Small World (board game)

Small World is a board game designed by Philippe Keyaerts, released by Days of Wonder. It received GAMES magazine's award for Best New Game of 2010.

Game play

Each player begins the game by selecting one of several available fantasy races that are created randomly. Each race is defined by two interlocking tiles, one giving a noun describing the race (e.g., "Elves") and the other an adjective (e.g., "Flying"), describing an additional special ability or special scoring opportunity. Numbers printed on the tiles also show how many race tokens the player may draw when playing that race.

The player then makes use of the race tokens to capture territory on one of four different playing maps. Map selection is determined by the number of players with a specific map used for 2, 3, 4, or 5 players. To capture a territory, a player must place a particular number of tokens in it, based on the location of the territory, the number of defending tokens, and any special abilities of the player's race. If the player can place a sufficient number of tokens, the capture is guaranteed to succeed; if they cannot, the move is illegal. If enemy tokens are defeated in a captured territory, one of them is removed from the game entirely and the remainder are returned to the owning player to redeploy in their other territories. At the end of each turn, a player scores points based on the number of territories they own, with some racial abilities providing bonuses.

Most territory captures are diceless; however, a player who is left at the end of their turn holding a number of tokens insufficient to capture a particular territory may attempt to capture it using a special die called the reinforcement die. After playing all the tokens into the target territory, they roll this customized, six-sided reinforcement die which increases the strength of their capture by the number rolled (0-3 units). If this total is still insufficient to capture the territory, the tokens are returned to the player's other currently owned territories and the player's turn ends; they cannot be redeployed to capture another territory, even if they would have been sufficient to do so.

Since the number of tokens in a race is (usually) fixed, and can only go down as other races capture territories, eventually a race will reach a maximum number of territories that it can support. When this occurs, the player owning that race can declare that it is going into decline. This allows the player to select a new race to bring onto the board while the tokens of the former race remain in place, no longer movable, but continuing to gather points until their territories are captured.

The game continues until a certain number of turns are completed, whereupon the player with the highest score wins.

Races

Base game includes a range of different races to choose from.

• Amazons (6) - Gain 4 additional tokens when attacking, which must be removed from the board at the end of the player turn.
• Dwarves (3) - Have a special scoring ability to gain +1 point when occupying a region with a mine. This particular power is active even when the Dwarves go into decline.
• Elves (6) - When defeated, all the elf tokens are returned to the owner of that race (i.e., none are lost).
• Ghouls (5) - Follow special rules when going into decline, as they can still move and conquer regions.
• Ratmen (8) - Have no special power, there's just a lot of them.
• Skeletons (6) - Gain 1 token for each 2 non-empty regions they conquer during a turn
• Sorcerers (5) - Can once per turn per opponent conquer enemy region, containing single token (of the active players race) by replacing it with a sorcerer token from the reserves.
• Tritons (6) - Gain a -1 bonus when attacking coastal regions (i.e. it takes one less token for Tritons to conquer a coastal region). Curiously, seafaring Tritons do not gain this bonus when conquering water regions.
• Giants (6) - Gain a -1 bonus when attacking regions adjacent to mountains if they control the mountain region itself.
• Halflings (6) - When entering the field, Halflings place 2 Hole-in-the-Ground tokens on the first two regions they enter, which then become immune to enemy attacks.
• Humans (5) - Gain +1 bonus from controlling Farmlands.
• Orcs (5) - Gain +1 bonus for each non-empty region they conquer.
• Trolls (5) - Place Trolls' lair in the region they conquer, increasing the defense of that region by 1. These lairs do not disappear when the Trolls go into decline.
• Wizards (5) - Gain +1 bonus from controlling magic regions.

Special Powers

When a race is chosen, it comes with a randomly-assigned special power token. This token grants extra benefit to that race and also determines the number of additional race tokens received by the player. The following special powers are available in the base game.

