|
We're now in 2026 and and the blogging backlog has only gotten bigger! It's time to look back at last year. 2025 was a slightly quieter year when compared to '24 - which is understandable as for the last 6 weeks of the year I was preoccupied with other issues. 2025 Number of different games played: 156. Of which were new (To me.): 59. Total number of gaming sessions: 634. 2024 Number of different games played: 178. Of which were new (To me.): 78. Total number of gaming sessions: 704. Top 5 games for 2025 were:
For a 2nd year, Tranquility got the most sessions - although it is down from the heady heights of 50 from last year! Railroad Ink gets 2nd as it did last year. With 33 sessions, it too is down, albeit slightly from last year - as is all the top 5. New into the top 5 at 3rd place this year is Super Mega Lucky Box, a quick playing bingo inspired card game. Now it's time for the much anticipated, highly regarded 3 Spellcasters & Dwarf Game Awards. The awards everyone talks about.... or not!
Game of the year: Fellowship of the Ring: Trick-taking Game A few years ago, I gave The Crew: Mission Deep Sea, another trick-taking card game the game of the year award. Mechanically, Fellowship of the Ring: Trick-Taking Game shares a lot with that game, so it felt like a bit of cop out to also award it game of the year. However the theme in Fellowship of the Ring: Trick-Taking Game is so much stronger than The Crew and I'm a sucker for Lord of the Rings themed games. I really enjoyed this one and look forward playing The Two Towers: Trick-Taking Game this year which has only recently been released. Surprise of the Year: Prey Another Day This simple card game employs an elegant mechanic whereupon a card's gameplay usefulness is diametrically opposed to it's scoring point value. It's also very much a game of playing the other players than playing the game. Honourable mention: Lacuna Usually I'm a bit weary of 2-player games where opponents go directly head-to-head but Lacuna presents this in such a pleasant way with an engaging core mechanic and excellent yet almost minimalistic components that it can't help but be charming. Other honourable mention: Fighting Fantasy Adventures Another licensed cooperative fantasy game! This time one that harks back to the 80's and the classic Fighting Fantasy gamebooks. Fighting Fantasy Adventures swaps out the 400 chapters of a gamebooks for card-driven gameplay with 2 decks of cards instead. Whilst perhaps a touch finicky, Fighting Fantasy Adventures does a great job of emulating the feel of its source material.
0 Comments
2024 is over and my blogging backlog has not decreased. 2024 was a big in terms of playing board games - more games were played if my counting is correct. 2024 Number of different games played: 178. Of which were new (To me.): 78. Total number of gaming sessions: 704. Compared to '23 2023 Number of different games played: 158. Of which were new (To me.): 77. Total number of gaming sessions: 577. The number of games played were up by 20 which is nearly 2 a month. New games to me were 78 which interestingly is almost identical to '23. Sessions though, is up by nearly 130! This is quite a lot, it means nearly 5 extra game sessions occurred every week! How did that happen? The top 5 games I played in 2024 were:
50 sessions of Tranquility, nearly once a week! It's easy to understand why; Tranquility is a pleasant, slightly undemanding cooperative experience that we frequently play as a palate cleanser after something more high-intensity. We tend to win Tranquility when we play it but occasionally, it throws a curve ball! Just one remains popular with us, it's joined by Splendor and somewhat surprisingly (Considering it's disliked by 'someone' we play it with!) by Railroad Ink. The list is rounded off by Can't Stop, Roll'n Bump & Sushi Go!, all perennial favourites that are played as fillers or enders. OK, now on to what's really important - The 'industry defining' 'prestigious' 3 Spellcasters and a Dwarf annual gaming awards.
