Asmodee Small World Board Game - Fantasy Area Control & Strategy Game with Magical Creatures, Special Powers, Family Game for Kids & Adults, Ages 8+, 2-5 Players, 40-80 Min Playtime

Conquering a map is so satisfying. I don't know why, but it is. Small World is a great game, as long as you know what you are getting. It's a low-to-mid-weight Euro-style strategy game, easy enough for kids to learn, but with enough strategy in it to appease adult strategists. It is not, however, a deep strategy game that will excite people looking for another version of Twilight Struggle, Puerto Rico, Agricola, etc. PREMISE The idea of Small World is to take a group (elves, trolls, humans, etc.) and randomly pair them with a special ability (flying, seafaring, commando, etc.) to get a unique combination of special powers, and then dominate your way across the map. Naturally, you will suffer from the "spread too thin" phenomenon of Risk, and your opponents will eventually plow through your pieces like an NFL player on a Pop Warner team. BUT, better than Risk, you don't have to stick with that group. You can give them up, selecting a NEW combination from the table, and start re-plowing through the opponent that just plowed you. (Or, you can conquer a different part of the map.) This keeps the game feeling fresh. REPLAYABILITY As I mentioned in the premise, the various combinations of groups, combined with a blank group card and a blank special power card, give this game a high amount of replay factor. It's also a GREAT game for 2 players. You can even control two different groups each and play on the four-player board, as I've done, for a different, more challenging, and zanier experience. STRATEGY LEVEL This is a low-to-medium-weight game. It has strategy along the lines of games like Settlers of Catan and Ticket to Ride. Those looking for a good family game with more strategy than average (almost no dice-rolling!) will love Small World. If you're looking for map conquering, this has got it. If you're looking for a long-term strategic, deeply contemplative game with lots of planning, seeing a visionary strategy through to completion, this is not your game. However, I am a lover of the Puerto Rico-type deep strategy game, and I absolutely love Small World to play as a "break" game in between long strategic sessions. It has enough strategy to appease my appetite for that kind of game, but is fun and lighthearted enough that I don't have to think too hard about what I'm doing. TIME COMMITMENT You can vary the amount of rounds that you play, using house rules, if you want. If you play the full game, it will take 45-60 minutes for a 2-player game. The first game takes a bit of getting used to, what with the rules and the specific special abilities of every type of group, but the mechanics are easy enough to pick up, and after one tutorial game, you should feel confident. Setup takes a few minutes, and there are many small pieces, so make sure you account for that. OVERALL I play it 2-player with my girlfriend all the time, and we love making up various house rules as well as playing it according to the rulebook. I've also played it multi-player, and it's even more zany and fun. A good addition to any game shelf.

Okay, so let's talk about Smallworld for a second. I'm a long time gamer. Board games, video games, card games... you name it. I'd seen this game numerous times, picked it up and flipped it over to gaze longingly at all the pretty pictures, thought long and hard over if I wanted to give it a shot, and ultimately would end up putting it back down and moving on. Seriously, if you like games and you're considering buying this one, my advice is to do yourself a favor and do it. The pieces themselves are all very high quality. The game comes with two, double sided game boards (which board and side you use is dictated by the number of players you have 2-5). Now, this is an ingenious little mechanic because of the way the game plays. You see, the whole idea here (and the source of the name of the game) is that you're all competing over this area of the world and it's just too small for all of you. By having four distinct game boards you're guaranteed that the size of the game play area is balanced for the number of players you have. There is a tray that comes with the game that all the pieces fit into, so setup and clean up is fast and easy (so you won't have dozens of sandwich baggies filled with counters to sort through at the start of a game). And the care that went into balancing this game is just mind blowing. The spaces on the game boards are divided into specific types of land (so hills, plains, forests, etc... ), there are things that will give a player bonuses on certain types of land spaces - and the layout of the terrain types on the boards is extremely well done. It's pretty rare that you find yourself in a situation where there is only a single play that you have during your turn. The game plays very simply - you pick a race/power combination from those that are randomly determined at the beginning of the game. That combination gives you certain abilities (so, you may be able to conquer certain types of terrain at a discount, or you gain bonus points for beating up on people, or you get defensive structures that you can place in spaces you take over... ). Most of the abilities are very straight forward and easy to understand, and there are a number of "quick reference" sheets that explain all of the races and powers at a glance. It's rare you'll need to reference the rule book during play. These race/power combinations give you the number of race tokens you begin play with. Want to take over a new piece of land? It takes 2 race tokens, plus an additional token for every "thing" that's in that space ("thing" here can be just about anything - other player race tokens on the board, neutral 'lost tribe' tokens that begin in play on certain spaces, mountain regions get a token to remind you that it costs one extra to conquer them... all in all it's very quick, easy, and visual to figure out how much it costs to take a new space). At the end of your turn, count up the number of spaces your tokens occupy and you get a point for each. Race/power abilities might give you additional points, but that's pretty much the gist of the game right there. Oh, except for the whole going into decline part... You see, the race you start the game with probably won't be able to last the full test of time. As the turns pass, you'll come to a point where clinging to the old ways just isn't going to cut it. That starting race has run its course, and it's time to shake things up. When you're ready (and choosing the timing on this is vital to learning how to play the game well), you can put your race into decline. You flip over the tokens in play, leaving only one token in any space you control on the game board. On your next turn you select a new race/power combination and bring them into play. As you expand your new empire, you continue gaining points for spaces that your in decline race still controls as well. So far we've only played the 2-player version of the game, and it works extremely well in this format. From everything I've read the game only gets better the more players you have (and considering how much fun it is with only 2 people, I can't wait to try out a larger game). The basics are easy to pick up, even for people who aren't hard core gamers, but there is a depth of strategy here along with the random race/power combinations that will keep you interested. I expect we'll be playing this one for a very long time. Extremely happy with this purchase.

Really like the game. Fun to play with friends. All the pieces arrived intact and neatly packed. Nothing to complain about

A caixa veio levemente danificada, mas nada que comprometa o produto em si. O jogo é muito bom para jogar entre amigos ou mesmo com a família.

Bastante divertido. La calidad y el arte de 10. Las reglas son muy simples pero la estrategia que puedes armar lo hace muy interesante, sin ser pesado. Lo empiezas a jugar en 5 minutos que abres la caja y lo guardas es otros 5,que para mí son los mayores defectos de muchos de los mejores juegos de mesa del Mercado, te tardas cerca de una hora en sacarlos y guardarlos.

great for 2 players,all the way to even 5 players. id like to see more of the board expanding further to handle more players of up to 8 if possible..but this one is very enjoyable.

Très bon produit !