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Root: The Law of Root

Reading the Law

Text in small capitals defines key terms.

Text in italics gives reminders and clarifications. Faction icons mark rules modified

by Faction Rules and Abilities sections.

Root contains two rulebooks: the Learning to Play guide and this book, the Law. If you like a conversational teaching style and many graphical examples, read the Learning to Play guide. If you like a strictly defined, formal rules in a concise reference style, read the Law.

These rules of thumb will help you interpret the Law.

Q1. I’d like to do something, and the rules don’t say that I can’t do it. Can I do it? A1. Within the confines of the action, yes! The game will often surprise you with outlandish, unexpected situations, and that’s part of the fun, but this doesn’t mean you can flip the table.

Q2. It seems like something should happen, but the rule doesn’t tell me to do that thing. What do I do? A2. Follow the literal word of the Law, not your instinct, even if a similar rule exists.

Q3. A rule uses a specific term or action. Does it also include another, closely related term or action? A3. Nope! Assume we mean only the original term and not any related terms. For example, the terms move and place are different. For specific term definitions, see the Glossary (Appendix G).

If you have any other questions, check our website for more answers: ledergames.com/root

If you have any missing or damaged components, you can go here for support: ledergames.com/replacements

If you have questions about specific cards, go to the Leder Card Library: cards.ledergames.com

1. Golden Rules

This chapter gives answers to technical, detailed questions. You do not need to read it when first learning.

1.1 Rules Conflicts

1.1.1 If a card conflicts with the Law, fol- Precedence. low the card. If the Learning to Play guide conflicts with the Law, follow the Law. If you can follow both a general rule and a faction or hireling rule, follow both; if you cannot, follow the faction or hireling rule.

1.1.2 Use of Cannot. The term cannot is absolute. It cannot be overridden unless explicitly instructed.

1.1.3 Unclear Resolutions and Choices. Whenever it is unclear what order simultaneous effects should resolve in, or which player should make a decision, the player taking their turn chooses.

1.2 Public and Private Information

1.2.1 Hands. Players may only show or reveal cards in their hand if explicitly instructed, but the number of cards in their hand is public information.

1.2.2 Piles and the Shared Deck. Face-up piles such as the discard pile can be searched and inspected. The shared deck cannot.

1.3 Negotiation, Deals, and Consent

1.3.1 Players may discuss the game and Agreements. make agreements, but they are non-binding.

1.3.2 Cards. Players may only give cards to each other if explicitly instructed.

1.3.3 Consent. Actions never require consent.

1.4 Game Structure

1.4.1 Turn Structure. Each player’s turn has three phases: Birdsong, Daylight, and Evening. Anything that says “at start of” a phase happens before everything else in the phase, and anything that says “at end of” happens after everything else in the phase but before the start of the next phase, if any. After a player ends Evening, the next clockwise player begins their turn. Play continues until one player has won the game (3.1).

1.4.2 Interrupts. You cannot interrupt an action (in- cluding a compound action such as the Marquise’s March), ability (such as the Corvids’ Exposure), or persistent effect (such as the Eyrie Emigre card) with another effect unless it explicitly allows it. (For ex- ample, the Armorers card says it is used “In battle...”).

1.4.3 End of Turn. Once a player begins the last step of their turn, they cannot take actions except those that specify “end of Evening” or “end of turn,” such as hirelings (Appendix H).

1.5 Pieces

1.5.1 Limits. Pieces are limited by the contents of the game. Do not use proxy pieces if you run out.

1.5.2 Starting Faction. Each player owns the faction they choose in setup (5) and the pieces listed on the back of its faction board except for items. Generically, these are called faction pieces or similar. Specifically, these are called [faction name] pieces. (For example, “your faction warriors” and “warriors of your faction” and “Marquise warriors” all refer to the orange wooden cat-shaped warriors.)

1.5.3 Piece Ownership. The ownership of faction pieces cannot change. (For example, the Marquise can- not use Field Hospitals on Riverfolk mercenaries or hirelings, since these are not Marquise warriors.)

1.5.4 Piece Manipulation. Pieces are placed and removed as defined in the Glossary (G.20, G.24). If you are prompted to place, take, or remove pieces but you cannot do so fully, you must place, take, or remove the maximum number possible. (This does not let you avoid costs or prerequisites. You just cannot do less than the most you can.) If multiple pieces are

removed simultaneously and that would trigger effects, remove all pieces before triggering effects.

1.5.5 Use of Force. Some effects let you force a player or their pieces to act. Resolve this exactly as if that player were choosing to do this, as limited by the effect. (For example, if you force the Eyrie to move warriors, they benefit from Lords of the Forest.)

I Battle. When a player is forced to battle, they make all decisions within the battle itself.

2. Key Concepts

Terms are defined strictly in the Glossary (Appendix G).

2.1 Cards

You draw cards from the top of the shared deck, and discard to a shared discard pile. If the deck is ever empty, shuffle the discard pile immediately to form a new deck. Each card has a suit: bird, fox, rabbit, or mouse. Most cards also have an effect you can craft (4.1).

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.

I Forced Effects. If you are prompted to discard or give cards of non-bird suits, you must treat your bird cards as a prompted suit.

II Reverse Substitution. If you are prompted to spend, discard, take, or give a bird card, you cannot substitute a card of another suit.

2.1.2 Ambush Cards. There are five ambush cards in the shared deck: one mouse, one rabbit, one fox, and two birds. They cannot be crafted. You may play one in battle to deal immediate hits (4.3.1).

2.1.3 Dominance Cards. There are four dominance cards matching the four suits. They cannot be crafted. You may play one to permanently change your victory condition (3.3).

2.1.4 Your Play Area. When you activate a dominance card (3.3.1), craftpersistent effects (4.1), or reveal cards (G.25), place these cards in your play area near you. They are not in your hand and can only be spent, discarded, or otherwise used if explicitly instructed.

2.2 Clearings and Paths

The map of the Woodland is composed of many clearings linked by paths.

2.2.1 Adjacency. A clearing is adjacent to all other clearings linked to it by a path.

2.2.2 Suit. Each clearing has a suit: mouse, rabbit, or fox.

2.2.3 Slots. Each clearing has a number of building (white boxes) slots . Whenever you place a building, it fills an open slot. You cannot place a building in a clearing with no open slots.

2.2.4 Slots marked with a small “R” begin the Ruins. game filled with ruins. Ruins cannot be removed

unless explicitly instructed (such as by the Vaga- bond’s Explore action, 9.5.3).

2.3 Rivers

(Rivers are not Many clearings are linked by rivers. paths, but can be treated as paths if explicitly instructed. Riv- ers do not divide clearings or forests.)

2.4 Forests

Areas on the map enclosed by printed paths and clearings are called forests.

2.4.1 Adjacency. A forest is adjacent to all clearings that touch it without crossing a printed path, and it is adjacent to all forests that are separated by only one printed path.

2.5 Rule

A player rules a clearing if they have more total warriors and buildings in it than each other player. (Tokens and pawns do not contribute to rule.) If there is a tie between players in a clearing, no one rules it.

3. Victory and Dominance

3.1 How to Win

The first player to reach 30 victory points immediately wins the game.

3.1.1 Ties. If multiple players reach 30 victory points simultaneously, the tied player closest in clockwise order to the current player wins. (This includes the current player.)

3.2 Scoring Victory Points

Each faction has a unique way to score victory points, but any faction can score victory points as follows.

3.2.1 Removing Buildings and Tokens. Whenever you remove an enemy’s building or token, you score one victory point.

3.2.2 Crafting Items. Whenever you craftan item (4.1), score the victory points listed on the card.

3.3 Dominance Cards

The deck has four dominance cards, which let you win the game without scoring 30 victory points.

3.3.1 Activating. During your Daylight, if you have at least 10 victory points, you may activate a dominance card in your hand by placing it in your play area. Remove your score marker from the score track. You can no longer score victory points.

I Mouse, Rabbit, or Fox Dominance. You win the game immediately if you rule three clearings of the suit matching the activated dominance card at the start of your Birdsong.

II Bird Dominance. You win the game immediately if you rule two clearings in opposite corners at the start of your Birdsong.

3.3.2 Activated Cards. An activated dominance card cannot be removed from your play area or replaced with a different one.

3.3.3 Using Dominance Cards. A dominance card can be spent for its suit. Anytime a dominance card would be placed in the discard pile, instead place it near the map to show it is available to be taken.

3.3.4 Taking Available Cards. During your Daylight, you can take an available dominance card into your hand by spending a matching card. You cannot treat an available bird dominance card as a non-bird suit.

4. Actions

4.1 Craft

You can craftmost cards from your hand to gain an immediate or persistent effect.

4.1.1 Cost. To crafta card, you must activate crafting pieces of the suits listed in the card’s bottom-leftcorner. (A faction’s crafting piece is listed in its Crafting section.) A crafting piece’s suit matches its clearing. Each crafting piece may be activated only once per turn. A three-color question mark means a crafting piece of any suit (even frog).

4.1.2 Immediate Effects. When you craftan immediate (paper box) effect , resolve its effect and then discard the card. If it shows an item, take the corresponding item from the item supply on the map and place it in the Crafted Items box on your faction board. If the card lists an item not in the item supply, the card cannot be crafted.

4.1.3 Persistent Effects. When you crafta persistent ef- (stone box) fect , place it in your play area. You now have the effect described on the card.

4.1.4 No Duplicates. You cannot crafta persistent effect if you have an identical one in your play area.

4.2 Move

When you move, take any number (more than zero) of your warriors and pawns from one clearing and move them on a linking path (2.2) to one adjacent clearing.

4.2.1 You Must Rule. To take a move, you must rule the origin clearing, destination clearing, or both.

4.2.2 No Movement Limits. A given piece can be moved any number of times per turn. If you are prompted to take multiple moves, you may move the same or separate groups of warriors.

4.3 Battle

When you battle, choose a clearing with any number of your warriors and pawns as the clearing of battle. You are the attacker. Choose an enemy in the clearing of battle to be the defender.

4.3.1 Step 1: Defender May Ambush. The defender may play one ambush card matching the clearing of battle. If so, resolve 4.3.1.I–II in order.

I Foil Ambush. The attacker may also play an ambush card matching the clearing of the battle. If they do, the defender discards their ambush card and skips 4.3.1.II.

II Resolve Ambush. The defender deals two hits immediately (4.3.6). Then, the defender discards the ambush card. If no attacking warriors or pawns remain, end the battle immediately.

4.3.2 Step 2: Use Before-Roll Effects. Players may use effects that happen “before rolling” in battle. (At- tacker chooses order if both players have them.)

4.3.3 Step 3: Roll Dice. Roll both battle dice. The attacker will deal hits equal to the higher roll, and the defender will deal hits equal to the lower roll. If the rolls are equal, attacker and defender will deal the same number of hits. (The use of “will” here reflects that hits are counted and dealt later.)

I Maximum Rolled Hits. The maximum hits you can deal from rolling equals the number of your warriors in the clearing of battle, whether you are the attacker or defender.

4.3.4 Step 4: Use After-Roll Battle Effects. Players may use effects that affect battle and do not specify “before rolling.” (Attacker chooses order if both players have them.)

4.3.5 Step 5: Count Hits. The attacker and defender count up the hits they each deal from their rolled hits (4.3.3) and battle effects (4.3.2, 4.3.4).

I Extra Hits. Some effects deal extra hits, which are not limited by the number of warriors in the clearing of battle.

II Defenseless. If the defender has no warriors in the clearing of battle, the attacker deals an extra hit.

III Ignored Hits. Some effects ignore hits, which subtracts them from the total count.

4.3.6 Step 6: Deal Hits. Each hit that a side deals removes one piece of the other side from the clearing (You score one victory point per enemy build- of battle. ing or token removed.) The side taking hits chooses the order in which their own pieces are removed, but all of their warriors there must be removed before any of their buildings or tokens there can be removed; they also choose the order of any effects triggered by their pieces being removed.

5. Setup

If any players are new to the game, use the Standard Setup (5.1) If everyone has played and you want more variety, use the Advanced Setup (Appendix A). If you want to play with five or more factions that would start in corner clearings, you must use the Advanced Setup.

5.1 Standard Setup

5.1.1 Step 1: Assign Factions and Starting Player. Assign one faction to each player in any way. Determine the starting player and seating order randomly. Each player takes their chosen faction board and the pieces listed on its back.

5.1.2 Step 2: Place Score Markers. Each player places their score marker on “0” on the score track.

5.1.3 Step 3: Draw Starting Hands. If you are playing with two players, remove all four dominance cards from the deck. Shuffle the deck. Each player draws three cards.

5.1.4 Step 4: Place Ruins. Place a ruin in each slot on the map marked with an “R” (four in total).

5.1.5 Step 5: Form Item Supply. Place these items on the corresponding spaces of the item supply near the top of the map: 2 , 2 , 1 , 1 , 2 , 2 , 2 .

5.1.6 Step 6: Gather Other Pieces. Hand out the 16 faction overview cards as desired, and place the two battle dice near the map.

5.1.7 Step 7: Set Up Factions. In setup order (A, B, C, etc.), each player follows their faction’s setup instructions, listed in their rules section and on the back of their faction board.

5.2 Reach

To set up an interesting game, choose factions whose reach values add up to at least the total reach recommended for your player count. (Adventurous players are welcome to use any faction mix with 17+ Reach.)

Viable Reach Sums

Players 2 3 4 5 6

Total Reach 17+ 18+ 21+ 25+ 28+

Reach Values

Marquise de Cat 10

Lord of the Hundreds 9

Keepers in Iron 8

Underground Duchy 8

Lilypad Diaspora 7

Eyrie Dynasties 7

Vagabond (first/second) 5/2

Riverfolk Company 5

Knaves of the Deepwood 4

Twilight Council 4

Woodland Alliance 3

Corvid Conspiracy 3

Lizard Cult 2

6. Marquise de Cat

6.1 Overview

The Marquise de Cat occupies the Woodland and wants to turn it into an industrial and military powerhouse. Each time the Marquise builds one of her buildings—a workshop, sawmill, or recruiter—she scores victory points. The more of the same building she has on the map, the more points she scores. However, to fuel ongoing construction, the Marquise must maintain and protect a strong, interconnected economy of wood.

6.2 Faction Rules and Abilities

6.2.1 Crafting. The Marquise crafts during Daylight by activating workshops.

6.2.2 The Keep. The Marquise can place pieces in the clearing with the keep token, and other players cannot. (Pieces may be moved into it. If the keep is removed, there is no way to place it on the map again.)

6.2.3 Field Hospitals. Whenever any number of Marquise warriors are removed from a clearing, the Marquise may spend a card matching that clearing to place those warriors in the clearing with the keep token instead of the Marquise’s supply.

