Marquise de Cat: Opening Encyclopedia

Kicking off the Marquise de Cat series with a deep dive into openings for the industrious Cats on the Autumn Map.
00:00 - intro
00:41 - Opening Principles
04:00 - Top Right: Standard
07:23 - Top Right: Going to College
08:35 - Top Right: Double Sawmill
10:38 - Top Right: Double March
13:47 - Top Left: Standard
17:29 - Top Left: Going to College
18:09 - Top Left: Double Sawmill
19:05 - Bottom Left: Standard
22:19 - Bottom Left: Double Sawmill
24:50 - Bottom Right: Standard
25:58 - Bottom Right: Annex
27:01 - Bottom Right: Wall Off
28:48 - Bottom Right: Texas March
**This is not an exhaustive guide. Plenty of other ideas exist out there, and if you have a good one, let me know in the comments!
Leave a comment, like, and subscribe for more intermediate/advanced Root content.
Root is an asymmetric strategy wargame in a cute woodland setting. Play as the Marquise de Cat, Eyrie Dynasties, Woodland Alliance, Vagabond, Lizard Cult, Riverfolk Company, Underground Duchy, or Corvid Conspiracy. Typically a 4-player board game, the simplicity of the mechanics leads to impressively complex positions and the overall balancing leads to nail-biting games. Root was published by Leder Games in 2018, art by Kyle Ferrin.

[@christopherscaramella1928]

"Will never go out of date" - as Marauders Expansion is announced with new setup rules haha. Still a great guide!

[@salt_factory7566]

Love the dark humor of "go to college" avoiding initial recruiters. My obsession over both France and cats has forcefully latched me onto root for the last year. Keep up the good work and I'd love to join this community if possible.

[@waterman121]

Thank you, that's very kind! You can check out more Root content and engage with a great community of players over at the Woodland Warriors discord server: discord.gg/VVchauwDCV

[@salt_factory7566]

Thanks man

[@timothystevano2994]

Finally, a Marquise content!

[@kroomiester]

Just discovered your channel a few days ago and you’ve made my WA game way better! Excited to improve my Cats game

[@waterman121]

Glad to hear it!

[@liammkirby]

This is s such a helpful video. I just got my first win against 3 hard AI using Double Sawmills out of the bottom-left corner (Which, following Waterman's very charming naming convention, I have started calling Tijuana)

[@waterman121]

Love that name!

[@paulmiller6431]

Love this video!! :)

[@SoLove]

Just discovered your channel and have enjoyed the content so far, so now subscribing. And as a great Doctor once said... "Bow ties are cool" :)

[@one2three4our]

If you go after WA, chances are quite high that they will put a sympathy marker in one or sometimes even two of your starting clearings, probably necessitating battle action(s !?) to remove. This impacts the starting actions a lot too.

[@waterman121]

That's true! These openings exist in a sort of pristine state in this video. The rough-and-tumble world of Root will often prevent you from making the most advantageous move for free, so working with some flexibility can be very helpful. My current philosophy on the issue is to develop as much as possible in the early game and be *extremely* critical before taking an action that doesn't help the Cats get online, like battling early sympathy. There are times when it's necessary! Future videos will examine the issue of the Woodland Alliance threatening the Cats in more detail.

[@deanolium]

Yeah turn order is important and you need to be flexible. At the same time the WA needs to bring a credible threat and keep two cards ready to revolt. But it does make these pretty interesting as starting ideas.

[@one2three4our]

Great video. The openings are efficient, but I think should discuss how they will impact the resulting board state. Some will probably lead to the cats being largely between the WA and Eyrie. This is usually bad. As Cats you want them to fight each other, especially as you lack actions to battle!

[@waterman121]

Thank you that's very kind! Yes, these openings are purposefully isolated/removed from the context of a real game to demonstrate the main goals of getting the Cats online. Root can get messy, so it's helpful to know ahead of time what the larger imperatives are. w/r/t the positional statement: I suspect you're referring to starting in the bottom right corner, but I'm curious which opening in particular raised that concern?

[@Unbalanced72]

love it

[@waterman121]

Thank you, hope you find this useful!

[@FancyZling]

Root! Root! Root!

[@thisjust10]

planned to try-out the double sawmill opening but because of the cards in hand I really needed bunny crafting. So I ended up only building one up top and one at the keep turn 1. Then went two recruiters in center and turn three started building bunny workshops which paid off. I won with favor of the rabbits getting me my last point by blowing the opposite roost up (against a medium Ai, Ranger and Eriee on the autumn map)

[@waterman121]

What an exciting finish! It's a good day when the Cats craft a Favor of... card XD

[@foxmitten1443]

is that a bow tie? I love it! Also this is a great resource ^^

[@waterman121]

Thank you! And yeah, I ought to look the part ^_^

[@menoflowicz]

10:38 - what about anti-charismatic double opening, so that you empty all clearings that border Eyrie nest, so Charismatic has to either put 2 cards in move or turmoil?

[@waterman121]

Definitely an option, and a good way to slow the scoring pace of the Charismatic leader. I tend to find that it leaves the Cats with a development deficit, which can be tough to balance in the midgame. It's almost like both the Cats and the Eyrie lose half of turn 1!

[@SamDeRoest232]

Surprised nothing about setting up for Dominance was mentioned, but maybe Waterman is so good with Cats he doesn't need dominance.

[@waterman121]

Dominance is its own whole can of worms!

[@xPsYprx]

Rly good this video, Im loving the game and specially the cats just because they are hard to win with. Dont know if u are still playing root sense this video is old but are u thinking of doing like a full guide on cats

[@waterman121]

Still playing Root, taking a break to finish grad school. What topics would you like to see in a full Cats guide?