Game of the year: Daybreak Sometimes a game comes along that immediately announces its quality and in this instance it's Daybreak, a game about saving the environment. From the packaging and components, to mechanics and theme and even small details like putting QR codes on cards to provide extra info, Daybreak is something noteworthy. More than that; it's presentation highlights some of the stark obstacles we will all face in the future. Disappointment of the year: Horrified: Greek Monsters The excellent formula that powers the original Horrified just doesn't quite work in this iteration. I've played 4 different versions of Horrified and this is easily thematically the weakest. I never felt I was battling against the monsters of Greek mythology. It felt like what it seems to be; a reskin with slightly different monster mechanics. Surprise of the year: Sky Team I'm always a bit wary of 2-player only games, they often seem to resort to direct competition with your opponent. I'm happy to say that with regards to Sky Team, I'm wrong. Sky Team is cooperative dice-placement game where the 2 players take the asymmetrical roles of pilot and co-pilot. It has fantastic presentation with mechanics that fit it's theme. Honourable mention: Things in Rings Things in Rings is a wacky kind of party game about deductive logic and trying to discover the hidden phrases on 3 cards. It's a brilliant lightweight game, however, for me it's a semantic nightmare that drives me crazy and is unlike anything else I've played. it means I have to get a copy. My backlog of games to blog about has not lessened over 2023 - which is not a good thing! This was also a big year for playing games. Breakdown follows as: 2023 Number of different games played: 158. Of which were new (To me.): 77. Total number of gaming sessions: 577. 2022 Number of different games played: 139. Of which were new (To me.): 68. Total number of gaming sessions: 541. All the numbers are slightly up on '22, looks like I'm hitting peak playing! Most played games of 2023
Anyway - enough of that, I know the real reason you're here; for the influential, industry defining 3 Spellcaster & A Dwarf annual game awards!
Game of the year: Heat: Pedal to the Metal It wasn't a hard choice, when thinking about game of the year, this always immediately came to mind. This 50's/60's themed F1 game manages to provide players with some tricky decisions and risks to take using an elegant implementation of hand management mechanics. I'm a big fan of a certain other F1 game that's been around in some form or other for years and it seems blasphemous to think it but Heat: Pedal to the Metal is as good as Formula De/Formula D! There, I've said it! Disappointment of the year: Sushi Go!: Spin Some for Dim Sum It's not that this game is bad per se, it's just that it does not deliver any particularly new gameplay or as good a experience as its previous 2 iterations. Hard to believe, but it's just a bit meh considering the pedigree it originates from. It doesn't help that it's central premise (Or gimmick if you're less kind!) also makes the game a bit fiddly to setup, teardown and sometimes play. Surprise of the year: Bandido There's a heavy dose of luck that can apply to Bandido and I'm not sure if ultimately it's a good game or not. Even so, Bandido distils a cooperative gameplay experience into a single deck of strangely oblong cards in a package so small it easily fits in a pocket. With rules so simple and intuitive that anyone can immediately grasp play. I play games with people who have varying levels experience in table top gaming and this has been a big hit with a couple of them, which is why we've played it so much in 2023. Honourable mention: Joraku Deluxe Set in Feudal Japan, Joraku is typically what you'd expect it to be; a game amount warring factions vying for influence and control. However, all of this is achieved with abstract, almost minimalist trick taking rules and delivered in a fantastic looking package. July's game totals were almost identical to June which had only 1 more first play than July. Different games played was identical for both months. That's very consistent and regular! My GP would be happy! First plays: 7 Games played: 35 Sunday 30th Board Game Arena
