corrections:
6:48 - When placing Dominance cards to the side, I say that any OTHER player can acquire them, but you can too on a later round. (Thanks to Paulo Renato for spotting this one)
8:18 - I accidentally left a clearing empty that should've gotten a cat. Do what I said, not what I did. (Thanks to TutorialsForMom for this one)
16:40 - A new update to the Law of Root (published after this video) describes what's called Full Removal: Whenever an enemy player uses an effect that says it removes all enemy pieces from a clearing (such as Alliance revolts, Favor of the Mice cards, Conspiracy bombs) with the Vagabond, the Vagabond damages three items. (Thanks to Rotten Jeeves for this one)
18:43 - Just to be clear, because birds are wild, you can give the Woodland Alliance a bird card to satisfy Outrage. (Thanks to Paulo Renato for this one)
20:51 - If a tea, bag, or coins get exhausted, move it to the satchel. These can be moved back as soon as they're refreshed. (Thanks to Grant Smith and laes25 for pointing this out)
23:37 - The placement of the caption implies that the birds couldn't leave their space. Sorry for the confusion. The cats were allied and thus were unable to leave due to the birds ruling the clearing.
23:53 - You become hostile to other factions by removing their warriors, not by removing any of their pieces (Thanks to Tyler Pacheco for spotting this one)
24:46 - If you perform "An Evening's Rest," repair and refresh all items instead of just repairing. (Thanks to David Kuling for noticing this)
Want to rewatch something?
Intro: 1:20
Set up: 2:12
Basics: 2:53
Battle: 3:51
Cards: 4:48
Ambush and Dominance: 6:00
Marquise de Cat: 7:43
Eyrie Dynasties: 11:10
Woodland Alliance: 15:06
Vagabond: 19:13
Had to remove the song at the end because copyright law is more confusing than I thought. Sorry folks.
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#tutorial #boardgames #RTFM #rtfmshow
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Im a teacher. This is insanely well structured and very easy to follow. This seems to have a lot of planning and thought put into it. The links are so helpful. Very well done! A+
Thank you so much! Glad you like it.
Having just watched with the board in front of me, I do not agree. It would work better if he just played the game while talking through elements as they come up. Instead he talks far too much in advance of what he’s supposed to be doing.
I agree. Excellently done
I'm a mortgage broker. They were also very easy to follow for me.
Wow you’re a teacher.
As always, really helpful video! Made my first time playing practically a breeze.
Also shout out to "Look what the us dragged in" during the Vagabond segment. I genuinely chuckled.
Haha, thanks! Glad I could help!
2:10 "So you've got your friends..." whoaa there looks like I'll need more than just this video to be able to play :/
Haha, well the expansion does come with an AI opponent for a solo variant...
Who needs friends when you have board game buddies
if u r interested in Root but do not think you will know anyone to play it with, there is a project that seems to be wrapping up development and come pretty close to completion, sort of, called the better bot project. Every faction, including the Lizard Cult and Riverfolk Company from the expansion has an easy to use bot that once you get used to how they operate, can have their actions be performed pretty quickly. Idk if it is worth getting Root just for this because you lose the whole political side of any war game but it is still a lot of fun.
LiiChinHo I love how he’s like now that we’ve got our wood we can start breeding kittens 😂
Recently a digital version of Root came out! You can play with Bots or do online play. There are also single player challenge games you can do that give restrictions or rule changes for even more variety.
I really like Woodland Alliance gameplay mechanics. They are one of the hardest to play right but really makes you feel like you're a guerrilla fighter while Birds and Cats are having a conventional war.
100% agreed, you really do feel like an underdog fighting an uphill battle against the ruling class using the "by any means necessary" tactics. It's perfect.
I agree, but the Vagabond is truly my style of play
Thanks a ton for making this video! My friends and I have been getting into Root recently and were a bit confused by some parts of the rules, or had just interpreted them wrong. This is super clear and easy to watch!
Hey, thanks! Glad I could help.
