Small World

[Brain]

Pretty cool game. Easier to get into and enjoy casually than its precursor Vinci. Also has a fantasy theme which brings you pretty amusing combinations of races and powers. I like the hidden scoring - Vinci is one of those brutal "bash the leader" games where it is better to not be in first place going into the late game.

 

[bolen]

The only thing keeping me from joining in is that it seems to be a bit childish (disney-like), is this a fair complaint. I have yet to play

 

[Asmor]

The only thing keeping me from joining in is that it seems to be a bit childish (disney-like), is this a fair complain. I have yet to play

You're certainly welcome to dislike the aesthetics of the game, but it's hardly a kids game if that's what you're thinking.

 

[Crothian]

The only thing keeping me from joining in is that it seems to be a bit childish (disney-like), is this a fair complain. I have yet to play

What about it seems like Disney?

 

[Agamon]

Probably the art (the dwarf on the cover does have a snot-bubble coming out of his nose). Don't let the art fool you though, it's not a kids game (though it's simple enough that kids could play it).

 

[Asmor]

Stopped by the LGS today (note the lack of an "F" in that acronym), and apparently the game came in last week but the bastards forgot to call me! I'm glad there's not many gamers around who would have the wherewithal to snatch it up...

Also picked up Mall of Horror, but that's neither here nor there.

Sadly, it looks like it'll be a bit before I get to play it. :/ But I love the insert it comes with! Awesome removable storage tray for the counters, with a lid to keep them all snug and secure.

 

[FriarRosing]

I should hopefully be getting my copy in the mail tomorrow. Traded off Stone Age for Small World. Stone Age was getting bland.

Anyway, I'm excited to get and play it.

 

[Asmor]

Last night, it occurred to me that you could create a lush background story for a campaign setting by playing this game... A huge variety of races and empires rising and falling, wars and allies (allies being races belonging to the same player).

 

[Asmor]

Got to play a quick 2-player game of it... Took about 40 minutes, final score was me 123 to... uh, considerably less. I don't know what LJ's exact score was.

I started off paying a 3 coins for heroic trolls. He took the free merchant sorcerers (which I totally underestimated). When he was getting in excess of 14 points so close to the beginning of the game, I knew something had to change.

So I went in decline to pick up the forest skeletons, hoping their ability to regenerate would help me. It did-- he had a lot of stuff, but was spread thin. My skeletons started decimating his sorcerers, while my declined trolls sat pretty protected by their troll lairs.

He declined and opted for bivouacking halflings. In his first turn, he took over three areas, using his holes to protect the first two and a massive stack of halflings and tents to protect the last.

However, it was not to be. After finishing off his sorcerers, the skeletons and halflings fought for a few turns and I never lost a single troll region. I was getting 18 a turn by the time the end of the game rolled by, while he was getting 3 or 4 a turn.

 

[Wrathamon]

Played it for the first time over the weekend... I was surprised about how easy it was to pick up and play.

I was almost confused that we had missed something (and we did the first time) but overall a very easy game to learn and play but has a lot of strategy.

Does the merchant power seem a bit weak to anyone? And, when would it not come into play? I cant see anyone not having a territory.

The only thing that might be overlooked if you dont read carefully is that you pretty much loose your turn when your race goes into decline. Which makes the Stout ability useful - so halfway through we were like Ohhh wait we did this wrong. Lucky that everyone got one race in decline before we fixed it.