Small World

Description

--- <TLDR> Small World is a fantasy conquest game where players control races with powers to occupy territories, decline overextended empires, and score coins for dominance in an overcrowded world. </TLDR> Key mechanics include: - *Race and power combinations*: Select from 14 fantasy races (e.g., dwarves, wizards, amazons) and 20 special powers for unique empire-building abilities. - *Territory occupation and conquest*: Use multiple race tiles to claim adjacent territories, defeating weaker enemy races to expand control. - *Decline mechanic*: Overextended races enter decline by flipping tiles to black-and-white, allowing adoption of a new active race. - *Dual-race management*: Maintain one active race and one in decline simultaneously on the board. - *Turn-based scoring*: Earn 1 coin per occupied territory (adjusted by race abilities and terrain) at each turn's end. - *Victory condition*: Player with the most coins after the final round wins. Small World, designed by Philippe Keyaerts as a fantasy successor to Vinci, is a competitive board game where players vie for control in a world too small for all races. Players pick optimal pairings from 14 zany fantasy races—like dwarves, wizards, amazons, giants, orcs, and humans—and 20 unique special powers to rapidly expand empires by deploying race tiles to occupy adjacent territories and conquer rivals. Core to strategy is recognizing when to abandon an overextended civilization into decline (flipping tiles to their black-and-white side), freeing players to champion a fresh race. Each turn involves either advancing the active race or initiating decline, with scoring one coin per controlled territory (modified by abilities and terrain types) at turn's end. Players juggle one active and one declining race, balancing aggressive expansion against sustainability to amass the most coins by game's conclusion. ---