People often say the app is a great way to learn the rules, I disagree. I found the app terribly confusing and felt many rules seemed to be missing. Your video was much more helpful. Thank you.
Glad I could help!
One note to add about the Vagabond becoming hostile at ~23:53. You only become hostile if you remove a warrior piece, not any piece (according to 9.2.9.III).
Ooh, good spot, thanks!. Added a note in the description.
I think this will really help. We got really overwhelmed trying to understand how each side plays. This game is still really complicated though, because cards do so many different things and you don't always do what's on the card!
You're not wrong about the cards, they can take a little while to really wrap your head around. Glad I could help at least part of the way though. And I promise, after a few plays it all makes so much more sense.
Wow, your tutorials are unbelievably clear and thorough. You taught me and my friends Spirit Island and now this game. Thank you for doing this!
Hey thanks! Glad I could help!
The game arrived today and I couldn't help myself and this helped me instantly set up and learn how to play.
Glad I could help!
See the Brothers in the intro was a funny surprise! It's great that you guys collaborate. Thanks for this video!
I love the Murphs! We've actually done a few collaborations on this channel. Most recently they helped out with the intro to my War of the Ring tutorial, which was a ton of fun.
RTFM I own that game and haven’t gotten anyone to play it hahah thanks for that reply because I”m definitely checking out that video now!
Oh my god i love the intro
This is perfect. I literally bought this game last night. Love the sketch at the beginning too.
What perfect timing! Glad you enjoyed it.
I absolutely love the intro! I showed it to the people that I was teaching to show them the backstory of the conflicts to give a bit of flavor.
Thanks! Glad you like it!
the rules explanation is great, but it's the little bits of humor sprinkled in that really make this so enjoyable as well as informative! (the "bird I grew up with" thing cracked me up)
thank you!
Thank you so much!
"Green pieces of bread." I loved all the funny words you put on the screen. Very helpful video.
Haha, thanks!
Good tutorial. I learned the basics of the game with 0 prior knowledge.
Also, when the third animal picture is shown with the faction name, I SWEAR that noise comes from Chrono Cross. The Isle of the Dead song.
Glad I could help! As for the music, I get them from UA-cam's audio library, so I doubt it's from Chrono Trigger. Unfortunately I haven't played it, so I can't verify.
@@RTFM I went and listened, and it is 100% the same noise. From Isle of The Dead. It makes sense that it came form a sound library, Mitsuda (the composer) probably used the same one! Fun fact of the day I guess!
@@TheZaaz huh, good to know!
just ordered the base game + the 3 expansions, I was most excited to play the otters, but the alliance looks so interesting as well!
Excellent video on rules. Very clear sprinkle with a little humor... Keep up the good work!
Thanks, I will!
It suddenly clicked and I finally understand this game. I’ve been interested in it for a while. (P.S. I just supported your Patreon. I’ve been enjoying your tutorials. Great work all around)
Well thank you so much for supporting the channel! I really appreciate that, and I'm glad I could help!
Amazing video as always. I just got the game and can't wait to try it out. You guys do amazing work with your rules videos and I can't wait to see your terraforming mars video.
Thank you so much! Glad I could help.
24:46 If you perform the "An Evening's Rest" action, your damaged items that are also exhausted are flipped face up, even with the updated Law of Root (9.6.1)
Ah, good catch. That should have been on the printouts for the new rules since Evening's Rest just says "repair all items" and the repair action has changed. But BGG agrees with you, so I'll add a note.
hey man, the youtube gods muted the last few seconds of this video :( playing root for the first time this weekend, thanks for the video!
Yeah, I didn't realize that my rights to the credits music I used to use had expired, so I had to mute it or face a copyright strike. Copyright law is weird.
Excellent rules summary! Thanks for putting in the time and effort to create this
No problem, glad I could help!
Wow, delighted I've roamed upon this channel. Great stuff! Also, 04:34 - headphone users, beware.
