Custom Small World Race - Elder Dragons

It's the last day of March so I'm making the last post for the Small World Board Game Month for the blog... but it's not the last of the Small World content I have to share. There's more to come including more races, special powers, and a few extras; but for now, named after my favorite variant of Magic the Gathering (similarities stop there), here's the Elder Dragons!

At the end of your turn, instead of scoring a Victory coin for each region you occupy, place 3 Victory coins from the bank face up on each occupied region, if it has no coins and it is not your last turn of the game. In following turns, increase 3 coins to 5, then 5 coins to 10. At the end of any turn in which the region holds 10 Victory coins, or on your last turn of the game, remove and add the coins on the region to your stash. At the end of a turn in which you removed 10 Victory coins, place 3 new Victory coins on the region unless it was your last turn of the game. Coins on a region are lost if you abandon it. If the region is conquered, add the current coins on the region to your stash, and take one Victory coin from the conquering opponent, if that player has coins remaining. While In Decline, including the turn they go into Decline, you score 3 Victory coins for each Elder Dragon region, and any coins remaining on a region are returned to the bank. Finally, if a special power would allow you to score bonus Victory coins, you may take those directly into your stash as normal.  

A wall of rules text for such few tokens!

White Ladies and the Challenge of Elder Dragons

If you have played a lot of games of Small World and own or have tried different expansions (in this case, Grand Dames of Small World), introduced new players to the game, play the app, or have a regular gaming group, you have probably had White Ladies come up on the list of races. 

White Ladies are the only race in Small World that has two as their base token number, for a total of only 7 possible race tokens if paired with a special power that grants 5 tokens (9 total if you happen to get the Hordes of White Ladies combination). When you put White Ladies into Decline, each region they occupy becomes immune, forever yours until you put another race into Decline to take their place, but, if your experience has been anything like mine, they are seldom, if ever, picked. Even when explaining their rules to new players, instinctively, they tend to go for other race and power combinations that they feel sound like the better choice, and they're probably right. 

White Ladies occupy an interesting design space in Small World - they're the lowest population race in the game, have a powerful In Decline effect, but their success still hinges on them spreading out and holding regions, making them a poor choice compared to other alternatives. Despite their In Decline power, it's safe to say that they are universally considered the least powerful race in the game. I wanted the challenge of coming up with something that would make an effective 2-token base race. 

For me, the answer to getting around the inherent weakness of low population was to allow the race to generate Victory coins by holding less while slowly building more. Thematically, the notion of a great ancient dragon in the vein of Smaug, greedily brooding over his hoard of treasure, not wishing to be disturbed (and exerting great wrath if someone does), fit this idea perfectly. 

Part of the challenge mechanically was preventing the Elder Dragons player to be rewarded too hastily for their choice - it takes 3 turns of occupying a region after the initial conquest (then again every 2 turns thereafter) to generate 10 Victory coins for it, during which your opponents will have ample opportunity to stop you. However, in doing so they will gain no benefit for displacing you from your lair - they'll have to give up a Victory coin, essentially earning none for their conquest. This means that in a multiplayer game, someone is going to have to bite the bullet, or allow you to go on. The Elder Dragons player is also losing a lot in this interaction - by holding less regions, more areas of the map are opened up to your opponents, who may then spread out, Decline, and move on to their next race, leaving you in a world of hurt when you finally decide it's time to put the Dragons out to pasture and the board is full of enemy tokens both declined and active. In addition to this, by being conquered, you lose a token, making it much harder for you to overcome diminishing returns and claim regions to replace the ones lost - better have that reinforcement die ready.   

In decline, Elder Dragons generate 3 Victory coins, including the turn you put them into Decline. You're not likely to be spread out over many regions, so your opponents will want to stamp out the In Decline Dragons as soon as possible. This is also useful early on in the game, when you may not want to stick with Elder Dragons for the amount of turns it will take to earn substantial paydays. 

