What's the difference between Cthulhu Wars and Root?
Cthulhu Wars is a premium, miniature-driven area-control war game where four cosmic-horror factions fight directly over gates using colossal Great Old One figures. Root is Leder Games' asymmetric woodland strategy game, where four factions play by genuinely different rulebooks using wooden pieces and a shared deck of cards. Both games sit at the top of "asymmetric area control" recommendation lists, but they get there through opposite production philosophies and opposite rule structures.
I designed Cthulhu Wars, so weigh my read accordingly. Root deserves its reputation too. It's a smart, well-tested design from a publisher that takes faction asymmetry further than almost anyone else in the hobby, and I'll give it full credit for that below.
What do Cthulhu Wars and Root actually have in common?
Both refuse to give every player the same toolkit. In Cthulhu Wars, each of the four core factions has its own spellbook, its own summon costs, and its own path to victory. In Root, each of the four base factions runs on a distinct action economy: the Marquise de Cat expands and builds, the Eyrie Dynasties plan several turns ahead with a card queue, the Woodland Alliance spreads sympathy through a growing insurgency, and the Vagabond wanders the map trading crafted goods. A reviewer at Meeple Mountain put it well: learning a new Root faction "feels similar to learning a new deck in Magic: the Gathering," since each one takes several plays to click.[1]
Both games also carry real hobby-press weight. Root swept the 2018 Golden Geek Board Game of the Year and multiple 2019 Origins Awards, including Game of the Year.[2] Cthulhu Wars has held a spot near the top of BoardGameGeek's war-game and area-control rankings for years running.[3] Neither is a niche pick. Both show up constantly when serious players ask what to buy next.
How do Cthulhu Wars and Root differ in theme and setting?
Theme is the clearest split of all. Cthulhu Wars runs on H. P. Lovecraft's cosmic horror mythos: colossal Great Old Ones race to open gates and dominate a collapsing Earth before their rivals do, using cultist armies, monsters, and spells to get there. Root is set in a storybook woodland, its full title literally "Root: A Game of Woodland Might and Right," where illustrated cats, birds, mice, and a lone vagabond fight for control of a forest that never once feels dangerous the way Lovecraft's setting does.
Designer, publisher, and release year matter here too, since they explain why the two games feel so different on the table. Root comes from designer Cole Wehrle, published by Leder Games in 2018, with art by Kyle Ferrin that leans playful and hand-drawn rather than grim.[2] Cthulhu Wars comes from Petersen Games, built around the same cosmic dread that runs through the Cthulhu Mythos: massive scale, ancient entities, and a sense that the players are gods, not heroes.
Cthulhu Wars O4 Edition, at a glance
- Factions in the core box: 4 (Great Cthulhu, Crawling Chaos, Black Goat, Yellow Sign) — all core, none are expansions.
- Great Old Ones in the core box: 5.
- Faction spellbooks in the core box: 4, one per starting faction.
- Miniatures: 72 total, including roughly 24 cultists and 35 monsters across the core factions.
- Players: 2-4.
- Theme: Lovecraftian cosmic horror, direct faction-vs-faction warfare.
- Price: $249.00 as listed on the O4 Edition product page.
Root, at a glance
- Designer / publisher: Cole Wehrle, published by Leder Games in 2018.
- Players: 2-4 in the base game.
- Playing time: roughly 60-90 minutes per Wikipedia.
- Theme: storybook woodland, anthropomorphic animal factions.
- Core mechanics: card-driven action economy, structural asymmetry, dice-resolved skirmishes.
A quick sourcing note: the Cthulhu Wars numbers above come straight from the O4 Edition product page. Root's designer, publisher, year, and playing time are sourced from Wikipedia and cited below; we're not quoting a Root price here since Petersen Games doesn't sell it and hasn't verified a live figure.
Which game has bigger production value, Cthulhu Wars or Root?
No contest on scale. Cthulhu Wars ships 72 miniatures in the O4 core box, some of them the largest Great Old One sculpts in the genre, built to turn heads the moment the box opens. It's designed as a centerpiece: the kind of game that takes over the whole table and stays set up because nobody wants to pack it away.
Root goes the other direction on purpose. Its pieces are wooden cylinders and cardboard tokens, not plastic miniatures, dressed up by Kyle Ferrin's illustrated map and faction art rather than sculpted detail.[1] That's not a lesser choice. It keeps the box lighter, the price lower, and the game easier to bring to a friend's house. If a "wow" moment on the table matters more to your group than portability, that gap alone might decide this comparison for you.
How does the action economy differ between Cthulhu Wars and Root?
