Welcome again to the wild and wooly world of alliterative board game reviews.  I'm your host, Keith Kennedy: knuckle-dragger, boot-knocker and knee-er of balls.

The wife and I went on our honeymoon earlier this year; to Disneyland.  By far the worst experience I had during this festive time was before and during the It's a Small World After All ride.  That song blows and is lame.  The ride is three times as long as anything else you get to do at Disneyland (including consummating a marriage) and it's just a slow-ass boat ride through various sets of animatronic puppets.

So, you can imagine my distaste when first I laid eyes upon the new (ish) Days of Wonder title, Smallworld.  You know how it's commonplace to use the "threw up in my mouth a little" joke?  Well I think that's dumb.  When I throw up, even a little, I open my mouth so it doesn't stay in my mouth; also providing yet another reason not to swallow anyone's, including my own, vomit.  After my projectile chili verde incident, the sweats started.  After that, I was okay.  Then, I was asked to learn how to play the game and teach it to some people.  And I cried.  But then I was okay again.

Just like at a portraiture studio, I'm getting ahead of myself.

The thing is, the key thing, is the game is capital F fun.  Like when you say the other capital F word, but with UN at the end.  And with the same enthusiasm!

The core mechanic is simple and wonderfully passive for something that seems a bit confrontational.  You simply plan out your turn, taking position on the board as you see fit.  There are no attack versus defense type situations, or rolls to hit armor classes making it refreshingly different than the norm.  The replayibility comes from the random combination of races and powers that get paired up, which change each time you play.  Like a lot of fun games, it's not how the game is played, but how you maximize your own junk, in this case your race/power combination.

Another fun mechanic is that after you take your race and use it to the best of your ability, usually by spreading through the Smallworld like a pestilence, you can go and choose another race/power combo and keep going.

(Hard to focus.  People around me are still groaning at the portraiture joke.  I'm sorry!)

Also, the box says:  "…It's a world of Slaughter, after all", which makes me think Slaffter, which is funny.

(What if I'd said, "Just like Dorian Gray, I've gotten ahead of myself"?  Would that have been better?  Damn critics.)

In addition, Le Havre is a great pick up.  If you're an Agricola-ite, it's a good game to switch it up with (same designer: Uwe Rosenberg).  But also, if you don't care for the Agricola, like moi, it's a really fun alternative.  Well made, highly strategic and a little more accessible.

Smallworld and Le Havre.  Do it.

Do it.

Editor's Note: Watch for the "Smallworld: Cursed" and "Smallworld: Great Dames" expansions - due out in early December 2009.