I love fantasy-theme games, especially ones that dig into the worlds of lore and adventure. Who doesn’t love a story with a ferocious dragon, holding the treasures and fighting off a hero or team of halflings? But what if we had a whole new look at dragons-one that shows the cute, loveable side they can display? Well today we are going to dive into a game that does just that with Flamecraft!
Flamecraft is for 1-5 players. It is designed by Manny Vega with art by Sandara Tang. It is published by Cardboard Alchemy and Lucky Duck Games.
Overview:
In Flamecraft you are a Flamekeeper who has learned to converse with Artisan dragons, cute crafters who have special flames that help them make amazing goods and food. As a Flamekeeper you are finding great homes for these dragons growing your reputation among the shopkeepers. Continue to help the dragons and shop owners and earn reputation to become the greatest Flamekeeper-the Master of the Flamecraft!
Gameplay:
In Flamecraft players each begin with a player token, reputation marker, player aid card, 3 Artisan dragons and 2 Fancy dragons. The game board, which is an awesome neoprene mat, is set up with the appropriate starting shops and the individual decks for the shops, dragons and enchantment cards. Coins and goods are also set up near the board.
On your turn you must visit a shop and choose to either gather or enchant there. At the end of that turn you can expand the town if you have completely filled the shop you went to. If you go to a shop with other players, you must pay an extra good. By attending a shop you can take goods you will need, collecting them from the shop and from each dragon and enchantments in the store. These goods will allow you to buy enchantments in later turns.
You are able to also place and fire up a dragon in the shop you are in to use their special ability. Playing a dragon from your hand must match one of the open slots on the location to the symbol on your dragon. Doing so gets you the printed bonus on the slot that you fill on that location.
Once a shop is full, it’s time to add a new random shop from the top of the deck. At the end of your turn you reveal the new card to the game for the new location.
You may also choose to enchant a shop you visit instead. To do so, pick an Enchantment card in the market and pay the goods to be able to add it to the location you are currently in. By adding the enchantment to the location it will produce that extra good on the card and you will be able to fire off every dragon at the shop all on your turn. This is great way to really string together some good dragon powers.
The game ends when the last card from with the Enchantment or Artisan Dragon deck is empty. Plyers will count up all of the points they have gathered during the game in the condition of reputation and the player with the most reputation is the winner!
Impressions:
The art on this game is the first thing that really pops out to you and for good reason. These dragons aren’t just great, they are adorable. The different names and vocations for these dragons is cute and they just pop right off their cards. I have played this with a variety of people and I really think the younger gamers enjoyed the theme the most. Everyone loved it but the kids really found it the cutest. This game wants you to enjoy the aesthetics and it shows.
The gameplay is straightforward-visit a site, add some dragons or enchantments and score some resources. These all move you in a direction to score more reputation points and when you can get the dragons to fire off in good patterns you can really snake some great grabs together to use the enchantment cards on your next turn. The dragons are all unique in their powers but ones of similar type share the same power so you aren’t constantly trying to learn or remember what is on the table. The entry level for this game is simple enough that most will be able to understand and play it right away. It has enough meaningful choices to keep a more experienced gamer interested as well.
The game length felt just right as well. We didn’t feel like it was overstaying its welcome on the table, most of our games lasted around an hour or so with the whole experience. It is a great start the night game and one that we often get out after dinner for a fun experience as well. The best part of a game like this is how easy it is to get back to the table with the players who experience it-we had a few different nights where it was the requested game of the night.
Overall I can’t recommend this one enough-the theme is great, the gameplay smooth and the dragons just pop off your cards giving you a wonderful experience all together. If your family or game group wants to see what it would look like to be in a town full of adorable artisan dragons, then Flamecraft is bound to be a hit at your table!
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