How to Play

Small World

2-5 players 40-80 min 7.2 Board Game Geek Rating

Players control fantasy races competing for territory on an overcrowded world. Each turn, expand your active race across adjacent lands or let it decline while choosing a new race. Different races possess unique special powers that affect gameplay. Score points for each occupied territory at turn's end. Victory goes to whoever accumulates the most points after all rounds conclude.

Published 2009

Get Ready

Setup the game with these step-by-step instructions before diving into your turn.

Configure player count rules

Apply 2-player only rules or 2-6 player rules based on your game size

Two races each variant (2 players)

Each player controls 2 races, combining gold into a shared pile from both races

Remove Kobolds (2 players only)

Exclude Kobolds from the game as they are overpowered and boring in 2-player games

Adjust Marauding token counts

Reduce race tokens for races with 6+ tokens when paired with Marauding:

Adjust Historian tokens

Receive 3 tokens instead of 5 when selecting Historians

On Your Turn

What you can do during your turn.

Pay tribute before conquests

Pay 1 gold to the bank before new conquests (except your 1st conquest of the game)

Alternate race order (2 players)

Player 1 plays race 1, then Player 2 plays race 2, then Player 1 plays race 3, then Player 2 plays race 4; repeat every round

Attack your own race if needed

You may attack your own 2nd active race and in-decline races according to base rules

Use Sorcerers power (2 players)

Once per turn, use on stacks of more than 1 token to automatically defeat it, but pay 1 gold per token past the first

Use Drakons dragons (2 players)

Dragons provide -2 to conquest instead of automatic victory

Attack mines with Dwarves (2 players)

Dwarves attack mines with -1 to the conquest requirement

Redeploy Elves

Return only half (rounded up) of killed elves to your hand instead of all

Defend with White Ladies

Active White Ladies receive +1 to defense when attacked

Roll for Pygmies

At the start of every turn (except before first conquest), roll a reinforcement die and receive that many extra Pygmies from storage

Steal Leprechaun coins

Enemies must roll 1-3 to obtain the leprechaun coin from a conquered region

Position Drow freely

Drow may be adjacent to lost tribes and monsters without losing their ability

Collect Corrupt tribute (2 players)

Opponents pay you 1 gold starting with the second region conquered, not the first

Collect Liches tribute (2 players)

Opponents pay you 1 gold starting with the second in-decline region conquered

Score with Historians

Gain 1 gold for each in-decline region (yours or opponent's, not lost tribes) adjacent to your Historians

Enter with Airborne (first turn only)

Enter anywhere on the board, attack with -1, and fly over water areas making regions across water adjacent

Use Vengeful markers

Give one vengeance marker per conquest made against you; each marker allows one attack at -1, killing two enemy tokens; if only one token exists, also kill one adjacent token

Infect with Were- power

Instead of discarding one enemy token during conquest, that token remains (decline side up) as an infected token you control

Redeploy Tomb in decline

In-decline Tomb race may redeploy before your active race's turn

Winning

How to claim victory.

Score in-decline Dwarves

Dwarves keep all race tokens when going into decline and score normally, but cannot redeploy them

Score Priestesses ivory towers

When going into decline, stack one extra token (two in 2-player games) from any region to form one or two ivory towers; score 1 gold per token as usual

Conquer Tomb tokens permanently

When conquering in-decline Tomb tokens, discard all conquered tokens permanently (they cannot return)

Track shared gold (2 players)

Add gold from both of your races into a single shared pile for final scoring