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, Made by Days of Wonder

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.

Just adding another positive review here. We play a LOT of Euro (mainly German) board games, and this is a fantastic addition to our gaming library. Smallworld seems a little silly looking, judging by the box, but I assure you, this is a smart and fun game for fans of Euro board games. I wouldn't recommend this as the first Euro game to try (Carcassonne and Samurai are worthy starter games in the Euro realm), but it's a great game that has multiple layers of complexity and strategy. Most of all, it's fun! And HIGHLY competitive.2-5 players30-80 minutes (not sure what the box says, but my partner and I can play a round in 1/2 hour)Ages 10+** I know the Amazon description says 10-14, but that is not what the manufacturer states on the box (which is 10+) **Some folks compare this to Risk, but I would say this is to Risk as a bicycle is to a Ducati. In a nutshell, you and your friends take turns conquering territory and reassigning your units. So it DOES sound like Risk! But wait! You don't have a singe army or race, instead you shuffle several races, and bonuses and place 5 on the board. Players pick from these 5, paying Victory points to select further down the five (first one is free). Once the player chooses, another is drawn and placed while the others move up to fill the gap. What this means is that each time playing, players will have different races with different stats, and different bonuses. So you might end up with Elves with the Berserk bonus, or Ghouls with Seafaring bonus (seafaring ghouls lol!). There are tons of combinations, and each has ups and downs.There are four maps on two sided heavy cardboard fold outs: one each for 2, 3, 4, and 5 player games. This makes it easier to get competitive and combative instead of trying to have two players duke it out on a huge 5 player board!Setting up the map is easy once players get the hang of it. On the first turn players start by invading the land from the edge of the board, unless they are seafaring, then they can invade water to start. Once you start invading, you end your turn (with an option to roll the reinforcement die on your last attack) and then redistribute your armies. You have to leave at least ONE unit on a territory during your attack phase or you can't redistribute on it. Each territory you have gives you Victory points. So you REALLY want to control more territory at the end of your turn. This also means you REALLY want your opponent to control less.The other twist comes from balancing your civilizations. You can elect to allow a civilization to go into decline, thereby gaining the chance to start a new civilization on your next turn. You gain points for your declining civilization, but unless stated otherwise (such as ghouls), these declining civs have no more actions and can only hold a spot on a territory until beaten off.Since you only have a finite number of units to use, once you start losing units (from being attacked), you find you are spread too thin and MUST start a new civilization to keep gaining VPs. So a KEY part of strategy is deciding when to lose a turn to allow your current civilization to go into decline.Each player keeps their VPs hidden, so at the end everyone tallies and it's always a bit of a surprise. I've found a few times I thought I was surely losing and that I won handily. Other times the opposite has been true. Regardless, this is a fantastic, fun, and innovative game. Highly recommended!!!!