Lucky Numbers Can't Stop Tiny Epic Defenders Just One Sagani Gang of dice Thursday 27th Aldershot Scout Village Rails Cascadia Tuesday 25th The Sovereigns with the Woking Gaming Club Oriflamme - First Play! Parks Akropolis Sunday 23rd Board Game Arena Lucky Numbers Roll'n Bump Carcassone Gizmos Just One Sagani Gang of Dice - First Play! Friday 21st Simon's Earth - First Play! Tuesday 18th Simon's Forgotten Waters Monday 17th Board Game Arena Lucky Numbers Just One Railroad Ink Canvas Expeditions: Around The World - First Play! Sagani Sunday 16th Simon's Forgotten Waters Sunday 16th The Sovereigns Port Royal Scout Deep Sea Adventure Saturday 15th Wogglecon 8 Point Salad Bandido 7 Wonders Celestia Flamecraft - Kickstarter Edition - First Play! Tuesday 11th The Sovereigns with the Woking Gaming Club Deep Sea Adventure Jump Drive Love Letter Sunday 9th Board Game Arena Lucky Numbers Can't Stop Roll'n Bump Just One Dragonwood Sagani Friday 7th Simon's Spartacus: A game of Blood and Treachery - First Play! Thursday 6th Aldershot The Crew: Mission Deep Sea Machi Koro 2 Tuesday 4th The Sovereigns with the Woking Gaming Club Century: Eastern Wonders Machi Koro 2 Sunday 2nd Board Game Arena Lucky Numbers Can't Stop Railroad Ink Splendor Just One - perfect score! Sagani - First Play! 25th July 2023 Tuesday is here again and we're at The Sovereigns with the Woking Gaming Club and it's time for some card-based entertainment. According to Wikipedia: 'The Oriflamme (from Latin aurea flamma, "golden flame"), a pointed, blood-red banner flown from a gilded lance, was the sacred battle standard of the King of France.' So it would seem Medieval France can be a interesting place; especially when The King dies without a heir. With a power vacuum left in his passing, various factions will now look to expand and fill that vacuum. If you think that this sounds like good fodder for a game - then you'd be right! Oriflamme is a hidden role card game about sticking it to your opponents. What's in a game? Cards: There is a set of 10 oversized unique cards in each player colour and each set features the same set of identical cards. The cards fall into 1 of 2 categories; characters and intrigues, each depicts either a personality or situation, along with a scroll (in player colour) containing text which describes that card's action. Actions might include acquiring influence tokens or eliminating other cards and so on. Finally, the back of each set depicts its own in icon in its player colour.  Sample of green player's cards. Influence tokens: There are 70 of these circular card tokens. Each point of influence a represent victory point (VP).  The larger token on the right is the 1st player token. Resolution direction tile: This tile depicts a bloody spear! It is used to indicate the direction of play.  Play would proceed from left-to-right from this facing. Component quality is at the standard you'd expect from a modern game nowadays. The tokens are suitably sturdy and the cards look fine. Nothing bad to write about here. Painted artwork features throughout the cards, it's good looking art and each of the 10 individual card types has its own illustration. The art direction is relatively dark and moody, it fits the game's theme of betrayal and assassination quite well. Iconography is kept to a minimum in Oriflamme with only a coupe of symbols to content with and most game information is relayed via text. This shouldn't pose any problems for players
How's it play? Setup
On to play The objective in Oriflamme is to acquire the most influence tokens over 6 rounds. Each round is played over 2 phases and importantly, some extra rules will come into player after the 1st round In the 1st phase players will be collectively creating a row of cards called the 'influence queue' along the direction tile and this is done in a traditional turn order. During the 2nd phase, the cards will potentially be revealed in 'resolution' order which will likely be different to the turn order from the previous phase. When a card is revealed, its action is immediately resolved.
