In the realm of Flamecraft, dragons aren’t the menacing, gold-hoarding creatures we typically see in movies. Instead, they’re small, friendly artisans who use their fiery breath to assist humans in everyday tasks like cooking and metalworking. Picture these little drakes flitting around, adding a touch of magic to your local bakery or pizza shop.
Flamecraft is for 1-5 players, 10 years and above, and takes about 60 minutes to play. Maybe 90 minutes with 4-5 players.
Components
- No traditional board: The action unfolds on a neoprene mat, rolled up neatly inside the box. The neoprene mat is approximately 42″ x 10″.
- Cards galore: There is a deck of large shop cards and two decks of dragons: “artisan” dragons (who work in the shops) and “fancy” dragons (that score you extra points).
- Goods tokens: The resources in this game are bread, potions, anvils, meats, leaves, and money.
- Player pieces: Shaped like dragons and hearts, these wooden markers add a whimsical touch to Flamecraft.
Gameplay Overview
Besides being extremely cute, Flamecraft is essentially a light euro game – meaning it is a worker placement/resource management game. You move your worker to a shop. You collect resources. And you use your resources to enchant the shop and earn victory points.
Flamecraft is very is easy to teach/learn. You start with six starter shop cards on the table. On your turn, choose a shop to visit. Then you either Gather at the shop or Enchant the shop.
Gather:
- Gain Goods: At the shop, collect resources – like bread from the bakery.
- Dragons: You can place one of your Artisan dragons to work in the shop to make the shop even better for all visitors.
- Fire Up a Dragon in the shop: If dragons are working in the shop, claim a “Fire Up” bonus from them. For instance, a diamond dragon might grant you three extra resources.
- New shops emerge: Once a shop’s three dragon slots are full, a new shop is drawn from the deck and added to the street. These new shops offer different special abilities to visitors
Or Enchant:
You could also choose to Enchant a Shop instead of Gathering. You choose an Enchantment card from the board, pay it’s “Goods” requirement, and enchant the shop to produce even more goods. As a reward, you will get Victory points and other special bonuses.
The Verdict
Flamecraft strikes a great balance between cuteness, simple rules, and evolving depth as the game progresses. It’s equally appealing to newcomers and seasoned players. But it has some minor drawbacks as well. See Pojo’s Notes below.
This game packs a lot of punch and only costs about $35 on Amazon.com. Click here to check the price.
Pojo Notes:
- Table Hog? The Neoprene mat is beautiful, but it can be a bit of a table hog. The mat is 3-1/2 feet long and nearly a foot wide. Still … I’m a sucker for neoprene game boards.
- Overstays it’s welcome at large player counts? The game says 60 minutes of game time. I’m thinking that’s for 2-3 players. I would say this game takes 90 minutes at 4 players, and two hours at 5 players. There is no player interaction really, so there can be a lot of thumb twiddling between turns at larger player counts.
- Cuteness? This game is fricking cute as hell. I can’t deny that. And it is super simple to play and teach.
- Expanding Shops? It’s very cool how every time you place a dragon in a shop – or Enchant a shop – that the shop gets more powerful. You get rewarded for doing it, and other players get the added benefits on future visits to the shop.
- Upgraded Components? This game was first available as Kickstarter. That Kickstarter version has upgraded components, and you might be able to find a copy if you search around. The resources are all painted wood instead of cardboard. The coins are metal instead of cardboard. And you get plastic dragon tokens that can be painted. Another way to bling your game out is to search for upgraded resources on Etsy.
More Flamecraft Images:
