Flamecraft – Warm & Cosy

Imagine, for a moment, a dragon. But this dragon isn't like any dragon you've imagined before. This dragon has scales that are a slate-grey, dusted with a metallic hue. It's broad of jaw and shoulder, with two horns close to those of a ram. It stands on its hind legs over an anvil, tongs clenched firmly in one scaly paw as it enthusiastically hammers the glowing, red iron of a horseshoe. It's also the size of a child. Yes, that child. The one on the floor, watching Bluey on your iPad.

Hi! I'm Matt, and I bought Flamecraft because the monkey in my brain saw the box and went "Ooh! Pretty colours!" And now, having played it, I need to talk about it.

Flamecraft is light-and-cute engine-building game for 1-5 players. In it, players take on the roles of Flamekeepers - those skilled in the art of talking to dragons - and are competing to have the greatest Reputation in a colourful, beautifully illustrated, and ever-growing village.

At its heart, Flamecraft is a game of placing workers and managing resources. (If you've read my review of The Red Cathedral, you know this does something special for me.)

Gameplay is as straightforward as it gets. On your turn, you'll visit a shop in the village by placing your dragon-headed pawn there, and either Gather from it, or Enchant it.

When you Gather from a shop, you collect STUFF! The stuff - or, more appropriately, resources - you gather is determined by a few factors: the shop itself, what dragons are present at the shop, and whatever enchantments the shop has attached to it. Once you've collected your stuff, you can optionally play a dragon from your hand into the shop, if able, and then you choose the ability of a dragon in the shop to activate, granting you a neat little bonus. Each shop also has its own effect you can utilise when you visit. Cool!

When you Enchant a shop, you spend the stuff you've been gathering to buy enchantment cards. These cards are in the middle of the game board, and are available for all players to buy. To buy one, pick your enchantment, pay its cost, and attach it to a shop with a matching suit. Then, you can choose any or all of the dragons in that shop and activate their abilities, often granting you even more stuff! Enchanting shops is the main way you increase your Reputation, so do it as often as you can.

It's important to note here that you can't visit the shop you visited last turn. And you can't visit a shop with other players in it unless you can pay each of them either one of your resources, or one of your coins.

There's a little more to Flamecraft than just gathering and enchanting, but they're the core elements you'll be engaging with. (The rest of it is just admin, really.)

In play, Flamecraft is a worker-placement game without much crunch. The moment-to-moment decisions are interesting without being challenging, the player interaction friendly rather than spiteful. Yes, everyone at the table is competing, but we're also working toward this common goal: growing and improving this village. The very nature of the game has us helping each other. We score points by improving shops; everyone can visit those shops to benefit from those improvements, which in turn lets them improve shops, which we then all benefit from, and so on. It creates an atmosphere of friendly rivalry, where players are content to kind of just do their thing.

In a word: it's nice.

So who is Flamecraft for? If it's this easy, friendly competition, who do I recommend it to?

If you're the type of gamer who enjoys agonising over what decisions you can make to optimise your strategy, Flamecraft won't give you that. I'd point you toward Hadrian's Wall, The Castles of Burgundy, or Terraforming Mars if you were looking for a game to scratch that itch. What Flamecraft is, is easy to learn, easy to teach, and easy to play. It doesn't require a huge block of time, and it won't burn your brain. So for you, that may be a refreshing change of pace, or it may be a miss. I'll let you decide.

For others, Flamecraft is the perfect game to cut your teeth on the worker-placement genre. If you're a parent, everything about this game is family friendly - from the rules, to the presentation, to the time commitment. If Catan or Ticket to Ride get a lot of mileage in your household, this game is the next step up. It definitely belongs in that conversation. If you're interested in board games and are looking for something different to ease yourself into the hobby... I think you get the idea.

Ultimately, Flamecraft is the perfect 7/10. It's not going to blow anyone's mind, but what it does, it does very well. It's cute and it's cosy, accessible and enjoyable. It has quietly been a success in my house, and it's absolutely worth the space in my collection.

But that's just my take. Until we meet again, stay safe, have fun, and play games!