Endgame Play progresses until the 6th round has been completed. All players calculate the totalled value of their influence tokens. Point are tallied, highest score wins, Overall
Oriflamme is a game of power grabbing, hidden motives, ambush and assassination which feels like it's set in a brutal world, a world where the wealthy and influential battle it out and vie to rise to power. In other words, a reasonable facsimile of medieval Europe. While the game is somewhat abstract, it does feel quite appropriate and fit its theme. Mechanically, Oriflamme is pretty straightforward, it might get a touch fiddly when managing stacks but otherwise is easy to learn. The rules aren't really that important here, this is not about playing the game. It's all about playing the players. The complexity comes in how the cards interact with each other and their relative position to each other in the queue. Players will need to watch their opponents, try and gauge their tactics and respond appropriately. They'll also need to watch which cards get revealed and discarded. Oriflamme does a neat trick here though; by getting players to discard cards randomly it creates asymmetrical hands. Card counters won't be able to know exactly what cards other players can use. This imperfect knowledge means that there always a degree of risk to actions. Depending on the type of people playing, there may well be some bluffing going on which is entire on par for the game. With only 6 rounds, Oriflamme has a fairly quick play time, although that is with the caveat of not having players who suffer from analysis paralysis. It's also a game of 'take that', direct interaction, conflict between players and will likely lead to some boisterous gameplay. For me, it's something I don't mind in limited quantity but for some people this is can be off-putting and Oriflamme probably isn't for them. I found Oriflamme to be an enjoyable and engaging game (Albeit with some stress!) that blends a bit of logic and strategy with a dash of luck to create meaningful and interesting decisions that might possibly lead to unpredictable outcomes. This makes it a good game in my opinion. 23rd July 2023 It's a Sunday and we're logged into Board Game Arena for some gaming. The life of a mafioso underling is a bit of a tricky one. You want to impress 'The Don' but just not too much in this push-your-luck dice game about a retiring mob boss looking for a replacement. Will Gang of Dice be an 'offer you can't refuse' or 'just strictly business'? Caveat: We've only ever played this game digitally. What's in a game?
The physical version of the game has illustrations on the screens and the tokens but that's just about for artwork. The dice are black with white pips; fitting colours for a mafia themed game. All the warning cards feature icons of symbols along with dice or values. Most are fairly self-evident but a couple will require clarification from the rule book. It's nothing too complicated. How's it play? Set up
On to play Gang of Dice is played over 12 rounds and players will face a different warning cards in each one. A warning card is essentially a restriction that players do not want to break. They will be attempting to roll their dice with the aim of getting the highest numbers possible without going over or breaking the restriction (I.e., going bust.). Gang of Dice uses a typical turn order with the active player acting before play progresses to the player on their left.
Endgame Once the 12th round is over, so is the game! Players now calculate their finishing scores. Each die is worth 1 victory point (VP) while each token is worth 3VPs. Points are tallied, highest score wins. Overall
In Gang of Dice, dice represent gangsters and players are trying to gather the biggest gang to become the new boss. It sort of fits but is also a little abstract. Gang of Dice is a pretty straightforward push-your-luck dice game with a core mechanic that's been used many times in other games. That's not a bad thing, it just means experienced players will be on familiar ground. Where the game does add something is in the use of warning cards to change objectives every round, players will have to think about how many dice to use in response and have to balance the need to get a higher score with avoiding going bust: Get a result that's too low and a player has a smaller chance to win the round but too high and they go bust. It forces the player to make meaningful decisions both with dice selection and choosing to do rerolls or not. Add to this the risk of going bust while using too many dice means potentially gifting even more of them to other players. There's definitely some swingy scoring going on here. Watching what other players ahead in the turn order are doing and what results they get is important and may make players change their approach. Explosive warning cards also up the ante a little more so to speak. Players will need to be much more careful with how they take risks here as a single roll can wreck their chances of a win. Finally, the last 3 rounds increase the stakes, as players can also earn tokens. E.g., round 12 will earn the winner 3 tokens which are work 9VPs. Things can potentially change quite a lot in these last 3 rounds and I feel it serves as a bit of a catch-up mechanic. So I think Gang of Dice is solid mechanically. The problem I have with it is that it's just a bit average, I feel its unique points don't do enough to differentiate it from other games that provide a similar experience but t in a better way. There are other games of this type that I prefer. Where Gang of Dice is strong is in its relative simplicity. The rules-light gameplay and accessible theme would be suitable for younger players or non-dedicated gamers. If you're looking for a push-your-luck dice game, this one does nothing wrong and I imagine would be a good crossover game. For me though, it would not be my first choice. 21st July 2023 It's a Friday evening and we're round Simon's for some gaming fun! Life finds a way.... to create a tableau of cards with little green cubes and plastic plant stalks in Earth, a engine-building, action-selection game. What's in a game?
 Fauna board.
 Player board.
 Examples of flora, terrain & event cards.