6.3 Faction Setup

6.3.1 Step 1: Gather Warriors and Wood. Form supplies of 25 warriors and 8 wood tokens.

6.3.2 Step 2: Place Keep. Place the keep token in any corner clearing. This is your starting clearing.

6.3.3 Step 3: Garrison. Place a warrior in each clearing except the clearing in the diagonally opposite corner from the clearing with the keep token.

6.3.4 Step 4: Place Starting Buildings. Place 1 sawmill, 1 workshop, and 1 recruiter. You may place them among the clearing with the keep token and any adjacent clearings, in any combination.

6.3.5 Step 5: Fill Buildings Tracks. Place your remaining 5 sawmills, 5 workshops, and 5 recruiters on the respective Buildings tracks from right to left. (Leave the leftmost space of each track empty.)

6.4 Birdsong

Place wood tokens in each clearing with any number of sawmills, one wood per sawmill there.

6.5 Daylight

First, you may activate workshops to craftcards from your hand. Then, you may take up to three actions— plus one action per bird card you spend (not as part of an action)—in any order and number.

6.5.1 Battle. Initiate a battle.

6.5.2 March. Take up to two moves.

6.5.3 Recruit. Place one warrior at each recruiter. You may take this action only once per turn.

6.5.4 Build. Place a building.

I Choose Clearing and Building. Choose a clearing you rule. Choose whether you want to place a sawmill, workshop, or recruiter. You will place the leftmost building of its type from your faction board. You must be able to pay its cost (6.5.4.II) and place it (6.5.4.III).

II Pay Cost. Find the chosen building’s cost at the top of its column. Remove wood tokens equal in number to the cost from the chosen clearing, any adjacent clearings you rule, or any clearings connected to the chosen clearing you rule through any number of clearings you rule.

III Place Building and Score. Place the chosen building in the chosen clearing, and score the victory points listed on the space uncovered on your faction board.

6.5.5 Overwork. Spend a card matching the clearing of a sawmill to place a wood token there.

6.6 Evening

Draw one card, plus one card per uncovered draw bonus. Then, if you have more than five cards in your hand, discard cards of your choice until you have five.

7. Eyrie Dynasties

7.1 Overview

The Eyrie Dynasties wish to restore their oncedignified kind to their former glory in the Woodland by retaking control of the forest clearings. During their Evening, the Eyrie score victory points based on the number of roosts on the map. The greater their presence in the Woodland, the greater their gains. However, the Eyrie are bound by their decree, an ever-increasing set of mandated actions promised by their leader. Each turn, they must take all of the actions on their Decree, or else fall into turmoil.

7.2 Faction Rules and Abilities

7.2.1 Crafting. The Eyrie craftbefore resolving the Decree during Daylight by activating roosts.

7.2.2 Lords of the Forest. The Eyrie rule a clearing when tied for most combined warriors and buildings there, and they have at least one Eyrie piece there.

7.2.3 Disdain for Trade. Whenever the Eyrie craftan item, they ignore the listed victory points and instead score only one victory point. (They can still score extra crafting points from effects such as Master Engravers and the Legendary Forge.)

7.3 Faction Setup

7.3.1 Step 1: Gather Warriors. Form a supply of 20 warriors.

7.3.2 Step 2: Place Roost and Starting Warriors. Place 1 roost and 6 warriors in a corner clearing that is not the starting corner clearing of another player and, if possible, is diagonally opposite from a starting corner clearing. This is your starting clearing. (This is updated from earlier printings for flexibility.)

7.3.3 Step 3: Choose Leader. Choose 1 of the 4 Eyrie leader cards and place it in your Leader Card slot. Gather the remaining leaders face up near you.

7.3.4 Step 4: Tuck Viziers. Tuck your 2 Loyal Vizier cards, showing their suit, into the Decree columns above your faction board as listed on your leader.

7.3.5 Step 5: Fill Roosts Track. Place your 6 remaining roosts on your Roosts track from right to left.

7.4 Birdsong

Your Birdsong has three steps in the following order.

7.4.1 Emergency Orders. If you have no cards in your hand, draw one card.

7.4.2 Add to the Decree. You must add one or two cards to the Decree, revealing them from your hand and tucking them, but only one card added may be a bird card. You may add each card to any column, and each column can hold any number of cards.

7.4.3 If you have no roosts on the map, A New Roost. place a roost and three warriors in a clearing with the fewest warriors where all those pieces can be placed.

7.5 Daylight

Your Daylight has two steps in the following order.

7.5.1 Craft. You may activate roosts to craftcards from your hand.

7.5.2 Resolve the Decree. You must resolve the Decree, starting with the leftmost column and moving right. In each column, you must resolve all of its cards, but in any order. For each card, you must take the action listed for its column, as follows. If you cannot fully take an action, you immediately fall into turmoil (7.7).

I Recruit. Place a warrior in any clearing with a roost whose suit matches the card suit.

II Move. Move from any clearing whose suit matches the card suit. (You must move at least one warrior.)

III Battle. Initiate a battle in any clearing whose suit matches the card suit.

IV Build. Place a roost in any clearing you rule whose suit matches the card suit and which has no roost.

7.6 Evening

Your Evening has two steps in the following order.

7.6.1 Score Points. Score the victory points listed on the rightmost empty space of your Roosts track.

7.6.2 Draw and Discard. Draw one card, plus one card per uncovered draw bonus. Then, if you have more than five cards in your hand, discard cards of your choice until you have five.

7.7 Turmoil

If you cannot fully take an action in the Decree (7.5.2) for any reason, you fall into turmoil. You must take the Turmoil action as follows in order.

7.7.1 Step 1: Humiliate. Lose one victory point per bird card (including Loyal Viziers) on the Decree.

7.7.2 Step 2: Purge. Discard all of the cards on the Decree except your Loyal Viziers.

7.7.3 Step 3: Depose. Flip your current leader face down and set it aside, choose a new leader from those face up, and place on your faction board. Tuck your Loyal Viziers into the Decree spaces listed on your new leader.

I If you must choose a new lead- A New Clutch. er but none are face up, flip them all face up.

7.7.4 Step 4: Rest. End Daylight and begin Evening.

7.8 Leaders Reference

The Eyrie have four leader cards, as follows.

7.8.1 Builder. Loyal Viziers begin on Recruit and Move. Whenever you craft, you ignore your Disdain for Trade special ability (7.2.3).

7.8.2 Charismatic. Loyal Viziers begin on Recruit and Battle. Whenever you take a Recruit action, you must place two warriors instead of one.

7.8.3 Commander. Loyal Viziers begin on Move and Battle. In battle as attacker, you deal an extra hit.

7.8.4 Despot. Loyal Viziers begin on Move and Build. Whenever you remove at least one enemy building or token in battle, you score one extra victory point (two in total, 3.2.1).

8. Woodland Alliance

8.1 Overview

The Woodland Alliance works to gain the sympathy of the various creatures of the Woodland who are dissatisfied with their present condition. Each time the Alliance places a sympathy token, they may score victory points. The more sympathy on the map they have, the more victory points they score. Gaining the sympathy of the people requires supporters. These supporters can also be put toward violent ends, inciting outright rebellion across the forest. When a revolt erupts, the Alliance will establish a base. Bases allow the Alliance to train officers, increasing their military flexibility.

8.2 Faction Rules and Abilities

8.2.1 Crafting. The Alliance crafts during Daylight by activating sympathy tokens.

8.2.2 Guerrilla War. As defender in battle, the Alliance will deal hits equal to the higher roll, and the attacker will deal hits equal to the lower roll.

8.2.3 The Supporters Stack. To take various actions, the Alliance spends supporters, which are cards on their Supporters stack. Supporters can only be spent for their suit and do not count against the Alliance’s hand size. Supporters are face down, but the Alliance may inspect them at any time.

I Capacity. If the Alliance has no bases on the map, the Supporters stack can only hold up to five cards. If the Alliance would gain a supporter but the stack cannot hold it, that card is discarded. If any bases are on the map, the Supporters stack can hold unlimited cards.

8.2.4 Removing Bases. Whenever a base is removed, the Alliance must discard all supporters matching the clearing of the base (including birds) and remove half of their officers, rounded up. If the Alliance has no more bases on the map and has more than five supporters, they must discard down to five supporters.

8.2.5 Sympathy Tokens. The Alliance has 10 sympathy tokens.

I Placement Limits. A clearing can hold only one sympathy token.

II Terms. A sympathetic clearing is one with a sympathy token. An unsympathetic clearing is one without a sympathy token.

8.2.6 Outrage. Whenever another player removes a sympathy token or moves any warriors into a sympathetic clearing, they must add one card matching the affected clearing from their hand to the Supporters stack. If they have no matching cards (including no birds), they must show their hand to the Alliance, and then the Alliance draws a card from the deck and adds it to the Supporters stack.

8.3 Faction Setup

8.3.1 Step 1: Gather Warriors. Form a supply of 10 warriors.

8.3.2 Step 2: Place Bases. Place 3 bases on the respective spaces in your Bases box.

8.3.3 Step 3: Fill Sympathy Track. Place 10 sympathy tokens on your Sympathy track.

8.3.4 Step 4: Gain Supporters. Draw 3 cards and place them face down on your Supporters stack.

8.4 Birdsong

Your Birdsong has two steps in the following order.

8.4.1 Revolt. Any number of times, you may take the Revolt action, as follows.

I Step 1: Choose Clearing. Choose a sympathetic clearing without a base that matches a base on your faction board.

II Step 2: Spend Supporters. Spend two supporters matching the suit of the chosen clearing.

III Step 3: Resolve Effect. Remove all enemy pieces from the chosen clearing. Then, place the matching base there, and place warriors there equal to the number of sympathetic clearings matching the base’s printed suit. Finally, place one warrior in the Officers box. This warrior is now an officer. (Remember to score one victory point per token and building removed.)

8.4.2 Spread Sympathy. Any number of times, you may take the Spread Sympathy action, as follows.

I Step 1: Choose Clearing. Choose an unsympathetic clearing adjacent to a sympathetic clearing. If there are no sympathetic clearings, you may choose any clearing.

II Step 2: Spend Supporters. Spend supporters matching the suit of the chosen clearing. The number of supporters that must be spent is listed above the sympathy token.

a Martial Law. You must spend another matching supporter if the target clearing has at least 3 warriors of another player, including warriors they are treating as their own for rule (Mercenaries, hirelings, etc.).

III Step 3: Place and Score. Place a sympathy token in the chosen clearing. Score the victory points on the space uncovered on your faction board.

8.5 Daylight

You may take the following actions in any order and number.

8.5.1 Craft. You may activate sympathy tokens to crafta card from your hand.

8.5.2 Mobilize. Add a card from your hand to the Supporters stack.

8.5.3 Train. Spend a card whose suit matches the clearing of a base on the map to place a warrior in the Officers box. This warrior is now an officer.

8.6 Evening

Your Evening has two steps in the following order.

8.6.1 You may take actions, as Military Operations. follows, up to your number of officers, in any order and number.

I Move. Take one move.

II Battle. Initiate a battle.

III Recruit. Place a warrior in any clearing with a base.

IV Organize. Remove one Alliance warrior from an unsympathetic clearing to place a sympathy token there, then score the victory points listed on the space uncovered on your faction board.

8.6.2 Draw and Discard. Draw one card, plus one card per uncovered draw bonus. Then, if you have more than five cards in your hand, discard cards of your choice until you have five.

9. Vagabond

9.1 Overview

The Vagabond plays all sides of the conflict while going on quests to increase his renown throughout the wood. Each time the Vagabond improves his relationship with another faction, or removes a warrior belonging to a faction hostile toward him, he scores victory points. He can also complete quests to score victory points. To move and act effectively the Vagabond must manage his pack of items, expanding his selection by exploring the forest ruins and providing aid to other factions.

9.2 Faction Rules and Abilities

9.2.1 Crafting. The Vagabond can exhaust to activate its pawn as a crafting piece, ignoring the once-perturn limit (4.1.1). If the Vagabond crafts an item, he may immediately take it, face up.

9.2.2 Lone Wanderer. The Vagabond pawn is not a warrior (so he cannot rule a clearing or stop another player from ruling one). The Vagabond pawn cannot be removed from the map.

I 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.

9.2.3 Nimble. The Vagabond can move regardless of who rules his origin or destination clearing (4.2.1).

9.2.4 Defenseless. As defender in battle, the Vagabond is defenseless (4.3.5.II) if he has no undamaged .

9.2.5 Items. The Vagabond’s capabilities depend on the items he acquires. Instead of a Crafted Items box, he has a Satchel and various item tracks. Items on the Vagabond’s faction board can be face up or face down. The Vagabond exhausts face-up undamaged items, flipping them face down, to take many actions.

I Item Tracks. Whenever a , , or is face up in your Satchel, place it in an empty matching track space if able. If a , , or on a track is flipped face down, place it in your Satchel. Each track can only hold 3 items of its type.

II The Satchel. When gained, , , , , and are placed face up in the Vagabond’s Satchel.

9.2.6 Maximum Rolled Hits. In battle, the Vagabond’s maximum rolled hits (4.3.3.I) equals his undamaged , face up or face down, in his Satchel.

9.2.7 Taking Hits. Whenever the Vagabond takes a hit (4.3.6), he must damage one undamaged item, moving it to his Damaged box. These items are damaged. If no undamaged items remain to damage, the Vagabond ignores any remaining hits.

9.2.8 The Vagabond Dominance Cards and Coalitions. cannot activate a dominance card for its normal victory condition (3.3.1). Instead, in games with four or more players, the Vagabond can activate a dominance card to form a coalition with another player, placing his score marker on that player’s faction board. (The Vagabond no longer scores points.) That player must have fewer victory points than each other player except the Vagabond forming the coalition, and that player cannot be in a coalition. If there is a tie for fewest victory points, he chooses one tied player. If the coalitioned player wins the game, the Vagabond also wins.

9.2.9 Relationships. Your faction board shows a Relationships chart, which has four spaces on the Allied track and one Hostile box. It holds a relationship marker for each non-Vagabond faction.

I Improving Relationships. You can improve a relationship with a non-Hostile faction by taking the Aid action.

a Cost. Aid a non-Hostile faction the number of times listed between their current Allied space and their next Allied space during the same turn. (A given Aid action counts toward only one improvement in relationship.)

b Effect. Advance that faction’s relationship marker one space right on the track. Score the victory points listed in the new space.

II Allied Status. If a relationship marker reaches the final space on the Allied track, you are now Allied with the faction shown by that relationship marker. (Their warriors trust you!)

a Aiding Ally. Each time you Aid an Allied faction, score two victory points.

b Moving with Ally. When you move, you may force warriors of one Allied faction to move along with your Vagabond pawn to your destination clearing. (When you move alone, such as with the Harrier’s ability, you can- not move Allied warriors.)

c Attacking with Ally. At the start of battle as the attacker, you may treat the warriors of one Allied faction in the clearing of battle as your own. The maximum hits you can roll equals the number of their warriors there plus your total undamaged . You cannot treat Allied warriors as your own when attacking the same Allied faction.

d Taking Hits with Ally. In a battle where you treat Allied warriors as your own, you can take hits by removing them. However, if you take more hits by removing Allied warriors than by damaging items during the same battle, that Allied faction becomes Hostile (9.2.9.III) at the end of the battle. This rule overrides the condition for becoming Hostile in 9.2.9.III.

