Root Eyrie Dynasties Strategy: Build a Decree That Holds

The Eyrie Dynasties are the most rule-bound faction in the base game. Each turn they add cards to their Decree, a growing list of orders, and each turn they must carry out every order on it. Keep every promise and the Eyrie snowball into a huge army. Break one and the dynasty falls into turmoil.

This lesson is about writing a Decree you can keep, and knowing what to do when you cannot.

How do the Eyrie score?

Every Evening, the Eyrie score the points printed on the rightmost empty space of their Roosts track. The more roosts on the map, the more they score, every single turn. In the walkthrough, two roosts score 1 point and three score 2, and the third roost also uncovers an extra card draw.

They score less from crafting. Their Disdain for Trade means a crafted item scores only 1 point, whatever the card says. They still score 1 point per enemy building or token removed.

How does the Decree work?

In Birdsong, if your hand is empty, draw a card. Then you must add one or two cards to the Decree, and only one of them may be a bird. The Decree has four columns: Recruit, Move, Battle, and Build. If you have no roosts on the map, place a roost and three warriors in a clearing with the fewest warriors where they all fit.

In Daylight, you may craft with your roosts first. Then you resolve the Decree from left to right. Every card is one action, in a clearing matching its suit:

• Recruit: place a warrior in a matching clearing with a roost.
• Move: move at least one warrior out of a matching clearing.
• Battle: start a battle in a matching clearing.
• Build: place a roost in a matching clearing you rule that has no roost.

If you cannot fully take any action, for any reason, you fall into turmoil.

What happens in turmoil?

Turmoil runs four steps. Humiliate: lose 1 point for each bird card on the Decree, your two Loyal Viziers included. Purge: discard the Decree, except the Viziers. Depose: set your leader aside and choose a new one from those still face up. Rest: end Daylight and go to Evening.

Two things soften it. You still score your roosts in Evening. And a new leader brings a fresh, short Decree. Some players pick the moment of turmoil on purpose, when the Decree holds few birds and a different leader suits the map better.

Choosing a leader

Each leader sets where your two Viziers start and gives one ability:

Commander and Charismatic suit an aggressive start. Builder suits a hand full of good items. Despot rewards hitting buildings and tokens. If you must choose a leader and none are face up, all four flip face up again.

Birds or suits?

A bird on the Decree is flexible, because birds are wild. A suited card is precise: a fox in Battle means you must find a fox clearing with an enemy to fight, every turn, for the rest of this Decree. The walkthrough sums up the trade: birds make the Decree more flexible, but each one costs a point if you fall into turmoil.

Match suits to where you are. Recruit cards need a roost in a matching clearing, so the walkthrough adds rabbits to Recruit because the Eyrie’s first roost sits in a rabbit clearing. Battle and Build cards need targets and open slots that may disappear. Add those carefully.

Lords of the Forest and your roosts

The Eyrie are Lords of the Forest: they rule a clearing when tied for the most warriors and buildings, as long as they have a piece there. That makes Build and Move easier to satisfy than they look.

Roosts are buildings, so every roost an enemy removes scores them a point and costs you points every Evening after. Protect the roosts that feed your Recruit column first. If you ever lose them all, the new-roost step in Birdsong puts you back on the map, but in a clearing with the fewest warriors, not where you choose.

In two-player games

Against the Marquise, the Learning to Play guide says the Eyrie must grow explosively to keep the Marquise in check. Fast roosts mean fast points and fewer clearings for her wood. Against the Vagabond, the guide adds a warning: build a Decree that can survive his quick strikes, because one removed warrior can leave a Move or Battle order impossible.

The Eyrie show how Root builds a faction’s rules around its character, a theme our piece on theme versus mechanics explores.