T HE L AW OF

BOTICS

Second Printing (June 16, 2020)

1
 1. Changes to the Law 2.4 Action Order
If a bot would take multiple actions with different
Games with bots follow the rules given in the Law of targets that might produce different results based on
Root (Sections 1–4), except for the following changes. the order of those actions, the bot takes them in order
of highest to lowest target priority. When moving,
1.1 Crafting assess the priority order of the origin clearings (not the
1.1.1 Cost. Bots craft items without activating crafting destinations).
pieces. (The item must still be in the supply to craft.) 2.5 “Such a...”
1.1.2 Items. Whenever a bot crafts an item, it ignores The rules often use the term such a clearing. This
the listed victory points and instead scores only term means “the clearing that follows all the crite-
one victory point. ria for targeting a clearing previously listed by this
1.1.3 Persistent Effects. Bots cannot craft cards with action.” The rules also use the terms such clearings,
persistent effects. such a player, and such players to similar effect.

1.2 Battling 2.6 “Humans” and “Bots”

The term player includes both human players and bot
1.2.1 Taking Hits. When taking hits, a bot removes all players, which are respectively referred to as humans
its tokens from the clearing of battle before re- and bots.
moving any of its buildings there. If it has multi-
ple types of buildings that it could remove there, 2.7 Order Cards
it chooses which to remove at random. On its turn, a bot draws and reveals a card, called the
order card, to determine some actions it takes. The
1.3 Dominance Cards term ordered means “matching the suit of the current
Bots cannot play a dominance card to change their order card.”
victory condition.
2.8 Abilities
2. New Rules Every bot has the following two abilities.
Poor Manual Dexterity. The bots have no hand
2.1 Clearing Target Priority 2.8.1

of cards. Bots cannot discard cards. If a human

If a bot must choose among clearings to target with an
would take a card from a bot, that human draws
action, it follows all of the rules listed by its action. If
a card instead. If a human would give a card to a
it cannot target a clearing based on those rules, it tar-
bot, discard that card, and that bot scores 1 victo-
gets the clearing of highest priority, as shown by the
ry point.
priority markers placed on the map, from among the
clearings it would have targeted based on those rules. 2.8.2 Hates Surprises. Ambush cards cannot be played
The clearing of highest priority is marked “1,” and the against bots. (The Automated Alliance does not list this
clearing of lowest priority is marked “12.” ability because they never initiate battles.)

2.2 Faction Target Priority

If a bot must choose among factions to target with an
action, it follows all rules listed by its action. If it can-

Fall
not target a faction based on those rules, it targets the
faction with the highest setup priority, as follows from
highest to lowest: Marquise de Cat, Eyrie Dynasties,
Woodland Alliance, Vagabond, Vagabond (Riverfolk
Expansion), Lizard Cult, Riverfolk Company, Under-
ground Duchy, Corvid Conspiracy.
1 5
2.3 Target Legality 10 2
A bot can only target a prompted clearing or faction
if the rules allow it. If a bot cannot target a prompted 9
clearing or faction, it will attempt to target anoth-
er clearing or faction tied in target priority; if it has 11 6
attempted to target all such clearings, it will attempt to
target the clearing or faction next in the order of target
12
priority. (For example, if a bot is prompted to battle in the
clearing with the most enemy warriors, but it has no warriors
in that clearing, it will attempt to battle in another clearing 4 7
with the most enemy warriors. If it has attempted to battle in
every such clearing, it will attempt to battle in the clearing 8 3
with the second most enemy warriors. This continues until it
2 battles or it has attempted to battle in every clearing.)
3. Setup with Bots
Follow the variant setup (C3) and standard setup (5.1) Fully Cooperative Play
in the Law of Root. If you want to play against the bots as a team, remove all
four dominance cards during setup, and use the following
3.1 Place Priority Markers rules in play.
After choosing the map, place a priority marker in
To win, the humans must each score 30 victory points
each clearing as shown in the matching chart below. before any bot scores 30 victory points. Bots do not treat
bot pieces as enemy pieces when targeting a clearing to act
3.2 “5.1.1 Step 1: Assign Factions and in, and do not target each other in battle. (However, a bot
Starting Player” might still remove bot pieces as collateral damage with effects such
as revolts, etc.) The humans still treat each other as enemies
During this step of standard setup, you may replace (so they can remove buildings and tokens for points, etc.).
any number of factions with the matching bot factions.
If you need a leg up on the bots and feel adventurous,
3.3 Choose Difficulty and Traits you might try treating all the humans’ pieces as on the
After step 1 and before step 2 of standard setup, choose same “team” in various ways, such combining them when
a difficulty and traits for each bot, as follows. determining who rules clearings. When doing this, you’ll
need to make judgment calls about certain interactions
3.3.1 Difficulty. Choose a difficulty of easy, default, (e.g., can the Lizard Cult convert a friendly Eyrie warrior using
challenging, or nightmare. If you choose a diffi- a conspiracy?). There are many such interactions in Root,
culty other than default, place the matching dif- and we’d encourage you to err on the side of challenge.

