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Thanks for the writeup and tasking the time to really sift through the huge amounts of text I've thrown all over these fellas :P

I also wonder about the justice served card! Maybe I even wanna make a nerfed version of that card available as a starting card to get the ball rolling on curating your own deck. But then again maybe it won't matter! Only playtesting will reveal the truth...

Same with if it helps or hinders to have less cards in your deck, my intention was more cards = better since they're more powerful, but we'll see. 

That's for the compliment so much, my favourite part of anyyyy faction is artwork and I'm so happy to be able to share some of mine with these bearcat buddies :)

Wow kudos on being able to playtest so much already! Looking forward to more!

You are kidding, this faction board is just so pleasing to look at! And your theme is sooo sweet, I def wanna help all these canines work together as a team!

Three departments that you need to pivot between is a super awesome design that I haven't seen played around with before. Really glad you've made agency and entanglement an integral part of your factions design itself. Rather than giving them a points engine and putting a method of entanglement on top of it. 

Like I said, so happy to see a faction that prioritizes different forms of aggression. Letting them deal more than the max of 3 rolled hits is also a creative way to let them do that. It definitely takes a lot of buildup to get there so I do think it's pretty balanced. Imagine being able to deal up to 6 hits from the get-go, yikes. 

I love how each blurb for each department seems like it was written by a member OF the department, and each one stresses how THEY are the most important of the departments. You can definitely even see the cracks between their alliances, really a great job of storytelling within the faction itself here. I'd even anticipate a follow up faction to these guys, where in a woodland they've won... They've finally turned on each other. 

Ugh I'm just absolutely in love with this, interacts so much with others and gives opponents SO MUCH to interact with in return. Would love to be involved in a playtest on the future. You've really cooked here. 

Covering a clearing on setup with your own sort of landmark is a super creative idea! And I like how you also find a way to play around with both warriors and card draw of other factions in the game at the same time. Really glad to see another faction other than my Bearcats that add in their own cards to the shared deck for folks to draw. 

I really like how rotbloom is like a chain to the necropolis. A well positioned removal could trigger the removal of many, a cool way to counterplay them that's built in, I dig it!

I also really appreciate the artwork you've created, ties the whole thing together. I really couldn't see this idea being conveyed so effectively without it!

You've also definitely been paying attention when it comes to their balance, and you've given them a way to be entangled and slow others down without even the need for battling specifically. Though that option is there. 

And I just now noticed they have an interactionw tih ruins too! Neat!

Great submission and I super look forward to following along as you continue this faction and with other projects as well!

Temporary control of enemy pieces is a super sweet mechanic that I can't believe hasn't been done yet (outside of mercs). Super creative and I'm glad you found the design space. I think you can push the concept even further though, especially since your action economy with these fellas are a little limited. Maybe something like the infected warrior can bring a spore with them out of the clearing. Helping with your spread and giving a bit more for it to do. 

Death burst is also really fun! I think it's balanced the way you've got it, but I almost want it to trigger when an enemy falls in battle... Rather than removing a separate warrior afterwards. Tho I'm sure the way you have it is more balanced honestly. 

Really easy to follow and I love the concepts you're going for here!

I like how this sounds like a business deal :P

I look forward to your continued patronage!

You've chosen two fantastic objectives to go into this faction with. Swapping daylight actions and having a worker placement aspect are both novel and interesting mechanics to bring to the world of root. 

Supporting those mechanics with a new recruiting mechanism is also so fun, it leads to such an interesting turn ahead of you with great decisions making. Though I will say, if you DONT have a bird card to recruit with starting your turn, I fear you're really missing out on what makes your faction so fun. Especially since there's not another way to gain warriors. Maybe even just allowing them to ALWAYS have that recruit might not be too gamebreaking. Or even just discard ANY card to recruit. Birds already feel like they get stuck in hands and in the decree :P

I know you could most likely flip a matching favour token to get around needed the card to spend for this, but I can see some scenarios where that may not be possible / would hurt. I may need to just bite the bullet and playtest them instead of theorizing tho :)

I was worried these guys wouldn't want to battle, but having the warriors you LOSE in battle as attacked become what's placed in the musters is a really cool way to MAKE them want to. Really sweet stuff. 

