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Horse of the Apocalypse RootJam 2025's itch.io pageResults
| Criteria | Rank | Score* | Raw Score |
| Use of This Year's Theme | #5 | 3.905 | 3.905 |
| Clarity of Rules/Mechanics | #11 | 3.429 | 3.429 |
| Creativity/Uniqueness | #14 | 3.857 | 3.857 |
Ranked from 21 ratings. Score is adjusted from raw score by the median number of ratings per game in the jam.
Includes Law of Root?
No
Includes PnP?
Yes
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Comments
Your artwork is so fantastic! I'm sure it's been said tons of times, but even the little skeleton warrior in the dawn of the dead box is fantastic. It's little details like this that makes a faction feel unique, complete, and fun!
Laying warriors down to signify that they're infected is very easy to follow and a great indicator of their state! Too bad this won't work on the VB lol, but that lil gremlin is always causing problems and def is not an issue I would even worry about.
Corrupted items is a really cool ability, and the wording you've used makes it really clear! It's especially valuable considering the goal of your faction. I feel more mechanics should you with the core rules of root in an intuitive way like this!
I like your balance and scoring mechanism, though I think you've got such a good core storyline and action board here that I feel we can push the way of scoring away from spending cards. Just since spending cards is already an integral part for your faction in birdsong, and I wanna see that crafting ability berry used as well!
Awesome stuff and very creative!
OHHHHH I totally remember your submission from last year too!!! Very happy to see you here again :D
Firstly, love the art (especially the skeleton warriors!) and love the concept. The idea of one powerful warrior overseeing all the chaos is very cool to me.
I'm with Captainbird in that I've read through it a few times but still don't feel totally clear on things. If I'm correct in thinking Lord of the Flies is the only way to get swarms out, then it does seem like it would be tricky to get lots of them out on the board.
You would have 5 cards max to spend on placing swarms, but only those that matched the Pale Horse's clearing? Is that correct? And you would also want to save some of those cards for scoring in Evening, but again, it depends on if you have cards that match your multiple swarm clearings or not. If correct, I feel like I'd want maybe another way (or an easier way) to get those swarms on the board and really start swarming!
Also, how likely do you see Dawn of the Dead being? It seems like a lot needs to go right to activate it - but I suppose doubling your actions is a big reward for getting there.
Finally, is there any purpose to the two horse squares next to the VP marker?
Sorry for the ramble and all the questions - relatively new Root player here and first Root Jam - it's been really exciting to see all this creativity and inspiration across the community.
Also, love the Infected Warriors, not only because my faction has them too. I really like the idea of laying down warriors to indicate their state changing. It seems like a really clear and simple way to show a change.
Hi! Thanks for the feedback - in playtesting, I found that you can get a lot of swarms out fast and warriors, protect them and use them to score or to eventually get Dawn of the Dead going. There was a generally good card economy going early as players don't want to lose warriors, and can give you a card to then battle out the swarms. Maybe it should be play any card to get a swarm and a warrior out, but that tweak sent them over the top in terms of power! So tricky to balance.
As the game wears on with the faction, then the Horse tends to be checked, but was in a strong position unless removed. Remove him early and he pops up wherever he likes.
Yeah i really enjoyed the idea of laying warriors down as they become infected - and players giving you a card or a point is kind of supposed to be the woodland helping them to recover. The faction mix obviously has a lot to do with how they play and its hard to balance in such a short development time.
The two square horse markers are the Vagabond relationship markers.
Of course, balancing is a nightmare and will only come through more play testing than is realistically possible with a fan faction, regardless of the timescale.
Glad to hear you found it easier to get swarming than I'd assumed.
And good call on the relationship markers - you thought of everything!
Big fan of a cool necromancer pale horse. Rules seem a little unclear, or perhaps I'm just reading them wrong. It seems really hard to get swarms out. Like the concept a lot though
I love this and the art is so good! When you score do you have to spend a card for each clearing with 2 or more swarms? Or can you choose to only score one clearing if you prefer? I'm guessing it's the latter.
I really like the concept of infecting warriors but giving the owner a turn to save them if they can. Very creative!
You got it- you can choose what clearings to score. .