III Hostile Status. If you remove a warrior of a non-Hostile faction, move their relationship marker to the Hostile box. This faction is now Hostile. Then, if this happened in battle during your turn, check for Infamy scoring (9.2.9.IIIa).

a Infamy. Score one extra victory point for each piece of a Hostile faction you remove in battle during your turn, except the war- (Add this rior that made the faction Hostile. to points scored for enemy buildings and tokens.)

b Moving into Hostile Clearings. You must (even if forced) exhaust an extra to move into a clearing with any warriors of any Hostile faction.

c Aiding Hostile Factions. You cannot move a relationship marker out of the Hostile box by using Aid, but you can still Aid a Hostile faction to take crafted items.

d Coalition with Hostile Faction. You can form a coalition (9.2.8) with a Hostile faction. If you do, move their relationship marker to the Indifferent space.

9.2.10 Forest Movement. Your Slip (9.4.2) allows you to move in and out of forests. Other Move actions only let you move out of a forest into an adjacent clearing, not into a forest.

9.3 Faction Setup

9.3.1 Choose a character Step 1: Choose Character. card and place it in your Character Card slot.

9.3.2 Step 2: Place Pawn. Place your Vagabond pawn in any forest.

9.3.3 Step 3: Get Quests. Shuffle your quest deck, draw 3 quest cards, and place them face up near you.

9.3.4 Step 4: Populate Ruins. Take the 4 ruins from the map, and take the , , , and items marked with an “R.” Place one beneath each ruin and then shuffle each ruin stack. Then, return each stack to an empty ruin slot on the map.

9.3.5 Step 5: Take Starting Items. Take the items marked with an “S” listed on your character card. Place any listed , , and items face up on the respective tracks of your faction board. Place all other listed items face up in your Satchel. Return any remaining “S” items to the box.

9.3.6 Step 6: Set Relationships. Take a relationship marker for each non-Vagabond faction and place them all on the Indifferent space of your Relationships chart.

9.4 Birdsong

Your Birdsong has two steps in the following order.

9.4.1 Refresh. Flip two exhausted items face up for each face up on the Refresh track, not counting that you flip face up in this step. Then flip up three more exhausted items.

9.4.2 Slip. You may move into an adjacent clearing or forest without exhausting any , even for moving into a Hostile clearing (9.2.9.IIIb). This move ignores all effects that prevent movement out of a (such as the Corvids’ snare) clearing .

9.5 Daylight

You can exhaust items to take the following actions, in any order and number. (If you exhaust a , , or on a track, move it to the Satchel.)

9.5.1 Move. Exhaust one to move (plus if the desti- nation has Hostile warriors). (You cannot move into a forest. If in a forest, you may only move into an adja- cent clearing.)

9.5.2 Battle. Exhaust one to initiate a battle. (Check your relationship with the defender.)

9.5.3 Explore. Exhaust one to take one item under a ruin in your clearing, reveal it, and place it face up in your Satchel or on its respective track. If you take an item, score one victory point. If you remove the last item from a ruin, remove the ruin.

9.5.4 Aid. Exhaust any one item and give a card matching your clearing to a player with faction pieces there (even Hostile). If you do, you may take one item, if any, from their Crafted Items box, and place it face up in your Satchel or on its matching track. (Check your relationship with their faction.)

9.5.5 Quest. Choose a quest whose suit matches your clearing, and exhaust the two items listed on the quest. Place the quest in your play area as a completed quest. Then, you may either score one victory point per matching completed quest (includ- ing this) or draw two cards from the deck. Finally, draw a new quest and place it near the map.

9.5.6 Strike. Exhaust one to remove an enemy warrior from your clearing. If that enemy has no warriors there, you may instead remove one of their other faction pieces there. (Check your relationship with that player’s faction.)

9.5.7 Repair. Exhaust one to move one damaged item to the Satchel, keeping the item on its current side. (Face-up , , and immediately move to their tracks.)

9.5.8 Craft. Crafta card by exhausting one per crafting icon it has. Your clearing must match all of the card’s crafting icons. If you craftan item, place it in your Satchel or its respective track (9.2.5).

9.5.9 Special Action. Take the action listed on your character card by exhausting any items it lists.

9.6 Evening

Your Evening has four steps, as follows.

9.6.1 Rest. If you are in a forest, move all damaged items to your Satchel and flip them face up. (Face- up , , and immediately move to their tracks.)

9.6.2 Draw Cards. Draw one card, plus one card per face up on the respective track.

9.6.3 Discard Cards. If you have more than five cards in your hand, discard cards of your choice until you have five.

9.6.4 Check Item Capacity. If you have more items total in your Satchel and Damaged box than your item limit—six plus two per face up on the respective track—remove items from your Satchel and Damaged box until you have items equal to your item limit, and remove them from the game permanently.

9.7 Playing with Two Vagabonds

The Riverfolk Expansion If you have , you can play a game with two Vagabonds by following these rules.

9.7.1 Setup. Use both sets of “R” items and place two random “R” items in each ruin slot. If you are us-

ing the Standard Setup (5.1), randomly determine which Vagabond sets up first.

9.7.2 Share Quests. Either Vagabond may complete any of the three face-up quests. Do not add extra quest cards during setup.

9.7.3 Taking Items from Ruins. When a Vagabond explores a ruin with two items, or the Hundreds raze a ruin (14.4.1) with two items, that player may look at those items and take one of their choice. (By taking two Explore actions, the Vagabond could take both items from one ruin.) A player cannot take an “R” item if they have the same type of “R” item on their faction board. (If the Vagabond explores but does not take an item, he does not score a victory point, but the is still exhausted.)

The next two sections refer to factions

in

10. Lizard Cult

10.1 Overview

Catering to the discarded creatures of the Woodland, the Lizard Cult seeks to overwhelm its foes through sheer force of will. Wherever the Cult rules clearings, it can build gardens, using word of mouth and beak to spread its gospel to the animals living there. The firmer its hold over the hearts of its followers, the more victory points the Cult can score by completing the proper rituals. While other factions spend cards to achieve their aims, the Cult acts chiefly by revealing cards and gradually gathering a set of ideal followers. These revealed cards are returned to the Cult’s hand in Evening, unless discarded to score victory points. However, this gentler approach makes movement and battle difficult—the Cult can only take these actions with its radicalized acolytes, gained as the Cult’s warriors are slaughtered while defending in battle.

10.2 Faction Rules and Abilities

10.2.1 Crafting. The Cult crafts during Evening by activating gardens whose printed suit matches the Outcast suit (10.4.1). (This fulfills a crafting icon matching the garden’s clearing, regardless of its printed suit. This matters in games with the Lost City or Lilypad Diaspora.)

10.2.2 Hatred of Birds. Bird cards are not wild for Cult rituals.

10.2.3 Revenge. Whenever a Cult warrior is removed while defending in battle, it is placed in the Acolytes box instead of the Cult’s supply.

10.2.4 Pilgrims. The Cult rules any clearings where they have any gardens. This overrides the Eyrie’s Lords of the Forest (7.2.2).

10.2.5 Whenever a garden is re- Fear of the Faithful. moved, the Cult must discard a random card.

10.2.6 The Lost Souls Pile. Whenever any card is spent or discarded (even a dominance card), place it in the Lost Souls pile instead of the discard pile.

10.3 Faction Setup

10.3.1 Step 1: Gather Warriors. Form a supply of 25 warriors.

10.3.2 Step 2: Place Warriors. Place 4 warriors and 1 garden of matching printed suit in a corner clearing that is not the starting corner clearing of another player and, if possible, is diagonally opposite from a starting corner clearing. This is your starting clearing. Then place 1 warrior in each adjacent clearing. (This is updated from earlier printings for flexibility.)

10.3.3 Step 3: Choose Outcast. Place the outcast marker on any suit space in the Outcast box. The suit of this space is called the Outcast.

10.3.4 Step 4: Fill Gardens Tracks. Place your 14 remaining gardens on the matching spaces of your Gardens tracks from right to left.

10.4 Birdsong

Your Birdsong has three steps in the following order.

10.4.1 Adjust Outcast. Look at the cards in the Lost Souls pile, ignoring birds. The suit with the most cards becomes the new Outcast—move the outcast marker, showing its Outcast side, to that suit. If that suit was already the Outcast, flip the marker to Hated. If no one suit had the most cards, the marker stays on its current suit and, if it is not Hated, flips to its Hated side.

10.4.2 Discard Lost Souls. Discard all of the cards in the Lost Souls pile to the discard pile. (Dominance cards become available to take.)

10.4.3 Perform Conspiracies. You can spend acolytes, returning them to your supply, to perform conspiracies in clearings matching the Outcast, in any order and number, as follows. If the Outcast is Hated, the conspiracy costs one fewer acolyte.

I Crusade. Spend two acolytes to initiate a battle in an Outcast clearing or to move (at least one warrior) from an Outcast clearing and then, if you wish, initiate a battle in the destination clearing.

II Convert. Spend two acolytes to replace an enemy warrior from an Outcast clearing with a Cult warrior. (To replace a piece, you must be able to remove the old piece and place the new piece.)

III Sanctify. Spend three acolytes to replace an enemy building from an Outcast clearing with a garden of the Outcast suit.

10.5 Daylight

You may reveal any number of cards and perform one ritual per card revealed, in any order and number, as follows. (Reveal cards from your hand into your play area. They cannot be used for any other purposes during Daylight.)

10.5.1 Build. In a clearing you rule matching the revealed card, place a garden whose printed suit matches the clearing suit.

10.5.2 Recruit. In a clearing matching the revealed card, place a warrior.

10.5.3 Score. Spend the same card you reveal (placing in Lost Souls) to score the victory points listed above the rightmost empty Gardens space of the suit matching the revealed card. You cannot Score if no gardens of that suit are on the map. You may perform this only once per turn per suit.

10.5.4 Sacrifice. Place a warrior in the Acolytes box. To perform this ritual, you must reveal a bird card.

10.6 Evening

Your Evening has three steps in the following order.

10.6.1 Return Revealed Cards. Return all cards you revealed this turn to your hand.

10.6.2 Craft. You may craftby activating gardens whose printed suit matches the Outcast suit.

10.6.3 Draw and Discard. Draw one card, plus one card per uncovered draw bonus. Then, if you have more than five cards in your hand, discard cards of your choice until you have five.

11. Riverfolk Company

11.1 Overview

When news arrived that the Woodland on the shore of the great lake was descending into all-out war, the Riverfolk Company quickly dispatched its officers to set up shop. As other factions purchase their services, the Riverfolk can further entrench their commercial interests by establishing trade posts along the river, scoring victory points. So too can they score points by raw accumulation of funds, but a big treasury makes for an easy target, so the Riverfolk must take care in expanding their operations across the dangerous forest.

11.2 Faction Rules and Abilities

11.2.1 The Riverfolk craftduring Daylight Crafting. by committing funds to empty spaces on the Trade Posts tracks. (They have no crafting pieces.)

11.2.2 Swimmers. The Riverfolk treat rivers as paths and may move along a river fully linking an origin and destination clearing, ignoring the need for rule. (They can still move using paths.)

11.2.3 Public Hand. The Riverfolk place their hand face up above their faction board. (If a random card is taken from the Riverfolk, the cards are flipped face down, shuffled, drawn from, and then flipped face up.)

11.2.4 Funds. To take many actions, the Riverfolk commit and spend funds: warriors in their Funds box.

11.2.5 Trade Posts. The Riverfolk score victory points when they place trade posts.

I Trade Disruption. Whenever a trade post is removed, the Riverfolk remove half of their

funds, rounded up, and remove the trade post from the game permanently.

11.2.6 Buying Services. At the start of another player’s Birdsong, that player may buy Riverfolk services.

I Cost. The buyer must place warriors from their supply into the Riverfolk’s Payments box equal in number to the cost of that service listed on the Riverfolk’s Services track.

II Number of Services. Each turn, a player may buy one service plus one per clearing with a trade post and their faction pieces.

III Vagabond Funds. The Vagabond pays for services by exhausting items—for each item he exhausts to do so, the Riverfolk place one Riverfolk warrior in the Payments box.

11.2.7 Riverfolk Services. The Riverfolk offer three services, as follows.

I Hand Card. The buyer takes any card from the Riverfolk’s hand and adds it to their hand. (The buyer may buy this service multiple times as long as they have access to enough trade posts.)

II Riverboats. The buyer treats rivers as paths until the end of their turn.

III Mercenaries. During Daylight and Evening of this turn, except when battling the Riverfolk, the buyer treats Riverfolk warriors as their own for rule and for battle. (The buyer cannot move them, count them toward dominance, or remove them except by taking hits. They are no longer enemy pieces, but they are still Riverfolk faction pieces, so they cannot be affected by abilities such as the Mar- quise’s Field Hospitals or used in actions such as the Duchy’s Sway Ministers.)

a Taking Hits. The buyer must split hits, tak- (not River- ing odd hits by removing owned folk) warriors, if any, or owned buildings or (includ- tokens only if they have no warriors ing Riverfolk) in the clearing of battle.

b Vagabond & Mercenaries. The Vagabond cannot buy Riverfolk Mercenaries. If Riverfolk Mercenaries are removed in a battle against the Vagabond, the Vagabond does not become Hostile with the Riverfolk.

11.3 Faction Setup

11.3.1 Step 1: Gather Warriors. Form a supply of 15 warriors.

11.3.2 Step 2: Place Warriors. Place 4 warriors in any clearings touching the river.

11.3.3 Step 3: Fill Trade Posts Tracks. Place 9 trade posts on the matching spaces of your Trade Posts tracks.

11.3.4 Step 4: Gain Starting Funds. Place 3 warriors in your Payments box.

11.3.5 Step 5: Set Starting Prices. Place 1 service marker on any space of each of your Services tracks.

11.4 Birdsong

Your Birdsong has three steps in the following order.

11.4.1 Protectionism. If the Payments box is empty, place two warriors in it.

11.4.2 Score Dividends. If there are any trade posts on the map, score one victory point per two funds. (Do not score for warriors in Payments or Committed.)

11.4.3 Gather Funds. Move all warriors on your faction board to the Funds box.

11.5 Daylight

You can commit and spend funds to take actions, as follows, in any order and number. When you commit a fund, move the warrior to the Committed box. When you spend a fund, return the warrior to its owner’s supply.

