The Score

Small World pits players against one another, vying for control of regions in a landmass fine tuned to be just about 15% too small, meaning that, whether you like it or not, you are bumping heads with your neighbors, which makes sense, since controlling territories nets you coins every round and coins are both a currency and your points in the game.

The first and most important decision you’ll make on your first turn is selecting one of several races on display, determining your abilities and number of units that you can conquer regions with. Interestingly, Small World handles balance of variable powers through a sort of bidding system, where you can take the lowest race on display for free, or drop a coin on each race that you pass up. If you pick up a race that one or more players passed, you get those sweet, sweet coins. Considering that players will return to selecting races several times throughout a game (more on that later), the incentive to pick less powerful races can be substantial.

From there, the core gameplay is unexpectedly simple; on your turn, you can withdraw as many of your units from regions as you like (leaving at least one if you want to retain control), then conquer regions adjacent to you by slamming your units into them. Once you run out of units or decide not to expand, you end your turn, get yer gold, and redistribute your units amongst your controlled territories.

This redistribution is important because, unlike most “area control” games, entering territories (empty or otherwise) just requires you to spend 2 units + 1 for each other piece of cardboard residing there. Is there a mountain token? Spend 3 units. Is there a mountain token and 2 enemy units? Spend 5. If you happen to conquer an opponent’s territory, one of their units dies a horrible (yet honorable) death, while the remainder retreat back to the player so they can be used during future, totally not vengeance-related, conquests.