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Product Details
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Product Description
From the Manufacturer
Small World Underground is a stand-alone game set beneath the surface of the same fun, light-hearted Small World universe of epic conquests and fallen empires. Featuring new Races and Special Powers, it also introduces a new twist to the original game play - Monster occupied regions that protect Relics and Places of great power. While more daunting to conquer, these bestow even greater powers to their owner. Like previous Small World expansions which sold out quickly, this sequel to the best-selling Small World board game (over 100,000 sold world wide) is sure to be a hit with fans. Small World Underground can be played on its own or combined with other Small World game elements, as many of the Races and Sepcial Powers from the original game and previous expansions are compatible. Recommended for experienced Small World players, the game includes: 2 double-Sided Game Boards, 15 New Fantasy Races with matching banners and tokens, 21 New Special Power badges, 9 Popular Places and 6 Righteous Relics, 106 Victory Coins, dozens of additional special tokens, 5 Player and 1 Game Turn Summary Sheets, 1 Reinforcement Die, and Rules Booklet.
Product Description
Small World Underground is a stand-alone game set beneath the surface of the same fun, light-hearted Small World universe of epic conquests and fallen empires. Featuring new Races and Special Powers, it also introduces a new twist to the original game play - Monster occupied regions that protect Relics and Places of great power. While more daunting to conquer, these bestow even greater powers to their owner. Like previous Small World expansions which sold out quickly, this sequel to the best-selling Small World board game (over 100,000 sold world wide) is sure to be a hit with fans. Small World Underground can be played on its own or combined with other Small World game elements, as many of the Races and Sepcial Powers from the original game and previous expansions are compatible. Recommended for experienced Small World players, the game includes: 2 double-Sided Game Boards, 15 New Fantasy Races with matching banners and tokens, 21 New Special Power badges, 9 Popular Places and 6 Righteous Relics, 106 Victory Coins, dozens of additional special tokens, 5 Player and 1 Game Turn Summary Sheets, 1 Reinforcement Die, and Rules Booklet.
Customer Reviews
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
13 of 13 people found the following review helpful
By C. Telenko
Durability:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Educational:
2.0 out of 5 stars
Fun:
5.0 out of 5 stars
I've played both Smallworld and Smallworld: Underground. Game mechanics are almost identical. Underground adds relics and items to the mix, which can be fun, overpowered or useless. Overall, I don't think that these upset the balance of the game. Rather, these items encourage more warfare, and I appreciate that.
I like the artwork much better for underground and the races are much more interesting.
I agree with other posters that some races and abilities are downright useless and there is not a lot of balance to the game in that respect. I sometimes found myself choosing the best of the worst races. Regardless, the game is balanced enough that I would buy Smallworld: Underground instead of Smallworld because I think it's more interesting in the aesthetics, mechanics and races.
The new abilities and rules are not as clear as they could be. Specifically, the "vanishing" ability is puzzling. It states that one may remove all race tokens when going into decline and receive two tokens for each region "instead of one." The instead part references some rule that I can't find in the book.
Pros:
Artwork
Relics
Races
Overall clarity and presentation of instructions
Multiple boards depending upon the number of players
Cons:
Some underwhelming abilities
Not as balanced as the original Smallworld
Clarity of some instructions could be improved
I like the artwork much better for underground and the races are much more interesting.
I agree with other posters that some races and abilities are downright useless and there is not a lot of balance to the game in that respect. I sometimes found myself choosing the best of the worst races. Regardless, the game is balanced enough that I would buy Smallworld: Underground instead of Smallworld because I think it's more interesting in the aesthetics, mechanics and races.
The new abilities and rules are not as clear as they could be. Specifically, the "vanishing" ability is puzzling. It states that one may remove all race tokens when going into decline and receive two tokens for each region "instead of one." The instead part references some rule that I can't find in the book.
Pros:
Artwork
Relics
Races
Overall clarity and presentation of instructions
Multiple boards depending upon the number of players
Cons:
Some underwhelming abilities
Not as balanced as the original Smallworld
Clarity of some instructions could be improved
11 of 11 people found the following review helpful
Durability:
3.0 out of 5 stars
Educational:
3.0 out of 5 stars
Fun:
4.0 out of 5 stars
I thoroughly enjoyed the original Smallworld and own all of the expansions, so admittedly my review of SW Underground is influenced by my familiarity with the theme and mechanics (which are found in this game as well), but here's what I like about Underground on its own merit:
1. The monster tokens. Defeating monsters gives you control of a special artifact or adds a special bonus feature to that territory. Most of these are essentially the equivalent of having a second special power, so controlling them (even when your race is in decline) adds a new level of strategy not found in the original game.
2. The river. Any race can cross it, which can be an advantage or disadvantage depending on your race/power combo, but it's different from the original game which only allowed a "seafaring" race to control the lake, forcing everyone else to go around it.
3. New races and powers. Most of these suit the "underground" theme well, and several abilities are designed to take advantage of the new board features.
And now for the minimal gripes, which are basically the same as with the original Smallworld:
1. The occasional random super/useless-combo. I love the variety of races and special powers, but sometimes a player just ends up getting one right after the other that are just really tough to beat, or completely useless based on the current board situation. No, it's not always balanced. For me, this doesn't take much out of the fun of playing, but for others it does.
