This review shares some elements in common with my review of the similar product, Small World: Cursed!
The Components
Grand Dames of Small World contains three new races (including both a race badge and the race tokens) and two new special powers (designated by new special power badges).
All of these badges and tokens are colorful and well-produced, exactly up to the standards of the original Small World game. I also find that the expansion has a good cost-to-content ratio, for the expansion market, and so I've given it a full "5" out of "5" for Style.
(The one deficit of the expansion is that it won't easily fit in the beautifully designed Small World box, but you can't have everything, I guess.)
The Gameplay
I'm going to briefly talk about each of the races and powers included in this expansion, noting not only what they do, but also my thoughts on them after two games worth of play--during which most of these new elements came up.
Gypsies (Race). Gypsies essentially earn Victory Points by abandoning Regions at the start of their turn. I love this idea, because it's a very elegant way to keep the gypsies moving, and thus feels very thematic. However, other players were less enthusiastic, afraid that picking up and moving would be too much of a disadvantage. I disagree, but I didn't get to see them played.
Priestesses (Race.) When the priestesses go into decline you take one priestess per declining region and put them all in a huge stack in a single region, then you earn 1VP/turn/priestess in the stack. I thought this effect was over-gamey, but just about everyone else enjoyed it. It certainly offers some interesting chances for brinkmanship, because there are some peoples (like dragon masters) that can wipe out your priestesses with one fell swoop, but otherwise you might be able to hold onto the points for a long while.
White Ladies (Race.) When they go into decline, the White Ladies are immune to conquest and powers. So, basically, you have guaranteed decline points, but that's balanced by their very small army number [2]. Seems powerful to me, but you have to self-balance it by taking a cheaper special power.
Historian (Special Power). Earn a point for each race currently in decline, a point each time another player goes into decline, and a point when you go into decline. Almost always a good power, but you can make it great if you grab it just before a bunch of declines--which introduces some fun timing to the game.
Peace-Loving (Special Power.) Collect 3 VPs each turn that you've attacked no active race. If the board is setup right, this seems like an obvious grab. You just need somewhere that you can attack lost of declining races, and then you get a free bonus each and every turn.
Relationships to Other Games
Grand Dames of Small World is a mini-expansion to Small World. You can find leaders for the expansion's races in Leaders of Small World. Another similar expansion, Small World: Cursed! was released simultaneously, and contains another two races and five special powers.
The Game Design
I already listed my comments on the individual powers in the "Gameplay" section of this review. Overall, the new races seem well-designed and well-balanced in relation to the original game.
One of the problems that I had with the original release of Small World was often having to reuse races just as the game came to an end, when played with five players. I'm very happy that this expansion largely resolves that problem.
Overall, this is a fine expansion to the Small World game and earns a "4" out of "5" for Substance.