11.5.1 Move. Commit one fund to take a move.

11.5.2 Battle. Commit one fund to initiate a battle.

11.5.3 Craft. Commit funds to crafta card from your hand. Instead of moving these warriors to the Committed box, you must place them on empty spaces of the Trade Posts tracks matching the suits listed on the crafting cost.

I Export. You may ignore the listed benefit of crafting a card, discarding it, to place one Riverfolk warrior in the Payments box.

11.5.4 Draw. Commit one fund to draw a card.

11.5.5 Recruit. Spend one fund to place a warrior in any clearing with a river.

11.5.6 Establish Trade Post with Garrison. Spend two funds to place a trade post and a warrior.

I Choose Clearing. Choose any clearing without a trade post that is ruled by any player.

II Spend Funds. Spend two funds of the player who rules the chosen clearing.

III Place and Score. Place the matching trade post and one warrior in the chosen clearing. Score the victory points listed on the space uncovered on your faction board.

11.6 Evening

Your Evening has two steps in the following order.

11.6.1 Discard Cards. If you have more than five cards in your hand, discard cards of your choice until there are five.

11.6.2 Set Costs. You may move each service marker to any space on its track, setting it to a new cost.

The next two sections refer to factions in

12. Underground Duchy

12.1 Overview

The Underground Duchy wants to show the foreign creatures of the Woodland that they would be better off as subjects. As they set up frontier outposts to show their power in the Woodland, the Duchy can sway ministers to the cause, scoring victory points and diverting more of the Duchy’s resources. But be careful—a reversal of fortune could spell public humiliation, leading ministers to abandon the task.

12.2 Faction Rules and Abilities

12.2.1 Crafting. The Duchy crafts during Evening by activating citadels and markets.

12.2.2 The Burrow. The Burrow is an unsuited clearing adjacent to each clearing with a tunnel token. Non-Duchy pieces cannot be placed in or moved into the Burrow. The Duchy always rules the Burrow (even with no pieces there).

12.2.3 The Price of Failure. Whenever any number of Duchy buildings are removed, the Duchy returns their swayed minister card of highest rank (lord, then noble, then squire) to their Unswayed Ministers pile, and removes its crown from the game permanently, then discards a random card. If they have multiple swayed ministers of highest rank, the Duchy chooses which to return.

12.2.4 Tunnels. The Duchy has three tunnel tokens. If the Duchy is prompted to place a tunnel but all three tunnels are on the map, the Duchy may first remove any tunnel from the map.

12.3 Faction Setup

12.3.1 Step 1: Gather Warriors and Tunnels. Form supplies of 20 warriors and 3 tunnel tokens.

12.3.2 Step 2: Prepare the Burrow. Place the Burrow board near the map.

12.3.3 Step 3: Surface. Place 2 warriors and 1 tunnel in a corner clearing that is not the starting corner clearing of another player and, if possible, is diagonally opposite from a starting corner clearing. This is your starting clearing. Then place 2 warriors in each clearing adjacent to the chosen corner clearing, except the Burrow. (This is updated from earlier printings for flexibility.)

12.3.4 Step 4: Fill Buildings Tracks. Place 3 citadels and 3 markets on your respective Buildings spaces.

12.3.5 Step 5: Collect Ministers. Place 9 minister cards face up on your Unswayed Ministers pile.

12.3.6 Step 6: Fill Crown Spaces. Place 9 crowns on the spaces with victory points on your faction board.

12.4 Birdsong

Place one warrior, plus one warrior per warrior icon showing, in the Burrow.

12.5 Daylight

Your Daylight has three steps in the following order.

12.5.1 Assembly. You may take up to two actions in any order and number, as follows.

I Build. Reveal one card to place a citadel or market in a matching clearing you rule.

II Place one warrior in the Burrow. Recruit.

III Move. Take a move.

IV Battle. Initiate a battle.

V Dig. Spend one card to place a tunnel token in a matching clearing without a tunnel token. Then, move up to four warriors (at least one) from the Burrow to that clearing. (If all three tunnels are on the map, you may remove a tunnel first.)

12.5.2 Parliament. You may take the action of each swayed minister once in any order.

I Foremole. Reveal any card to place a citadel or market in any clearing (matching or not) you rule.

II Captain. Initiate a battle.

III Marshal. Take a move.

IV Brigadier. Take up to two moves or initiate up to two battles.

V Banker. Spend any number of cards (even one) of the same suit to score victory points in equal number.

VI Mayor. Take the action of any swayed noble or squire.

VII Duchess of Mud. Score two victory points if all three tunnels are on the map.

VIII Baron of Dirt. Score one victory point per market on the map.

IX Earl of Stone. Score one victory point per citadel on the map.

12.5.3 Sway. You may sway one minister, as follows.

I Choose Minister. Choose a minister card in your Unswayed Ministers pile. You must have a crown on your faction board matching the rank (squire, noble, lord) of that minister.

II Reveal Cards. Reveal the number of cards listed on the chosen minister. For each card you wish to reveal, you must have at least one Duchy piece in a clearing matching the suit of that card. Each such clearing allows you to reveal one matching card.

III Sway Minister and Score. Take the chosen minister card and place it above your faction board. Take a crown of that minister’s rank from your faction board and place it on the minister card. Score the victory points listed on the space uncovered on your faction board.

12.6 Evening

Your Evening has three steps in the following order.

12.6.1 Discard and Return Revealed Cards. Discard any bird cards you revealed this turn, then return all other cards you revealed this turn to your hand.

12.6.2 Craft. You may craftby activating citadels and markets. (These are identical for crafting purposes.)

12.6.3 Draw and Discard. Draw one card, plus one card per card draw icon showing. Then, if you have more than five cards in your hand, discard cards of your choice until you have five.

13. Corvid Conspiracy

13.1 Overview

The Corvid Conspiracy seeks to strong-arm the Woodland into submission by completing criminal plots, scoring victory points each time they flip one. The more revealed plots on the map, the more they score. Misdirection is critical—if their plans are too obvious, the Corvids risk exposure. To avoid this, they must recruit carefully and look for any opportunities for subterfuge and extortion.

13.2 Faction Rules and Abilities

13.2.1 Crafting. The Corvids craftduring Birdsong by activating plot tokens (whether face up or down).

13.2.2 Plot Tokens. The Corvids have eight plot tokens, two of each type.

I Token Facing. While in the Corvids’ supply, plot tokens are face down (feather). While on the map, a plot token can be face up (unique icon) or face down. The Corvids can inspect any facedown plot token at any time.

II Placement Limits. Each clearing can hold only one plot token.

13.2.3 Nimble. The Corvids can move regardless of who rules their origin or destination clearing.

13.2.4 Exposure. Any number of times on their turn, an enemy with faction pieces in a clearing with a facedown plot token may show the Corvids a matching card to guess the type of plot token in that clearing. If incorrect, the Corvids say “no,” and the enemy gives that card to the Corvids. If correct, the enemy removes the plot token (scoring a victory point); if this removes a Raid token, it does not place warriors. (You cannot use Exposure once you have begun the last step of your turn. See 1.4.3.)

13.2.5 Embedded Agents. As defender in battle, if the Corvids have a facedown plot token (even defense- less) in the clearing of battle, they deal an extra hit.

13.3 Faction Setup

13.3.1 Step 1: Gather Warriors and Plots. Form supplies of 15 warriors and 8 plot tokens face down.

13.3.2 Step 2: Scatter. Place 1 warrior in any clearing of each suit (total of 3).

13.4 Birdsong

Your Birdsong has three steps in the following order.

13.4.1 Craft. You may activate plot tokens (whether face up or down) to craftcards from your hand.

13.4.2 Flip Plots. Any number of times, flip a plot token face up in a clearing with any Corvid warriors, score one victory point per face-up plot token on the map (including the newly flipped one), and then resolve its flip effect if it is a bomb or extortion.

13.4.3 Recruit. Once per turn, you may spend any card to place one warrior in each matching clearing. (If you spend a bird, choose one suit to place warriors in.)

13.5 Daylight

You may take up to three actions, as follows, in any order and number.

13.5.1 Move. Take a move.

13.5.2 Plot. Remove a Corvid warrior, plus another Corvid warrior per plot you have placed this turn, from a clearing with no plot tokens to place a facedown plot token there.

13.5.3 Battle. Initiate a battle.

13.5.4 Trick. Swap two plot tokens on the map. Both plot tokens must be face up or face down.

13.6 Evening

Your Evening has two steps in the following order.

13.6.1 Exert. You may take one action listed in Daylight if you choose to not draw cards during Evening.

13.6.2 Draw. Draw one card plus one card per face-up extortion token on the map. Then, if you have more than five cards, discard down to five cards.

13.7 Plot Tokens Reference

13.7.1 Bomb. Whenever a bomb token is flipped, remove all enemy pieces in its clearing, then remove the bomb token.

13.7.2 Snare. While a snare token is face up, enemy pieces cannot be placed in or moved from its clearing.

13.7.3 Extortion. Whenever an extortion token is flipped, take a random card from each enemy player with faction pieces in its clearing. While an extortion token is face up, you draw another card in Evening.

13.7.4 Raid. Whenever a raid token is removed (face up or down), place one warrior in each clearing adjacent to the clearing from which the raid was removed. (Ignore this effect if the raid is removed by Exposure.)

The next two sections refer to factions in

14. Lord of the Hundreds

14.1 Overview

The Lord of the Hundreds suffers no fools and allows no dissent. During their Evening, they score points based on how well they oppress their foes. The more clearings they rule that have a Hundreds piece and no enemy pieces—no warriors, no buildings, nothing—the more points they score. To grow in power and attract warriors, the Hundreds must gain items and add them to their towering hoard. Leading the Hundreds is the warlord, a warrior-demagogue whose fickle mood gives them an ability for the turn. Their warlord is obsessed with hoarding, so as the Hundreds gain more items, they will have fewer moods to choose from. Declaring themselves as the true voice of the Woodland, the Hundreds can incite mobs, which destroy enemy buildings and tokens, and raid ruins for items.

14.2 Faction Rules and Abilities

14.2.1 Crafting. The Hundreds craftduring Daylight by activating strongholds.

14.2.2 The Warlord. The Hundreds have a piece called the warlord. The warlord is a warrior that cannot be removed outside of battle, moved outside of the Hundreds’ turn, or placed in ways other than setup (14.3.2) and the Anoint action (14.4.3).

14.2.3 Whenever the Hundreds Contempt for Trade. craftan item, they may take the item but score none of the listed victory points, or may remove the item permanently to score the listed victory points. (They can still score extra crafting points from effects such as Master Engravers and the Legendary Forge.)

14.2.4 The Hoard. Instead of a Crafted Items box, the Hundreds have the Hoard box. This has two tracks, Command and Prowess. The Command track can hold , , and . The Prowess track can hold , , , and .

I Gaining Items. When the Hundreds gain an item, they put it in the leftmost empty Command or Prowess space based on the item type; if there is no such empty space, they must permanently remove the gained item or any item on that track, and they score one victory point.

II Command and Prowess. The number of items on the Command and Prowess tracks determine their Command and Prowess, which affect various parts of their rules. With no items, they have 1 Command or Prowess; with one or two items, they have 2; with three items, they have 3; with four items, they have 4.

14.2.5 Looters. At the start of battle as the attacker, the Hundreds may declare that they want to loot the defender, so long as the defender has an item in their Crafted Items box. (They cannot loot the Vag- abond.) If they declare that they want to loot, the Hundreds deal no rolled hits. (The defender deals rolled hits, and the Hundreds can still deal extra hits, such as from their Wrathful mood.) Then, at the end of that battle, if the Hundreds rule the clearing of battle, they take one item from the defender’s Crafted Items box.

14.3 Faction Setup

14.3.1 Form supplies of 20 war- Step 1: Gather Pieces. riors, 1 warlord, and 6 strongholds.

14.3.2 Step 2: Garrison. Place your warlord, four warriors, and one stronghold in a corner clearing that is not the starting corner clearing of another player and, if possible, is diagonally opposite from a starting corner clearing.

14.3.3 Step 3: Place Items. Place the four “R” items randomly under the ruins, unless this has already been done.

14.3.4 Step 4: Get Stubborn. Place your Stubborn mood card on your Mood Card slot.

14.4 Birdsong

Your Birdsong has four steps in the following order.

14.4.1 Raze. In each clearing with a mob token, remove all enemy buildings and tokens, take one item from the ruin in the clearing, if any, and remove the ruin if you took its last item. After resolving all mobs, you must roll the mob die once and place a mob token in a matching clearing that has no mob token but is adjacent to a clearing with a mob token. (If there are no such clearings, do not place a mob.)

14.4.2 Recruit. Place warriors equal in number to your Prowess into the clearing with your warlord. Then, place warriors in each clearing with any strongholds, one warrior per stronghold there.

14.4.3 Anoint. If the warlord is not on the map, you must replace any Hundreds warrior in a clearing with the warlord. If you cannot, you must place the warlord in any clearing.

14.4.4 Choose Mood. You must replace the mood card in your Mood Card slot with a different mood card that does not show an item that is in your Hoard. If you are Lavish and cannot choose a new mood card, you remain Lavish.

14.5 Daylight

Your Daylight has three steps in the following order.

14.5.1 You may activate strongholds to craftcards. Craft.

14.5.2 Command the Hundreds. You may take the following actions, in any order, a number of times up to your Command.

I Move. Take a move.

II Battle. Initiate a battle.

III Build. Spend a card to place a stronghold in a matching clearing that you rule.

14.5.3 Advance the Warlord. You may take this action a number of times up to your Prowess. You may move the warlord with any Hundreds warriors, and then you may battle in the warlord’s clearing.

14.6 Evening

Your Evening has three steps in the following order.

14.6.1 Incite. Any number of times, you may spend a card to place a mob token in a matching clearing that has no mob token but does have a Hundreds (including your warlord) warrior .

14.6.2 Oppress. You score victory points based on the number of clearings you rule that have a Hundreds piece and no enemy pieces. For one or two clearings, score one point; for three or four clearings, score two points; for five clearings, score three points; for six or more clearings, score four points.

14.6.3 Draw one card. Then, if you Draw and Discard. have more than five cards in your hand, discard cards of your choice until you have five.

14.7 Moods

14.7.1 Bitter ( ). In battle in your warlord’s clearing, before the roll you may remove any number of mob tokens from your warlord’s clearing and any clearings adjacent to it. Place warriors in your warlord’s clearing equal to the number of mob tokens you removed.

14.7.2 Grandiose ( ). This turn, perform your Advance the Warlord step (14.5.3) and your Command the Hundreds step (14.5.2) in reverse order. (Advance the Warlord first, then Command the Hundreds.)

14.7.3 Jubilant ( ). Whenever you take the Incite action in your warlord’s clearing, after placing the mob token for the action, you may—up to four times—roll the mob die and place a mob token in a matching clearing that has no mob token but is adjacent to any clearing with a mob token.

