And It Burns, Burns, Burns (Flash Point: Fire Rescue)

*WOOOOSH*
The blaze of the fire intensifies, surrounding you.  A faint cry is barely heard over the flames.  You rush through the fire and the flames to find the victim, putting out the fire as you go.  The walls grow weaker, leaving the house even worse for wear.  There, in the smoke, you get closer.  As you step through, you see...nothing.  It was all a trick of the smoke, there was nobody here.  You walk past, putting out more fires.  That's the role of the firefighter, putting out fires and rescuing people.  That's Flash Point: Fire Rescue.

BACKGROUND:  Flash Point is a co-operative board game for 2-6 players, created by Kevin Lanzing in 2011, and published by Indie Boards & Cards.  By working together, players attempt to put out fires, save victims, and keep the building from collapsing.

GAMEPLAY:  Each turn consists of a player taking 4 AP (Action Points).  Action Points can be used to move through spaces, open and close doors, put out fires, and chop through walls.  Depending on the action, each takes 1 or 2 AP.  If a player doesn't use all their AP on their turn, they can save it, up to 4 at most.  Scattered throughout the house are face-down POI markers, with "?" on them.  Whenever a player lands on these tokens, they are flipped face-up.  If there is nothing on them, they are discarded.  If there's a person or animal on them, they are now Victims, and must be taken out of the house.

FIRES:  At the end of each players turn, the player rolls the red and black dice, and puts a smoke token based on the roll.  If there's one there, it flips and becomes a fire token, instead.  If that's already a fire, an explosion occurs, spreading fire in each direction.  Explosions can cause players to get knocked down, kill Victims, and destroy doors and walls.  Finally, if there are less than 3 POI and Victim tokens in the house, roll to replenish the house to up to 3 POI tokens.

ADVANCED:  Now that the base rules are set up, there are more things to introduce.  Each player is given a character card, which can change how many AP they get each turn, and how much certain actions cost.  There are also vehicles, an Engine and an Ambulance, which can be used, and driven to certain points on the board for AP.  Players now have to get the Victims to the Ambulance.  The engine can be used to put out fires easier, but only within a single quadrant.

DANGERS:  There are also more bad things that happen in the advanced rules.  Hazmat tokens immediately cause explosions, and can be carried out of the house.  Hot spots are used to not only simulate where fires would be hottest, but when a fire lands on a hot spot, the player keeps rolling for more fire.  They cannot be removed from the game, but do not change the tokens if a hot spot is added to a space with a smoke/fire token.

WINNING:  To win, the players must get 7 Victim tokens out of the house before all 24 damage markers are placed on the house's walls, or 4 or more Victims are killed or lost.

CONCLUSION:  Ho, boy, this game is a doozy, in a good way.  This is exactly how a co-operative game should be, difficult enough that the victories, even the small ones, mean something.  Everything is high stakes, working together means coming up with a plan you all follow and can execute without one player suffering for not communicating with the team, and that smidge of luck that can make or break a plan that you can't quite account for.  Now, this is based on the advanced version, and that can put a lot of pressure on people.  The basic version is a bit more friendly and open, and makes the game a little easier to win, but not less stressful.  Kids, never run into a burning building unless you're a professional, but do run to your local game store and buy this hot game.

Floating down the Nile (Imhotep: Builder of Egypt)

The sharp crack of the whip echoed throughout the dry Egyptian desert.  The stone, massive in size, was being pushed, pulled, and carried by hundreds of slave-workers.  You look down at the carving you made, and back towards the pyramids.  Soon, the pharaoh would choose who would create and design their masterpieces.  You put everything you had into these designs, so that you would be remembered like Imhotep, the Builder of Egypt!

BACKGROUND:  Imhotep is a puzzle board game for 2-4 players.  It was created in 2016 by Phil Walker-Harding, and published by KOSMOS.  Each player ships stones by boats to build various monuments.

GAMEPLAY:  Each turn,, a player can take 1 of 4 actions.  They can take 3 Stone cubes from their 'Quarry' off to the side, and place them on their Sled board.  Each sled can only hold 5 stones, so if there are more stones then there is room, players return the excess back into their Quarry. Another action players can take is to take a stone from their Sled, and place it on one of the boats set out at the beginning of the game.  Players may also sail a boat as their action if the number of stones is equal to or greater than the number indicated on the front of the boat to one of the 5 site boards.  Finally, a player may play a blue Market card as their action that turn.

WINNING:  Once a boat has sailed to a site, other ships cannot sail there.  Each site has a different requirement, such as players getting points for their position, or being the tallest at the end of the game.  At the end of the round, players score points, kept track of on the scoreboard, and draw a new boat card to show what boats are available this round.  Once the game is over, players total up any remaning points to determine the winner.

VARIANTS;  Each board has 2 sides.  While this review only mentions the A side, the B side has its own rules and twists on the game.  In addition, there is also the rule that players are docked points if they fail to deliver at least one stone to each place.

