Stats:
No. of players: 2-5
Amount of time to play: 80 min
Age requirements: 8+
Set-up time: 5-10 min

Small World Rules Description:

Small World is an area control game with a fantasy theme. The catch is that there is only so much area to control so you will have to fight for land. Elves, dwarves, halflings, giants and other races each bring unique racial powers that when combined with random traits become your army to defeat your opponents.

You start the game by picking from one of the five, randomly determined trait-race combinations. These combinations will give different advantages for taking over areas of the map. The combinations are placed in a row. If you do not choose the race at the top of the column you must place one victory point on each race you do not take. Luckily you start the game with five victory points insuring you can take any of the races on your turn. Leftover races and traits sit in a pile and are added to the bottom of the column after you choose a race.

The different traits and races have a number on them. You add these two numbers together and that becomes the number of race tokens you get to start your conquest. You may enter the map from any edge of the board (or via the sea). To take over an empty area of the map you need to place two race tokens on it. If the area has someone else’s race tokens or some other token in it (such as mountains, a troll’s lair or lost tribe) you must place two tokens plus one for every token already in the area.

You may claim as many areas as you can on your turn and on the last conquest of your turn you may roll a die and add its value to your remaining tokens. The die is blank on three sides and has a side with one, two and three dots. Each area you claim scores you one victory point (or more for certain traits or races).

After a few rounds your race will become overextended. At this point you may put your race into decline. When a race goes into decline you simply leave one race token in each area you control and flip it over. Though easy for your opponents to conquer they still score you one point per region while in decline. At the start of your next turn you get to pick a new race just like at the start of the game.

The game ends after a certain number of rounds based on the number of players. The player with the most victory points after the last round wins.

A Quick Review of Small World:

Small World is a beautiful game with bright graphics and whimsical artwork. The gameplay is fairly simple and easy to learn. The strategy is light to medium and there is some randomness thrown in with the always fun and interesting trait and race combinations.

I had heard lots of mixed things about this game, but definitely more good things than bad. It won some awards and so I was trying to figure out whether to believe the hype or not. I rented this from Boardgameexchnage.com and I am glad I did.

I did enjoy playing Small World and think it is a good game. I am still not sure it is a great game though. Maybe if I played it more I would think it was great.

Like I said above it is easy to explain and play, but the amount of combinations can be a bit overwhelming at first. Again this probably goes away after enough plays. There are also some combos that seem very powerful while others seem just so-so.

If more people in my game group liked Small World I think I’d buy it, but most everyone just thought it was ok. And even though I liked the design and artwork a few friends thought the board too bright and chaotic.

The strategic depth would be closer to medium after enough plays but most of my friends were just figuring out how their trait race combination worked to be too worried about who was leading and plan conquests accordingly. There is also some strategy for when to go into decline and what trait and race combination to pick.

Overall I would say this is a good game that many groups will enjoy. I am still surprised mine did not. As for me I think my expectations were a little high from some of the hype.

Score and synopsis: (Click here for an explanation of these review categories.)
Strategy 3 out of 6
Luck 4 out of 6
Player Interaction 6 out of 6
Replay Value 3 out of 6
Complexity 3 out of 6
Fun 4 out of 6
Overall 4 out of 6