14.7.4 Lavish (No Item). At the end of your Birdsong, you may remove any number of items from your Hoard permanently. For each item you remove,

place two warriors into your warlord’s clearing. When you are done, shiftitems in your Hoard to fill its tracks from leftto right.

14.7.5 Relentless ( ). Whenever you take the Advance the Warlord action and both move and battle, you may then either move your warlord with any Hundreds warriors or battle in your warlord’s clearing.

14.7.6 Rowdy ( ). In Evening (14.6.3), draw one more card. If your warlord’s clearing has three or more enemy pieces (even a combination of pieces from dif- ferent enemies), draw two more cards instead.

14.7.7 Stubborn ( ). In battle in your warlord’s clearing, you ignore the first hit you take. (This does not combine with other abilities that let you ignore the first hit you take.)

14.7.8 Wrathful ( ). As attacker in battle in your warlord’s clearing, you deal an extra hit.

15. Keepers in Iron

15.1 Overview

The Keepers in Iron are an order of devout knights, once exiled from the Woodland, who have returned to recover relics lost in past conflicts. Whether these relics belong to the Keepers or the Woodland, though, is another question. To accomplish their mission, they will need to delve relics out of the forests, move them to a waystation of the same type, and then recover them. When they recover a relic, they score points equal to the relic’s value of one to three, and they also score two points each time they complete a set of the three relic types—figures, tablets, and jewelry. Over time, the Keepers will gather a Retinue of Woodland creatures, letting them take more actions. However, each time they delve a relic or recover one, they might lose the Retinue card they used to act, so they will need to plan ahead and take prudent risks in order to succeed.

15.2 Faction Rules and Abilities

15.2.1 Relics. You seek out twelve relic tokens of three types—figures, tablets, and jewelry. Each relic

type has four tokens in total. The relic front shows only its type, and the relic back shows a value of 1, 2, 3, or 3.

15.2.2 Waystations. You have three waystations. Each waystation shows one relic type on its front and another relic type on its back.

15.2.3 Crafting. The Keepers craftduring Daylight by activating waystations (of any type).

15.2.4 Devout Knights. In battle, if the clearing of battle has at least one relic and at least one Keeper warrior, the Keepers ignore the first hit they take. (If ambushed, ignore one hit from the ambush, but do not ignore further hits.) When moving between clearings, the Keepers may move one relic with each Keeper warrior that they move.

15.2.5 Prized Trophies. Whenever an enemy removes a relic, they place it in any forest face up and score an extra victory point (for a total of two).

15.3 Faction Setup

15.3.1 Step 1: Place Starting Relics. Collect all twelve relic tokens and shuffle them face down (without the value showing). Place one randomly in each forest. (We recommend that you just slide the relics around face down, then place relics as fast as possible as a group. Otherwise, you can use this more random but fiddly method: the Keepers stack the randomized relics, then any other player cuts the stack, picks it up, and drops relics one by one from the bottom onto the forests.)

15.3.2 Step 2: Gather Warriors. Form a supply of 15 warriors.

15.3.3 Step 3: Place Warriors. Place four warriors in a corner clearing that is not the starting corner clearing of another player and, if possible, is diagonally opposite from a starting corner clearing. Then, place four warriors in a clearing on the map edge that is adjacent to the chosen clearing.

15.3.4 Step 4: Place Remaining Relics. Place all remaining relics randomly, as evenly as possible, among forests not adjacent to clearings with your warriors.

15.3.5 Step 5: Tuck Faithful Retainers. Tuck one Faithful Retainer card into each Retinue slot of your faction board.

15.3.6 Step 6: Collect Waystations. Place your three waystation buildings on the respective Waystations spaces of your faction board.

15.4 Birdsong

Your Birdsong has three steps in the following order.

15.4.1 Once per clearing, you may replace a Encamp. Keeper warrior with a waystation. If you have no warriors or waystations in any clearings, instead place one waystation and one warrior in any clearing on the map edge. In either case, you may place the waystation face up or face down.

15.4.2 Decamp. Once per clearing, you may replace a waystation with a Keeper warrior.

15.4.3 Recruit. Any number of times, you may spend a card to place two warriors at a matching waystation.

15.5 Daylight

Your Daylight has two steps in the following order.

15.5.1 Craft. You may activate waystations (of any type) to craftcards.

15.5.2 Act with Retinue. Starting with the leftmost column of your Retinue and moving to the right, you may take the column’s action, as follows, for each card in the column in any order.

I Move. Take a move from a clearing whose suit matches the card suit.

II Battle then Delve. Choose a clearing whose suit matches the card suit. You must initiate a battle there if any enemy pieces that you can battle are there. Then, if you rule the clearing and it has at least one Keeper warrior, you may delve there as follows (even if you did not battle).

a Step 1: Flip and Move Relic. Flip a relic in an adjacent forest so its value is showing if it is not, then move it into the chosen clearing.

b Step 2: Check for Discard. Count the number of clearings you rule adjacent to the forest from which you delved the relic. If you rule fewer of these clearings than the relic’s value, then you must discard the Retinue card used to take this action.

III Move or Recover. Choose a clearing whose suit matches the card suit. Take a move from it, or recover relics from it as follows.

a Step 1: Take Relic. Remove a relic there of the same type as a waystation there, and place it in your leftmost empty Relics space of that relic type.

b Step 2: Score Points. Score victory points equal to the relic’s value, and score two victory points if you filled a Relics column.

c Step 3: Check for Discard. Count the number of clearings you rule whose suit matches the clearing from which you are recovering the relic. If you rule fewer of these clearings than the relic’s value, then you must end this Recover action and discard the Retinue card used to take this action. Otherwise, you may return to the Take Relic step or end this Recover action.

15.6 Evening

Your Evening has three steps in the following order.

15.6.1 Live Off the Land. You must remove one Keeper warrior from each clearing that has four or more Keeper warriors.

15.6.2 Gather Retinue. You may add any number of cards from your hand to any Retinue slots, or you may shiftone card in your Retinue to a different slot. Your Retinue cannot hold more than ten cards.

15.6.3 Draw and Discard. Draw one card, plus one card per uncovered draw bonus (equal to waystations on the map). Then, if you have more than five cards in your hand, discard cards of your choice until you have five.

The next three sections refer to factions in

16. Lilypad Diaspora

16.1 Overview

The Lilypad Diaspora wishes to establish enclaves as safe havens in the Woodland, and they score points by spending cards matching enclaves on their peaceful side. These enclaves introduce the Diaspora culture to the Woodland, adding the new frog suit to their clearing. They also add frog cards to the deck and a new discard pile for frog cards called the pond. However, their Peaceful enclaves cannot protect them. To gain warriors, they need enclaves on their militant side. But these enclaves cover their clearing’s suit as the Diaspora expels threats real or imagined, making them lose essential Woodland support. They also prompt the Diaspora to retaliate, making them battle at them every turn. To prevent this, they can reconcile to flip Militant enclaves to Peaceful, and their enemies can do the same through negotiations. However, their enemies may battle the Diaspora to flip Peaceful enclaves to Militant, as their people’s fears come to pass.

16.2 Faction Rules and Abilities

16.2.1 Enclaves. The Diaspora has 12 enclave tokens, which are double-sided: one side is Peaceful and the other side is Militant. Each clearing can hold only one enclave.

I Clearing Suit. While Peaceful, an enclave adds the frog suit to its clearing, making it dual-suited. While Militant, an enclave replaces its clearing suit with the frog suit. (A crafting piece at a Peaceful enclave can be used for a frog icon or the printed clearing icon. A crafting piece at a Militant enclave can be used only for a frog icon. The frog icon can be used as a wild icon.)

II Matching. Various effects target a clearing matching the suit of something else, such as a card. A clearing with a Militant enclave can be matched with the frog suit. A clearing with a Peaceful enclave can be matched with either the frog suit or the printed clearing suit. (For exam- ple, the Lizard Cult could Build with a frog card to place a fox garden in a fox clearing with a Peaceful enclave, since it also has the frog suit. The Woodland Alliance could spend a fox and a frog card to revolt in a fox clearing with a Peaceful enclave.)

16.2.2 Frog Cards. During setup, 14 frog cards are shuffled into the shared deck. These cards have the frog suit. Some of them have frog crafting icons. Many of their crafted effects force the Diaspora to take actions; the Diaspora can craftthese to act themselves.

I Frog Dominance. If a player has activated the Frog Dominance card, they win the game at the start of their Birdsong if they rule at least two enclaves on the river, and they now follow the Enclave Defense rule (16.2.2.Ia).

a Enclave Defense. When the Diaspora is defending in battle, if an enclave is in the battle clearing, the player with Frog Dominance adds their faction warriors there as defending warriors, taking hits after the Diaspora’s, unless the player with Frog Dominance is attacking.

b Peacekeepers. If both Peacekeepers (17.2.5) and Enclave Defense (16.2.2.Ia) affect a battle, the Diaspora chooses the combination of Council warriors and Enclave Defense warriors to take hits after their own.

16.2.3 The Pond. When a frog card is discarded, it goes face up on top of the Pond pile, on the Pond placard, instead of the discard pile. (With the Lizard Cult, discard frog cards to the Pond, not the Lost Souls.)

I Drawing. When a player draws any number of cards, they may draw the first card from the top of the Pond instead of the shared deck.

II Reshuffling. When the shared deck is reshuffled, all cards from the Pond are also shuffled into it.

16.2.4 Swimmers. The Diaspora treat rivers as paths and may move along a river fully linking an origin and destination clearing, ignoring the need for rule. (They can still move using paths.)

16.2.5 Fears Come to Pass. After a battle where an enemy attacks a defending Peaceful enclave, or when an enemy removes a Peaceful enclave outside battle, flip all Peaceful enclaves with that enemy’s pieces to Militant and place 1 warrior at each flipped enclave.

16.2.6 Negotiations. Once during their turn, an enemy with faction pieces in a clearing with a Militant enclave may flip it to Peaceful. If they don’t rule the enclave but another player does, the flipping player must give the ruler a card in order to flip the enclave.

16.2.7 Crafting. The Diaspora crafts by activating enclaves in Birdsong (16.4.1).

16.3 Faction Setup

16.3.1 Step 1: Gather Pieces. Form a supply of 20 warriors and 12 enclaves.

16.3.2 Step 2: Place Warriors and Enclave. In a clearing on the river, place 5 warriors and 1 enclave on its Peaceful side. This is your starting clearing.

16.3.3 Step 3: Remove Dominance. In a two-player game, remove the Frog Dominance card permanently.

16.3.4 Step 4: Set Up Cards and Pond. Shuffle all of the Frog cards into the shared deck—14 cards, or 13 if the Frog Dominance card was removed. Place the Pond placard near the shared deck.

16.4 Birdsong

Your Birdsong has two steps in the following order.

16.4.1 Craft. You may activate enclaves to craftcards (16.2.1.II).

16.4.2 Rally or Reconcile. You must either Rally or Reconcile.

I Rally. Place 1 warrior at each Militant enclave.

II Reconcile. Flip any number of Militant enclaves to Peaceful. Each time, if a player rules it, they draw 1 card (which can be from the Pond).

16.5 Daylight

You may Settle or Provoke up to 3 times in any order and combination.

16.5.1 Settle. Choose a clearing. You may move into it from any number of adjacent clearings, once each. Then, you may either initiate a battle in it, or you may place a Peaceful enclave in it if it has none and you rule the clearing.

16.5.2 Provoke. Flip a Peaceful enclave to Militant, or place a Militant enclave on the river or at a Diaspora warrior. Then, place 1 warrior at each Mil- (If itant enclave. Finally, discard a random card. you have no cards in hand, skip the final step.)

16.6 Evening

Your Evening has three steps in the following order.

16.6.1 Retaliate. You must battle at each Militant enclave. (If enemy pieces are placed during this step at a Militant enclave that had no enemy pieces, you must battle them. You must battle Riverfolk Company Merce- naries if they are the only way to battle.)

16.6.2 Integrate. You may spend one card to score 1 victory point for each matching Peaceful enclave on the map. You cannot score the frog suit. (You can- not Integrate multiple times per turn.)

16.6.3 Draw and Discard. Draw one card, plus more cards based on your Peaceful enclaves on the map: +1 if you have 2–3, +2 if you have 4—7, or +3 if you have 8 or more. Then, if you have more than five cards in your hand, discard cards of your choice until you have five.

17. Twilight Council

17.1 Overview

The Twilight Council works to suppress violence by bringing together the Woodfolk in assemblies, hoping to draw the civil war to an end. Assemblies let the Council score victory points, banish enemy warriors from their clearings, and gain loyalists, warriors on their player board that they can later place at assemblies. The Council acts as peacekeepers at their assemblies, defending enemy factions when they’re attacked. By ruling assemblies, the Council can flip assemblies to their governing side. In Evening, they score points based on the number of Governing assemblies with any enemy buildings or tokens at them. Their governors limit the actions that enemies can take at Governing assemblies, unless those enemies entreat the Council to close the assembly for a time.

17.2 Faction Rules and Abilities

17.2.1 Loyalists. The Council can hold up to 4 warriors on its player board as Loyalists. They can place Loyalists with Entreat (17.2.4) and Assemble (17.4.4). They may remove Loyalists at any time.

17.2.2 Assemblies. Assemblies have two sides: Closed (closed tent) and Governing (open tent). When an enemy of the Council removes an assembly, the Council removes 1 Loyalist.

17.2.3 Governors. At Governing assemblies, enemies of the Council cannot activate crafting pieces and cannot place, remove, take, or flip pieces, except in battle. (The Vagabond cannot craftbecause the Vag- abond pawn is its crafting piece.)

17.2.4 Entreating. Any number of times on their turn, an enemy may force the Council to flip any assembly to Closed. After flipping it, the Council may either place any number of Loyalists at that assembly or place 1 warrior in their Loyalists.

17.2.5 Peacekeepers. When an enemy chooses another enemy as defender at an assembly, the Council adds Council warriors as defending warriors, but Council warriors only take hits once the defender’s warriors have been removed. Ignore Peacekeepers if the Vagabond is defending. (The Council cannot ambush, use battle effects, etc.)

I Vagabond Allies. If the Vagabond attacks another enemy in battle while Allied (9.2.9.II) to the Twilight Council, Council warriors are attacking warriors.

17.2.6 Crafting. The Council crafts during Evening by activating assemblies.

17.3 Faction Setup

17.3.1 Step 1: Gather Pieces. Form a supply of 20 warriors.

17.3.2 Place 4 warriors in a cor- Step 2: Place Warriors. ner clearing. This is your starting clearing. Place 2 warriors in a different clearing.

