About the game: Small World is a reimplementation of an old game called Vinci by the same creator (Philippe Keyaerts). I never did play the game, but I heard it was a bit more complicated that small world but still very fun.
The story behind the game is there is a world that is too small for the vast amount of races. You play as a race that you pick and use troops to conquer the board. Each race comes with a random special power that will help you do a variety of things.
Components: The game comes with a ton of components. Here is just a small list of them
Boards x2
Cardboard cutouts x 40
Troops (what you use to conquer regions) x too many to count
Other pieces
Victory coins that come in denominations of 1,3,5,10 also too many to count
Thankfully the game comes with a nice box to store it all.
Even with that box it is a pain to take out the troops. I have been looking for a good replacement that is not too expensive and have been unsuccessful at this time.
Gameplay: The game is pretty simple to explain, but hard to master and there are complications when it comes to how certain races/powers work together.
Everyone starts with 5 victory coins and there are 5 races/powers sitting on the side of the board. If you pick one at the top of the line then you just take it. If you pick one at the bottom you have to put a victory coin on each of the ones you passed over.
After you have picked your race you get the number of tokens equal to the total written on the race/power pieces.
First Turn:
Your first time conquering something, you have to come in at the edge of the board. You have to pay 2 tokens, plus however many tokens are on the region you wish to conquer.You place the required number of tokens on the region. From there you have to conquer adjacent regions always paying 2 plus the number of tokens on the region.
As your final conquest if you do not have enough tokens you can roll a die that has 3 blank spaces and a 1,2,3. If you roll successfully you take over that region. If not you place your troops in one of your other regions.
At the end of your turn you can spread out your troops into your regions in any way you want. You then take victory coins equal to however many regions you have.
And thats it.
Obviously, this is not taking into account the various powers/races. You can get quite a few more victory coins depending on your combo. Or quite a few less as well.
Subsequent Turns:
On your next turn you have 2 options. You can either conquer more territories or you can go into "decline".
To conquer you take back any excess troops you have on your regions (leaving one on each region you control) and then go about conquering more regions. You can also take back all your troops and start over, but you have to re conquer the regions you abandoned.
Going into decline is what makes the game interesting. By going into decline, you put your power at the bottom of the stack, you turn over your race card, and you flip over 1 token in each of your regions and discard the rest back to the box.
On your next turn you can choose a new race/power combo, and still collect victory coins for as long as your in decline race is on the board.
My Thoughts:
The game is real fun and there is quite a bit of strategy involved. "Do you go into decline?", "Do you conquer more regions?" etc..
The game can take quite a bit if your playing for the first time, but subsequent games can go pretty quick. I also liked that they give you 2 different double sided boards depending on how many players are playing. If your not into the risk type of game, this game is not for you. If you are looking for a good time with lots of thinking involved this is the right game for you.
Cost: I bought it for about $40, it retails for $50.
Verdict: This is a very unique game and one that will definitely see more playtime. Playworthy!
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