Here's a video game/board game mashup of two 00s classics: Small World of Warcraft is one of those great names that I like to suggest but publishers rarely choose. It is a skin for the World of Warcraft-themed board game Small World, with a series of mechanics and clever twists to give a new and fresh look to a game about the rise and fall of empires by Alliance and Horde armies.

Small World is a board game released in 2009 by Days of Wonder that has been popular for many years. In this game, empires composed of random combinations of "races" and "special abilities" conquer territory, clash with other empires, conquer more territory, and then decline. When an empire declines, its player chooses a new race and begins conquering again. The player who conquers the most empires in the game is the winner.

The twist in "World of Warcraft" is in the empires you play and the random powers they can have: Blood Elves, Dranei, Dwarves, Ethers, Forsaken, Gnomes, Goblins, Humans, Kobolds, Nagas, Night Elves, Orcs, Pandaren, Toren, Trolls, and Worgen. Special abilities are also WoW-flavored, including Archaeologist, Beastmaster, Herbalist, Blacksmith, and my favorite: fishing. There are also artifacts like the Doomhammer and the famous Aruar Ashes.

I've had the opportunity to play Small World of Warcraft at length and it is definitely above average for a mash-up or branded game. It is designed by Philip Keyarts, the original designer of Small World. In fact, this is probably my new favorite version of the game, as it incorporates the lessons of 11 years of development of the original game and its expansions into one box. It's like Small World's best-of mechanics with a few new elements, such as rules that make the races and allied races prefer to fight each other.

You can learn more about Small World of Warcraft on the Days of Wonder website.