Pair A Dice Games Corner- July 2026

Pair A Dice Games Corner

Root. Its adorable, its complex, its a shop favorite. Its back.

Root is everyone’s favorite heavy war game that tricks you into playing with adorable animals in a gorgeous and well produced game space. And its back with a series of new expansions.
If you’re not familiar with Root, Root is a game that is truly asyncronous. Every player is playing a faction that functions on a deep level fundamentally different than everyone elses. Sometimes you’re the ubiquitious Marquis de Cat trying to rule the entire board, sometimes, you’re playing as a single Vagabond playing crazy personally fulfilling quests, and everywhere in between.
Its complex, it usually takes 2-4 games before you really feel like you understand how everything interacts, it really rewards many repeat plays.
We at Pair a Dice Games received our early copies for crowdfunding (game normally releases in August at GenCon).
First is the Homeland expansion which includes three new factions: The Lilypad Diaspora, The Twilight Council, and the Knaves of the Deepwood.
The Diaspora is a group of Frogs who have been displaced and have made themselves newly at home in the Woodland, which leads to conflict as they find space for themselves. They can add Frog Clearings to the board which add to the existing clearing, which when they become antagonized covers/replaces the existing type of clearing. They even add new frog cards to the deck!
The Twilight Council is a group of bats tired of the war and attempting to impose counsels to stop the fighting from happening. As tensions ramp up, they gain strength in hopes of further de-escalating and imposing peace on the Woodland.
Finally, the Knaves of the Deepwood answers: whats better than a game with two Vagabonds? Three! The Knaves are a group of skunks who are captained by three Vagabonds each with unique abilities, whos goal is to rally the wood, go on merry adventures and revelries, and kidnap other factions pieces and gain points by freeing the Woodland and mocking the powerful.
Additionally there are two new maps in the Homeland Expansion, which we havent seen since the game first arrived, featuring the Marsh and the Gorge with new landmarks and new ways of interacting without adding much complexity.
In addition is a new the new Homeland Hirelings set mean to improve smaller player count games with the flavor of the newer Homeland factions.
Finally a new deck, called Squires and Disciples Deck, which changes the fundamental nature of the cards, like the previous Exiles and Partisans Deck, with new and unique strategies. My favorite allows for you to invoke a Domination victory, while not removing your score marker, effectively allowing a player to maintain two win conditions at once!
Root is an incredible game with a lot of content, which rewards returning to the Woodland over and over again. It may not be for everyone, but Im really glad we have new and unique reasons to return to Root.