Root: The Homeland Expansion is Shipping! Meet the Frogs, Bats, and Skunks
If you’ve spent any time in the modern board gaming hobby, you already know about Root. Designed by Cole Wehrle and published by Leder Games, Root lures you in with Kyle Ferrin’s overwhelmingly charming, storybook woodland aesthetic—only to trap you in a brutally aggressive, deeply asymmetric game of political dominance and warfare. It’s cute animals doing terrible things to each other, and it is glorious.
For fans of the game, the wait is finally over. The highly anticipated Root: The Homeland Expansion has officially finished production and is currently loading onto boats and shipping out to Kickstarter backers! This expansion marks a triumphant return to the woodland, bringing three entirely new factions, two new maps, and a massive overhaul to the game's core ecosystem.
Here is everything you need to know to get ready for your next game night.
What new factions are in Root: The Homeland Expansion?
The expansion fundamentally changes the political landscape of the woodland by introducing three new challengers: the amphibians (Lilypad Diaspora), the politicians (Twilight Council), and the scoundrels (Knaves of the Deepwood).
How does the Lilypad Diaspora (Frogs) play?
The Lilypad Diaspora represents a displaced people returning to their ancestral home, requiring a careful balance of dual-nature gameplay. At their core, they prefer to be a peaceful, passive presence. By remaining passive, they score victory points efficiently and spread across the board. When pushed by aggressive neighbors, the frogs can pivot into highly militant combatants to defend themselves. Crucially, they introduce a completely new suit to the map and cards. Using special custom frog clearing markers, they can "Coexist" or "Replace" existing clearings, alongside a brand-new set of "frog cards" with special crafting symbols for a unique economic engine.
What are the mechanics of the Twilight Council (Bats)?
Sickened by the enduring conflict, the Twilight Council operates as political manipulators who host "assemblies" to suppress warfare and force political debate. Instead of building massive armies, you emphasize political connections over pure numbers of warriors. They declare powerful edicts that shift enemies' incentives, shut down specific rules in target clearings, and tax other players' cards. If you love playing the meta-game and talking your way into a victory, this is your faction.
Who are the Knaves of the Deepwood (Skunks)?
The Knaves of the Deepwood are a band of miscreants that creatively re-use your existing Vagabond components, meaning they cannot be played in the same game as a traditional Vagabond. In fact, the expansion includes three more unique character cards and meeples that can be used with this faction or as the solo Vagabond. Roaming the board independently, they don't rule clearings. Instead, they raid supply trains, sow chaos, and literally drag enemy warriors into the forests as "hostages" to hold for ransom.
What new maps and components are included?
The Homeland Expansion introduces major geographical overhauls to keep veterans on their toes, alongside new core components and Hirelings.
How does the Gorge Map change Root?
The Gorge Map has a wild geography defined by tough, natural chokepoints. This restricts movement and concentrates warfare into the central clearings, further emphasizing the importance of map position.
Why is the Marsh Map significant?
The Marsh Map features a revolutionary dynamic setup that can easily expand to 12 or more clearings. This finally provides a perfectly scaled map explicitly designed to accommodate massive 5-6 player games without feeling incredibly cramped. To enable this, the expansion includes three new Landmarks—Foxburrow, Mousehold, and Rabbit-town—which can actually be used on any Root map!
What is the Squires & Disciples Deck?
The Squires & Disciples Deck is a full replacement deck for the base game, packed with entirely new abilities and crafting effects. It includes cards inspired by the Marauder and Homeland factions, featuring abilities that depend on your hand composition with a dash of "shenanigans." If you've ever wanted to change when the game ends or how Dominance cards work, this deck allows exactly that.
Who are the new Homeland Hirelings?
Three new hirelings enter the fray: the Freshwater Refugees, the Heartwood Peacemakers, and the neutral Prosperous Farmers (who let you draw cards for farm buildings you rule, and battle with farmer meeples). Each comes with a double-sided tarot card and new meeples to add incredible variety to your lower player-count games.
Must-Have Campaign Add-Ons
If you are diving headfirst into the expansion, you might want to look at the incredibly popular physical add-ons available in the pledge manager:
- Double-Sided Neoprene Mat: A deluxe 3mm-thick Marsh/Gorge playmat.
- Deluxe Frog Clearing Markers: Resin markers designed to stack on top of existing deluxe markers when the Lilypad Diaspora overrides a clearing suit.
- Cardstock Faction Boards: Thinner boards to aid in game storage (saves 15mm of box space!).
- Eyrie Plushie: Because every game group needs Billie the bird watching over their dice rolls.
Get Ready for the Woodland
With The Homeland Expansion finally shipping to backers, game groups everywhere are about to experience the biggest meta-shift Root has seen in years. Whether you are holding hostages as the Skunks, passing laws as the Bats, or defending your ancestral home as the Frogs, the woodland has never been more vibrant (or deadly).
When our tabletop group gets together to play, we always use the Root Automated Setup and Drafting Tool to draft our factions and generate our map configurations. It is an incredible community resource that is already fully updated with the Homeland Expansion content, taking all the logistical friction out of game night.
Between that tool and using Tabletop Time to get everyone's schedules aligned, bringing this massive expansion to the table has never been easier.
Which of the new factions are you most excited to play? Send this post to your tabletop group and start claiming your factions now!