Small World: Tales and Legends Rulebook

Table of Contents

Table of Contents

• Components
• Setup for Play with the Expansion
• Playing with the Expansion
• Auction
• Variants
  • Themed Decks
  • Small World, Big Trouble
  • Surprise!!
• Card Descriptions
  • A Gift From The Sky
  • A Puff of Smoke
  • Baby Boom
  • Barbarian Invasions
  • Bling-Bling
  • Blood Brothers
  • Blue Genes
  • Chicken Lake
  • Decline And Fall
  • Drakkars From Afar
  • Famine
  • Flooded
  • Forbidden Forest

Components

• 54 Event cards
• 1 Current Event card and 1 Upcoming Event card
• 1 card with the expansion rules and 1 card with game variants
• 2 blank cards for creating your own Legends

Setup for Play with the Expansion

In addition to the standard game setup, create a special Event deck from the cards of this expansion. Randomly choose and shuffle a number of cards one less than the number of rounds in the game you are about to play. (For 5 players, 8 - 1 = 7 cards go into the Event deck.)

Place the Current Event card and the Upcoming Event card next to the Small World card. Place the Event deck face up on the Upcoming Event card, but do not cover it completely, so that the word "Upcoming" remains visible.

Playing with the Expansion

At the start of each round (except the very first, in which Events are not used), the first player takes the top card of the Event deck and places it on the Current Event card, not covering it completely, so that the word "Current" remains visible. The effect of this card applies for the entire current round, and the card that will come into play in the next round is now visible to the players.

Read the text of both cards aloud so that all players know what is happening this round and what to expect from the next.

Auction

Some cards in this expansion require an auction. It is held in a single round, simultaneously for all participants, and in secret. Each player holds in a closed fist the number of Victory Coins he is willing to give in order to gain control of the current Event card.

In case of a tie, the auction is won by the participant of the shortest stature (measured in centimetres, inches, or gnomes standing on each other's shoulders). The winner gives his Coins to the reserve. The other auction participants take their bids back.

Variants

Themed Decks

If desired, you may use for the Event deck only cards belonging to a particular themed set. Each theme is marked with its own icon on the card. This expansion has 6 different themes. Depending on the number of players, you will use 7 to 9 cards of the chosen theme.

The six themes, as printed on the card icons (translated from the Russian names), are:

• "The Gods Must Be Crazy"
• "Senseless Bloodshed"
• "Once in a Thousand Years"
• "Wind of Change"
• "Bargain Sale of Wonders"
• "The World in Danger"

Small World, Big Trouble

Each card in this expansion also carries a mark showing how strongly its effect influences the course of the game. There are three levels:

• Bedtime Story - a weak influence on the course of the game.
• Tale - an influence on the whole world.
• Legendary Event - your Small World is turned upside down!

Depending on your level of self-confidence and personal whims, you may create a deck consisting exclusively of cards of a certain power level.

Surprise!!

For true madmen, we suggest assembling the Event deck exclusively from Legendary Events and placing it face down on the Upcoming Event card. During the game you will know only the current Event, not the upcoming one.

Card Descriptions

A Gift From The Sky

At the start of their turn, each player takes a Victory Coin from the supply and places it in any Region. Until the end of the game, these Regions yield one additional Victory Coin to the players who occupy them.

A Puff of Smoke

At the end of their turn, each player rolls the die for each Mountain Region they occupy, and loses the corresponding number of race tokens in that Region (Active or In Decline).

Baby Boom

At the start of the current round, each player receives 1 token of their Active Race from the supply (if they have one).

Barbarian Invasions

Races that appear on the board this turn receive 3 additional race tokens for their conquests (use tokens of unused Races or Lost Tribes if there are not enough of the originals). These additional tokens are removed from the board at the end of the owner's turn, after scoring.

Bling-Bling

At the start of the current round, all players reveal their Victory Coins and announce how many points they have already scored.

Blood Brothers

During this round, conquering a Region that contains Active Race tokens of the player sitting to your right costs 1 token less (but still requires at least one token).

Blue Genes

At the start of the round, an auction is held for the right to change, to your taste, the Special Power Badge and the Race Banner among the combinations laid out for the players to choose from. The player must pay Victory Coins as if he had chosen the upper combination among those to which the taken Badge and Banner were attached. He sets the assembled combination aside to use as his next Race and, if necessary, fills up the list of available Races by shifting them up one position.

Chicken Lake

Starting with the first player, all participants place a Victory Coin in the Region with the lake, until one of the players declines (or is unable) to pay. That player takes all the Coins lying in the lake, but at once removes from the board all the tokens of his In Decline Races. If he has no such tokens on the map, he loses 3 Active Race tokens instead.

Decline And Fall

At the start of the round, all Active Races immediately go In Decline.

Drakkars From Afar

At the start of this round, each player must take all the tokens of his Active Races (or Ghouls) from one coastal Region of his choice and redistribute these tokens into another Region where the player already has troops. Vacated Regions are filled with 2 Lost Tribe tokens each (if there are not enough tokens, use tokens of Races not taking part in the game).

Famine

At the end of their turn, each player must discard 2 tokens of their Active Race from Regions of their choice. A player who occupies 1 Farm Region with his Active Race loses only 1 token. A player who occupies 2 such Regions with his Active Race loses nothing.

Flooded

Seas, Lakes and Swamps cannot be conquered until the end of this round.

Forbidden Forest

Forest Regions cannot be conquered during this round.

Forest Clump

Each Forest Region yields 1 additional Victory Coin during this round.

Ghuluth For President

Each Swamp you occupy yields 1 additional Victory Coin.