Your board and pieces design is also top notch as well as the mechanics supported storytelling. 

Really gonna be awesome to following along with how these guys are developed. I feel there's so much deeper mechanics here that I haven't even scratched the surface on yet. 

Well dang that's really incredible, please know I sincerely super appreciate you all taking a huge interesting in these little fellas eh! These guys are most definitely still early in development, so I'll definitely take into account your point of view. Especially since it seems you all really do have a grasp of how the bearcat buddies will function in a game. 

Yeah you're right about "into your hand". I want these folks to feel official so I'll give that a tweak. 

Yeah the press die was intended to just be the same as the mob (or spring uprising). Though a faceless side would be fun...

The matching clearing for counterfeit was mainly in place to be a limiter, but you're right in that multiple cards don't even HAVE something to match. The idea was you spend a normal card from your hand to copy the action of a revealed propaganda card. The new limiter may very well be Alex p's suggestion... Counterfeiting shrimply gives your the top - weaker action, no matching needed. But yeah you should be able to counterfeit multiple times, hence why I do need a limiter of some sort :P Counterfeit can assist you with the starting cards yup. 

Also the top suit of the propaganda cards are just there so the birds can be spent for cats, put in the retinue, revealed etc. That way factions don't suffer for hanging onto the cards if they can. With the "spend a matching card to counterfeit" wording this gets so confusing, but hopefully with your suggestion here it'll be more clear. 

That's soooo much for the encouragement! Seriously!!! I do have a design sketches for the card backs but had no time... Maybe soon :)

Woah you are actually totally right, you may want to police others to keep YOURSELF from entering calamity. That's actually really creative and I'm bummed I missed out on that initially 😆

As usual the artwork is absolutely top notch, super duper great and supports your factions thematics as a whole so well. 

Squatters as your scoring mechanism is also really fun storytelling wise, but also a totally new scoring mechanic that is just way too creative. Really interesting on different matchups too, and some cool decision making since you usually would want to remove the warriors but not the cardboard itself. Good thinking about how opponents can't snipe the cardboard you're defending, and they also gain a point for coming after you! Glad to see you considering their counterplay. 

I do think they'll do sooo much better without the VB in the game. The VB offers no cardboard to squat, and they remove ruins which really seem like an easy target for your VP engine. It's tough to tell without playtesting (especially since I haven't played them myself), but I'm wondering if the ruins will almost always offer them the easiest points whenever they're available. 

Swarm tactics are really fun and a great new way to introduce aggression to them, especially when they're message to embody chaos itself. 

Awesome stuff, and I'm first to see you back with another great faction after last year!

:P ok thats huge, I'm glad you've given em a fun way to contribute to aggression. Sweet!

You're totally good, I say make it hard for the moles if you can! And I def think these fellas would make their life a bit tougher

Glad to hear that you do indeed lay em down, and def strengthens the pun lol

I wonder if the push and pull being weighted depending on the matchup is even such a bad thing. It's cool you've already found some more niche interactions through playtesting!

Interested to follow along as they're developed!

Down with the sickness (nice name btw) has an effect that is really well thought out! Makes total sense why some factions would really care about having their warriors able to move and battle. Seems like it would be tough on moles but soft on lizards and cats. (GOOD)

Sorry I'm sure I'm missing it somewhere, but how can you tell if a certain warrior is infected? I believe it's using the virus markers yeah? Maybe it would be some great flavour if they were laid down on their side :P just a thought 

Your two ways of scoring VP and the balance you need to have with both is brilliant! You really can see and feel the push and pull between having clearings be endemic with the infection, then offering them the cures to also score VP. Really sweet!

I also really love you using the dice to take extra actions other than battling, that's definitely some design space you don't often see used! And I'm glad to see all sorts of now pieces and cards being put to good use as well. 

Very creative, and I hope to see them developed even more

 later!

Thanks a ton for taking such a deep look at them and for detailing what you've enjoyed. :) it's super appreciated. 