Oh yeah...sorry about that
I will never play Eyrie without making that noise! I love it.
i bought this game half a week ago and i havent had a chance to play it yet so ive been watching game explanatiuons and reviews in the meantime because i dont want to watch strategy guides and get an unfair advantage over my friends and i feel like im about to explode
This seems really well structured. Don’t know if I’m just slow at picking up rules but I’m listening at 0.75x speed and still having to go back a few times lol
Hahah you’re definitely right
It's a complicated game! But all the information is in here
@@ZandoFox ya that’s is right
Just played this tonight as the vagabond. So much fun
Going to use this video to teach my group, really great resource!
Happy to help!
The intro is incredible. Well done. xD
Thanks!
hey thanks for helping my confidence, now that i need to take a run with this
think i'll love it, more than Fort, definitely
This is the video that I watch before I teach root to friends. Super helpful!
Thanks!
Very good explanation. Wasn't an hour on another rubbish video tutorial, but this one is fantastic
Happy to help!
Missed rule at 16:40. Full Removal. Whenever an enemy player uses
an effect that says it removes all enemy pieces
from a clearing (such as Alliance revolts, Favor of
the Mice cards, Conspiracy bombs) with the Vagabond, the Vagabond damages three items
Ooh, that seems to be a new update with the latest Law of Root. My video was made before that was published, but I'll make a note of it anyway. Thanks!
@@RTFM No problem. Lots of little easy to miss rules in root. :)
"Little green slices of bread", lol. Liked for that description
Fantastic Learn to play-video! Besides learning the rules it really made wanting to play the game right away.
Thank you so much, that's so nice to hear!
Hats off, best intro I ve ever seen
16:45 Whenever vagabond is affected by "remove all pieces from clearing" effect he soaks 3 points of damage instead.
Yeah, someone else pointed that out so it's in the description. This video was made before the latest rules update, which added that. Thank you though!
Fantastic content! Love the L2P series.
Now we need a skit on the 4 other expansion factions.
Thanks to this video i can finally, FINALLY say i will be buying Root, been interested for A WHILE but with this everything is clear and i'm no longer afraid of not being able to explain it correctly. Thanks!!
Glad I could help!
Thank you for posting this. Pretty clear and a good overview. I feel this was helpful for getting a general feel for the game. I also really enjoy the humor from your text flourishes. However, not quite clear enough to fully learn it. A few pieces of constructive criticism: I think you should slow down and give more visual examples of how things work (i.e. show each of the actions being taken on the board). This would be more helpful than watching you talk.
Love the start lol XD Super helpful, thanks!
Great video. I have the digital version but was still struggling with understanding the rules especially for Vagabond which this helped clear up.
Thanks, glad I could help!
5:04 " Citation Needed" if you mean for bird cards being wild then Section 2.11 of The Law of Root "
- "2.1.1 Birds Are Wild. You can treat any bird card as a card of another suit, even if you must spend, take, or give multiple cards of the same suit."
On the other hand if you are needing a citation that "birds can fly", I would have to say more specifically "some birds" can fly and for a citation there I would refer you to the citation notes of the Wikipedia article on "Bird Flight"
Wow. This is a very well made video. Thanks.
No problem, glad I could help!
This game is basically the plot of Redwall book 2 with a random raccoon in the mix.
This game is so complicated but very well explained
Thanks!
Excellent work, as usual.
Thanks!
Great video, good job dude!
Great video. Oh, and I love it when you buy a game, and before you can get it to the table, they rebalance and your unplayed game is no longer valid without gluing changes to it! Ah well... such is life. Glad when designers keep working to make their games better!
Yeah...it's not ideal, but it's also not necessary. I know people who don't bother with the updates because they think the game works fine without them. Up to you.
Nice! Very clear and easy to follow.
This is brilliant, thank you!
JUST LOVE YOUR INTRO SEQUENCE! LOL
Thanks!
Heyyy. Love the intro part. COOL!