Power against cards. Cthulhu Wars runs on a shared resource: every faction gathers power each round, then spends it to summon monsters, cast spells, and fight over gates, since gates generate the doom points that win the game. Every faction touches the same core loop, just with different costs and different toolkits layered on top.
Root splits its factions apart at the rules level, well beyond simple cost differences. The Marquise recruits and builds structures for points. The Eyrie Dynasties queue up actions in advance with cards, and a broken queue triggers "turmoil," a real setback that can cost them a leader. The Woodland Alliance spends supporter cards to spark revolts and spread sympathy across the map. The Vagabond ignores most of that and quietly trades crafted goods instead. Cards in Root pull double duty too, fueling faction-specific crafting one turn and acting as a raw resource the next.[1] Combat resolves fast in both games, but the shape is different: Root rolls two dice, the attacker claims the higher value and the defender claims the lower, while Cthulhu Wars resolves battles through its own dice pool tied to each unit's strength.
Which game is more asymmetric, Cthulhu Wars or Root?
Root pushes it further, and that's worth saying plainly. Its factions don't just have different powers bolted onto a shared turn structure. They run on functionally separate rulebooks: the Eyrie's queue-and-turmoil system has almost nothing in common with the Vagabond's item-crafting loop. That's the design Root built its reputation on, and the hobby press has praised it for exactly that reason.
Cthulhu Wars asymmetry works differently rather than less. Every faction shares the same power-gathering, spell-casting, gate-fighting chassis, but stacks a unique spellbook, unique summon costs, and a unique win condition on top of it. It's asymmetry built for speed at the table: you can teach a new faction in minutes because the core loop never changes, only what each faction does inside it. Neither approach beats the other outright. They're solving for different things: Root for maximum rules divergence, Cthulhu Wars for a shared, teachable core with deep faction identity layered on.
That identity is also why the Cthulhu Wars expansion ecosystem keeps growing outward. The O4 core box seats 2-4 players across four factions, and additional faction expansions, neutral Great Old Ones, and Terror units keep extending what a table can support without touching the base rules. If your group already owns a lighter asymmetric game and wants to step up to something with bigger miniatures and deeper faction customization, that's the gap the Cthulhu Wars O4 Edition is built to fill.
Who should buy Cthulhu Wars, and who should buy Root?
Buy Cthulhu Wars if you want direct god-vs-god warfare, cosmic horror theming, and the biggest miniatures on your shelf. It rewards players who like fighting for gates every round and want a game that looks like an event the moment it's set up. Buy Root if your group wants the deepest faction-to-faction rules divergence in the genre, a lighter footprint, and a game that travels well to a weekly session at someone else's table.
Owning both isn't overkill. They don't fight for the same shelf slot. One is a premium war game built around colossal sculpts and direct combat. The other is a portable, rules-divergent strategy game built around card economies and quiet insurgency. A collector who wants both flavors of asymmetric design ends up better served owning each than picking just one.
Frequently Asked Questions
Is Cthulhu Wars similar to Root?
They share a category more than a design. Both are premium asymmetric area-control games with distinct factions, but Cthulhu Wars runs on a shared power-and-spell economy with direct combat over gates in a Lovecraftian setting, while Root splits its factions into functionally separate rulebooks in a storybook woodland setting.
Does Petersen Games make Root?
No. Root was designed by Cole Wehrle and published by Leder Games in 2018. Petersen Games does not make, own, or sell it. It's referenced in this article only as a comparison point for readers choosing between two well-known asymmetric area-control games.
Which game is heavier to learn, Cthulhu Wars or Root?
Root generally takes longer to teach, since each faction plays by a genuinely different rulebook and takes several games to click. Cthulhu Wars shares one core loop across all factions, so new players can usually learn a faction in minutes even though the overall game rewards deep strategic play.
Does Root use miniatures like Cthulhu Wars?
No. Root uses wooden pieces and cardboard tokens dressed up with illustrated art, not plastic miniatures. Cthulhu Wars O4 Edition ships 72 miniatures, including large sculpted Great Old One figures, making it the more component-heavy, display-oriented of the two games.
How many factions does Cthulhu Wars O4 Edition come with?
The Cthulhu Wars O4 Edition core box includes 4 factions: Great Cthulhu, the Crawling Chaos (Nyarlathotep), the Black Goat (Shub-Niggurath), and the Yellow Sign (Hastur). All four are part of the core game, not expansions. The box also includes 5 Great Old Ones and 4 faction spellbooks, one per starting faction.
Ready to see the scale difference for yourself? Check out Cthulhu Wars O4 Edition at Petersen Games for the full faction breakdown, component list, and current price.
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