Flamecraft: Not your usual dragons...

Close your eyes and visualize: a heavy, overcast sky, thick grey, black, grey-black clouds as far as the eye can see. There, almost at the edge of the horizon, a volcano erupts. Lightning streaks the sky, setting fire to the forests. From the volcano escape lava and ash and… a black point. A small point at first, then growing more and more, and it quickly becomes clear that the point is not one: two gigantic wings prove it.

Someone near you shouts, “Dragon! »

The whole city is bustling...

Don't worry, it's not about this kind of dragons. Absolutely not. But if they are not majestic, almost immortal beasts, the dragons of Flamecraft are nonetheless charming...

The heart

Flamecraft is, above all, a worker placement and resource management game. These two mechanics, familiar to many seasoned players, are used here in their simplest form.

Each player embodies a Flame Keeper, a special being who can communicate with dragons. But beware, not just any dragons! No: here we leave aside the destructive dragons (like Smaug), the courageous warrior dragons (like Croquemou) and the dragons which, for some, opened the doors to strange worlds and smoky perspectives (like Puff, the magic dragon - but maybe Mooh is alone in this situation, we don't know).

These are more artisan dragons, which as Guardian of the Flames, players must convince to help the various shops in the city. Indeed, these dragons do not have the unique talent of charring everything that moves, of being an endearing Disney character, or of making Mooh live out-of-body adventures. Rather, these are bread dragons, forge dragons, plant dragons, gem dragons, alchemists, and, last but not least, meat dragons (yes yes, meat dragons!). Finally… dragons aren't identified that way per se, but the symbols assigned to them CLEARLY inspire these categories. Good.

The style

The look of Flamecraft is downright flashy: charming dragons, all unique, all doing various tasks. Shops, also all unique, in which merchants and their dragon-craftsmen are busy. The village itself which, instead of being printed on ordinary cardboard (yark!), is printed on a neoprene mat.

Two things about the mat, by the way. If you don't know neoprene, rest assured: you do, in fact. Think of your mouse pad, near your computer. You see? So imagine the happiness of having this material as a game board, come on… Aaaahhh… You now understand all the beauty of the thing, yes? No? Oh. Good. So be aware that neoprene, if wet, will not swell like cardboard. Plus, picking up a card flat on such a mat is a snap – you gently press down on one side of the card, and the opposite side magically pops up. A real charm!

Secondly, you should know that if you store the carpet by always rolling it on the same side, it will invariably take a crease, and this can affect your play experience... So you have been warned!

In short, the dragons are superb. Congratulations to the illustrator artist, Sandara Tang, who gave us, humble players, a feeling of childlike wonder, almost comfort, even. It's just a feast for the eyes...

The course of the game

The game simply proceeds until either the stack of dragon-craftsman cards or that of enchantments is exhausted. This announces the end of the game, after all players have taken one last turn. Whoever has acquired the most reputation points (symbolized by a heart – aaaaaawwww…) wins the honors.

Each turn, the player must either Collect from a Shop or Enchant a Shop. These two simple actions, on the other hand, each include their steps to follow, in order (you quickly get used to solving them, so the age of 10 and over, suggested on the side of the box, can easily be lowered at 9 or even 8 years old, if your child is already a fan of other games).

Collect

The collection is done in a single step: we place our player pawn (dragons, of course) on the shop we have chosen, then we collect the goods that the shop, the dragons and the enchantments that are there give. At first, a shop only gives one commodity, but you quickly realize that a shop visited often will quickly fill up with dragons and enchantments (maximum of three each) and therefore with collection potential... Mmmm... valuable commodities...

Then follow three other steps, all optional. We can place an artisan dragon from our hand in the shop to collect the bonus from the slot, then we can burn (and not kiss , although we don't judge anyone) a dragon present in the shop (which means use its special power), and finally, if the shop has a special ability, one can choose to use it. Since there are only six types of dragons, and therefore six types of powers, it's not too difficult to learn how each works. Shop special abilities, on the other hand, are pretty straightforward too – nothing that would require you to repeatedly consult the rulebook…

The collect action is what allows you to populate the town and amass the resources needed to complete the second possible action…

Enchant

Enchantments cost valuable resources. However, they do give players who complete them tempting rewards, mostly in the form of reputation points or artisan dragons that you add to your hand…

To enchant a shop, we must place our pawn on a shop whose type (the same as the dragons) corresponds to the type of enchantment desired, then we pay the necessary resources, we collect the rewards, and we place the enchantment under the shop map, so that only the type symbol is visible. And hop! As if by magic (actually EXACTLY by magic), the shop now produces one more resource, and you are slowly making a name for yourself in the city...

As an optional action, you can then set on fire not just one, but ALL of the dragons in the shop – which can be superbly beneficial!

One thing we liked was the variety the two enchantment packs bring. The rulebook suggests starting with the purple enchantments, then trying the yellow ones after a few games. (And honestly, why not combine the two packages, huh? You haven't heard it from us, though…ahem…) The yolks, we suspect, are a little more difficult to achieve, but promise best rewards...

fantasy dragons

The last item in the game to provide reputation points are fantasy dragons, grouped into two types – day and night. The type of dragon determines when you can score reputation points, either at any time during the game for daytime dragons, and only at the very end, during the final count, in the case of dragons by night.

These dragons are obtained most often when placing a craftsman in a shop or when performing an enchantment. Once obtained, they offer us specific objectives to orient ourselves towards, and ways to stand out from our competitors Flame Keepers…

The verdict

We've been waiting for Flamecraft for a looooooong time already. It's one of those games that, when announced, immediately captures the imagination with the world it creates, right before our eyes, with its stunning visuals and seemingly innocuous gameplay.

We say "in appearance" because in fact, if Flamecraft is indeed an excellent game to show your little and less small faces, it can still defend itself as a game for a seasoned player. Since nothing is concealed except for the dragon cards, one can easily guess what others should logically aim for in enchantments based on the resources they amass in front of them. This means that we can also easily block their access to the enchantments that correspond to these resources. In short, we can quite make this cute game like a whole game much more cutthroat than its look suggests...

BUT GOOD: besides the fact that we CAN actually make it more "adult", Flamecraft is a delicious family game, with its dragons called Hot-Dog, Chop, Briochin and Suzette (like pancakes). All in all, we would definitely recommend it to anyone who has a child or children who are beginning to take an interest in board games, but aren't necessarily ready yet for the tougher, more bellicose games.

This means that, throughout the game, you will cast furtive glances, with a soft sneer and rubbing your hands, towards the box, promising, enticing, of Twilight Imperium...

[INSERT INTERGALACTIC EVIL LAUGHTER]

- Biz and Mooh