In the early game, Elder Dragons are especially great with the Stout special power, allowing you to collect a decent payday while forcing your opponents to begin by conquering your in Decline regions, and the Underworld, Seafaring, and Flying special powers, which will allow you to spread out over the map and be harder to reach in one go. When you want to stick with them for a longer period of time, especially in the mid to late game, defensive special powers such as Fortified, Heroic, and Bivouacking are great.

Custom Small World Race - Transmogrifiers

For week 4 of Small World Board Game Month, here's the Transmogrifiers!

Once per turn per opponent, your Transmogrifiers can substitute an opponent's In Decline token adjacent to an active Transmogrifiers Region with a Lost Tribe token taken from the tray, if there are Lost Tribe tokens available, or; once per turn, you may conquer a Lost Tribe region adjacent to an active Transmogrifiers region by substituting the Lost Tribe token with an active Transmogrifiers race token taken from the tray or your hand. In Decline tokens replaced must be the only token in the Region (so multiple In Decline Ghouls on the same region are immune!).  

Transmogs set!

The Transmogrifiers derive their name from Calvin and Hobbes - the Transmogrifier was a large cardboard box that turned one thing into another and appeared frequently throughout the strip. Bringing in my love of horror movies and gaming, the inspiration for the mechanics of Transmogrifiers was John Carpenter's "The Thing", which metamorphoses into a mimic of other organisms, and the attacks of Magikoopas in Super Mario World for SNES which could turn purple Turning Blocks into enemy Koopas. Similarly, the Transmogrifiers are able to grow their ranks by turning enemy In Decline tokens into Lost Tribes, or Lost Tribes into more Transmogrifiers. Because of this, the Trangmogrifiers come with 5-base race tokens to a maximum of 15 possible tokens.     

You can download the ready-to-print PDF here.

Maybe it's time to make some special powers

Custom Small World Race - Khans

Week 3 of Small World Board Game Month is here! Pay tribute to the Khans!

Khans do not score Victory coins for regions they occupy while active, instead, for each Khan Region, collect a Victory coin from each opponent for each Region their active race occupies that is adjacent to that Khan region. You may collect multiple coins from an opponent whose active race controls a Region sharing a border with multiple Khan regions. You only receive coins if an opponent has coins remaining, and if their active region is not Immune due to a racial or special power. If a special power (such as “Merchant”, “Forest”, etc) would allow them to collect a bonus Victory coin, Khans may gain those from the bank as normal. While In Decline, including the turn they go in Decline, Khans score one Victory coin for each Region they occupy as normal.

An assembled set of Khans

The Khans are a low-population race that focuses on aggression through economics - they don't earn coins for their own regions, but rather, take coins from active races in adjacent regions. They are intended to be an answer to the highly offensive race and power combinations that tend to be most popular and effective in regular gameplay - stuff like Commando/Berserk/Marauding Amazons, Ratmen, Skeletons and sometimes Orcs that are usually able to take out many enemy tokens while still spreading through the board. Khans tend to normalize the gold these powerful race/power combos have earned while earning a modest amount of Victory coins for their own coffers. They will eventually and inevitably draw the attention of other races and suffer when players answer them by going into decline or there's no active enemy races in play. 

Use the Download button on the right side of the page to get the ready-to-print Khans pdf!

Custom Small World Race - Frost Titans

It's week two of Small World board game month and with it comes the chilly Frost Titans!

Frost Titans place a Frost Rune token in the first region they conquer, and may conquer any Mountain region using a single token. A minimum of one Frost Titan token is still required. The Frost Rune token makes the region immune to enemy conquests and racial and special powers while the Frost Titans are active, and is not removed if you abandon the Region (but you must still occupy the region to score Victory coins). The region containing the Frost Rune token may be conquered by Frost Titans using a single token. A minimum of one Frost Titan token is still required. When the Frost Titans go into Decline, the Frost Rune token remains on the board - it no longer grants immunity but adds defense to its Region for the rest of the game. 