Fall
ficulty card face up near the bot’s faction board. Winter
3.3.2 Fall
Traits. Each bot has four trait cards, which mod- Winter
ify its rules and generally increase its difficulty.
1 5 1 2
1 5 5 6
Choose zero to four trait cards and place them
1 5
face up near the bot’s faction board. 2
10
3.4 “5.1.3 Step 3: Draw Starting 2 6
Hands” 10 2
9
9with one or two humans, remove all
Modify this step of standard setup as follows: “If
10
11(Do not6include 10 11 11 12 12 7
you are playing
four dominance cards from the deck.
12
the spy cards from the 11
Riverfolk Expansion.) 6
Shuffle the 7
deck. Each human draws
cards.)”
12 three cards. (Bots do not draw

4 7Clearing 4 8
12
4 8 1 7
Priority3
8 Markers 3
4 9
9
8 3
3

Lake Mountain
Lake Mountain
2 7 4 1 5 2
2 7 6 4 1 5 2
6
9
8 10
10 11 8 910 10
8 11 5 5 8 6
12 6
12 12 11 11
3 12 4
3 1 4
9 1 7 3
9 7 3
3
 4. Mechanical Marquise 2.0
rabbit card, or a recruiter if it is a mouse card. (The
order card determines the type of building placed, not
the clearing where it is placed.)
4.1 Overview 4.5.4 Move. Move all but three of your warriors from
This is the simplest of the bots and can be used to
each ordered clearing to the adjacent clearing
fill out the player count in dozens of configurations.
with the most enemy pieces.
Though this bot is straightforward, don’t get compla-
cent. At least one player will need to keep it in check! 4.5.5 Expand. If you did not place a building this turn
and have five or fewer buildings on the map, dis-
4.2 Faction Rules and Abilities card the current order card, draw and reveal a new
4.2.1 The Keep. Only the Marquise can place pieces order card (but do not craft its item), and return to
in the clearing with the keep token. (Pieces may the start of Daylight.
be moved into this clearing.) If the keep token is re-
4.6 Evening
moved, remove it from the game permanently.
Your Evening has two steps in the following order.
4.3 Faction Setup 4.6.1 Score. Score victory points listed on the right-
4.3.1 Step 1: Gather Warriors. Form a supply of 25 most empty space on your ordered Buildings
warriors near you. track. If the order card is a bird card, use the track
that would score the most victory points. (Unlike
4.3.2 Step 2: Place Keep. Place the keep token in a ran- the Marquise de Cat, you do not score victory points for
dom corner clearing. placing buildings.)
4.3.3 Step 3: Garrison. Place a warrior in each clearing 4.6.2 Discard Order. Discard the current order card.
except the clearing in the diagonally opposite cor-
ner from the clearing with the keep token. Place 4.7 Escalated Daylight
an extra warrior in the clearing with the keep to- If the order card is a bird card, resolve the following
ken. steps instead of Daylight (4.5), and then continue to
4.3.4 Step 4: Place Starting Buildings. Randomly place Evening (4.6).
1 sawmill, 1 workshop, and 1 recruiter among the 4.7.1 Battle. Initiate a battle in each clearing. The de-
clearing with the keep token and those clearings fender is the player with the most pieces in the
adjacent with up to one building in each clearing. clearing of battle.
4.3.5 Step 5: Fill Buildings Tracks. Place your remain- I First Tie for Target Player. Such a player with
ing 5 sawmills, 5 workshops, and 5 recruiters the most victory points.
on your matching Buildings tracks, filling every
4.7.2 Recruit. Place two warriors each in the two clear-
space except the leftmost space of each track.
ings you rule of lowest priority. If you only rule
4.4 Birdsong one clearing, place all four warriors there.
Your Birdsong has two steps in the following order. 4.7.3 Build. Place a building of the type with the most
4.4.1 Reveal Order. Draw and reveal an order card. pieces on the map in the clearing you rule with the
most Marquise warriors. If there is a tie between
4.4.2 Craft Item. If the order card shows an available sawmills and any other types, place a sawmill. If
item, craft it. there is a tie between workshops and recruiters
but not sawmills, place a recruiter.
4.5 Daylight
Your Daylight has five steps in the following order. If 4.7.4 Move. Move all but three of your warriors from
the order card is a bird card, resolve Escalated Day- each clearing to the adjacent clearing with the
light (4.7) instead of this section. most enemy pieces. Then battle in each clearing
you moved into.
4.5.1 Battle. Initiate a battle in each ordered clearing.
The defender is the player with the most pieces in
the clearing of battle.
I First Tie for Target Player. Such a player with
the most victory points.
4.5.2 Recruit. Place four warriors among ordered clear-
ings you rule, distributed evenly. If you rule three
such clearings, place the fourth warrior in such a
clearing of highest priority.
4.5.3 Build. Place a building in the clearing you rule
with the most Marquise warriors. Place a sawmill
if the order card is a fox card, a workshop if it is a