Thankfully it was a bit easier to keep the board uncluttered since a lot of their actions are contained to the cards themselves :P

Yep! The more propaganda cards in your deck, you def have more options to counterfeit with. Usually as was detailed in another comment, you wanna keep your deck small in a deck builder. But I wanted it to be a little bit rewarding that opponents give you access to your cards, not just through your actions being stronger. 

Oh my word you've kinda solved how to fix these guys, that is so good :o I've def been looking for a way to nerf counterfeit, since you can currently just "banker" your hand to retake a strong action over and over. But counterfeit COULD just let you take those weaker actions when you need them! It'll take some work shopping if the abilities (like the scoring one), but I'm really curious if this is an appropriate and thematic way to balance them. Thanks so much!

Thanks about the art, that's always my favourite thing to work on :P The main guy on the faction board seems like he's chill to hang with

Pecking order as an ability is absolutely amazing. You're having to make a decision on the previous turn about what order of actions you'll be taking... Then you forecast the first of those actions to the opponents! This gives them the turn to mess up your plan of action, but still gives you some agency to determine your own life. Really sweet stuff and you've made some great design space here. 

Your actions and faction board itself is really easy to follow along with, and have a super duper fun narrative that supports it. Like another co on enter said, this is giving major chicken run energy and I'm a fan. 

Bonus points for having a really fun built in policing mechanism in calamity, that ALSO affects your opponents as well! Maybe there's even a way you can weaponize that... It does seem like a really big setback, but maybe in practice your faction is able to bounce back on. Playtesting will let ya know!

The flavour of how you gain points is super fun, but I'm also curious whether you'd actually WANT to do meaningful policing since your warriors are so precious. Some playtesting of their scoring mechanism would reveal that in the future too :P

Great faction!

For sure, I'm hyped to see if you continue to develop them!

Wow these guys look like so much fun! I was worried that wouldn't have much agency on the board, but the sightseeing mechanic is a really cool workaround! 

And you've given them enough cardboard for other factions to interact with as well. 

Bonus points for the awesome artwork as well :)

Really easy to follow along with, and an endlessly creative narrative you've got going too!

Sounds awesome, looking forward to seeing!

I've never seen permanent pieces before, even in a fan faction! It's such a simple but unique premise that I'm really glad you've come up with an implemented here

I really like the wording of temporary warrior in public support. Not only could you technically ignore a hit, but they would contribute to your own rolled hits as well. Neat! And fits well in the story you're telling. 

Your pieces being on the edge of clearing is also a really cool use of design space that would be interesting to watch pan out in an actual game. 

One concern is that we're encouraged to craft to find those last few points for the win, like the otters! But if crafting doesn't pan out, the otters have the option to battle for those last few points in the endgame. Just a little difficult for these lil buddies to do the same. Though that's definitely something to see in playtesting rather than just looking at a board and predicting this situation to happen :P

Really cool faction with a really sweet environmental premise that I relay love sooo much. You've also left yourself space for some cool artwork once you've got your animals chosen too. Fantastic stuff!

Leave it to endgamer to introduce fun new mechanics and new pieces into a faction! The schedule tiles are so fun and a really unique way to interact with your own faction board!

I also really appreciate their policing mechanics, the dispersion of your enemy into nearby clearings to damper your scoring is a really cool way to slow them down. 

Factionless warriors is also a new mechanic that is really thematic, fitting, and fun for these guys! And I'm glad you've also given em lots of cardboard and tons of material for other factions to interact with. 

It's tough to juggle all of these "wants" in a faction, but you did a great job once again!

The artwork is fantastic, great job! :)

And it's really easy to follow along with these guys' gameplan, you've def made em easy to pick up! I also like the unique mechanics of drawing cards during daylight. 

I'm wondering if they'll pull a moles and end up being a little turtle-y, but I think I'd really need to playtest them in order to tell 

Awesome work!

Really happy to see that you've made a submission here, and you did a phenomenal job!

Your game plan is intuitive and easy to follow, since it's supported so much by storytelling!

They recruit a ton, because they're swarms of bees! As such they like to stick together, and they each can sting you but only the once in a battle! And they wanna sightsee, so your main scoring mechanism is looking at specific sights. But things will get stale if you see the same things!