My set of Frost Titans, used for testing.

The Frost Titans specialize in taking over mountain regions, so Giants beware! They are, however, not a very populous race so they may be played defensively by taking advantage of their Frost Rune region and the additional defense of Mountain regions. On the offensive, their Frost Rune negates a region from your opponents while you set up shop on Mountains effortlessly. In decline, the Frost Titans effectively add another Mountain to the board, as their Frost Rune stays on the map granting defense to the Frost Rune region for the remainder of the game.

Use the download button on the right side of the page to get the Frost Titans pdf!

Custom Small World Race - Relic Knights

I'm super pumped to start off the first week of the Small World Board Game month with the Relic Knights!

What do these guys do and how do they play?! ....

Before your first conquest, select an opponent to place the Relic token in a region. The region holding the Relic token may not be Immune, be made Immune, or be a sea or lake region. The Relic Knights may never enter the board in a region or adjacent to a region containing the Relic token. The Relic token may not be placed in a region already containing a Relic Knight race token. At the end of any turn in which your Relic Knights occupy the region containing the Relic token, remove it; take a new Relic Knight token from the tray, add it to the troops you redeploy, and collect a bonus Victory coin. Then, select a new opponent (if available) to place the Relic token in a new region. Remove the Relic token when the Relic Knights go into Decline.

Assembled Relic Knights set

In multiplayer, the Relic Knights will turn you into a political weapon as opponents place their coveted Relic amid one another's active regions. In 1v1 play, an opponent that is content to allow the Relic Knights to obtain their Relic in exchange for the freedom to expand will soon find they've made a mistake leaving you unchecked as you run down their regions with inflated ranks. Be aware that if the Relic Knights are not your first race of the game, the Relic token is just as likely to end up in your own In Decline regions.

If you play Small World, I really hope you try it out, and I'd love to hear your feedback and anecdotes! This is just the beginning of Small World Board Game month for this blog, and as you might be able to tell from the site's banner, a lot of work has been done and there's a lot left to come! I can't wait! 

Use the download button on the right side of the page to get the Relic Knights pdf!

It's Smallworld Board Game month!

To celebrate a game I love, I'm making March the Smallworld Board Game month on Moopy Saves Summer! I said in the last post that I was excited about a Smallworld board game project and this is it... it started with a single custom race and once I got going, I couldn't stop - now each week in March, I will post a new downloadable custom race for the Smallworld board game!

That's 5 new custom races for Smallworld, at the highest design and presentation quality standards possible, totally for free. These packs will be ready-to-print at the same size as Small World game pieces, so you can cut and paste as desired. My plan is to be able to fill an entire Smallworld expansion tray with fun and unique custom races so additional races, special powers and Leaders of Small World tokens are likely, even after March.

Days of Wonder, the publisher of Smallworld, is very open to community involvement with the game, which is super cool and exciting, and I'll be glad to be able to use the blank game pieces that came with the base game for my own races, I hope you try them out as well!

Smallworld base game

If you have not tried the Smallworld board game, then needless to say, I recommend it! It was designed by Philippe Keyaerts and can be described as a tweaked and more entertaining version of 'Risk', with a lighthearted tone, random pairings of unique fantasy races and special powers, and gameplay that is casually strategic and perfect for gatherings. If you have a spare 40 bucks and are looking to try a new game, I can't recommend it enough. The game and most of its expansions are also available digitally, as an app. Lately we have been playing Smallworld on the ipad on flights and airport bars, when going out for pizza, and on our balcony on rainy days – it's just perfect casual fun.

base game race tokens

DOWNLOAD AND READ ABOUT EACH RACE HERE 

March 2nd - Custom Race Week 1: Relic Knights

March 13th - Custom Race Week 2: Frost Titans

March 19th - Custom Race Week 3: Khans

March 25th - Custom Race Week 4: Transmogrifiers

March 31st - Custom Race Week 4: Elder Dragons

moopy saves summer race tokens