• Alchemist (4) - Collect 2 points every turn, when your tokens are on the map.
• Berserk (4) - Berserk race may use the reinforcement die every turn, before each conquest
• Bivouacking (5) - Receives 5 Bivouacking tokens, which can be placed in any occupied region. Each such token increases defense by 1.
• Commando (4) - Each conquest requires 1 less token.
• Diplomat (5) - At the end of every turn, the diplomatic race may select 1 opponent whose active race it did not attack that turn. That player becomes his ally and may not attack the diplomatic race on his next turn.
• Dragon master (5) - Receives 1 Dragon token, which can be used to conquer a Region using only the Dragon and one race Token. The Dragon stays in that region, making it immune to any enemy attacks.
• Flying (5) - Flying race may conquer any region, not only an adjacent one. Although they still cannot conquer water regions
• Forest (4) - Collects +1 point from Forest regions.
• Fortified (3) - Receives a Fort token, which can be used once per turn to increase the defense of any occupied region and collect 1 additional point from it. The fort stays when race goes in decline, though it does not add an additional point anymore.
• Heroic (5) - Receives 2 Heroic tokens, which can be placed at any occupied region to make it immune to enemy attacks.
• Hill (4) - Collects +1 point from Hill regions.
• Merchant (2) - Collects an additional point for any region occupied at end of a turn.
• Mounted - Requires 1 less token to conquer Hills or Farmlands.
• Pillaging (5) - Collects 1 additional point for every non-empty region conquered this turn.
• Seafaring (5) - Active seafaring race may conquer Seas and Lakes.
• Spirit (5) - Spirits do not count as a race in decline, therefore a player may have 2 races in decline instead of just 1, as long as one of the races has the spirit Special Power.
• Stout (5) - Does not require a turn to go in decline. This race can be sent into decline right after its turn ends.
• Swamp (4) - Collects +1 point from Swamp regions.
• Underground (5) - Conquesting of cavern regions costs 1 less token, all such regions are also considered connected for the Underground race.
• Wealthy (4) - Receives 7 points once selected. No further bonus.

Expansions

Official Expansions

Cursed is a mini expansion to Small World, featuring several almost negative races/special powers.

2 new Races were introduced:

• Goblins (6) - Conquering any region in decline requires 1 less token.
• Kobolds (11) - Kobolds may never occupy a region with fewer than 2 tokens. However, when going into decline, only 1 token is left in each region.

Also with 5 new Special Powers including a power called cursed, that gave the name to the expansion:

• Cursed (0) - To skip a cursed race when choosing a race, a player must pay 3 coins instead of 1. This Special power grants no further benefits and no additional tokens.
• Hordes of (5) - Grants 2 additional tokens, which act exactly like normal race tokens
• Marauding (5) - Once the conquests are over, but prior to a final attack with a reinforcement die attempt, the active player should collect all but 1 token from each region. Then there is an additional conquest cycle. After that cycle a final conquest attempt may be taken.
• Ransacking (4) - For each conquered region which was occupied by a player's active race, the player has to give 1 coin to the owner of the Ransacking race
• Were- (4) - Each even-numbered turn (as if it were night time), this race can conquer all regions with 2 fewer tokens than normal.

Another expansion is The Grand Dames of Small World. This one is also a rather small expansion, featuring 3 new "female" races and 2 new Special Powers. The races are:

• Gypsies (6) - A coin is placed on every region that the Gypsies abandon. That region cannot be conquered that turn by the Gypsies, however the active player collects all the coins from the abandoned regions at turn's end.
• Priestesses (4) - When Priestesses go into decline, one token is taken from every region they occupy and all these tokens are stacked into one single region (occupied by them previously) which represents their "Ivory Tower". They score 1 point for each token in that stack from then on.
• White Ladies (2) - Once in decline, White Ladies are immune to enemy conquests

And the Special Powers are:

• Historian (5) - Collect 1 coin for each race in decline when you select a Historian race. Also, when any race goes in decline, collect 1 coin (this includes the historians themselves)
• Peace-loving (4) - Collect 3 coins at the end of each turn when you didn't attack any other player's active race.