17.3.3 Step 3: Fill Assemblies Track. Fill your Assemblies track on your player board with your 6 assemblies.

17.4 Birdsong

Any number of times, you may reveal a card to take an (Reveal cards from your hand into your action, as follows. play area. They cannot be used for any other purposes during Birdsong.)

17.4.1 Take a move from a clearing matching the Move. revealed card.

17.4.2 Recruit. Place 1 warrior in a clearing matching the revealed card.

17.4.3 Battle. Initiate a battle in a clearing matching the revealed card. If an assembly is there, discard the revealed card.

17.4.4 Assemble. Place a Closed assembly and any number of Loyalists in a clearing matching the revealed card that has no assembly. Then, if you don’t rule the clearing, discard the revealed card.

17.5 Daylight

17.5.1 Sleep. Flip assemblies ruled by enemies to Closed.

17.6 Evening

Your Evening has five steps in the following order.

17.6.1 Convene Woodfolk. One by one, return each card that you revealed in Birdsong to your hand. For each card returned, you may take one of the following actions.

I Banish. If you returned a non-bird card, initiate a battle in a clearing with a matching assembly. Defending warriors are not removed when hit; instead, force them to move to a

single destination you choose, ignoring rule. Treat this as a single move for triggering other effects. You cannot hit buildings or tokens, and you ignore rolled hits you take (not ambush or extra hits).

a The Warlord. The warlord cannot take hits from banish because it cannot be moved outside the Lord of the Hundred’s turn. (Their other warriors still take hits.)

b The Vagabond. The Vagabond cannot take hits from banish because it is not a warrior.

c Hirelings. Hirelings cannot take hits from banish because they cannot be forced to move (H.3.4).

II Agitate. If you returned a non-bird card, spend it and choose a matching assembly. Place 1 warrior in your Loyalists, then flip the assembly to Governing if it is Closed. (You cannot gain the Loyalist if you don’t have a matching assembly.)

III Empower. If you returned a bird card, choose an assembly. Roll one battle die and remove Council warriors from it equal to the rolled number. You may either place these warriors in your Loyalists, or you may score 1 victory point if you rule the assembly.

17.6.2 Inspire. You may activate assemblies to craftcards. If you craftno cards, draw one card per card draw icon showing on your Assemblies track.

17.6.3 Adjourn. You may remove any of your assemblies. Flip assemblies you rule to Governing.

17.6.4 Oversee. Score victory points based on the number of Governing assemblies in the same clearing as any enemy buildings or tokens. For one assembly, score one point; for two or three, score two points; for four, score three points; for five or six, score four points.

17.6.5 Draw and Discard. Draw one card. Then, if you have more than five cards in your hand, discard cards of your choice until you have five.

18. Knaves of the Deepwood

18.1 Overview

The Knaves of the Deepwood endeavor to mock the powerful and protect the needy. Each turn, they score victory points from their acclaim throughout the Woodland and from warriors they take as Prisoners by battling the enemy factions. Each turn, they act with one of their three Captains, backed up by a crew of rowdy Skunks that can move along with them. However, once a Captain has acted, it cannot act again until after the Knaves act with all three Captains, letting them Take It Easy. They have a Stash of items that they can flip face down to take special actions at their Captain. Like their Captains, their items only flip face up again once they Take It Easy.

18.2 Faction Rules and Abilities

18.2.1 Exclusive with Vagabond. The Knaves of the Deepwood cannot be played in the same game as the Vagabond.

18.2.2 Stash. Instead of a Crafted Items box, the Knaves have the stash. It holds items, which can be face up or face down. When you craftor take an item, place it face up in your Stash.

18.2.3 Acclaim. The Knaves have 8 acclaim tokens. Each clearing can hold one acclaim. (Forests cannot hold it.) Acclaim affects various actions (18.5.1) and scores victory points in Evening (18.6.1).

18.2.4 Deepwood Runners. Captains and Skunks are warriors that can move in and out of forests, ignoring rule.

18.2.5 Follow Me. When moving a Captain, the Knaves may move Skunks with the Captain. Captains can only be hit in battle if no Skunks remain in the battle clearing. Captains cannot be placed except in setup and with Ready (18.4), and cannot be replaced.

18.2.6 Have at Thee. When a Captain attacks a faction in battle, the Knaves take 1 defending warrior they hit as a prisoner: instead of removing it, they move it to an adjacent forest with no Prisoners, ignoring rule. If it cannot be moved, remove it as normal. At the end of this battle, place acclaim in the battle clearing if the Acting Captain is there. (You can lay Prisoners down flat to distinguish them.)

18.2.7 Run Away. When an enemy removes acclaim, they force the Knaves to place 1 Skunk in a forest of the enemy’s choice adjacent to the acclaim’s former clearing. (If the Skunk supply is empty, ig- nore this.)

18.2.8 Crafting. The Knaves craftin Daylight by activating their Acting Captain or acclaim. Their Filch (18.5.1.III) lets them activate their Acting Captain, and their Serve (18.5.1.IV.g) lets them activate any number of acclaim matching their Acting Captain’s clearing. Each acclaim can only be activated once per turn. (You may flip the acclaim over to show it has been activated.)

18.3 Faction Setup

18.3.1 Step 1: Gather Pieces. Form a supply of 10 Skunk warriors.

18.3.2 Step 2: Choose Captains. Choose 3 Captain cards. Collect their respective Captain warriors.

18.3.3 Step 3: Place Captains and Skunks. Place 1 Captain warrior and 1 Skunk warrior each in three different forests.

18.3.4 Step 4: Set Up Player Board. Place the 6 items face up in your Stash that are shown on your 3 chosen Captain cards. Fill each Acclaim slot with 2 acclaim tokens.

18.4 Birdsong

Ready. Place a face-up Captain card in the Acting Captain slot on your player board. You gain the effect listed on this card until you Retire (18.5.2). If the corresponding Captain warrior is not on the map, place it in any forest, remove any Prisoners in that forest and adjacent forests, and you take only three actions during Captain Acts (18.5.1).

18.5 Daylight

Your Daylight has two steps in the following order.

18.5.1 Captain Acts. In any order and combination, you may take up to four actions as follows with the Acting Captain, shown in your Acting Captain slot. (If the Acting Captain was placed in a forest with Ready in Birdsong this turn, you take up to three ac- tions instead.)

I Move. Take a move with the Acting Captain. (You may move Skunks along with it.)

II Battle. Initiate a battle in the Acting Captain’s clearing.

III Filch. Once per turn, either crafta card by activating the Acting Captain, or take 1 item from the Crafted Items box of an enemy faction in the Acting Captain’s clearing. If you craftan item with Filch, do not score its listed victory points.

IV Item Action. Flip a face-up item in your Stash face down to take its action.

a Dash ( ). Move the Acting Captain up to twice, ignoring rule.

b Assault ( ). Initiate a battle in the Acting Captain’s clearing. Take all warriors you hit as a Prisoner (18.2.6), moving each to a separate forest with no Prisoners.

c Skirmish ( ). Move the Acting Captain from a forest. Then, initiate a battle in the Acting Captain’s destination clearing, ignoring the first hit you take.

d Nab ( ). Initiate a battle in the Acting Captain’s clearing. If the Acting Captain is hit, it is not removed—move it to an adjacent forest instead; if it cannot be moved, it is removed as normal. If the Acting Captain was not hit, you may move it after the battle (after placing acclaim).

e Revel ( ). Place 1 acclaim and 1 Skunk at the Acting Captain. (If it’s in a forest, just place the Skunk.) If acclaim is already in the Acting Captain’s clearing, place 2 Skunks there instead.

f Gift ( ). Place 1 acclaim in the Acting Captain’s clearing and draw 1 card. (If it’s in a forest, just draw 1 card.) If acclaim is already in the Acting Captain’s clearing, draw 2 cards instead.

g Serve ( ). Place 1 acclaim in the Acting Captain’s clearing. If acclaim is already in the Acting Captain’s clearing, activate any number of acclaim matching the Acting Captain’s clearing to craftcards instead. (You do score the listed points. Each acclaim can only be activated once per turn to craft.)

18.5.2 Retire. Flip the Captain card in the Acting Captain slot face down and return it to your supply.

18.6 Evening

Your Evening has four steps in the following order.

18.6.1 Mock the Powerful. Score 1 victory point for every 2 Prisoners, and score 1 victory point for every 2 acclaim on the map.

18.6.2 Protect the Weak. Once per acclaim, you may spend a matching card to place 1 Skunk at it.

18.6.3 Take It Easy. If all three Captain cards are face down, flip them face up, flip all items in your Stash face up, and the enemy with the most Prisoners may choose a clearing, remove all Prisoners of their faction from adjacent forests, and place them into the chosen clearing. On a tie for most Prisoners, you choose one tied enemy.

18.6.4 Draw and Discard. Draw one card. Then, if you have more than five cards in your hand, discard cards of your choice until you have five.

A. Advanced Setup

A.1 Step 1: Choose and Set up Map

As a group, choose a map. If you choose a variant map (Appendix M), follow its Setup Modification section, then collect the 12 suit markers, flip them face down, and shuffle them, then place one on each clearing, covering the printed suit symbols if any. Set up the ruins (5.1.4), item supply (5.1.5), and dice (5.1.6) as normal.

A.2 Step 2: Choose Deck

As a group, you may choose to replace the entire shared deck from the base game with the Exiles and Partisans deck or Squires and Disciples deck.

A.3 Step 3: Set Up Bots

As a group, you may choose to play with bots, as described in the Law of Rootbotics.

A.4 Step 4: Seat Players

Determine the seating order and the first player randomly.

A.5 Step 5: Set up Landmarks

As a group, you may choose to use landmarks (Appendix L). If so, you may ignore or override the placement of the Tower and Ferry pieces in Maps (Appendix M).

A.5.1 Step 1: Choose. As a group, choose if you’re playing with one or two landmarks, and remove any landmark cards you do not want to play with.

A.5.2 Step 2: Deal and Collect. Shuffle the chosen landmark cards, deal out the chosen number, and collect the landmark piece shown on each dealt card.

A.5.3 Step 3: Set Up. The last player in turn order sets up one drawn landmark as described on its card. If you chose to play with two landmarks, the second-to-last player in turn order sets up the other drawn landmark as described on its card.

A.6 Step 6: Set up Hirelings

As a group, you may choose to use exactly three hirelings (Appendix H), as follows.

A.6.1 Step 1: Collect Pieces. Shuffle all the hirelings cards. Deal out three hireling cards and return the rest to the box. Collect the pieces for the dealt hireling cards into a supply.

A.6.2 Step 2: Demote. If playing with three players, flip over one random hireling to its Demoted side (marked with a “D”). If playing with four players, flip over two random hirelings to their Demoted side. If playing with five or more players, flip over all three hirelings to their Demoted side.

A.6.3 Step 3: Set Up Hirelings. Starting with the last player in turn order and going counterclockwise, players set up one dealt hireling each as described on its hireling card. (Some have no set- up instructions.)

A.6.4 Step 4: Place Hireling Markers. Place the three hireling markers—marked “4,” “8,” and “12”—on the “4,” “8,” and “12” spaces of the score track on the map.

A.6.5 Step 5: Return Corresponding Factions. A faction cannot be played if its corresponding hireling is in play, shown by its color and icon. (The Exile/Brigand hireling removes both the Vag- abond and Knaves of the Deepwood.) Return the corresponding faction boards, pieces, and setup cards to the box.

A.7 Step 7: Draw Five Cards

If you are playing with two players, remove all four dominance cards from the deck. Shuffle the deck. (Not three, as in Standard Each player draws five cards. Setup! You will choose three cards to keep in step 10.)

A.8 Step 8: Set Up Factions

As a group, you may choose and set up factions as described in the Standard Setup (5.1) or you may use the faction setup cards included in the Marauder and Homeland Expansions, as described below.

A.8.1 Step 1: Create Draft Pool. Agree whether you will omit any factions from the game. You can-

not include both the Vagabond and the Knaves of the Deepwood. If you include the Vagabond, choose whether to include one or both Vagabond setup cards. (We recommend one card except for ad- venturous groups.)

A.8.2 Step 2: Deal Setup Cards. Shuffle all of the militant faction setup cards (red name with sword) and deal out one card to a pool in the center of the table. Shuffle the remaining militant faction setup cards together with all of the insurgent faction setup cards (grey name with no sword), and deal out one faction setup card per player. (There will be one more faction setup card than the number of players.)

I Two Players. If you’re playing with two players, remove all of the insurgent faction setup cards before dealing out any. (You may keep them if you’re playing with hirelings and feeling adventurous.)

II Lock Last Insurgent. If the last faction setup card dealt out is an insurgent, turn it sideways to show that it is locked. It cannot be chosen unless at least one militant faction has been chosen.

III Vagabond. Whenever a Vagabond faction setup card is dealt out, also deal out one random character card next to it face up. If a player chooses this Vagabond as their faction, they must use this character card.

IV Knaves. Whenever the Knaves of the Deepwood faction setup card is dealt out, also deal out four random Captain cards next to it face up. (In their setup, they will choose three.)

A.8.3 Step 3: Choose Factions. Starting with the last player in turn order and going counterclockwise, each player chooses one faction setup card from the pool and sets up the faction immediately as it describes (before another player chooses).

I Homelands. When setting up, players might choose one or more homeland clearings. Players cannot choose homelands that enemies have chosen as their homelands or where they cannot place all the pieces listed in setup.

II Enemy Homeland Adjacency. Some factions require you to choose a homeland that is not adjacent to enemy homelands; if you cannot do this, choose a homeland adjacent to an enemy homeland. If you must choose a homeland that has two or more clearings between it and enemy homelands but you cannot, choose a homeland that is not adjacent to enemy homelands. (Basically, try to set up as far away as able.)

III Multiple Homeland Adjacency. If your faction has multiple homelands and you cannot fulfill all of their enemy adjacency requirements (A.8.3.II), choose and set them up one at a time, fulfilling each requirement as best you can.

A.9 Step 9: Place Score Markers

Each player places their faction’s score marker on the “0” space on the score track.

A.10 Step 10: Choose Starting Hands

Each player chooses three cards in their hand to keep and puts the other two cards face down on the shared deck. When finished, shuffle the shared deck.

C. Components

C.1 Root

C.1.1 Booklets. Walkthrough, Learning to Play, and this Law.

C.1.2 Cardboard Pieces. 28 Buildings (7 Roosts, 6 Saw- mills, 6 Recruiters, 6 Workshops, 3 Bases), 19 Tokens (10 Sympathy, 8 Wood, 1 Keep), 12 Clearing Markers (4 Rabbit, 4 Fox, 4 Mouse), 4 Ruins, 4 Victory Point Markers, 3 Relationship Markers, 23 Items (4 Boots, 4 Swords, 4 Bags, 3 Hammers, 3 Tea, 2 Coins, 2 Crossbows, 1 Torch).

