By playing as the Vagabond you must abandon all the other factions pretentious claims of higher causes and nobility. Make no mistake, you're here for one reason and one reason only: to get that bag and make sure everyone else gets rekt.

We get it: You like to "WoRk AlOnE." You don't need anyone else. You just need their stuff. Well, get ready to live life nasty and turn Root into something as traumatizing as crushing your irritating sibling's children at Risk on a Thanksgiving dinner after everyone has started arguing politics.

Remember that phrase. Live by it. Be petty. Choose violence.

To get in the mentality of being the best/worst sonofabitchbastard Vagabond possible, I've prepared a few handy rules to follow:

The First Rule of Living Life Nasty:

You are a trash goblin, and you don't have friends
(except maybe that cat with the shiny crossbow).

"WHAT?!" I can hear you asking now, "I thought I was supposed to make alliances that helped me win?"

Yes, to help you win.

The Second Rule of Living Life Nasty

Every Alliance and Aid must be ultimately self-serving. I'm talking Farengi Rules of Acquisition here. Make your Aid as useless as possible for your vict- I mean Ally.


The Third Rule of Living Life Nasty[/b]

Take care of your feet. Do Not underestimate a good pair of boots, just like in real life.


The Fourth Rule of Living Life Nasty

Everything is theft, except Actual Theft, which is fine.

When boppin' along doing Quests, take the two cards until you score at least two points. Respect yourself. Demand a fair wage. Don't take one pitiful solitary Victory Point for a Quest, it's embarrassing and makes the rest of us look bad.


The Fifth Rule of Living Life Nasty

Punch Down Until You Punch Up

If it's undefended, they really didn't need it that much did they?

Sure, the Woodland Alliance loves to make smarmy AnCom speeches about how we have to stick together blah blah blah, but don't be fooled: they're power hungry rats. Curbstomp their undefended Sympathy tokens at every available opportunity. Just tell them it wasn't the right time for their revolution or whatever. Give them Aid first if they have some sweet loot you REALLY need, but don't be a sucker!

That's it, that's all the rules.

[Sorry my formatting turned to poo, couldn't fix]

Yep, that's right, there are subclasses. Even though there are six individual vagabonds in the digitally available version (an additional three in the tabletop), they can be broken down into 3 subcategories:

Tool users (or just 'Tools' tbh)

• Tinker
  
• Thief

This class is best suited for a type of quiet play style where you keep your head down and do your thing. Honestly, you could win and almost never fight anyone. Your friends will wonder how you keep scoring and literally never think to fight you

The Enforcers

• Ranger
  
• Arbiter

PLZZZ! NOTICE ME SENPAI NOTICE MEEE!!!!

Absolute Rat Bastards Never To Be Trusted®

• Vagrant
  
• Scoundrel

These Vagabonds are for the most dastardly and unfeeling of you out there. My biggest caution is the fact that getting good at these characters will make other people not want to play with you.

"No worries guv'nah, I'm not lookin' fer any trouble!"

Thief:

Playing as the Thief, it is critical that you make use of your torch to steal as often as possible. Go ahead, treat yourself, you earned it. Take a card from a player, use it as aid for another player. Or give it back to that same player. Live your worst life.

Focus primarily on the factions that deal or score heavily on cards such as the Woodland Alliance, Lizard Cult, and Riverfolk. Swipe from the Eyrie when their hand is low just to make their life worse.

As the Thief, this action can be one of the most game changing when properly timed, and you can much more easily and safely leech off the Woodland Alliance by handing cards they had right back to them for loot they tried to bribe you with in the first place.

Tinker:

The Tinker is the best choice if you're playing against another Vagabond. Not only can you immediately outstrip them in crafting items, but frustratingly so. Leave them helpless and fuming.
Above all, your goal is to attain three Anvils/hammers. Do this as quickly as possible.

Additionally, use your Day Labor ability for taking items that were just crafted, especially the ones of limited availability. For example: if the Riverfolk just crafted a Root Tea, swipe it from the discard, craft it, then give Aid to them to take both. If there is a competing Vagabond, leave them poor and thirsty.

Remember those three hammers? Now take them and spam the Favor cards. Use Day Labor to fish them out of the Discards and do it again. And again. Smash them with the power of the DIY Mjølnir that you made in your garage. Or, craft Stand and Deliver and start stealing cards as if you were the Thief.