4
Marquise Example Turn
The Mechanical Marquise 2.0 takes the first turn of the game.
First, it draws and reveals a card: Root Tea. This is the order
card. Since this card has an item, the bot crafts it and takes
the item from the supply. It doesn’t need to activate, or even
have, any workshops to do this. It scores one victory point,
even though Root Tea lists two.

Then the bot goes to Daylight. The bot would battle but it
cannot—the order card is a fox card, and no fox clearings
have enemy pieces. Next, the bot recruits four warriors, plac-
ing one each in the four fox clearings it rules.

Then the bot builds. Several clearings now have two warriors
in them (1, 12, 8, and 6). Clearing 1’s slots are full so it is
skipped and the bot will build in the clearing with the next
highest priority (6). The order card is a fox card, so it places
a sawmill there.

It doesn’t move because no clearing has more than three

Marquise warriors. Likewise, it does not expand because it
placed a building this turn.

In Evening, the bot scores one victory point—the fox order

card means it scores from sawmills, and it has one sawmill on
the map. Finally, the order card is discarded.

Clearing Priority
Remember, if a bot takes
an action and must choose
between multiple clearings and 1 5
the action’s rule doesn’t list
any other criteria, target the
clearing of highest priority!
10 2

9 11
12 6
Order Card
R

7
4 3

Root Tea
8
en
, +2 discard.
0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30

5
 5. Electric Eyrie
II Move. Move from the clearing you rule whose
suit matches this column’s suit and has the
most Eyrie warriors. Move to an adjacent
5.1 Overview clearing with no roost—if all adjacent clearings
The Electric Eyrie will inspire fear in the most stalwart have a roost, move to an adjacent clearing with
of players. Like the Eyrie Dynasties, this bot can ramp a roost, following the tiebreakers below. Leave
up its action potential aggressively. warriors in the origin clearing so there are ex-
actly enough to rule it or equal to the number
5.2 Faction Rules and Abilities of cards in this column, whichever is higher.
5.2.1 Lords of the Forest. The Electric Eyrie rule a a First Tie for Destination Clearing. Such a
clearing when tied for most combined warriors clearing with the fewest enemy pieces.
and buildings there. They do not rule empty clear-
ings. b Second Tie for Destination Clearing. Such
a clearing of lowest priority.
5.3 Faction Setup III Battle. Initiate a battle in a clearing whose suit
5.3.1 Step 1: Gather Warriors. Form a supply of matches this column’s suit. The defender is
20 warriors near you. the player with the most buildings there (even
zero). If this column has more cards than each
5.3.2 Step 2: Place Roost and Starting Warriors. Place
other column, you deal one extra hit.
1 roost and 6 warriors in the corner clearing diag-
onally opposite from the clearing with the keep a First Tie for Target Clearing. Such a clear-
token. If the Marquise is not playing, place those ing with no roost.
pieces in a random corner clearing. b Second Tie for Target Clearing. Such a
5.3.3 Step 3: Tuck Viziers. Tuck your 2 Loyal Vizier clearing with the most defenseless buildings.
cards, showing their suit, into the rightmost De- c Third Tie for Target Clearing. Such a clear-
cree column. ing of lowest priority.
5.3.4 Step 4: Fill Roosts Track. Place your 6 remaining d First Tie for Target Defender. Such a play-
roosts on your Roosts track from right to left, fill- er with the most pieces there.
ing all its spaces except the leftmost.
e Second Tie for Target Defender. Such a
5.4 Birdsong player with the most victory points.
Your Birdsong has four steps in the following order. 5.5.2 Build. Place a roost in a clearing you rule with no
5.4.1 Reveal Order. Draw and reveal an order card. roost. (If multiple, pick the clearing of highest priori-
ty.) If you cannot place a roost for any reason, you
5.4.2 Craft Order. If the order card shows an available
immediately fall into turmoil.
item, craft it.
5.4.3 Add to Decree. Add the order card to the Decree 5.6 Evening
in the column matching the card’s suit. Score the victory points listed on the rightmost empty
space of your Roosts track.
5.4.4 A New Roost. If you have no roosts on the map,
place a roost and four warriors in the ordered 5.7 Turmoil
clearing of highest priority where all those pieces If you are prompted to place a roost but cannot for
can be placed. (Intentionally not listed on board.) any reason, you fall into turmoil, as follows.
5.5 Daylight 5.7.1 Step 1: Humiliate. Lose one victory point per
Your Daylight has two steps in the following order. bird card (including Loyal Viziers) on the Decree.
5.5.1 Resolve the Decree. Recruit for each column in 5.7.2 Step 2: Purge. Discard all of the cards on the De-
the Decree with at least one card from left to right. cree except your Loyal Viziers. Keep your Loyal
Then move in the same way. Then battle in the Viziers in the bird column.
same way. 5.7.3 Step 3: Rest. Go to Evening (as normal).
I Recruit. Place warriors, equal to the number
of cards in this column, in a clearing with a
roost whose suit matches this column’s suit.
a First Tie for Target Clearing. Such a clear-
ing with the most enemy pieces.
b Second Tie for Target Clearing. Such a
clearing with the fewest Eyrie warriors.
c Third Tie for Target Clearing. Such a clear-
ing of lowest priority.
6
Eyrie Example Turn
It’s midway through the game, and it’s the Electric Eyrie’s turn. First, they draw and reveal a card: Root Tea. This
is the order card. Though this card has an item, it cannot be crafted because there are no teapot items left in the
supply on the map. They add the order card to the Decree in the rabbit column.

