Small World Board Game

[Totally Guy]

I picked this up the other day. Seems pretty funky.

It's a tactical war game where you play a fantasy race until they become slow and cumbersome. Then you switch out to a new fantasy race, a faster and younger race and conquer with them instead.

The players earn points for their territories and territories still held by their olded and weaker civilization and the most points after so many turns wins.

I've played it with two and three players so far. It's difficult to know whether you're ahead or not. The way the races replace each other it feels like a rollercoaster of doing well and doing badly.

[kkortekaas]

It's an enjoyable game but takes a crazy amount of time to setup.

[CarpeGuitarrem]

I really enjoy it. It's snappy and wacky. Does it have solid staying power? Well, it's not the most balanced game I've played. But it is fun. And the race-choosing mechanic is decently clever, especially as the game goes on and races become more balanced through coin deposits.

[Carecalmo]

My roommate bought it the other day and we've been playing with 2, 3 and 4 players. We enjoy it immensely as well, especially the entire "Oh, you destroyed my alchemist orcs with your commando wizards! Well, I hope they're ready to face the flying elves!". The adjectives preceding the races are Special Powers, which can be combined with any of the races for crazy combos. (for instance, commando makes you better at conquering ALL regions, while alchemist gives a static +2 points/turn and flying gives you the ability to hit any province on the map. Races have their own special abilities as well)

As for the question of balance, I've found that a specific, powerful combo is usually balanced by all the other players recognizing the danger it poses and ganging up on the "overpowered" race. I think this is also the reason why I've enjoyed it most when we've played with four players - the intrigue factor rises exponentially.

[MickJay]

I've played it with 5 players a few times, it works pretty well. Some of the expansion races and powers are particularly wacky, which allows for some really strong (or pitifully weak) combos.

[Freylorn]

My wife and I picked up Small World and the expansions about a month ago. To date, they've been a hit with every single person who's played them.

They're a lot of fun, relatively quick (for a board game of this type, at least) easy to learn, and surprisingly well-balanced given the number of variables.

It also helps that there's a built-in balancing mechanic in that every time a race/class combo is passed over, the person doing the passing puts one of their victory tokens on it. So eventually, any option will be a good grab.

[Gaius Marius]

My roommate bought it the other day and we've been playing with 2, 3 and 4 players. We enjoy it immensely as well, especially the entire "Oh, you destroyed my alchemist orcs with your commando wizards! Well, I hope they're ready to face the flying elves!". The adjectives preceding the races are Special Powers, which can be combined with any of the races for crazy combos. (for instance, commando makes you better at conquering ALL regions, while alchemist gives a static +2 points/turn and flying gives you the ability to hit any province on the map. Races have their own special abilities as well)

Strangely, this sounds like one of my Fall From Heaven 2 game... :smallredface: