Review: Small Star Empires!

What's going on everyone!? Recently I was contacted by Milan from Archona Games and was offered a chance to check out their game Small Star Empires. This is a game that I've been looking forward to and reading all about on their page since I had first heard about it so of course you can bet that I said YES!

So sit back, grab some tea and make it hot because we're going to check out Small Star Empires!

Here's an excerpt:

" As a leader, you must make sure your rising empire is the dominant at the end! You will accomplish this by colonizing planetary systems and exploring beautiful nebulae with your ships while establishing your domain.

Plan your strategy wisely to become the most prosperous star empire of the galaxy!"

Small Star Empires is first and foremost an area control game. It's easy to learn, fun to play and games take about 20 minutes to complete. Add to that, a modular board and you have the recipe for a great time!

The game comes with a few suggestions as to how you should set up the board for various amounts of players but once you're comfortable with the game you can feel free to make any sort of board to play on.

Turns are a very easy thing to remember in the game. Players have one of two choices on their turn other than movement. Either you place a Colony or you place a Trade Station. A Colony is used to score points on a solar system and claim it. A Trade Station is used to claim a place as well but it also scores you points for every other opponent piece adjacent to it!

As the game progresses you will find yourself moving around from solar system to solar system and claiming areas as you can. The game will end with either all players have used all of their pieces OR when all legal moves are gone.

With these two variables that could end the game, it makes for a great challenge to box other players in so they can not move anymore while simultaneously trying to place as many of your pieces as possible.

At the end of the game players add up their points according to how many planets they have in each solar system, then how many points for the various nebula's, and lastly add all the points up for each opponents piece they have near their trade stations. As a bonus, if you have the largest chain of Colonies adjacent to each other you get 3 extra points for that as well!

On to my opinion:

Game Art: The are on the tiles are nice and crisp. They really give a nice touch to the game and the nebula's look wonderful as well. The box art and book art are not only vibrant but also extremely helpful with the examples.

Gameplay: The gameplay is simply wonderful. It's simple yet requires strategy to overcome your opponents. Easy to learn and remember make this a wonderful game to fall back to time and time again. It's great for new players as well as veterans.

Game Quality: The quality of this game is superb. From awesome thick pieces for the modular board to the well written and pictured rulebook, everything is perfectly executed. Not to mention the fact that this game has wonderful plastic pieces and score sheet as well as a pencil. I know that may not sound like a bid deal but all too often games skip out on this. I'm glad to say, that's not the case here.

This game is perfect for gaming on the go when you have a need for something more in depth than dice or card games but not a whole lot of time or space.



So, the big question... Should you pick up this game? Well... YES! This is one of those games that I feel everyone should have in their gaming arsenal. It lends a different feel than others out there in it's size and price range and is perfect for beginners and seasoned players alike. Even if you're not a huge fan of area control, I feel like this is a game to add to any collection.


CLICK HERE TO GRAB YOUR COPY!


As always, thank you for reading and don't forget to stop and smell the meeples! :)
-Tim