Then the Eyrie resolve their Decree, starting by recruiting from left to right. The fox column has one card, so they
place one warrior in their only fox clearing with a roost (8). The mouse column has no cards, so the Eyrie skip it
and go to the rabbit column, placing one warrior in their only rabbit clearing with a roost (3). Then they recruit
for the bird column, placing two warriors in the same fox clearing (8), since that clearing has more enemy pieces
than the rabbit clearing (3) and the mouse clearing (7), the other two clearings where they have a roost.

Then, they start moving. First, they move out of the bottom fox clearing (8) to an adjacent clearing with no roost.
The only one with no roost is the corner rabbit clearing (4), so they move three warriors there. The fox column
has one card, so they must leave one warrior behind. The Alliance is a human, so moving into the clearing with
sympathy causes Outrage—the Alliance draws a card and adds it to their Supporters stack. (If the Alliance were a
bot, the move would not cause Outrage.) For the rabbit move, they move from the bottom-right rabbit clearing (3)
because it has the most Eyrie warriors, and they move into the rightmost fox clearing (6) because it has no roost
and fewer enemy pieces than the central mouse clearing (11). Finally, for the bird move, they move from the bot-
tom-left rabbit clearing (4), since it is tied for having the most Eyrie warriors and has higher priority than the fox
clearing (6), and they move into the central fox clearing (12), since it has fewer enemy pieces than the leftmost
mouse clearing (9). They move one warrior, leaving two behind because the bird column has two cards.

Finally, they start battling, first in the only fox clearing where they can battle (8). They battle the Alliance, since
the Alliance and Marquise have no buildings there and the same number of pieces there, but the Alliance has
more victory points. They remove the sympathy token, so the Eyrie score one victory point and cause Outrage
again. Then they battle in the corner rabbit clearing (4) because it is the only rabbit clearing where they can
battle. The Alliance is the only possible defender. They remove the sympathy token, so the Eyrie score one vic-
tory point and cause Outrage once more. For the bird column, they battle in the fox clearing they moved into
(12)—among the clearings they could battle
in, this clearing has no roost, is tied for most 1 5
defenseless buildings (zero defenseless buildings,
tied with clearings 8 and 11), and has the lowest
priority. They roll 0-0, but this column has the 10 2
most cards, so they deal an extra hit, removing
the Marquise warrior.
R

At the end of Daylight, the Eyrie build a roost 11

in the bottom-left corner rabbit clearing (4). 9
In Evening, they score 3 points for their roosts! 12 6 R