Really? The stupid intro is why I stopped watching and found a better video
Hahah. that is from my point of view, other's may feel different about watching it . It is something different from the previous video. so yeah, i found it cool. ofcourse it is stupidly funny . haha. @@eshgrb1127
@@eshgrb1127 We are all entitled to our opinion of course, but dissing the video's quality simply because you did not want to skip the intro, for which there are also timestamps in the description seems shortsighted. I didn't care much for the intro either, but am finding the actual video to be one of the best how to play.
Outstanding tutorial!! Thanks a bunch and keep up the good work!!!
Thanks, glad I could help!
Thanks for doing this. Now I just gotta buy it and play!
No problem! Best of luck!
Amazing video! Thank you so much for this primer. Subscribed!
I know this video was from a while ago, but quick Question... When the Vagabond has to aid a faction multiple times in one turn, as per their player board, do they have to exhaust that many items each time they aid too? So, if they were at the "2x" space, they would have to give two cards and exhaust 2 items twice?
Thanks so much for such a great video! I just subscribed today and you have already helped me out tons!
Hey thanks! To answer your question, if you're at the 2 space, you'd need to perform the aid action twice in one turn, but the action cost hasn't changed. So you'd need to do it twice, but each time you'd still only exhaust one item and give one card.
Just started playing won a couple challenges against ai but wow it’s a lot of information to take in.
There is frustrating moment about vagabond which isnt very intuitive and dosn't written anywhere if i recall correctly, but other players can force vagabond to break the alliance by attacking him and suffering casualities from returning damage. This is really useful because vagabond can pull quite a lot of dick moves on his "ally" with very little consequence (for example he can drag all cat warriors away from citadel then return on the same turn and completely trash the place) and you usually dont want to be his ally.
Yeah, having a vagabond ally can be nice at times, but in the long run it ends up being a lot more complicated of a relationship.
I am still on step one, you made it sound so here is a long explanation for why I'm so confused.
I still haven't found any friends?...
2:15
very nice video!! i hv played the game once and feeling i need some extra help with the rules haha this vid is fun and informative thx!
Hey, glad I could help!
This is super helpful. Also, where did you get your cat/heart blanket?
Thanks! I think the blanket came from H&M, but it was a gift, so I'm not actually sure.
A question about "March" 9:12...
So if I have this correct, you can:
- Move ONE miniature up to TWO spaces.
- Move TWO miniatures up to ONE space each.
- Move 1+X amount of miniatures up to TWO spaces, provided that X = miniatures you pick up along the way (ie. pick up as you move through them, but not if they're in your starting clearing)?
Thanks
Not quite. When moving you can take any number of units from a space and move them from a clearing to an adjacent one. March gives you two moves, so you can do this twice, and you complete each move before doing the next one. Hope that helps!
@@RTFM Oh I see... but when you March it's just one space per movement action, yeah?
Great video and teach, thanks!
Glad you like it!
Very helpful. Thank you!
No problem!
Such a good video; thanks for putting this together! :)
Thanks!
Great video man. You’re def one of my fav how to play content creators! Cheers
What does RTFM stand for? Also, AMAZING video. Super strait forward 🙂. NVM. Looked it up.
Haha, yeah there's a reason I don't usually spell it out :D
Will you guys cover the underground expansion? Love your content!
Possibly in the future. For now, I tend to go to new games and don't look back, but the next goal on my Patreon will have me revisiting expansions.
Really good video! Helped alot
Thank you! Glad I could help.
Very funny. Well voiced... so many accolades. Thank you!! :)
This game sounds really fun, but very complicated with a LOT of rules. I would definitely want to play, but I cant imagine that I would be able to find any friends to play it because of how many rules there are.
It is complicated, but what makes it easier is that each player only really needs to know how their faction works, with just a basic understanding of the others. The player boards act as reference cards as well to help keep track.
@@RTFM About to watch the video to see if I should buy the game. If 2 people know how to play, can they teach it to others relatively easily (i.e. my parents)?