 Island, climate & ecosystem cards.
 Some fauna boards.
 Yellow leaf tokens.
 Soil tokens.
 Sprout cubes.
Earth uses a variety of different component types; wooden cubes, plastic segments and card tokens as well as tiles, boards and cards. It's a bit of a eclectic choice but all of them are good quality and work together well. Although the growth tokens, which are meant to stack upwards are a little fiddly to handle, because they're cylindrical they're a little slippery and have a tendency to roll around or even off the table! In the past, I've been critical of games that have made use of photos in place of art. Especially so of licensed games that use stock photos from their source material. It seems cheap and lazy. Earth does use photos but bucks that trend in great fashion here. The use in depicting nature makes sense as it shows varied animals, plants and landscapes all in glorious, vivid detail, lending the game a documentary-like quality. Additionally, it appears that each of Earth's large numbers of cards features a unique image as well as some flavour text that talks about the subject matter. As a result, it doesn't look anything like the cheap or easy option, works very well and shows the effort and thought taken to make the game look good. In short; Earth is a great looking game with eye-catching table presence. When it comes to iconography, Earth definitely has quite lot that players will need to get to grips. 4 types of habitat, 4 types of flora, 4 types of actions and sub actions, several types of resource etc.  Some of Earth's iconography I wouldn't call it a barrier to playing the game considering the type of player the game is aimed at but still there are quite a lot learn. If I had one criticism, it would be that the 4 colours associated with the 4 actions could be a more contrasting. How's it play? Setup
On to play In Earth, players will be looking to create a tableau of earth cards (which for the most part will be flora cards) to earn VPs as well as create an engine. They will need to acquire and 'plant' cards in a 4x4 grid that will allow them to create growths and sprouts which in turn will also have uses as well as being worth VPs in this very interconnected game. Earth uses a traditional turn order with the active player selecting 1 of the 4 available actions to perform during their turn as well as trigger additional associated actions. Other players, albeit to a lesser extent will also be able to perform that action as well as triggering their own additional actions. Even though only 1 player is the active player, it is generally possible for all players to perform their actions simultaneously. A turn plays out as follows.
Endgame The endgame is triggered as soon as any player plants the 16th card in their tableau. That player should place one of their leaf tokens on to the 7VP spot on the fauna board. Play then continues until all players have had equal turn and then goes to scoring. Earth provides players with a wide variety of avenues to score points.
Points are tallied, highest score wins. Overall
In Earth, the tableaus that players are creating are literal islands that will expand and grow from their origin point, where different terrains and flora will spread, endure events and attract fauna. Each island will develop its own set of interconnected ecology in the form of its game mechanics and engine. In this regard, Earth fits its natural world theme pretty well. Mechanically, Earth blends tableau building with resource management and action selection. Whilst not particularly complicated, there are a lot of 'moving parts' to Earth and a lot for players to think about and many ways to score. Soil, sprouts, growth and even cards are all resources that must be managed and all of those bar soil also generate VPs. The game's engine building frequently demands that one resource be spent to gain more of another and so on. Classic engine building stuff. It means that players need to really think about which cards they will use to create their tableau, this will involve considering not only the abilities on the cards but also their position within the tableau as this will affect how well they 'combo' off of each other. Furthermore, players will probably need to think about the plant and habitat types of the cards they want to play and how that effects their scoring opportunities. Terrain cards throw even more into the mix with some often almost random objectives requiring the placement of cards in certain ways or scoring off of hand size or compost size. With so many ways to score that can arise in diverse combinations, it's kind of hard to describe how to play Earth but players will need to recognise opportunities to exploit when they appear and possibly rethink their approach. There's some flexibility to how an island expands and players may find themselves changing strategies partway through the game to accommodate new goals they have acquired While Earth has a fairly lengthy playtime, especially with a higher player count, it never feels like it due to how most of the game can played out simultaneously. It's also definitely not one for beginners and leans towards the heavier end of the difficulty scale. Fortunately, it's not too hard to learn and cards will contain a lot of the information that players need. For me, Earth strikes all the right notes and is a game I enjoy playing: It provides a balance between accessibility and depth along meaningful decisions and has a engaging theme. It doesn't hurt that it's filled with fantastic imagery and components that looks great on the table. Definitely one to try. 17th July 2023 It's a Monday and we're logged into Board Game Arena for some online tabletop entertainment. All around the world, we could make time Rompin' and a-stompin' 'cause I'm in my prime Expeditions: Around the World is about going on a world tour in this route building game, not as some rock band but as a tourist. Not any tourist either! But one who constantly trying to change itinerary of the tour to their chosen destinations. Caveat: We've only ever played this game digitally. What's in a game?