Order Card

7
4 3

Root Tea

, +2
en
discard.
8
0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30

Loyal Vizier

Loyal Vizier

The Decree
Root Tea

, +2
en
discard. 7
Electric Eyrie
Lords of the Forest
Root Tea
Poor Manual Dexterity Hates Surprises Crafted Items
You rule any clearings Bots have no hand of cards and cannot discard cards. If Ambush cards
a player would take a card from a bot, they draw a card
where you are
entied in cannot be played Vagabond can give you cards to take these items.
, +2 discard.
instead. If a player would give a card to a bot, they
presence. discard the card and it scores +1 instead. against bots.
 6. Automated Alliance
all enemy pieces from the ordered sympathetic
clearing with the most enemy pieces matching
a base on your faction board, then place the or-
6.1 Overview dered base there.
The Automated Alliance is especially zealous and will
6.4.4 Public Pity. If you did not revolt this turn in Bird-
revolt frequently. Keep in mind their potential targets
song (6.4.3), spread sympathy (6.5.1) based on
so you avoid any unpleasant surprises. Once they do
the number of sympathy tokens on the map, as
establish a foothold, timing is critical. Don’t let them
follows. If you have zero to four, spread sympathy
consolidate their warriors or you’ll be in trouble!
twice; if you have five or more, spread sympathy
6.2 Faction Rules and Abilities once. (You will spread sympathy again in Daylight.)
6.2.1 Sympathy Tokens. The Alliance has 10 sympathy 6.5 Daylight
tokens. Your Daylight has two steps in the following order.
I Placement Limits. A clearing can hold only 6.5.1 Spread Sympathy. Place a sympathy token in an
one sympathy token. ordered unsympathetic clearing with the fewest
II Terms. A sympathetic clearing is one with a enemy warriors adjacent to any sympathetic clear-
sympathy token. An unsympathetic clearing ing. Score the victory points listed on the space
is one without a sympathy token. revealed on your faction board (remembering Mar-
tial Law).
6.2.2 Automated Ambush. In battle as defender with at
least one Alliance warrior, the Alliance deals one I No Such Clearings. If there are no such clear-
extra hit. ings to target, place a sympathy token in the
clearing with the fewest enemy pieces.
6.2.3 Automated Outrage. Whenever a human re-
moves a sympathy token or moves any warriors II Cannot Spread. If you cannot place a sympa-
into a sympathetic clearing, that player must dis- thy token (because your Sympathy track is empty,
card a matching card. If they cannot, the Alliance or because there is no clearing where you could place
scores one victory point. (This does not trigger Poor a sympathy token), score 5 victory points.
Manual Dexterity.) 6.5.2 Surprise Revolt. If the order card is a bird card,
6.2.4 Crackdown. Whenever an Alliance base is re- remove all enemy pieces from the sympathetic
moved, remove all sympathy tokens from clear- clearing with the most enemy pieces matching a
ings matching the suit of the base removed. base on your faction board, then place the match-
ing base there. (If multiple, revolt in the clearing of
6.2.5 Martial Law. If the Alliance places a sympathy highest priority.)
token in a clearing with three or more warriors
owned by the same enemy, the Alliance scores one 6.6 Evening
fewer victory point, to a minimum of zero. Your Evening has three steps in the following order.
6.3 Faction Setup 6.6.1 Organize. In each clearing with a base and three
or more Alliance warriors, remove all Alliance
6.3.1 Step 1: Gather Warriors. Form a supply of 10 warriors from that clearing, and then spread sym-
warriors near you. pathy (6.5.1).
6.3.2 Step 2: Place Bases. Place your 3 bases on the 6.6.2 Recruit. Place one warrior in each clearing with
matching spaces in your Bases box. a base.
6.3.3 Step 3: Fill Sympathy Track. Place your 10 sym- 6.6.3 Discard Order. Discard the current order card.
pathy tokens on your Sympathy track.

6.4 Birdsong
Your Birdsong has four steps in the following order.
6.4.1 Reveal Order. Draw and reveal an order card.
6.4.2 Craft Order. If the order card shows an available
item, craft it.
6.4.3 Revolt. If the order card is not a bird card, remove

What Can Stop a Revolt?

Revolts can fail for three reasons: First, if the
order card is a bird. Second, if the ordered
base is already on the map. Third, if no
sympathetic clearing matches a base that
is not on the map. Because the creatures of
the Woodland like a good uprising, these
8 failures trigger public pity (6.4.4).
 Alliance Example Turn
The Automated Alliance is taking the first turn of the game. First, they draw and reveal a card:
Birdy Bindle. This is the order card. Bird cards are exceptionally powerful for the Alliance,
especially on the first turn, because they trigger both public pity and a surprise revolt!

First, they craft the bag and score one victory point.

Next they check for a revolt. Because the order card is a bird, they do not revolt right
now. They did not revolt, triggering public pity (6.4.4), which lets them spread sym-
pathy. Right now they are unpopular—they have fewer than five sympathy tokens
on the map—so they spread sympathy twice. Because there is no sympathy on the
map, they place a sympathy token in the clearing with the fewest pieces. There are
many clearing with one enemy piece, so it goes in the clearing of highest priori-
ty—in this case, the corner mouse clearing (2). For their second sympathy, they
only consider clearings adjacent to existing sympathy tokens. All three of these
clearings match the order card, since it is wild, so sympathy spreads to the
clearing of higher priority—the rabbit clearing (5). They score a point!

In Daylight, the Alliance once again spreads sympathy, this time into the fox
clearing below the corner (6). While the corner fox clearing (1) has higher
priority, that action is not legal (2.3) since this clearing has the keep token. Loyal Vizier

This scores another point.

