Welcome to the Small World Beginners Guide Tutorial!

Hey there! Are you a beginner looking to dive into the wonderful world of Small World? Well, you’ve come to the right place! In this tutorial, I’m going to walk you through the basics of the game and give you some helpful tips to get you started on your Small World adventure.

What is Small World?

Small World is a fun and strategic board game where players take on the roles of different fantasy races and battle for dominance in a small, but ever-changing world. Each race has its unique abilities and traits, and your goal is to conquer as much territory as possible while managing your resources wisely.

How to Play

Playing Small World is easy! Let me break it down for you:

1. Choose a race:

First, you’ll need to choose a race to play as. Each race has its own advantages and disadvantages, so make sure to read their descriptions carefully and pick one that suits your play style.

Conquer territories:

Once you have your race, it’s time to conquer some territories! Each turn, you can attack adjacent regions and expand your empire. But be careful, because other players will be trying to do the same!

Collect coins:

As you conquer territories, you’ll earn coins. These coins are crucial for recruiting new troops and buying special abilities, so make sure to collect as many as you can!

Choose when to go into decline:

At some point, your race will start to lose its strength, and it’s time to go into decline. Going into decline allows you to choose a new race and start fresh, while still keeping some of your old territories. It’s a strategic move that can give you the upper hand!

Score points:

The game is played over several rounds, and at the end of each round, you’ll score points based on the number of territories you control and any special objectives you’ve achieved. The player with the most points at the end of the game wins!

Tips for Success

Now that you know the basics, here are some tips to help you succeed in Small World:

• Be flexible: Don’t be afraid to go into decline if it means you can come back stronger with a new race.
• Strategize: Plan your moves ahead to maximize your territory gains and minimize your losses.
• Watch your opponents: Pay attention to what your opponents are doing and adjust your strategy accordingly.
• Manage your resources: Make sure to collect enough coins to recruit new troops and buy special abilities.
• Take risks: Sometimes taking risks can lead to big rewards, so don’t be afraid to make bold moves!
• Have fun: Remember, Small World is all about having fun, so enjoy the game and embrace the unpredictable nature of the small world!

With these tips in mind, you’re ready to embark on your Small World adventure. So gather your friends, choose your race, and let the conquest begin!

Small World is, well, a pretty small world. Everyone’s always trying to stake their claim and fight over new territory. And guess what? You get to be in charge of all those races! Yep, you get to pick which ones you think will come out on top. Cool, huh?

Now, picture this: the map you play on looks like this:

There are two sides to each of the two boards that come with the game. Each side has a map that’s sized just right for 2 to 5 players. They’ve gotta make sure the world is cramped enough to spark some epic conflicts. So, obviously, the map for 2 players is a lot smaller than the one for 5 players.

Hey there! Let me explain how the game works. The map is split into different regions that you’ll need to take control of. After each turn, you’ll earn Victory Coins based on how many regions you’ve conquered. The player with the most Victory Coins at the end of the game wins. The number of turns you get depends on the number of players. For example, in a 5-player game, you’ll have 8 turns, and in a 2-player game, you’ll have 10 turns.

Now, let’s talk about the start of the game. You’ll place the Mountain and Lost Boy tokens in specific spots on the board. The Mountains represent difficult terrain that you’ll need to overcome, and the Lost Boys are the last race waiting to be conquered.

When you first start playing, you’ll need to choose your race and power combination. The combinations are shuffled at the beginning of each game, so they will always be different. In the base set, there are 14 races and 20 powers to choose from. You’ll have six options to consider:

At the beginning of the game, you’ll have 5 Victory Coins. These coins are used as currency to buy your army. The top race in the lineup is the most expensive, and the race at the bottom is free. The cost of each race increases by one Victory Coin for every tile above it. There’s a unique twist in this game – the coins you pay for a race are placed on the choices you didn’t pick.

Let’s say you picked the Hill Skeletons. Here’s what you do: You put 3 Victory Coins on the Ghouls, Ratmen, and Sorcerers. Those Coins stay there until someone buys that tile. When that happens, the buyer gets those Coins for themselves. This system makes weaker Race and Power combos more appealing as they get passed over, and it ensures that you’ll pay a lot for powerful combos if you have to skip a bunch of tiles to get them early.

Congratulations on your purchase of the Hill Skeletons! You’re in for an exciting adventure with these Race and Power tiles. The first thing you need to do is place them in front of you. Now, it’s time for the Pillaging Giants and Fortified Humans to step down the ladder, revealing a brand new Race/Power combination from the stack.

