Small World:: Reviews:: Its hard to kill dem' pesky Elves! A Small World Review

Small World:: Reviews:: Its hard to kill dem' pesky Elves! A Small World Review: "

by ragesteel

Introduction

I write this hours before my new kid is about to be born, wife being induced tomorrow morning. Yet another permanent player for my games



I apologize for no photos or detailed rules explanations - My purpose is to help you make a decision as to whether you should pay the money to buy this game.



Background



Small World is a game made by Days of Wonder. Various races (such as Elves, Dwarves, Giants, Ghouls, Skeletons, etc.,) are vying for control of limited land space while facing the possibility of extinction.



Components



Days of Wonder threw in four maps (two double sided boards) to accommodate a number of players. This is great thinking as the maps are balanced according to how many players are on the field.



The map art is OK, to be fair. And the main components that represent the armies (races) are made of durable cardboard stock. It would have been really nice to have a higher quality piece to represent the races.



Overall, I felt that the quality of the playing pieces (primarily the tokens for races) are poor - they could have been better (i.e. custom looking plastic figures for each race).



Point of the game



To win you must accumulate as many victory coins before the end of turn 10. You accomplish this by laying claim to lands. Some powers give you bonus points (i.e. the mining power would give you a bonus coin if you held a region that had a mine on it).



Game Play



The game is easy - in fact its WAY easy - probably easier than checkers. But wait! Read on...thats one of the beauties of Small World.



At the start of the game, you essentially 'buy' the race you want to be. Each race has a random power card attached to it and each race in of itself has a unique ability (this allows many interesting combinations).



You enter the new, small world with your race and take over lands that are ripe for the taking, remembering that you want to get as many victory coins as possible. Victory coins are held secretly by you so your opponent never knows how many points you have (unless they have a great memory).



As the game turns progress, you will come to the unfortunate inevitability of overstretching or being widdled away by warfare. You then have the option of allowing your race to go into 'decline'. This means your race has reached its height and is about to fall. You then can choose a NEW race to start with on your next turn. So one turn you may be the Halflings and the next you can be the lovely amazons! If you are lucky enough to have the Ghouls you actually can play with more than one race.



Combat is a CINCH! You need at least two tokens to enter into a new land (unless you have a power that says otherwise). If there is no one there you take it (and thus earning one victory coin). If there is another race there then you must have at least two tokens and at least as many as they have to conquer them. The player who you just defeated scoops up all the race tokens in that land and then discards one and re-allocates the remaining survivors into his other lands. That’s it!



There are other combat modifiers like mountains, forts, etc. The elves, for example, are very difficult to remove (they are the 'thorn' in everyones side). They never remove a race token when they are defeated.



This cycle of rise and decline continues throughout the game. One moment the seemingly invincible Amazons have swept half the map. The next, the Ghouls force the Amazons into decline.



Wife Factor



The wife had a blast! The game is NOT a hardcore strategy game. The rules are simple and turns are VERY fast with no constant rules flipping.



Kid Factor



Yes! My first strategy game with my seven and six-year olds that they enjoy and understand. They very much enjoy this and it is a great 'gateway' for future fantasy, strategy games.



Time Sink



How does 30 minutes to an hour sound to you? The game plays fast and the rules are very easy to learn and understand.



Strong Points



Small World allows for families to play a fantasy, strategy game that is fun and enjoyable for all. The game is easy and fast-to-play. The rules are simple but the strategies are truly complex. An example is deciding when to have your race go into decline.



The number of races and powers are extensive which allow for the game to be fresh and unique every time. Many of us were on the edge of our seat thinking one race was going to dominate but as they over stretched a new race(s) would pop up. The game is very unpredictable, and not in a random way.



Weak Points



Hmm...tough to say. For me, I would say the quality of what is given in the Small World box. There is some nice art work but as I mentioned earlier, it would have been nice to see a better looking map, and stronger components representative of the race tokens. I will say that the components are durable and will last a long time. I did forget to mention and do agree with the last two comments that the counters are functional in regards to stacking. But there usually is plenty of space on a land to not have to stack. I smell a great possible expansion in the future for a substitute for the race tokens



There were some rules situations that could have been better explained (can’t think of an example right now).



Play Highlights



-Marine assaults with my Tritons (think murloks but a lot tougher)



-The dreaded dragon token that can scare away even the largest of armies



-Elves that refuse to die and won’t go away!