@@Sicofy02 It definitely helps, but this is a complex game so I wouldn't recommend it for people new to gaming in general. If they have some experience with strategy games though, it should be fine.
@@RTFM Oh they are definitely experienced gamers. Thanks for the response! Lol.
I also thought that the game is complicated and has a lot of rules while reading the instruction, but once I got into the game, it turned out that it is not so difficult ;) During one game, you are able to easy learn almost all the rules of the played faction.
Could you maybe do a Nature documentary style video, like this bit 0:01 where you cover the story of root through every single expansion so far? Exept for the clockwork expansion, of cource!
Oh I'd love that! If Leder paid for it, I'd absolutely make something like that.
@@RTFMdo you mean Leader? Are you scandinavian (dont worry, i am too!😊)
@@RTFMwhat does RFTM Stand for?
@@ChristianDall-p2j Read The F-ing Manual. When I picked it I thought it was a much more well known acronym that people would get a kick out of, but I've found that it's a bit more obscure than I assumed. Oh well, I still like it.
@@ChristianDall-p2j Afraid not. I was referring to Leder Games, the publishers.
Well this is coming out for the switch soon, so I hope that will be fun enough.
At 8:20, the bottom mouse clearing is missing a cat meeple.
Quite right. A couple people have spotted that and there's a note in the description about it.
At 8:48 you use a mouse worhshop to craft a bunny item. Or I'm misunderstanding and the workshop doesnt have to be in specific clearing.
So the card is of the bunny suit, but if you look at the symbol on the wood plank (and the top right), that tells you what the crafting requirements are, and that's not necessarily the same thing.
The vagabond don't get hostile if he removes tokens, he only get hostile if he removed warriors
Yeah, a few people have pointed this one out. There's a correction in the video description. Thanks though.
Nicely done! Seems like most videos for this game are getting shredded for rules violations, but I don't care. Thanks for helping!
Haha, yeah it's a tough game to cover. I think we did pretty well. Glad I could help
4:33 scared the shit out of me
I hope someone can help me here. I didn't quite get the crafting mechanic.
So I've got some questions.
Can you only craft one card per turn?
And also when a card as let's say two mice symbols, do I need to have two roosts as the bird faction or two crafting stations as the cats? Or do I just need to rule two clearings that match the card?
I'm sorry if this sounds confusing
Your confusion is totally understandable. The truth is that each faction handles crafting a little differently, but you have it right in the first example. As the cats you'll need two workshops in mouse clearings (they can be in the same clearing or different ones) to make a 2 mouse card. For birds, you'll need two roosts in two different mouse clearings because birds can only have one roost per clearing. In both cases, you do not need to rule the clearing to make the card. Hope that helps!
5:32
How the hell have I never noticed this until now?
Did you ever do instructional video for the moles or the crows?
I haven't yet, but I do plan on covering that and the clockwork expansion by the end of the year.
25:35 9.2.8 said (The Vagabond no longer scores points), does this mean that if the vagabong does quests, crafting items, or removing enemy buildings/tokens, the victory points cannot be awarded to the coalition faction?
If Vagabond is in coalition with Eyrie, then Eyrie's victory point will not increase even though Vagabond does the things above, that is right?
That's correct. You don't earn any points for the coalition, but your actions can put them in more advantageous positions to help them score points.
17:00 I wonder, wouldn't it be better if we did Spread Sympathy then Revolt, because it allows us to put down more Warriors. Compared to if we do Revolt then Spread Sympathy. Why do you suggest doing Revolt first?
Or the rules require us to do Revolt first before Spread Sympaty? And it must?
I'm afraid the rules require it. On the Woodland Alliance board it shows Revolt as being the 1st part of Birdsong, then Spread Sympathy is the 2nd.
Where it says "Rules start at 2:10" you should really change this to 1:40. I started at 2:10 and got through the entire video only to realize it states around 1:45 how you finish and win the game lol
I really have a GF9 Dune vibe with this one.
I love your Elephant shirt.
Haha, thanks. If you want it, search for pachyderm forest shirt and it'll pop right up.