The Decree
Finally, because the card was a bird, there is a surprise revolt (6.5.2) in
Electric Eyrie
Crafted Items
the clearing with the most enemy pieces (5). The Alliance removes
Lords of the Forest Poor Manual Dexterity Hates Surprises
You rule any clearings Bots have no hand of cards and cannot discard cards. If Ambush cards
a player would take a card from a bot, they draw a card
where you are tied in cannot be played Vagabond can give you cards to take these items.
instead. If a player would give a card to a bot, they
presence. discard the card and it scores +1 instead. against bots.

Birdsong the Marquise warrior and workshop there, scoring a victory

Roosts

1 st

point, and then places their rabbit base there.

Reveal the top card of the deck as the order card
2 nd Cra the order card for +1 if it shows an available item. +0 +1 +2 +3 +4 +5 +6
3 rd Add the order card to the matching Decree column.

Daylight Turmoil
If you cannot place a roost…
1st
In Evening, 1 the Alliance places a
Resolve the Decree from le column to right as follows.
st Humiliate: Lose one victory point per
Recruit Place warriors, equal to the number of cards in the column, in a
clearing with a roost matching the order card.
bird card (including Viziers) on Decree.

1
2
Place in such a clearing with most enemy pieces, then fewest Eyrie warriors.
nd Purge: Discard Decree, except Viziers.

warrior in the clearing with their

Move from the highest priority clearing you rule matching the order card.

3
Move to adjacent clearing with any open slots and no roost. Leave enough
rd Rest: Go to Evening.

5
warriors in the origin clearing to rule it, or leave warriors equal to the
number of cards in the current column, whichever is higher.
Move to such a clearing with fewest warriors of a given enemy, then lowest priority.

Battle in the clearing matching the order card. If the column of this card

base (5).
has more cards than any other column, you deal an extra hit.
Battle in such a clearing with no roost, then most defenseless buildings and tokens of the
same player, then lowest priority.

2nd no
Build Place a roost in the clearing you rule of highest priority with
roost. If there is no such clearing on the map, you fall into turmoil.

Evening
Score the
In total, the Alliance scored four
listed on the rightmost empty space on the Roosts track. 2
10
VP

points this turn—one for crafting

the item, one for removing the
workshop, and two for placing R

their second and third sympathy

tokens.
9 11
12 6
Order Card
R

7
4 3

Birdy Bindle
8
en
, +1 discard.
0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30

9
 7. Vagabot
7.3.4 Step 4: Populate Ruins. Place any 1 item marked
“R” beneath each ruin on the map.
Step 5: Take Starting Items. Take any 4 items
7.1 Overview
7.3.5

