Description
In the world of Small World there is simply not enough room for everyone. Dwarves, wizards, amazons, giants, orcs and even humans jostle for the same Regions, while you take charge of one race after another. You pick a Race and a Special Power, occupy as much land as you can with its tokens and collect Victory coins for every Region. But no empire lasts forever: the game is won by choosing the right moment to leave your old race behind and start afresh with a new one.
How to play Small World
There are always six random combinations of a Race and a Special Power on the table. The first one in the column is free. If you want one further down, you place one coin on each combination above it, and those coins go to the player who later takes that combination. You then use your Race tokens to conquer Regions. An empty Region takes two tokens, and each defender, Mountain or Fortress costs one more. On the last conquest of your turn you may roll the Reinforcement Die and try your luck with fewer tokens.
At the end of your turn you receive a coin for every Region you occupy. Instead of conquering, you can put your race In Decline: one flipped token stays in each of its Regions and keeps earning you coins, and on your next turn you choose a new race. The game lasts 8, 9 or 10 turns, depending on the map. The player with the most coins wins.
Why you will love it
- The 14 Races and 20 Special Powers are shuffled before the game, so different combinations come up every time, such as the Merchant Skeletons.
- Going In Decline is the hardest decision: that turn passes without any conquests, but the new race arrives on the map with all of its tokens.
- You keep your coins hidden, so until the final turn nobody knows for sure who is in the lead.
- The box holds four maps, one for each number of players, so the board is always crowded.
Who is Small World for
The game is for 2 to 5 players aged 8 and up, and a game takes 40 to 80 minutes. Players on BoardGameGeek rate it as medium-light and like it best with four. Luck plays a small part, since you roll the die only on the last conquest of your turn. Nobody is knocked out of the game, because you always return to the map with a new race. However, you keep taking Regions from one another, so Small World is not for those who dislike having their plans upset by other players.
What is in the box
- 2 double-sided game boards with 4 maps
- 14 Race banners and 1 blank banner
- 168 Race tokens and 18 Lost Tribe tokens
- 20 Special Power badges and 1 blank badge
- 10 Troll Lairs, 9 Mountains, 6 Fortresses, 5 Encampments, 2 Holes-in-the-Ground, 2 Heroes and 1 Dragon
- 109 Victory coins
- 1 Reinforcement Die
- 1 Game Turn marker
- 6 Player Summary sheets
- rules booklet
