Board Game - Small World: River World (expansion)

Attention! This is an expansion. You will need the base version "Small World" to play.

"River World" is an expansion for Small World that will open new horizons of the Small World! Now you will be able to collect even more coins by acquiring and managing ports, and visit the most remote corners using caravels. But beware – fate is in the hands of the capricious sea! Storms, pirate raids, and bitter frosts will become your constant companions. It may be useful to consult the seers to be prepared for the trials... Are you ready to conquer the river world?

 

Small World, or "Маленький мир" in Russian, is one of the most famous board games, first released in 2009 and still popular today. The game belongs to strategic games, combining serious mechanics with a playful approach to the setting and genre in general. Just looking at the character design will immerse you in the game's atmosphere.

There will be a fierce expansionist war for lands among players. Very small and limited lands… It's no coincidence the game is called "Small World", as not all races will fit here. Speaking of races – there are many in the game, and each has its own features. Amazons are extremely aggressive, ratfolk are simply numerous, dwarves are effective on captured mines, and so on.

You will need to choose a fantasy race and its ability, and then try to conquer the surrounding lands and collect as many coins as possible. Over time, your race will spread wider across the world (just like the one you just crushed into dust), and you will have to abandon it to rise to the head of a new one.

By skillfully managing races, using various additional abilities, promptly leading races into decline, and adjusting your strategy to the situation on the world map, you will surely carve your path to victory!

The game starts with selecting a suitable map for the number of players. After this, various objects, like mountains which are harder to capture and tokens of the forgotten tribe, which act as a neutral force holding players back from too quickly capturing the map at the beginning of the game, must be placed on the map.

Randomly assigned starting races are placed next to the map, each with various abilities added to them. As you can understand, the variations can be huge, from Swamp Wizards to Flying Giants, some offer strategic flexibility, others additional power, and others extra gold. In addition, each race has its own population, meaning a different number of tokens at your disposal. Players will choose one of the combinations, which is how they will start their military exploits. You must use various abilities as effectively and profitably as possible to acquire more coins.

 

The flow of the game proceeds as follows:

1. Choosing a race or leading it into decline – at the very beginning of the game, you choose your starting race with an ability. The topmost combination is free, each subsequent one costs one more coin, and payment is made in such a way that you leave one coin on each race above yours. Subsequently, the player who chose the race with the coins takes them for themselves.

During the game, you can lead your race into decline. This is beneficial when continuing effective capture is no longer possible, and you want to preserve the captured lands. All race tokens on the board are flipped to the gray side, and only one token can be on a region, meaning you won’t be able to build a defense. The ability token is discarded, and your turn ends immediately with point calculation – regions still provide income. At the start of your next turn, you can choose a new race with an ability and immediately send it to capture.

2. Capturing regions – a new race can only capture from bordering zones. To capture, you must move two of your race's tokens onto the border or neighboring region plus one additional for each token of another race (as well as for tokens of mountains, fortresses, etc.). The defending player will lose one token from the region but will be able to relocate their remaining forces at the end of your turn.

When you perform your last capture in your turn, you can use a reinforcement die. Lady Luck may grant you from 1 to 3 "virtual" tokens, allowing you to capture a region even with just one token. Whether you get lucky or not, this capture will be the last action in this turn.

After the last capture, you can redistribute all your forces, strengthening the regions you consider most valuable or likely to be attacked by your opponent.

3. Collecting coins – at the end of your turn, you receive one coin for each region you control, including those where races are in decline.

Who won?
The game lasts a certain number of rounds, depending on the map and thus the number of players. When all players have taken their turns in the last round, a final score count occurs. The player who collected the most coins throughout the game wins.

Contents:
- 2 double-sided boards
- 11 event tokens
- Caravel token
- 12 pirate ship tokens
- Expansion rules

Game duration: 40 to 80 minutes
Number of players: 2 to 5