-Amazons and their unstoppable advances



-My youngest daughter played the ghouls, put them in decline and was able to pop up two more races and scored a crap load of points. The ghouls are fearsome!



-Joining together with my oldest daughter to teach my wife a lesson for not helping us stop the Ghouls!



Summary



I am a hardcore gamer, or at least I think I am. But I found Small World SO refreshing in terms of how fun, easy, and truly strategic the game is. Combat is fun and rewarding (if you can call it combat). Though, I only played two games so far, the action kept me involved. It is not multi-player solitaire. There were even instances of diplomacy such as temporary alliances (when the Amazons and Ghouls come on the table you will see why!).



If you are a rules fanatic and like deep games this may not be for you. By no means, do I think Small World is a shallow game. It has its complexities but it’s the subtly of its nature that creates dynamic strategies which is brilliant.



Small World has shot to the top of my fun, must play games. A game that proves that 20 page rule books ARE NOT needed to have a memorable and enjoyable game.



The game also screams for expansions for which I can’t wait!



I give the game a 8.5/10 (the deduction for the quality of components in my opinion).



I strongly recommend any fantasy buffs purchasing this game, and for any dads out there that are itching to get their kids/wife into the wonderful world of fantasy gaming!



"

Bang!:: Reviews:: A Girlfriends Perspective on: Bang!

Bang!:: Reviews:: A Girlfriends Perspective on: Bang!: "

by cerenycus

When my boyfriend and I are getting ready to play games, we are usually limited by having not enough people to play some of our games, so our selection is pretty limited. During our last boardgaming night, we ran into the restraint of having too many people to play some of the games. We looked into our boardgame collecion and found Bang! We haven't attempted to play it before, as we had too few of people, and found it was the perfect time to play.



Contents



1 rule book

7 summary cards

103 cards



Recommended Players



This game recommends playing with between 4-7 players. I have found that the more players we have, the more fun the game is. I am basing this review on having 6 players.



Setup



It does not take long to setup the game. You are first going to shuffle the 7 role cards, and people are going to select the card they are going to play. If you happen to select the Sheriff, you are immediately going to reveal your card. If you draw something other then the Sheriff, you do not reveal your card to anyone. In the selection there are the following cards: 1 sheriff, 2 deputies, 3 outlaws, and 1 renegade

Photo taken by EndersGame



You are then going to shuffle the 16 character cards, on the back of the cards it will show to bullets. Each player is going to receive two cards. They are going to decide which character they want to play. Each character is going to have their own special power. On the side of the card, it is going to show a numbe rof bullets. Those bullets show how much health you start with. Once you have decided who you would like to be, you will place the other character card face down, so the bullets are showing, and the character card on top of it, showing the number of health you have remaining. Because the Sheriff card is revealed at the beginning, the Sheriff is automatically given one extra life point.



You will then shuffle the remaining 80 playing cards. The cards shuffled will be of a majority of different things:



25 Bang! cards

12 Missed! cards

6 Beer cards

4 Cat Balou and Panic! cards each

3 Duel, Jail, and Schofield cards each

2 Barrel, General Store, Indians, Mustang, Stagecoach and Volcanic cards each

1 Appaloosa, Dynamite, Gatling, Remington, Rev. Carbine, Saloon, Wells Fargo, and Winchester cards each



Each player is going to receive the number of cards equal to to the number of bullets they have on their card, and the Sheriff is going to start the game.



How to Play



There is not alot of rules with this game. There are going to be 3 simple actions.



1. Draw 2 cards

2. Play as many cards as you can/want

3. Discard to the number of bullets remaining



Draw 2 cards



At the beginning of your turn you are going to draw two cards from the draw pile. Once the draw pile is all gone, you are going to shuffle the discard pile and start again.



Play as many cards as you can/want



There are going to be a number of cards you may receive. Some of the cards are weapons, some allow you to draw additional cards, some allow you to draw cards from others.



There is a limit to how many of a certain card you are able to play. You are only able to play a Bang card once per round, unless you have a particular weapon which will allow you to shoot more than once.



There is going to be a card that will allow you to shoot multiple players, but it is still considered a Bang card, and can only play one.



If you were to get attacked by a player who has singled you out, there will be an opportunity to play 'miss cards.' You will want to keep those cards for later, as they will help protect you.