 Around the world. Around the world. Around the world. Around the wo.....
The art for Expeditions: Around the World with its real world references is vibrant and colour and an overall excellent quality. I imagine it would have a strong table presence. The game's iconography is kept to an absolute minimum, being limited to 3 colours and dotted lines. Players will have no problem understanding this game. How's it play? Setup
On to play The objective for players in Expeditions: Around the World is to visit as many of the locations on their destination cards as possible as well as visiting the locations on the common destinations. This is done by directing the 3 different expeditions throughout the map by advancing them along the connections on the game map. It should be noted that the map 'wraps-around', that is, if a expedition goes off the right side of the board, it continues on the left side. Play follows a traditional turn order with the active player taking their turn before play progresses to the player on their left. The active player must perform the following actions:
Endgame The game end is triggered when either all arrows have been placed on the board or any player scores all their personal destination card. Play continues until all players have had equal turns, then goes to scoring. Players score a victory point (VP) for each card they have claimed, either from the common objectives or their personal destination cards. However, in true route-builder fashion, players lose 1VP for each unclaimed personal destination card in their hand. Points are tallied, highest score wins. Overall
Expeditions: Around the World is fairly strong thematically with the players actually creating and moving the expeditions along during the game. However, with no player having overall control of any of the expeditions, they've got to be among the most random expeditions ever! All destinations in Expeditions: Around the World fall into 4 types: Shared or common destinations, open destinations which players had to declare, hidden destinations which players possess and whatever destinations remain in the deck. Players will need to navigate all this imperfect knowledge to win the game. Ideally, they'll want to 'steer' expeditions towards destinations that they can score. The problem though, is that they may also be steering them towards destinations that can be scored by opponents. With common or open destinations it's obvious when this is the happening but unsurprisingly, hidden destinations can be surprising. Common objectives in particular add an extra layer to this and they can be tricky to acquire. Moving close to one might just allow an opponent to swoop in and claim it on their turn. Judicious use of tickets and blue spots is probably called for here! That's pretty much it for strategy: I suppose there's possibly a higher level of play about watching opponents and trying to guess the destinations they are aiming for and directing expeditions accordingly. Expeditions: Around the World is fairly light and as result is a straightforward, easy game to learn. Its theme is also easily understood. This makes it a good for non-gamers or younger gamers. I'm not so sure what more dedicated gamers will make of it. I found it a little unengaging and unsatisfying and for a route building game - a little frustrating. While it's not uncommon to have a route building game where no one entirely controls the routes, I definitely found it to be a frustrating experience here. I feel there are other games that do route building better and this is one not for me. 15 July 2023
Wogglecon 8 took place as it always does at the Bisley scout hall and was a day of gaming fun for the Woking Gaming Club. Game I played were: Point Salad Bandido 7 Wonders Celestia Flamecraft - Kickstarter Edition - First Play! 15th July 2023 It's a summery Saturday afternoon and we're participating in Wogglecon 8 at the Bisley Scout & Guide Hall for a whole day of gaming goodness! I always thought dragons were a pretty bad bunch, what with their death-dealing fiery breath and perchance for human sacrifice. Turns out they're a happy, cosy lot with a passion for artisanal crafting, or at least that's what they are in Flamecraft, a game all about dragons and err.... shopkeepers. What's in a game?
