Flamecraft is a beauty from Lucky Duck Games and Cardboard Alchemy, one that truly, 10 times over, deserves to be framed and treasured. Here are my run downs…
Best ‘Companion Cards’ to be dealt:
Wait, what are companion cards? Well , they are like ‘player powers’ that are specific to that player in the game and basically create little shortcuts to scoring!
3rd: BRAD - he enables ‘heavy’ (metal) resources to be played in place of ANY goods when enchanting. Making those all-needed points much more attainable. Useful, and very mindful, very demure, so we will let him off for looking pretty hacked off.
2nd: ERICK - not only is his coat made out of two-tone greeny leaves, he is also a talented plant sculptor, showing off his newest creation on this cute card. He would cause ripples of power moves when used on the juicier shops in town, stating ‘After using a shop ability, you may use it a 2nd time’!
1st: PETER - all I need to say here is that he is lilac, with baby blue on his ears and wings, and he is carrying a SWIRLY POTION! Plus, he shares a name with 2 of my friends, has an ‘I love games’ steaming mug and allows the lucky player to take a new turn at said shop, when that player reveals said shop.
Best ‘Shop’ to visit:
It has to be GUILTY TREASURES - it depicts a technicolour, favourite sweetshop, so popular that the golden glimmery currency tokens are piled up, spilling out of a wooden treasure chest into a gold mountain/ sitting spot for devouring yummies. At the forefront, on the right, one of the dragons even makes sugar animals for children to marvel over (a koi carp, a kitten, a purple octopus and a dusk-pink bunny rabbit).
And we haven’t even got into the mighty power of this shop yet! It enables players to earn up to 8 points! Yes, 8 is the best number in the world, but also, it is a chonky, substantial number that could be the difference between winning or not. Guilty Treasures enables players to ‘Pay 1 coin for 4 points then you may gift 1 coin to another player for 4 points’! That is as useful as an entire enchantment!
Best ‘Enchantment’ to collect resources for:
MIRROR OF TRUTH - firstly, it sounds very meaningful, ominous and should perhaps have a warning that it may conjure up imagery that makes you feel personally attacked(!), in a way that feels strangely enjoyable. Most importantly, it satisfyingly falls into the top-tier enchantment category of cards that earn 2, 4 or 8 points respectively for 2, 3 of 4 sets of 2 resources- in this case, purply potions and hefty heavy metals.
And of course, best DRAGON to play:
ELDERBERRY- a pink and purple little darling whose little paws are stained with light blue ink from the juicy berries she is potion-ifying! She boasts a go-to move: ‘Swap with a dragon in town and fire it up’.
That’s it for this blog, thank you if you read it!