When choosing a player to attack, you are going to have to meet a certain range requirement. Each player sitting beside you is at a range of 1, go one player further and they are at a range of 2, and so on. There are going to be some weapons that allow you to shoot further than the 1 you start with, but there will also be cards to 'move' you further away. You are only able to keep a limit of 1 weapon per person, however.



Discard to the number of bullets remaining



After you have played all the cards you can/want, you need to discard your hand to the number of bullets you have remaining. If you only have 1 bullet remaing, you are only able to keep 1 card.



Then it is the next player's turn.



How to Win



The Sheriff

Photo taken by KANDANG



The Sheriff card is automatically shown at the beginning of the game. So there is no secret to who you are. The Sheriff will win, once all the outlaws, and the Renegades are no longer in the game.



The Deputy

Photo taken by KANDANG



The deputy is going to help out the Sheriff, so the Deputy is going to win, if the Sheriff wins



The Outlaws

Photo taken by KANDANG



The outlaws want the Sheriff dead. The Outlaws will win, once the Sheriff is dead.



The Renegade

Photo taken by KANDANG



The Renegade simply wants everyone to die. The person with the Renegade card will automatically win, once they are the only player left standing.



The Good vs The Bad



Causes a lot of accusations off the start

Negotiation is key to staying 'alive' longer

Not as much fun with fewer people



Survey Says



For a multiplayer/party game I would give it . It is ALOT of fun to play, when you have the right group of people, of course. If you have a group who will take accusatiions personally, and hold grudges after the game, this is probably not a game for you. We have played this game numeral times, and I was shocked each time we played, nobody started attacking the Sheriff right off the bat. They started attacking unknowns. One time we played, the Sheriff put his deputy in jail, and started shooting at him until he was dead, not focusing on anyone else. Needless to say, he didn't last long as the Sheriff.

"

Games are Art: "Eurogames" is an Art Period

Games are Art: "Eurogames" is an Art Period: "After my presentation on Eurogames, one conference attendee told me that he was still confused. 'What, exactly, makes a Eurogame different from any other game?'

I cited a number of different qualities, all of which taken together would lead to calling a game a Eurogame. This didn't satisfy him; he was looking for something concrete insofar as classification.

As he walked away, I immediately realized that Eurogames are not a class of games - such as race games and capture games - but a period of games, or an art movement.

There exists in the world today a game design movement called Eurogame design. Its roots run back to the 1960s, it began flourishing in the 1980s, and it spread worldwide in the 1990s.

A particular game might be from one branch of the Eurogame period. A particular game might straddle several design movements: Eurogame, war game, trivia game, and so on, taking elements of each to create a specific game meant to target those who enjoy one or more of these movements. We call games that seem to incorporate about 50% of their design each from two different movements 'hybrid games', but many games fall in between movements, more or less.

You can see the working of game design periods/movements throughout the twentieth century and into this one. Morality games followed one after another in earlier centuries. After Monopoly, we saw not only clones of Monopoly games with different themes but different economic games with similar goals and mechanics. Hundreds of trivia games followed Trivial Pursuit. And, on a smaller scale, dozens of worker placement games have followed Caylus. Video games follow the same pattern.

Crassly speaking, we may look at later games as simple attempts to capitalize and monetize on the success of the previous game. This may be true in the vast majority of cases. On the other hand, like books, paintings, and movies, we can expect that at least some of the followup games see something interesting about the original game and incorporate the new mechanics, like new technology, in an attempt to explore a newly discovered territory opened by the original.

(We can see art movements within games themes, as well as mechanics. There was a sizable market for multiple morality games. Likewise, there is room in the hobby games market for multiple games about Renaissance Italy or WWII. I expect, though I have not looked, that games about certain themes come in waves, just as do games with certain mechanics.)

Considering the movements or periods of game mechanics, games are similar to any designed object: cups or chairs or cars. They seem different because we use and interact with games for a longer period and for different reasons. But how we look at these other objects in design terms should guide how we look at games.

"

BGWS 057 – Small World

BGWS 057 – Small World: "

Small World is a light battle game where players guide various fantasy races in surviving a land grab in a Small World. (18:00)

Days of Wonder has remade Vinci into a lighter battle game called Small World. In this game, players take on races of fantasy characters on a land that is too small for them and wacky battles ensue!

You can download Board Games with Scott 057 – Small World from the Internet Archive. (other formats available).

