The Root Endgame: Counting the Race to 30

Root has no last round. The game ends the instant one player reaches 30 points, even in the middle of their turn. That makes the endgame different from most games: there is no final scoring to plan for, only a race, and the race can be counted.

This lesson shows how to read each faction’s speed and when to slow the leader down.

Points per turn, not points

The score track tells you where everyone is. It does not tell you who is winning. A player on 22 who scores 2 a turn is four turns from victory. A player on 18 who scores 5 a turn is three. Train your eye on rates.

A quick way to read each base faction’s next turn:

• Marquise: look at the next space on each of her three building tracks. Those are the points she scores for each building she can place, and the cost of each. Count her wood and the open slots she rules. Each extra action from a bird card can be another building.
• Eyrie: they score the rightmost empty space of their Roosts track every Evening, guaranteed unless roosts fall. Add any roost they can build this turn, since the Evening count comes after Daylight.
• Alliance: each sympathy token scores the space it uncovers, and later tokens score more. Count the supporters they hold and the clearings they could spread into. A revolt adds a point for every enemy building and token it removes. In Evening, Organize places sympathy without supporters.
• Vagabond: look for an aid that completes a step on his Relationships chart, a quest he can complete, and any Hostile faction he can battle for Infamy.

Then add the points anyone can score: 1 for each enemy building or token removed, and the points on any item card they can craft.

Turns-to-30

Divide each player’s points still needed by their realistic points next turn, and round up. The shortest answer is the real leader. Two more checks:

• Turn order. If two players both need two turns, the one who plays first wins. If two players reach 30 at the same moment, the Law gives the win to the tied player closest in clockwise order to the current player, including the current player.
• Mid-turn wins. A player on 28 who removes two of your tokens in battle wins before their turn ends. Points from removing buildings and tokens count the moment they happen.

Hit the engine, not the score

Points scored in Root are never taken away by an attack. What you can take away is the engine that makes future points. This is where the rules reward knowing each faction:

• Eyrie roosts are the best target in the game when the Eyrie lead. A removed roost goes back to the rightmost empty space of its track, so the Eyrie score less every Evening after, and you score a point.
• Marquise buildings are a weaker target. A removed building returns to her track, and when she rebuilds it she scores that space again. Hitting her buildings slows her by forcing her to spend wood and actions, but it does not erase points. Cutting her wood network and the clearings she rules hurts more.
• Alliance sympathy returns to its track when removed, and placing it again scores again. Attacks slow the Alliance mainly by costing them supporters through lost bases, and by making them pay to spread again. Removing a base costs them all matching supporters and half their officers.
• The Vagabond cannot be removed. Damage his items, especially swords and boots, and stop aiding him.

Each of these also scores the attacker 1 point per building or token. Be sure that point does not push someone else into the lead.

Timing the hit

The best turn to attack the leader is the turn before their big turn. Watch for:

• An Eyrie Decree whose Build column can place a new roost this turn, raising their score that Evening and every Evening after.
• A Marquise with wood stockpiled next to an open slot.
• An Alliance with a full supporters stack and a sympathetic clearing crowded with enemy buildings, a revolt waiting to happen.
• A Vagabond one aid from a new relationship step.

If you cannot stop the leader alone, say so. The table talk lesson covers how to ask for help without starting a feud.

Your own sprint

Racing works both ways. Near the end, hold back points you can bank later. A crafted item, a removable token, or a building you can afford next turn are points the table cannot see coming. Crossing from 24 to 30 in one turn gives nobody a chance to respond. Spreading those points over three turns makes you the target three times.

The dominance lesson covers the other way out: if you are stuck in the 20s with a strong board, a dominance card may finish faster than the race.