Nothing quite like a mad beaver!

"That's right, I AM the Lorax, and I do speak for the trees . . . The Trees say 'Die Mutha@#$%!"

[EDIT]: After making this guide, I realized that these furry menaces are essentially capable of beating up everyone on the map with abandon right from the start, which is a great option. This is the choice if you find yourself waking up every day choosing violence. Either of these beefy lads can walk right up to the Keep and destroy it within the first two turns.

@#$%! it, be a Public Enemy.

The Ranger

If you get good as the Ranger, you will master the Vagabond play style, simple as that.

Avoid jumping into fights early, get yourself a good second boot, and start looking at those tasty, tasty undefended buildings and tiles.

Focus on getting Bags, as that Crossbow and Sword you start out with take up a lot of space. Sure, you can use them right away, but that's going to hinder how much you can do early.

If you make alliances, pit your opponents against each other, confuse your own allies with nonsensical orders and don't be afraid to leave your allies positions undefended so you can strike them at will.

Sure, you can take a bunch of hits, but why take them at all?

The Arbiter

If you picked the Arbiter because he appeals to some pretentious aspirations to nobility, you've got it wrong. The Arbiter isn't a paladin, cop, or a furry Punisher. He's a macho muchacho and a Merc, plain and simple, and like all the other Vagabonds he's in it for his own interest, that being the rush he gets from a good fight.

This Vagabond makes the most sense on an actual tabletop, but it is the most underrated Vagabond in my opinion. Winning as the Arbiter requires a deep knowledge of the game mechanics and an ability to predict where the fights will happen.

ABOVE ALL ELSE REMEMBER: Your most precious resource as the Arbiter is time. You must be efficient.

Your priorities as the Arbiter are to immediately acquire Boots, Bags and at least one hammer. Your Swords take up a lot of space, but you need them. The single boot is a cue: Don't pick fights, do quests and let fights come to you. Spend lots of time near battle magnet factions like the Eyrie, Woodland Alliance, and Lizard Cult. A WORD OF CAUTION THOUGH: Make sure that another faction is also in the clearing. You don't want to be the target of the Eyrie's wroth, or any other faction's ire.

DITCH THE CROSSBOW. That's right, it's all but useless to the Arbiter. Use it once and move on. It just takes up space, and he likes to get stuck in with his hands old school. Something something a more elegant weapon.

"Enemy of God, Enemy of Piety, Enemy of Pity"
-Werner Von Urslingen

The Vagrant

Also an underrated character but realistically, he had to be nerfed. You honestly can do whatever you want if you pull enough Boots together. Take care to have some Swords on hand so you're not left defenseless if attacked.

Remember: you can use your torch to Instigate yourself into a fight if you don't have swords. Maybe you have an Ambush card up your sleeve?

The Scoundrel

Three time winner of The Most Terrifying Guy Fawkes Mofo Award, and arguably the most imbalanced Vagabond short of the stupid Tinker with his Favor Nuke Ban Hammer. Play this character if you're an actual sociopath, really vibe with Propaganda of the Deed or both.

Sure, he hates capitalism and imperialistic feudalism, the rule of the mob and silly religious cults like any sensible guy but his methods are uhhhh . . .

Not only is it fairly easy to win with the Scoundrel, but it's the most annoying. If your opponents have any sense whatsoever, they're going to kick the ♥♥♥♥ out of you unceasingly. Kill them with kindness by immediately deciding which player(s) to form Alliances with. Don't worry if they start to get strong from your gifts of Aid. As you approach the Endgame, gather as many of your allies into a contested area, preferably with the other factions inside it, and unleash hell with your Thermonuclear Duke Nukem torch.

An additional strategy is to pop smoke during the Midgame in one of the central clearings, specifically if the Riverfolk are starting to take an early lead. The Torch will cut their forces in half and sever the lifeblood of their strategy and utility as it also prevents river travel. Timing is critical if you chose to do this, and you must damage as many factions as possible, or ensure that you don't damage allies (yet, muahahahahaha).

The next few sections will be dedicated to exhaustively analyzing the intricacies of the strategies between the Vagabonds and other factions, ending with the other Vagabonds.

