Small World 2.5

I'm sure almost nobody ever heard of Vinci. It is a relatively old board game that simulates the rise and decline of ancient civilizations. Well, Small World is not very new itself. It was released in 2009 as a re-implementation of Vinci, but understatedly, with a less generic theme. Instead of dull old nations shuffling around the same patches of land, you now had a bunch of fairy-tale races trying to fit onto a small but fantastically drawn landscape. As a high fantasy spoof, gamers loved it and wanted more. After several expansions and a successful Kickstarter campaign, Small World was finally ported to the digital realm, so that button mashers and screen tappers can enjoy it on their favorite mediums.

In Small World, players are adopting fantasy races and use them to invade and control as much of the small continent and for as long as possible. As you might have guessed. You see, Small World is far from being roomy. Sooner or later your pacifistic elves might become flanked on one side by some fortigfied trolls and ran over from the other side by rampaging orcs or something of the sort.

There's also this other problem. Most species in Small World aren't very good at producing offspring. Generally speaking, the units that you start off with are all that there will ever be, so even if you start strong, you will have fewer troops after each conquest and eventually run out. So no matter how much you love them, you will have to leave them be and continue to satisfy your thirst for expansion using somebody else. Not to worry though, being a leader such as yourself you can quickly adopt another race and begin your conquests anew!

The game idea is straightforward: Try to get as many Victory Coins as possible. On each turn, you will receive one coin for every territory that your races occupy. Territory expansion is similar to how it works in Risk, except you don't resolve it by rolling dice. Conquering a territory requires a fixed number of units, and during your turn you can continue the conquest as long as you still have some to spare, and only roll one custom support die on your last move if you lack the necessary numbers.

These rules by themselves would make a game unbearably bland, but the saving grace... nay, the stroke of genius comes from the presence of abilities. Every race has its specific ability that lets you bend the rules in one way or the other. Not only that, but each one also comes with another randomly defined ability which produce different combos in every game. In this way, one race might be advantageous in some way, while another might be arguably unfit.

And so, Small World features a market system for picking races. There are always six races on display, but each one has a different coin cost. Whenever someone selects a more expensive combo, the price for the cheaper bunch is lowered, even to the point where they might come with coins instead of costing. This system works well to adapt the offer to what the players deem appropriate.

The game lasts a fixed number of rounds, during which you will either conquer some land (and also acquire a new race if you have none active) or send your active race into decline. Races in decline still generate coins but are much more vulnerable, leaving you with more to worry about than invading Small World with your brand new combo. After the last round is over the player who accumulated the most victory coins is the winner.

The app lets you play with up to four other opponents locally, over the net or against AI tin-bots. Playing with bots can be useful to familiarize yourself with the game mechanics, but sooner or later you will want real players since the bots can act bit illogical at times (but can still beat you). The community is good-willed, and there's also a reputation system that guarantees quality players. Playing over the internet requires a Days of Wonder account. Not to worry though, it's free. What isn't free is the game itself.

Conclusion

There's been a surge of board games going the way of apps, and Small World is one of the best looking ones. So if you want a quality board game on your tablet, then there's hardly a better option than this professional implementation of a successful formula. Small World is by far one of the most polished digital board games out there.