Monday, 10 October 2016

Smallworld

In small world you are the leader of a race of fantasy creatures, trying to conquer as much territory before your race goes into decline and eventually dies out. However their are more than one race about and this world isn't big enough for all of them.

In Small World the aim of the game is to collect the money by conquering and holding regions on the board. You do this by placing special cardboard counters that represent your fantastical race on the board to conquer your chosen region. However some regions cost more troops to get into, your normally need at least two plus however many cardboard pieces there are in the region(these could be other peoples troops or mountains for example). In Small World one of the main tactical decisions you will have to make is when to go into decline. As you get further on into the game you will soon find that your pieces are spread very thinly and you can't do much at all. However all hope is not lost as you can plunge your race into decline and take a new at the start of the next turn. Races that are in decline can't take over new territory and can have the maximum of one counter on each region (making them easy to take over). Each different race has their own unique power and a random other power which can make or break a game.

Small World is a really fun game and I really enjoy the simplicity of the rules makes it easy to play and learn. One of the things I love about this game is when you take over a really heavily fortified section controlled by one of the other players on the table, and watch their face slowly crumple as they realise that their unconquerable fortress has indeed been conquered. Another thing I enjoy is the special powers and how they can really dramatically change the way you play. However the  game is not without its faults, for example when you go into decline you basically lose an entire turn which is really boring as although turns aren't really long, it might be awhile till your next turn in a five player game. Also if you are playing this game with younger children they may get upset when they get attacked so it is probably best to stick to the age guidelines of eight and above (although every child is different). Overall I would give this game a 7/10.

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