Small World

Today's game review is of the 2009 release, Small World.  For 2-5 players, it takes 40-80 minutes.

Overview
It's a small world . . . there's not enough room for all.  Your object is to advance your race as far as you can, controlling terrain that benefits you the most.  Nothing lasts forever, though . . . eventually, it will make sense to put your race into decline and choose a new one to make its mark on the world.  You'll each have a certain number of turns (determined by the number of players) to earn victory coins, and once complete, the player with the most victory coins is the winner!

Simplified Gameplay
At the beginning of the game, you'll choose a race/special power combination (examples in the below picture).  Each race and power tells you how many race tokens you get to begin, and gives you unique abilities that will guide your strategy for the game.

image from boardgamegeek

Once everyone has their race and power, the turns begin.  On your turn, you can:
- conquer regions (using the number of race tokens required), earn victory coins for them, and redeploy your forces, OR
- put your race into decline, allowing you to choose a new race next turn and conquer afresh.

How many tokens a conquest requires depends on the impediments on a given territory- existing armies, mountains, troll lairs, and more can make a region use more of your limited tokens to conquer.  So choose wisely!

game in progress; image from boardgamegeek

Review
This is a nice game.  Similar to Risk, but much better (and faster).  It has a lighthearted fantasy flavor, and the race/power combinations (randomly chosen, making for lots of variety) can be hilarious.  Overall, this is worth a look.  Check out the rules here.

Rating: A