Or, you can watch it here through Vimeo:
BGWS 057: Small World from Scott Nicholson on Vimeo.

You can purchase Small World through Funagain Games!

To discuss this episode, visit Board Game Geek.

If you decide to get Small World because of this video, please let Days of Wonder know! This makes a difference. Disclaimer: I did get a review copy of this game from the publisher.

"

Fairy Tale:: Reviews:: Draft a Fairy Tale

Fairy Tale:: Reviews:: Draft a Fairy Tale: "

by miinin

This is my first ever review on BGG, so please bear with me...



What's in the box?



The name of the game is a bit misleading, 'cos there is no story telling nor plot in this game. You get a deck of 100 cards with a more or less anime-like-pictures (depending on the publisher)... Some hate the art, some love it, I couldn't care less... The art or even the theme isn't that big a deal in Fairy Tale - it could as well be a zombie adventure or a sci-fi game and all you'd have to do, is to rename the cards and change the art.



The cards are divided to four different types:

1. Evil-shadowy-black, with demons, vampires, werewolfs and such

2. Wimpy white with knights and old men

3. Green dragon theme

4. Red fairies



Each of 'em having pretty much nothing that separetes one color from another... Well, the white has potentiality to negate some black cards before they get anything done and the black can negate cards from other colors later on... I'll explain this a bit later.



What do I do with the stuff in the box?



The gameplay is really simple:

you and up to four other players are dealt five cards each, you pick one and pass the remaining four to the player on your left, receiving four cards from your right, pick one up, pass it to your left and...ah, you got it already. After a while you have five cards of which you'll play three and remove the remaining two from the game - if everything goes as planned, you'll pick three cards you really need and two cards your opponent might wanna get. Each player choose the first card they wanna play and the cards are revealed simultaneously with their possible effects resolved. Then the same is done for the second and third cards.



There are two states for the cards in Fairy Tale: open (face up) and closed (face down). When certain cards are played they can change the state of other cards, either from the cards that the other players revealed at same time or from the cards played previously ... Some cards close cards, others open the previously closed ones and you'd like to close as many cards from the opponent as possible and keep your own ones open, 'cos in the end, only open cards are counted for points... And points decide the winner.



So, when you have drafted five cards, played three of 'em and seen the others do the same, you'll do the same again, drafting to opposite direction and knowing something about what the opponents are planning.

Draft is repeated total of four times, so you'll pick total of 20 cards and play 12 of 'em - cumulatively getting and giving information about the game plans... With the 12 cards you'll need to make as good combination as you can, while also keeping eye on your opponent so that you can hinder their combinations.



In the end the cards give you points in various ways: some give you points on the number of the similar cards you have in play, two of 'em give you two points each, three of 'em give you three points each, so more the merrier! Some cards give you points if you have most cards of one color or type, some cards are allied together, so that if you have 'em both, you'll get bonus points and so forth.





What do I think about it?



Fairy Tale plays in about 15-20 minutes, it's pretty light, yet there is some tactical depth and it suretenly is fun to play! I've only played it with two and three players and I liked it better with two... You'll have a way more interaction and have more control of the game that way. The only problem with two players is that you'll only use 40% of the deck and there are some cards that only have one copy, so there is a 60% chance, that the card you'd wanna draft isn't even available... But on the other hand that forces you to think twice on what you'll pick...



Of course there are some downsides... There is one card that you'll pick 99 times out of 100, 'cos it's just that good - even if you have no use for it yourself (which is almost impossible) you don't want to give it to your opponent... There is only one copy of that card, but it gives you a nice edge if picked early on. The card is called 'Trickster' and it can be named as any card in the end, so you can get easy points with it and even pick valuable cards that you other way couldn't use. In a balanced game there should be no autopilot choices like this one.



Some might consider the length of the game as a downside, but I like the fast phased action with quick results - at least with this game... But on the other hand the ammount of luck is highish, especially with three or more players.



I wasn't really expecting anything from this game, I bought it for ~15€ and it was unplayed for months... But when we played it on a train trip, it was really a positive surprise! It's easy to take on a such trip 'cos all you need is the 100 cards - and you can play it almost anywhere as it needs very little space. Fairy Tale is an excellent travel game or a filler and at least I really feel, that the money I spent on this one, was money well spent.



Fairy Tale

Fairy Tale on rails"