Small World: Leaders of Small World

About this expansion

Small World: Leaders of Small World is a 2009 promotional expansion for Small World for 2–5 players, with an approximately 80-minute play time.

Originally given away at Spiel 2009 in Essen, this expansion introduces leader tokens based on an idea from Michael Ormesher’s Days of Wonder “Race design contest.” The expansion includes 24 leader tokens, while the second edition contains 48.

Leaders are not races or powers. When you choose a new race, you may also choose to take its leader. That leader then acts as an additional race token, giving your new race another presence on the board.

• Choose whether to take a leader when selecting a new race.
• The leader disappears as soon as that race goes into decline.
• A leader is brave and can remain only in regions that are not immune.
• Captured leaders can be held hostage for ransom.

The leader’s vulnerability creates an extra decision around timing and protection. Since the leader disappears when its race declines, choosing when to abandon that race also affects the value of the special token.

Leaders can also become valuable to an opponent. If the ransom is not paid, the player who captured the leader counts it as two victory points at the end of the game. This gives captured leaders a clear end-game value alongside their role as hostages.

Small World: Leaders of Small World adds a focused layer of risk, choice, and ransom to the race-and-decline system without introducing a new race or power.