Going Down

During this round, each player may use the tokens of his In Decline Race from one Region to conquer an adjacent Region. For this conquest, the Reinforcement die is rolled. On a successful roll, all troops leave the old Region and move into the conquered one. On a failed roll, nothing happens.

Golden Age

During this round, players cannot put their Races In Decline.

Greedy Gob

The player who gains the largest number of Victory Coins this round takes 1 Coin from each of the other players at the end of the round. In case of a tie, no one receives or gives anything.

Handle With Care

When conquering each new Region, players must discard not one but two Race tokens during this turn. Elves must discard only one token.

Heigh-Ho!

Each Region with a Cave yields 1 additional Victory Coin for the duration of this round.

Here To Stay

There is no Redeployment of troops in this round. In case of a failed Reinforcement die roll, the troops that took part in the last attempt to conquer a Region remain in the player's hand until his next turn.

Ice Age

Mountains cannot be conquered during this round.

Kobold God

Active Races and their Special Powers do not yield Victory Coins during this round.

Lost Treasures

At the start of the round, place 1 Coin from the stack of Coins in each Region occupied by Lost Tribes. These Regions yield one additional Victory Coin to each player who occupies them at the end of his turn. The Coins are removed from the board at the end of the last player's turn, not earlier, so several players may receive Coins for the same Region during the whole round. Coins obtained this way are taken not from the board but from the stack of Coins.

Magic Is In The Air

Each occupied Magic Region yields one additional Victory Coin during this round.

Malediction

At the start of the current round, each player must leave one Region, taking from it all the tokens of his Active Race. A player cannot conquer this Region again in this round. A player who puts his Race In Decline, or who already has only an In Decline Race, is not affected by this card.

Mercenaries

Each player may reduce the cost of conquering a Region by 2 by paying 1 Victory Coin for each Region conquered (at least 1 token is still required). In this way at most 2 Regions can be conquered (and 2 Coins spent).

Mountain Ore

Each Mountain Region yields 1 additional Victory Coin for the duration of the current round.

My Land

The player occupying the largest number of Regions with his Active and In Decline Races receives 2 additional Victory Coins at the end of the round. In case of a tie, the players with the maximum number of Regions receive 1 Coin each.

Necromantic Elixir

At the start of the round, an auction is held. The winner receives this Elixir, which allows him to keep his Special Power and the tokens of his Active Race when that Race goes In Decline. Such a Race becomes similar to the Ghouls Race.

Oldies But Goodies

All In Decline Races (and their Special Powers, if present) yield double the number of points during this round.

Peasant Riot

During this round, Farm Regions cannot be conquered.

Pestilence

The Lake and the Regions adjacent to it yield 1 Victory Coin less for the duration of this round (and may yield nothing at all if no other conditions apply to them).

Philter Of Forgetfulness

All In Decline Races yield no points during this round (and their Special Powers are useless as well).

Plague

At the start of the round, before anyone takes a turn, each player must return 1 Active Race token to the supply.

Rats

All Race abilities (including those of In Decline Races) cannot be applied until the end of this round. Special Powers remain in effect.

Small Time Coup

At the start of the round, the position of "first player" is auctioned. The winner begins the round and sets the order of play for everyone else; from there, the turn passes clockwise.

Summer Of Love

Players who did not conquer a single Region this round receive 3 Victory Coins each.

Tabula Rasa

At the start of this round, all tokens of In Decline Races (including Ghouls and Lost Tribes) are removed from the board.

Tea Time

At the end of their turn, each player receives only half of the points they would otherwise have received (rounding up).

The Art Of Combos

At the start of the round, take the last Special Power Badge from the stack and auction it. The winner adds it to his combination of Race Banner and Special Power Badges, and it stays there until the Race goes In Decline. If the winner does not yet have an Active Race, he keeps the Badge and adds it to the Race when he gets one.

The Great Catapult

During this round, each player may conquer 1 Region located at a distance of 1 Region from a Region belonging to the player (including a Region separated from you by a lake).

The Great Curse

All Special Powers of Races (including those of In Decline Races) cannot be used during this round. Race abilities remain in effect.

The Great Ride

Before the Reinforcement die is rolled during the last conquest, any player may take all the Active Race tokens from the board (except one token, which must remain in the occupied Region) and use them to conquer new Regions.

Tough Love

At the start of the round, an auction is held. The winner may reduce the cost of all his conquests by 1 token (as if his Race had the "Commandos" Special Power). As before, at least 1 token is required to conquer a Region.

Tremor

During this round, conquering a Region requires 1 more Race token.

Ungodly Bribe

At the start of this round, each player must either return 3 Victory Coins to the supply or discard 2 Active Race tokens. New Races enter the game with 2 fewer tokens than usual.

War Is Sexy

Each Region conquered this round yields one additional Victory Coin.

Wealth Redistribution

During the current round, defenders of Regions do not lose their Active tokens when attacked. Instead, they must pay the attacker 1 Victory Coin for each successfully attacked Region.

Wheel Of Misfortune

At the start of this round, each player must pass his combination of Race and Special Power to the player sitting to his left. As a result, a player who put his Race In Decline may receive a Race he did not want at all, while another player may be left without an Active Race (in that case the player may choose a new Active Race, as if he had put his Race In Decline in the previous round).

White Queen

At the start of the current round, an auction is held. The winner receives full protection for his In Decline Races for this round. All his Regions occupied by an In Decline Race are immune to conquest and to Special Powers.

Wizened and Old

At the end of this round, but before Coins are received, each player may remove from the board from one to three tokens of his In Decline Race in exchange for 2 Victory Coins per token.

Youth Potion №8

During this round, each player may empty one Region occupied by an In Decline Race and place in it one Active Race token taken from the supply (if any are left).

Youth Power

Players who put their Races In Decline during this round receive 3 Victory Coins each.