Be Not Afraid... is another expansion adding 5 new races, 5 new powers and a tray to store tokens from all expansions released to date. The races are:

• Barbarians (9) - There are a lot of them, but they cannot redeploy at the end of the turn
• Homunculi (5) - They have no special power, however each time someone skips them, a new Homunculus is added
• Leprechauns (6) - They can spawn a pot of gold in their territories. They gain the pot of gold at their next turn if they control the territory. If the terrain is conquered, the attacker gains the pot of gold. The pot of gold is worth 1 victory point
• Pixies (11) - There are a lot of them, but they must defend each of their territories with only one token
• Pygmies (6) - When you lose a pygmy, you roll the die and gain as many new pygmies as the die roll (if any are left in the tray)

And the Special Powers are:

• Barricade (4) - If you control 4 or territories or less, you gain 3 additional victory points
• Catapult (4) - A catapult placed in a territory allowing you to use its ability once per turn to attack a region 1 square away with 1 less token. The region with the catapult is immune to conquest and power
• Corrupt (4) - When you get attacked, the attacker gives you one victory point
• Imperial (4) - You gain an additional victory coin when you control more than 3 territories
• Mercenary (4) - You can pay 1 victory coin to reduce the cost of an attack by 2

Another mini-expansion, Leaders of Small World, was first given away for free at Essen, and was distributed via the website Board Game Geek. Currently, this expansion is out of print.

Another expansion, Tales and Legends, adds event cards to the game.

Small World: Underground - In late July 2011, Days of Wonder released the first standalone expansion to Small World titled "Small World: Underground". As with the inital release, this box contains a pair of double sided boards for use with 2, 3, 4 or 5 players, mountain tokens and a crown token turn marker. The theme of this expansion goes to an underground cavern full of muddy pits, mushroom forests, mystic crystal, chasms and mines. In addition the game adds 15 new races and 21 new special powers, as well as a new game element, Popular Places and Righteous Relics. Underground features pairs of generic Monster tokens, in place of the Lost Tribes from the initial release, that are placed at certain spots on the board before play starts. If a player conquers one of these regions, they choose a random tile from the Places and Relics stack. If it is a Place, it stays on the conquered region and whichever player controls that region gains its bonus. Relics may be used by the player that finds them and stays in the last region it was used at the end of that player's turn. If another player conquers that region they gain control of the relic and may then use it themself. Another new feature of Underground is the replacement of Sea/Lake regions with the River. Players may conquer River regions normally, but must abandon them and redeploy those token at turns end, before scoring. New Races

• Cultists - Place the "Great Ancient" token on your first conquest. That region is immune and adjacent regions may be conquered at -1 token. Move the Great Ancient to one of your Cultist regions at the beginning of subsequent turns.
• Drow - Gain 1 bonus coin for every drow region that does not border a region containing any non-drow monster/race tokens.
• Flames - Place the Volcano token on any Chasm region on the board. Conquer any region adjacent to it, or adjacent to any of your Flames regions linked to it, as if that region were empty.
• Gnomes - During other player's turns your Gnome Regions are immune to all powers (Racial, Bonus, Relic or Place).
• Iron Dwarves - At turns end, gain 1 Silver Hammer for every Mine region you control. During subsequent turns, those hammers may be used as normal tokens to conquer regions, but must be taken up before scoring(leaving at least 1 active race token in each region conquered).
• Kraken - Kraken tokens to not have to abandon River regions at turn end.
• Liches - Collect 1 bonus coin from any opponent each time they conquer one of your in-decline Liches regions.
• Lizardmen - Pass through any River region, empty or occupied, without having to conquer the region or leaving any tokens in it.
• Mudmen - During redeployment, take 1 bonus Mudmen token from the tray for every Muddy region you control and redeploy them as well.
• Mummies - Conquer all regions at 1 more token than usual.
• Ogres - Conquer any region using 1 less token than usual.
• Shadow Mimes - When selecting the shadow mimes, you may swap their Special Power banner with any other Special power banner in the selection column.
• Shrooms - Collect 1 bonus coin for each Mushroom Forest region you occupy.
• Spiderines - Treat all regions bordering a Chasm as adjacent to yours for conquest purposes. For your first conquest, you may enter the board through any region bordering a chasm.
• Will o' Wisps - You may use the reinforcement die before any conquest of a region that is a mystic crystal region or adjacent to a mystic crystal region you occupy.