 Set up & ready to play. That's one long village!
 The red (Err.... meat?) resource starting shop card along its associated matching starter card.
 Deathfang and Cutlet.... Together, they fight crime?
 Sparkle is a 'day' fancy dragon card.
 Example of enchantment cards.
 Should this be a 'dreeple'?
Note: There are some component differences between the kickstarter edition of Flamecraft (Which is what are in the photos.) and the standard version. Basically, the kickstarter edition has higher quality tokens. So thus, the overall component quality is good. Tokens are colourful, well presented and satisfyingly chunky, as as the metal coins. This version even comes with some tokens trays. Having said that, I was not particularly fond of the 3d plastic player meeples. While they are chunky, bright and fairly good 3d sculpts, they're also unpainted plastic and essentially monochrome which somehow lends them a sort of drab quality. Ironically, the standard edition comes with screen printed meeples which in my opinion are much more preferable. The cards are the pretty normal high quality expected from modern games. Without a doubt, Flamecraft features excellent artwork and art direction. It utilises what is known nowadays as a 'cosy' art style. It's a breezy cartoonish style filled cheerful and colourful illustrations and gives the game a happy, positive vibe without being overly busy. While the game does have a fairly big footprint, the upside is that it has a brilliant table presence. There's quite a few icons in Flamecraft but many of them are self explanatory, a few might require players to initially reference the rulebook, it's nothing bad and won't prove an obstacle to players. How's it play? setup
On to play Flamecraft uses a traditional turn order with the active player resolving their turn before play moves to the player on their left. On their turn a player must visit one of the shops in the village and then they can choose whether to make use of the shop's facilities or enchant the shop. A turn plays out as follows.
Endgame The game end is triggered when no more cards can be drawn either from the artisan dragon deck or enchantment deck. 1 final round is played and the game goes to scoring. Players now reveal and score their 'night' fancy dragon cards. Players also earn a VP for each coin they posses. These are totalled with their scores on the scoring track. Points are tallied, highest score wins. Overall
Thematically, I'm not sure what to make of Flamecraft. It seems a little mismatched but conversely, it doesn't matter or feel 'off' because of it. Ultimately, the game's theme is its own thing and that thing is about going shopping and managing those shops! Mechanically, Flamecraft is pretty straightforward, even though it appears to have a lot of moving parts, it's not as complicated as it first might appear. For the most part, players will be gathering resources and when it comes down to it, choosing from 6 actions - those associated with the 6 goods and artisan dragons, other actions, optional or not don't really change. Those 6 actions are the core of Flamecraft's gameplay and as well as some pretty standard choices that gain goods or cards, there's some more interesting options here, particularly one that allows the active player to gift goods to another player in return for VPs, something that's appropriately cosy for the game! These 6 options form the crux of the Flamecraft's meaningful decisions. Players need to use those decisions to optimise their actions, Flamecraft is all about optimisation. Players will find themselves gathering goods and coins which they will use to buy enchantment cards or fancy dragons which is the most reliable way to earn VPs - and they'll want to do it quicker than their opponents, creating a fast building engine is vital. The thing is though, that essentially anybody can use any engine because all players players basically have access to all shops, albeit sometimes at a price. Luckily, day fancy dragons with their instant bonuses throws some asymmetrical elements into the mix. While not really a light game, Flamecraft is fairly straightforward to learn and most players will pick it up quick enough. Although there was a rule that threw me off several times, which was; when an artisan dragon is played on to a shop card, it's special ability is not triggered and instead, the ability on the space it is placed on to is triggered! It felt counterintuitive to me! Flamecraft is a fun game with an equally fun theme and I'm sure that a lot of people will enjoy it but it didn't quite click with me. I'm not entirely sure why but I felt like maybe the engine building and combo-moves were uninspiring. This is another one of those games I'd happily play if it was someone else's choice but not one I'd pick myself. |
AuthorI play, I paint. Categories
All
Archives
February 2026
|
RSS Feed