I basically just simplified some of their gameplay :P but that's just cause it's so easy to remember and follow along with, and I think that's a plus for anyone going against them too! You've also made them contribute to the board state with lots of cardboard and warriors which is always fun. 

The sightseeing scoring mechanic is fantastic, and you've built in a lot of contingencies for different maps, player counts, factions etc. A faction that changes sooo much depending on each of these factors is truly special. 

Fantastic!

Wow you've thought of like... Everything!

Please do!

I am so glad you included a little writeup. There's a lot of thought and theming behind the action, gameplay, and even animal choice that you've included that I wouldn't have been able to appreciate otherwise!

Swarming the map with mud that only your faction appreciates is fun, intuitive, and really cute haha. I love all little bit of whimsy and this faction is chock full of it, without really breaking the story that the official root game establishes. 

It's also so fun that each construct has a different ability, and I definitely see how you'd want to prioritize certain ones during each game and matchup. The collector especially is really fun, and I do indeed like the little nerf to the VB. And yeah you've included balance in them that allows other factions to entangle with them in a fun and incentivizing way.

Scoring based on the amount of constructs is definitely balanced, but I almost wonder if the constructs could have more of a hand in generating those points themselves or accomplishing a goal to get those points. Rather than just a point for each one you've got. Not a nitpick, just some design space you've given yourself that would be fun to use!

OHHHHH I totally remember your submission from last year too!!! Very happy to see you here again :D

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!

Looks awesome

:)

Hurray very happy to get around to these guys! Following along with their development has been such a treat, and I'm happy to see they've turned out fantastic on the other side!

Was really cool in our discussion before to see how you've developed the mechanics of putting cards in other players hands, a very similar idea to my faction! Whereas my faction may be balanced a little too much to favour the other players, I like how yours incentivizes players to fuel your engine and interact with your faction in a unique way! Slowing your opponents down with these cards also gives your faction a bit more time to get the ball rolling and close the gap. (Although def not slowing em down enough to be annoying, more giving them an incentive to give you the cards you want)

The cards and board layout are well considered and very easy to follow along. And the loyalty track seems mevhically sound and not overpowered by any means. It's tough to tell their balance since like with my faction, it depends a bit on the opponents and how they interact with your cards. But the loyalty track seems like a bit of a limiter to keep anything too crazy under control. 

Under cover is a really sweet and thematic ability. Actually the whole faction fits really well with the swarm theme. You've found a cool animal that totally does swarm, without being a big of some kind!

I def would be interested in playtesting these guys sometime, cause you've definitely found a way to capture my attention with them! Def one of my fave submissions 

Haha I love this so much. The dystopian office vibes are outmatched only by the wit in the action naming, faction overview, and mechanics. 

I'm really glad you've put thought into their setup, giving them the biggest initial setup of any faction currently in the game. This lets them have a shot at using their multitude of workers to set up some early game buildings which are gonna be so crucial to them!

One thing that may help is some sort of mechanism to protect you from easy battles to take away your notices. It may be easy for all factions to move out of / battle away your notices for easy points. Leaving you with less cards to craft (your main scoring mechanism) and meaning you spent that setup on not much D:

I do love how they're always defenseless, and using that terminology is easy to follow. I hope it doesn't mean they're TOO easy to squish tho!

Although all of this goes without me playtesting them, so they may be fine.  You've definitely got a fun core to work around, and the only other bureau in the game is my lil faction :P

Cheers!

Your artwork is fantastic as always! I'm so happy to see that you've made a submission!

I love the story you've come up with to support these fellas as well, and it's noticeable throughout each of the actions you take and decisions you make as well. 

Playing around with the dice in battle is also cool, would be interesting to see if they contribute to entanglement though. Since removing three warriors to remove one enemy warrior is not a ton, and battling seems so difficult for em! Tho I may very well be missing something :P

Mountain map also seems super difficult for them since it only has three river clearings that are so far apart!

Really sweet and unique idea you've cooked up here!

I like how you've kept everything on brand for bees! A militant faction with little battle prowess is also something I haven't seen before, and can be really fun to play around with. 

I do agree the move action may need to be reworded a little, but upon the explanation in the comments I think it's a fitting and understandable mechanic that seems pretty fun!

