Small World

[The Schaef]

Just played this for the first time the other night.  Fun game.  If anyone here played Vinci, it's a simplified version of that with a fantasy setting.

Basically you take your halflings and your elves and your trolls and whatever, and you place cardboard tokens onto this beautifully designed board to control regions.  When you've stretched as far as you can, that race goes "in decline" and you pluck another race to start taking space with.

Each race has its own special power, and they are paired randomly with a secondary ability.  The mix-and-match combinations make for great replayability; you never know what you're going to get or how it will be the best fit to the board and the other player's selections.

There are five race/ability combos out at a time (six if you count the top of the stack) and you can get the first one for free, or pay one coin each to move up the line to the one you want.  So you can reach for a better race, then make the coins back when you score each round.

Fun game, sometimes it's about board positioning, sometimes it's about defense, sometimes it's about going for the opponent's throat.  And there are different boards for each of 2-5 players so it always feels crowded in the second half of the game.

Good stuff.

[happyjosiah]

Have you played Vinci? How would you compare the two?

[TimMierz]

I played one game of Small World a while ago, and it was good, I enjoyed it, but I don't see why so many are seeing a "best thing since sliced bread" game in this. (I think that about Dominion and Race for the Galaxy too, other games I enjoy for sure, but wouldn't put in my favorites.) I am a big fan of variable powers, which Small World does very well, and the game moves quickly enough and without luck that it doesn't fall victim to the things I don't like about Risk.

Josiah, from what I know (having never played Vinci), it's extremely similar to Vinci, with a couple changed rules about placement and some theming/power changes.

[The Schaef]

Yeah, it's a re-themed, simpler Vinci (also never played).  There are actually more combinatorial possibilities in Vinci, I think because of the greater number of powers.  YMMV on the difference in the placement rules.

I think the hype Tim refers to is a common "flavor of the month" syndrome that gamers are prone to.  In my boardgaming club, I've seen it happen with Dominion, Race, Agricola, Stone Age, Battlestar, Galaxy Trucker, etc.  For a couple meetings it seems like there are five copies of this game going at any given time.  Then a month or two later it's something else.

I have a happy medium where I play something just enough that I always want to play it again if it comes up, enjoying the games while trying not to burn out on them.

[TimMierz]

The two games I played most in the last 30 days are Malta! (my own design from several years ago) and Bali, a word game from the 1950s. That might say something about how I feel about always playing new games.

Actually, since last October, I've learned at least new 12 games a month (excepting January), in no small part due to my best gaming friend here having over 500 games in his possession. There are only a couple games that are true repeat favorites, which is too bad. I enjoy those repeats, which these days are limited to Race for the Galaxy with my normal group. In college when I had fewer games and was the only game provider, we got to hone our skills on Puerto Rico, Yspahan, Vegas Showdown, Bohnanza, and party games to get to try out weird and fun strategies, and we were all on more equal footing since we weren't having to teach rules every time. Sadly, I've been buying more and more games since getting down here, but I've tried to limit it to games I've already played and know I rate an 8/10.

Umm... yeah, Small World. The one time I played, I got Pillaging Skeletons first turn and never went into decline, since my numbers were never below their starting value. I still lost, but not because of failing to decline.

[happyjosiah]

Yeah that could be I guess. Still, those are all pretty good games in their own right as well, hype aside.

[TimMierz]

By the way Josiah, I'm not sure I ever thanked you for showing me Nexus Ops and Vegas Showdown. Both have been favorite games for me, especially NO (currently in my Top 2 Games of All Time). I miss those game nights at the Berkenpas' place.

[happyjosiah]

Well, we are actually going over there tonight for some Redemption. So... um... get a plane ticket real quick?

Yeah, I don't get to play NO nearly as much as I would like, but it is a very cool game. The wife just doesn't seem to go for it, similar to how little I get to play Formula De. But we do a fair amount of Vegas Showdown. It kind of surprises me it isn't more popular. Compared to some other games like Princes of Florence, Stone Age, St. Petersburg, Pillars of the Earth, I think it really holds its own (and is better than all of the above, IMO).

[Alex_Olijar]

I really should have brought Age of Mythology to one of our gamenights. Its a rip off of Puerto Rico with some changes and an added combat element. It's kinda cool.