3 Reasons to Pick Up Small World of Warcraft

Small World of Warcraft is a table-top from Days of Wonder that combines the mechanics of Small World, a game where players vie for conquest and control of a world that is simply too small to accommodate them all, with Blizzard Entertainment’s World of Warcraft universe. The game is set on Blizzard’s fantasy world of Azeroth, where the races of the Alliance and the Horde—including Orcs, Dwarves, Trolls, and Worgen—clash in a world-consuming conflict.

With each game taking between 40 and 80 minutes, Small World of Warcraft is fun, quick to learn, and a great addition to the World of Warcraft universe. Here are three reasons why you should buy this tabletop from the Blizzard Gear Store now.

Choices, Replay Value, and the Bang for Your Buck

When it comes to choosing a tabletop, it’s a little different than a video game. With these, you need to take into account how often it can be replayed to varying effect with different groups of people. Thankfully, Small World of Warcraft, with it’s $59.99 price tag, is well worth the investment for small and large game nights alike.

In Small World of Warcraft, you choose combinations of special powers and races from the Warcraft universe, such as Portal Mage Pandaren or Herbalist Goblins, and vie for control of Azeroth. With 16 Warcraft Race banner options, the game helps ensure that you can play it over and over and have a new experience each time. To help you achieve dominance in Azeroth, you will occupy legendary places and seek control of powerful artifacts. However, all empires must eventually fall, so players will have to make hard decisions and allow an overextended race under their control to fall into decline in order to allow a new one to vie for control of Azeroth.

Small World of Warcraft comes with a lot of parts in the box. It includes six double-sided boards, 16 Warcraft Race banners, 182 Matching Race tokens and 15 Murloc tokens, 20 Unique Special Power badges, 5 Player Summary Sheets, 12 Artifact and Legendary place markers, 10 Mountains, 9 Wisp Walls, 4 Harmony tokens, 12 Bombs, 1 Champion, 10 Forts, 2 Military Objectives, 5 Beasts, 6 Watch Towers, 110 Victory coins, 1 Custom Reinforcement die, 1 Game turn tracker, 1 Game turn marker, 1 rulebook, and 1 Team Variant Rules sheet.

Easy to Learn

Now, with so many pieces in one small package, the parts of Small World of Warcraft can feel overwhelming, especially for newcomers to this game type. That said, the mechanics of the game are pretty straightforward and personally felt like a progression from games like Settlers of Catan. While this isn’t an entry-level game, it is one that can be fun for any type of player from casual to deep into tabletops.

If you’re not familiar with Small World, the game has players pick a race and special power and then turns them loose to conquer and expand their empires, which means knocking their weaker neighbors off the board. These mechanics are exactly what happens in Small World of Warcraft but with the Blizzard twist. On each turn, you use the tiles of your chosen race to occupy the adjacent ones – regardless of whether they’re occupied by enemies or not. This works perfectly for the world of Azeroth where the Horde and the Alliance are broken up by their races and at war with each other. But you can also let your race go into decline by giving up on it in order to preserve other territories you’ve taken. At the end of your turn, you score one point (in the form of coins) for each territory your race occupies. You may have one active race and one race in decline on the board at the same time and at the end of the final round, the player with the most coins wins.

While it takes some time to get into the swing of things, the learning curve is not steep. In fact, after a few turns, you quickly learn how to move, fight, and conquer. The hardest part is learning when to let your race decline and when to keep pushing into other territories.

A Perfect Blend

Small World and World of Warcraft are extremely compatible. If you love World of Warcraft or Small World, you’ll love how Days of Wonder blended them together. Additionally, as a stand-alone game, there’s no barrier to entry.  You don’t need to be familiar with either IP to get into this adaptation. In fact, you can play the game with people who have never logged into a BattleNet before. But if you head to Azeroth on the regular, then you’ll get even more joy out of it – especially if you have a strong connection to Horde or Alliance as a whole.  Plus, Small World of Warcraft features a variety of new and exclusive artwork that captures the feel of the colorful and vibrant Warcraft universe. If you’re looking for a World of Warcraft tabletop, then short of commissioning your own personally written D&D campaign, this game is the way to go.

While it’s not the best to go out into the world right now and congregate, a small game night at home is doable, and Small World of Warcraft is the perfect way to do so.

Small World of Warcraft is available now in North America and Europe at a suggested retail price of $59.99/€59.99 and will be available in the following languages: English, French, German, Spanish, Italian, Polish, Brazilian Portuguese, Czech, Slovak, Simplified Chinese, and Traditional Chinese. Fans can purchase the game from the Blizzard Gear Store as well as other retails stores and online through our affiliate link.