marked “S” and place them in your Satchel. (The

The Vagabot makes for a capricious friend or foe. Like
Tinker starts with 3 items instead of 4 items.)
a human player, he will reward those who craft items.
But be careful, he can make for a dangerous enemy 7.4 Birdsong
once he gets enough items to boost his maximum hits. Your Birdsong has three steps in the following order.
7.2 Faction Rules and Abilities 7.4.1 Reveal Order. Draw and reveal an order card.
7.2.1 Lone Wanderer. The Vagabot pawn is not a war- 7.4.2 Craft Order. If the order card shows an available
rior (so he cannot rule a clearing or stop another player item, craft it.
from ruling one). The Vagabot pawn cannot be re- 7.4.3 Slip. If you have two or fewer undamaged items,
moved from the map. move into a random adjacent forest, then skip
I Full Removal. Whenever an enemy player uses Daylight and begin Evening.
an effect that says it removes all enemy pieces
from a clearing (such as Alliance revolts, Favor of 7.5 Daylight
the Mice cards, Conspiracy bombs) with the Vaga- The current order card determines the sequence of
bot, he damages three items. actions that you will take this turn, as follows. Often,
you will be prompted to take an action in the nearest
7.2.2 Nimble. The Vagabot can move regardless of who clearing. If you can take the action without moving,
rules his origin or destination clearing (Law of remain in your current clearing. If you cannot, move
Root, 4.2.1). to a clearing where you can take the action, exhausting
7.2.3 Items. To take actions, the Vagabot must exhaust one item per move, in the way that exhausts the fewest
items. Unlike the Vagabond, the Vagabot treats all items. You move even if you do not have enough unex-
items as identical (for example, there is no difference hausted items to take the action after moving.
between H and T). Items on the Vagabot’s faction I Bird: Explore, Quest, Aid, Battle
board can be face up or face down. He exhausts
undamaged items, flipping them face down, to II Fox: Explore, Battle, Special
take many actions. When gained, all items are III Rabbit: Battle, Repair, Special
placed face up in his Satchel. IV Mouse: Quest, Aid, Battle, Repair
7.2.4 Battle Track. The Vagabot’s maximum rolled hits 7.5.1 Explore. Move to the nearest ruin. Then, exhaust
(Law of Root, 4.3.2.I) in battle begins at one. (The one item to take one random item under the ruin
Vagabot does not count S toward this.) While the in your clearing, reveal it, and place it face up in
Vagabot has at least six, nine, and twelve undam- your Satchel. If you remove the last item from the
aged items, one, two, or three items, exhausted ruin, remove the ruin. (Do not score victory points
before unexhausted, are placed on the spaces of for exploring.)
the Vagabot’s Battle Track from left to right. The
sixth and ninth items each increase his maximum 7.5.2 Quest. Move to the nearest clearing matching
rolled hits by one, and the twelfth item makes him the current quest. Then, exhaust two items to
deal one extra hit as attacker in battle. Items on complete the quest. (Ignore the listed item types on
the Battle Track cannot be exhausted, but they the card.) Discard the quest and score one victory
can be damaged. point. (Ignore the text effect of the card.) Then, draw
a new quest and place it face up near you.
7.2.5 Taking Hits. When the Vagabot takes hits, he
damages exhausted items or, if he has no exhaust- 7.5.3 Aid. Target the player in your clearing with at least
ed items, unexhausted items. (Damaging items may one piece there, at least one item in their Crafted
move items from its Battle Track to its Satchel.) Items box, and the fewest victory points of such
players there. Exhaust as many items as possible
7.3 Faction Setup up to the number of items in their Crafted Items
7.3.1 Step 1: Choose Character. Pick a character card box. Take that many items from the target player
and place it in your Character Card slot. (These are and score that many victory points, then the tar-
different from the character cards for the Vagabond.) get player draws that many cards. (You can aid oth-
er bots. Because of their Poor Manual Dexterity, aided
7.3.2 Step 2: Place Pawn. Place your Vagabot pawn in bots simply score one victory point.)
the forest adjacent to the most clearings. If there
are multiple such forests, decide randomly among 7.5.4 Battle. Move to the nearest clearing with at least
those. one piece of the player with the most victory
points. Then, exhaust one item to initiate a bat-
7.3.3 Step 3: Get Quests. Shuffle the quest deck, draw tle against that player. If any pieces of that player
1 quest card, and place it face up near you. This remain, exhaust two items and battle again, re-
quest can only be completed by the bot. peating this until you do not have enough items
10
 to exhaust. Score one victory point per enemy
warrior you remove. (Do not score this if you are the Credits
defender. You still score points for removing tokens and
buildings.) Bot Design by Benjamin Schmauss.
I First Tie for Destination Clearing. Such a Illustrations by Kyle Ferrin.
clearing where the target defender has the
most buildings and tokens. Editing by Joshua Yearsley.
II Second Tie for Destination Clearing. Such a
clearing where the target defender has the few- Development by Marshall Britt, Alex Werner, Nick
est warriors. Brachmann, and Cole Wehrle.
7.5.5 Repair. If you have at least one damaged item, Graphic Design by Nick Brachmann.
exhaust one item to repair one damaged item. (Do
not flip it face up if it is face down.) Rulebook Layout by Cole Wehrle.
7.5.6 Special. Exhaust one item to take the action listed
on your character card. If the special action listed
on your character card would have no effect or is
impossible, skip this action.

7.6 Evening
Your Evening has three steps in the following order.
7.6.1 Refresh. If you have at least one damaged item,
refresh four undamaged items. If you have no
damaged items, refresh six undamaged items in-
stead.
7.6.2 Repair. If you are in a forest, repair all items. If
you are not in a forest, repair one item. Repair un-
exhausted items before exhausted items.
7.6.3 Discard Order. Discard the current order card.

7.7 Vagabot Character Reference

7.7.1 Thief (Easy). Take a random card from the enemy
in your clearing with the most victory points. On
a tie, take it from such an enemy with the most
pieces there.
7.7.2 Tinker (Moderate). Search the discard pile for
the topmost card with an available item and craft
it. (Remember to only score one point.) You start with
one fewer item.
7.7.3 Ranger (Difficult). If you have three or more
damaged items, slip into a random ad-
jacent forest.

An example
turn for the
Vagabot is on the
back cover of this
rulebook.
11
 Vagabot Example Turn
After a few rounds of play, it’s the Vagabot’s turn. At this point he has six items. Remember, all items for this bot are
treated as identical, so it doesn’t matter if one happens to be a boot or a sword. For clarity, the example illustration
does not show items being exhausted as the Vagabot takes actions.