[@xPsYprx]

@@waterman121 how to play against a heavy military bord or double insurgent like the W.A and corvid because for some reason they both focus me from turn 1

[@xPsYprx]

@@waterman121 or this same type of video but on the other maps

[@kroomiester]

A lot of these set ups seem very vulnerable to a Ranger Vagabond. Maybe in higher levels of play you don’t see as many rangers, but playing on root online I face about 50% tinkerer 50% ranger.

[@waterman121]

Good point! In Root Digital, I have found that newer players will occasionally use the Ranger's starting item set to ransack the Keep (or a starting sawmill clearing) on turn 1. In my opinion, this is not a good approach for the Ranger, as movement and scoring become an immediate issue, plus it gives the Eyrie too much room to grow. In those situations, if I'm playing the Cats, I will spend the rest of the game relentlessly targeting the Ranger. Point being, ruining the table balance on turn 1 is actually a losing move for the Ranger. In higher-level Root, the Ranger recognizes that the Cats provide valuable policing for the early game (keeping the other factions suppressed), and that a successful Cats midgame will generate a ton of cardboard for a hungry Ranger looking to win the game. But, if the Ranger commits to wrecking the Keep on turn 1 or 2, there's not much you can do about it anyway. Use your best judgment and try and get the Ranger to work *with* you in the opening. Most of the starting setups are flexible when it comes to your first turn development plan, so if you need to respond to a threat by tucking a sawmill away somewhere else, do it! Lastly, if you are concerned that a player will grief the Cats early, don't choose a risky (annex), greedy (double sawmill) or slow (goin' to college, double-march) build. Instead, choose a more flexible "standard"-type opening.

[@UCBirdi]

@21:00 you recommend building the 2nd recruiter in the lower mouse clearing. Is there a particular advantage of this over building the 2nd recruiter in the lower right rabbit clearing? (Which would achieve the same aims of preventing opponents from sweeping around the lower half of the map, and agree with / still be similar to "wall-off" themes mentioned during other parts of the video) I considered the fact that the lower mouse clearing is adjacent to Texas - and they may be easier to co-reinforce each other, but since marquise double moves anyway I think the territory this potentially cedes (and reduces the ability to take a flank opportunity yourself) outweighs the tight defensive structure. Very helpful video anyway, Thank you.

[@waterman121]

This is a great observation! Yes, it is possible to limit access to the lower mouse clearing by building in the bottom right rabbit clearing, and I think it's worth a try. Since the main purpose of that recruiter is to shield Cancun from pressure, building it in the lower right rabbit clearing can accomplish that goal in the short term (especially against a Despot opening). The bottom right corner can absolutely be a powerful staging ground for a punishing Marquise attack along the eastern edge of the map, so a building there can act as bait to draw the Eyrie away from attacking some of your more tender clearings. On balance, I've found it helpful to establish martial law in that lower mouse clearing in order to avoid getting bogged down with sympathy in your sawmill clearing. I also tend to breathe a sigh of relief whenever the Eyrie or the WA commits to the lower rabbit corner, because it's not that tough to defend against. It's much tougher to defend the corner clearing as the Cats if the Eyrie gets set up in the central 3-slot mouse clearing. Last point, when starting in the lower left, Marching from Texas to an adjacent central clearing is a thematic midgame move to expand and secure additional building slots. This is much easier to accomplish when you have troops in that mouse clearing to supplement!

[@Kollider115]

The follow up question is how drastically this changes on the other maps

[@waterman121]

Not to mention in the context of different faction matchups! The principles tend to stay the same, even if the key clearings and map-specific imperatives differ.

[@one2three4our]

The winter map helps the cats because it restricts movement of the WA and VB, especially on the top clearings. The mountains is good for cats as they can often get the mountaintop VPs with their large army.

[@one2three4our]

Can also gain points from clearing paths too

[@xPsYprx]

Do you think as a house rule it would be good to make the keep of cats like the burrow in wich it can’t be destroyed

[@waterman121]

I think that's a fine house rule, but ideally you'd want to protect the Keep if possible, even at the expense other buildings. For a great example of this strategy at work, check out "Clash on the Mountain Map".

[@xPsYprx]

@@waterman121 Ive been thinking of strats with the cats that involves more recruiters instead of sawmills or workshops but its just very hard maybe with recruiters you can do a more solid dominance win late game where you have atleast 5 recruiters

[@arthursimsa9005]

So why do you think starting in the top left is less optimal for a double workshop opening?

[@waterman121]

The double workshop opening has an inherent weakness: you're building up the recruiters more slowly than in the standard approach. The tradeoff is that you're expanding your action/card economy right away. My theory is that having the extra building slot at home offers a bit more security in the midgame while your forces are still building up.

[@arthursimsa9005]

@@waterman121 Sure, but what would be the difference between the two different North starting locations for this opening? What makes the left less optimal than the right?

[@waterman121]

@@arthursimsa9005 Great question! The upper right corner has 2 building slots, whereas the upper left has 1. There are some positional differences, but that's the primary feature that distinguishes them. The main strategic point is that the upper right gives the Marquise a free build in the midgame, helping them keep their VP engine turning after they get edged out of their periphery. I believe what you're getting at is that *the most important factor is early control of Canada* , regardless of which side you choose to place the Keep. There are arguments to be made for both the upper left and right (for example: from the upper left it is more feasible to play for the juicy building slots in Cancun, plus you get access to that left mouse clearing), but in my estimation it is just a little easier to survive the low troop count when you have that extra free build in your pocket.

[@arthursimsa9005]

@@waterman121 Great, thanks!

[@wargamesontoast]

I love the greedy strat, but you gotta pray to Root Jesus that no degenerate vagabond players take that greedy start and turn it into an absolute nightmare situation turn 1 in response