C.1.3 Wooden Pieces. 55 Warriors (25 Marquise, 20 Ey- rie, 10 Alliance), 1 Vagabond Pawn.

C.1.4 Cards. 54 Cards for Shared Deck, 16 Faction Overviews, 4 Eyrie Leaders, 2 Loyal Viziers, 3 Vagabond Characters, 15 Quests, 4 Walkthroughs.

C.1.5 Other. Board (Fall and Winter Maps), 2 Battle Dice, 4 Faction Boards (Marquise, Eyrie, Alliance, Vagabond).

C.2 Riverfolk Expansion

C.2.1 Learning to Play. Booklets.

C.2.2 Cardboard Pieces. 15 Buildings (15 Gardens), 9 Tokens (9 Trade Posts), 3 Victory Point Markers, 1 Outcast Marker, 9 Relationship Markers, 11 Items (3 Boots, 3 Swords, 1 Bag, 1 Hammer, 1 Torch, 1 Coins, 1 Crossbow), and 17 spare pieces with letter backs for future scenarios.

C.2.3 Wooden Pieces. 40 Warriors (25 Lizard, 15 River- folk), 1 Vagabond Pawn.

C.2.4 Cards. 4 Spies, 2 Faction Overviews, 3 Vagabond Characters.

C.2.5 Other. 4 Faction Boards (Second Vagabond, Me- chanical Marquise, Riverfolk Company, Lizard Cult), 3 Service Markers, 1 Card Stand.

C.3 Underworld Expansion

C.3.1 Booklets. Learning to Play and this Law.

C.3.2 Cardboard Pieces. 6 Buildings (3 Markets, 3 Cit- adels), 19 Tokens (8 Plots, 8 Spare Plots, 3 Tunnels), the Burrow, 4 Relationship Markers, 2 Victory Point Markers, 6 Closed Path Markers.

C.3.3 Wooden Pieces. 35 Warriors (20 Duchy, 15 Corvid), 1 Ferry, 1 Tower, 9 Crowns.

C.3.4 Cards. 9 Ministers, 2 Overviews.

C.3.5 Other. Board (Lake and Mountain Maps), 2 Battle Dice, 2 Faction Boards (Duchy, Corvid).

C.4 Marauder Expansion

C.4.1 Booklets. Learning to Play and this Law.

C.4.2 Cardboard Pieces. 9 Buildings (3 Waystations, 6 Strongholds), 17 Tokens (12 Relics, 5 Mobs), 4 Relationship Markers, 2 Victory Point Markers, 12 Control Markers, 3 Club Items, 3 Hireling Markers, 11 Extra Markers (9 Victory Points, 2 Relationships).

C.4.3 (20 Hundreds, Wooden Pieces. 56 Warriors 15 Keepers, 12 Patrol, 5 Dynasty, 4 Uprising) , 1 Hundreds Warlord, 1 Exile Pawn.

C.4.4 Cards. 8 Moods, 3 Faithful Retainers, 10 Faction Setup, 4 Hirelings, 2 Overviews.

C.4.5 2 Faction Boards (Hundreds, Keepers), Other. 3 Dice (Mob, Uprising, Control).

C.5 Homeland Expansion

C.5.1 Booklets. Learning to Play and this Law.

C.5.2 Cardboard Pieces. 26 Tokens (12 Enclaves, 6 As- semblies, 8 Acclaim), 28 Items (4 Coins, 4 Boots, 4 Swords, 5 Tea, 4 Hammers, 4 Bags, 3 Crossbows), 4 Ruins, 4 Relationship Markers, 3 Victory Point Markers, 9 Reminder Markers, 3 Flood Markers, 1 Pond Placard.

C.5.3 Wooden Pieces. 43 Warriors (20 Diaspora, 20 Council, 10 Knave Skunks), 3 Vagabond / Knave Captains (Jailor, Gladiator, Cheat), 3 Landmarks (Mousehold, Foxburrow, Rabbittown).

C.5.4 Cards. 14 Frog, 12 Captains, 3 Vagabonds, 3 Overviews, 3 Faction Setup, 4 Clarifications, 3 Landmarks, 19 Updates.

C.5.5 Other. Board (Marsh and Gorge Maps), 3 Faction Boards (Diaspora, Council, Knaves), 2 Battle Dice.

C.6 Clockwork Expansion

C.6.1 Booklets. Law of Rootbotics.

C.6.2 Cardboard Pieces. 12 Priority Markers.

C.6.3 Cards. 12 Difficulties, 16 Traits, 3 Vagabots.

C.6.4 Other. 4 Faction Boards.

C.7 Clockwork Expansion 2

C.7.1 Booklets. Law of Rootbotics.

C.7.2 Cardboard Pieces. 12 Priority Markers.

C.7.3 Cards. 12 Difficulties, 20 Traits, 3 Vagabots, 1 Interaction, 11 Services.

C.7.4 Other. 4 Faction Boards.

C.8 Exiles and Partisans Deck

C.8.1 Cards. 54 Cards for Shared Deck.

C.9 Squires and Disciples Deck

C.9.1 Cards. 54 Cards for Shared Deck.

C.10 Landmarks Pack

C.10.1 Cards. 1 Setup/Rules, 6 Landmarks.

C.10.2 Wooden Pieces. 4 Landmarks.

C.11 Vagabond Pack

C.11.1 Cardboard Pieces. 3 Items (1 Coins, 1 Hammer, 1 Boot)

C.11.2 Wooden Pieces. 7 Vagabond Pawns.

C.11.3 Cards. 3 Vagabond Characters.

C.12 Hireling Packs

C.12.1 Learning to Play Hirelings. Booklets.

C.12.2 Cardboard Pieces. 3 Hireling Markers, 12 Control Markers. 3 Foothold Tokens in Underworld Pack. 6 Vault Buildings in Marauder Pack. 4 Farm Buildings and 5 Lilypad Tokens in Homeland Pack.

C.12.3 Wooden Pieces. 1 Flotilla Pawn, 4 Prophet Warriors, 4 Bandit Warriors in Riverfolk Pack. 8 Expedition Warriors, 6 Spy Warriors, and 1 Protector Pawn in Underworld Pack. 6 Bearer Warriors, 6 Keeper Warriors, and 5 Band Warriors in Marauder Pack. 10 Frog Warriors, 8 Bat Warriors, and 9 Duck Warriors in Homeland Pack.

C.12.4 Cards. 3 Hirelings.

C.12.5 Other. 1 Control Die.

G. Glossary

G.1 Ability. A persistent effect of a faction as listed at the top of its faction board and in its Faction Rules and Abilities section, or a persistent effect of a hireling as listed on its hireling card (H.2.2).

G.2 Adjacent. A clearing is adjacent to all other clearings linked to it by a path. A forest is adjacent to all clearings that touch it without crossing a path, and it is adjacent to all forests that are separated by only one path, except on the lake (M.3.4).

G.3 Building. A square cardboard piece owned by its faction or hireling.

G.4 Cannot. See 1.1.2.

G.5 Discard. Place the prompted card in the shared discard pile (2.1). If it is a dominance card, place it near the map instead (3.3.3).

G.6 Draw. Take a card into your hand. If drawing from a deck or pile, take the top card unless otherwise specified. If no source is specified, take it from the shared deck (2.1).

G.7 Effect. Anything that changes the game, including persistent effects, faction abilities, and actions.

G.8 Enemy. Any other player that you are not in a coalition with (9.2.8), or a hireling that is in the supply or held by an enemy player.

G.9 Enemy Piece. A faction piece of an enemy player or a hireling piece of an enemy hireling, except while you’re treating the piece as your own for rule (Riverfolk mercenaries, controlled hirelings, etc.). (Items cannot be enemy pieces.)

G.10 Faction Piece. All the warriors, pawns, buildings, and tokens listed on the back of a faction board. (Items are not faction pieces.) See 1.5.2.

G.11 Forest. An area on the map enclosed by paths and clearings.

G.12 Force. See 1.5.5.

G.13 Item. A square cardboard piece showing an item ( , , , etc.) that is not owned by any faction.

G.14 Map. See 2.2.

G.15 Map Edge. The single closed loop of clearings and paths that define the map boundary, including closed paths on the mountain map.

G.16 Matching. Of the same suit.

G.17 Path. A white link between two clearings.

G.18 Pawn. A wooden figure owned by its faction or hireling.

G.19 Piece. Any component—building, token, warrior, pawn, item, marker, and so on.

G.20 Place. Take the prompted piece from the prompted source and put it in the prompted destination. Usually, no source is specified—in this case, take it from its supply, or take the leftmost prompted piece if it is on a track. Put is shorthand for Place.

G.21 Play Area. The area around your faction board. Cards in it can only be spent, discarded, or used for other purposes if explicitly instructed.

G.22 Random. When referring to a card, choose one at random without looking at them at all.

G.23 Replace. Remove the prompted piece and place the other prompted piece in the location from which the first was removed. To do so, you must be able to complete both steps. (For example, ene- mies of the Marquise cannot replace a Marquise war- rior at the keep.)

G.24 Remove. Take the prompted piece from the prompted source and return it to the prompted destination. Usually, no destination is specified— in this case, return it to its owner’s supply, return it to the rightmost empty space of its track it has one, or remove it permanently otherwise. (Items are removed permanently.)

G.25 Reveal. Place the prompted card face up in your play area. Usually, no source is specified—in this case, take it from your hand.

G.26 River. A blue link between two clearings.

G.27 Ruin. Piece covering an “R” slot in a clearing (2.2.4).

G.28 Rule. See 2.5.

G.29 Show. Let the prompted player see the prompted piece.

G.30 Slot. White box in a clearing (2.2.3).

G.31 Spend. See Discard. (These terms are equivalent, but spend is used in contexts with choice.)

G.32 Supply. The collection of pieces that is not on a faction board or the map. The item supply is the collection of items on the map.

G.33 Swap. Switch the locations of the two prompted (This ignores and restrictions, pieces. move place such as the Corvids’ snare and the Marquise’s keep.)

G.34 Token. A circular cardboard piece owned by its faction or hireling.

G.35 Treat. The prompted thing takes on the properties of the second prompted thing. While you treat enemy pieces as your own for rule, they are not enemy pieces, but they are still faction pieces of (For example, Riverfolk warriors that enemy player. you’ve hired as mercenaries are not enemy pieces to you, but they are still Riverfolk faction pieces.)

G.36 Warrior. A wooden figure owned by its faction or hireling. (The Vagabond pawn is not a warrior and cannot be removed.)

H. Hirelings

H.1 Gaining and Losing Hirelings

H.1.1 Gaining from Supply. When a player’s score marker enters a space with a hireling marker, they take the hireling marker and place it below their Evening (as a reminder). At the end of their turn, they take any hireling card from the supply, roll for control (H.1.2), and flip over the hireling marker.

H.1.2 Rolling for Control. When a player gains a hireling card, they roll the control die and place control markers on the hireling card equal in number to the die roll. They count only the gold die pips if they have the most victory points or are tied for the most; they count all the die pips otherwise (in- cluding if they have activated a dominance card).

H.1.3 Gaining from Another Player. At the end of a player’s turn, they must remove one control marker from each hireling card they gained on previous turns. Then, they must give each hireling card they control that has no control markers, along with a hireling marker, to any other player (even the player with the highest score). That player puts the hireling marker below their Evening (as a remind- er) and immediately rolls for control (H.1.2).

H.2 Abilities and Actions

Hirelings have various actions and abilities, as shown by unique icons. Actions and abilities that start with “controller:” are gained by the hireling’s controller.

H.2.1 When they take con- When-Hired Action ( ). trol of the hireling, the controlling player must take this action.

H.2.2 Ability ( ). This ability is always active or it specifies when it happens.

H.2.3 Start-of-Birdsong Action ( ). At the start of their Birdsong, the controlling player must or may take this action, as the action describes.

H.2.4 Once-Per-Daylight Action ( ). Once in their Daylight, the controlling player may take this action.

H.3 Rules

H.3.1 Rule. A hireling’s controller treats hireling pieces as their own only for rule. (The controller can rule a clearing even with hirelings alone.) Uncontrolled hirelings can rule clearings as if they were players (2.5).

H.3.2 Enemy Status. A hireling is an enemy to players other than its controller and players in coalition with its controller.

H.3.3 Separate Pieces. Hireling pieces are not the controller’s faction pieces. (So, the Duchy cannot count them as Duchy pieces to sway, the Keepers cannot re- move them to encamp, etc.).

H.3.4 Separate Actions. A hireling’s Move or Battle actions can only move or battle with the hireling’s pieces and cannot include the controller’s pieces. Hirelings cannot take actions in other ways (such as from their controller’s Move actions, False Orders, or the Vagabond’s Allied Relationship).

H.3.5 Separate Effects. Hirelings cannot use their controller’s abilities, crafted persistent effects, or am- (So, a hireling could not use Boat Builders bush cards. while moving, and the Highway Bandits could not be placed on a river. A hireling’s controller could not play an ambush card while battling with the hireling.)

H.3.6 No Scoring from Removal. A hireling’s controller does not score victory points if their hireling (usually in battle) (Play- removes an enemy piece . ers can still score points by removing hireling buildings and tokens, even when defending in battle against the hireling. Players still score as normal if the Warm Sun Prophets force that player’s faction pieces to battle.)

H.3.7 Weird Stuff. If you move hireling warriors into a clearing with an Alliance sympathy token or remove Alliance sympathy by using a hireling, this does trigger Outrage. (These effects refer to a “player moving” or “player removing.”)

K. Knave Characters

K.1 Thief

K.1.1 Starting Items. Start with , .

K.1.2 Ability. After you Filch, you may move the Thief.

K.2 Tinker

K.2.1 Starting Items. Start with , .

K.2.2 Ability. After you Serve, draw 1 card.

K.3 Ranger

K.3.1 Starting Items. Start with , .

K.3.2 Ability. Once per turn, as an action, you may flip any item down to Assault, Skirmish, or Nab.

K.4 Vagrant

K.4.1 Starting Items. Start with , .

K.4.2 Ability. Once per turn, as an action, you may flip any item down to Revel, Gift, or Serve.

K.5 Arbiter

K.5.1 Starting Items. Start with , .

K.5.2 Ability. In Assault battles, you may take 1 extra (Do this after rolling the dice.) hit to deal 1 extra hit.

K.6 Scoundrel

K.6.1 Starting Items. Start with , .

K.6.2 Ability. When you Skirmish, you may instead move from a clearing before the battle. If you do, do not ignore 1 hit.

K.7 Adventurer

K.7.1 Start with , . Starting Items.

K.7.2 Ability. After you place acclaim at a ruin, draw 1 card.

K.8 Harrier

K.8.1 Starting Items. Start with , .

K.8.2 Ability. When you Dash, you may move the Harrier up to three times (instead of two), ignoring rule.

K.9 Ronin

K.9.1 Starting Items. Start with , .