New Special Powers

• Adventurous - Collect 1 bonus coin for each region you occupy with a Popular Place.
• Fisher - Collect 1 bonus coin for each complete pair of coastal regions you occupy.
• Flocking - Collect 2 bonus coins if all your regions form a single adjacent set at turn's end.
• Frightened - Collect 1 bonus coin for each region you occupy with at least 3 tokens at turn's end.
• Immortal - When conquered you suffer no loss, redeploy all those tokens at turns end.
• Magic - Each turn, use the Bag of Plenty to duplicate the power single relic. You retain your bag, even if the region it was last used in is conquered.
• Martyr - Collect 1 bonus coin from the bank each time one of your regions is conquered.
• Mining - Collect 1 bonus coin for each Mine region you occupy.
• Muddy - Collect 1 bonus coin for each muddy region you occupy, even when in decline.
• Mystic - Collect 1 bonus coin for each Mystic Crystal region you occupy.
• Quarreling - Collect 1 bonus coin for each separate set of regions you occupy.
• Reborn - Each turn, empty 1 or 2 of your in-decline regions and replace each of them with a single token from your current active race.
• Royal - Each turn, place the Queen token in one of you regions to make it immune. In decline, the queen remains, but she cannot move.
• Shield - After your conquests, deploy 1 Mushroom Armor token into one of your regions for each Mushroom Forest region you occupy.
• Stone - Collect 1 bonus coin for each black mountain region you occupy at turn's end.
• Thieving - Collect 1 bonus coin from each opponent with at least 1 active token bordering one of your regions at the end of your turn.
• Tomb - When you go into decline, leave all your tokens on the board, redeploying one final time that turn.
• Vampire - Once per turn per opponent, replace a single active opponent's token with a new token of your race to conquer that region.
• Vanishing - When you go into decline remove all your tokens and gain 2 coins per region vanished from.
• Vengeful - Give 1 vengeance marker to any player that attacks you during their turn. Next turn, conquer that player's regions at -1.
• Wise - While in decline, collect 2 bonus coins at the end of the turn if you have at least 1 "wise" race token on the board.

Relics/Places powers: Relics

• Flying Doormat - Once per turn, conquer a non-adjacent region.
• Froggy's Ring - At turn's end, place the ring in 1 of your regions to collect 1 bonus coin from every player with an active token bordering the ring.
• Stinky Troll's Socks - Once per turn conquer 1 region as though it were empty. Opponent's lose no active tokens, redeploying them at turn's end.
• Scepter of Avarice - At turn's end, place the Scepter in one of your regions to double the coins gained from that region.
• Shiny Orb - Once per turn per opponent, use the orb to substitute a single active opponent token with one of yours to conquer that region.
• Sword of the Killer Rabbit - Once per turn, use the sword to conquer 1 region at -2.

Places

• Alter of Souls - At turn's end, discard a single in decline token of yours to score 3 coins. Works even if the controlling race is in decline.
• Crypt of the Tomb-Raider - At turn's end, place the Ghost in 1 region of your choice to make it immune. In decline, the Ghost may not move but its region is still immune.
• Diamond Fields - Gain 1 bonus coin for that region and any other controlled region of the same type.
• Fountain of Youth - At turn's start, take 1 bonus token from the tray.
• Great Brass Pipe - Consider all regions that share a type with this one as adjacent.
• Keep on the Motherland - +1 defense, +1 bonus coin, even when in decline.
• Mine of the Lost Dwarf - +2 Bonus coins, even when in decline.
• Stonehedge - Choose a random Special Power badge from the stack, Stonehedge has the same effect as that badge.
• Wickedest Pentacle - At turn start, move the balrog 1 region. That region is conquered, its occupant loses 2 tokens, and it is now immune.

Small World Underground can be played in conjunction with the other Small World expansions, however due to some similar powers and the different terrain it includes a few rules to smoothly combine them.

Unofficial Expansions

Much of the content in the official expansions was generated by the gaming community as part of a design competition, then approved by the game's author. This has inspired the creation of three unofficial expansion packs that are approved purely within the community, although the publisher has granted permission for some of the game's copyrighted artwork to be used in their production.

The Random Map Expansion allows the map to be generated randomly every game, and also adds support for a 6th player.

