Board game publisher Days of Wonder has joined forces with Blizzard to return World of Warcraft to the world of cardboard with Small World of Warcraft, a board game re-implementation of the original Small World that released in 2009. Releasing in North American and Europe sometime around mid-2020, the game allows 2-5 players to meet face-to-face and clash for control of Azeroth.
Days of Wonder has taken the original game structure and incorporated exclusive new artwork to bring the Warcraft universe to life. Players will also see their favorite races represented and can combine them with the unique abilities that they have used for years in the popular MMORPG.
Small World of Warcraft plays in approximately 40-80 minutes and will include 6 double-sided game boards, 16 race banners with matching tokens, and 20 special power badges. Other features from the video game such as Murlocs, artifacts, and watchtowers will make an appearance to enhance the theme of the game. Players select one available race and power pair to deploy and battle for territorial dominance. However, the empires of Portal Mage Pandarens and Herbalist Goblins will eventually have to go into decline and a new powerful combination can be selected to begin the fight anew.
Each player can only have one active and one “in decline” race at a time so maximizing control is vital to success. At the end of each turn, territories are scored and a coin is gained for each, with bonuses awarded for applying the synergy of each combination to the fullest effect. The player with the most coins at the end of the game will be declared the victor and the new ruler of the Small World of Warcraft.
Blizzard is no stranger to cross-promotional content for its biggest properties. It has previously worked with board game publisher Fantasy Flight Games on several games and expansions including Starcraft: The Boardgame and World of Warcraft: The Boardgame. Days of Wonder is, along with Fantasy Flight, part of the Asmodee publishing group and is most well-known for the Ticket to Ride series of board games. Small World was originally released in 2009 as a re-imagining of designer Philippe Keyaerts’ 1999 title Vinci.
This new iteration will incorporate some elements from the Small World Underground series. It will also debut the concept of traveling between distant locations, something that will be all to familiar for World of Warcraft veterans. With board gaming seeing a substantial rise in popularity over the past decade, expect to see even more collaborations between the two mediums.
Small World of Warcraft is expected to release sometime in Q3 2020 with an MSRP of US$59.99/€59.99.
Sources: Days of Wonder, Boardgamegeek.com