The order card is a bird. The Vagabot will craft its item. Normally the item would go into the Satchel, but, because
this is the Vagabot’s sixth item, it is placed on the leftmost place on the Battle Track. This item cannot be exhausted
but will increase the bot’s maximum hits to two. Finally, as the Vagabot has plenty of undamaged items, he won’t
need to slip. He scores one point for crafting the item.

Now it’s time for Daylight. The order card is a bird so the bot will take the following actions: Explore, Quest, Aid, and
Battle. Each time an action is taken, the Vagabot must exhaust at least one item. The Vagabot will continue taking
actions until it takes all four actions or has exhausted all of its items.

First, he explores the nearest ruin. This requires that he move to the fox clearing (11) as it is the nearest clearing with
a ruin. He exhausts a second item to explore the ruin, taking the sword beneath it. This is his seventh item, so it is
placed in his Satchel. He has four items left.

Next, he quests. He exhausts an item to move south to the mouse clearing (7), and then exhaust two more items. He
scores one point. He has one unexhausted item left.

The third action is aid. The Vagabot exhausts his last item to aid. This clearing contains both the Eyrie and the Mar-
quise. Only the Marquise has crafted an item, so only she can be aided. (This is different from the human Vagabond!) The
Vagabot takes an item and scores a point, and the Marquise draws a card. Because he got another item, he can keep
taking actions!

The fourth action is battle. The Vagabot exhausts its final item to battle in its clearing. The Marquise has the most vic-
tory points there, so they are the defender. The roll is a pair of threes. Bad luck! Two Marquise warriors are removed,
netting the Vagabot two points, but the bot must damage three items. This brings the bot down to five undamaged
items, so the sword falls off the Battle Track into the Satchel.
Vehicular
Now it’s time for Evening. Vagabond
Since the bot has at least one damaged items, it only refreshes four items.
Nimble Lone Wanderer Poor Manual Dexterity Hates Surprises
Bots have no hand of cards and cannot discard cards. If a player Ambush cards
You can move regardless Your pawn is not a warrior and
Order Card
would take a card from a bot, they draw a card instead. If a player
of who rules your clearing. cannot be removed from the map. would give a card to a bot, they discard the card and it scores +1 cannot be played
instead. against bots.

Birdsong Daylight Actions

1st Reveal the top card of the deck as order card. Explore Battle Special
1
2nd Cra order card for +1 if it shows an available item. Battle Repair Special 5
3rd toSlip. If you have two or fewer undamaged items, move Quest Aid Battle Repair
adjacent forest of highest priority, then skip Daylight.

10 2
Daylight Explore Quest Aid Battle

Take the actions based on the order card shown in Daylight Combat Track
Actions. Skip an action if you cannot exhaust enough items.
Explore: Move to nearest ruin, exhausting one item per move.
„en, exhaust one item to take an item from under the ruin and Maximum
6th Item 9th Item Item
12th Item
place it in your Satchel. If the ruin has no items le, remove it. rolled hits = 1
R

Quest: Move to the nearest clearing matching your quest,

Arms Trader
9
exhausting one item per move. „en, exhaust any two items. Maximum Maximum 1 Extra Hit

11
Discard the quest, ignoring
en its text, and score +1 . rolled hits = 2 rolled hits = 3 when attacking.
, +2
„en, draw a new quest and place it face up near you.
discard.
Aid: Exhaust one item per item in the Craed Items box of a
12 6
Satchel
player with any pieces in your clearing. If multiple players there R
have items, aid the player with the fewest victory points. Take

Character Card
their items, and score +1 per item you take.

Quest Card
R

Battle: Move to the nearest clearing with any pieces of the enemy Gained items go face up. Repaired items stay on current side. R

with the most victory points, exhausting one item per move.
Exhaust one item to battle that player. Repeat this action, Move the 6th, 9th and 12th gained item to the Combat Track.
exhausting two items per extra battle, as many times as possible.
Quest Card
Score +1 per enemy warrior removed.
If tied for highest victory points, target the player of highest setup priority.

Guard Duty
If target is in multiple clearings at equal distance, move to such clearing with

7
most buildings and tokens, then fewest warriors, then highest priority.
Repair: Exhaust one item to repair one damaged item.
in(Doanot
mouse clearing.
flip it face-up if it is facedown.)
Special: Exhaust one item to take the action listed on your
character card. 4 3
Evening Damaged
1st IfIf you have any damaged items, refresh four undamaged items. Cannot be used until repaired.
you have no damaged items, refresh six undamaged items.

2 If you are not in a forest, repair one item.

nd If you are in a forest, repair all items.
Damaged items cannot be refreshed.
When damaged items are repaired they also refresh.
8
Claim this quest
3rd Discard theand
0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30
current
pickorder card.
a reward.

Draw 2 +1 per Q

Bag craed by the

Marquise.
12