Root Maps and Landmarks: Winter, Lake, Mountain, and More

The Autumn map is where everyone learns Root, and many groups never leave it. Tournaments do. The 2026 World Boardgaming Championships Root event played its first heat on the Autumn map, then used a random map for later rounds. A tournament-ready player needs to read any Woodland at a glance.

This lesson covers the maps in the base game and the expansions, their special rules from the Law, and where landmarks come in.

Reading any map

Before the draft, look for four things:

• Suit clusters. Where do clearings of one suit sit next to each other? Factions that craft or score by suit, and anyone eyeing a dominance card, care about clusters.
• Corners. Many factions set up in corners. Which corners are open, and which pairs of corners are opposite? The bird dominance card asks for opposite corners.
• Slots. Clearings hold one to three building slots. Builders need a run of open slots near home. Ruins block slots until explored.
• Chokepoints. A clearing many paths run through is worth ruling, and worth attacking.

The Autumn map

The front of the base game board. No special rules. Its suits are printed, so they are the same every game, which makes it the map where experience pays most. Under Advanced Setup, only variant maps get random suit markers, so the Autumn map keeps its printed suits.

The Winter map

The back of the base game board. Under the Law, the river divides forests as if it were a path, which changes where the Vagabond can slip. Its clearings have no fixed suits: you shuffle the 12 suit markers face down and place one on each clearing, so every game has a new layout. The Learning to Play guide recommends it only for experienced players, and warns that random suits can help or hurt each faction depending on the layout.

The Lake map (Underworld)

A lake sits in the center. It counts as rivers linking every coastal clearing to every other coastal clearing, and it divides forests. The Ferry starts in the corner clearing that is also coastal.

Under the Law, once per turn, when moving from the clearing with the Ferry, you may move to any other coastal clearing, ignoring paths, and the Ferry moves with you. If faction pieces move, their player draws a card. You still must rule the clearing you leave or the one you enter.

The Ferry is fast travel plus a card. Expect fights over whoever rules its clearing.

The Mountain map (Underworld)

Six darker paths start covered by closed path markers. Clearings linked by a closed path are not adjacent. Once per turn in Daylight, a player with pieces in either clearing beside a closed path can spend a card to remove it for good and score 1 point. Removing paths opens the map, sometimes for your rivals.

The central clearing holds the Tower and is called the pass. At the end of a player’s Evening, if they rule the pass, they score 1 point. One point every turn adds up, so the pass draws armies.

The Marsh and Gorge maps (Homeland)

The Homeland expansion adds two more. On the Marsh map, with one to four players, three flooding clearings are covered by flood markers and stop being clearings, leaving only paths through them. With five or more players, the three unsuited clearings hold the Mousehold, Foxburrow, and Rabbittown landmarks instead. On the Gorge map, the dam separates the forests beneath it, while the bridge and the gorge sides do not.

Landmarks

Landmarks are special pieces that sit on the map. Under the Law, they cannot be battled, moved, covered, or removed unless the landmark itself says so, and nobody owns them. Each one’s rules are printed on its own card. Under Advanced Setup, the group may play with one or two: the last player in turn order places the first, and the second-to-last player places the second.

The Landmarks Pack adds landmarks that work on any map, including the Black Market, Elder Treetop, Legendary Forge, and Lost City.

Tournaments tie landmarks to maps. The 2026 WBC event used the Tower on the Mountain map, the Ferry on the Lake map, the Legendary Forge on the Winter map, and the Lost City on the Autumn map, with the Lost City added in the semifinal and final.

Practicing maps

Play one game on each map you might meet, then repeat the one you liked least. If you have the digital edition, it includes several maps and lets you play many games quickly, as the online practice lesson explains.