Root: The Underworld Expansion

Requires base game of Root.

The Great Underground Duchy, an ancient kingdom ascending to the surface.

Like the Marquise de Cat, the Duchy can muster a huge army of warriors and become a formidable military power. But the Duchy makes its home in the Burrow, located deep under the Woodland. To establish a foothold in the forest above, they must dig tunnels, which can appear in any clearing on the map. The other factions will never see it coming! They can’t stay passive in their homeland below—only by building Markets and Citadels in the Woodland can they gain enough allies and warriors to pose a threat.

The Duchy is overseen by a council of ministers, fickle politicians who must be swayed to the task of establishing a presence in the Woodland. To convince them, the Duchy must prove that its mission of conquest is all going to plan, revealing cards from their hand that match clearings they have pieces in. The more ministers they sway, the more actions they get per turn—over time, they will become an unstoppable force. But beware, if any of the Duchy’s buildings are destroyed, there’s a political price to pay—their minister of highest rank will quit, and they’ll discard a card, making it even harder to sway ministers back.

You’ll love the Duchy if…

• You like the Eyrie because of their expanding action set, but you want to play a more fluid card drafting game
• You like the Marquise because of their large army, but you want to strike with concentrated, crushing force
• You like the Alliance because they strike from the shadows, but you want more muscle to back it up

The Corvid Conspiracy, espionage masters and devious plotters.

Criminal syndicate? Machiavellian manipulators? The Corvid Conspiracy is many things, and nothing if not secretive. Like the Alliance, the Corvids are terrifying because you never know their true plans. They operate by hatching plots—raids, bombs, extortion, and snares—which turns the Woodland clearings into minefields, leaving the other factions unsure whether to stay put or run. After all, the bomb is as powerful as an Alliance revolt, destroying everything except the Corvids in its clearing. Stopping an unrevealed plot through military might alone can be unwise, though, as the Corvid agents lurking in the shadows will always draw blood. However, if the Corvids’ plots go ahead unchallenged, the Corvids grow more powerful and notorious.

But the Corvids are only as powerful as their secrets. If the other players can figure out the Corvids’ plots and guess them correctly, they can expose and remove the plots at no cost to themselves. This makes the Corvids easy targets if their plans are too obvious, so they’ll need to be unpredictable and bully the other players into leaving them be. Or perhaps they’ll goad another player into attacking a hidden raid plot, which rallies many more Corvids to the cause. Either way, if their mind games are good enough, the Corvids will snatch victory straight from the hands of their foes.

You’ll love the Corvids if…

• You like the Alliance because of their sneaky play style, and you want more room for outright trickery
• You like the Lizard Cultists because battling them can actually help them, but you want more control over your army
• You like the Vagabond because he’s a thorn in everyone’s side, but you want a force of warriors too