Eyes on the Eyrie (Root)

If this sounds delightfully weird to you, you might just...

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It's hard to get your head around a faction in Root that is *not* very action limited typically. That's the usual tension in this game.

They're too much of a tightrope run for me to enjoy playing them, but it's always fun watching someone sweat bullets as they program the decree. Avoiding turmoil completely often ties you in knots, but a nice early turmoil when there's little damage done, and a switch of focus in your new decree can be a really good move.

Yeah, I recognize they are quite powerful and takes a high skill level to play but I just don't enjoy playing them. It's a stressful puzzle rather than a fun one for me. I'm also an inherently conservative game player (why I like the moles) and the Eyrie absolutely rewards pure aggression and stretching your lines.

They've kinda become my default faction.

"We need someone (or two people) to play a board presence faction."
"If no one wants birds I'll take 'em."

I really enjoy the puzzle, despite my dismal first showing. I don't know if anyone else remembers my first post from a Root game, but I lost something like 30-1 in a 2p game because I went into turmoil nearly every other turn. Constructing a robust decree is something I like, and I think you can definitely win if you go into turmoil just once in a game, so sometimes you shouldn't fear it too much if you're actively improving your board presence along the way. Every now and then I'll try to play a double-build decree game, and that really forces you to get out there. You're almost guaranteeing that you'll go into turmoil even if no one messes with you by turn 4, but establishing your infrastructure like that is huge.

I think the Eyrie suits long-term planners in games, but it certainly helps to be experienced with them. This is an old saw for Root by now, since many of us have expressed the feeling that the game works best when all of the players have experience both with their own faction and others, which is a significant time/attention demand. While I don't enjoy the Eyrie as much as I do other factions, I think there's enough room in their design to not have to feel locked in. In my experience, it just takes some anticipation of opponents' moves to not corner yourself. But not everyone enjoys playing that way.

All of that said, Jexik is really, really good at it.

I said back in April when I did the otter one that I'd do more articles, and I kinda hit writers' block/ got distracted by other things for awhile.

I'd like to get back in the swing of writing again, and I'm looking to do the Vagabond next. I think it'd be kind of silly to get exhaustive and talk about each different Vagabond character card, but I do have a general angle for how I want to approach it.

Corvids and Moles will likely be awhile as I've not acquired a physical copy (was looking to get it from the FLGS in March, haha), and have yet to even play as either one in Tabletop Simulator yet, although I have played against them.

It's been a long time since I played any Root but I remember enjoying the Birds, even as a beginner. More than anything I liked that kind of thematic distillation of an establishment ruled by tradition,

I like that about the Eyrie too, and how it's just one way that one faction interacts with that same communal deck. It's cool that other factions like the Woodland Alliance and Lizard Cult care about their cards a lot too, but for different reasons.