Community Compendium 1 adds the following races and powers:

• Riverine (5) - grants a discount on conquering swamps or territories that feature rivers.
• Cowardly (5) - grants extra points for using larger numbers of units to defend territories.
• Martyr (3) - grants a victory point every time one of the race's territories is conquered.
• Trapper (5) - has 4 "trap" tokens which can be placed face down in any controlled territories. When the territory is conquered, the token is flipped over; two out of the four trap tiles show a pit, which destroys one invading unit. Non-pit trap tiles have no effect.
• Demons (5) - can be gained and lost during the game by controlling or losing control of Magic Sources.
• Dryads (6) - treat all forests on the board as adjacent and lose no units when defeated in a forest.
• Hydras (4) - When someone attacks a Hydra's territory, he must roll a die and add extra tokens equal to the result to conquer it, this ability is maintained into decline.

Community Compendium 2 adds the following races and powers:

• Mysterious (5) - when going into decline, the owner gains 10 victory points, but the all race tokens are destroyed immediately instead of remaining on the board.
• Elephant Trainer (5) - receives two elephant tokens, which each count as two regular Race Tokens, but have additional restrictions on their use and cannot defend territories.
• Assassin (5) - can send assassins against an adjacent territory; this removes one enemy token from the territory, but cannot conquer it.
• Liches (4) - when going into Decline, all Lich tokens move to a "Mausoleum" in an owned territory chosen by their owner. They then remain actively playable (as with Ghouls) but cannot be destroyed; they return to the Mausoleum instead, unless the Mausoleum itself has been destroyed.
• Necromancers (4) - capture destroyed enemy tokens and can cash them in for extra Necromancer tokens.
• Troglodytes (6) - gain extra points for cave territories, but cannot retain territories not adjacent to caves.

Community Compendium 3 adds the following races and powers:

• Lucky - each turn you will roll the die and collect that same amount of victory points. You may also roll the reenforcement die twice adding the results together.
• Gargoyles - when attacked, Gargoyles enters a stoneform-state and by that they suffer no casualties from attacks. Tactically they will rescue the stoneformtokens in enemy controlled areas. Ability persist through decline.
• Vampires - when attacking active-race areas containing two or more tokens Vampires will bite one of the surviving tokens in addition to killing the first. When Vampires turn starts all bitten tokens will be turned into Vampires.

History

The game is a re-theme and reworking of the Vinci, by the same author, Philippe Keyaerts. Changes from Vinci include:

• The ability to roll a die to bolster a final capture is new to Small World; in Vinci, all captures are diceless, and the attack power of any units leftover at the end of a turn is wasted.
• Vinci defined each race ("civilization" in that game) by two "civilization counters" which were both drawn from a single pool. This could produce nonsensical combinations. Small World fixes this by drawing one token from the "race names" pool and one from the "special powers" pool.
• Vinci featured "the rule of coherency", which states that a civilization's provinces must all be adjacent to each other at the end of their turn (unless they have the "Messages" special ability). If a civilization is split in two by another player's attack, its owner must resolve the situation within their next turn or abandon all provinces on one side of the split. This rule has been removed in Small World.
• Vinci barred a player from capturing a territory adjacent to their own declining civilization. This rule is removed in Small World.

Small World was released in March 2009 in English, German and French language editions. Dutch, Spanish and a Japanese language edition followed in June 2009.

Days of Wonder originally announced the game by releasing one picture of a race of creatures on their news center every day from January 12 to January 19, 2009. On January 19, 2009, the news center announced that it would be a large game; that its name would be Small World; and that there would be six additional races involved in the game, for a total of fourteen.

On January 26, 2009, some very general information about the game was released ^[1]. It included a parody of the It's a Small World theme song:

It's a world of slaughter (original: laughter)

A world of tears

A world of dopes (original: hopes)

And a world of fears

There's too much that we share (original: so much)

So beware (original: So it's time you're aware)

It's a small world after all

In the game, the various races compete for the small area of their world. Each race has different attributes ^[1][2]. These can also be combined with "special power tokens". ^[2].

Awards

2009

• Tric Trac d'Or, Game of the Year
• Meeples' Choice Award

2010

• Games Magazine Game of the Year
• Golden Ace, Jury Prize winner

iPad Version

The game has been released as an App for the iPad, although it is limited to the two-player version of the game. You can play vs a human or a bot.^[3]

References

External links

• Small World home page
• Small World at BoardGameGeek