Once that’s done, it’s time to collect your Skeleton tokens. The number of Skeletons you receive is equal to the sum of the big numbers on your Race and Power tiles. In this case, the big numbers are 4 and 6, so you’ll get 10 Skeleton tiles. Pretty cool, right? Check out this picture for a visual representation of all the different race tiles you can encounter in the game:

Now it’s time to start taking over Regions. I can do this by sending my army to any edge of the map, like the coastline. I can’t just plop them down in the middle unless I have a special power that lets me.

If I want to conquer an empty region, I need to put down at least 2 of my race tiles there. These tiles will stay put until I’m done conquering. But here’s the catch: from now on, I can only attack regions that are next to ones I already control.

Now, if I want to conquer a region that’s already taken by another race, I’ll need more than just 2 tiles. I’ll need as many tiles as there are enemy tiles in that region. For example, if there’s one Lost Boy token there, I’ll need 3 of my tiles to take over.

When I conquer a region that has three of my opponent’s tiles, I need to have five of my Active race tokens to take control of it. The defeated Lost Boy Token is removed from the map, and my opponent will discard one of their defeated tokens and redeploy the remaining two on the regions they still occupy at the end of my turn.

In addition to opponent’s tokens, mountains and other defensive items also count as tiles that I need to match. If I want to take control of an unoccupied Mountain region, I need to have three tiles. The Mountain tile that I placed during game set-up serves as a reminder that it counts extra. Some races and powers may provide me with defensive tiles like lairs, encampments, and fortresses. Let me provide a few examples to make it easier to understand:

I’ve got one Troll tile right in the middle of the plains. It’s pretty protected with a Troll layer, so if you want to conquer it, you’ll need to bring 4 of your army tiles. Over in the mountains, there are 3 Orc tiles. Those guys are tough, so you’ll need to bring 6 of your tiles to take them down.

Once you’ve used all your tiles to conquer the regions, you can take a breather and redeploy your tiles. It’s like rearranging furniture, but with armies. Move them around however you want on your occupied territories. And hey, it’s not just for fun – you’ll earn 1 Victory Coin for every region you control.

Now, when it’s your turn again, you can grab some more tiles from your regions. Usually, it’s a good idea to leave at least 1 tile behind in each region. That way, it stays occupied and keeps earning you coins. Let’s say you’ve got 3 regions with 3 tiles each. You could pick up 2 tiles from each region, leaving 1 behind, and have a total of 6 tiles in your hand to use for conquering.

So, here’s the deal: you keep doing this thing I like to call the “repeat and extend” process. Basically, you go through it on your turns until you think your super cool combo of Active Race and Power has reached its absolute peak. Once your Active Race has taken over 8 regions with 8 tiles, that’s when it’s time to mix things up and go into Decline. Trust me, it’s gonna be awesome.

Okay, now picture this: at the beginning of your turn, if you decide to go into Decline, you gotta do some housekeeping. Take all but one of your tiles from each of your regions and put ’em away. Then, flip the remaining tile to the gray side – that means it’s officially a Race in Decline. Oh, and don’t forget to flip your Race and Power tiles that are right there in front of you.

So here’s the deal: if the Power tile doesn’t have an in decline power, it’s outta here. But don’t worry, you still get credit for the regions you control. In fact, they’ll earn you Victory Coins each turn. It’s like a little bonus for being in charge.

Now, when a Race is in Decline, things change. They can’t attack or move around anymore. But hey, they’re not totally useless. They still earn you Coins as long as they’re in play. So you’re still getting something out of them, even if they’re not as powerful as before.

When your next turn rolls around, it’s time to mix things up. You’ll get to choose a whole new Race and Power combo. Exciting, right? And the cycle starts all over again. Just remember, you can only control one Active Race and one in Decline Race at a time. If you decide to put a second Race in Decline while you still have one in play, you’ll have to say goodbye to the old one. It’s the circle of life in Small World.

So, here’s how you play the game: it’ll end after a certain number of turns. But what really makes Small World cool and worth playing over and over are the Race and Special Powers.

Now, I won’t get into all the nitty-gritty details, because half the fun is discovering each Race’s powers and all the cool combinations you can make with the Special Power tiles. Don’t worry, though! Each player gets a cheat sheet that explains the powers in a little more depth, so you can refer back to it and not get overwhelmed while you’re learning. And trust me, after a few games, reading the shorthand on the Race and Power tiles will become second nature.

Here’s an example of a combination from the Days of Wonder website, just to give you an idea:

Hey there! Did you know that there are tons of expansions that bring in more Races and Powers to the game? How cool is that? Days of Wonder even ran a contest for fans to submit their own awesome ideas for the expansions. And let me tell you, Be Not Afraid, Grand Dames, and Cursed! are absolutely worth checking out.

And guess what? There’s even a standalone game called Small World Underground. It takes the Small World game to a whole new level by bringing in some exciting new mechanics. Plus, it introduces all-new Races, Powers, and Maps for you to explore. So much fun!