The sections will be organized by Faction and will list some strategies I've found useful for each particular Vagabond, as well as some of the surprises each Faction/Vagabond has in store.

If you're reading this guide, I'm assuming you've read some of the other awesome guides in the Steam hub. (If you haven't, wtf are you doing here. Go read those first.)

There are already excellent strategy guides for the Marquis, so I won't go too far into their strategy, just how to mess with it as the various Vagabonds.

Regardless of which Vagabond you use, you should first and foremost consider how dealing with each opponent will affect the game balance in your favor, or even (temporarily) for one of your allies/opponents. This is especially critical in regard to the Marquis, as they are basically the meaty tenderloin of the game.

With all the Vagabonds, you'll want to avoid giving the Marquis too many Bird cards, and pay some attention to which clearings their Sawmills are built in. The Marquis will take almost anything you hand them and turn it into Overwork. Don't hand them craftables and expect them to craft it.

Ranger

As with most of the Vagabonds, you'll want to start in the woods that accesses the most Ruins and crosses the River. This way you can decide where to go/what to do from the center.

You can, if you so desire, immediately destroy the Keep on your first or second turn. Even if you attempt to and fail, it will cost the Marquis actions and cards (if they choose to employ Field Hospital).
This is more likely to backfire harder on the Ranger than the Arbiter, because if you fail to destroy the Keep it could become too difficult to destroy later, and the Marquis will beef the defenses and start to sweep the board. The main reason to destroy the Keep immediately is to point farm from destroying the Marquis through the rest of the game without dealing with their Field Hospital ability.

Remember that your Torch is super useful to you! I also tend to forget how helpful it can be to quickly recover a tactical advantage. It will save you a night spent in the woods.

If you decide not to destroy the Keep, be judicious as to how much aid you give the Marquis. You don't want any faction to outpace you or anyone else for that matter. Keep them all down.

If you decide to Ally with the Marquis, take your new homies and pillage weak points before you send them off into the wilds away from their Sawmills.

Remember: If an Allies' buildings are left Defenseless, it doesn't affect your relationship to Strike or Battle them. It's free points. Make sure to target the Sawmills because the Marquis will easily rebuild anything you destroy and farm points.

Thief

The Thief is basically a crappy Tinker, but with some crafty play you can easily point farm the Kitties. Keep your Torch in good order and make constant use of it. Steal the better cards (from any faction) for yourself and send out the garbage to the Cats.

Quests are the most likely way for you to win.

Tinker

Tbh you'll just win here if you're not a potted plant. Craft that third anvil and do literally whatever you want and you'll beat the Marquis.

Since combat isn't your strong suit, avoid any troop buildups or try to Ally with them so you can use the troop buildup.

Vagrant

A bit trickier. Instead of cozying up to the Marquis, you're better off constantly using your Torch to keep troop buildups harassed and beleaguered.

You start off with a Coin stack, so amplify its effect by questing for 2 cards as often as possible. Bogarding and hogging cards is a way to make everyone's day worse.

Arbiter

Smash. Smashsmashsmash. Smash. Be the Furry Punisher you've always wanted to be.

I'm definitely not a math major, but it's like a 75% chance you'll destroy the Keep within the first or second turn of the game if you feel like it.

That said, I've noticed you're far less likely to be Enlisted if you make enemies right away. Opponents that are Indifferent or Allied are more likely to Enlist you, so take that into consideration.

You have so many attack points that you'll easily handle even 4+ Marquis Warriors if you have the right cards/items like plenty of swords and an Armorers card.

Target the Sawmills after you destroy the Keep and the Marquis will never recover. However, anyone you attack will become a power vacuum.

Scoundrel

Ally up with the Marquis. By the Endgame, drag your massive little army of allies to the most destructive spot capable and unleash your Torch Nukem fury.

Remember:

• Avoid fighting till you can fight from a position of strength.
  
• Stay mobile.
  
• Value your worth, anti-King. Upcharge the Quests.
  
• Beat up the Woodland Alliance, beat up everyone.
  
• Be petty. Be a dirtbag. Be a petty dirtbag.
  
• Root's society is just a construct anyway.

Hopefully you learned something and had a laugh. I'll stay on top of editing this as I learn more/pick up the Vagabond Pack from Leder Games.