I also like how their defense mechanism and save the queen actions are tied into where your buildings are. Gives a nice push and pull. You get your buildings out... Opponents will have to deal with it or will be FORCED to!

I'm just a little worried about their scoring. It seems their main mechanism will only get them up to 5 points (minus crafting). Which usually is ok! But these lil fellas don't seem like they wanna get any of those extra points to close the gap through battling. Might make points for the win a bit tough to come by!

Thanks :)

I came here for the faction and stayed for the storytelling. You've obviously put a lotta thought into the story you wanted to tell, supporting it with the mechanics, board layout, and goals of the faction. 

Cause yeah your board is top notch, not to mention the cards. It all looks very professional, and mechanically well thought out and considered. 

I think the level up mechanism is fun, though I wonder if it could be tied to something else other than coins? Since coins are important to use for your other actions, and I can see levelling up twice to start the game and then never again. Maybe levelling up to increase your "X" variable can be a fun little mission or puzzle. To keep on theme, maybe the story is that you have better training and equipment?

Of course I'd have to see how all this plays out in a real game. Love the submission :)

Heya! So first of all your artwork is fantastic. I absolutely cannot believe it was drawn with a mouse, I would actually die. Thanks for sharing the sketching process as well!

Live the vibes of your faction here, it totally reminds me of a lot of themes from hollow Knight which is a massive plus. (Maybe even intentional??)

Your suns favour track is so well thought out, and the scoring in the morning means you've got a faction with built in counterplay and pushes them to consider their turns well in advance. A fun puzzle that not many factions take the time or consideration to use!

You've also thought out so many fun mechanics that build on each other to create a cohesive unit here. Being able to even see the top card card then make a decision to determine your NEXT turn is really cool. And you've made it tie in well with your actions and objectives each turn. All while keeping it very thematic!

Also playing around with the move action is very fun, and I can totally see myself playing with these guys to figure out even more of the interactions that I'm totally missing. 

And that's the thing, even though there's a lot of moving parts... They are really easy to follow. A huge accomplishment and a fantastic submission!

Wow yeah I hadn't even though of coffinmakers, sounds like you've put a lot of consideration into this faction! 

And thanks so much, that's a huge encouragement to me!

Yay a really nice unique animal choice, and you've kept the faction really faithful to them which I love :)

Just a little worried about their actions economy, since as we see with crows... 3 actions is not really a lot. Especially since you've given me fun stuff they wanna do on their turn!

I'm so glad you've ALSO made a faction (like I've done twice!) that can battle their own pieces. I love that piece of unused mechanics. 

Great work hey!

Really happy to see your artwork for these guys! And your first two abilities seem really though out and themetic as well! My heart just aches for the poor cats with that third ability haha

One thing that might be really cool is a way to use the cards in your hand for more than just needing to lose them for an action where a flood doesn't exist. All the official factions have their own little interactions with the cards that sets them apart. Even something like say spending a card to wash a flood over to a crucial clearing might be really fun! 

You've got a lot of design space to keep working with here :)

The more I dug into this faction the more my questions were answered. It really reveals a lot about how you've planned each step through! I was wondering why you would build, but it does feed directly into the way they gain VP! It's also really thematic especially with regards to swarming which I find really fitting. 

Just from personal experience when I worked on my Crocs faction (they also used to score by having other warriors around), it sometimes is difficult to balance a faction that scores off of an abundance of other warriors (and their removal from feast). Just since there's so much variance in warrior count on some games, and it kinda de-incentivizes getting involved in conflict with your own warriors. 

That's def not a knock against your faction, and now something that can be monitored for through playtesting... Which you absolutely should keep working on these fellas cause there's a lot that works here! 

Great stuff :)

This faction has simple mechanics that are well thought out, and tied together with a little bow of storytelling and thematics. I like it a lot! I especially love how you've given storytelling reasoning behind things that happen, then they're reflected on the decisions and actions that would be made during the course of a game!

I do think the ability berry for the shepherds is a little redundant, since your recruit and enlighten actions specifically mention the pieces placed. Besides if you craft propaganda bureau you could be seeing a cool mechanic you might not otherwise see! (Though maybe this is by design?)

Awesome work!