2. Having to check the reference sheet every couple of minutes due to the sheer variety of races and powers. If you've already played Smallworld, then most of them will make sense right away. Otherwise you'll probably have to play a few games to figure them all out.
I personally don't like trying to combine both the original and SW Underground. It's not very fluid, and not all of the races and powers translate from one game to the other, so I recommend playing this one on its own. That said, even if you don't have the original, if you like conquest games like Risk, but would rather play a more lighthearted game in under 2 hours, this is a great choice. Typical Days of Wonder quality components, humorous fantasy artwork, and gameplay that's bound to generate some great one-liners around the table. "Hello, Muddy Spiderines... my Immortal Kraken shall be washing you away now!"
1. The monster tokens. Defeating monsters gives you control of a special artifact or adds a special bonus feature to that territory. Most of these are essentially the equivalent of having a second special power, so controlling them (even when your race is in decline) adds a new level of strategy not found in the original game.
2. The river. Any race can cross it, which can be an advantage or disadvantage depending on your race/power combo, but it's different from the original game which only allowed a "seafaring" race to control the lake, forcing everyone else to go around it.
3. New races and powers. Most of these suit the "underground" theme well, and several abilities are designed to take advantage of the new board features.
And now for the minimal gripes, which are basically the same as with the original Smallworld:
1. The occasional random super/useless-combo. I love the variety of races and special powers, but sometimes a player just ends up getting one right after the other that are just really tough to beat, or completely useless based on the current board situation. No, it's not always balanced. For me, this doesn't take much out of the fun of playing, but for others it does.
2. Having to check the reference sheet every couple of minutes due to the sheer variety of races and powers. If you've already played Smallworld, then most of them will make sense right away. Otherwise you'll probably have to play a few games to figure them all out.
I personally don't like trying to combine both the original and SW Underground. It's not very fluid, and not all of the races and powers translate from one game to the other, so I recommend playing this one on its own. That said, even if you don't have the original, if you like conquest games like Risk, but would rather play a more lighthearted game in under 2 hours, this is a great choice. Typical Days of Wonder quality components, humorous fantasy artwork, and gameplay that's bound to generate some great one-liners around the table. "Hello, Muddy Spiderines... my Immortal Kraken shall be washing you away now!"
7 of 8 people found the following review helpful
By myname
Amazon Verified Purchase
Durability:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Educational:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Fun:
5.0 out of 5 stars
I love this game. It is much more aggressive than the original game, and really shines when playing with 4-5 players. The addition of relics and special places to fight over really put the smaller, more aggressive map to full use. Essentially these bonuses are powerful enough to really justify several people ganging up one one person with no hard feelings. You simply cannot let others do as they please on this board.
The rules and powers in this game are much more complex in general in SW:U though. I would say although standalone, this game should only be picked up after having already learned Small World. I found that it was much harder for new players to pick up and get into this game than the original.
The rules and powers in this game are much more complex in general in SW:U though. I would say although standalone, this game should only be picked up after having already learned Small World. I found that it was much harder for new players to pick up and get into this game than the original.
Most Recent Customer Reviews
4.0 out of 5 stars
More, more, more
If you like the original then you will like this version. It adds a few extra elements to the game that change it enough to make it feel like a new game. Read more
Published 1 month ago by itmo
5.0 out of 5 stars
Wow! so much more details and items that Original
It is a very compelling game that leaves no boredom or repetition. it verges on too much detail
Recommend this game ~
Recommend this game ~
Published 1 month ago by Coobey
5.0 out of 5 stars
better than the original
I like this game better than the original Smallworld because it adds more depth to the game, and gives you some objectives. Read more
Published 2 months ago by MDS
5.0 out of 5 stars
Simple yet great!
The game is a pretty simple version of Risk, this sounds dull, well it isn't. Its incredibly fun! The use of races and skills is great fun! Read more
Published 2 months ago by G. Conlledo
5.0 out of 5 stars
Great way to put life back into the Smallworld experience
My wife and I are Smallworld Junkies. We have every expansion for the original game and have played it many times. Read more
Published 5 months ago by M. Perry
5.0 out of 5 stars
Good game
I have played the original version before thus though of buying this. This is more challenging than the original version. More complicated I would say. Read more
Published 5 months ago by FongCheng
5.0 out of 5 stars
Awesome
Id gotten the original SW, and I'm sure there will be several who do the same thing, so in addition to definitely recommending this game, I'll share how I managed to merge all the... Read more
Published 5 months ago by Anthony R
4.0 out of 5 stars
A Strategy Filled Game
This game is a lot of fun when you get the hang of it but there are a lot of components and instructions involved. Read more
Published 6 months ago by Crystal
3.0 out of 5 stars
Somewhat disappointing (thus far)
It is really hard to get into this game. I would recommend introducing this to a really solid group of gamers and forcing your friends to play this at least 3 times to get in the... Read more
Published 8 months ago by surtysurt
5.0 out of 5 stars
Awesome Game
Absolutely one of the best games I have ever played. At first the game seems incredibly hard to learn but it turns out to be simplistic enough for young players yet strategic... Read more
Published 9 months ago by Chet4
