Root (Board Game) - Underground Duchy Quiz

Answer: Yes

The Burrow is a clearing, but with a few extra rules: it can only hold Duchy warriors (no other pieces may enter), it has no suit, and it is always controlled by the Duchy (even when empty). This usually doesn't matter, but a card like Royal Claim, which grants a victory point for each controlled clearing, will include the Burrow in that count.

Answer: Both

Each Duchy building provides a crafting point matching the clearing it is in. The Duchy also craft during Evening, after it has a chance to place new buildings that turn, and after retrieving revealed cards, which makes it a versatile crafting faction.

Answer: Revealing cards that match the suits of clearings with Duchy pieces in them

To sway, the Duchy do not need to rule clearings; just have pieces present in them, which can even be an undefended tunnel token. Because of this requirement, it's common for the Duchy to have single warriors in many clearings so they can easily match any cards in their hand.

It also means that other factions can easily slow down the Duchy by battling away those lone warriors, forcing the Duchy to spend their few actions replacing them, especially in the early game.

Answer: Two moves or two battles

The Brigadier is sometimes affectionately called "Bridgette" by the community. She is a noble (tier 2) minister, meaning it takes three cards to sway her, and players start the game with three cards in hand. The Duchy has a lot of strategy archetypes open to them, but most start with a turn-1 Brigadier sway.

It should be noted that she provides two moves OR two battles (per turn) and does not provide one of each.

Answer: Gaining points for pieces on the board

Lords give the Duchy player three points when swayed. When activated, the Baron of Dirt will grant one victory point for each market on the map, the Earl of Stone will do the same for citadels, and the Duchess of Mud will grant two victory points if all three tunnel tokens are on the board.

The Banker (a noble) will let you discard cards directly for points, and the Mayor (also a noble) will let you copy the action of any other swayed noble or squire.

Answer: 4

Usually move actions have no limit to the number of warriors included, but the Duchy's Dig action is special. Four warriors is still more than the maximum number of hits on the battle dice (three), so they should be plenty to battle down lightly defending clearings.

Note that there is a minimum of one warrior to move when digging, which means if the Burrow is empty, the Dig action cannot be used.

Answer: When revealing a card, the regular build action needs to match the clearing suit, and the Foremole action does not

The Foremole is a versatile card, but usually less useful than the other ministers that can be swayed. If the Duchy want to pursue a building strategy, but are stuck with a hand of cards with non-ideal suits, the Foremole is a way to get around that.

Like many factions, the Duchy also need to rule a clearing before they can build in it.

Answer: When a Duchy building is destroyed

The Law of Root states "Whenever any number of Duchy buildings are removed..." meaning that if a single battle or event (such as a Woodland Alliance revolt) destroys multiple buildings, the Price of Failure is only triggered once. This is a bit different from the Lizard Cult's Fear of the Faithful, which is triggered per building.

Answer: The highest ranked swayed minister is removed and a random card is discarded

The Price of Failure can be devastating because it both removes a minister, and removes one of the Duchy's cards, which are used to sway those ministers.

One strategy is to sway a lord early, because they only provide point generation rather than actions. So losing a lord is not nearly as harsh as losing a noble.

Another strategy is to just never place buildings on the board, so the Price of Failure is never risked. The Duchy can still generate a lot of points by swaying ministers and battling other players, without the need to craft, or the other benefits of the buildings.

Answer: Bird cards are discarded instead of returned

Birds-suited cards are still wild when used during a reveal, but to counter that strength, they are discarded instead of returned during Evening. This applies to both swaying ministers, and placing buildings.