CONCLUSION:  I really enjoy Imhotep.  It's a purely strategic game, plain and simple.  There's so much thought and fore planning that goes into it that makes the game fun and thought-provoking.  True, the market cards are dealt randomly, so there is that element of chance, but even that is a matter of strategy and risk-reward decision making.  This game can get overwhelming, so it's easy to see why it would be difficult for some players to enjoy this game.  Because of its lack of luck elements, it does lead to players who aren't as strategically minded to be defeated more often due to lack of skill or "lucky" balancing maneuvers.  If that's the case, try to play this with people at your skill level.  It's hard, true, but if you can, it's one trip to the Pyramids you should take.

2,000,000 Years in the Making (CroMagnon)

Ugga, Ugga tooga nah.  Ugga tooga chaka sha.  CROMAGNON!

BACKGROUND:  Cro-Magnon is a party game for 3-12 players.  It was created by Fanny Cherpe and Olivier Mercier in 2007, and published by KOSMOS.  Players adopt the persona and tribes of the Cro-Magnon to give information to their fellow people.

GAMEPLAY:  Each turn, the player(s) will act out their "YooDoo" on their tribal, and then draw a Word List card from the pile and try to get the other players to guess the word on the card according to their Age/space.  However, communication is limited based on the Age the player(s) is at.  Anytime a player makes a guess, the acting player(s) can say "Naga" for off/no, "Yaga" for close/yes, and "Binga" for correct.  That player(s) can then draw a new card for the rest of the players to guess.  Every correct guess before the timer runs out grants that player(s) 1 space, for a maximum of 5.

AGES:  The space the player(s) start in on their turn determine how they convey the information on the cards.  The red space is only miming and grunting.  The yellow space uses modelling clay, and while creations are allowed to be moved, miming or noises not allowed.  The
Orange spaces uses the "Primitive Language" sheet, requiring the player to try and describe the card using only these words.  Finally, the Green spaces has the player(s) drawing with a charcoal stick, and no miming, talking, or writing.

WINNING:  The winner is the player who makes it to the end of the board.

CONCLUSION: This is a party game like Cranium, or Whirled Peas, but with a twist.  It restricts the player in a way to come up with something kinda clever, but at the end of the day, it still has the same audience and restrictions that the others have.  The only thing really going for it is the theme.  If that's enough for you, great.  However, this is one caveman who is going to evolve into more interesting games.

Celebrations Overwhelming (Lanterns: The Harvest Festival)

The harvest has come in, the season is cooling, and it's time.  Looking over the crisp blue lake, a single light starts floating over it.  Then another, and another.  Soon, the Royal blue of the lake is interspersed with specks of colors, from ivory to emerald, amethyst to crimson.  The crowd gathers as the wind lifts high the symbol of the The Harvest Festival, the Lanterns.

BACKGROUND:  Lanterns: The Harvest Festival is a tile game for 2-4 players.  It was created in 2015 by Christopher Chung, and is published by Foxtrot Games.  Taking on the role of the artisans, each players is making a dedication at the palace lake to gain the most honor and become the most respected in the land.

GAMEPLAY:  Each turn, players will take the following 3 actions; they can exchange a Lantern card, make a Dedication, or place a Lake tile.  They must be taken in this order.  First, players may choose to spend two red Favor Tokens to trade a colored Lantern card for another available one.  Then, players may choose to return to the supply an appropriate number of Lantern cards to gain Dedication token.  Finally, the player must play a Lake tile from their hand so that one of its sides lines up with those on the board.

LAKE:  If the player places a Lake tile next to another so that the color of their tile matches an adjacent side of another Lake Tile, that player receives a matching Lantern card.  If there is a Platform, indicated by a symbol in the middle, that player gains a Favor token.  Finally, each player, starting with the player who is currently taking their turn, gains a Lantern card (if available) according to the side of the tile 'facing' that player.  If a player wants to gain a white Lantern, for example, they need to orient the card so that the white side would be aligned with their 'area' of the table.

WINNING:  The game ends when all Lake tiles are placed, and each player gets one last turn for Exchanging Lanterns and Dedications.  Each Dedication token has a number of 'Honor' on it.  Each player adds up all their Honor, and the player with the most Honor wins.

CONCLUSION:  Lanterns is a neat strategy game that can initially trip you up, but is actually easy once you get the hang of it.  It's biggest issue is that there are quite a few games where catching up with an opponent who plays perfectly optimal and draws even kind of well can be discouraging, but that's the risk you run when you can mitigate the luck as much as you can.  The favor tokens don't really feel great in gaining them, either, as I've seen too many games where players just can't get them, which can slow the game down a bit.  That being said, the game is fun, and the strategy is there.  It can be tempting to match two sides to get 2 Lanterns, but if they don't help your strategy, it might be better not to do that, and just get the Lantern color you do need.  If you like games of strategy and tile placement, this is one festival you shouldn't miss out on.