K.9.2 Ability. When you Assault, the Ronin may move before the battle.

K.10 Cheat

K.10.1 Starting Items. Start with , .

K.10.2 Ability. As an action, you may flip two items down to take any item action.

K.11 Gladiator

K.11.1 Starting Items. Start with , .

K.11.2 Ability. When you Assault, draw 1 card at the start of battle.

K.12 Jailor

K.12.1 Start with , . Starting Items.

K.12.2 Ability. In Nab battles, you may deal 1 less hit, even if you are dealing no hits, to ignore 1 rolled hit you take. (Do this after rolling the dice.)

L. Landmarks

L.1 General Rules

L.1.1 Safety. Landmarks cannot be battled, moved, covered, or removed, unless noted explicitly by a landmark.

L.1.2 Ownership. Landmarks are not owned by anyone and are not enemy pieces.

M. Maps

M.1 Autumn Map

No special rules.

M.2 Winter Map

M.2.1 Raging River. The river divides forests (as printed paths do).

M.3 Lake Map (Underworld)

M.3.1 Setup Modifications. Place the Ferry piece in the corner clearing that is also a coastal clearing.

M.3.2 The Lake. The lake is in the center of the map. The lake is treated as rivers linking each coastal clearing to each other coastal clearing. The lake divides forests.

M.3.3 Coastal Clearings. Clearings touching the lake (not separated by a forest) are coastal clearings.

M.3.4 Coastal Forests. Forests touching the lake are coastal forests. Each coastal forest is adjacent to its two neighboring coastal forests (separated by one coastal clearing).

M.3.5 The Ferry. Once per turn, when moving from a clearing with the Ferry, you may move to another coastal clearing, ignoring paths. Move the Ferry along with the moving pieces. If faction pieces move, their player draws one card. (You still must rule the origin or destination clearing to use the Fer- ry, even with the Swimmers ability. If pieces of multiple factions move at the same time, each of their players draws a card.)

M.4 Mountain Map (Underworld)

M.4.1 Setup Modifications. Place the 6 closed path markers to cover the 6 paths of darker color with excavated ground. Place the Tower piece in the central clearing showing two towers.

M.4.2 Closed Paths. A path covered with a closed path marker is a closed path. Clearings linked by a closed path are not adjacent, and pieces (such as Highway Bandits) cannot be placed on closed paths. Closed paths enclose and divide forests as if they were paths (so the Vagabond can slip across it).

M.4.3 Removing Closed Paths. Once per turn in their Daylight, a player can spend a card to remove a closed path marker from the game permanently and score one victory point. To remove it, that player must have any faction pieces in either clearing linked by the closed path marker.

M.4.4 The Pass and Tower. The clearing marked with the Tower piece is the pass. At the end of a player’s Evening, if that player rules the Pass, that player scores one victory point.

M.4.5 Forests. All areas on the mountain map enclosed by paths and clearings are forests (2.4), regardless of the presence or placement of trees within.

M.5 Marsh Map (Homeland)

M.5.1 Setup Modification. Follow the subsection based on your player count. Then, place 2 ruins in the “R” slots with no numbers and 2 ruins in the “R” slots with the lowest showing numbers.

I 1–4 Players. Cover a total of 3 flooding clearings with flood markers—one light green, one dark green, and one brown. Align the flood markers’ paths so that they match up with paths touching the marker.

II 5+ Players. Place the Mousehold, Foxburrow, and Rabbittown landmarks in the three unsuited clearings. (You can still place other landmarks as normal.)

M.5.2 Flooded Clearings. A flooded clearing is no longer a clearing. Instead it only contains one or more paths, and may include flooded paths. Clearings linked by any number of non-flooded paths in these clearings are adjacent.

I Flooded Paths. Flooded paths are not linked to the other paths, but they enclose and divide forests as if they were paths (so the Vagabond can slip across it).

II Placing on Paths. Pieces that can be placed on paths (such as Highway Bandits) can be placed on any non-flooded path in the clearing, but not the point where its paths link.

M.6 Gorge Map (Homeland)

M.6.1 The Dam. The dam separates the forests under it.

M.6.2 The Bridge. The bridge does not separate the forests under it.

M.6.3 Gorge Sides. The gorge sides do not separate the forests they are in.

V. Vagabond Characters

V.1 Thief

V.1.1 Starting Items. Start with , , , .

V.1.2 Special Action: Steal. Exhaust one to take a random card from a player with faction pieces in your clearing.

V.2 Tinker

V.2.1 Starting Items. Start with , , , .

V.2.2 Special Action: Day Labor. Exhaust one to take a card from the discard pile whose suit matches your clearing. (You can always take a bird card.)

V.3 Ranger

V.3.1 Starting Items. Start with , , , .

V.3.2 Special Action: Hideout. Exhaust one to repair three items. Then, immediately end Daylight and begin Evening.

V.4 Vagrant (Riverfolk)

V.4.1 Starting Items. Start with , , .

V.4.2 Special Action: Instigate. Exhaust a to force a player (even you) to battle a player in your clearing. Treat removed buildings and tokens as if you removed them. (Score a victory point per building or to- ken of either player removed. Score Infamy as normal.)

V.5 Arbiter (Riverfolk)

V.5.1 Starting Items. Start with , , , .

V.5.2 Special Action: Protector. When defending in battle, before the roll, a faction may enlist the Arbiter if he’s in the clearing of battle. If so, the Arbiter scores one victory point and adds all of his undamaged to the defender’s maximum rolled hits. The Arbiter cannot enlist himself or be enlisted against himself.

V.6 Scoundrel (Riverfolk)

V.6.1 Starting Items. Start with , , , .

V.6.2 Special Action: Scorched Earth. Exhaust a and place it in your clearing to remove all enemy pieces there. Pieces cannot be placed in or moved into the clearing with the . (You remain in this clearing. Once you move out, you cannot move back in. The cannot be removed with a “Favor of the...” card because it is not an enemy piece.)

V.7 Adventurer (Vagabond Pack)

V.7.1 Starting Items. Start with , , .

V.7.2 Once per turn while Special Action: Improvise. taking the Quest action, you may treat one unexhausted item as any other item. When you exhaust it to complete the quest, also damage that item.

V.8 Harrier (Vagabond Pack)

V.8.1 Starting Items. Start with , , , .

V.8.2 Special Action: Glide. Exhaust a to move only your Vagabond pawn (not other pieces) to any clearing (even Hostile) on the map, ignoring adjacency and paths, without exhausting any .

V.9 Ronin (Vagabond Pack)

V.9.1 Start with , , , . Starting Items.

V.9.2 Special Action: Swift Strike. You may exhaust a to deal an extra hit in battle (after rolling).

V.10 Cheat (Homeland)

V.10.1 Starting Items. Start with , , , .

V.10.2 Special Action: Con. Once per turn, you may resolve the Quest action by exhausting any two items instead of the listed items. (Score or draw as normal, and draw a new quest.) Then, shuffle the completed quest into the quest deck.

V.11 Gladiator (Homeland)

V.11.1 Starting Items. Start with , , .

V.11.2 Special Action: Duel. You may exhaust any item, damage it, and remove 1 enemy warrior from the Gladiator’s clearing to draw 1 card. Do not go Hostile.

V.12 Jailor (Homeland)

V.12.1 Start with , , . Starting Items.

V.12.2 Special Action: Coerce. Once per turn, you may spend a card matching the Jailor’s clearing to treat it as exhausting any item. After the action that it prompts or adds to, you lose 1 victory point. This action may interrupt actions on your turn. (You may use it to repair, craft, aid, quest, and pay for Riv- erfolk Services.)

Credits

Cole dedicates this game to his younger brothers and

sisters, who never let him forget how to play.

Kyle dedicates this game to his children, who have

always requested cute animal drawings.

ROOT & RIVERFOLK Cole Wehrle (lead design, development, co-lead graphic design), Kyle Ferrin (illustration, co-lead graphic design), Patrick Leder (concept, development), Joshua Yearsley (editing, development), Nick Brachmann (development, graphic design), Clayton Capra (development), Jake Tonding (development), Jaime Willems (graphic design), Kate Unrau (proofreading)

UNDERWORLD Patrick Leder (lead design), Kyle Ferrin (illustration), Nick Brachmann (lead development, lead graphic design), Cole Wehrle (development, graphic design), Joshua Yearsley (editing, development), Kate Unrau (proofreading)

MARAUDER Patrick Leder (co-lead design), Cole Wehrle (co-lead design), Kyle Ferrin (illustration), Nick Brachmann (lead development, design, graphic design), Pati Hyun (lead graphic design, pre-press), Joshua Yearsley (design, development, editing), Rachel Lapidow (proofreading), Kate Unrau (proofreading)

HOMELAND Joshua Yearsley (lead design, lead development, lead editing), Kyle Ferrin (illustration), Pati Hyun (lead graphic design, pre-press), Nick Brachmann (development), Jeff Fraser (usability moderation), Patrick Leder (marsh map design), Matt Martens (development), Guerric Samples (editing), Sam Smith (gorge map design), Alita Robertson (proofreading)

STAFF AT PRINTING Nick Brachmann, Clayton Capra, Ted Caya, Liz Davidson, Claire Donaghue, Kyle Ferrin, Andrea Francisco, Megan Ganey, Pati Hyun, Anne Kinner, Patrick Leder, Matt Martens, Brooke Nelson, Alita Robertson, Caryl Tan, Joshua Yearsley, and Cole Wehrle

PLAYTESTING Grayson Page and his amazing group (inc. Martin, Jared, Richard, Tony, Harvey), Chas Threlkeld, Drew Wehrle, Blake Wehrle, Corey Porter, Kyle Kirk, Matthew Root, Mark von Minden, Davey Janik-Jones, the stalwart players of First Minnesota, Jim Bolland, Melissa Lewis-Gentry and Modern Myths, Jennifer Gutterman and Hampshire College, Matthew Snow, Justin Dowd and the Brass Cat, the Owl & Raven crew, Josh Houser, Brian Peterson, Ethan Zimmerman, Brandi Leder, Heather Brian, Ted Scamp, Jenny and Matt Benusa, Andrew Olson, Joel McGuire, Nathaniel Hicklin, Jacob Resler, Rae Kawalek, Nick Sopkowiak, Aaron Greatorex-Voith, Nicole Szajner, and the Brooklyn Game Lab (Robert Hewitt, Jack DeWald, Joseph Esbenshade, Nahvid Etedali, David Kanof, Marceline Leiman, Jill Pullara), Dāvis Dālmanis, Luke Bridwell, Justin Keenan, Bryan Vogel, Nick “Nev” Burton, Doug Radcliffe, Jeremy Liles, Kovács Botond, Mark Overstreet, Hung Nguyen, Luke McNally, Joshua Clark Orkin, Guerric Samples, Hunter C Fyffe, Steve Owen, Jon Mott, Sam De Roest, Sarah Shirley, Michela Garber, Patrick Flores Velarde, Lili Chin, Christina Berkley, Sebastian Apel,

Opie’s Funeral, Brandon Axe, Brandon Payero, Grzegorz Mostowski, Aga Halot, Meryn, Jonathan Mui, Nitrorev, Brian Williams (BW), Walter Ecke, Lous St-Pierre, Cole Johnson, Indiana Sprig, Seth Adkins, MrMirz, T. Saganson, Brian Mackus, Jeremy Liles, Ray Covarrubias, David Constantino, Bryan Denq, Francis Snyder, Christopher Denq, Nadav Cohen, AJ (aelisheneithlon), Vincent Fiocco, coyote, Dustin Saxton, turmoilbyrd, KingLuigiNL, Wyatt Paulson, Doug Radcliffe, Colin Moran, Daniel Hallinan, Nick Burton, Thew Curtis, Luke Bentz, Todd Berman, Tin (The Foil), Chloe Monaghan, Nathan Mathabane, Isaac Kaufmann, Desirée Clark, Simon Eggenschwiler, Stuart Hernandez, Igor Díaz Sabatés, Donovan Velociraptor, Tonke Groot, Showan Alwan, Mottel Zirkind, and many others.

Index

Ambush cards, 2.1.2

• in battle, 4.3.1

Battle, 4.3

• ambushing in, 4.3.1

• defenseless rule for, 4.3.5.II

• ending early, 4.3.1.II

Bots, A.3

Cards

• ambush, 2.1.2

• birds are wild rule of, 2.1.1

• dominance, 2.1.3

• drawing and discarding, 2.1

• giving to other players, 1.3.2

• suits of, 2.1

Clearings

• adjacency of, 2.2.1

• homeland, A.8.3.I–III

• on lake map, M.3.3

• slots in, 2.2.3

• suits of, 2.2.2

• ruins in, 2.2.4

Craft, 4.1

• cost of, 4.1.1

• scoring points with, 3.2.2

• three-color question marks in, 4.1.1

Decks, A.2

Defenseless rule, 4.3.5.II

Dominance cards, 2.1.3

• activating, 3.3.1

• discarding and spending, 3.3.3

• hand limit and, 3.3.2

• taking available, 3.3.4

• winning with, 3.3.1.I–II

Faction

• drafting in advanced setup, A.8

• pieces, 1.5.2

• standard setup, 5.1.1, 5.1.7

Ferry piece, M.3.5

Forests, 2.4

• on lake map, M.3.4

• on mountain map, M.4.5

Glossary, Appendix G

Hirelings

• rules for, Appendix H

• setup for, A.6

Hits

• dealing, 4.3.6

• defenseless rule for, 4.3.5.II

• extra, 4.3.5.I

• maximum rolled, 4.3.3.I

• rolling, 4.3.3

• taking, 4.3.6

Homelands, A.8.3.I–III

Information, 1.2

Lake, M.3.2

Landmarks

• rules for, Appendix L

• setup for, A.5

Maps

• rules for, Appendix M

• setup for, A.1

Move, 4.2

• rule is needed for, 4.2.1

• same piece multiple times, 4.2.2

• using the Ferry, M.3.5

Negotiation, 1.3

Pass, The, M.4.4

Paths, 2.2

• on mountain map, M.4.2–M.4.3

Persistent effects, 4.1.3

• no duplicates of, 4.1.4

Pieces

• limits of, 1.5.1

• manipulating, 1.5.4

• ownership of, 1.5.3

Reach, 5.2

Rivers, 2.3

• on lake map, M.3.2

• on winter map, M.2.1

Rule, 2.5

• no rule on tie, 2.5

Rules conflicts, 1.1

Setup

• advanced, Appendix A

• standard, 5.1

Scoring

• by crafting, 3.2.2

• by removing enemy buildings and tokens, 3.2.1

Terminology, Appendix G

Timing

• game structure and, 1.4.1

• interrupts and, 1.4.2

• simultaneous things and, 1.1.3

Tower piece, M.4.4

Winning

• by dominance, 3.3

• by victory points, 3.1

• simultaneously, 3.1