Indie Boards and Cards IBCFPF2 Flash Point Fire Rescue Second Edition Board Game

Product Information

Flash Point is a co-operative game where the players take on the rolls of firefighters attending the scene of a house fire; they need to fight the fire, rescue the occupants and ensure that all this is done before too many of the occupants have died or the house collapses. The experienced gamers and adult players found the Family Game a bit too simplistic, but thought the Experienced game was more fun. Chopping through the external wall to the north sounds like a really good option at first. Except that he’d have to use all 4 of his APs to chop through the wall, and would have to wait until next turn to actually move out of his current space. Considering what just happened during Yellow’s Advance Fire phase, I can’t imagine he’s want to stay put and take his chances with the fire raging to his east and south. While we’re preparing the next major update to Flash Point, releasing later this week, all indications are that we’re set for a early 2018 release. Lets dive into some details. The sequence of events is designed to create suspense and tension in the game, and it succeeds remarkably well. The firefighters move towards the victims, putting out fires along the way, only to have new fires pop up again. The firefighters must perform the right mix of actions to:

Hazmat Technician– More efficient at removing HazMat markers (i.e. does not have to carry it like a victim) Efficient Specialists: Each member of your squad brings a unique blend of skills that you will need to carefully apply as you adapt to the ever changing scenarios. When everyone’s ready to play, you must choose between the family or experienced version setup. Let’s say the group opted for the family version… great! I recommend all players start with the family variant to get a gist of how everything functions before they attempt the advanced mode. For fans of Pandemic, you can expect similar mechanics (the spreading of disease/fires, player roles) but different since no one player can carry the team. The two-sided game board featured in Flash Point gives it an added replayability factor that Pandemic falls short on.Focus on getting the fire under control early.The less fire there is on the board the slower it will spread because there is less risk of explosions and damage to walls

The one thing I struggle to explain thematically, is the fact that when you rescue a victim from a room another could possibly appear near the same spot you were just at. It doesn’t make a lot of sense to me but I guess if all the points of interest were laid out at the beginning of the game it may make it too easy and reduce the tension. After selecting Family mode, we immediately found ourselves squinting at a dense wall of text. The tutorial is just a big instruction manual, and while it explains the game rules, it doesn’t really explain how to play― the buttons to press, the way a turn works. It all feels abstract at first, and we only truly understood our situation after a confusing first playthrough.We’ve been working with the Fig team to try narrow down the final release date and will announce the date as soon as we have confirmation on it. Initially there are “Threat” markers placed in set locations within the house. One side of the Threat marker displays “Smoke” and the other side shows “Fire”. The initial 10 Threat markers are placed with the “Fire” side face up, to indicate a fire already raging within the house. Flash Point Fire Rescue, from Indie Boards and Cards, is a thrilling game of fighting fire, rescuing victims and team work from the game designer Kevin Lanzing. Flash Point: Fire Rescue, designed by Kevin Lanzing and published by Indie Boards & Cards in 2011, is a board game for 2 to 6 players, advertised as suitable for ages 10 and older (which I agree is the appropriate minimum age). It’s a family game of low complexity which is usually playable within 45 minutes. Many games claim to be “family” games while really only appealing to a certain age range/gender/mindset. But Flash Point: Fire Rescue truly is a family game. My first game involved four players ranging in age from 16 to 79, with both genders represented. Doesn’t get any more family than that!

Flash Point: Fire Rescue follows the formula of many co-operative games, having a relatively short list of potential actions and giving each player a number of actions to spend on their turn. The theme of Flash Point: Fire Rescue makes it quite obvious and intuitive for new players to decide what moves to make. Sometimes dice rolling takes away from a game’s theme, but not in Flash Point: Fire Rescue. Fires seem to spread randomly when they get out of control and the dice simulate that very well here.If there are not three blue “?” markers on the grid, roll the dice to place a new POI. Your team needs at least three possible victims to save at all times. What age is appropriate for Flash Point Fire Rescue? The box says 10+, but I think 8+ would be fine, especially for the family mode. Flash Point: Fire Rescue is the digital adaptation of a board game about rescuing people from buildings on fire. The basic premise is simple: a house is aflame. You command a squad of firemen and penetrate the place, trying to rescue as many survivors as possible before the building collapses. Big question marks randomly appear on the map. Some of them hide survivors, other are false alarms. Once you find a person, you need to drag them outside the building, possibly avoiding catching fire during the process. This faithful recreation got successfully funded on Fig last year, and now is here for us all to enjoy. Who is it for, though?

This game excels at portraying the catastrophic nature of a fire: a primaeval monster out of human control, prone to outburst and unexpected behaviours. That’s why failure doesn’t really feel frustrating, even as everything crumbles around you. The battle was never supposed to be fair. Horrible accidents are expected, and always greeted with a shrug and disheartened laugh. It’s a nice change of pace to the endless RPGs where fire is at your complete disposal, a fireball to throw at your enemies with a snap of your fingertips.Flash Point: Fire Rescue is designed to encourage you to carefully manage the risks you take. Sure, you can run to that point of interest and find out if it’s a person, but if the fire spreads to them before your next turn you’ll just end up burning with them. I think this works well with the theme of a profession in which, by its very nature, you risk your life. A firefighter is no help if they run into an inferno and just become another body to save, but if they use the tools available to them to create a safe avenue then they can save lives, though perhaps not everyone. Flash Point Fire Rescue: Urban Structures, from designer Kevin Lanzing, is an expansion for Flash Point Fire Rescue which adds two new city building boards and a new specialist Firefighter role for players to take on. Do you focus initially on putting out the fires, letting the victims wait until the fire is more contained? Games are rated for how salty (competitive), tasty (replayable) and spicy (original) they are. The Salt There is also a family mode for Flash Point fire rescue, which strips out the unique characters, hot spots, fire engine, ambulance, essentially the fun stuff. It is a far easier mode to learn and might be a good option for very young kids or anyone who hasn’t played cooperative games like this before.