Why this dont have more than a millon?
You know I ask myself that same question. Thanks getting me one view closer!
At 23:38, why couldn't the allied birds follow the Vagabond to the adjacent clearing? The birds rule their current clearing, right?
Sorry, that was a mix up while writing captions. I should've put it next to the cat, because cats were the ones that were allied and thus weren't able to leave. The birds were preventing the movement. I'll make a note about it in the description.
Questions:
Does the Marquise have to pay the Alliance a card if they don’t land on, but only pass through a clearing with a sympathy token (when the warriors move two spaces in one go)?
Every faction has to earn their points from left to right on their boards (when placing buildings, roosts, and sympathy tokens) right?
Can the Marquise have more than one wood at a sawmill if they have accumulated it over more than one turn?
My family just played our first game last night and these were some questions that came up that we couldn’t find a solid answer for. Especially the first one. Would be epic if anyone who is a pro at this game could answer these.
Hey, so to answer your questions in turn:
If you move a cat two spaces, that counts as two separate moves, so you would have to pay the Alliance for each move that ends in a sympathetic clearing.
Left to right, yes.
The Marquise can have multiple wood in one space, but be careful, because that will make it a more appealing target for other players to attack.
Few things surrounding Vagabond I am unsure of:
Can Vagabond be attacked?
Does exhausted items like tea pots count towards satchel space?
Do Vagabonds gain points for destroying buildings?
The vagabond can be attacked, hits against them damage their items. Exhausted items do count against your satchel space. And yes, vagabonds gain points for destroying buildings and other tokens.
Excellent video, thanks! Cleared up a couple questions I had after reading the books and playing the tutorial.
Only have a couple questions.
My Vagabond is "Set-up D", 19:37 is this a misprint, or a change? Who's is right/wrong?
Is there a reason the crafting requirements are printed on the bottom-left and top-right of the card?
No misprint. I kinda messed up here. The Riverfolk expansion gives you a second Vagabond and I accidentally used that one while making this video.
The crafting requirements are on both corners for easy reference, I suppose? Not entirely sure about that one.
@@RTFM I just got the expansion today, and obviously see why now. I had thought maybe that was a first edition print thing. Doesn't invalidate anything. I'm hiding the expansion until I get a couple games in with the original in fear of overwhelming my family with more new rules! Of course I already watched your "How to" on the expansion; great work again!
@@RTFM Yes for ease of reference. With the cards in your hand, fan one way to see all the suits. And fan them the other way to see the crafting requirements. Spread them horizontally and see both. I think.
Hello!
Thanks for the video, its really helpful!
I have a question though. Around 9:20 you mention that both moves ("march" step) need to be completed before taking the next action. However, for what i understand from the "Learning to play" guide, the cat is allowed to take up to two moves, which means it could even be one move, right? Thanks!
You have it right. I think the rules have been clarified a bit since I made this video, but yes it's up to two moves. The point being made in that moment though is that you can't take a march to move one cat, then take a different action, and then "finish" the march by moving another cat.
@@RTFM Oh great, thanks for the reply! 🙂 I got root recently and ive never had such trouble understanding a game.. there are so many things to remember 😛
@@aggelikichris No problem! And yeah, there's definitely a lot to keep track of. I try to just make sure everyone knows how their faction works, but if you're teaching the game, you do kinda have to know all of it.
Awesome video!! I very much like your style.
My theory about D12 instead of D4 is, you should roll some D4 to see they actually suck at rolling lol but D8 would have done the job for sure...
d12 is much more satisfying to roll than a d8
Ok so whats the difference between playing/crafting a card. Wouldn't it just be more beneficial to just play a card as opposed to crafting it?
Playing a card means you're discarding it for some other effect that requires the spending of a card. Crafting it means you're creating the item token or special ability that the card gives you.
Citation for 5:03 “Birds can fly” en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flightless_bird
Do sympathy tokens get removed from the map when crafting with the Alliance?