Hands On With Small World Of Warcraft

The World of Warcraft re-theme for the classic board game Small World is truly the best version of the game.

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Small World is one of my favorite board games because it adapts incredibly well based on how many players you have and every game is a totally unique experience. It’s fairly casual but it’s a great introduction to more hardcore strategy games for players that are curious about the genre. It’s one of the first games I break out for any group looking for a board game night that’s a bit more engaged than Cards Against Humanity because I don’t have to worry that it will go over anyone’s head or leave new/younger players behind.

Small World of Warcraft is a new Warcraft-themed variant of the classic game that, as it turns out, is so much more than a thematic reskin. Small World of Warcraft feels like a true sequel to Small World — perhaps more so than the mobile version of the game, Small World 2 — because it innovates on the core strengths of the original takes every opportunity to rebalance and improve an already phenomenal game. Small World of Warcraft doesn’t rely on a deep knowledge of Warcraft lore or mechanics and is just as accessible as the original, while also improving on it in small, but meaningful ways.

Azeroth, But Smaller

Small World of Warcraft essentially the same game as Small World with 3 major improvements. The first of which is the game board. The original Small World comes with 4 different game boards that correspond to the number of players. A 2-player game is played on the smallest board, a 3-player game on the next smallest, and so on. While Small World games are always unique because of random arrangements of races and powers, the boards themselves are static and always the same.

Small World of Warcraft takes a new approach. Included are 6 double-sided islands of 3 different sizes that can be mixed and matched to make up the game board. 2-player games use a random small and large island, while 5-player games use 2 large, 1 medium, and 2 small. Not only is this thematically aligned with Azeroth’s continents, but it’s also a great way to keep every game fresh and unique.

Artifacts And Legendary Places

The second new mechanic for this version of Small World are artifacts and legendary places. These are bonus objectives placed on each island at the beginning of the game that have a variety of effects. Some will provide bonus points to the race that occupies the most regions adjacent to it while others allow the race that discovers it to conquer additional regions.

These points of interest improve the strategic options by giving you more choices on your turn. They create some mystery at the beginning of each game as players race to discover what the bonus will be. It’s a great edition because it complicates the game in a way that’s fairly easy to keep straight among the list of rules in your head, but has the opportunity to add a lot more depth to the gameplay.

Factions Alternate Game Modes

It wouldn’t be World of Warcraft without faction bonuses, and luckily Small World of Warcraft has a really elegant way of baking factions into the core gameplay. Every race is labeled Alliance, Horde, or Neutral, and attacking races of an opposing faction provide bonus points at the end of the round. Again, it fits the theme perfectly, but what makes it a great new mechanic is that its something that it’s the kind of rule that can be ignored until players feel confident enough with the game to include additional layers. Advanced rule sets are always welcome because they further increase replayability.

To that end, there’s actually aa ruleset in the box for an alternate Alliance vs. Horde game mode. In this mode, Small World becomes a team game as each faction competes for regions to control. The races and powers are not pre-assembled in this game mode, rather they are separated into piles for Alliance and Horde and each team will only have access to their corresponding races.

This game mode is drastically different from the regular game and encourages teamwork in a way Small World never has, but it totally works. The only score that matters at the end of the game is the player with the lowest score of each faction, so it takes a lot of planning and even playing potentially bad turns to figure out how to win. It’s still definitely best to learn the core game first, but this new game mode is an excellent addition that feels like World of Warcraft turned into a board game.

The Superior Small World

I wouldn’t recommend this normally for themed board games, but if you’re interested in Small World or are getting it as a gift — go with Small World of Warcraft. Even if it’s not for a Warcraft fan, Small World of Warcraft is simply the superior game. It improves on the original and includes way more content and replayability. The original Small World has a number of expansions that add new races and powers and, with the island format Small World of Warcraft uses, I’d love to see expansion for this game as well.

A copy of Small World of Warcraft was provided to TheGamer for this review. Small World of Warcraft is available now at the Blizzard Gear Store and major retailers.

Link Source : https://www.thegamer.com/small-world-of-warcraft-preview/